Astral Plane

Transitive plane

“It is the space between everything.
It is the road that goes everywhere.
It is where you are when you aren't anywhere else."

— Manual of the Planes

The Astral could be reached from almost any point in a Prime Material plane or first layer of any Outer plane by spell, psionic ability, or device. It was described as a barren place of other-dimensional nothingness extending in all directions. What little solid substance that floated in the bright, gray void was typically chunks of matter broken off from their original plane. The Astral had no gravity but objects did retain their mass so you could throw small items or push off from large objects to move in the weightless environment.
Entering the Astral plane could be accomplished in one of two ways: projecting your astral form into the plane via the astral projection spell, or by physically entering the plane. Astral projection was the safest way to travel but still involved risk because you left your physical body behind on the traveler's plane of origin. The astral body would be accompanied by the astral forms of any items and clothing that were magical or radiated a magic aura.

Geography

Upon entering the Astral plane, the traveler saw a silvery color pool nearby—a portal to the location on the Prime Material plane from which he or she originated. Astral projection travelers saw their silver cord leading back to this pool. Color pools appeared as two-dimensional circles about 10‒60 ft in diameter and only visible from one side unless they had some way to detect invisible objects. Pools of different colors were portals to the different Outer planes. Each Outer plane had its own unique color, but the traveler's home portal was always a metallic silver, rippling like mercury in a pan. Color pools could be used to view the destination plane before stepping through by mentally concentrating on the nearby pool until it became transparent. A viewer could also move (with some limitations) the portal's viewpoint by concentration. Astral projecting travelers formed a new physical body (with silver cord attached) when they stepped through a color pool to their destination plane. The new body was formed out of local materials so the greater the similarity between one's home plane and the destination, the more one's new body looked like the original one.

Alternative Name(s)

The Astral Sea

Type

Dimensional plane

Included Organizations

• Githyanki
• Githyanki Empire
• Red Hand

Related Ethnicities

• Githyanki

Contested By

• Githyanki

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Shape and Size

Infinite

Gravity

None

Aura

Octarine