afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

[afroakuma]

- Are Planetouched more prevalent on the Planes, or on the Prime?

The Planes.

- It appears that many Outsiders with non-typical alignments (see: Falls-From-Grace) belong to planar Factions. Do the Factions generally cause or encourage such alignment shifts, or do these exceptional outsiders go seeking Factions because they have shifted alignment?

Neither.

- What might some of the effects of an extended convergence between an Outer Plane and the Ethereal Plane be?

Can't really happen. The Ethereal Plane is fairly far removed from the Outer Planes, and also very good about keeping itself fairly neutral. Ethereal rifts and stable portals both represent "incursions" of a sort, and neither actually interacts with the ether beyond displacing it in some fashion within the confines of the Ethereal Plane.

- Is it possible for a mortal to assume a prominent political position on the Outer Planes, such as a Duke of Hell, or a noble of the Court of Stars?

No. Such positions are not purely political.

[Lord_Gareth]

- What are the origins of the Ethereal Plane?

- I've read some references in the past to the Deep Ethereal, but I'm not entirely certain what it is, so...the hell is it? I mean, many spells (blink being the definitive example, of course) seem to think that the Ethereal is so close to the Prime that you can trip into it on accident, but the alien horrors that crawl out of the Deep Ethereal seem to have no relation to that at all. What gives?

[afroakuma]

- What are the origins of the Ethereal Plane?

The Ethereal Plane is the plane of possibility and potential. Originally it was nothing more than the Deep Ethereal, but on its borders there formed Material Planes, which the Ethereal spread out over and embraced. It is the extension of the Inner Planes outward, so to speak.

- I've read some references in the past to the Deep Ethereal, but I'm not entirely certain what it is, so...the hell is it? I mean, many spells (blink being the definitive example, of course) seem to think that the Ethereal is so close to the Prime that you can trip into it on accident, but the alien horrors that crawl out of the Deep Ethereal seem to have no relation to that at all. What gives?

The Ethereal is coexistent with the Prime Material Plane - or at least, the Border Ethereal is, the region inherently linked to the Material Plane. When creatures on the Prime become ethereal, they are stepping into the Border Ethereal, this region of overlap - a greyscale mirror of the Material Plane.

The Deep Ethereal is the vast ocean to the "shore" of the Border Ethereal. It is a formless sea that links all the various Borders Ethereal, the sea in which demiplanes form and drift like islands, and the realm of many of the true natives of the Ethereal Plane. The Deep Ethereal is reached chiefly by trying to get there once you're on the Border - that is to say, if you're in x-y-z space, moving along the q axis. The Border Ethereal is also the connection between the Material and Inner Planes, so it serves most of the functions you need out of your Ethereal services.

[Larkas]

What are the main differences between Planescape's Ethereal and 3.5's Ethereal? I know that in Planescape, the Elemental Planes are in the Deep Ethereal, but can you look into the Material the same way as you can in 3.5? Are the Elemental Planes like blobs floating in the Deep Ethereal, a la Demiplanes, or something else entirely? How do you enter the Inner Planes through the Ethereal?

[Eldan]

There are three basic groups of planes. The elemental, the material, and the outer planes.

The ethereal plane connects the elemental and the prime material. The astral plane connects the material to the other planes.

The main difference is that the ethereal is split in Planescape. The Border ethereal, which intersects with the prime, is basically the same as the ethereal in 3.5. However, there is also the Deep Ethereal.

While on the Border ethereal, you always see a colourful curtain or wall floating near you, often above you. Moving through it brings you to the deep ethereal. Instead of a grey immaterial reflection of the material, it is its own world. It is where the four elements mix into protoplasm, the basic substance of all prime material matter. As such, it is full of mirages, figments and half-formed objects.

[afroakuma]

What are the main differences between Planescape's Ethereal and 3.5's Ethereal? I know that in Planescape, the Elemental Planes are in the Deep Ethereal, but can you look into the Material the same way as you can in 3.5? Are the Elemental Planes like blobs floating in the Deep Ethereal, a la Demiplanes, or something else entirely? How do you enter the Inner Planes through the Ethereal?

In 3.X, the Ethereal isn't by default split into Border and Deep - though there is a sidebar for doing so in the Manual of the Plane. In both, the Ethereal is a reflection of the Material Plane. The Elemental Planes don't float within the Deep Ethereal - rather, they're sort of metaphysically "atop the fountain," as it were.

The Ethereal has physical connections to the Inner Planes in the same way it does to others - color curtains, immobile portals to a specific plane. It's just metaphysically closer to the Inner Planes, which is facilitative to certain magical effects.

[Lord_Gareth]

So - if half-X (fiend, celestial) and Planetouched (of the L, G, C, and E varieties) are more common on the Planes, how do they shake out into planar societies? Obviously they tend towards extremes of ostracism (tieflings, chaonids) or leadership (aasimar, those Lawful ones whose names start with a Z) on the Prime, but on the Planes they're of decidedly lesser power in the absence of large numbers of class levels. How do the various Planes slot their Planetouched into their culture(s)?

[afroakuma]

On the Planes they're treated as any non-exemplar planar would be. People figure you for a planar, know you're not a full-blooded incarnation of good/law/evil/chaos/neutrality, and give you the same status any generic planar would get on the Planes. Obviously you'll experience a bit of bias (positive or negative) depending on where and what you are, but it's pretty thin overall.

[Lord_Gareth]

Why is Celestia a mountain?

Well, let me rephrase that. Did Celestia form as the Seven Mounting heavens deliberately, when the planes were created/spawned as dumping grounds of alignment, or was there a mountain "there" (for whatever value of "there" is appropriate) that Celestia was then "built" around?

[silverwolfer]

If the etheral is about creation and possibilities , is the shadow plane about the lack of those or the death of then?

[Juntao112]

What are the consequences of losing a card duel in the Shadow Realm?

[afroakuma]

There was nothing there before Celestia was there. There was no planar "geography" prior to the planes forming. Of the few things it is speculated did exist prior to the forming of the planes, the only one that was occupying the metaspace where an Outer Plane formed is now wedged deep within the Abyss.

[silverwolfer]

If Asmodeus is the lord of sin and pretty much every creature that is evil besides demons, how has he not gobbled up the rest of the evil gods, with that much fire power behind him?

[afroakuma]

If the etheral is about creation and possibilities , is the shadow plane about the lack of those or the death of then?

The Ethereal is in a way a form of untapped potential. The Plane of Shadow is collapsing potential - shifting semi-solid reality that changes and fluctuates over time. Ephemeral, in its way. It is the thousand thousand echoes of what could have come from what was, and of what might come from what is, and of what could lead to that which will come.

Mainly, though, it's just monochrome darkness world.

[afroakuma]

If Asmodeus is the lord of sin and pretty much every creature that is evil besides demons, how has he not gobbled up the rest of the evil gods, with that much fire power behind him?

Well, he isn't. He's got no authority over yugoloths, or gehreleths, or chronotyryn; no dominion over the petty vilekith of the Prime such as orcs and goblins; no true divine spark. Asmodeus is a very powerful force of evil, yes, and the master-by-conquest of one of the Lower Planes, but he's not master of all evil. Not even half of it.

[silverwolfer]

Do you have any information on mechnus besides foromions, it seems one of the more interesting plains, but least published.

[afroakuma]

Do you have any information on mechnus besides foromions, it seems one of the more interesting plains, but least published.

There's quite a bit of information about Mechanus available; in particular, some of its other notable denizens, the inevitables, appear in the 3.5 Monster Manual and the SRD.

What would you like to know?

[Lord_Gareth]

How long does it take for technological changes in the Prime to echo back towards the Outer Planes? I realize there's probably a delay, and maybe even a significant one, but since belief affects the Outer Planes to a degree one wonders what, say, widespread firearm use on the Prime might do to their paradigms.

[afroakuma]

Well, there are already guns in Sigil. There are areas of wondrous technology in Mechanus. There are plenty of worlds feeding that sort of belief into the planes. It's just that there are significantly more that do not.

In other words, the Planes are fundamentally uninterested in "technological advances." They also have the feedback loop effect that reinforces what's always there - how Asmodeus has that name and that symbol and that home and that suite of powers despite no cultures across the planes having devised a tall pointy-bearded elegant man who lives in a castle in a hole, carries a wand of rubies and misses his wife terribly. And so on and so forth.

[Lord_Gareth]

Several planar bazaars - including Sigil and Dis - exist where many planar or Prime races can trade and barter. Do the Planes use gold as a currency? If not, what do they tend to trade in?

[Eldan]

Souls, on the lower planes. Particularly the night hags are deep in the larva trade.

Otherwise, yes, coin. Several factions in sigil mint their own, but in general, pretty much everything coin-shaped and made of metal is accepted and barter isn't rare either. It's probably because so many mortals believe in the value of money.

[afroakuma]

Several planar bazaars - including Sigil and Dis - exist where many planar or Prime races can trade and barter. Do the Planes use gold as a currency? If not, what do they tend to trade in?

Gold is a popular form of currency in Sigil and on the outlands. As a precious metal with a powerful magical nature, it's always in demand. Some Upper Planar races, particularly angels, dislike gold as a form of coinage.

Silver is much less popular - it sees use in Sigil and on most Upper Planes, but one must be careful when dealing with it. You see, silver is a mild allergen to many kinds of fiend and quite harmful to many kinds of baatezu and other devils. Many denizens of the Beastlands and Arborea are also averse to the touch of silver. Thus, silver coins ("stingers") are a risky bet if you're not certain who you're dealing with, and many moneychangers won't touch them for fear of being unable to move them or offending other customers.

Copper coins don't tend to stay coppery for long on the planes. Whether it's contact with exotic environments or just getting rubbed with the acidic sweat of a fiend, copper tends to acquire a greenish crust over time. Expect to be offered "greens" as change on more than one occasion.

Don't bring electrum to the planes either - combining gold and silver in an uncertain ratio results in more than a few suspicious looks, and if anyone will take your money they'll tell you (politely, one hopes) that it will be counted out as though it were silver. Electrum coins are called "baubles" on the planes for this reason - they're fairly troublesome to have and worthless in most places.

Platinum is a good metal for trade. Platinum coins are "Merts" on the Planes, though you wouldn't dare call them that in Celestia or the Lower Planes. Be polite and you'll always find a home for platinum cash.

Sigil has two forms of indigenous coinage apart from such coins certain factions choose to mint. The torus and the mobius are similar at first glance - ringlike coins that can be threaded onto a string. The torus is made of gold, however (and worth less beyond the Cage due to the center hole) while the mobius, which has a half-twist to create the figure from which it derives its name, is platinum and inscribed with hundreds of tiny, precise runes. This latter is rare, valuable and typically encountered only in large mercantile negotiations - don't expect to see mobius changing hands at a storefront.

A form of currency that goes well just about anywhere, gems are low-risk if you're good at appraisal and better at finding trustworthy dealers who will give you the value you deserve. A great many planar merchants have some skill in appraisal and can quickly size up the value of your gemstones.

You'll find a vast array of unique currencies on the Outer Planes: tetrahedral prisms, glittering marbles, thin disks of chiming crystal, precisely forged cogs, pine cones, geodes, talons, horns... the list goes on and on.

In the Lower Planes, you'll need to be wary of what coins come your way. So-called "ivory bits" are valued as copper pennies, but come from the bones of dead creatures. Similarly valueless are the blood coins of Avernus, which wear away into nothing over time. Acheron deals in steel cubes; in Pandemonium, currency is nearly worthless. The fiends are also happy to trade in souls, which are trapped in small jewels and very valuable. The most trustworthy form of coinage across the Lower Planes is "grey ice," coinage minted from pressed tungsten. Grey ice is a stable form of currency as it's typically more durable than those dealing in it.

[enderlord99]

If you fly a canoe counter-counter-banana-bo-bounter-fe-fi-fo-founter-counter-clockwise a river, but all eleventy-J wheels fall on, what does purple taste like?

Do the far realms count as a plane for the purpose of this thread?

[afroakuma]

Do the far realms count as a plane for the purpose of this thread?

They do, yes.

[Lord_Gareth]

- So, the Court of Stars doesn't really 'rule' Arborea, but they come about as close as you can to 'ruling' a group of Chaotic beings. What are the responsibilities of the Court as a sovereign entity?

- Aside from the obvious (idiot summoners), how DOES stuff from the Far Realms end up in the Planes?

[afroakuma]

- So, the Court of Stars doesn't really 'rule' Arborea, but they come about as close as you can to 'ruling' a group of Chaotic beings. What are the responsibilities of the Court as a sovereign entity?

Please rephrase the question.

- Aside from the obvious (idiot summoners), how DOES stuff from the Far Realms end up in the Planes?

Idiots and accidents. That's it. The Far Realm has no desire to have contact with the Great Wheel any more than the Great Wheel likes rubbing elbows with the Far Realm.

[Lord_Gareth]

That's interesting. What, then draws some Far Realm entities into the Great Wheel - or are the unfortunates that get sucked through the victims of circumstances beyond their control?

[afroakuma]

That's interesting. What, then draws some Far Realm entities into the Great Wheel - or are the unfortunates that get sucked through the victims of circumstances beyond their control?

Idiots and accidents. Some Far Realm parody of "curiosity," or one of the random happenstances that originates in that place.

[TuggyNE]

If you fly a canoe counter-counter-banana-bo-bounter-fe-fi-fo-founter-counter-clockwise a river, but all eleventy-J wheels fall on, what does purple taste like?[/COLOR]

42. Or maybe 9.

[Coidzor]

Limbo and Giant Frogs, why is this, do you think?