13.5 Cosmology

The universe of Rise can be generally divided into three parts: the Material Plane, the Spiritual Planes, and the Astral Expanse. The Material Plane consists of a central sun and a number of planets orbiting that sun. Everything in the Material Plane is essentially ordinary matter, and it generally obeys real-world physics.

The Spiritual Planes are made from essentia, which is the residue left behind when souls decay into nonexistence. They are shaped by the deities that have lived there since the dawn of civilization. When mortal souls die, they travel to an appropriate Spiritual Plane for their afterlife. Deities often reside in highly unique territories that may have impossible physical properties such as inverted gravity. However, the Spiritual Planes generally function like the real world unless otherwise specified.

The Astral Expanse is entirely different. Unlike the Material Plane and Spiritual Planes, the Astral Expanse has four spatial dimensions. The Material Plane and Spiritual Planes are three-dimensional projections within the four-dimensional space of the Astral Expanse. Anything entering them is compressed into three dimensions. That is why they are called "planes", like a plane is a two-dimensional object within a three-dimensional space.

It is impossible for mortals to reach the Spiritual Planes by normal means. To do so, they would have to move through the fourth spatial dimension. Imagine that there are two pieces of paper resting flat on different shelves. You could make each paper as long and wide as you want, but they would never intersect each other, because they are parallel. To move from one piece of paper to the other, you would have to move in a third dimension: vertically. In the same way, you could fly in any direction for any length of time and never reach the Spiritual Plane.

13.5.1 Planar Rifts

Planar rifts are places where the fabric of a plane has "folded" to directly connect two distant locations within a single plane. The two locations on either side of the rift are physically next to each other, so travel through a planar rift is not magical. It just involves walking from one side of the rift to the other.

On their own, planar rifts generally disappear within a few days. This time can be extended with the stabilize planar rift ritual. Some extraordinary planar rifts last for years without magical intervention. The forge planar rift ritual is the only way to create a planar rift, and the planar rifts created in that way are temporary.

13.5.2 Demiplanes

In addition to the main three categories, there may also exist smaller planes scattered throughout the Astral Expanse. These demiplanes may be composed of ordinary material, essentia, or both, and they can have widely varied properties. Most demiplanes were created for particular purposes by beings of great power, though some simply came into existence through unknown means.

13.5.3 Soulforged Creatures

The Spiritual Planes have native inhabitants, but they are not born in the same way as creatures of the Material Plane. Angels, demons, devils, and other such creatures are made from the essentia of their corresponding Spiritual Plane. They are called soulforged creatures because they are made of essentia, which comes from souls. Most such creatures do not have their own souls. They are agents of deities and other powerful figures, used to enforce their will.

When a soulforged is destroyed, its essentia is absorbed by the plane it is on. This is one reason that soulforged creatures rarely leave their home plane, since dying on other planes is a net loss of essentia to their creators. If a soulforged has a soul and a strong will, the soul travels to its home plane like mortal souls do. It can generally make a new body for itself within a week if it died on another plane, or within a day if it died on its home plane. Soulforged that die without a soul, or with a soul too weak to reconstitute itself, do not reform.