Manual of the Planes

CHAPTER 6:THE INNERPLANES84planes, including floating citadels, bits of tattered astralhaze, and shards of other planes. The more solid pieces ofthe edge zones are used as outposts by creatures powerfulenough to weather the changing nature of the planeitself. Such strongholds must be well protected, becausetides of more intense positive energy could sweep overthe edge zone at any time.The HospiceA particular location within an edge zone, the Hospice isa floating citadel with a large outcropping of rock raisedas a shield against the more lethal energies of the plane.The Hospice and the area within 300 feet of it have theminor positive-dominant trait, though the structuresometimes has to relocate in order for this phenomenonto be maintained.The Hospice is home to a small community of holyknights and healers dedicated to the healing arts. Theorder is legendary for taking badly wounded individualsand restoring them to health, and the members knowspells and procedures that allow the healing of otherwiseincurable ailments. Their ability to treat diseases on thisplane is limited by the nature of the plane itself, but eventhen the Hospice community may know of effectivetreatments that do not involve positive energy.The Hospice is protected by a number of golems inaddition to its humanoid staff. Good-aligned individualsfrom a dozen planes staff the Hospice. While they wouldnot turn away an evil individual, they do keep less trustworthypatients in locked wards.WHO RULES THE ELEMENTAL PLANES?Deities tend to gravitate toward the planes that they canmodify easily. Mortals tend to squabble over planes that theycan comfortably live in. But on the Inner Planes, and theElemental Planes in particular, are there ultimate rulers? Thatdepends on how you want the elements to work in yourcosmology. Here are a few options.Elemental Gods: Not all deities may choose to live in thedivinely morphic Outer Planes. Deities with elementaldomains or portfolios might make their homes on the InnerPlanes. Elemental deities carve their dwellings from the livingelements and energies of their planes, using their divine powerto mitigate some of the more deadly side effects of their regionfor the benefit of visitors. Elemental gods may choose to dwellon the Inner Planes if they have many worshipers who use thatenergy or element, or if their own domains include an elementtype. They have the same relationship with their worshipers asOuter Plane deities do. Depending on how you’re handling theafterlife in your cosmology (see Chapter 7), the Inner Planesmay have their own petitioners with appropriate immunities.Elemental Lords: Outstripping the powers of the elderelementals, the elemental lords are physical beings of godlikepower and strength. They differ from deities in that they do nothave the same god/worshiper relationship with mortals.Regardless, they are venerated by some mortals and imploredImprisoning CellsParticularly powerful individuals can be effectivelyimprisoned by dumping their physical forms or theirspirit-bonded souls into a prison protected from positiveenergy and sent onto the Positive Energy Plane. Whilenot a long-term solution (such prisons are invariablyopened by some curious traveler or swept through avortex onto another plane), these imprisoning cells keepitems and individuals away from the rest of the planes fordecades or even generations.POSITIVE ENCOUNTERSThe Positive Energy Plane, like its sister, is a generallyempty place, hostile to the extreme. Few objects or creaturesare encountered here, and the chance of hitting oneof them by blind chance is minimal.The table below is suitable for typical travelers, but theDM can also use it as a springboard for encounter tablesfor specific areas by adding new creatures or changingthe percentages.On a d% result of 100, characters encounter somethingon Table 6–6: Positive Energy Plane Encounters. Rollonce per hour.Table 6–6: Positive Energy Plane Encountersd% Encounter Number CR At EL01–30 Animating fields — — —31–60 Edge zone — — —61–75 Energon, xag-ya 2d4 4 976–85 Energy bursts — — —86–100 Ravid 2d4 5 10pqqqqrsfor favors by others, and they may choose to deliver their aid asit takes their fancy.Genies: The dao, djinn, efreet, and marids might be morethan they seem. Perhaps they have solved the secrets of theirplanes of existence, and their mightiest caliphs and emirs canwield almost godly power if the price is right. The elementalsare their vassals and servants, informing them of what occurson the Material Plane.Unruled Elemental Planes: The Inner Planes are ever-changing,random places. It takes all the will and power of any beingjust to maintain a patch of land, air, fire, or water long enoughto stand. The planes themselves are raw entropy, crushing,burning, flooding, or sweeping away anything not of itselemental or energy type. In the D&D cosmology, the PositiveEnergy Plane and the Negative Energy Plane are desolate andunruled as a result of their very hostility, but this need not betrue in every cosmology.Sentient Elemental Planes: With this variant, all elementalsare nothing more than extensions of a greater elemental beingwhose body is the Elemental Plane. Beyond deities in power,these sentient planes consider the spellcasters who summonpieces of them to be nothing more than parasites. However, allknowledge learned by individual elementals is remembered bythe entire plane, so a sentient plane interested in your characterscan become extremely influential and dangerous.pqqqqrs