The Planes

There are the main planes of existence. These are the Outer Plane (or the Astral Sea), the Center Plane (or the Mortal World), and the Inner Plane (or the Elemental Chaos). Within these three planes there exist parallel universes/ demiplanes/realms. For example, in the Elemental Chaos, you have the Fire Realm, Water Realm, Lightning Realm, etc. The Abyss lies also in the Inner Plane. These are demiplanes within the Plane.

In order to travel from plane to plane, you must use either a rift, a barrier, or a portal. A rift would be a natural opening in one plane that leads to another. For instance, if you found a bottomless pit ravine while traveling in the Mortal World, there is a good chance that this is a rift leading down into the Inner Plane. This is the most natural way to plane travel, however, it is dangerous and unreliable as you have no way of knowing where in the next plane the rift will take you unless you have used that exact rift before.

A barrier can be found in the natural world as a way to shift between parallel universes. So in order to get to a demiplane from within a plane, you would look for the right moment for a barrier to appear and you would seize the moment to transfer yourself over into the other realm. For example, if you knew that a particular waterfall was a barrier into the Feywild, you would wait until the designated time for the barrier to open and then you would walk through the waterfall into a place from the Feywild that would never otherwise appear behind that waterfall unless the barrier were open.

A portal is a way to get through to another plane by the use of magic rituals. This type of magic is very complex and sometimes even dangerous. A portal can be opened almost anywhere and it simply tears a hole in the veil that separate the different planes. This veil has extraordinary regeneration so this is why portal travel can become dangerous. If you do not cut open a portal sufficiently, it can heal itself as you are trying to switch planes. The magic required to do this is very powerful and requires a heavy amount of concentration and effort.

Sigil, City of Doors, exists on a demiplane of the Mortal World and is the only place with semi-permanent portals to all different planes and demiplanes in the cosmos. It has reliable ancient magic continuously holding open the portals, so it is a trustworthy place to travel from plane to plane. Adventurers have used Sigil’s Doors for centuries, maybe even millennia.

Here is a list of the demiplanes, or realms, within the three Planes.

Outer Plane (Astral Sea):

Silver Sea – The Good Gods have made their homes here.

Dreamshae Isles – Unaligned Gods reign here.

Dark Moors – Evil Gods dwell in this realm.

Center Plane (Mortal World):

Terra – This is the mortal world that most species dwell in.

Feywild – This is the realm where Eladrin have established their cities.

Shadowfell – This is the dark realm where many monsters escape from into the mortal world.

Sigil – Sigil is a city whose history is not very clear. It exists in a realm of its own.

Inner Plane (Elemental Chaos):

Water Realm

Fire Realm

Rock Realm

Lightning Realm

The Abyss – Swirling vortex of destruction and chaos planted from a seed of pure evil.

Note: The Elemental Chaos’s realms are, like the plane describes, chaotic. No one element can be contained solely in its own realm. Therefore, you are likely to find bits of all of the elements in each of the realms. But one will be most prominent, of course.