Manual of the Planes

the truth, the ice sheet has objective directional gravity,and it is possible that it is simply a shard of black ice solarge that it is mistaken for Ocanthus’s boundary.Cabal Macabre: Wee Jas, the Witch Goddess of Deathand Magic, keeps her realm on Ocanthus. Built on thesurface of the boundary ice is a crystalline castle of delicateyet horrifying architecture. It gleams with a pale,heartless light all its own—the only point of light in thisotherwise pitch-black layer. On closer examination, a visitornotes that the translucent outer walls of the ornatecastle are crenellated with ice sculptures depicting skeletonsof every race in the multiverse.Inside Cabal Macabre, Wee Jas tests spellcasters kidnappedfrom across the planes, though none ever passher exams. The penalty for failure is death at the Goddess’shands, though many of her worshipers considerthis a great honor.Wee Jas spends much of her time away from the castle,walking the boundary ice and mentally sifting it formemories of lost magic and the memories of death.Within a quarter-mile of where she walks, the continualbladestorm of Ocanthus is temporarily quelled.CLOCKWORK NIRVANAOF MECHANUSIt is the plane of ultimate law.It is where premeditated plans are born.It is the gear works for the multiverse.Mechanus is where perfectly regimented orderreigns supreme. It consists of equal measures of lightand dark, and equal proportions of heat and cold. It is aspredictable as the drip of a water clock and as obviousas a tree in a field. On Mechanus all law is reflected in asingle infinite realm of clockwork gears, all interlocked,all turning according to their own measure. Thecogs seem to be engaged in a calculation so vast that nodeity knows its purpose, except that it is somehow afunction of law.At first glance Mechanus seems as straightforward asanything on the Outer Planes. However, subtleties lurkjust below the surface. Every kind of law can be found inthe Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, from simplemaxims to devilishly twisted rules of decorum. But forthe most part, Mechanus contains no passion, illusion, orpain. When all consciousness is completely subsumedinto the whole, perfection follows.MECHANUS TRAITSMechanus has the following traits.• Objective Directional Gravity: The strength of gravityis the same as on the Material Plane but the direction isoriented to the face of each rotating cog. Walkingbetween cogs can be dizzying for newcomers—anddangerous if a traveler falls between the cogs.• Normal Time.• Infinite Size: Each cog is finite, though even thesmaller ones are as big as a typical island. The void thegears hang in is infinite.• Divinely Morphic: Lesser deities can alter Mechanuswith a thought; ordinary creatures require spells andphysical effort to do so.• No Elemental or Energy Traits.• Strongly Law-Aligned: Nonlawful characters onMechanus suffer a –2 penalty on all Charisma-,Wisdom-, and Intelligence-based checks.• Normal Magic.MECHANUS LINKSFree-standing portals from elsewhere usually connect atthe center of any given cog. Some portals lead to otherOuter Planes, Inner Planes, or even the Astral Plane orEthereal Plane. Some portals even lead to other cog faces.Portals on Mechanus appear as light green coglike circles,slowly turning. A green portal appears regularlyonce per revolution of the cog it resides upon, thoughsome portals appear according to the interaction of severalcogs (and which ones are not always readily apparent).Once it appears, a given portal usually remains openfor at least 1 hour and possibly as long as 24 hours.MECHANUS INHABITANTSThe inhabitants of Mechanus make their homes on thecogs that turn in the void. The gear faces are normallydevoid of vegetation and native wildlife, althoughcolonists from other planes, including the MaterialPlane, the Nine Hells, and Celestia, transform many facesinto elaborate hedge mazes, parks, or nature reserves.The most prevalent creatures on Mechanus are nottruly living creatures at all—they’re constructs. As agroup they are called inevitables, and they exist toenforce the natural laws of the universe. The three widelyrecognized types of inevitables are kolyaruts (fugitivehunters),maruts (foes of those who cheat death), andzelekhuts (enforcers of contracts). Each type of inevitablerelentlessly finds and punishes those who have committedsuch transgressions.Expansionist formians have hives throughoutMechanus. These antlike centaurs seek to colonize allthey see and incorporate all living things into their hivesas workers, serving the law of their queens.Other clockwork creatures, apart from inevitables,also call Mechanus home, though they have as little aspossible to do with other races.Mechanus PetitionersThe petitioners of Mechanus often adopt a stylized versionof their mortal bodies. Despite the outward differences,all petitioners on Mechanus are alike in theirfrightening honesty and submersion of individuality.They are notoriously literal, and some take no instructionat all for fear of misinterpreting the speaker.Mechanus petitioners have the following specialpetitioner qualities:CHAPTER 7:THE OUTERPLANES127