The Boneyard

Within the grand cosmos of the universe lies a massive spire that outstretches from the surface of the Outer Sphere into the void of the divine realms, here this spire beckons the unfettered souls forward to the River of Souls that acts to propel the lost souls to their final destination in the afterlife.
At the pinnacle of this spire is Purgatory, a vast necropolis--the city of graves--this vast prime city is filled with the graves, mausoleums, and solemn courts dedicated to the goddess of death. The gloomy realm of Boneyard, also known as Purgatory, is home to countless souls awaiting final judgment. Clad in the sheaths of their astral forms, these somber sojourners bask in deep reverie, reliving scenes from their mortal lives during a solitary, inward journey of remembrance and catharsis.
This process allows the soul to revisit key scenes from its mortal life and evaluate the lessons of its previous incarnation on the Material Plane. Only when it has worked through the psychological troubles of its past can it proceed further along the River of Souls. As a soul reflects upon and settles its past affairs, it lets go of its ties to these events and begins to forget them, cleansing its soul for the glorious (or terrible) transformations to come. This is why petitioners in the Outer Sphere seldom remember much of their mortal existence, and why most mortals cannot remember anything of their past incarnations on the Material Plane.
Purgatory is a sprawling graveyard where all mortal souls, no matter who or what they were in life, come to stand and be judged. Purgatory contains swathes of unexplored territory and many unexplained mysteries, but most non-natives remain within the confines of the divine domain.
Purgatory sits atop an impossibly tall and constantly growing spire of quintessence that extends from the edge of Utopia and stretches up into the depths of the Astral Plane. Purgatory serves as a beacon and destination for the River of Souls, from which the souls of the recently deceased arrive at the plane’s edge and join enormous lines that wind through the realm, awaiting their final judgment to determine their place within the Great Beyond. For all its size and prominence, The majority of the plane consists of vast territories reminiscent of environments on the Material Plane. Determined travelers who overcome Purgatory’s systems for preventing accidental egress can also traverse the length of the Spire itself, a massive rock face riddled with yawning archways that lead into spiraling tunnels and staircases. Explorers have found truly bizarre relics in these shattered passageways, leading some to believe the Spire is what remains of a previous reality that has since ended.

TRAITS

Purgatory has the following planar traits:

• Timeless: Age, hunger, thirst, afflictions (such as diseases, curses, and poisons), and natural healing don’t function in Purgatory, though they resume functioning when the traveler leaves Purgatory.
• Divinely Morphic: Deities with domains in Purgatory can alter the plane at will.
• Strongly Neutral-Aligned: On strongly aligned planes, a –2 penalty applies on the Intelligence-, Wisdom-, and Charisma-based ability checks of all creatures not of the plane’s alignment. The penalties for the moral and ethical components of the alignment trait stack.
• Enhanced Magic: Spells and spell-like abilities with the death descriptor, or from the Death domain, are enhanced.
• Essence (Minor Negative Energy Dominant): On minor negative-dominant planes, living creatures take 1d6 points of necrotic damage per minute. When this damage reduces a creature to 0 hit points or below, the creature crumbles into ash. Undead on a minor negative-dominant plane instead gain fast healing 2 (this does not stack with existing fast healing an undead already has).
• Gravity: Normal.
• Realm: Immeasurable.
• Structural: Lasting.

DENIZENS

Purgatory is the land of the dead, and the most populous inhabitants of this plane are the souls of the recently deceased as they stand in line, patiently awaiting their judgments. Most of those who are judged fit to remain within Purgatory become dead petitioners. In their roles as groundskeepers and caretakers for the plane, they are rarely significant or active participants in the plane’s politics. Purgatory, placed as it is in the metaphysical and philosophical center of the Outer Planes, sees far more traffic from other planes than any other Outer Planes, with visitors from the Abyss, Heaven, and everywhere in between traveling to Purgatory on missions as diverse as the visitors themselves.
Aeons can be encountered in Purgatory, but they are not natives of this realm. They often use Purgatory as a staging point for their own missions through the planes, and in many cases have understandings found throughout Purgatory to facilitate such travels.
Purgatory is the home plane of crypt dragons. These creatures emerge from nests of tombstones and skulls within the Graveyard of Souls and often seek out lairs on the Material Plane. There, crypt dragons claim the dead as both their hoard and their subjects: a creature’s earthly remains are treated as precious treasure, and a creature’s soul is considered to be under the dragon’s protection. Crypt dragons even go so far as to escort favored souls through the Astral Plane and represent them. Anyone who perpetuate crimes against a corpse or a soul that a crypt dragon has declared sovereignty over must face the dragon’s wrath.
The most common outsiders within Purgatory are psychopomps, stoic stewards and guides for departed souls. Psychopomps do not cause mortal death (that role among the outsiders of Purgatory being filled by shinigamis) but seek instead to ensure that a deceased soul’s judgment and journey to its ultimate afterlife proceed smoothly. This is far from a simple task, as psychopomps often have to battle marauding predators that feed upon hapless souls, locate confused or rebellious spirits who attempt to flee their fate, or deal with those who would subvert the natural order with soul-binding magics or necromancy. They also serve as respected neutral parties, as they work with denizens of many planes equally and disperse judged petitioners out into the Great Beyond.

Alternative Name(s)

Purgatory, House of Dust, Spirelands

Type

Dimensional plane

Characters in Location

Torukk

Sphere

Outer Sphere

Alignment

Neutral

Denizens

Psychopomps Shinigami Aeons All unjudged souls Neutral Souls