Description of Environment
The Energy Plane of Elemental Water exists as the purest possible manifestation of water, moisture, and fluidity—liquid in its most fundamental, primordial state. Unlike material realm waters contained by shorelines, seabeds, or vessel walls, elemental water extends infinitely in all directions, creating a realm of perfect, pristine fluidity without boundaries or limitations. As with most outer planes, physical visitation is impossible for mortals and non-elemental Outsiders, with astral projection serving as the only viable means of observation.
The plane presents as an endless expanse of water without definable barriers, bottom, or surface. No ocean floor exists below, no air-water interface stretches above—only an omnidirectional aqueous environment that surrounds visitors completely. The water itself displays remarkable diversity despite its singular nature, ranging from areas of perfect clarity where visibility extends seemingly forever to regions of profound density where pressure would instantly crush material bodies. Throughout this infinite ocean exist gradients of temperature, salinity, and viscosity, creating distinct ecological zones despite the absence of conventional physical boundaries.
Colors shift continuously throughout the plane, presenting in every conceivable shade of blue, green, and crystalline transparency. In some regions, bioluminescent effects create stunning displays of teal, indigo, and violet light that pulse in complex patterns through the surrounding medium. These color variations correspond to different water properties—density, mineral content, energy saturation—rather than reflecting light from any external source. What initially appears as random variation eventually reveals underlying mathematical patterns that create vast regions of related properties across impossible distances.
Sound travels with perfect fidelity through this medium, creating an acoustic environment of unparalleled complexity. The constant movement of water currents generates a background symphony of liquid motion—sometimes a gentle lullaby barely perceptible to consciousness, other times a thunderous cacophony of crushing pressure and explosive decompression as different regions interact. Communication between visitors becomes remarkably efficient, as sound carries perfectly without distortion, allowing complex information exchange through specialized tonal languages developed by native entities.
Time perception remains consistent with material realms, though the fluid, ever-changing nature of the environment—water that flows without obstacles—creates a sensation of perpetual transition. Without fixed reference points to mark position or progression, visitors often experience a pleasant disorientation that many describe as dreamlike. The danger lies not in temporal distortion but in the seductive comfort of perfect suspension, which can entice observers into extending their visit beyond safe limits for astral cohesion.
Native Entities
The Plane of Elemental Water hosts various entities adapted to its unique conditions. Water elementals exist here in their natural state, from tiny droplet consciousnesses to ancient vast currents of extraordinary complexity. These are the same entities that alkos practitioners may summon to material planes, though their appearance and behavior often adapt to material limitations when summoned. In their native environment, water elementals display remarkable sophistication, forming elaborate social structures based on flow patterns, density gradients, and mineral content.
Rather than the vaguely humanoid forms they typically adopt when manifesting on material planes, native water elementals frequently appear as complex vortices of perfectly controlled currents, crystalline lattices of structured water molecules, or pulsating spheres of variable density that communicate through precisely modulated ripple patterns. Their interactions follow elaborate protocols based on flow dynamics, with social status determined by an individual's ability to maintain complex current patterns within the surrounding medium.
Pressure dwellers inhabit the most compressed regions of the plane, entities composed of water maintained in states impossible under material physics. These beings exist in a semi-solid state of perfect compression, their bodies so dense that they appear as moving crystal formations rather than liquid entities. They manipulate surrounding pressure gradients to propel themselves and interact with their environment, creating temporary zones of decreased density that allow them to navigate efficiently through regions that would instantly destroy less specialized beings.
Current shapers represent another distinct species native to the plane, appearing as translucent ribbons of specialized water that extend for vast distances through the omnidirectional ocean. These beings create and maintain the major flow patterns that give structure to the plane's otherwise chaotic environment, generating consistent currents that serve as both transportation networks and communication channels for other natives. Though their intelligence differs fundamentally from conventional consciousness, they display clear evidence of purposeful action and environmental adaptation across vast timescales.
Hydrolords maintain the plane's overall balance, ancient intelligences that have transcended simple elemental existence to achieve something approaching divinity within their domain. These entities rarely take recognizable form, instead manifesting as regions where the omnipresent water suddenly exhibits impossible behaviors—flowing in direct opposition to surrounding currents, forming perfect stillness amidst turbulence, or creating geometric structures that maintain their form despite the surrounding fluid environment. Their consciousness operates according to principles of flow dynamics with no parallel in material psychology, making meaningful communication with visitors rare but profoundly insightful when it occurs.
Exploitation
Despite its inaccessibility to physical exploration, various beings have developed methods to harness the Energy Plane of Elemental Water. The most direct application involves carefully controlled summoning of water elementals from their native plane to perform specific tasks requiring precise fluid manipulation or purification. These workings require elaborate containment measures and clearly defined agreements with the elemental beings, as uncontrolled manifestations can result in devastating floods or the spontaneous extraction of moisture from surrounding environments. Advanced civilizations have developed standardized protocols for such arrangements, creating mutually beneficial relationships with certain elemental factions.
Some agricultural and alkosir traditions incorporate small, permanently stabilized connections to the Elemental Water Plane to provide consistent irrigation for arid regions or sustainable fresh water sources for communities. These carefully maintained portals contain multiple layered failsafes to prevent uncontrolled water release. The most sophisticated installations can selectively filter the incoming elemental water for specific mineral content or purification levels, creating customized water sources ideally suited to particular crops or medicinal applications.
Certain healing traditions specialize in drawing specific water varieties directly from the plane for therapeutic purposes. Different regions of the Elemental Water Plane produce water with unique properties—some with extraordinary solvent capabilities useful for toxin extraction, others with perfect molecular balance for cellular regeneration, and still others with specialized molecular structures that can temporarily substitute for damaged bodily fluids while natural healing occurs. These techniques require precise knowledge of the plane's internal geography and sophisticated filtering methods to isolate exactly the right type of elemental water for each application.
Advanced material engineering sometimes utilizes specialized chambers containing water drawn directly from the elemental plane for molecular manipulation processes that would be impossible with conventional water. These controlled environments allow for the creation of materials with unique properties such as perfect insulation, selective permeability, or programmable solubility. The resulting substances find applications in everything from medical implants to environmental remediation technologies, despite the complex protocols required for their production.
The most specialized exploitation involves certain maritime alkosir traditions that establish temporary connections between shipboard practitioners and the Elemental Water Plane. These techniques allow navigators to intuitively sense patterns in material realm waters by comparing them to the perfect templates that exist within the elemental plane. This practice enables the prediction of dangerous conditions, the location of subsurface features, and occasionally communication with water-dwelling entities through resonance patterns established between material and elemental waters.
Role in the Cosmos
The Energy Plane of Elemental Water serves as the universal source of the water principle throughout existence. All moisture, fluidity, and solution processes throughout the material realms represent minute connections to this plane—echo manifestations of the pure water energy that constitutes its infinite expanse. Without its influence, fundamental processes like erosion, nutrient transport, and cellular function would cease, rendering complex life impossible and dramatically altering geological development throughout the cosmos.
The plane functions as one quarter of the elemental foundation that underlies material existence. Along with the planes of Earth, Air, and Fire, Water creates the fundamental tension between opposing forces necessary for physical reality to maintain stable forms. The interaction between these elemental opposites—Water opposed to Fire, Air opposed to Earth—generates the complex material states necessary for conventional existence. When any elemental force gains disproportionate influence in a material region, physical laws begin to distort until balance is restored.
Metaphysically, the Elemental Water Plane embodies the principles of adaptability, persistence, and gradual transformation. Its influence enables not just fluid dynamics but all processes of gradual change, pathway creation, and the patient overcoming of obstacles through consistent application of gentle force. Various philosophical traditions associate the plane with concepts of emotion, intuition, and connection—the flowing links that bind separate entities into coherent systems through mutual influence and adaptation.
The plane acts as a cosmic reservoir, containing the template patterns for all possible fluid behaviors. Material realm waters reflect these templates to varying degrees depending on their purity and connection to the elemental source. This relationship explains why certain natural springs or deep ocean currents exhibit seemingly impossible properties—these represent locations where the barrier between material and elemental water grows temporarily thin, allowing greater influence from the perfect patterns that exist within the plane.
Most fundamentally, the Energy Plane of Elemental Water represents the principle of connective adaptation—the capacity for separate entities to influence one another through shared medium and continuous interaction. Its existence makes possible not just fluid dynamics as conventionally understood, but all processes that involve gradual change through persistent connection. Those who study its nature gain insight into the binding forces that prevent cosmic isolation and enable the continuous exchange necessary for complex systems to develop and maintain themselves across time.
