afroakuma's Planar And Other Oddities Questions Thread VII

[Brookshw]

What is known about the Age of Doom (see:PS MC/Hordling). Any other references to it?

[afroakuma]

I've been thinking about the Japanese pantheon: My understanding is: Izanami, Izanagi, Amaterasu, Susanoo and Tsukuyomi; those are the greater powers of the pantheon. Are there any others? What alignments, domains and favored weapons would they have in 3.5?

As of the last official update, the greater powers of the Japanese pantheon are Izanami and Izanagi; the others are intermediate powers. The 3rd Edition Deities & Demigods was a bit more generous with divine rank, however, so it wouldn't be unfair to think the other three have "ranked up" in that time.

Izanagi & Izanami are lawful neutral; they coexist in balance with one another in their realm Cherry Blossom in Arcadia. Their favored weapon is the naginata. Izanagi's domains are Celestial^OA, Creation^DD, Divination^OA, and Law; Izanami's domains are Destruction, Divination^OA, Fury^OA, and Law.

Amaterasu is lawful good; she rules from her realm Radiant Light on Mount Celestia. Her favored weapon is the longsword. Amaterasu's domains are Ancestor^OA, Good, Knowledge, Law, and Sun.

Susano'o is chaotic neutral; he keeps his realm, the Globe of Raging Chaos, in Limbo. His favored weapon is the longsword. Susano'o's domains are Chaos, Ocean^SW, Storm^SW, and War.

Tsukuyomi is neutral good; his realm, the Mirror of the Moon, lies in Elysium. His favored weapon is the longbow. Tsukuyomi's domains are Good, Fortune^OA, Moon, and Time^SC.

You may not have noticed, but he seamlessly wove amazing new lore into existing lore... while also making it a playable scaling campaign.

...and all based on "save the whales." How did that even happen.

What is known about the Age of Doom (see:PS MC/Hordling). Any other references to it?

It would be a period in Oerth history - the bringer of doom was created around the time of the Invoked Devastation.

[Edreyn]

1) Can one become a petitioner of Inner Planes? For example if he was a cleric of elemental deity, or if he truly believes that's what should happen?

2) Can a person "order" his afterlife in advance, for example by using Wish or Miracle? "I wish to go to Arborea upon death, though my alignment is Lawful Evil"?

3) Can a petitioner be "moved" to another afterlife if someone uses Wish or Miracle? "My father was a bastard, but I still don't want him to suffer in Abyss, so I wish his soul go to Bytopia".

4) Can one become a petitioner of Outlands? Of Spire? Of Sigil?

5) Do dabuses (dabusii?) worship the Lady of Pain? Can they be her creation? Can they be Sigil petitioners?

6) Are there any non-pastoral settlements on Upper Planes? Those are relatively technology advanced, even by medieval standards?

[Tzardok]

1) Can one become a petitioner of Inner Planes? For example if he was a cleric of elemental deity, or if he truly believes that's what should happen?

There are no petitioners of the Inner Planes. There are petitioners in divine realms of gods that live on the inner planes, but the same thing is true for gods that live anywhere else.

2) Can a person "order" his afterlife in advance, for example by using Wish or Miracle? "I wish to go to Arborea upon death, though my alignment is Lawful Evil"?

Haha, no. Miracle will never do something like that; why would a god give you a different afterlife than his own realm (and, why would someone faithful enough to cast Miracle not want to go to his god after death)? Wish would use the easier way and just brainwash you into the alignment of your wished for afterlife.

3) Can a petitioner be "moved" to another afterlife if someone uses Wish or Miracle? "My father was a bastard, but I still don't want him to suffer in Abyss, so I wish his soul go to Bytopia".

Dito, no. Stealing souls gets gods ganked, so no Miracle for you, and Wish is most likely not powerful enough. Also, petitioners in general don't want to leave their plane and are often incompatible with other planes.

4) Can one become a petitioner of Outlands? Of Spire? Of Sigil?

In order: yes,of course; what the heck?; no.

5) Do dabuses (dabusii?) worship the Lady of Pain? Can they be her creation? Can they be Sigil petitioners?

The Dabus serve the Lady, but don't worship her. She doesn't want worship; and worshipping isn't natural for them.

6) Are there any non-pastoral settlements on Upper Planes? Those are relatively technology advanced, even by medieval standards?

I don't remember any place on the Outer Planes that is technologically advanced, but that doesn't mean anything. Regarding the pastoral thing: Arcadia of course has cities. I remember some trading city on Celestia, ruled by lamassu, but I forgot the name. Bytopia has no cities. On Elysium the larger settlements are mostly concentrated on divine realms, I think. The Beastlands have next to no settlements. Arborea should have a few Greek-style cities. Ysgard... I don't remember any.

[Caelestion]

It is rumoured that the Factol of the Harmonium was a petitioner of the Lady herself, however mad that sounds. Other than that, she is the only ruler of Sigil and she will exile or murder people for worshipping her.

[afroakuma]

1) Can one become a petitioner of Inner Planes? For example if he was a cleric of elemental deity, or if he truly believes that's what should happen?

If your deity is there, you can become a petitioner on an Inner Plane, yes, but you cannot otherwise become a petitioner of an Inner Plane - you're still going to one of the Outer Planes, though there are certainly plenty of pleasant places in that context for people who liked the elements.

2) Can a person "order" his afterlife in advance, for example by using Wish or Miracle? "I wish to go to Arborea upon death, though my alignment is Lawful Evil"?

Miracle obviously won't do that, as no god has a reason to grant that. Wish... I mean, you could wish to end up somewhere else after death, but the way that works is you don't end up as a petitioner. Most likely you end up undead and planeshifted.

3) Can a petitioner be "moved" to another afterlife if someone uses Wish or Miracle?

No.

4) Can one become a petitioner of Outlands?

Yes.

Of Spire?

That would be part of the Outlands.

Of Sigil?

No.

5) Do dabuses (dabusii?) worship the Lady of Pain?

No.

Can they be her creation?

Their origin is not specified, but it's highly suggested that they are not, as a cousin race exists with no connection to the city.

Can they be Sigil petitioners?

I don't understand "can they" in this question. They aren't.

6) Are there any non-pastoral settlements on Upper Planes? Those are relatively technology advanced, even by medieval standards?

There are cities, certainly, if that qualifies as non-pastoral. There's no reason there couldn't be a more advanced settlement here or there, especially if it's an inclination of a local deity.

[Edreyn]

Can a person "order" his afterlife in advance, for example by using Wish or Miracle? "I wish to go to Arborea upon death, though my alignment is Lawful Evil"?
Can a petitioner be "moved" to another afterlife if someone uses Wish or Miracle?

why would someone faithful enough to cast Miracle not want to go to his god after death

If I am correct, Faction War says that Duke Darkwood found a "clueless" Prime wizard and hired him to cast a Wish, and he wished that if he is ever Mazed, he'll find means to escape. As usual, wish worked in a perverted way, but still worked.
Same with my questions, I mean that a person will ask\hire\intimidate\bluff someone else to cast those spells.

I guess Afroakuma answered this:

Miracle obviously won't do that, as no god has a reason to grant that. Wish... I mean, you could wish to end up somewhere else after death, but the way that works is you don't end up as a petitioner. Most likely you end up undead and planeshifted.

I just wanted to explain what I mean.

-----

Can one become a petitioner of... Spire?

What I was thinking about, is a person who would believe that there is nothing worth believing. Absolutely neutral. Will they be reborn at some specific place in Outlands?

In any case, are there any creatures that live ON Spire walls? Maybe some winged creatures? Is Spire absolutely smooth, or it has hollows or ledges?

Has there even been attempts to check how DEEP the Spire goes into Outlands terrain?

[Inchhighguy]

1) Can one become a petitioner of Inner Planes? For example if he was a cleric of elemental deity, or if he truly believes that's what should happen?

2) Can a person "order" his afterlife in advance, for example by using Wish or Miracle? "I wish to go to Arborea upon death, though my alignment is Lawful Evil"?

I dobut a spell could do that...but maybe an Epic Spell. Of course, you don't need a spell: just live your life by a set lignment and you will end up on that aligned plane.

3) Can a petitioner be "moved" to another afterlife if someone uses Wish or Miracle? "My father was a bastard, but I still don't want him to suffer in Abyss, so I wish his soul go to Bytopia".

Sure they can be moved. Again, you don't even need a spell: you just need a club and a big sack.

4) Can one become a petitioner of Outlands? Of Spire? Of Sigil?

Yes, the Outlands is an Outer Plane. No. No. The last two are not outer planes.

5) Do dabuses (dabusii?) worship the Lady of Pain? Can they be her creation? Can they be Sigil petitioners?

No...as far as is known. Most likely, but the truth is unknown. Nope.

6) Are there any non-pastoral settlements on Upper Planes? Those are relatively technology advanced, even by medieval standards?

Most dwarven and gnome settlements would qualify.

Most places in Mechanus would qualify.

Any divine realm of a deity of invention or technology. The Wonderhome of Gond, for example.

[afroakuma]

I mean that a person will ask\hire\intimidate\bluff someone else to cast those spells.

Assuming a god were willing to permit a miracle on another's behalf, it would have to be executed in a different way - they cannot force a petitioner belonging to one plane to natively exist on another. The closest they could do would be to prevent the soul from moving to its final rest at all, for instance via trap the soul, which of course results in a trapped soul...

What I was thinking about, is a person who would believe that there is nothing worth believing. Absolutely neutral. Will they be reborn at some specific place in Outlands?

Nope. I mean you don't get "reborn" in the first place, but they wouldn't spiritually transmigrate to somewhere specific. The whole of the Outlands is true neutrality.

In any case, are there any creatures that live ON Spire walls? Maybe some winged creatures? Is Spire absolutely smooth, or it has hollows or ledges?

There are not. At the lowest echelons there are aggregate hills & cliffs, and those are where the rilmani build their cities. Nothing else is ever encouraged to get close to the Spire, by their design.

Has there even been attempts to check how DEEP the Spire goes into Outlands terrain?

Insofar as its magic-based properties, absolutely people have tried, and the rilmani do not appreciate it. Such efforts inevitably run into failure from the magic-cancelling qualities being equally present below ground, making it hard to progress practically beyond a certain point. As far as anyone has ever been capable of ascertaining, the Spire is infinitely deep as well.

[ExLibrisMortis]

As an extension of Edreyn's question (2): Is there a mechanism that assigns petitioners to the planes, or does the soul of a recently deceased creature travel to the appropriate plane of its own accord?

I'm thinking that an external assignment would rely on some way to sort souls by alignment, and the sorting could be tampered with, for example by deity-level equivalents of undetectable alignment. An internal drive, on the other hand, could be directed by manipulating the soul itself, which is probably easier (soul are easier to localize than cosmological mechanisms, at least).

I'm not so much asking whether anyone actually does this sort of thing (though if they do, do tell!), it's more about investigating the theoretical workings of soul migration.

[Tzardok]

As an extension of Edreyn's question (2): Is there a mechanism that assigns petitioners to the planes, or does the soul of a recently deceased creature travel to the appropriate plane of its own accord?

That question was asked (and answered) in one of the earlier threads (number 5, I think). The answer in short: like attracts like. Places with certain characteristics draw souls with the same characteristics in and become more of that characteristic through that.

[ExLibrisMortis]

That question was asked (and answered) in one of the earlier threads (number 5, I think). The answer in short: like attracts like. Places with certain characteristics draw souls with the same characteristics in and become more of that characteristic through that.

Hmm, sort of like gravity, I suppose. Thanks! I thought it might have been discussed, but without something to go on, it's rather a formidable archive to search through.

[Tzardok]

Hmm, sort of like gravity, I suppose. Thanks! I thought it might have been discussed, but without something to go on, it's rather a formidable archive to search through.

Funny, that's exactly the simile we used the last time. In fact, if you search threads 5, 6 or 7 for "alignment gravity" or "gravity", you should find the last time we discussed this.

[Edreyn]

Again, thanks for answering! Reading those threads is very interesting!

[afroakuma]

As an extension of Edreyn's question (2): Is there a mechanism that assigns petitioners to the planes, or does the soul of a recently deceased creature travel to the appropriate plane of its own accord?

I'm thinking that an external assignment would rely on some way to sort souls by alignment, and the sorting could be tampered with, for example by deity-level equivalents of undetectable alignment. An internal drive, on the other hand, could be directed by manipulating the soul itself, which is probably easier (soul are easier to localize than cosmological mechanisms, at least).

I'm not so much asking whether anyone actually does this sort of thing (though if they do, do tell!), it's more about investigating the theoretical workings of soul migration.

Basically if you want to stop the soul getting where it's supposed to go, you have to stop the soul from traveling. Once it gets to the Astral there's no impeding it.

Now, nobody asked for it and I don't expect anyone to either, but I figured I'd do something nice for the Touv pantheon. Because why not.

Spoiler: Touv Divine Realms

Show

Berna
Berna's divine realm, Golden Ardor, is a realm of night and day on Ysgard's first layer. Here, the nights are for the indulgence of passions of every stripe, while the days see peace made between those who have quarreled, a strangely therapeutic arrangement for which travelers of the Planes frequently journey to Kafwe, the main town. Berna's earthberg is lush and green, humid and warm in the "day" and brisk and chill when the dark hours come. The realm has a secret connection to Berna's former realm, Steelvenom, an abandoned place of serpents and hateful spirits on Othrys, in Carceri. Berna hopes to use this back connection to find those suffering as she was in Carceri and help them shake off their hate.

Breeka
Breeka's divine realm, the Green Delta, is a place of water, sand, and stone where animals gather and are sheltered. Great trees and stony outcroppings form the foundation of Lunda, one of the largest settlements on Brux. Animal lords frequent this realm more than most, and it has been traditionally used as a neutral ground to seek a meeting with such a being when not striking out for a visit on its turf. The Green Delta is located on Brux in the Beastlands.

Damaran
Damaran's divine realm, the Teeming Still, is a fetid and unearthly quiet stretch of jungle on Niflheim in the Gray Waste. Jarringly warm and suffocatingly humid in comparison to the chill damp of the rest of the layer, Damaran's realm seems perfectly calibrated to provoke discomfort and unease. Swarms of insects lurk beneath the surface of the stagnant waterways, ready to rise up and devour the unwary. The small town of Outlast is surprisingly welcoming - but then, the locals assume that anyone who has made it there must be a capable survivor. Rumor has it that a pool somewhere deep in the jungle is tainted black with ichor from the only time Damaran was ever taken by surprise, and that those who sip from it will acquire an incredible ability to sense nearby threats to their person. Of course, this could also be interpreted as some disease that has festered in the brackish water and which causes deep paranoia...

Katay
Katay's divine realm, the Grinding Wheel, is considerably less regimented than many other places on Mechanus, at least to the untrained eye. Here, life springs into being, ages, withers, and decays - sometimes within the span of the same day. The odor of rot can give the impression of being in a realm of evil, but the industrious servants of Katay have no quarrel with visitors who do not tamper with their recordkeeping. The realm features convalescent huts where a disease may run its course in the span of a single day, allowing the purging of even vastly malign infections from any creature who can endure the effects. Adventurers also seek Katay's realm for any number of unusual materials which bear the quality of having "lived a year in a day" or other such chronomantic traits. It is advised to beware the time flies.

Kundo
Kundo's realm, Windlodge, is located in a tempestuous reach in Shurrock on Bytopia. Settlements abound as the locals work to construct new protective structures against the impending squalls and rain. Kundo's people travel the layer setting up lean-tos and firepits for others to use in the course of adventure, and his realm is a waypoint for traders and travelers both. It is suspected that Kundo deliberately stirs up the storms and the wild beasts that besiege the walls of Windlodge as a way to encourage the community to come together in common cause. Druids dedicated to harsh weather may make pilgrimages to Windlodge in search of something to be found in the dancing clouds.

Meyanok
Meyanok's realm, Hope's Ruin, features crumbling echoes of Kundali cities brought low by the poisonous work of the serpent god. Located in a nightmarish reach of Cathrys, on Carceri, the treacherous domain of Meyanok is a source of dread even to the locals, and the farastu come to call only at great need. The heart of Hope's Ruin is the chasm city Vadoma, where the truly wicked come to trade in toxins that can poison the very soul. Rumor has it that yugoloths use Vadoma to gather and sell the vulnerabilities of the gods themselves, a rumor Meyanok deeply enjoys.

Nola
Nola's realm, Mapambazuko, is an inspiring sight to voyagers on Krigala, first layer of the Beastlands. Few other places on the plane echo the morning dawn, let alone with the ferocious and bounteous warmth of Nola's domain. Great trees abundant with fruit and flowers sprawl and spread across the land, their white bark seeming to amplify rather than diminish the light cast above, such that no tree in her realm provides a shadow. Spells and effects with the cold descriptor are impeded in Nola's realm, and travelers come to trade in the seeds of the great fruit the locals gather for food, which can be used as components in powerful divinations and spells of light.

Nola's secondary realm, Nevernight, is located on the Elemental Plane of Fire. Here the infinite light of the plane's flames is dimmed by a protective bubble of steamy air surrounding the realm, and the welcoming land provides a much-desired respite for non-natives journeying through Fire. It is joined to Mapambazuko by a permanent portal.

Uvot
Uvot's realm, the Grateful Land, is a harmonious place situated beneath a great mountain that splits the skyline of Amoria, first layer of Elysium, and resembles the great savanna of Hepmonaland, with forests and jungles here and there. The Grateful Land can seem to be a part of the Beastlands at first glance, and indeed there is a portal to Nola's realm and to Breeka's to find here. Due to the proximity of these portals, as well as the portal to Vogan's realm, travelers through Amoria may visit for the purposes of rapidly connecting to other planes. The towns of Sunspraise, Rainhail, and Lifeswelcome secure these portals and guide travelers to the expectations of the local Touv culture while they are in Uvot's domain.

Vara
Vara's realm, the Perilous Mile, is dreadful to even approach, for it is attached to the slope of Mungoth, on Gehenna, by a steep and narrow bridge of cooling pumice. A spit of land floating in the void above Mungoth, tethered only by a dribbling lava thread that turns to stone in the snowy air, the Perilous Mile is a thick and dark jungle whose soil hides quicksand and treacherous pits that can plunge the unwary to their doom in the void beneath. Vara's priests and shamans claim that the screams of the Touv gather to heat a pit of coals at the heart of Vara's domain, from which lava flows forth and from which the goddess draws metal that she shapes into new terrors to unleash on the lands of humankind, in open mockery of Xanag. A shaken explorer claims to have slipped through a portal from Karasuthra to the Perilous Mile, possibly a connection forged when Vara slipped into Breeka's realm to plague her with nightmares. Certainly there are beasts lurking in Vara's jungle which are not native to Gehenna, though their natures are anything but celestial.

Vogan
Vogan's realm, Dhoruba, is a bit of an anomaly on Ossa - one of the few island realms in the endless sea, it consists of a gentle and sunlit savanna surrounded by stormclouds and choppy tides. The Touv people have no love of boats and Vogan is not a nautical deity, so there is generally limited contact between Dhoruba and other realms. Visitors may travel through the Water Caves to reach Tufani, though traveler beware - Vogan fancies himself a matchmaker and the locals enjoy dragging newcomers off for impromptu nuptials. Vogan's realm contains a portal to the Elemental Plane of Air and another to the Elemental Plane of Water, as well as a portal to the town of Rainhail in Uvot's realm.

Xanag
Xanag tired of the Outer Planes and withdrew to find privacy in the Para-Elemental Plane of Magma, where her realm Flickergold rests atop a molten berg of ores that are drawn up from wells in the great courtyards and plazas and brought to artisans to work new curiosities and masterpieces for their fickle goddess's temporary delight. Visitors are protected from the heat of the plane and made welcome in Nsenga, one of the rare few trade hubs on the Para-Elemental Planes. Xanag's palace has no sky or trees and is illuminated with a golden glow. For a time, Xanag's realm wandered the Outlands, and a portal from there to Flickergold still roams about from time to time, most likely to be found near the Marketplace Eternal.

[enderlord99]

I figured I'd do something nice

Who are you and how did you gain access to that account?

...

I wouldn't recommend answering that one, but it's probably too late anyway.

[Jopustopin]

Not sure if you've seen this interview or not. I know you have a reputation for openly hating Eberron... so, about Eberron. I tried to do the search function to see if this has been brought up before, if it has, I apologize.

While this entire interview is interesting, around 27:25 they begin discussing Eberron in planescape and how it all "fits in." What's your take on the idea that Siberys Dragonshards are actual pieces of the crystal sphere around Eberron cracking and falling onto the ground. When the progenitors created Eberron they wanted an entire universe to call their own and created a world with little planes surrounding it. Then the crystal sphere surrounding Eberron was made impenetrable, the progenitors cut it off from the rest of the planes. Does this make you hate Eberron less if this were true?

I recently ran a 3.5 session of Planescape. I think it's the most challenging campaign setting to just jump into and I find that the more I read and the more I learn about the planes the deeper this rabbit hole goes. I'm not really any closer to writing a good level 2 adventure and I'm not even sure which aspect of the setting to grapple with. How did you cut your teeth on this setting? Was there some stand out moment where you thought to yourself, this is the campaign setting for me? What part of Planescape do you enjoy the most when running a campaign?

[Raz Dazzle]

Which way does the River Styx flow? All descriptions I've found describe it flowing across the Lower Planes, but never the direction it flows in.

[afroakuma]

While this entire interview is interesting, around 27:25 they begin discussing Eberron in planescape and how it all "fits in." What's your take on the idea that Siberys Dragonshards are actual pieces of the crystal sphere around Eberron cracking and falling onto the ground. When the progenitors created Eberron they wanted an entire universe to call their own and created a world with little planes surrounding it. Then the crystal sphere surrounding Eberron was made impenetrable, the progenitors cut it off from the rest of the planes. Does this make you hate Eberron less if this were true?

It does not, and I don't think it being the crystal sphere specifically makes any sense. It really just adds more questions. I will note that the Wayfinder's Guide doesn't specify that it's the crystal sphere, but rather alludes to it being a shield of sorts that hides Eberron and its miniplanes from the multiverse writ large. That notion feels considerably more solid (pardon the pun) to me.

This also, to me, feels more in keeping with Eberron's tone of "fantasy kitchen sink;" why wouldn't a rogue spelljammer drop into Siberyspace and find itself crash-landed on Xen'drik after a near miss with one of the orbiting shards of Siberys that reacted strangely to the spelljamming helm? This might even be a secret reason why the planes of Eberron were designed to become coterminous periodically - they need contact with the Material Plane periodically in order to recharge their connection to the shield.

Anyway, I'll leave it to the Eberron fans to give their feelings on that. The setting was designed to pretty stubbornly resist casual integration and I am far from well-read on it.

I recently ran a 3.5 session of Planescape. I think it's the most challenging campaign setting to just jump into and I find that the more I read and the more I learn about the planes the deeper this rabbit hole goes. I'm not really any closer to writing a good level 2 adventure and I'm not even sure which aspect of the setting to grapple with.

I mean, I could help you with that. Pick something small to get started with, and it's easy enough to make adventure out of it.

How did you cut your teeth on this setting?

Oh I just hurtled myself in headfirst like a complete madman. I had one crossover novel under my belt and was like "yeah I like everything about this" and then just went digging for more.

Was there some stand out moment where you thought to yourself, this is the campaign setting for me? What part of Planescape do you enjoy the most when running a campaign?

Hm. I don't really know if there was. My personal favorite part of Planescape is always the "Mos Eisley cantina" feel of it all, where I can just put all the weird things of the universe at the same pub and have them argue with more than a bit of relevance to their everyday lives whether a tree falling in the forest made a sound if nobody could hear it. The notion of belief affecting the nature of things is fascinating. And the Lady of Pain emblem is great.

Which way does the River Styx flow? All descriptions I've found describe it flowing across the Lower Planes, but never the direction it flows in.

The Styx's headwaters are in Pandemonium. Auril & Loki have realms there. The terminus of the Styx is the frozen abyss of Ocanthus, in Acheron. So to answer your question: clockwise.

[Tzardok]

Say, Afro, do you like Magic: The Gathering? If you do, (and maybe even if not) you surely have heard that the world of Ravnica has been released as a setting for 5e. How would you adapt Ravnica to fit it in with 3.5e/planescape?

[Brookshw]

If a petitioner is killed on the plane that would be their final resting place, does it's soul pass through the Astral to get there? If not, would this mean the petitioner keeps it's memories of life (for a while at least).

(I'm pretty sure you know which sources are annoying me)

[Fable Wright]

Say, Afro, do you like Magic: The Gathering? If you do, (and maybe even if not) you surely have heard that the world of Ravnica has been released as a setting for 5e. How would you adapt Ravnica to fit it in with 3.5e/planescape?

Fun story: Ravnica, until the breaking of the Guildpact, was completely cut off from the Blind Eternities. Hence Agyrem being the place souls collected, instead of them going to their final destination. Which implies that the Blind Eternities are the Astral.

I'd just call it a Crystal Sphere cut off from the planes until very recently, and the enormous flux of ten millennia worth of a sphere's souls suddenly getting dumped into the outer planes, without reaching a single deity, would be of interest to planar powers. Souls for the Blood War, souls to be saved...

Alternatively, they might NOT go to the standard outer planes. They believe in something more alien than Good or Evil, they believe in colors of mana, and they've congregated in life and death according to those beliefs. It's PERHAPS possible that these might form new Astral demiplanes... though demiplanes collecting souls. Turning into an afterlife. And that would be of interest, especially if they began to leech souls out of the existing planar framework. And it raises questions of who might have sealed off the plane in the first place, and why...

Either way, the only PLANESCAPE relevant thing about Ravnica is the destruction of the Ghost Quarter. Otherwise, it's basically just another alternate prime.

[afroakuma]

Say, Afro, do you like Magic: The Gathering?

I do; I've been playing on and off for a considerably long time, to the point that naming my first set would be dating myself.

If you do, (and maybe even if not) you surely have heard that the world of Ravnica has been released as a setting for 5e. How would you adapt Ravnica to fit it in with 3.5e/planescape?

I would burn it to ashes and then funnel them to the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Ash, where the idea of squeezing MtG settings into D&D belongs.

Fable Wright gave a reasonable answer; for my part, I'd probably cast MtG as an alternate multiverse, accessible through the Shadow Plane as normal. I feel like it would be a squeeze to put it in the Great Wheel cosmology, not to mention a bit hollow to recast Ixalan, Ravnica, Dominaria, Kaladesh, Tarkir etc. as worlds on the same Prime in their own crystal spheres.

If a petitioner is killed on the plane that would be their final resting place, does it's soul pass through the Astral to get there?

Yep. Moves by Astral conduit.

(I'm pretty sure you know which sources are annoying me)

Not off the top of my head, though it's quite late. Elaborate as desired.

[enderlord99]

Yep. Moves by Astral conduit.

To a different part6 of the same plane or something?

[afroakuma]

If need be.

Here are some fun concepts that may or may not enrich your Planescaping experience:

Spoiler: The Glistening City

Show

The Glistening City

Deep within the Para-Elemental Plane of Ooze lies an airy cavern lit by circular rifts from above. The gravity is normal, allowing travelers to walk across the strange ceramic filigree of agatelike stone that rises up from the muck, toward strangely contorting towers and spires riddled with holes and gaps, all rising at odd and unique angles. The towers seem to glisten in the otherworldly light, giving this strange "city" its name.

The city appears to have no inhabitants, just the strange structures and pools of water collecting between them. However, the residents are all around - in the pools, coating the spires, even underneath the walkways. The populace are axiomatic^PH aballins^MoF of particularly high (14+) Intelligence, each a psion of 1st level or greater. Well-fed by Material Plane debris that plummets through the one-way portals above, the aballins view visitors with reserve and subdued curiosity, rather than as prey. The hivemind they share feeds into the eldest resident, a Gargantuan entity who exists in a pool near the center of the city. Travelers who display no chaotic behavior are permitted to remain in peace for 1d4 hours before being gently nudged to leave, unless able to negotiate with the hivemind for a longer sojourn.

• The acid of the aballins of the Glistening City possesses magical properties, and has been described as "that which cuts away all but truth." This legendary substance may be negotiated away in a small quantity, and is valuable for use in spells and magic items that involve truth or erasing deceptions (+4 to caster level when used as a material component; creation cost reduced 1000 gp and 100 XP). It is horribly poisonous to phasms, doppelgangers, and some other shapeshifting entities (treat as poison, contact DC 30, initial damage 3d6 Con, revert to native form and nauseated; secondary damage 3d6 Con & unable to use change shape or alternate form abilities for 2d4 days).

Spoiler: The Ponos Cataract

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The Ponos Cataract

It's been heard from hydroloths and debated by delphons; mention it to a marraenoloth and you may even get a free ride while he discusses with you all the ways the daemons plan to get revenge for it. The noviere are fascinated by the search. Everyone else... well, almost everyone, at any rate, says it's just a conspiracy theory. Surely the dao didn't secretly harness the Oceanus and the Styx to create a blasphemous cataract deep within the Elemental Plane of Earth. Why even do such a thing?

Well, according to those few who believe the legend, the dao are tempering the foul and forgetful waters of the Styx with the beatific qualities of the Oceanus, then letting the whole erode a portion of their plane so as to create deposits of silt & sand infused with the abated nature of the evil river. This sand, which is the home region of (and perhaps the very origin of!) the slave-race known as the sandmen, can be used to induce temporary slumber. So the legend goes.

• If it were true, the sand would be able to be blown at a foe (ranged touch, 5 ft increment) to cause sleep as the spell (DC 20). If used in the casting of a sleep or deep slumber spell or similar dweomers, these sands of Ponos would allow such a spell to affect an additional 4 HD of creatures (after any other adjustment has been applied) and increase the DC of such a spell by 2.

Spoiler: The Web of Stolen Stars

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The Web of Stolen Stars

Not unlike the Deep Ethereal, Deep Shadow is a strange place, wilder than the border regions and populated by unlikely beings. One legend of the Plane of Shadow speaks to the greelox, the strange and malicious arachnid creatures that seem to dart through shadows. Supposedly these creatures are in fact not of the Material Plane, but natives of Shadow, where they gather in the Deep around a vast and eerie web-city.

The web, say those who claim to have seen it, is highly visible on Shadow, for within are trapped thousands of motes of light. The nature of these motes is unknown and may not even be consistent - perhaps the greelox are just collecting any source of light they find, or stealing lost continual flame objects. Perhaps they are siphoning the light in some way. Perhaps they are working some dire, long-term plan to extinguish light on a grand scale, and these motes are but the first step.

• Light bound in shadow is a concept with magical relevance, and it can be harvested from the Web of Stolen Stars - though the locals might say something about that, and sometimes one might find a trapped lantern archon or other luminous entity instead. When used as a component for a spell with the Shadow descriptor, it adds 10% to the reality of the effect and increases the save DC by 2. Light bound in shadow naturally emits light as a continual flame spell. If the shadowy webbing is peeled away, the remaining light immediately brightens to daylight (as the spell) for 1 hour before vanishing, leaving no trace of any object behind.

[Efrate]

Are those afro homebrew or official? The shadow descriptor one would be huge for shadowcraft mages.

Also I played my first game in Alpha, then got into it end of 3rd, then on and off till present day. Sadly lost or sold collection like 4 times so no big money anymore.

[Brookshw]

Yep. Moves by Astral conduit.

Weird but fair.

Not off the top of my head, though it's quite late. Elaborate as desired.

Everyone's favourite Hallowed Grounds vs. PS CS & MoP.

Can memories end up on the astral independent of a soul traveling to the afterlife? I.e., some creature ate somethings memories, or they were otherwise removed via magical ****ery?

Are the memories of dead gods:
1) on the astral?
2) protected by Anubis and/or astral dreadnaughts?

Are Constellate's bigger than Draeden?

Nice right ups on Glistening City etc. If you're so inclined at some point, I'd love to hear advice (or examples) on setting the scene for the deep ethereal or deep shadow. Talking about reflections of things that don't exist is all well and good, but translating that into a description is a bit trickier. Shadowy humanoid forms with glowing eyes, the size of Mt. Everest, briefly glimpsed before disappearing into the swirling fog? Building with no reason or ability to support their weight, jutting out at ridiculous and impossible angles?

[afroakuma]

Are those afro homebrew or official?

Pretty loose homebrew. Really more intended as suggestions/guidelines than any kind of balanced material - note the lack of cost on them. They're very much in the vein of "potential quest ideas" rather than "market goods."

Weird but fair.

The plane itself has no method for moving a soul to where it belongs. That's the responsibility of an Astral conduit.

Everyone's favourite Hallowed Grounds vs. PS CS & MoP.

I suppose I should clarify, as I answered that rather late in the evening - petitioner killed, or a being who will become a petitioner?

Can memories end up on the astral independent of a soul traveling to the afterlife? I.e., some creature ate somethings memories, or they were otherwise removed via magical ****ery?

I don't see why not.

Are the memories of dead gods:
1) on the astral?

Some of them most likely are, but others remain with wherever they died - usually their divine realms, by definition. We actually have a documented case of this - the Abyss got its "hands" on these memories, belonging to a pantheon of dead powers, and produced the loumaras from the "digestion" process.

It's possible that the disposition of such memories is based on the nature of the kill - they might explode outward violently from a violent death, or seep away from the divine realm and into the Astral if the death was one of starvation.

2) protected by Anubis and/or astral dreadnaughts?

Anubis, I quite doubt it. Dreadnaughts... probably not, but who knows what all they get up to?

Are Constellate's bigger than Draeden?

Oh those flippin' things. Constellates are, AFAIK, the largest monster ever published for D&D.

If you're so inclined at some point, I'd love to hear advice (or examples) on setting the scene for the deep ethereal or deep shadow. Talking about reflections of things that don't exist is all well and good, but translating that into a description is a bit trickier. Shadowy humanoid forms with glowing eyes, the size of Mt. Everest, briefly glimpsed before disappearing into the swirling fog? Building with no reason or ability to support their weight, jutting out at ridiculous and impossible angles?

I'd suggest you try me again on the weekend.

Let's do more thingies!

Spoiler: The Peeler of Pelts

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The Peeler of Pelts

A gentle hillside rises deceptively from the savannas of Cathrys, second layer of Carceri, occluding but not really concealing the foul-smelling clay vats used by the occupant of the two-story pisé manor adjacent, two windtowers made of bone helping to find it at a distance. Within the manor and the vast vaulted cavern beneath, one may make the acquaintance of the "Peeler of Pelts," a sinister and alien being cloaked in layered robes of leather and tattered skins. Possibly an ultroloth, possibly a tiefling, the Peeler is master of a dark and bloody art - they produce pelts from various beasts that, when worn and commanded, allow one to take on the form of that beast, in the manner of a druid's wild shape ability, for up to four hours per day. The Peeler sells these works at a steep cost and is tangentially associated with murderous faux-lycanthropes on several Prime worlds, possibly former customers or recipients of their works. The loup du noir is one such legend that is tied to the Peeler.

The Peeler of Pelts is deeply despised by the deities of lycanthropes - possibly because their clients emulate lycanthropy without truly embracing it (and thus giving power to the appropriate god). It is also believed that they are opposed by Malar, a power from Realmspace who makes his realm on the same plane. Regardless, the Peeler continues to operate openly. They have accepted custom orders from time to time, and rumors suggest their inventory of available products includes more than a few humanoid "pelts" in their selection. The Peeler is only known to understand three languages: Abyssal, the language of the gautiere, and - to the horror of many druids - Druidic. For those who speak none of these, a tongues spell or similar will not suffice - the Peeler does not respond to magically-manipulated language. More than a few have had to conclude their dealings with the Peeler in silence, with gold and gestures their only means of making their desires apparent.

• Prospective clients not put off by the rows of skeletons or the fetid stench surrounding the Peeler's place of business are welcome to peruse their other wares. Of particular interest is an alchemical (they swear) substance known simply as Peeler's liniment. Even a small vial of this is sufficient to treat up to two Medium creatures or 1 Large creature, affecting a corpse as per gentle repose but with instantaneous duration (this is not a spell-like effect and is not subject to dispelling). If improperly applied (DC 30 Heal check, DC 25 Craft (taxidermy) check, DC 25 Profession (embalmer) or Profession (mortician) check), the corpse has a cumulative 6% chance per day of having its skin slough off as a forsaken shell^LM, instantly causing the decay of the innards as the undead skin crawls away. No matter how much of a vivid sheen it provides when used as a leather polish, hair tonic, or skin oil, the Peeler cautions against any such applications. What might occur is left to the buyer's imaginings.

Spoiler: The Archives of Affliction

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The Archives of Affliction

Rare are the sites on Thuldanin, second layer of Acheron, that do not succumb to its preservative effects when not sheltered by a deity. Still more rare are those places that show none of the scars of war that so characterize the layer and its landscape - at least, no physical scars. The polished stone citadel of the marrashi is one of these rare places, a structure composed of towers and ledges that allow easy purchase and egress for the winged fiends who curate the collection within.

Bearers of pestilence & plague, the marrashi are the last group to want learnings of medical practice to become widespread, but in this hidden citadel this is exactly what has been collected. Elite marrashi are charged with blank scrolls from the Archive, which are attuned to their foul arrows. An elite marrash's scroll automatically fills itself with a record of the symptoms & suffering experienced by those struck with its linked ammunition, detailing efforts to stop the medication, failures and their preferred alternatives, successes and methodologies.

It is unknown why the marrashi keep such records, though scholars learned in matters of the Lower Planes believe that it may have something to do with pride or status - the longer a marrash's record of sufferings caused, the more social position they hold. Others suggest that it might be a cosmic duty of the marrashi in their roles as spreaders of disease, or that they might reveal such knowledge in revenge against a summoner employing them for selfish and destructive ends. It might even be that they are gleaning information about various afflictions in their work to create some more virulent plague, perhaps something that could be turned against more powerful fiends or the evil genies who often enslave marrashi to do their bidding.

Whatever the truth, two things are clear: firstly, that the Archive of Affliction represents a tremendous source of medical knowledge; and secondly, that the marrashi will not suffer anyone to make off with even a single scroll from their collection.

[Brookshw]

I suppose I should clarify, as I answered that rather late in the evening - petitioner killed, or a being who will become a petitioner?

Sloppiness on my part, a creature who would become a petitioner. But the rest you've answered.

[unseenmage]

What entity is responsible for granting Zodar wishes?

What if there are a multitude of these wishes at once?

What if they're all intentionally unsafe wishes?