Elemental Planes
Surrounding Aiaos, the Elemental Planes act as energy converters. Each plane absorbs the divine energy radiated by the Divine Twins, Soraes and Doraes, and transforms it into basal, also known as elemental, energy. Fed into the Primal Wild, this energy is shaped into the matter of the World itself.
In their natural, harmonious state, the elemental planes functioned as four discrete, purely mechanical realms. Each realm was an undifferentiated reservoir of energy in the process of conversion, and the four never touched. With the breaking of the original harmony, however, the elemental energies became turbulent. The reservoirs split and separated, basal energy converting into matter within the elemental planes. Flora and fauna came forth, and even intelligent life emerged. At the same time, energy spilled from the edges of the realms, spilling together at the borders of the realms to create the four Dualities.
Each of the four planes is now divided into three main parts, although the exact topology of each plane is distinct. These parts are the eminence, the borderland, and the maleficence. While planar magic can bring a traveler swiftly to any point in the plane, anyone may pass physically from Aiaos through the elemental gates at the cardinal extremes of the world, where the veil of the Aether grows extremely thin.
The eminence takes up the bulk of the plane, including the part closest to the Firmament, and this is where divine energy enters the realm. This is where the process of energy conversion takes place, although the process is more complex than in the original design, incorporating the actions and simple existence of the many, more complex features of the differentiated landscape. It is also where the majority of the plane's denizens make their home. At the furthest point from Aiaos, the eminence finally reaches the Elemental Boundary which protects the inmost realms.
The borderland is the part of the plane which lies alongside Aiaos, accessible through the elemental gate. Originally simple conduits into the Primal Wild, the gateways now allow the influence of each plane to flow into the other, flooding the World with elemental bounty, and creating a physical model to which the borderland shapes itself.
Finally, the maleficence is the part of the realm closest to the Abyss. The environment in this area is tainted by the presence of the Elemental Princes, the quartet of elemental divinities who created, and were later overthrown and bound by, the genies and Genasi.
Each plane is named for one of the The Primeval Gods:
Type
Dimensional plane
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