Elementalists are not all enlightened as to the exact origins of the extraplanar energies they evoke. Most assume it comes from somewhere outside their own space. A handful have rightly concluded that such a space might be accessible from our own.
A lucky few have survived such attempts.
The dangers of teleporting oneself directly into a universe made entirely of fire should be obvious. Opening portals is a safer method of accessing these realms (though prepare to deal with a torrent of water or fire from either of those planes) but even the more placid realms of pure earth and pure air are difficult to traverse or even survive.
If someone wishes to traverse the elemental planes, they would have much better chances in one of the other countless available options.
 |
| Do I need to give credit for a 400+ year old image? Kepler made this. |
There are many models of the cosmos describing how the planes intersect and overlap. They are all wrong, of course, though some are useful. The elemental planes - at least those of our own Mundane World - can be represented by a tetrahedron. A four sided die, if you prefer. Each of the vertices on the tetrahedron represents the location of a pure elemental plane: fire, air, earth, water. But there are more than just points to a tetrahedron; they have edges and faces, and space within.
Each accessible coordinate in this space is it's own elemental plane, filled with mixed energies from the four pure vertices. There are theoretically infinite possible spaces which could be occupied by planes, though it is uncertain how precisely there can be measured.
The Prime Elemental Planes
Each of the elements has their Elemental Lord. Ithha, Prince of Elemental Wind (DCC RPG p. 356) is one such lord, as is his nemesis Grom. These powerful elementals reside in extreme reaches of the elemental tetrahedron, each in their own universe of near-pure elemental energy. These extremes usually only have a small, central location which is habitable (in a loose sense of the word) to life as we know it. The Prince of Wind takes audience in his palace in the endless sky, while Grom sits guarded by a terracotta army in his underground city.
Para-elemental Planes
At all other points within the tetrahedron and along its edges and surfaces exist universes of varying abundance of the elements. Here are some examples of planes that might be of interest to wizards and foolish adventurers. Elements are listed in order of their abundance, with unlisted elements indicating a complete or near-complete absence.
Crucible (Earth, Fire, Air): A blistering-hot craggy land with rivers of molten iron.
Maelstrom (Water, Air, Earth): An endless tumultuous sea with permanent storms.
Quagmire (Earth, Water, Air): A primordial swamp of mud and ooze, teeming with life. Toxic, disease-ridden life.
Waste (Earth, Air): A place of sand and dust with little wind and zero moisture. Neither hot nor cold, and very little life (even elementals).
There is a vast array of planes that are not habitable due to overabundance of fire or lack of traversible land, but there is also an endless number of spaces between to explore. The above list is far from exhaustive - any combination you can think of can be travelled to. It simply needs to be located.
Many of the habitable para-elemental planes are ducal territories of lesser elementals subservient to (or caught between) the Elemental Lords. The elemental planes are a space of constant and dynamic conflict.
The Elemental Gate
There exists a machine which was created to locate elemental planes and open up portals into them. It was created by a wizard who needed various elemental resources to power his alchemical pursuits, though he met his demise to an elemental who didn't see the humor in being ripped in half by an interdimensional portal... again. In the wizard's defense, the odds of this happening twice were astronomically slim.
The machine consists of a stone panel with a series of three wooden steering wheels like those on a ship, a theatrically-large throw-switch, a stone archway a human could walk through, and a "display": tetrahedron with a small sphere suspended inside it. Flavour this display to the wizard's style - it could be a glass prism with a rainbow sphere of light in it, or a wrought-iron cage with a mechanical rod holding the sphere up. Each corner should be marked with a symbol or color associated with its.
The wheels are each associated with one axis in 3d space (though they are not marked) and set the co-ordinates of the plane being targeted. The throw-switch opens or closes a portal in the archway to the selected elemental plane. Attempting to turn a wheel while the portal is open causes a violent expulsion of elemental energy. Don't mess around with the machine when it's turned on, dingus.
The "puzzle" for the players is to figure out how the machine works and use it to get to the elemental plane they desire. This probably involves a lot of trial and error, and it'll hopefully be a fun session of improv figuring out what each combination of elements looks like on the fly. Hopefully, the players think to navigate to each corner and test them one at a time. Worst comes to worst, I'm sure the wizard left some cryptic list of co-ordinates around here somewhere.
The reward is a hub zone for adventures across the elemental planes. This is sandbox stuff, so make sure you either ask your players what they intend to do ahead of time, have a bunch of touchstone planes to riff on, or be prepared for extreme multidimensional improv (as one should always be).
No comments:
Post a Comment