The Ethereal Ways
The only observable feature of this realm is a single, cylindrical tower of grey marble, 400 feet in diameter, extending apparently to infinity both upward and downward into a bright, blue sky.
When entering via a portal from The Isle of Popkin on the Prime Material Plane, one will emerge inside the tower, into a circular chamber, 300 feet across, with a floor of pale, polished marble.
Evenly spaced around the perimeter of the chamber are five enormous gateways, each consisting of two square marble pillars 100 feet tall and 50 feet apart, topped by a single block of marble placed horizontally.
Beyond the gates is a raised marble ring, creating a wall 30 feet high, which is broken by stairways leading up to the ring; five stairways, 30 ft wide, interspersed between the five gates, each seemingly scaled for a different-sized set of legs.
Beyond that are grey marble walls, stretching up indefinitely, seeming to join in the distance. They are broken by openings, one behind each staircase, 75 feet wide and, again, stretching up as high as the walls. Through them, bright, clear, blue sky can be seen.
In the center of the marble floor is a circle of inlaid platinum 50ft across and 6 inches wide, within which is a stylized platinum dragon foot, surrounded by seven small, gold, four-pointed stars.
One of the five gates appears incomplete. The two vertical pillars are only 4/5 and 2/3 of their full heights, respectively, and a pile of 5 foot marble cubes sits between them. Behind that, one can see the huge crosspiece lying on the floor.
The crosspiece of each gate says in large, carved Draconic runes, "Dawn Egg Isle", and has a flame icon followed by one of five marks.
Up the stairs, the raised ring is a grey marble floor, 50 feet wide. The inside of the ring is a repeating sequence of gold, silver, brass, copper, and bronze squares. Outside the walls is another ring of white, marble floor, another 75 feet wide.
At two opposed points along the outside of the outer ring, there are platforms where a 30 foot-wide spiraling marble path crosses the level of the ring.
On one side, the path spirals upward to the right and downward to the left. The floor of the upward path has the same pattern of repeating metallic squares down the center. The downward path has a line of solid black obsidian down the center.
On the opposite side, the path spirals upward to the left and downward to the right. The upward path has a line of opal down the middle, while the downward path has the familiar metallic sequence.
At four other opposing points (i.e., 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, and 10:00), paths lead straight outward laterally, seemingly stretching flat toward infinity. One has a center line of alternating sandstone, granite, and basalt. One, opposite to the first, has a center line of clear and smoky quartz. The center lines of the other pair appear to be made of blocks of pure ruby and sapphire, respectively.
When entering via a portal from The Isle of Popkin on the Prime Material Plane, one will emerge inside the tower, into a circular chamber, 300 feet across, with a floor of pale, polished marble.
Evenly spaced around the perimeter of the chamber are five enormous gateways, each consisting of two square marble pillars 100 feet tall and 50 feet apart, topped by a single block of marble placed horizontally.
Beyond the gates is a raised marble ring, creating a wall 30 feet high, which is broken by stairways leading up to the ring; five stairways, 30 ft wide, interspersed between the five gates, each seemingly scaled for a different-sized set of legs.
Beyond that are grey marble walls, stretching up indefinitely, seeming to join in the distance. They are broken by openings, one behind each staircase, 75 feet wide and, again, stretching up as high as the walls. Through them, bright, clear, blue sky can be seen.
In the center of the marble floor is a circle of inlaid platinum 50ft across and 6 inches wide, within which is a stylized platinum dragon foot, surrounded by seven small, gold, four-pointed stars.
One of the five gates appears incomplete. The two vertical pillars are only 4/5 and 2/3 of their full heights, respectively, and a pile of 5 foot marble cubes sits between them. Behind that, one can see the huge crosspiece lying on the floor.
The crosspiece of each gate says in large, carved Draconic runes, "Dawn Egg Isle", and has a flame icon followed by one of five marks.
Up the stairs, the raised ring is a grey marble floor, 50 feet wide. The inside of the ring is a repeating sequence of gold, silver, brass, copper, and bronze squares. Outside the walls is another ring of white, marble floor, another 75 feet wide.
At two opposed points along the outside of the outer ring, there are platforms where a 30 foot-wide spiraling marble path crosses the level of the ring.
On one side, the path spirals upward to the right and downward to the left. The floor of the upward path has the same pattern of repeating metallic squares down the center. The downward path has a line of solid black obsidian down the center.
On the opposite side, the path spirals upward to the left and downward to the right. The upward path has a line of opal down the middle, while the downward path has the familiar metallic sequence.
At four other opposing points (i.e., 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, and 10:00), paths lead straight outward laterally, seemingly stretching flat toward infinity. One has a center line of alternating sandstone, granite, and basalt. One, opposite to the first, has a center line of clear and smoky quartz. The center lines of the other pair appear to be made of blocks of pure ruby and sapphire, respectively.
Utility
Intraplanar transportation
Portals on the Popkin floor open at:- Amaan'iska: Beneath Seraphina's Temple, far above the cavern containing Piruun'iska
- Amaan Din: Near the surface of one of those very very old kīpukas on the southeast slope of the volcano, between Tail’s End and New Refuge
- Amaan Dar: East of Hightower, in the cloud forest just south of the summit, facing the saddle valley between Amaan Dar and Amaan Din
- Amaan Moridin: Buried under the lair of a long-dead ancient Red Dragon, near the top of what had once been the main magma column of the volcano
Interplanar transportation
Moving upward or downward while circling around the outside of the tower clockwise translates the user along the positive-negative axis while keeping the anchor location constant. For example, from the Prime Isle of Popkin portal floor, taking the ramp that spirals up to the right will lead you to the portal floor anchored to the island's reflection in the Feywild. From there, crossing to the ramp that spirals downward to the right will return the user to the floor where they began. Similarly, the ramp spiraling downward to the left from the Prime floor would lead to Popkin's reflection in the Shadowfell. Warning: You should never under any circumstances attempt further positive-ward travel from Feywild floors, or negative-ward travel from Shadowfell floors.Manufacturing
Unknown
Parent Technologies
Access & Availability
Access closely guarded, at least from The Isle of Popkin.
Portal between the Prime Popkin floor and the Elemental Plane of Air:
- The Air side of the portal is protected by a garrison of Aaqan soldiers
- It’s within the Labyrinth Winds, and while not close to The Vale of Aaqa by any stretch, it’s also well inside the zone in which the Vaati forbid any portals from opening or existing.
Complexity
Inspired by The Infinite Staircase, the creators built a system of pathways and ramps along a 3-dimensional manifold embedded in 6-dimension Ethereal space, which could be traversed in one way to move between fixed points on the Prime Material, and in another way to move between analogous points on the first-order Material echo planes (Feywild, Prime, Shadowfell).
- Being nearly orthogonal to the Elemental Planes, they were also able to extend pathways to them where the manifold crosses its “origin”.
Discovery
Rediscovered by the Platinum Elemental Adventuring Company in 4761.
Related Species
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