The outer planes is the name given to the nine magical realms, accessed from mundane Earth (and other planes) through Thaumaturgic interdimensional gates. None of these nine realms seem to be actual planets, but rather ever-changing lands existing separately on different metaphysical frequencies from mundane Earth and each other. Outside of settlements and the immediate surrounding terrain, the outer planes are rarely well-mapped, because of environmental dangers and manastorms constantly warping the landscape. Permanent settlements in the outer planes are dependant on interdimensional imports, telephone calls across planar boundaries are impossible without magic, and unearthly access to the Internet also requires dimension-crossing magical support. The outer planes are speculated to be constructed by either the forces that govern the magical Paths, the human collective unconscious, or some particularly strange and unknown natural phenomenon. Tellingly, magi in the outer planes can’t drain natural energy and blight the land (Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic page 21), that can only be done on mundane Earth. That seems to hint that Earth is the only ‘meaningful’ plane to Humanity, somehow.
The nine realms of the outer planes correspond to the nine Paths (described here with some information – a major settlement (given full stats towards the end of this chapter), an important landmark, local geography, recent events);
Hod
This outer plane resembles the Arcadian ideal – a bright virident woodland in perpetual spring. Monsters are rare here, easily avoided and less deadly. That said, the wild manastorm phenomena is very prevalent on this plane, which plays merry havoc with active spells in the wrong place and time (settlements rarely locate themselves directly on top of Hod Ley Lines for this very reason). Travellers and treasure hunters are in much greater danger, though.
The major city here is Roulette, no question. Boasting several big sporting events, glamorous show business and high roller casinos, Roulette has made a name for itself as the occultist’s Las Vegas. Its greatest attraction is the Black Circle Annual Wizard’s Duel Tournament, the most high stakes magical duelling competition in all the planes.
Chesed
The first outer plane to be settled, and still the most prosperous, is an odd region – it’s general climate is typical of the Mediterranean on Earth, but with plentiful unnatural features. Travellers have spotted streams of water flowing up into the sky, large metal structures in the shape of a citadel, floating islands, mushrooms bigger than humans, animals turning to stone and lightning storms producing instrumental music instead of thunder. If you’re hunting for treasure, exploring the countryside of Chesed makes for a chaotic but profitable venture.
The signature magi city of Triangle is home to quite a few corporate HQs, the Three-Points Thaumatological University & Research Institute, and the biggest enchanted items market in the outer planes.
Perhaps the worst domestic threat to the good people of Triangle is a growing underground Mage supremacist movement becoming more and more violent. Despite the apparently underwhelming (and nakedly megalomaniacal) leadership of these domestic terrorists, they all still endanger the civil peace by attacking mundane nationals and those co-operating with them, causing anti-magic sentiment to rise on Earth.
Malkuth
The dreariest outer plane, Malkuth is a dry and cool region of grey craggy mountains, longer than average nights and thick clouds. Large obsidian monoliths dot the region, on top of onyx rock beds. Caverns in the mountainsides lead into underground tunnels where dark tomb-like mazes hide dark secret treasures, and darker dangers guarding them. Malkuth settlements and travellers complain about being harassed by undead – the most chilling tales involve Vampire attacks. Any intact corpses left in Malkuth will eventually reanimate as undead, usually non-sentient zombies. Monster hunters get paid a decent wage for clearing out clumps of wild zombies and keeping a long watch on top of settlement walls.
By the River Stygia, the city Abydos sits uncomfortably on a stretch of farmable land that finds itself seasonally riddled with minor (spontaneously created) undead. Communication with Ghosts is something of an iconic industry here, perhaps the biggest draw of the settlements. Undead labour workers, however, are a less successful industry thanks to difficulties with wrangling them and transporting them to other planes.
Yesod
The wilderness of Yesod is a dense tropical jungle similar to the ones found in Southeast Asia. The beasts roaming this jungle, however, are distinctly more unearthly, displaying strange supernatural abilities. Explorers have reported encountering big cats with fur coats that shift colours like chameleons, giant snakes, ethereal monkeys and birds of flame.
The biggest settlement in Yesod is the city of Carcass, a hot spot of trade and well-maintained planar gates. Sitting on the Sawtooth River, the city’s industry has slowly but surely devoured the surrounding greenery, carving roads into the dirt and erecting high walls at the city limits. The local wildlife are shot on sight. The city features multiple places of power that exclusively benefit Path of Body rituals, even giving bonuses higher than +5, so Carcass is a reliable font of healing magic.
Hidden deep in the jungles of Yesod are enchanted springs of water which heal the ravages of age (a single pint makes your body become 1d months younger instantly), if the explorer can reach them without succumbing to the dangers of the emerald hell, or the traps laid by jealous humans guarding their spring for their own uses. Bottling the enchanted waters is a fantastic way to make some money (1 pint is priced about $5200) – or get robbed. Only a few springs have been permanently claimed (and ruthlessly guarded) by people, the rest often “change hands” between whomever can currently devote enough manpower to fighting off rivals and wildlife. Whole packs of bandits have died trying to secure their own fountains of youth.
Tiphareth
There are no permanent human settlements on this outer plane, and you only have to visit once to see why. The entire plane consists of crumbling structures floating aimlessly through some kind of void, an eternal sky without clouds or stars. Vegetation is rare here; the “terrain” is mostly worked stone floors and walls (worked by whom, nobody knows). No animals and no spirits call this plane home; the whole dimension is eerily empty and tranquil. Any undead found here are imports, remains of humans passing through and finding their journey cut short in the worst way. There are no suns or moons; just a constant twilight glow from somewhere in the depths of the void, not quite night and not quite day. Falling into the void merely seems to leave you plummeting for a small while before your fall inexplicably slows into a gentle drift down onto a different stone surface – although far from where you once were (better than a hard impact headfirst, though). A few travellers claim that they have managed to go extended periods of time here without getting hungry or thirsty because something about the plane slows or pauses their need to eat and drink, but many are wary of testing that by staying in Tiphareth for days without supplies.
Fortunately, gates out of this outer plane are very common features of the landscape. Although such gates may spit the traveller out somewhere inconvenient (on Earth or another outer plane), it is often preferable to an extended stay in this unnerving and barely habitable dimension. In fact, gates elsewhere (and elseWHEN, to everyone’s eternal concern) can be found, on average, practically once every 25 metres in this outer plane, and the plane is nowhere near completely mapped out. Half of all gates pop in and out of dormancy periodically, making planning a route tricky. A savvy travel guide or courier can work out convenient routes through spatial gates, explorers find new gates every expedition and sell information on them to interested parties. Naturally, the plentiful teleportation and planar access is Tiphareth’s only real appealing feature, ripe for exploitation by governments and private interests.
Shutting down temporal gates in the outer plane is a common job offer extended to magi looking for work; no-one in charge of anything wants some wandering idiot walking into an unknown gate, coming out the other side 80 years in the past, and breaking the timeline.
Geburah
The terrain of this outer plane typically alternates between a humid swamp (filled with steaming hot and acidic water), where few venture, and dry grassland plains reminiscent of the Serengeti, where small frontier towns along the rivers can be found. There are no large cities in the outer plane, and the human population remains noticeably less than that of the others. A few volcanoes can be seen on the distant horizon, but are just active enough that nobody has chanced an exploration of the mountains within the last 3 years. In the dark of night, you can see huge lightning storms flashing brilliantly around the peaks of the volcanoes. Urban legends tell of secret mountain valleys which hide whole villages of silent people, all communicating non-verbally, watching over strange artefacts.
Geburah is lousy with firefights in more than one sense of the term (not just gun battles, but putting out blazes and the actual use of fire as a weapon). It’s a great place to get things done, and then get dead from a stress-related ulcer. The people in Geburah are living too fast. Riots, banditry, terrorism, fires and mass panics have held back infrastructure building efforts in the outer plane since its first settlement, even with its abundant mining operations and rich farming soil.
Netzach
The outer plane of Netzach is a totally inorganic realm; it resembles an odd jumble of factory machinery, paved roads, concrete walls, steel walkways, copper pipes, empty shipping crates, randomly hung monitors (computer and television), gears, pistons, wires, fans and wooden doorways. During the day, “sunlight” seems to be provided by some sort of far-away gigantic flood light. At night, it is replaced by a “moon” that resembles a dim blue lamp bulb. Walking through the plane feels like someone crafted a whole industrial zone underground, but had no idea of what would be manufactured by the industry or what each mechanical doo-dad did. Naturally, the outer plane’s been scavenged for parts non-stop since it was discovered, but it never seems to run out, almost as if machines and electronics grow back like trees here. Agriculture in Netzach is, of course, hard to do when there’s no natural soil, so settlements usually import lots of food. Thankfully, there are numerous dimensional gates scattered throughout a robust Ley Line network.
The city of Lodestone stands out as practically one big workstation; it’s area has been repurposed into ramshackle factories. At the centre of its highways and conveyor belts, where Ley Line nexi converge, is a massive import/export way station, nicknamed “The Correspondence”, that both delivers and receives cargo through over a thousand dimensional gates. The Correspondence is the heart and brain of the city, practically every person living in Lodestone owes their survival to its continued smooth running. No one person owns The Correspondence as a whole, rather each gate within it is considered property of a person or company, who pays taxes to the city in exchange for its use in business or private use, much like a building. These gates can then be rented or charge tolls, some even set up living quarters around a gate. Owning a gate in The Correspondence is a lucrative investment, but one with many hidden risks and costs – gangs of thieves and raiders lurk in the dark corners of the way station. Rivalries between gate owners have occasionally turned very ugly.
Running along the vast Netzach network of Ley Lines are railroads of enchanted trains. These “Ley Rails” carry huge amounts of important cargo and people at top speeds through the metal wilderness, their well-fortified carriages levitating on wheels attuned to the Ley Lines. Enterprising and well-equipped bandits sometimes get the idea of robbing the Ley Rails of cargo and kidnapping Very Important Passengers for ransom, by intercepting the train mid-journey on a vehicle also attuned to driving on Ley Lines.
Chokmah
This outer plane features some rather rainy, chilly and barren stretches of flat rocky plains, thin pine forests and ominous mountains. Standing out from these plains are muddy rivers and strange crystal structures, both in the shape of occult symbols. People sleeping in the outer plane dream of these structures, intuiting that they have great magical significance and the answers to nagging questions. These odd natural symbols are all high quality places of power and occasional gates, large prosperous settlements that specialise in magical goods and services surround them. The days in the outer plane are often overcast, while Chokmah nights are 2 hours longer than those of mundane Earth, void of stars and very cold. Artificial light and heat are in constant demand. The travellers in Chokmah talk about seeing massive columns of rainbow mosaic lights on the night horizon, spotlighting crystal structures haunted by alien spirits and hiding weird treasures.
The city of Paideia is not the most economically powerful or most populous settlement in the realm of Chokmah, but it is the most well-respected. Why? Because Paideia boasts that its entire infrastructure and community is an extension of the large Thaumatological university at its centre. The students of Paideia University live in special residential facilities as well as learn with dedicated magical resources for classes and research. The city itself spans an entire cliff; the plateau at the top, the base at the bottom, caves leading into a network of tunnels, outcroppings along the cliff side (accessible through elevators, caverns and spatial gates), and even airships floating in the air around the cliff.
Binah
Despite its snowy terrain, the Binah outer plane’s weather is calm, the days are pleasantly sunny and the nights are clear. Finding shelter from the cold typically means caves in the hills, if you can’t make it into a settlement. Binah’s a fairly flat land with occasional hills, rough vegetation and constant but slow snowfall, so trips through the wilderness feel lonely and disquieting. Local animals are typical for snowy environs – rabbits, bears, wolves, and so on. Large bodies of water, both fresh and salty, have surfaces haphazardly iced-over.
The real danger is not from the cold or the wildlife, but from the spirits. Binah seems to be something of a homeland for all kinds of spirits, and any one of them might turn hostile and attack humans if not magically bound. Spirits are encountered on Earth and other planes, but far less commonly than on Binah. Humans settling in Binah have made using magic to bind spirits into a prosperous industry across the planar boundaries. You can sell bound spirits as servants, soldiers, workers or bodyguards. The up-front prices for bound spirits are comparable to several months of wages for human workers, more if the spirit boasts significant magical powers. Hiring a magician to bind the spirit costs about the same as buying a relevant charm.
On the fringes of Binah civilisation, the most secure high security prison for magicians resides on Jhopah Island surrounded by dangerous waters. It is an ugly concrete castle named Zeno Penitentiary, and nicknamed The Zero. Anytime a Thaumaturge is convicted of a serious crime in the outer planes, they are sent here to repay their debt to society. Transportation across the sea requires either magical gates or air travel, since boating is too dangerous to consider thanks to the murderous spirits lurking under the waves. The Zero’s anti-magic security measures are notoriously paranoid and heavy hitting, including multiple redundant spell-wards and patrolling teams of vicious spirits.
Binah’s crown jewel city is Avatar, the planar centre of the spirit-binding trade. The city magically regulates its local weather and strengthens its structures, making the vast cut-stone labyrinth much more pleasant and safe to live in. Abstract marble statues surrounded by improvised shrines mark the spots where the city’s protective magical projects are conjured by civil servants. It’s the place to be when you need information on spirits or if you require a minion with non-standard abilities. Magicians who have managed to capture a spirit can come here to sell it off to interested parties on an established and informed market. Buyers can post bounties for their needs so spirit-hunters know what quarries to look for. The city maintains several dozen interdimensional gates, funded by private businesses and city taxes, so the spirit trade is not impeded by planar distance.
Sidebar: Manastorms
To unknowing eyes, a manastorm superficially resembles a strong windstorm or dust devil (as strong as a hurricane or tsunami, if you’re unlucky), but with strangely coloured lightning flashes surrounding it. Getting closer to the manastorm makes its more ominous features obvious; you experience aural and visual hallucinations, you find the rain is not really water, the clouds change colours vividly, and anything magical starts to glow or tremble. In the central eye of the manastorm, the phenomena grows violently chaotic and nightmarish (the disturbing nature of the manastorm inflicts Fright Checks at a penalty).
The effects of the manastorm are basically either “naturally occurring spells” or dramatic interference with magic and magical abilities. This “blow out” causes particularly bizarre disasters (the GM acts like someone casted a ritual on the area that inflicts fires, earthquakes, acid rains…) and magical malfunctions (see Gadget Bugs Table (B476) and Random Side Effects Table (B479) for enchanted items, casting a spell automatically gains 1d-3 (minimum 0) extra quirks). Finding shelter from “blow outs” is a common issue for those travelling through the outer planes wilderness – roll Survival or Hazardous Materials (Magical) to avoid getting caught in a manastorm.
To be continued…
Three Hundred and Thirty-Three 