Ethereal Plane

A plane of thought and intent, this sleepy plane seems to be filled with an omnipresent fog that grows thicker as one travels from it's nearer shores that overlap with the inner planes towards its depths, a place known as the Dreaming. Throughout it all, the Ethereal is illuminated by a soft white and billowy energy that grants everything an opalescent sheen.

Nearer Shores

A portion of the Ethereal Plane is coexistent with the Material Plane and all of the Inner Planes, allowing someone on the Ethereal Plane to see the into the coexistent plane as if it were frosted glass that deadens sound and makes the borders of objects look indistinct. It is possible, with the proper spells or effects (such as the spell See Invisibility spell or the Truesight trait), for creatures on these other planes to see into the overlapping Ethereal, and it is well known that force effects extend from the coexistent plane into the Ethereal. This does not work in the other direction, so force effects created on the Ethereal Plane don't extend into the coexistent plane. Otherwise, creatures and objects in the Ethereal plane are invisible, incorporeal, and utterly silent to the coexistent plane.

There are creatures which have evolved to make use of the Ethereal Plane to attack or hunt, such as Phase Spiders and Ethereal Marauders. More dangerously, some undead call this plane there home as well, such as Ghosts, and Wraiths.

The Dreaming

Beyond the nearer shores, the Ethereal Plane becomes a vastly different place. Without the existence of the other planes to properly tether locations in relation to each other, distances start becoming subjective and the landscape indistinct. The opalescent sheen is replaced by a darker mist that can seem oppressive, only to be punctuated by luminous curtains of light which are create conduits through the Astral Plane to reach the Outer Planes.

The Dreaming is named for the reflections of sentient minds that appear here, providing the denizens of the Dreaming with what resources they can gleam. Kalashtar make their homes within the dreaming, cultivating gardens of fertile minds to sustain themselves and their communities. It is through these dreams that many Kalashtar get a glimpse into the minds and lives of sentient creatures from across the cosmos.

If this were all that inhabited the Dreaming, then it would not be nearly so forbidding a place. However, there are many creatures of unimaginable power who sleep cocooned within the Dreaming, rousing only to feed when someone or something wanders too close. And when distances are subjective, you can find yourself far too close to a being whose existence would end the cosmos if only it could rouse itself fully from the Dreaming.