Quote Originally Posted by PairO'Dice Lost View Post
Wall of Text
I love this. Very well thought out and presented.

I've always thought that the idea that the planes changed from one edition to another made no sense, and that the different cosmologies are just different models for describing relationships between the planes.

Since the planes are metaphysical it is impossible to actually plot their positions in "space", and there are so many different ways that they relate to one another that they will appear in different places depending on what axes you use to plot their positions. Thus no model is correct, and mortals don't really understand the forces they are trying to describe anyway.

I think that the Great Wheel makes most sense as a model created by Planar beings. It plots the moral and ethical relationships between the Outer Planes, the Elemental natures of the inner planes and the transitive planes are grouped by which regions of the multiverse they link. I see this as essentially a Political Map of the planes.

The World Axis has a different function, and I think it was more likely created by Primes. It groups the planes by what they are like to explore, and how they "fit together" for someone trying to traverse them in the same way they would the material world.

Thus the Outer Planes can be thought of as floating in an Astral Sea. It is a legitimate way to get from one to another, and if you are a hapless prime that's probably how you will initially try to do it. Its only once you get used to Planescape that you learn where the portals are, and which outerplanes are morally and ethically opposed.
Likewise the Elemental Chaos is probably closer to the actual state of the inner planes, its a jumble of matter and energy all mixed together, and centered on the abyss. However regions of each element are so vast that its only in a few isolated places (the very edges of the Paraelemental regions) that the underlying turbulence is visible. The different regions are also interconnected, so that if you know the trick you can get from one pocket of fire to another without having to pass thorough any of that nasty water. Its only inexperienced planar travellers who get dumped into regions where its all mixed up and chaotic.