The Nelthazene Model of the Planes
by Lector Garibaldi of the Grand Academy of Fel’Thuzar
This model of the Planes was first proposed and later iterated on by the Sixth Council of Nelthazar. This model of the Planes has been challenged extensively by scholars in the Confederation of the Krasarang, whose mages maintain their own radically different cosmological model, and broadly accepted in the Magocracy of Alerhionia, albeit presented (falsely) as their own theory.
Debates between western and eastern magicians have turned violent in the past, such are the controversies when debating the worlds beyond or between the worlds. They speak of life, death, and the hereafter in a way many people may find disquieting, if not blasphemous.
It is thankful then, that we dwell in a land where all may think as they wish.
The Nelthazene Model goes as thus -
Our Reality
The physical world is the Material Plane. It is defined by adhering to consistent physical and magical laws, instilled by The-Gods-Before, the first children of the present kalpa, a loose union of The Primordials, the Old Titans and Dragons whose primeval squabbles during the Age of Chaos set the universe’s shape into being.
As they were born before time itself, they have no beginning and cannot truly die. Dragons or Titans that perish simply reawaken aeons, centuries, decades or weeks later as part of a grand, Samsara-like cycle. Those that stay relatively inert after being killed are often imperfect, flawed from having absorbed the essence of mortality in some form.
It is the Old Ones’ lingering thoughts and dreams, even in a state of hibernation or meditation, that maintain this stable, purposefully imperfect reality.
The Dragons are the ageless source of time, change and transformation, the Old Titans were the progenitors of life and the laws of physics, The Primordials are the ideal forms of The Elements, who compose all things and their natures.
Terran (Inner) Planes
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The Soulplane (now named as the Shadow Realm) is the former destination of deceased souls awaiting rebirth. Now it is a stagnant and sinister place, infested with the most intense, grotesque memories and traumas of the formerly living as their souls are drawn through the Omnichrome, like filth being wringed from a sponge.
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The Hypnic Plane (or Faerie) are the last remains of the first, original world, that some say was a great, crystal flower. It’s the land of the subconscious, where all the dreams, nightmares, and forgotten memories of the living flow to. In this realm, there is no such thing as time. It is a place where the laws of physics aren’t quite so ordered. Emotion and memory define reality. It is filled to the brim with spirits that aren’t especially good or evil as we might understand, just a reflection of the collective unconscious and the many archetypes held within.
Sidereal (Outer) Planes
- The Primespring, Low Sidereal, Penumbric Plane, or Void, is the original, disordered well of Chaos from which the elements first emerged, the First Flower grew, and is argued by the Primalic School of Scholars to be the true source of all magic. It is an infinite sea of utter pale-black oblivion surrounding a bright corona of clashing, scintillating elemental energies – the seed of creation.
Pockets of order form the Elemental Planes, which act as the model for every physical force or motion in the material world. It is a place of ceaseless conflict, as each primal power attempts to seize dominance.
- Eternity, The High Sidereal, Malakut or The Outer Spheres consist of all the Heavens, Hells, and the imaginal planes between. Their laws and nature draw upon the beliefs, morality and thoughts of mortals to give them form and purpose. Cares, expectations, hopes and fears all flavour and shape these infinite domains. Every devil of The Hells and Angel of the Heavens was once a mortal, all other inhabitants of these realms are perfect ideals of entities or concepts, without -nuance- or -rationality- to impede them. It is the source of divine and profane magic.
Connective (Through) Planes
The Omnichrome, also known as The Nether or Astral Plane, forms the chaotic dimensional tissue between The Sidereal and the Terran Realms and all that lay between them. Its appearance is different to each individual who gazes upon it, some gaze upon a storm-lashed vortex of stars and lurid colours, others see a tranquil azure firmament stretching forever.
It surrounds the physical universe like an envelope, and acts as both a muscle (in that it gives the universe shape and motion) and like an artery in that it draws upon the faith and psyches of thinking creatures, drawing them up to empower and shape the Sidereal deities and dimensions on the outside.
Since The Betrayal, the spirits of the dead are forcibly drawn up through the Omnichrome into the High Sidereal, passing through the Soulplane. The Nether touches everywhere in creation and beyond it, allowing travel even to other worlds and realities both familiar and hostile to life and sanity.
The tension between the Omnichrome and the Material Plane creates the Aethereal Abyss as a kind of vibration between them. The latter plane is often hollowed out to create myriad demi planes for various purposes.
The Celestial School of scholars, vaunted by Alerhionia theorise these connective planes are the true source of most sorcery, creating an energy field that magicians pluck from, which must be maintained in a state of balance to be effective.
I apologise the map is taking so long.
You can still submit new kingdoms and nations to the setting if you’d like to. Remember, these will directly border the Desolation of Atahalnia.
Here’s another book to chew on, in the meanwhile!