He was lying on his back upon a baked and smouldering stone, staring up at a smoky gray sky lit from distant and unseen fires. Around him, a sea of lava burped gouts of gas and jets of flame. The Elemental Plane of Fire.
Thank the fell ones, Vhok thought. I never thought I'd be so happy to be here.
The Elemental Plane of Fire was the domain of the Elder Elemental Ignis. Arriving on the Plane of Fire is like stepping into the flaming maw of an ancient red dragon; if one does not have protection or immunity from temperatures high enough to melt stone then death is guaranteed to be swift. The following assumes that a visitor and all their clothing and gear has this capability and that either they do not need to breathe or can compensate for a superheated, often toxic atmosphere that can immolate one from the inside. In general, the more fluid the elemental fire, the hotter it is and the more damage it does to unprotected material.
Unlike the other three elemental planes, the Plane of Fire has normal gravity and a landscape, although most of the "ground" is made primarily of loosely packed elemental fire and feels like walking in a swamp of hot coals. The rivers and oceans are filled with a more liquid version of the same stuff and swimming works normally as a mode of transportation. Non-native flying creatures find the atmosphere thin and therefore do not have their usual speed or manoeuvrability. Visibility is often hampered by the smoke coming off the flames engulfing, but not consuming, nearly every solid, liquid, or gas on the plane. What one can see is usually distorted by heat ripples. Geographic features such as hills, mountains, and cliffs do not have a geologic lifespan because even the more solid areas slowly move like a subterranean magma flow as seen on the Prime Material Plane. Permanent physical structures are very rare on this Plane.
The Elemental Plane of Fire can be reached via an adjacent elemental plane, through the Ethereal Plane, or by an elemental vortex. Two known vortices to adjacent elemental planes are the Iron Crucible that leads to the Elemental Plane of Earth and a vortex to the Plane of Air atop Jabal Turab, the Mount of Dust. If travelling through the Deep Ethereal, a red curtain of vaporous colour indicates the boundary of the Plane of Fire's Border Ethereal region. Elemental vortices can occur wherever a high concentration or nearly pure form of an element is found, and are either temporary or permanent. Vortices to the Plane of Fire are often found in pools of molten lava or the upwelling of magma in active volcanoes. Temporary planar gates may also be created by those with with the knowledge to do so.
The City of Brass
Floating amid the hottest areas of the Plane of Fire is a fabled refuge known as the City of Brass. The city is protected from the unforgiving flames and choking fumes by the Grand Sultan. Visitors to the city have unrestricted vision and temperatures are more tolerable (although still uncomfortable). The City of Brass sits in an enormous hemisphere of brass some 40 miles across. A curtain of beaten brass surrounds the entire city, stretching for hundreds of miles giving the city its name. The city features gilded towers of great heights, ornate palaces, and bustling markets where one can acquire exotic goods, slaves, or eve magical items. Within the core of the city lies the Charcoal Palace where the treasure vaults of the Grand Sultan, and his wrath at any who attempt to acquire even a single piece, are legendary.
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