A Place to Call Kip; or The Issues of Infinity

Game Master TheLawfulNeutral

The Three Rules:

Before stepping through any door, a body'd better have a quick lesson in cosmology - how else is a basher going to know where and what things are? First, it's important to know just what a plane is. To the serious philosopher types, a plane's a world, or a collection of worlds, that operates according to its own particular laws, including those affecting magic, gravity, and even the morals of the place. On some of these planes, the laws of "up" and "down" aren't the same; on others, evocation magic yields different results; and elsewhere, behaving even slightly out of line with the powers of the place makes for grim results.

Planes are either immense and infinite, in which case they're just called planes, or they're limited by definite borders and are called demiplanes. The exact number of planes is unknown and probably infinite, and planar travelers know of only three main categories: the Prime Material Plane, the Inner Planes, and the Outer Planes. Still, those three have more than enough space for a flaming large number of different planes.

To get around in the planar multiverse, there are three basic rules to remember:
- The Center of the Multiverse
- The Unity of Rings
- The Rule of Threes
These truths pretty well describe the structure of all the universes, so learn them well!

*THE CENTER OF THE MULTIVERSE*
It's usually upsetting to Prime Material bashers when they hear that their little world isn't the center of the universe, which is why they're known to planars as the Clueless. Members of a faction called the Signers might argue otherwise, but smart folks say there's no particular center to the planar multiverse. Rather, it all depends on where you stand. Folks in Sigil see the City of Doors as the center of the multiverse, folks on the Prime Material Plane say their own worlds are the center of the universe, and the efreet brag that the City of Brass is the center of all. The thing is, maybe they're all right and maybe they're all wrong.

Maybe they're all right because - the multiverse being infinite by most standards - no matter where you stand, that's the center of all things. The Signers have turned that idea into a whole philosophy: "I'm always at the center of the multiverse; therefore, I must be the center of all universes," they say. 'Course, the Signer's aren't quite right, because by that logic everyone stands at the center of the multiverse. (The Signers resolve this little paradox by ignoring it.)

In blunt words, the fact is there ain't any place in the whole multiverse that's more important than any other. For instance, Mystara on the Prime Material Plane is not the most powerful, influential, and important point in the multiverse; it's not the sole reason all other planes and powers exist. Hey, the uncounted layers of the Abyss stink of Evil itself, but exactly zero of the other Outer Planes kowtow to them, regardless of what the fiends there claim! Some places - like Sigil - are more useful than others, though. Just because it's not the center of the universe, don't think it ain't important, berk.

*THE UNITY OF RINGS*
A ring's a thing without a beginning or end. Remember that, because rings are the second key to understanding the planes. Everything comes in rings. Sigil is a ring, the Outlands are many rings, the Outer Planes form a ring, the Elemental Planes form a ring - this is the way of the multiverse, understand?

On the Outer Planes, the Great Road is the band of the ring, and all the planes are its gemstones. Following the Great Road, Mechanus leads to Acheron, Acheron leads to Baator, Baator leads to Gehenna, and so on. By following the road, the order never changes.

On the side, the powers think in rings, too - circles upon circles of logic that go nowhere. A body's always got to watch out for their endless snares.

*THE RULES OF THREES*
"Good things come in threes," they say. Well, so do bad things. Either way, the number 3's important - some say it's got power. Things out here tend to happen in threes, like Prime Material, Inner, and Outer Planes; Good, Evil, and Neutrality; Law, Chaos, and Neutrality; even prime, planar, and petitioner. See two things and ask, "Where's the third?"

*THE FOURTH RULE*

There is an exception to every rule.

Basic Planar Primer:

*The Planes are big.*

Really big. In fact, many of them are infinite. In fact, many of them contain smaller infinities within them. To make this all the more confounding is not all of these planes adhere to the normal sense of 4-dimensional space/time of the Prime Material. Confused yet? Good, that's normal. If you are a Prime, this can take quite a while for you to really grasp, but if you are a Planar, then all this is so second nature to you that such questions are either pointless or a point of philosophical standing. One way or another though, you are here to be educated on them. Below, you will find a basic guide to everything you need to know about the Planes. This, however, is not a comprehensive guide, for that you are going to have to actually get out there and walk the planes, berk!

*Basic Terms*

Well, before you can really start to understand the Planes, your need to know what the planes basically are and a few subsets therein.

*Plane:* A Plane is an infinite expanse that usually represents a certain physical element, alignment, or ideology, and maintains its own set of physical laws, environments, and native beings. For example Baator, or the Nine Hells to those clueless primes, represents the concept of pure Law and pure Evil.

Simple right? WRONG! There's more to it than you might at first think!

*Layer:* A Layer is portion of a Plane that is linked to other layers in a variety of manners. In and of themselves, Layers are usually an infinite expanse that is representative of a certain sub-set of the concept that the Plane. Continuing the example above, Baator has 9 layers, each infinite in and of themselves, but accessible to one another through a variety of gates and guarded passages.

Lets get a little smaller now shall we?

*Realm:* A Realm is a portion of a layer that is unified by very specific conditions and natives. Generally speaking, a Realm is the home domain of a Power (a deity) and is controlled entirely by that Power . While finite, the size of a Realm can still be very great depending upon the might of the Power. Continuing on with Baator, Kurtulmak (The racial deity of Kobold) lives in his own realm of Draukari on Avernus, the first layer of Baator. While most of Avernus is a blasted hellscape, Draukari is a series of hills and forests filled with deeply dug barrows that Draukari and his petitioners dwell within.

Of course, the smallest unit you get to are cities, towns, and such things that exist as normal. Here's a few more definitions to help sort things out as we go along.

*Prime Material Plane:* This is where most of you berks are from, the Prime is made up of countless Crystal Spheres that float through an infinity of Phlogiston, a sort of high-energy liquid and air-like substance. Each Crystal Sphere holds within it the universe of a different campaign setting. Ebberon, Toril, Kyrnn, Athas, Oerth and more are just floating away here. Something special about the Prime is that folks here are made up of two parts, the physical and the spiritual, their bodies and souls make up two different albeit connected units. You'll see why this makes such a difference.

*The Inner Planes:* The Inner Planes are better known to some as the Elemental Planes, each of which represents an element in its idealized form. There are 6 main Inner Planes that "orbit" and contribute to the elements of the Prime Material Plane. These are the planes of Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Positive Energy, and Negative Energy. While these planes are infinities unto themselves, some of them touch slightly to produce Para- and Quasi- elemental planes, which will be discussed further below.

*Outer Planes:* The 17 Outer Planes make up the Great Wheel, the Cosmological model of the Planescape Multiverse. Each of the Outer Planes represent a certain alignment and ideology in varying levels. These realms, and their native inhabitants, are different from the Prime in that their bodies and souls are not distinct elements. Rather the Outer planes and their inhabitants are made partially out of "real" substance and partially out of belief. Almost all mortals will eventually travel to one of these Outer Planes, as the Outer Planes actually function as the afterlife of mortals. Depending upon a person's beliefs and general manner throughout life, their soul is sent to one of these planes after death, either to the realm of the deity they worshiped or to a more general layer that represented them. These souls, called Petitioners, are often the basic building blocks from which certain Outsiders come from. A Lawful Good person who dies is likely to go to Mount Celestia, and after a certain time (depending upon their strength of soul and deeds performed in the afterlife) they may ascend to become an Archon (a sort of angelic being.) On the flip side, a Chaotic Evil person is likely to be sent to the Abyss, where they will be turned into a hideous Larva to be eaten, tortured, and generally harassed with the lucky(?) few managing to eventually become Demons.

*Transitive Planes:* The Transitives are a strange bunch of planes that exist as connecting points between other planes. Because each transitive plane is fairly unique in how they work, I will be going over them in more detail in their individual sections.

*Demi-Planes:* A Demi-plane is a finite plane that is often an artificial creation of deities/Powers, especially powerful wizards or psions, or occasionally broken off fragments of another plane. Most of these Demi-Planes exist as self-contained bubbles that float through the deepest parts of the Etheral Plane. Examples include the famous Demi-Plane of Dread, Ravenloft, and the Living Plane, Neth.

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