Elemental Plane of Earth
Ervenian Era, 1051 AB
It is a place of hidden riches. It is a wall against all foes, It is a grave for the greedy.The Elemental Plane of Earth is a boundless continent of stone and soil with no sky at all, only strata, seams, and pressure. Mountain ranges nest inside mountains, honeycombed by caverns the size of realms; faults groan like whales, and slow tectonic tides grind unheard for centuries before bucking in a single day of earthquakes. Here, open space is the exception: air-pockets glimmer with luminous geodes, magma rivers glow behind obsidian ribs, and underground seas lie still as black glass. A miner can walk from chalk to granite to veined mithral in a dozen steps, then step through a silted fault and watch bedrock crumble to dust toward the Negative, or feel stone soften to fiery syrup where Magma encroaches. Tunnels seem permanent until the plane’s patient appetite swallows them; only the great delves of dao and the fortress-warrens of earth lords endure, braced by artifice and oath.
Customs
Weighing of Spoils
Dao and All bargains end at the scale; the heavier claim rules unless out-oathed.Stonebread Share
Breaking a salt-and-granite loaf declares safe conduct within one vein.Fault-Chant
Tapping walls in triplets to announce peaceful passage; miners who ignore it are swallowed by the plane.Geography
Notable Locations
Great Dismal Delve
The dao’s vast mining empire under a ceiling of slow thunder.Sevenfold Mazework
A palatial labyrinth of shifting halls within the Delve.Hidden Fulcrum
A mythic pivot-cavern said to nudge whole strata with a word.Pale River
A pressure-carved gallery that bleeds into the Plane of Water.Iron Crucible
A slag-throat descending toward Fire’s blazing border.The Aviary
A gravity-light cavern where winged folk wheel through gemstone stalagmites.Travel and Access
Brown Ethereal curtains drop into Border Earth. Vortices lurk in young mountain hearts, deep mines, and fault chimneys. Major throughways: the Pale River toward Water and the Iron Crucible toward Fire. Safe travel relies on seam-maps, tremor drums, and guides who can earthglide.Inhabitants
Earth elementals; xorn/xaren; galeb duhr; pech; khargra; gargoyles; dao; greater basilisks; occasional dwarves, blue/copper dragons, and mephits (earth, salt).Localized Phenomena
Stone Tides
Slow-moving strata creep; unattended tunnels close inches per day.Crystal Song
Resonant geodes that relay footsteps and speech for miles (and to the wrong ears).Choke Pockets
Dead-air bubbles; flames gutter blue and lungs burn.Memory Geodes
Touch-storing crystals that replay heat, heartbeat, or hammer rhythm.Load-Snap
Sudden gravity spikes near voids; packframes and bridges fail if overburdened.Trait Type |
Description |
|---|---|
| Gravity | Objective, toward the nearest surface; in solid strata it feels omnidirectional pressure. |
| Time | Normal. |
| Shape & Size | Infinite massif of strata, caverns, and seams. |
| Morphic Traits | Earth-dominant; tunnels self-heal slowly; divinely morphic in lords’ demesnes (dao khanates, earth princes). |
| Elemental Energy | Earth Dominant. |
| Alignment | Neutral. |
| Magic | Stone/metal shaping, acid, fortification, tremorsense, and earth glide are enhanced; lightning, gaseous forms, and long-range teleportation through dense rock are impeded. |
Alternative Name(s)
The Eternal Delve
Type
Plane of Existence
Included Locations
Inhabiting Species
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