13.4 Planes

The universe of Rise is divided into planes. A plane is a distinct realm of existence. Except for the connections between planes through planar rifts, each plane is effectively an isolated universe, and different planes can obey different fundamental laws. For example, the Material Plane has gravity that exerts a consistent acceleration in a single absolute direction. However, the Astral Plane has subjective gravity, where each creature on the plane chooses the direction that gravity pulls it in, if any.

13.4.1 General Cosmology

The planes of Rise are divided up into groups.

Primal Planes: The primal planes are manifestations of the basic building blocks of the universe. Each plane in this group is predominantly composed of a single element or type of energy. There are four primal planes: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water.

Aligned Planes: The five aligned planes are manifestations of the five alignments. Elysium is good-aligned, the Abyss is evil-aligned, Ordus is law-aligned, Discord is chaos-aligned, and the Expanse is neutral-aligned.

When mortal creatures die, their souls travel to an appropriate location on an aligned plane, where they gain new planeforged bodies and live again. If they pledged their soul to a deity in life, that deity can take ownership over their soul in death, and the soul is reborn within that deity’s territory and under their protection. Otherwise, they appear on the aligned plane that most closely reflects their primary alignment in life.

Nexus Planes: The nexus planes are composite planes with a number of distinct environments and filled with creatures of myriad alignments. Nexus planes comprise the majority of civilization across all planes. They do not have their own unique planar essence, and no planar creatures are native to nexus planes. There are two nexus planes: the Material Plane and the Astral Plane.

Demiplanes: These planes are small, fragmentary realms that are greatly limited in their scope. There is no specific list of demiplanes, and they share few common properties. Most demiplanes were created for particular purposes by beings of great power, though some simply came into existence through unknown means.

Eternal Void: The Eternal Void is the space beyond all other planes. It is occupied by aberrations and horrors that ruled the cosmos before the rise of mortals and deities. The precursors, ancient aberrations of unfathomable size and power, periodically try to reclaim what was once rightfully theirs.

13.4.2 Planar Rifts

Normally, there are boundaries between different planes that prevent direct passage between them. However, planar rifts are places where these boundaries have weakened, making interplanar travel easier. A planar rift joins a specific location on one plane to a specific location on a different plane. Most planar rifts lead to and from the Astral Plane, which is the space between the other planes.

Most planar rifts still require the use of magic, such as the plane shift ritual, to actually cross between planes. Some especially large rifts enable physical travel between planes without the use of any magic.

13.4.3 Planeforged Creatures

A planeforged is a type of creature that is fundamentally composed of the essence of one or more planes. The vast majority of planeforged creatures are composed of only a single plane. When a planeforged dies, its essence returns to its native plane or planes. Weak planeforged lose their independent identity and become part of the core composition of the plane once more. Strong planeforged can retain their identity and reform from that raw material given time, making them difficult or impossible to kill completely. In either case, planeforged cannot be resurrected by soul-based magic such as the resurrection spell.