As mentioned in the previous post, the Tarosir cosmology contains six Inner Planes (which are pretty much the same as in the SRD) and six Outer Planes.
As a note, any magic traits also apply to psionics unless specifically noted. This applies to the traits in the previous post as well.
Inner Planes
The Inner Planes encircle the Material Plane and define the concept of direction in the Astral Plane. Four of them are elemental planes while the other two are energy planes. A few deities make their domains in these planes, generally the more powerful ones since the Inner Planes are not as easily shaped by divine power.
Plane of Air
The Plane of Air has the following planar traits:
- Gravity: Subjective directional
- Time: Normal
- Shape and Size: Infinite
- Morphicity: Alterable, weakly divine
- Affinities: Air-dominant
- Alignment: Mildly neutral-aligned
- Magic:
- Enhanced - spells with the Air or Electricity descriptors (and other spells that manipulate air) are enlarged and empowered
- Impeded - spells with the Earth or Acid descriptors (and other spells that manipulate earth or stone) are impeded
In the Astral Plane, the Plane of Air defines the direction of west; it lies due west of the Material Plane.
Plane of Earth
The Plane of Earth has the following planar traits:
- Gravity: Heavy
- Time: Normal
- Shape and Size: Infinite
- Morphicity: Alterably, weakly divine
- Affinities: Earth-dominant
- Alignment: Mildly neutral-aligned
- Magic:
- Enhanced - spells with the Earth or Acid descriptors (and other spells that manipulate air) are extended and empowered
- Impeded - spells with the Air or Electricity descriptors (and other spells that manipulate air) are impeded
In the Astral Plane, the Plane of Earth defines the direction of east; it lies due east of the Material Plane.
Plane of Fire
The Plane of Fire has the following planar traits:
- Gravity: Normal
- Time: Normal
- Shape and Size: Infinite
- Morphicity: Alterable, weakly divine
- Affinities: Fire-dominant
- Alignment: Mildly neutral-aligned
- Magic:
- Enhanced - spells with the Fire descriptor are maximized and enlarged
- Impeded - spells with the Water descriptor (and other spells that manipulate water) are impeded
- Limited - spells with the Cold descriptor are blocked; they do not function at all
In the Astral Plane, the Plane of Fire defines the direction of south; it lies due south of the Material Plane.
Plane of Water
The Plane of Water has the following planar traits:
- Gravity: Normal
- Time: Normal
- Shape and Size: Infinite
- Morphicity: Alterable, weakly divine
- Affinities: Water-dominant
- Alignment: Mildly neutral-aligned
- Magic:
- Enhanced - spells with the Water or Cold descriptors (and other spells that manipulate water) are extended and enlarged
- Impeded - spells with the Fire descriptor are impeded
In the Astral Plane, the Plane of Water defines the direction of north; it lies due north of the Material Plane.
Plane of Life
The Plane of Life has the following planar traits:
- Gravity: Subjective directional
- Time: Normal
- Shape and Size: Infinite
- Morphicity: Alterable, weakly divine
- Affinities: Major positive-dominant
- Alignment: Mildly neutral-aligned
- Magic:
- Enhanced - spells that channel positive energy (such as cure spells) are maximized; turn undead attempts gain a +10 bonus on the roll to determine Hit Dice affected, though this is mostly useless since undead are virtually nonexistent on this plane
- Impeded - spells that channel negative energy (such as inflict spells) are impeded
In the Astral Plane, the Plane of Life defines the direction of up; it lies directly above the Material Plane.
Plane of Decay
The Plane of Decay has the following planar traits:
- Gravity: Subjective directional
- Time: Normal
- Shape and Size: Infinite
- Morphicity: Alterable, weakly divine
- Affinities: Major negative-dominant
- Alignment: Mildly neutral-aligned
- Magic:
- Enhanced - spells that channel negative energy (such as inflict spells) are maximized; rebuke undead attempts gain a +10 bonus on the roll to determine Hit Dice affected
- Impeded - spells that channel positive energy (such as cure spells) are impeded
In the Astral Plane, the Plane of Air defines the direction of down; it lies directly below the Material Plane.
Outer Planes
The Outer Planes represent moral extremes. There is one for each of the quadrants of the alignment graph (good, evil, law, chaos), plus one for neutrality and one for insanity. Most of the Outer Planes consist of multiple layers or subplanes, but they do not share boundaries as those of the Great Wheel of standard D&D cosmology do. There are however some connections between them.
In the Astral Plane, Heaven can be found above the Plane of Life, while Hell falls beneath the Plane of Decay. Arborea, Mechanicus, and Errata are arrayed at equal intervals around the Inner Planes, which roughly places Arborea north of the Plane of Water, Errata to the southwest beyond the Planes of Air and Fire, and Mechanicus to the southeast beyond the Planes of Earth and Fire.
Heaven
Heaven has the following planar traits as a whole:
- Gravity: Light
- Time: Flowing (one day on the Material Plane is one week in Heaven)
- Shape and Size: Self-contained torus (see details below)
- Morphicity: Alterable, strongly divine
- Affinities: Minor positive-dominant
- Alignment: Mildly good-aligned
Magic:
- Enhanced - spells that channel positive energy and spells with the good descriptor are maximized
- Impeded - spells that channel negative energy and spells with the evil descriptor are impeded
Heaven is composed of seven layers, some of which have additional planar traits. From bottom to top, these layers are called Arcadia, Bifrost, Asgard, Utopia, Orpheon, Elysium, and Nirvana. A visitor to Heaven typically enters via Arcadia; the upper layers are accessible by connecting paths.
The shape of Heaven is best described as a pyramid with a torical (torus-shaped) base. If you travel east, you’ll come back from the west; travel north, and you’ll eventually return from the south. Travelling in other directions won’t bring you back exactly where you started, though you might get close. It’s also relatively small; on the topmost layer, the east-west circumference is just 50 miles while the north-south circumference is 500 miles. Each lower layer adds an additional 50 miles to the east-west circumference and 500 miles to the north-south circumference, meaning that the bottom layer has circumferences of 350 and 3500 miles. The total height of each layer is around 100 miles; there’s an invisible boundary at this point that can only be crossed by the right paths. You can’t simply fly from Arcadia up into Bifrost.
Hell
Hell has the following planar traits as a whole:
- Gravity: Normal
- Time: Flowing (one day on the Material Plane is six hours in Hell)
- Shape and Size: Finite bounded, inverse pentagonal pyramid - about 1000 miles per side on the top layer, each lower layer is 50 miles shorter per side
- Morphicity: Alterable, strongly divine
- Affinities: No elemental or energy traits
- Alignment: Mildly evil-aligned
- Magic:
- Enhanced - inflict spells, spells with the evil descriptor, and Bestow Curse are maximized
- Impeded - cure spells (just cure spells, nothing else that heals or channels positive energy), and spells with the good descriptor are impeded
Hell is composed of nine layers, some of which have additional planar traits. From top to bottom, these layers are called Asphodel, Erebor, Pandemonium, Acheron, Phlegethon, Cocytus, Gehenna, Niflheimr, and Tartarus. A visitor to Hell typically enters via Asphodel; the lower layers are accessible by connecting paths.
Mechanicus
Mechanicus has the following planar traits:
- Gravity: Objective directional - down is towards the nearest face of the nearest gear
- Time: Normal
- Shape and Size: Infinite (hyperbolic) - two people walking in exactly the same direction will nevertheless move apart
- Morphicity: Alterable, strongly divine
- Affinities: No elemental or energy traits
- Alignment: Strongly law-aligned
- Magic:
- Enhanced - spells with the law descriptor are maximized
- Limited - spells with the chaos descriptor are blocked
Mechanicus consists of three layers, which all have the same planar traits. The main layer through which a visitor typically enters is the Cogs; the other layers are the Forges and the Library, which are accessible by connecting paths.
Mechanicus has a hyberbolic geometry, in which Euclid’s parallel postulate doesn’t hold. Two lines can have a varying distance between them, yet never intersect.
Errata
Errata has the following planar traits:
- Gravity: Semi-subjective directional
- Time: Erratic (default table)
- Shape and Size: Infinite
- Morphicity: Highly, strongly divine
- Affinities: Sporadic elemental dominance, no energy traits
- Alignment: Strongly chaos-aligned
- Magic: Wild
Errata has an infinite number of layers in theory, reachable through various connecting paths. A visitor can find themselves in any one of these layers, but most often ends up in the semi-stable layer known as Stormcore, the only one of Errata’s layers known to have its own name. Most other layers are so unstable as to merge or split with startling regularity.
The gravity of Errata is a little unusual; it’s like objective directional gravity in the sense that gravity points towards some particular surface; however, it’s subjective in that a denizen can choose which of several nearby surfaces it should point towards for them. If no surfaces are in sight, it behaves as if there is no gravity, though if they were already moving they’ll continue to move in the same direction.
Arborea
Arborea has the following planar traits:
- Gravity: Objective directional (down is towards the nearest part of the tree)
- Time: Normal
- Shape and Size: Infinite
- Morphicity: Alterable, sentient, strongly divine
- Affinities: No elemental or energy traits
- Alignment: Strongly neutral-aligned
- Magic:
- Enhanced - spells with the fire, earth, water, or air descriptor are quickened; they may be cast as a swift action, even by spontaneous spellcasters
- Limited - spells with any alignment descriptor are blocked
Arborea consists of three layers, which all have the same planar traits. From bottom to top, these layers are called Avernum, Arbuscula, and Canopea. A visitor to Arborea typically enters via Arbuscula; the other two layers are accessible by connecting paths.
Far Realm
The Far Realm has the following planar traits:
- Gravity: None (basic movement is possible via concentration)
- Time: Erratic (time in Material Plane is never more than time in Far Realm)
- Shape and Size: Infinite bounded (has a spherical boundary at the “centre”)
- Morphicity: Alterable
- Affinities: Sporadic energy dominance, no elemental traits
- Alignment: Strongly neutral-aligned
- Magic: Dead (mostly)
The Far Realm is counted amongst the Outer Planes, but it’s quite different from the other five. It encircles the entire cosmology and is not full coexistent to the Astral Plane, though it’s still coterminous to it. The Far Realm is not connected to any transitive planes other than the Astral (and, as applicable, the Dream); spells that rely on Ethereal or Shadow planes do not function here, and once you venture far enough in, even the Astral Plane becomes inaccessible.
The boundary between the Astral Plane and the Far Realm is considered the centre of the Far Realm, which extends infinitely far in every direction away from this boundary. As you venture further and further into the Far Realm, magic becomes harder and harder to used; even the powers of deities are affected, and a terrible insanity threatens those who venture too far.
Those capable of traversing infinities will find that the Far Realm fades into Limbo, the place between reality and imagination, thus linking Tarosir into the larger Penstrokes meta-setting. However, none within the world are capable of this (except perhaps Cosmeon, the creator), so it’s not something that would be known by inhabitants, even those who live all their life in the Far Realm itself.