The Quasielemental Plane of Vacuum
(Fallis Kyll Thummam, a Doomguard priest, has the following to say about the plane of Vacuum.—the Editor)
Everything dies, fades, or decays. In the end, even the greatest of “somethings” becomes a part of nothing. The End always wins. The plane of Vacuum is The End.
We, the Doomguard, see that as the wheel of time turns, the multiverse slowly wanes. The Inner Planes bordering the Negative Energy Plane exemplify our belief. While Ash, Dust, and Salt manifest the slow disintegration of matter and moisture, the plane of Vacuum demonstrates the utter lack of everything. When time is over and the universe has decayed into nothingness, all will be as the plane of Vacuum. We call it the Empty Reach, or sometimes, as I’ve already stated, simply The End.
This plane has no differing border areas—it’s all the same endless void stretching to the limits of eternity. Likewise, it lacks the hidden areas or subtle dangers of other planes. There’s just nothing. The plane of Vacuum spits in the face of Parallelists, for just about everything that a body might find in the other Inner Planes fails to appear here—with just a few exceptions, nothing shows up here. That’s the whole point.
The Powerful and Mighty
Two creatures living the quasiplane of Vacuum merit special discussion. Both of them are evil, a trait which seems only to be amplified by the proximity of the Negative Energy Plane.
SUN SING
Sun Sing is a mysterious creature that lives at the heart of a negative energy pocket. Exactly how he survives in such a place is a mystery that many folk would love to unravel.
No one knows for sure who or what Sun Sing is. Chant in some circles is that he’s the last surviving void mephit, having survived by becoming nearly as powerful as an archomental. Others say that he’s a lich or demilich who retreated here to escape all contact with the living. Whatever the dark of it is, no one seems likely to find out in the near future.
Chant-mongers claim that Sun Sing has a handful of undead agents moving through the multiverse. Numerous stories indicate that Sing’s agents are hard at work gather- ing the pieces of some puzzle. These might be physical things or bits of information; no one knows. A body can only be certain of one thing: Sun Sing’s agents (if they exist) must certainly be as evil as he, and any operation to which they have committed themselves must be dire indeed.
ZAL THE DESTROYER
Without a doubt, the most terrible known creature that a body might encounter while exploring the quasiplane of Vacuum is Zal the Destroyer (Pr/d beholder/ 140 hp/CE). Zal is not native to this realm, but appears to have adapted to life here as well as anything may.
Zal is a giant beholder, fully twice the size of his normal kin. Any saving throw made to resist his powers suf- fers a -4 penalty and the range of all his abilities is doubled. Zal is immune to vacuum, as are the three dozen normal beholders who act as his guards.
This terrible creature earned his name through wanton violence and unchecked annihilation. From his fortress (which stands on a tumbling fragment of elemental Ice) he commands the actions of a deadly army of quasielementals. Even the Doomguard recognize that Zal is a force to be reckoned with in this plane, and we keep a close watch on the Destroyer’s movements.
Creatures & Denizens
While many think that the quasiplane of Vacuum is devoid of life, this is far from the truth. To be sure, it’s not overflowing with animals or even elementals, but some tough creatures dwell here and a body has to know what to watch out for if he’s going to spend much time in the plane.
QUASIELEMENTALS
A good many quasielementals strut about amid the vacuum. They're aggressive things, destroying anyone or anything they come across in their desire to eliminate all matter from their virtually pristine home.
There’s no such thing as a vacuum mephit—at least, not any more. Chant is that these creatures were once found all over the quasiplane, until they got themselves on the wrong side of the quasielementals. A genocidal war followed in which the void mephits (as they were properly called) were swept out of existence.
That’s the way of Vacuum—when one battles here, it’s over such basic concepts as existence or nonexistence. A canny planewalker leaves anything less basic or primal behind.
ANIMALS AND MONSTERS
No natural animals live in the quasiplane of Vacuum. Occasionally a body comes upon a pocket of air in which a flock of birds or other aerial creatures lair, but that’s the extent of it.
There are such things as vacuum animentals, even though a lot of leatherheads might tell you otherwise. The misconception is unsurprising, because there are very few of them and they tend to be about as reclusive a bunch of crea- tures as a body will find anywhere.
Few monsters drift in the open space of Quasielemental Vacuum. As a body might imagine, though, they’re generally exceedingly tough. After all, anything less won't survive for very long. A handful of the monsters found here are similar to those which spelljammers have reported encountering in the great voids between worlds.
Another hazard of this plane is the egarus fungus that thrives on nothingness itself. Because of its need for the absence of matter, it reacts badly to material objects and crea- tures—even energy. Only the foolish remain around the fungal growth long enough to find out what it can do to rectify their existence. Quite simply, the egarus can take it away.
OTHER RACES
A fair number of undead creatures, ghosts and the like mostly, swoop around near the junction with Negative Energy. They share this region with spectral deaths, who generally avoid all contact with anything.
Undead creatures known as vacuous hunt the empty wastes, looking for stragglers to destroy. The quasi- elementals hate them, however, and war between these two races rages eternally.
Hazards & Phenomena
The emptiness of the quasiplane of Vacuum defies most imaginations. It’s so absolute that until a body’s been here himself, it’s near impossible to convey. Some graybeards sputter on about the dangers of a vacuum—that the lack of atmosphere doesn’t allow a transmission of temperature and that without air, the lack of pressure’ll cause a sod’s own body to burst. Turns out, that’s all screed. While the plane is marked by the complete lack of air, there is still pressure and constant temperature. To be sure, the former is slight and the latter cool, but it could be so much worse. That’s just the way it is.
Sometimes the graybeards are wrong.
BREATHING AND SENSES
There’s no air (or matter to convert to air) here, so spells akin to airy element or breathe element do not work. Neither do magical items that draw on the Elemental Air school. A body’ll survive only for as long as he can hold his breath, unless he can cast no breath and do without air altogether.
This lack of air is deadly to certain forms of elemental creature. Gaseous elemental creatures like smoke paraelementals lose 1 Hit Die or level per round of exposure to quasielemental Vacuum.
Without any air to get in the way, one would think that a body could see an awfully long way. And, indeed, this is true enough, if he has his own light source. There’s no natural illumination here, and no air for things like lanterns or torches. Any other light source, including magical spells, illuminates twice the normal range.
Infravision works well enough in the quasiplane of Vacuum. The same increase in range applies to this sight as well, so a creature whose infravision normally allows it to see as far as 90 feet would be able to see heat sources at a distance of 180 feet.
VACUUM WELDING
The nature of Vacuum has a terrible effect on inanimate things as well, which becomes most apparent in the case of articulated mechanisms. Vacuum welding affects anything from the joints in a suit of plate armor to the mechanical limbs of a clockwork horror.
For each hour that an articulated mechanism of any complexity spends in the quasiplane of . Vacuum, a saving throw vs. acid is required. If the device is simple (like the knee-joint on a suit of armor), a +4 bonus is applied to the roll. Complex devices such as clockwork mechanisms suffer a -4 penalty to the roll. Other adjustments may be substituted or added as desired by the DM. Failure at this saving throw indicates that the object in question has frozen up and is no longer able to move. Repairs are possible, but only after the object is removed to a place with a breathable atmosphere.
Mysterious Sites & Treasures
While a few minor structures stand in the quasiplane of Vacuum, the inhabitants of this place are not generally builders. A body might consider Zal’s fortress or the sanctu- ary of Sun Sing to be important, but they really don’t merit descriptions as places a sod might visit. Still, a body needs to know about one highly important site in the quasiplane of Vacuum before he travels here.
CITADEL EXHALUS
The Doomguard have fashioned an impressive fortress in this quasiplane. We call it Citadel Exhalus, or the Portal of the Last Breath. Built around a special gate, Exhalus allows us to commune directly with the ultimate Destroyer—the Negative Energy Plane. Many here, including the Doomlord Nagaul (Pl/° dwarf/P 10 [Siva]/Doomguard/NG), believe that the disintegration of the multiverse proceeds on schedule and see no reason to hurry things along.
Sometimes, the Dustmen come here to revere the plane of Negative Energy from the safety of the Citadel. That suits us just fine. The Dead make surprisingly polite and trust- worthy guests.
The Citadel provides a home to about two hundred Sinkers, and holds a portal not only to Sigil but to five or six other places in the multiverse—all places where we hold a bit of influence, not coincidentally.
Course, there are those that say we've actually main- tain a temple here dedicated to literally worshiping the plane of Negative Energy and the concept of utter annihilation. They further assert that our collection of spheres of annihi- lation were not completely lost at the recent Battle at the Armory in Sigil.
We Doomguard just smile knowingly when asked about it.
Lay of the Land
The Quasielemental Plane of Vacuum lacks light, air, or water. It is completely without heat and has so little matter that it might as well be a blank slate. Its beauty lies in its simplicity.
The quasiplane of Vacuum is a region of utter noth- ingness. Formed at the junction of Air and Negative Energy, it has no light and very little matter. Few creatures can endure such surroundings.
‘Course, those who do manage to survive in Vacuum are bound to be tough. That means that any cutter with a mind to travel to the quasiplane should plan to stay on the good side of the inhabitants. There’s no sense in making all manner of magical preparations against the deadly nature of Vacuum only to be sent to the dead-book by an angry native.
Cycle of Time
Time exists here but it isn't marked by solar activity.
Surviving
Planewalkers come to the plane of Vacuum to deal with the Doomguard, or to run a fool’s errand looking for the Lost Tomb of S’sarkth. S’sarkth, they say, was a powerful king utterly consumed with the idea of keeping his wealth with him after his death. So obsessed was he that he bade his sorcerous lieutenants to cast his entire sealed, treasure-laden tomb into the plane of Vacuum after he died. Most folks believe this to be a foolish tale meant to send only the most addle-coved bashers to their dooms looking for a tomb in the void.
SPELL KEYS AND OTHER NECESSITIES
Spell keys for this plane are difficult to employ, for they all take the form of vapors that must be offered up to the endless void of vacuum. The difficulty in using these fumes, beyond storing and transporting them, lies in the fact that they must be exhaled to take effect. This wouldn't be much of a handicap save for the fact that the vast majority of them are at the least noxious and often toxic.
Getting There
Almost no one seeks the quasiplane of Vacuum. After all, there isn’t a whole lot here for a body to see, and even fewer resources to exploit.
Chant is that very few portals to the quasiplane of Vacuum are to be found even in Sigil. Other than the one that vanished with our now-lost Armory, most berks can’t think of even one.
A small portal called the Howling Gate links the barmy realms of Pandemonium with the quasiplane of Vacuum. The key to its use is simply contact with air. As the winds of Pandemonium whip around it, the gate remains forever open and a steady draft of air rushes into the emptiness of Vacuum beyond the gate. This wind gusts with the force of a summer’s gale, threatening to yank a careless traveler through into the suffocating abyss beyond.
It is believed that vortices to the quasiplane of Vacuum may hang in the emptiness between prime-material worlds. Certainly such conduits might be a hazard to those spelljammers who ply such spaces, but they are hardly likely to be encountered by average folk. (Speaking of spelljammers, those cutters often rattle their bone-boxes about something called the phlogiston—that’s fine, but phlogiston isn’t vacuum and vice versa.)
Traveling Around
A body in the quasiplane of Vacuum can travel from place to place just as he might in the Elemental Plane of Air. Thus, he need only choose a direction as “down” and begin to fall that way.
Creatures who use wings or other such means to fly find themselves unable to get about in the quasiplane of Vacuum. After all, such things function only when there is air (or some related medium) for them to beat upon.
Magical means of propulsion function well enough. A fly spell, for example, permits a body to travel at a fair speed. Magical items like a broom of flying or a flying carpet function as well. However, magical items that mimic wings do not operate.
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