Manual of the Planes

CHAPTER 7:THE OUTERPLANES144Manual). In addition, there are flocks of bariaurs inEhlonna’s service. The grove is not far from Skerrit’srealm; centaur petitioners are found in Ehlonna’s realmand half-celestial/half-unicorns in Skerrit’s.Ehlonna has taken advantage of the Beastlands’ divinelymorphic trait to give her realm the enhanced magic trait.All spells cast by rangers within the Grove of the Unicornsare extended (as the Extend Spell feat), and all spellsthat create food or water are maximized (as the MaximizeSpell feat). Ehlonna has the power to make other alterationsto the traits within her realm, if she so desires.BruxBrux is the second layer of the Beastlands and a land ofeternal dusk. The sun is a red ball along the horizon, castinglong, ruddy shadows through the forest. Where it canbe seen above the trees, a silvered moon hovers low overthe opposite horizon. Time passes normally on this layer,but newcomers often get the eerie sense that the world isfrozen at sunset.Brux is slightly cooler than Krigala, and fogs and mistsroil through the trees. The animal life on Brux is active inmorning and evening, sleeping during the heat of the dayand getting food when the sun is low in the sky.Travelers who find themselves on Brux by accidentmay find their way back to Krigala by following thecreeks and streams. Many of them lead eventually toOceanus; others lead to boggy marshes and swamps.KarasuthraThe lowest layer of the Beastlands, Karasuthra wears acloak of continual night. A silver moon whose phaseschange achingly slowly hangs in the open sky, surroundedby stars that lazily drift across the sky. Only a few beaconsof moonlight piece the thick canopy of the forest here,forming silver shafts that touch the forest floor.Karasuthra is the home of the most dangerous nightcreatures, hunters relentless in the pursuit of theirquarry. Hunters from the Material Plane sometimes journeyto Karasuthra looking for the most dangerous of trophies.Some even survive to try a second time.If you’ve designed a cosmology in which the Plane ofShadow is coterminous to or coexistent with the Beastlands,Karasuthra’s darkness makes it a convenientarrival point from that plane. In such a cosmology, duskbeasts, ecalypses, and umbral banyans could be foundthroughout Karasuthras, as could shadow versions ofanimals and beasts (created by applying the shadowcreature template). Evil-aligned creatures would beuncomfortable in the Beastlands and hunted mercilesslyby the many celestial creatures that catch theirscent. But desperate evildoers could use Karasuthra as ahiding place from other, more foul creatures on theirhome plane.Beastlands EncountersUse Table 7–9: Beatific Encounters for random encountersin the Beastlands.OLYMPIAN GLADESOF ARBOREAIt is a plane of passion and peace.It is abundant nature in its patchwork glory.It is the domain of the Elven Lords.The Olympian Glades of Arborea are a crazy quilt of climatesand environments, all of which thrive. Arboreacontains great woods of towering maples, birch, and oak.These great deciduous trees strain skyward, leaving aforest floor relatively free of undergrowth and brush. Theground beneath the canopy itself is a rolling landscape ofvelvet moss and ferns. But the forestscape sometimesretreats before open glades of wildflowers, fields of swayingwheat and barley, and neat rows of fruit treesuntended by any human hand. Here are trees that havenever seen the woodsman’s axe, fields rich with grain,and orchards heavy with fruit.The very air of Arborea seems charged with anticipationand excitement. Sudden squalls brew up out ofnowhere, beating the tree-lined paths with heavywinds. They pass within minutes and leave behindwarm, sunny arcs of light filtering through the forestcanopy. In the distance there always seems to be music;sometimes the elves and the fey are playing, but just asoften the faint tune is merely the wind curling throughthe boles of the great trees.Arborea is a place with flowers in bloom and treesbearing fruit simultaneously. There are uplands coveredwith snow, but even the snow shines beneath a crystalbluesky. Arborea is almost overwhelming in its beauty,and the land embodies both wilderness and lovelinessin one package.Yet only the top layer of Arborea has the great forestimplied in the name of the plane. Arborea’s second layeris an endless ocean, and its third layer a borderless desertof white dust. All three layers are places of mercurialweather, sudden attacks, and strong passions. Arborea is aplane of joy and sorrow.ARBOREA TRAITSArborea has the following traits.• Normal Gravity.• Normal Time.• Infinite Size: The part of Arborea best known to visitorsfrom the Material Plane is the home of the ElvenCourt. There may be realms beyond it presided overby deities unknown.• Divinely Morphic: Deities can change the traits of theplane and remake the landscape; mortals must usespells and physical effort to change their environment.• No Elemental or Energy Traits.• Mildly Good-Aligned and Mildly Chaos-Aligned:Evil or lawful characters suffer a –2 penalty on allCharisma-based checks. Lawful evil characters suffer a–4 penalty.• Normal Magic.