Plane of Earth
“The Underdark? A child’s toybox compared to the twisting labyrinths, caves, passages, and wonders of the Plane of Earth. In the Underdark, there’s an innate sense of the world above that colors the experiences of travelers and inhabitants, but this does not exist on the Plane of Earth. It is suffocation and brutality defined and stands as one of the least hospitable of the Inner Planes. Still, the realm is ripe with treasures and secrets buried beneath the rock and stone.”
Astromarchus the Sage
Earth is a fundamental component of the multiverse and perhaps the most visible to most inhabitants of the Material Planes. Continents, islands, mountains, hills – these are all concrete examples of this ubiquitous element across the realms, and it shows up in all of the other Inner Planes as well in one form or another. And the root for all that rock and dirt is the Plane of Earth.
Much of this plane is solid mass making it difficult for non-native creatures to move around or even breathe. However, limitless tunnels, passages, and caves wind their way through the stony realm, the result of both incursions from other Inner Planes and determined digging efforts by the native creatures. The dao, genies of the earth, are the cruelest of slave drivers and constantly seek out veins of rich minerals and ore to adorn their fabulous abodes.
Getting lost in the Plane of Earth is perhaps the greatest threat to travelers beyond a collapsing tunnel or marauding beast as there is no clear indication of any cardinal direction. Tunnels wind up and down, cross between each other, and cut into massive caves with no discernable pattern or thought. For travelers willing to risk the journey, however, great treasures and wonders can be found, whether it’s the prize opal Koh Nur in the center of the dao’s Sevenfold Mazework or searching the chaotic Tunnels of Madness for the Heart of All Mountains or trying to escape the infamous Salt Dungeons of the Great Khan.
The Powerful and Mighty
Though the dao would have travelers believe they are the greatest power in the Plane of Earth, the truth is more complex than that. It is true that they control the most concentrated territory of any sentient denizen of the realm, but the plots and machinations of other influential creatures continue to occur throughout the plane. These powerful creatures can be used as villains or patrons for a party of adventurers that seek to explore the domains of the Plane of Earth. Most are treacherous, however, with evil intent, so adventurers are encouraged to tread carefully in their halls and homes.
- Geb (Egyptian)
- Grumbar (elemental lord)
- Kabril Khan (dao)
- Ogremoch (evil earth creatures)
Elemental Lords of Earth
The greatest and most powerful earth elementals on the plane are the Elemental Lords of Earth. Sometimes referred to as archomentals or primordials, these immense beings are comprised of the very stone and earth that makes up the plane. There are at least three elemental lords known – Ogremoch, Entemoch, and Sunnis. The plane is vast, however, and others may still exist, dormant or waiting.
Ogremoch is the best known of the earth elemental lords and he is known as the Prince of Evil Earth Elementals. He dwells in a stone spire deep in the Stony Expanse that is surrounded by airless void, and from there he contemplates his next move. His cultists are known to spread destruction across the Material Planes in accordance with his will, which can be confusing to most. But Ogremoch is nothing if not patient, and while he seems slow to act it is only because he is considering how best to utilize his forces to accomplish his goals of crushing all living creatures beneath stones. He has a special hatred for flying creatures, and uses squads of gargoyles to harass aarokocra in the Plane of Air on a regular basis.
Ogremoch’s twin, Entemoch, is less known but no less powerful. Unlike his brother, Entemoch is a Prince of Good Earth Elementals, and works to thwart Ogremoch’s schemes as much as possible. He travels throughout the Stony Expanse, moving from passage to passage to stamp out his brother’s followers, though to date he has not moved much beyond that simple strategy. Ogremoch’s schemes are larger than his twin realizes. Gnomes are well regarded by Entemoch.
Sunnis is a Princess of Good Earth Elementals and she dwells in a palace called the Sandfell. She keeps a lower profile than Ogremoch but opposes the dao at every opportunity – the two have an intense rivalry on the Plane of Earth. Sunnis believes that the native creatures of the plane such as the pech and sandlings deserve freedom and she works with her followers to break the slave chains of the dao in their outposts across the plane.
Gargoyle Princes
Gargoyles are a common encounter in the Plane of Earth along with margoyles, their wingless cousins. These stony creatures are normally born as a byproduct of the Elemental Lords of Earth, who leave behind shards as they move through the plane that grow into gargoyles. Ogremoch is fond of using gargoyles in his never-ending war with the forces of the Plane of Air.
But not all gargoyles are born this way. Some are descendants of a line of fiercely intelligent creatures known as ancient gargoyles who were born from the plane itself. The most powerful of these native denizens are the Gargoyle Princes, each ruling a princedom in the Plane of Earth carved to their specification. The exact number of Gargoyle Princes is unknown, though at least four are known to exist. Each is thoroughly evil and represents the most ambitious aspects of the ancient gargoyle race.
The most prominent of the Gargoyle Princes is Prince Krongrud. Physically, Prince Krongrud is powerfully strong and views strength as his best asset – his plots are usually direct and involve total destruction. He rules from the subterranean Castle Kronguard and keeps company with his Legion of Stony Doom, an army of well-trained gargoyle warriors. Prince Krongrud pushes the boundaries of his princedom continually and does not get along with the dao or the Elemental Lords of Earth.
The other well-known Gargoyle Prince is Princess Zadhey. She is cunning and manipulative, and though her princedom is relatively small, from her Basalt Citadel she leads an elite force of ancient gargoyle assassins. Princess Zadhey is on good terms with the dao who sometimes contract her assassins out for attacks on rivals, both internal and external.
Great Khan of the Dao
In the center of the Great Dismal Delve sits the Sevenfold Mazework, the largest dao settlement in the multiverse, and in the center of that (beyond the first five maze layers) rests the palace of the Great Khan known as the Hidden Fulcrum. When a dao ascends to the role of Great Khan he or she forsakes their name in favor of the title, so it is difficult for an outsider to know when the power in the dao khanate shifts.
The current Great Khan is a massively loathsome, greedy, and paranoid dao who rarely leaves the inner sanctum of the Hidden Fulcrum. He surrounds himself with stone and iron golems along with other constructs as these are the only personal protection he trusts, and he communicates his wishes through a select cadre of seneschals that operate outside his personal chamber. But even the seneschals rarely gaze upon the Great Khan in person – the Great Khan makes his wishes known through specially enchanted mirror gems that allow for communication between tuned gemstones.
The Great Khan has an insatiable appetite for everything, from slaves to jewelry to art and treasure, and his greed has pushed his surveyors to find more and more veins of precious ore and mineral across the plane. He treats well with the Grand Sultan of the Efreet and the two have a mutual business partnership – the efreet come to the City of Jewels to purchase slaves, and the dao use efreeti techniques and masters in the working of the ore they mine. The Grand Sultan comes personally to the Great Dismal Delve to watch and bet on greater basilisk races organized by the dao.
Keepers Under the Mountain
Dumathoin, dwarven god of secrets, does not dwell on the Plane of Earth, but his followers maintain a stronghold dedicated to his teachings and worship there. The Library of Dumathoin is maintained by a devout order of dwarven monks and clerics called the Keepers Under the Mountain, and they trade in secrets of all kind. The halls of their hidden fortress are said to contain one of the largest collection of scrolls in the multiverse, and the Keepers maintain the sanctity of this holy site against all intruders with zealous ferocity.
To that end, the Keepers maintain a secret presence throughout the Plane of Earth and try to keep up on events throughout the Inner Planes. Several dwarf slaves in the service of the Great Khan are secretly members of the Keepers Under the Mountain, and they communicate knowledge through the very stone of the plane itself. Several deep cover Keepers are assigned to the Gargoyle Princes while others travel as independent merchants between the Sevenfold Mazework, the City of Brass on the Plane of Fire, the City of Glass on the Plane of Water, and even in the Citadel of Ice and Steel on the Plane of Air.
Leadership in the Keepers is determined by the number of known master secrets, which are the great mysteries of the multiverse according to Dumathoin. The teachings of the Keepers Under the Mountain say there are thirteen master secrets, and only Dumathoin knows all of them. The highest ranking Keeper, the Seventh Master Librarian, is said to know seven of the master secrets.
Recently, however, a splinter faction has grown within the ranks of the Keepers. Some of the librarians and monks believe the secrets of Dumathoin are not meant to be hoarded but instead should be shared with all sentient creatures. These radicals call themselves the Liberties Under the Mountains and work to subvert the work of the library and its keepers. So far, a dozen members have been expelled from the Keepers, and rumors persist that at least one of them held the rank of Second Master Librarian.
Deepstone King of the Pech
The pech were not always hunted down by the dao and used as slaves. At one point, they held their own land and served a wise and great leader of their own kind in a fantastic realm of peace and tranquility. This mythical place is called Deepstone and it has passed completely into legend, along with the role of Deepstone King.
But to the pech slaves of the dao, the myth of Deepstone and its legendary king is a wellspring of secret hope. Pech workers toiling in the mines and tunnels of their genie masters believe that the Deepstone King is destined to return, and when he does he will free all of the pech from their bonds of servitude and lead the elemental people to their legendary homeland. Some say that this king will rise up from the ranks of the enslaved pech, while others say he will come from outside the Plane of Earth to save them all in a massive revolt.
For their part, the dao do their best to quash any stories they hear about the Deepstone King, and this tactic has worked for many hundreds of years. But the pech have long memories, and they pass the story of their legendary leader from one generation to the next in the hope that one day, their stories become true and they are led to their ancient homeland.
Creatures & Denizens
The Plane of Earth is a dangerous realm with monstrous denizens capable of sneaking up on travelers through the very rock. Cunning dao, ruthless sandlings, and voracious eaters such as the greater basilisks and tunnel worms are all creatures capable of ending a traveler’s journey through the Plane of Earth.
Basilisk, Greater
The greater basilisks of the Plane of Earth are massive serpentine creatures with no legs that move through the tunnels of the realm seeking prey. They use their acid to eat away at the stone to create passages in search of food, and they use the same acid to devour the petrified victims of their deadly gaze. They are animalistic and cunning but know the Terran language instinctively.
Hunting Snakes of the Dao. The dao are fond of using greater basilisks for a variety of purposes. The most common function is to hunt down escaped slaves, but they are also used for slave discipline. A slave who has disobeyed its dao master or broken the law is turned to stone using a greater basilisk’s gaze, after which the monster is allowed to feed on an appendage on the petrified victim. Once the feeding is complete, the dao reverse the petrification and the slave returns to work minus a piece of themselves.
Bejeweled Eggs. Greater basilisks in the wilds of the Plane of Earth do not gather in large numbers. They are typically found as solitary hunters or mated pairs, and the pairs usually have a nest that they guard jealously. Greater basilisk eggs are crusted with naturally occurring gemstones of all shapes and sizes – this is another reason the dao prize them so highly. A mated pair typically has 1d4+1 eggs every fifteen years, and it requires ten years for a hatchling to reach maturity.
Creeping Stone
Creeping stone are oozes native to the Plane of Earth that silently move through the realm, devouring rocks and dirt as they go. They draw nutrients from the plane itself, but when presented with a living creature they seek it out instinctively – the taste of a petrified victim ground to powder in its bulk is a tasty treat to these creatures. They appear as large sticky masses of earth spread out like a blanket, oozing and forming over itself as it travels.
Elemental Janitors. The creeping stone act as the cleanup crew for the Plane of Earth, removing detritus and debris cast off by other creatures and turning it into natural rocks in their wake.
A Calming Bath. The dao use creeping stone as a means to relax, soaking their bodies in a pool of the ooze creatures to release tension and exfoliate their genie skins. More than one slave has fallen victim to the creeping stone’s engulf ability while preparing a soaking bath for their master
Gargoyle, Ancient
Ancient gargoyles, or true gargoyles as they refer to themselves as, are creatures born out of the Plane of Earth through some forgotten process. They are more intelligent and cunning than standard gargoyles though no less cruel, and their long life spans give them a unique perspective on the activities and schemes around them. Their stony skin and wings ranges in color from pale gray to rocky brown but their eyes are gemstones – emeralds, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and other types.
A Dying Race. Whatever process spawned the ancient gargoyles has been lost to the ages for centuries. As long as a ancient gargoyle dies on the Plane of Earth, however, it reforms some days later, creating an immortal race as long as they don’t leave their home plane. Despite this, their numbers are limited, but some of the Gargoyle Princes are seeking ways to create more of their kind. If they were to succeed they would be able to sweep over the Plane of Earth in a wave of conquest and bloodshed.
Puppet Masters. Ancient gargoyles are rarely seen as the rank and file soldiers – they view such assignments as beneath them. They are much more likely to be pulling the strings of a plot from far away, using magical items and other resources to the best of their ability to control the outcome of planned events. They are rarely encountered outside the Plane of Earth, but when they are they are extremely cautious.
Genie, Dao
Few would argue that the dao are the most powerful force on the Plane of Earth – certainly no dao would argue with this point! They are greedy and cruel, always seeking to curry favor with the Great Khan and his allies in order to secure their own position of power in the khanate. The largest concentration of dao is found in the Sevenfold Mazework, also known as the City of Jewels, but many other outposts are maintained throughout the Plane of Earth.
Dao see every non-dao as innately inferior, and they view inferior creatures as nothing more than slaves. Their outposts and cities are filled with all manner of slaves captured from both the Plane of Earth and across the multiverse. Earth elementals, pech, sandlings, gargoyles, dwarves, and gnomes are the most common, but elves, humans, and genasi can also be found in great numbers.
No Place Like a Mazework. Dao outposts across the Plane of Earth are located in mazeworks – a series of tunnels and passages carved to confuse and disorient intruders. Most mazeworks contain a 50:1 ration of slaves to dao, though some hold teams of digging and mining slaves in much greater quantities. The mazework interior is broken up into wings for each individual dao and their personal servants along with pens for the working and warrior slaves. The center of each mazework is normally reserved for the head of the family, normally a khan, who seeks greater glory for their family and selves in the eyes of the Great Khan in the Sevenfold Mazework.
Seeking the Motherlode. Dao are continually searching the plane for the rarest of mineral veins referred to as the Motherlode. This serpentine vein of priceless ore moves constantly, a phenomena believed by many to be the simple shifting of the plane’s massive earth layers. Others believe the Motherlode has an intelligence of its own. Finding the Motherlode is the dream of all dao, and when they come upon access to the vein they move with speed and deliberation. Usually they only get a day of mining before the vein leaps and disappears into the earth once again.
Gem Lovers. To the dao, gemstones are precious and full of uses. Gemstones of all shapes and sizes can be enchanted to hold great and powerful magic, and they can also provide dim light for slaves to work by. They can be crushed and sprinkled over food as a delightful spice or they stud a building for a fantastic prismatic glow.
Khargra
Sometimes referred to as stone fish, khargra are rock-skinned elemental creatures that move through the Plane of Earth in the same way a fish moves through water. It is attracted to metal, specifically worked metal, so it generally attacks the most armored target first when it leaps out of the ground. A khargra has three slender tentacles encircling its wide, tooth-filled maw, and it uses these tentacles to restrict targets so that it can chew with impunity.
Khargra Schools. On the Plane of Earth, khargra travel in schools of four or more, swimming through the stone seeking veins of ore. The creatures have an innate sense for the rarer minerals, so dao have learned to watch for large gathering of khargra and to follow them to their destination in hopes of striking before the stone fish do.
Margoyle
Larger than a standard gargoyle, the margoyle is a wingless brute capable of dealing great damage. Its claws and horns are made for rending and it makes up for a lack of wings with a loping gait that allows it to quickly move along tunnels and passages. They are aggressive and cruel, and regularly bully smaller creatures. When confronted with physically larger foes, a margoyle generally cowers in submission.
Willing Slaves. The dao use margoyles as bodyguards and soldiers and pay them nothing, but the margoyles do not seem to mind. As long as they have a regular opportunity for bloodshed, they are happy to remain as slaves to the dao. Several of the Gargoyle Princes have teams of margoyles for elite warriors as well, but their cautious movements and long term plans generally do not agree with the aggressive tactics of the margoyles, leading to several mutinies over the centuries.
Rakrozz and the Hornclaws. Margoyles typically serve more intelligent masters, such as the dao or the Gargoyle Princes, but this isn’t always the case. Somewhere in the Plane of Earth an unusually intelligent margoyle named Rakrozz has organized a mercenary band made up of his fellow margoyles. Calling themselves the Hornclaws, Rakrozz has made a impressive name for himself among the princedoms of the Gargoyle Princes. His margoyle warriors are ruthless, savage, and show no mercy, but Rakrozz is a calculated negotiator who always seeks to have the upper hand.
Pech
Pech are peaceable creatures native to the Plane of Earth. They are surprisingly thin, with spindly arms and legs but with broad hands and feet perfect for employing tools to work stone and rocks. They have pale skin with brown hair, and their large eyes have no pupils.
Highly Coveted Slaves. Pech are the ideal slaves of the dao in their never-ending mining operations, and as such they are constantly hunted by the genies. Whole communities of pech have been captured by the dao slave takers and then sold to various mazeworks across the plane, breaking up families and friends. Pech slaves are highly valued by the dao but treated the worst, but somehow the stoic spirit of the pech remains. Most hold out hope that one day they will be free.
Work is Life. To a pech, the endless toil of mining and digging holds an unmatched joy that fills their life with purpose and meaning. Even under the yoke of the dao, pech relish digging and are not happy unless they have mining tools in hand. Some planar scholars believe this is why there has never been a significant pech uprising among the ranks of the dao – the genies allow the pech to do what they want to do most in life, albeit on a forced schedule.
Sandman
A sandman is a bipedal humanoid comprised entirely out of sand, held together by magical cohesion. They are native creatures to the Plane of Earth, where they serve almost exclusively as slave-takers of the dao genies. Their ability to take prisoners alive make them well-suited to capturing victims for their masters, but they chafe constantly under the command of the dao. They do not speak but seem to communicate telepathically with one another.
Valued Components. Spellcasters that collect sand from a defeated sandman can use it as an enhanced material component for the sleep spell. When used, the effects of the sleep spell are maximized. Because of this, wizards and sorcerers sometimes seek out sandmen, and when defeated a sandman typically yields 1d4 enhanced material components.
Hateful. Sandman live an angry, hateful existence. They hate the dao, but are typically bound by magic to perform the tasks set out before them, but they hate humans more. Sandmen have long memories, and some planar scholars believe they share a pool of racial memories stretching back hundreds upon hundreds of years. This would explain their unrelenting hatred towards humans for hunting them down and using them as spell components.
Weird, Earth
Similar to the aquatic water weirds, an earth weird is a serpentine mass of rock and dirt. They are territorial creatures by nature, whether encountered on their native Plane of Earth or as bound guardians to a specific location on the Material Plane, and fight to protect their chosen or specified patch of land to the death.
Fossil Remnants. Earth weirds strip fallen victims of all flesh and muscle, discarding it away through their elemental digestive process, leaving only their bones. The earth weird then consumes some natural aspect of the bones, leaving only petrified bones – fossils – in its wake. A massive cavern on the Plane of Earth known as the Bones of the Earth contains hundreds of discarded fossilized skeletons, the result of a mass gathering of earth weirds.
Servants of Ogremoch. Ogremoch, Prince of Evil Elemental Earth, is fond of using earth weirds in his plots, and often sends them as “gifts” to his cultists across the Material Plane. Some of these gifts turn against their master’s followers and escape, creating pockets of earth weirds in unexpected places across the multiverse. Around his Stone Spire, Ogremoch keeps a nest of loyal earth weirds with a particularly large cruel streak.
Hazards & Phenomena
The Plane of Earth holds numerous threats to travelers beyond its lack of breathable air for most of the realm! From collapsing tunnels to falling rocks and flows of magma and ooze, the plane holds no small amount of danger for the unprepared.
Earthquake
Despite its reputation, the Plane of Earth is constantly in motion. Normally this motion is slow and grinding, but occasionally it is sudden and dangerous. When an earthquake occurs, it strikes in a 100-foot-radius centered on a random nearby point to the party. For 1d10 rounds, the area is struck by the effects of the earthquake spell, which has the following additional effect. The below effect occurs with any casting of the earthquake spell as well.
Every round, rocks and debris rain down from the ceiling unless the area has been specially fortified against such events (most pech and dao settlements are protected by earth magic against the effects of the planar earthquakes). At the end of every creature’s turn in the radius of the earthquake they must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, suffering 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage on a failure, or half as much on a successful save.
There is a 10% chance per round of the earthquake that a collapse occurs across the entire area of effect. See below for the results of a collapse.
Collapse
The Plane of Earth is treacherous to the unwary and it can bury travelers in a moment’s notice. A collapse occurs when something causes the ceiling of the tunnel or cave to crumble, sending rocks and debris crashing down in a heap of rubble. Most collapses occur in a 30-foot-radius, though collapses caused by an earthquake fill a much larger area.
When a collapse occurs, roll on the below table to determine the type of earth that fills the area. Creatures in the collapsed area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, suffering the listed bludgeoning damage on a failure along with being completely buried. A successful save results in only half damage along with being restrained by the rubble.
| 1D10 | Type of Earth | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | Soil | 14 (4d6) |
| 4-6 | Very soft rock | 21 (6d6) |
| 7-8 | Soft rock | 28 (8d6) |
| 9 | Hard rock | 35 (10d6) |
| 10 | Very hard rock | 52 (15d6) |
Creatures buried must dig their way out using the digging guidelines in the Traveling Around section, and they are buried beneath 1d10 feet of earth. Suffocation begins immediately unless the character can hold their breath or otherwise function without breathing. A character that is only restrained by the rubble can remove themselves with an action to make a Strength (Athletics) check against the digging DC of the earth type restraining them.
When a collapse occurs, roll for a random encounter to see what else might come through as a result of the opening. After a collapse the area is considered difficult terrain for movement purposes.
Ooze Flow
Some large swaths of the Plane of Earth have mixed with moisture from the Plane of Water to create dangerous ooze flows. These are common in the area below the Mud Flats, but any portion of the plane can contain a planar vortex to the watery realm.
Ooze flows contain dangerous levels of acid and spread out to fill a 100-foot-radius area, or whatever equivalent open area exists. Every round a creature is in an ooze flow they must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, suffering 13 (3d8) acid damage on failure, or half as much on a successful save. Ooze flows are normally only 2 feet deep. The affected area is considered difficult terrain and the ooze flow remains until released by a collapse or earthquake.
Magma River
Similar to an ooze flow, a magma river is an incredibly hot flow of earthen material mixed with elements from the Plane of Fire. The Furnaces are filled with magma rivers, which cut great swaths through the caverns in that region of the plane, but they are not unheard of across the Stony Expanse.
A magma river is normally 20-feet wide by 200-feet long and pours into any open space, where it pools for a time before collapsing the earth below it and flowing out of the area. Any creature that starts its turn in a magma river must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, suffering 22 (4d10) fire damage on a failure, or half as much on a successful save. A magma river is normally 5 feet deep, but this can be raised depending on the area in which it flows into.
Pulse Crystals
Pulse crystals are normally found in clusters of 3d6, and each crystal is 7 to 10 feet tall. They occur naturally where vortexes exist between the Plane of Earth and the Positive Energy Plane – most planar scholars believe them to be extensions of one of the quasi-elemental planes that are theorized to exist close to the energy planes. Whatever their origin, they are welcome respite for travelers, especially those not used to underground living.
Each pulse crystal glows with dim light in a 20-foot-radius of a random color, shifting every hour or so between green, red, blue, and yellow. Some planar predators know to seek out and hang around clusters of pulse crystals, as many creatures are drawn instinctively towards the lights.
Rock Rot
Some sections of the Plane of Earth are infested with microscopic pests known as mineralmites. They are not harmful to living creatures not made out of stone as they feast on the rich internal consistency of rock and stone. As they do so they pass through it, leaving the area chalky and unstable. Dwarves and gnomes are familiar with the resulting rock rot as the mineralmites are not uncommon outside the Plane of Earth as well.
A floor infested with rock rot can be spotted by a dwarf or native earth creature with a passive Perception of 13 or higher, or by any other creature with a passive Perception of 16 or higher. The rock rot infested area is brittle, and crossing them requires a DC 14 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. Characters unaware of the presence of rock rot suffer disadvantage on the roll. Failing the result sends the character plummeting through the hole down a distance of 1d10 x 5 feet. An area infested with rock rot extends out to a radius of 50 feet.
Mysterious Sites & Treasures
Despite the many dangers posed by the Plane of Earth, travelers still seek out its wonders and treasures. Some are like the dao, greedy and always hunting for the next big vein of rich ore or minerals, while others search for buried treasure, hidden secrets, or the very bones of the past.
Great Dismal Delve
The largest natural cave in the Plane of Earth is the Great Dismal Delve, which forms the epicenter of the dao and their enterprises. The delve itself is a massive cavern shaped like a crevasse, about 60 miles wide and 120 miles long. The ceiling stretches up to a height of a half mile and is filled with stalactites of all shapes, though their natural formation is a mystery as there isn’t enough moisture or condensation in the cave to support the quantity or size of the stalactites. The Great Dismal Delve’s walls are honeycombed with passages and tunnels dug by the slaves of the dao, and the floor is a rocky mixture of natural stone structures, edifices, and bizarre fungal gardens.
In the center of the Great Dismal Delve is the Sevenfold Mazework, the capital of the dao khanate and home to the Great Khan. It sits inside a massive circular column in the delve, stretching from floor to ceiling and about 10 miles wide. Around the Sevenfold Mazework the dao maintain large farms for feeding the slaves that maintain the delve and the city. The farms consist of a sickly pale fungus that smells awful but keeps creatures alive.
The delve is filled with the sounds of work at all times, and the gemstones studding the side of the Sevenfold Mazework provide dim light for most of the expansive cave. The brightest lights are from the clock gems that report the time, shifting from red to blue and indicating when slave drivers must switch out their teams of diggers and miners. The dao consider the entire delve to be their territory but the truth is the cave is too large for them to effectively patrol and maintain. Monsters from the plane and elsewhere are a common problem in the outskirts of the delve where dao maintain soldier slaves to protect their mining slaves.
Sevenfold Mazework
The beating heart of the dao khanate spread across the Plane of Earth is the Sevenfold Mazework, a massive column of stone in the center of the Great Dismal Delve. Also known as the City of Jewels, the mazework’s exterior is studded with all manner of gemstones. The clock gems, attuned to the opal of the Great Khan, are the brightest and are a common site even within the structure.
Inside, the Sevenfold Mazework reveals itself to be a confusing mess of tunnels, passages, rooms, chambers, wings, and halls. The structure has over two dozen level, and each level is divided into five rings of increasing wealth and privilege. Crossing between each layer of the mazework requires the completion of complex tasks and the recitation of esoteric phrases, but few outside the dao have breached the second maze layer. The two innermost maze layers known as the Hidden Fulcrum house the private realm of the Great Khan himself and his chosen slaves, though the current Great Khan is paranoid and trusts only golems and their like to enter the seventh maze.
Visitors to the Sevenfold Mazework are normally restricted to the first maze layer, which is an opulent display of the dao’s unmatched greed and flair for gemstones. Some ancient enchantment on the entire mazework causes every dao in the city to be instantly aware of any theft of a placed gemstone, a crime punishable by death. For those travelers able to withstand the lure of the gems, however, the halls and balconies of the dao and their markets are open for business at all hours.
The largest region of the first maze layer is the Free Market, an ironic name considering it trades mostly in slaves of all types. The dao do not discriminate against travelers within the first maze layer, and welcome all who desire privacy and secrecy in their dealings. The Sevenfold Mazework is not a more popular planar destination simply because the dao believe everyone to be as untrustworthy as they are, and they keep a long list of grudges against anyone who behaves even the slightest bit out of order. Thousands of dao and hundreds of thousands of slaves live, work, and die in the Sevenfold Mazework, and the constant earthquakes and collapses of the plane keep teams of slaves busy repairing and rebuilding sections of the city at all times.
Deep Crystal Labyrinth
The Stony Expanse holds many buried secrets, but one of the most beautiful is a series of tunnels and passages cut into one very massive chunk of crystal. No one really knows if the caves are a natural formation of the crystal or if they were carved deliberately, but the Deep Crystal Labyrinth has attracted travelers from across the multiverse to seek out its wonders. Mapping the confusing maze has been a challenge for those that visit as the passages have a tendency to shift and change over time, sometimes dramatically. Entire teams of explorers have become lost in the beautiful labyrinth of soft blue crystalline walls, but rumors of priceless diamonds in the Deep Crystal Labyrinth’s heart keeps drawing people in.
Some who have found the Deep Crystal Labyrinth and return tell of strange creatures that emerge from the very walls to harass and destroy intruders. Sometimes humanoid shaped, sometimes animal, these crystal guardians seem to have no means of communication and seek nothing but the total eradication of any intruders. The hardened nature of the crystal makes the guardians difficult to defeat in combat and some natural property of the labyrinth makes them resistant to most magic.
Koh Nur, Opal of the Great Khan
In the Sevenfold Mazework in a massive central chamber, the final two maze layers sit in a magnificent bejeweled dome. Gemstones of all kinds stud the outside of the dome, inside of which sits the Great Khan and his most trusted advisors, but the crown jewel of the structure – and indeed of the whole dao khanate – is a truly wondrous opal resting atop the dome. This is Koh Nur, the opal of the Great Khan, and it is one of the largest valuable gemstones in the multiverse. The opal sits thirty feet long and half that wide and rests in a specially constructed brass holder, a gift from the grand sultan of the efreet long ago.
Koh Nur is more than just a spectacularly expensive gemstone. It also functions as the ticking heart of the dao khanate, as it serves as the central focus for all of the attuned clock gems. Koh Nur sheds a brilliant radiance based on the 26-hour day of the dao, shifting from scarlet during the day to a deep midnight blue at night.
Over the centuries, there have been several attempts by enterprising thieves to steal Koh Nur from its resting place atop the Dome of the Great Khan. The gem’s size makes such attempts logistically difficult, but the most successful actually managed to perform a feat of magical subterfuge. The thieves – a team of planar adventurers – somehow replaced Koh Nur with a glass replica and shrink the original to pocket-sized during a blackout that plunged the Sevenfold Mazework into darkness for several minutes. The Great Khan’s personal bodyguards stopped the thieves before they were able to leave the City of Jewels, but the audacity of the attempt has pushed the dao to implement insane measures to ensure it never happens again. Few outside the Great Khan’s personal retinue of seneschals know the traps and perils placed around Koh Nur now.
Sand Pits of Skatha
For the sandmen, existence is pain and suffering, though they constantly struggle to break free of their bonds of servitude. Those bonds extend to their birthplace, a broad cave filled with sand that bears a singular intelligence calling itself Skatha. Planar scholars debate over the nature of the sandmen and Skatha – are they all simply a manifestation of this one entity? Or are they splinters of an insane sand god trapped in the Plane of Earth? Or are they individuals with hopes and dreams separate from the pits of their birth?
Whatever the truth, the sand pits that hold the sentience of Skatha are usually avoided by most canny travelers. Skatha is a cruel entity bound forever to its sand pit, though it does manifest physically when intruded upon. Sometimes portals and vortexes from across the multiverse open up into Skatha’s realm, depositing strange treasures and befuddled guests to the sand pits. Dealing with the intelligence is usually an endeavor fraught with frustration, as Skatha doesn’t know all the time what Skatha wants. Sometimes it simply surges the sand dunes to devour intruders, other times it converses in with an inquisitive mind.
It is rumored that Skatha is bound by the will of the dao, which would explain the genies’ use of sandmen as their slave-takers across the multiverse. If this were true, freeing Skatha would weaken the dao khanate and free an imprisoned mind from a tortured existence.
Library of Dumathoin
Though he resides on another plane, Dumathoin – dwarven god of secrets and mining – maintains a storehouse of knowledge on the Plane of Earth. It’s one of several planar libraries around the multiverse, but the dwarven monks that maintain it, the Keepers Under the Mountain, hold that this one is the largest. It sits in a tall cleft hidden somewhere in the Stony Expanse, protected by ancient dwarven magic to prevent unwanted prying eyes. The walls of the cleft are lined with shelves upon shelves of books, papers, scrolls, sheaves, and other records of note, ranging from the mundane to the fantastic.
Access to the Library of Dumathoin is restricted to only guests invited by one of the master librarians, but that hasn’t stopped powerful forces from trying to break in forcefully. The enchantments placed around the library are said to hold the strength of Dumathoin himself and thus far have held against attackers, but a growing splinter faction within the Keepers Under the Mountain may undermine the efforts to safeguard the secrets. There is at least one greedy dao in the Sevenfold Mazework who will stop at nothing to claim the knowledge held within the library and she is hunting down every dwarf she can find to unlock the secrets.
Salt Dungeons of the Great Khan
The laws of the dao are the will of the great khan, or so the saying goes, and for those who break the laws there are three primary punishments. The simplest and most common is enslavement, while the second most used punishment is a swift death. The third, reserved for those the Great Khan believes to have some hidden value, is to be imprisoned within the Salt Dungeons – a sprawling series of cells and chambers carved inside of a spike of acidic salt deep beneath the Sevenfold Mazework. Exposure to the acid salt is dangerous to living creatures and even the dao jailers tread carefully when placing or extracting prisoners.
As with many locations in the Plane of Earth, access to the Salt Dungeons is restricted, or at least supposedly. Several influential noble dao also use the location to torture prisoners and escaped slaves outside the purvey of the Great Khan. The deepest pits of the salt spike contain the crusted bones of the dead, animated into unlife by some ancient power, who roam the sealed halls beyond the control of even the Great Khan. Emissaries of the Great Khan do everything they can to discourage these rumors.
Tunnels of Madness
Loneliness can drive anyone into the arms of insanity, but in the wind-infused Tunnels of Madness, the shrieking cacophonic gales do the trick without any assistance. Most planar scholars agree that the Tunnels of Madness are not so much a single location as a series of caves and intersections that cross a wide stretch of the Stony Expanse. Exposure the madness-inducing winds in the area can drive even the most stalwart traveler to perform savage acts of random behavior, and it is theorized that the winds originate from the Plane of Pandemonium as the effects are similar to those that permeate that entire Outer Plane.
Some creatures have stumbled into the Tunnels of Madness and have lost their way, forgetting who and what they are in favor of a slavering insanity that drives them further into the wind-filled halls.
Stone Spire of Ogremoch
The most active of the Elemental Lords of Earth is Ogremoch, who oversees cultists across many worlds, each dedicated to the cause of selfish destruction and ruin. The great primal lord plots his movements and carefully weighs his options in a massive stone spire in a void-filled cave deep in the roots of the Plane of Earth. The airless void suffuses the entire area, but for Ogremoch and his elemental kin the absence of air is a soothing balm, reminding them of their greatness over all other elements. The Prince of Evil Earth Elementals sits atop a simple stone throne that rests on the broad flat top of the spire, where he contemplates actions and deliberates decisions without end.
The Stone Spire is guarded by all manner of creatures loyal to Ogremoch, including retinues of gargoyles, earth weirds, and earth elementals with an evil mind. Somewhere inside the spire, Ogremoch keeps trophies representing his most prominent triumphs – the broken crown of a Wind Duke of Aaqa, the crushed heart of an Elemental Lord of Air in a large glass jar, and the sword of a noble djinni broken in half, among other items.
Makranaanek
Deep gnomes, or svirfneblin, are a common race in the underground regions of Material Planes, and there they carve out wonderful cities to dwell in. Few would guess that their greatest city, Makranaanek, actually exists on the Plane of Earth! Dao favor deep gnome slaves over other gnome types, and many have fallen victim to dao slave-takers over the generations, but in Makranaanek all gnomes are free to live their lives. It is a realm of gnomish wonder cut into solid bedrock over countless decades, with towers and halls housing thousands of deep gnomes.
It is said that there is a portal to Makranaanek in every svirfneblin settlement in the Material Plane, but if that’s true than it’s a closely guarded secret even among gnome standards. The city is run by a king who oversees the protection of Makranaanek, enforced primarily by a well-trained and loyal force of gnomish warriors called the Deep Titans. Serving in the ranks of the Deep Titans is an honor bestowed to only the most skilled warriors of the deep gnomes, but over the years they have awarded honorary membership to a handful of planar travelers that have helped the city in times of crisis.
Ghost Tunnels
Among the slaves of the dao, the legend of the Ghost Tunnels is a cautionary tale of how dangerous greed can become. Among the dao, it is a source of a rich ore of rare minerals that is still sought out to this day. Long ago, a dao-led excavation team uncovered an untapped vein of pale white mithril in the depths of the Stony Expanse. Refusing to recognize the warning signs around the vein, the dao immediately set the slaves to digging out the valuable ore, which seemed to possess strange otherworldly properties.
Unfortunately, those properties brought about the ruin of the dao and his teams of slaves. The mithril vein was infused with energy from the Ethereal Plane, and as they cut into it with picks and shovels, the unstable nature of the pure ore collapsed. But it didn’t just collapse the tunnel, it trapped the diggers and the dao in a pocket of Ethereal Plane energy that separated their spirits from their bodies permanently. Several slaves who had been sent away to fetch more gear returned to find the tunnels gone as if nothing had happened, but when they were invariably recaptured by the dao and forced to explain what happened, the genies realized they had found a highly coveted ore called ghost mithril. And thus the legend of the Ghost Tunnels was born.
Finding the Ghost Tunnels is a dangerous prospect, as the unstable nature of the ghost mithril means it can shift into the Ethereal Plane with dramatic results at any moment. And, if the rumors are to be believed, the ghostly remains of the dao and the diggers still haunt the tunnels, acting as ceaseless guardians to the untapped treasure.
Bones of the Earth
When an earth weird feeds on a living creature, its digestive process and stony makeup strips the victims of all flesh. The elemental creature then proceeds to devour the only part of the meal it cares about – the calcium in the victim’s bones. Once complete, the earth weird discards the remnants, which have taken on a stone-like substance. These stone bones are called fossils, and deep in the Stony Expanse the earth weirds have gathered together a massive collection of these discarded victims in a place called the Bones of the Earth.
Fossil remains of all manner of creatures from all across the multiverse, from dinosaurs to demons to humanoids and dragons, lay scattered about the cavern. Earth weirds crawl over the piles of stone bones scavenging for whatever morsel they can find. Rare monsters and their fossilized skeletons can be found in the cave, and for some cabals of necromancers, the powdered remains of certain fossilized creatures can be used as potent spellcasting components. Finding the Bones of the Earth is only the first problem, as some stories suggest that a massive earth weird king lurks in the cave that devours all intruders.
Motherlode
It is a whispered legend among the dao, a fabled location that moves across the Plane of Earth, defying all logic and explanation. It is the Motherlode, a glittering vein of prismatic ore with powerful natural magical properties. Some dao craftsman say that it can be used to imprison gods, while others believe it is the secret to conquering the djinn of the Plane of Air once and for all. Finding the Motherlode has consumed the lives of many dao seeking to make a name for themselves, and more than one dao believes it has the power to unseat the Great Khan himself.
But discovering the Motherlode has proven difficult. The dao have found it only a handful of times, and each time they were able to take away only small chunks of the prismatic ore. But those chunks have turned into priceless artifacts and relics, most of which sit in the vault of the Great Khan in the heart of the Sevenfold Mazework. At least one ring and an amulet has found its way outside the City of Jewels, however, and into the hands of scheming dao who believe the relics hold the key to rediscovering the Motherlode.
One planar scholar believes the Motherlode to be an ancient deity of minerals and ore that has been consumed by the Plane of Earth, forever now an elusive piece of the plane that served as their home since time immemorial, but there is no evidence to back this claim up. It has persisted as the story of choice for many noble dao, however.
Lay of the Land
The Plane of Earth is best described as the largest chain of mountains in the multiverse both in height and breadth. For those brave or foolish enough to try and reach the top, they find only the Void Peaks – the mountain tops pierce a veil of airless black that is inhospitable to living creatures. Most planar scholars agree that the Void Peaks are a breach from the Plane of Earth into the Negative Plane, the multiverse source of death and decay that enfolds all of the realms.
Stony Expanse
Below the Void Peaks and encompassing the vast majority of the Plane of Earth is the Stony Expanse. Great veins of minerals and rich ore cut through the rocky layers of the Stony Expanse and over the countless centuries tunnels and caves have been carved out by time or force. The dao consider this their eternal realm, though their numbers are realistically too few to effectively control the entire region, but this overriding philosophy is what drives them to command scores of slaves from the native sandlings, pech, and other creatures.
The dao hold numerous outposts throughout the Stony Expanse and each one is built around a mazework. A dao mazework is their first line of defense – a confusing series of passages meant to confuse and trap intruders. One of the largest open quarries in all the Plane of Earth is the Great Dismal Delve, a massive cave carved out by the slaves of the dao, and at its heart sits the fabulous Sevenfold Mazework, also known as the City of Jewels. Therein dwells the Great Khan in the Hidden Fulcrum, his personal palace and one of the most complex maze in the Inner Planes (and rivaled across the multiverse only by the mazes of Baphomet, demon lord of beasts and minotaurs, in the Abyss).
Mud Hills
Beyond the Stony Expanse, where the Plane of Earth approaches the other Inner Planes, the region becomes more diverse. The Mud Hills are a vast region of bubbling, churning dirt and muck close to the Plane of Water – between the two sits the distinct Swamp of Oblivion (also known as the Plane of Ooze). The Mud Hills are open to the sky and the tunnels that cross beneath are treacherous and prone to constant shifting at a moment’s notice, so most travelers avoid this region entirely. It is known that the dao have several outposts in the Mud Hills to search for rare mineral deposits that are known to show up only in that area.
Furnaces
The heat intensifies on the other side of the Plane of Earth in a region known as the Furnaces, close to the Plane of Fire. Lava seeps up and creates dangerous terrain, but the dao have harnessed the raw potential of the Furnaces to power their forges. Beyond the Great Dismal Delve, the largest concentration of dao and slaves can be found here.
Cycle of Time
There is no natural way to tell time across the Plane of Earth. Even the Void Peaks have no sun to mark the days, though the Mud Hills are lit by a dim pale light that darkens slightly every twelve hours. This lack of time and the general closeness of the tunnels in the Stony Expanse leads many travelers to madness and despair.
However, the dao have developed a way of telling time. Each outpost and most buildings are furnished with a clock gem, an enchanted jewel of nearly any size that changes color gradually from red to blue and back again to mark the passage of time. Unfortunately for travelers used to the cycle of time in most Material Planes, the dao clock gems are based on a 13-hour cycle (13 hours of red time followed by 13 hours of blue time) creating a 26-hour day.
The source of power for all attuned clock gems is Koh Nur, opal of the Great Khan in the center of the Sevenfold Mazework in the City of Jewels. An attuned clock gem continues to be synchronized even when taken outside the Plane of Earth, though they need to be re-attuned to the opal every one hundred years.
Surviving
The tunnels and passages that cut through the Plane of Earth are breathable, so one of the greatest threats to travelers are cave-ins and earthquakes that can suddenly send tons of rocks crashing down. Digging out of such a burial can be dangerous depending on the type of earth involved (see the Hazards & Phenomena section for details).
Fresh water is scarce and edible food for non-natives can be hard to come by, so travelers are encouraged to have a source of sustenance before venturing out into the Stony Expanse. A common feature of dao outposts are gardens to grow food for their various slaves, but these are jealously guarded behind their mazeworks.
In the Void Peaks, there is no air so anyone that penetrates the surface of the Plane of Earth here begins suffocating immediately unless they hold their breath (or do not need to breathe). The closer a traveler gets to the Void Peaks, the less air is available so ascending to this region is not advisable.
Getting There
The dao do their best to control or shut down unwanted portals to the Plane of Earth, so the number of known gates to the plane is relatively small. The City of Glass on the Plane of Water contains a known gate, along with the City of Brass on the Plane of Fire and Sigil in the Outlands. The dao occasionally have dealings with the fiends of the Lower Planes so it is known that the City of Jewels contains gates to the Abyss and the Nine Hells.
In the Material Plane, natural gates and portals have been known to appear in the deepest mines dug by dwarves. Many dwarven strongholds consider themselves the first line of defense against incursions from the Plane of Earth, whether it be by natural monsters or planned invasions by the dao. For their own interests, the dao consider dwarf slaves the best the Material Plane can provide (followed by gnomes) and actively raid dwarven outposts and strongholds to replenish their slave pens.
Some deeper dungeons in the Material Plane have been known to contain gates to the Plane of Earth as well, whether stumbled upon accidentally or deliberately opened by wizards and priests eager to use earth elemental creatures as guardians and workers. Below the city of Waterdeep on Faerun, the sprawling megadungeon Undermountain is known to hold a few permanent portals.
Traveling Around
Once a traveler reaches a cave or tunnel in the Plane of Earth, moving around becomes as easy as following a passage – and as frustrating when that tunnel leads to nowhere! Most native creatures, such as the xorn and earth elementals, can move through the earth of the plane as easy as a fish moves through water, leaving no tunnel in their wake. Powerful magic can allow an adventuring group to do the same, but for most the zigzagging passages that cut through the Stony Expanse are the most accessible means of transportation.
Many of the tunnels do connect to other regions, owed in large part to the never-ending machinations of the dao. They constantly hunt for greater sources of ore and gems and use teams of slaves to accomplish this, but moving so many creatures across the Plane of Earth can be difficult. The dao use magic and slaves to create tunnels and passages that can be used to access the richer veins of minerals.
Digging around the Plane of Earth can become a necessity for travelers, especially if they’ve been trapped in a cave-in or earthquake. You can use the below table to determine randomly what kind of earth is being dug through, which determines the progress and difficulty of the digging.
| 1D10 | Type of Earth | DC | Progress Per 10 Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | Soil | 12 | 10 feet |
| 4-6 | Very soft rock | 14 | 5 feet |
| 7-8 | Soft rock | 16 | 4 feet |
| 9 | Hard rock | 18 | 2 feet |
| 10 | Very hard rock | 20 | 1 foot |
Digging is a Strength-based ability check. Using and being proficient with mining tools adds a user’s proficiency modifier to digging checks. Other characters can assist with the Help action under the appropriate circumstances.
Creatures by Plane of Existence
The multiverse is a wondrous, strange place populated by all manner of creatures both fair and foul. Each plane of existence hosts its own unique creatures of some variety along with the more mundane types of monsters found in the Material Plane.
The below tables offer details of the unique creatures found in each plane, but it should be noted that most planes feature biomes common to the Material Plane, many with exaggerated or unique features. Consider looking to the encounter tables for each biome as well as the below tables for populating the planes with creatures to both threaten and aid characters during their extraplanar journeys.
The creatures listed pull from the following sources: Monster Manual, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, and Monsters of the Infinite Planes.
| Plane of Earth | |
|---|---|
| Monsters | Challenge (XP) |
| Young kruthik | 1/8 (25 XP) |
| Giant badger | 1/4 (50 XP) |
| Cockatrice, gray ooze, magma mephit, mud mephit, piercer, svirfneblin | 1/2 (100 XP) |
| Adult kruthik, khargra, pech, sandman | 2 (450 XP) |
| Basilisk, earth weird, flail snail, gargoyle, minotaur | 3 (700 XP) |
| Margoyle | 4 (1,100 XP) |
| Ancient gargoyle assassin, ancient gargoyle warrior, bulette, earth elemental, kruthik hive lord, roper, umber hulk, xorn | 5 (1,800 XP) |
| Creeping stone, galeb duhr | 6 (2,300 XP) |
| Earth elemental myrmidon, korred, stone giant | 7 (2,900 XP) |
| Greater earth elemental | 8 (3,900 XP) |
| Greater basilisk | 10 (5,900 XP) |
| Dao | 11 (7,200 XP) |
| Noble dao | 13 (10,000 XP) |
| Purple worm | 15 (13,000 XP) |
| Zaratan | 22 (41,000 XP) |
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