Main energy flow through the planes

[Millstone85]

I wish to share yet another random thought about the Great Wheel. That's it, just sharing.

There are exchanges of magical energies between all the planes. But what if there was a main path taken by magic as it courses through the planes?

And here is the one I came up with:





Limbo
Elemental Chaos
Elemental Planes



Upper/Lower Planes
⬈
→
⬊
Feywild


Astral
⬉
←
⬋
Material



Mechanus
Ethereal
Shadowfell





Limbo is full of chaos-stuff (which is actually how the books call it) that transforms into all sorts of things, and notably into elemental forces. But none of that has permanence, soon transforming into something else entirely.

One could imagine the EC sipping that chaos-stuff and imbuing it with lasting elemental traits, each element then coalescing with the appropriate elemental plane.

The Feywild is where the forces of nature would harness the elements to create vibrant worlds. But it is in the Material that everything would settle into cycles and equilibriums.

As elemental energy starts to decay, it is absorbed into the Shadowfell. Eventually, it fully dissipates into the Ethereal.

Mechanus harnesses the clear force and turns it into the psychic energy that fills the Astral. That energy is then claimed by the various ideals that compose the Upper and Lower Planes, as well as the Outlands between them.

Being a place of uncaused motion and unfettered creation, Limbo doesn't need to recycle the energy. But it does anyway.

Now, in this model, the direction of the flow kind of replaces the Positive and Negative Planes. Alternatively, there is a second flow that goes Positive --> Feywild --> Material --> Shadowfell --> Negative.

[LibraryOgre]

It's a neat theory, and could be a good one for a PC to hold, or even to run a game's cosmology. But what are the implications? Would, say, destroying a single Prime world result in problems for the Shadowfell or Feywild that might propagate through the system? How does mortal belief on the Prime influence the Upper and Lower Planes? Is that a separate energy flow?

[Millstone85]

It's a neat theory, and could be a good one for a PC to hold, or even to run a game's cosmology. But what are the implications?It probably doesn't have that much story potential. I could maybe see it as the basis of a scholarly dispute regarding the relative importance of the planes, which could factor into a murder mystery or such.


Would, say, destroying a single Prime world result in problems for the Shadowfell or Feywild that might propagate through the system?Here we move from a random thought to a headcanon of mine. See, I regard each world in the Material as having two corresponding echo worlds in the Feywild and the Shadowfell. Destroying one world of the Material wouldn't threaten the whole of an echo plane, any more than it would threaten the entire Material, but it would certainly speak trouble for those particular echo worlds.

I love 4e lore regarding the Feywild as seen from Athas. It is basically an asteroid belt, with only a handul of habitable pieces.


How does mortal belief on the Prime influence the Upper and Lower Planes? Is that a separate energy flow?No change there, except that souls would likely follow the main flow of energy when trying to reach their afterlives. First stop, the Shadowfell. Then the Ethereal. Then the big soul-sorting machinery full of geometric bureaucrats. Then the last sail through the Astral.

[LibraryOgre]

So, any soul you return from the dead is going to have been dragged through the Shadowfell, at least, and possibly the Ethereal?

[Millstone85]

So, any soul you return from the dead is going to have been dragged through the Shadowfell, at least, and possibly the Ethereal?It has been done, somewhat.

I am told that, pre-4e, souls had to go through the Ethereal to reach the Astral.

And in the 4e setting Nentir Vale, there was no Ethereal and all souls had to wander the Shadowfell before they could reach the Astral.

But yeah, my suggestion would certainly make death a long walk.

[Naanomi]

Pre-4e; souls of the dead would go through the astral and into the Outer Planes (usually). Incorporeal undead were in the Ethereal because they unconsciously moved there to escape the pull of the Astral and avoid passing on to the next step; the Ethereal was sort of the opposite of the way they were ‘supposed’ to go; the Ethereal and Astral were in ‘opposite directions’ from each other

[Millstone85]

Pre-4e; souls of the dead would go through the astral and into the Outer Planes (usually). Incorporeal undead were in the Ethereal because they unconsciously moved there to escape the pull of the Astral and avoid passing on to the next step; the Ethereal was sort of the opposite of the way they were ‘supposed’ to go; the Ethereal and Astral were in ‘opposite directions’ from each otherAre you sure? I thought ghosts simply got stuck on the way.

[Naanomi]

Are you sure? I thought ghosts simply got stuck on the way.
Pretty sure, the Ethereal doesn’t connect to the Outer Planes where most afterlives are, it goes to the Inner Planes (where the negative energy plane is that empowers those incorporeal undead); it doesn’t (knowingly) loop around.

Souls don’t linger in the Astral at all, they just zip through at the speed of thought to their final(ish) destination

[LibraryOgre]

Pretty sure, the Ethereal doesn’t connect to the Outer Planes where most afterlives are, it goes to the Inner Planes (where the negative energy plane is that empowers those incorporeal undead); it doesn’t (knowingly) loop around.

Souls don’t linger in the Astral at all, they just zip through at the speed of thought to their final(ish) destination

Unless they get lost or eaten. But the Ethereal does not connect to the Outer Planes, nor the Astral, in usual circumstances (there are some unusual circumstances, but they can be ignored for this discussion)