The Celestial Heavens, the Wellspring of Souls, or the Living Mind. Often known as the Astral Seal, this fundamental plane forms one of the three central planes that are theorized to form the greater planescape. By all accounts an Infinate Plane, the Astral Sea is the realm of the gods, and the primary battlefield where souls immortal battle against the forces of absolute law and chaos. Despite the existential threats to life and civilization, denizens both native and foreign work to build societies, defenses, and memorials to their experiences.
Setting Guide
For a full list of setting information for the Terra Rynn Astral Sea game, click
here
Regions of the Astral Sea
Divine Domains
- Celestia, the Holy Choir
- Arvandor, the Boundless Sanctuary
- Chernoggar, the Eternal Battlefield
- Hestivar, the Bright City
- Baator, the Infernal Strand
- Tytherion, the Infinite Dark
Shattered Domains
Abyssal Maelstrom
- Thanatos
- Azzagrat
- Daemonweb Pits
- Pazunia
- Gaping Maw
Aetherial Expansions
Outlands
- Sigil, the City of Doors
- Axiom, the Clockwork Ramparts
- The Drifting Motes
Features
The Astral Plane is filled with vast clouds of a luminous, silver-gray substance that is not mist and not liquid. Thousands of stars glitter in the distance, especially in darker portions of the plane. Vast expanses of “open air” between these drifting clouds provide travelers with hundreds of miles of visibility, and even in the middle of the densest astral mists travelers can see objects several miles away with ease—the stuff of the Astral Sea just doesn’t impede vision much at all.
As one of the three Fundamental Planes, it is a realm of great importance to many civilizations, both in truth as well as in myth. Among the many factors that make the Astral Sea an important realm is the notion that the home of the gods, and the birthplace of living souls, thought to be the base essence of all living creatures. While scholars, maji, and theologians work to sort out the exact nature of these relationships, few doubt the existence of powerful forces, deep magic, and mighty entities that inhabit the Astral Sea.
Space Between Worlds
The Astral Sea serves as both a location unto itself, as well as connective pathway between the many worlds of the Multiverse. Civilziations from across time and space often are able to utilze the Astral Sea to find one another. With sufficient time and resources, it is thought that one can find a portal to almost any realm one can imagine by sailing the Astral Sea. For others, the journey is worth more than any destination could offer.
Aether
Aether is perhaps the most common substance found in the Astral Sea, and often appears as a shimmering, liquid starlight, and its physical properties are similar to those of water. It is attracted to itself, and often forms into enormous bodies of water, known as Aetherial Expansions. These expansions are the size of oceans, and often develop currents, weather, and whole ecosystems. Aetherseas feel much like water to swim through, and things plunged into the sea become aetherlogged—wet and heavy—and dry out at roughly the same rate as something saturated with water.
Portals, Veils, and Strands
Spread throughout the Astral Sea are various nodes of portals and veils. Simply put, Portals are connections between the Astral Sea and other Planes or Dimensions. Veils, in contrast, are the barriers that separate discrete Astral Domains from the rest of the Astral Void. Finally, Strands are ever-shifting “Paths” or “Highways” that connect a random point in the Astral Sea to its associated Veil. Distances in the Astral Sea are unthinkably vast, but most travelers need only journey for a day or two before finding a strand leading to their destination.
Dreaming Void
The Astral Sea is not innately hostile to most life, mortal or other, but neither is it supportive. Sentient beings often find traversing it initially easier, able to move their bodies with only their mind. Furthermore, concepts like, time, gravity, and sustenance do not seem to operate, allowing many mortal creatures to feel invulnerable. Yet, the Astral Sea is also home to vast psychic storms that wrack the pschye, marauding hordes of daemons, pirates, and crusaders, as well as timeless horrors and beasts whove slipped their leashes eons.
Denizens & Factions
As the multiverse nexus of not merely several planes, but many other dimensions, the diversity of beings within the Astral Sea is second to none. While there can likely never be a full accounting of all those that reside within the Great Dream, there are many natives that can truly call the Astral Sea home. For those native denizens, the Astral Sea is not merely a realm to traverse, but a place to be protected or controlled.
Angels
The first children of the gods, the angels (or celestials) are the primary sevitors and heralds for the divine realms. Their size, stature, and power range wildly, yet none can deny their origin or purpose. Most angels remain within or near their celestial dominions, but it generally good to beware of celestials on the frindges of the sea - for their purpose is often urgent, and their suspicion is high.
Devils
According to legend, the first devils were little more than angels that had succumb to corruption in the wake of the Abyssal Maelstrom. Still in control of their will, they lacked the appropriate purity to return home to their original domains. Exiled by chance, these devils found a new home within the Infernal Strand of Baator. In the eons since the first, the Archdevils of Baator have strived to carve out a new home for themselves, though their demand for souls has left them with few allies among the Celestial Choir.
Daemons
Souless monsters spawned from the Abyss, there are no denizens who find comfort or sympathy for daemons. While their exact origin remains a mystery, their presence has ebbed and flowed through the eons within the Astral Sea. After their first appearance, it is well known that the Gods summoned all the force they could bare to strike them from the realm - and while they were broken in many ways, they were not eliminated. Some argue that the war of the gods agains the daemons is what scattered them to material realms, ensuring their persitance in the time since.
Exalted
As the gods fought against daemons, the found that the strength of their celestial servants was insufficient. In order to fight these threats, they sought other beings able to take the fight to their foes. While most mortals, upon death, would dissolve their souls bach into the Aether of the Astral Sea, some retained a cohesive personality and power like that they knew in life. Gods that took these beings into their realms were able to bolster them, and infuse them with the power of the Astral Sea, granting them a second life in service to the divine.
Gith
While the Astral Sea has been home to many planar exiles and explorers, none have such an enduring reputation as the Gith. Who this gith were before remains a mystery, but what is known was that their people were enslaved by another world, and over millenia, they were transformed into something else. However, they managed to break away from from their enslavers, and have dedicated themselves to hunting down their former masters in every corner of the Sea and beyond. Transformed as they are, they now call the Astral Sea home, and sail the skies in search of purpose and absolution
Quom
The Quom are admittedly a rare sight within the Sea, but a worrisome one for those that cross their path. Once members of an extant religion in a remote corner of the sea, the Quom were nearly destroyed when their god, Lakal, was killed. With her death, the few surviving Quom have dedicated themselves to reviving Lakal by retrieving every shard of their lost god, and destroying anyone and anything that stands in their way.
Inexorables
Mysterious constructs that roam the void and edges of the Astral Sea. These strange creatures seem utterly devoted to maintaining ‘Order’ within the Astral Sea, though the nature and purpose of that order remains a mystery to most. They are steadfast and unyielding in the pursuit of their missions, and appear dis-interested with the motivations or morals of living creatures, though they appear to bear no ill-will against them either.
Comments