Elemental Planes Geographic Location in The Library of Dulūn | World Anvil
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Elemental Planes

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This document has been contributed by: Athlai Lealla

The Elemental Planes are a more recent focus of modern-day archmages. These planes have, up until recently, been viewed as the sort of "building blocks" of reality - however, recent research has come to light to assert otherwise. In fact, the Elemental Planes are the source of the new field of elemental magic (known also as orange magic).

Inhabitants

The Elemental Planes are nowhere near as lively as, say, the Material, but they are able to house some life within them. This life most commonly comes in the form of elementals, though different types of genies also live in the planes. While not native to the planes themselves, the Elemental Planes are also crucial in the creation of plane-souls, beings of the material plane born near an excess of energy from one of the Elemental Planes.

An aside on plane-souls

Plane-souls are fairly uncommon, though I wouldn't call them rare. I am sure there is plenty of literature regarding plane-souls in the Library already, so I will be concise here. Simply, there are four "main" types of plane-souls - tied to Aurelle, Torra, Ignis, and Aguar. However, it is not impossible to have a plane-soul from the other two Elemental Planes. These beings are not usually referred to as plane-souls, however. There will be some elaboration on this later in the article.
Alternative Name(s)
The Æther
Type
Plane of Existence
Inhabiting Species

Planar Geography

There are six Elemental Planes: the elemental planes of earth, water, air, fire, shadow, and time. However, each plane has its own name, by which it is known by its inhabitants. The Elemental Planes of shadow and time are a bit different than the rest of the elemental planes, in that they cannot create plane-souls (in the traditional sense, at least). Because of the layout of the Elemental Planes, there are also pockets within each of the planes known as transitional planes. These transitional planes allow one to traverse between the planes. However, there are no transitional planes between the planes of earth and air, and there are no transitional planes between the planes of water and fire.

Aquar

The Elemental Plane of water, more commonly known as Aquar, is a vast and unending body of water, with no top, bottom, or sides. The only light that exists within Aquar are a type of water elemental that resembles a fish, glows, and ruthlessly attacks anything that comes within sight. The inhabitants of Aquar speak Aquan.

Aurelle

The Elemental Plane of air, more commonly known as Aurelle, is a windy expanse with occasional land in the form of clouds that are dense enough to stand on and somewhat similar to islands. In addition to air elementals, aurellian are native to the elemental plane of air, living in nomadic communities on the islands of Aurelle. The air elementals of Aurelle are hostile towards these bird-like folk, necessitating a lifestyle where communities can pick up and move whenever they need to. While there are not many natural resources in Aurelle, these communities subsist on the few beasts also present within Aurelle. They do not let any part of a felled beast go to waste, using the inedible materials gained for crafting shelters, tools, and more. The inhabitants of Aurelle speak Auran.

Ignis

The Elemental Plane of fire, more commonly known as Ignis, has ground made of lava, only some of which his hardened enough to stand on, and air that is constantly ablaze. No life that is not an elemental can survive for long periods of time within Ignis, so there is not much life within the plane. Ignis is also the plane with the fewest connections to the material plane out of the four primary elemental planes, and so fire plane-souls are the rarest kind of genasi. Inhabitants of Ignis speak Ignan.

Torra

The Elemental Plane of earth, more commonly known as Torra, is a never-ending expanse of rocky terrain, occasionally interrupted by rivers of acid. The land constantly moves, hills rolling like waves and mountains forming and crashing like the tides. The air itself within Torra is toxic to most non-natives, and has a green tint to it. It is said that the first dwarves were formed from the stone of Torra. In more recent history, the main inhabitants of Torra are earth elementals. The inhabitants of Torra speak Terran.

Shadar

The elemental plane of shadow, or Shadar, is unique compared to the rest of the elemental planes. Rather than an inanimate setting, it is a writhing mass of semi-conscious, ever-shifting shadow. This shadow, when seeping into the material plane, is the source of some types of Shyfts, as well as shadow elementals. Shadar does not have a need for a language, as it is able to communicate with itself through its own hive mind.

Tempor

The elemental plane of time, also known as Tempor, or the Temporal Plane, does not have any physical representation, but rather is something that stretches across the rest of the planes of existence - though it has a faltering connection to the Feywild and the Shadowfell. It is only classified as an elemental plane because of the existence of time elementals: a rare phenomenon in response to paradoxes or other strange time events occuring, in which an elemental will appear to close the wound in Tempor but then never stop existing, remaining in the former location of the wound across all of time. Time elementals are harmless for the most part, only attacking when a being poses a threat to their home plane. They will not fight back when attacked by someone who is not a threat to time, and when killed, will join back with their plane.

Transitional Planes

The way that the elemental planes are "laid out" within the greater formation of the planes means that there are points where the planes are pressed against each other. At these points are transitional planes, representing a mix of the two elemental planes that are bordering. The transitional planes between Torra and Aquar are poisonous or acidic pools. The transitional planes between Aquar and Aurelle are pockets of steam, sometimes active with lightning and thunder. The tranitional planes between Aurelle and Ignis are pockets of hot smoke, and the transitional planes between Ignis and Torra are filled with molten rock.


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