afroakuma's Planar And Other Oddities Questions Thread VIII

[afroakuma]

*Is Oerth's day-night cycle primarily caused by the rotation of the planet or by the orbit of Liga

Rotation of the planet. Liga circles too slowly to produce a day-night cycle.

*What actually triggers the teansformation of dromites into reproductive castes? Is it some kind of a psionic effect or more of a phyaical royal jelly type thing?

It is not specified, but I suspect it's a psionic effect funneled through their communal ceremony, rather than something a lone dromite could initiate. It would explain the election, as well - the community needs to settle on members with the ability to endure the metamorphosis physically, mentally, and emotionally.

From reading the previous threads, it seems that ghosts are a Prime Material Plane only phenomenon, since they require a Border Ethereal to be all ghostly.

Generally the case for incorporeal undead, really, but ghosts in particular are an Ethereal phenomenon.

If a soul refuses to move on while on the other planes, what kind of undead do they manifest as? Are there Outer Plane specific undead manifestations, or are they just a ghost without the ability to disappear into the Ethereal?

There are so many different kinds of undead that invariably there's one to cleave to wherever one's soul is. At some point in the future I plan to do a big ol' superlist of all undead and how they're made. That point will not be in the near future.

I also have a question I've been keeping: we already discussed at length the mechanisms by which a soul travels to the Outer Planes after death. How do souls travel from the Positive to their future bodies to be born?

It's not specified; the only reference I've ever seen, since as you know D&D doesn't tend to bother dwelling on the metaphysics of souls any further than it has to, is that preincarnate souls disappear in a flash of light when they leave the Bastion of Broken Souls to be incarnated. It's possible that they move along Astral conduits, presumably highly inviolate ones given the Ban of the Unborn; it's possible they move through the tethers Positive Energy has to other planes as part of their inherent existence and structure. It's possible they move along a conduit unknown to us at all - I would surmise the gods themselves have no sweet clue and definitely don't want to meddle in finding out.

Also, and this question can be ignored if you don't feel like it, assume that the Elemental Plane of Wood has shared border regions with other Inner Planes. What would the border between Wood and Positive look like in your educated opinion?

Back for a day and already you're asking me about pure silliness. If I had to pick something, I'd probably go for Fruit or Flowers.

Oh and of course, congrats Akuma for the 5E MotP! That looks like a really kickass project.

Appreciated!