What about other planes?
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I waas talking about this over the phone with my brother, so I thought I would add it here and see what you all think. Most D&D worlds have other planes of existence. What about this one? If so, are they hard to reach? Can they be reached with science, or is magic the only way to do it? How common is planar travel?
Geoff said that he liked the idea of it being a bit like space eploration. Anybody else got an opionion? Andy 13:59, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
With NASA as the National Astral Space Administration, charting the depths of the Astral Plane? Cool.--Alex 17:47, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
Yes that is possible, but I was also thinking that maybe we could scrap the usual system of ethereal planes, elemental planes and so on. Perhaps there are three other planes, which relates back to the naming of the world. In fact, if you like the idea of there having been three other world which have been destroyed than these planes might actually be what remains of them after whatever apocalypse transpired. Andy 13:32, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
Of course one idea that would be kinda cool, if there was a divine creation, would be to have the solar system be self contained with little outer space to be explored. So the only alternative for those with a pioneering spirit would be to go planar exploring.
I still think it would be fun to have some planar stuff. Having a particularly religious state be in a continual state of war with Hell for the past hundred years, with a permanent beachhead for its armies of paladins, who keep developing new weapons like cold iron bullets to mow down the demons... That sounds pretty cool to me.--Alex 18:26, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
I didn't say no planes - quite the reverse infact.Just ment that I didn't want to use the standard set up, with all the elemental planes and so one. Instead, we could make up our own. This has some advantages... We could have a plane were standard firearms don't work properly for some reason. Or perhaps its too dangerous to use them. Suddenly bodyguards with swords don't look quite as daft, which relates back to your Weapons laws idea. It could be one of the easier planes to reach and small community has developed there, perhaps because no-one actually owns the place, leading to a very anarchistic society, almost like the wield west, but with less six shooters. Andy 14:59, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
Here is another idea, largly inspired by the talk about space travel.
I'd rather not use the standard set of planes, largly because they all come with a huge number of races associated with them. If we except the ethereal plane or limbo, then someone is going to start asking "Where are the Githyanki?" The same goes for demons, and celestrials. Allowing all these would make limiting the number of races on the Fourth World seem a bit irrelevant.
Besides, I'd rather have something original.
Here is a basic idea that we mighjt be able to expand upon. The standard spherical model has the planes arranged like an onion skin, though you can argue about how literally that should be interpreted. How about we go for a "current bun model" instead. All the planes are scattered around inside a matrix plane which keeps them apart. To get from one plane to another it is nessery to pass through the matrix but not any of the others.
This matrix plane is largely empty, a bit like space itself, but it contains a large number of other world. Some of these are large, like the fourth world itself, while other are very small, perhaps only a few miles or even meters across. Most of them would be unknown and unmapped, but the major nations might have off world stations. Great or privacy - or for dumping the worst sort of prisoners.
I'd suggst that the basic laws of science should work the same in the various planes (It makes life easier.), but the laws of magic might not.
Some ideas for larger currents in the bun might be
- Obviouslt, the Fourth world.
- Somewhere ruled over by the Demon Gods.
- A place where all the undecided souls go.
Note that I've not listed "The home of the gods" anywhere. Seeing as the combination of magic and science is likely to make dimensional transport easier I'd rather leave the gods outside of the planar model all together - they cannot be physically reached by any means. Those souls that join the gods are likewise inexcesible.
Fire away, if it so pleases you - or irritates you into action! Andy 15:13, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
Seeing as it is becoming more relevent, lets get this page going again. First off, is everyone happy with my current bun model of the planes? Second where do thes infernals on the Fourh World come from? Is there home plane of comparable size, or much smaller. I favor it being smaller - perhaps much smaller. If we want to cultivate their demonic aspect why not have their home plane as some sort of prision from which they escaped. Perhaps they were put there by the gods or even better the demon gods. Maybe it was the now defunct elves. In any event, if their previous home was a prision, what would explain why they are so keen to remain on the Fourth World. It still leaves the question of where came from before they were imprisioned. Perhaps they actually are native to the Fourth World after all! Andy 18:22, 2 May 2008 (BST)
Current bun would work for me. Just as an idea for your 'in-between space', there is a similar type of inbetween space used to keep seperate realities apart in comics, specifically DC and Wildstorm comics. In those it is called the Bleed, a pun on the fact that the spaces inbetween panels in a comic are called the bleed. Since our version is being concocted in cyberspace how about we call ours the Code? As an in-world reason perhaps the first person to discover it thought that here was a secret code that would explain all the secrets of the world. By the time it was discovered that it didn't the name had stuck.
As for the infernals, your comment about them coming from the Fourth World originally has given me an answer. I think I may make them the souls of dragons that sided with the Old Evil in the draconic civil war. As to whether their hellish abode is a prison they were placed in by the gods, or a refuge provided for them by the Old Evil is not known. Souls of dragons should be suitably powerful and have a fiery connection to play with. Cheers for the inspiration. --Alex 20:11, 3 May 2008 (BST)
I originally called the inbetween space the matrix, because that is what it is - one medium used to support another. However, the name seems unpopular, so I guess we can change it. I'm not sure about "The Code" though. I would have thought that magic users would have been the first to descover the place, many centuries ago, and they are likely to have had a name for it. Scientists might also have a more modern name for it. Hmmm, tell you what, I'll throw down a list of random name and see which proves the most popular.
- The Code
- The Visceria
- The Shadow Sea
- The Void
The name will probably reflect how the actual plane appears. The Void or the shadow sea, suggest something black and rather empty, my original idea. The Viscera makes me think that there might be something stretching between the embeded planes, likes vines or tissues.
Your idea about the dragons suits me fine. Andy 14:36, 4 May 2008 (BST)
I don't like matrix, because as a word its used too much in SF/Fantasy. I like the idea of sea-type names though, especially as if it was discovered by sorcerers/wizards several hundred years ago they would have to relate it to things they understood, and the analogy of a sea dotted with islands would make sense to them.
As for how it looks I prefer the idea of it looking different in different parts of the 'sea'. Parts of it would be black and void-like, other parts more visceral, others filled with strange ancient cyclopean structures, large enough for whole planes to fit inside. How about the Shifting Sea? The Shadow Sea could just be the black empty bit that the Fourth World sits on the edge of. Of course the current shorter 'textspeak' version of that name would be the Shiftsea.--Alex 11:41, 6 May 2008 (BST)
The shifting sea is ok, but shiftsea sounds like a keyboard command. Press "Shift-C to open the dimensional gate way". The anologue with a sea makes sense, as does that with desert and oasises. A few more names.
- The transdimensional sea
- The transdimensional desert
- Baseline reality (BLR)
They sound a bit more scientific this time. Speaking about names, what are the explorers called? Astralnaughts? Andy 11:23, 8 May 2008 (BST)
