Astral Plane

This document has been contributed by: Yxjun

So I've been asked to write about this topic by the custodian of a library. I mean, I'm flattered, of course, that I'm the first person they thought of - but surely there's literature out there that already exists discussing the Astral Plane? Though, I suppose I am uniquely qualified in this regard...
Well, the Astral Plane is one of the many Planes of Existence. It differs in a few aspects, however, from the other planes. Well known is that it is the source of magic - I hope I don't have to explain magic to you. However, slightly less well known, is that it is only naturally connected to some of the other planes.

The Weave

The Weave (you know, the thing that allows people to access magic?) is a sort of inter-planar construction artificially connecting the Astral Plane to the Material. This was created ages ago by Myldala, who stole the idea from me and changed the concept of divinity entirely. You see, it used to be that the gods got their power from the Astral Plane. Nowadays, they all hide up in the Celestial Plane and get their power from the pure belief of innocent souls (that's propoganda but whatever). The reason they made that switch in the first place was because too many people were getting access to magic, after the Weave was created. Before the Weave, the process of someone on the Material Plane gaining access to the magic of the Astral was a lot more complicated - I was one of the pioneers of that field, in fact. However, when everyone and their uncle could now access magic, the gods decided they were "too good" for regular magic and changed to a belief system. Granted, this still uses the Astral Plane, in the most basic level. From what I'm able to discern, belief in a god by a mortal allows that god to channel the Astral Plane through the soul of that believer, and vice versa. It's how we get acolytes, healers in temples.

An aside on the Divine Switch

Of course, this seems to have changed somewhat, recently. THE NEW CORE GODS ARE NOT REAL. I mean, I'm not sure what they are, but sure as stars they didn't exist until recently. Something happened, they did something, and now the gods are gone. Or not. I don't know. It's almost like they killed all the gods without actually killing them. Or something. Notes from Saibra

It appears that the "new" core deities have reversed the original Divine Switch, in a sense. This has caused the majority of the celestials to revert to a mortal form, and the rest of the populace to forget their existence. Strange.

Type

Plane of Existence

Owner/Ruler

Myldala

Characters in Location

• Myldala

I would like it to be known here that I was not even aware of Yxjun's form of magic when creating the Weave. Perhaps he is not as creative and unique as he seems to think he is.

— Myldala

Planar Geography

But anyways, that's enough of an aside. The Astral Plane itself is an expanse of darkness illuminated by occasional "stars". These stars are not the same as those visible in the night sky, but are instead pockets of magic that poke through to the other planes. There are places in the Astral Sea with more or fewer stars, but they are nearly always visible from anywhere in the plane.
Most magical travel (sigh. Teleportation) is done via these "nodes" in the Astral Sea. Each node directly corresponds to a point on one of the other planes - the connections between these nodes are sometimes referred to as ley lines.

Astral Storms

There are, sometimes, storms in the Astral Sea. These storms are caused by an overload of magic use in one specific area - a counterspell of a counterspell, or something of the caliber. Storms like these can last hours or days, and cause magic to become somewhat unpredictable in the area they are affecting.

Creatures of the Plane

There are very few creatures that are able to exist full-time in the Astral Plane. These creatures are known as abberations, and can be either "creative" or "destructive". Creative abberations emit planar energy, while destructive abberations feed on it. The origins of these creatures is greatly debated, but the two types hardly interact with one another.
Well, I say greatly debated. I know the truth, of course, but I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone.
Ugh, fine. If you really want to know, read Sha'Ren's article here.