Planar Structure and Cosmology

I tend to look at planar structure and the phlogiston in a number
of ways.

If the phlogiston underlies everything, then on some level it is
in contact with everywhere, not just crystal shells, but
navigating it might be quite difficult. If physical things like
time and distance in the phlogiston depend in some respects on
how the traveller thinks about them, then this could introduce
some major navigation problems. So, maybe how physical distance
works, and time flows, in the various crystal spheres somehow
'leaks' out into the phlogiston? And, part of the travel between
spheres is getting far enough away from one sphere, before
entering the region of influence of another sphere? And the
rivers in the Flow are a manifestation of this influence flowing
away from a sphere?

If all the other planar structure arises from the phlogiston, and
maybe collapses back down into it, eventually, then this likely
makes it even less 'real' than the ethereal, inner planes,
astral, and outer planes.

The reality of the outer planes seems to depend on the will of
the beings who live there, and are the planar controllers. The
reality of the astral seems to depend on the will and thoughts of
those there; there is nothing material, and arguably time is a
very slippery thing in the astral. The reality of the inner
planes seems a lot more 'physical', and like a distorted version
of the prime material. The reality of the ethereal seems like an
only slightly distorted version of the prime material - distance
seems more mutable there, but not much else.

If the outer planes are shaped by 'divine/demonic will', and the
phlogiston is even less real than this, how real can it truely be
said to be? If the phlogiston is beyond being shaped by any will,
is this why prayer to, and communication with, the gods, and
contact with other planes, doesn't work there?

You could say that all the other planes 'hang' from the
phlogiston, with the outer planes at the top, then the astral,
the ethereal and inner planes, and at the bottom the prime
material. Multiple prime materials would then be different
'fruit', hanging from this bunch of planes, and you might be able
to have a bunch of planes without any prime material, or maybe
even without any inner planes at all! This might imply that it
was possible to directly enter the phlogiston from the outer
planes, though unless this was being 'cast out from heaven/hell',
into limbo, there aren't many references to this. This might be
one reason for saying 'true limbo' and the phlogiston are two
different faces of the same thing.


One reason for looking at these sorts of ideas, is that they
might give you a better idea of how to combine planar travel and
spelljamming, as you can think about different ways that the
various planes and the phlogiston might connect and interact. If
you don't have any idea about how the phlogiston connects to the
overall cosmological model of the planes, it can be very
difficult to talk about things.

I would be interested to hear other people's speculations on the
phlogiston!


Hope this lot might be some use to someone! [grin]

--
Dreamer
dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/