Old World Theory

"Scholars hold that the position of the planes is the result of a great turning event in the distant past, which ended an old world and created our own."

— Excerpt from a Runberi book on planar esoterica.

The "old world theory" is a concept which crops up frequently in texts about the planes, which posits that the current material plane is not the first such plane, and exists as the successor of at least one other. In some texts where the theory crops up, there is sometimes a further explanation that at the beginning of the world, the planes turned to render barren the old world before giving it life anew as the new world.

Historical Basis

Historical record does not date back to the hundreds of thousands or millions of years that old world theory is concerned with. Many cultures and religions claim varying ages for the world, and though some religious texts and creation myths speak for a cycle of rebirth and renewal in the world itself, old world theory seems to stand apart from any particular religious tradition.

Though most closely approximating Beirhamin oral traditions about the nature of the world, old world theory is certainly not Beirhamin in origin, having cropped up in Voranthene, Yunthal, and Runberi texts alike, as well as in many other places.

In the end, scholars today are unable to pinpoint the original source of old world theory. It crops up repeatedly in old texts about the planes, sometimes referring to the works of known other scholars. However, when the writings of those scholars is examined, the source for claims about an old world tends to be even older, unnamed scholars, where the trail ends.

Spread

Even most learned scholars do not spare much thought to old world theory, though those who specifically study the planes themselves are aware of it, and consider it an unexplained peculiarity of their field. With the increasing spread of texts across various cultural groups and scholarly traditions, modern scholars of the planes must grapple with the knowledge that the old world makes an appearance in each of them, yet no known text provides a theoretical basis for its existence or even a verifiable origin point for the theory.