Re: Planar Structure and Cosmology

I draw this viewpoint rather heavily from the information provided in
the 3.0 Manual of the Planes in combination with the Planar structures
presented in the 3.0 Deities and Demigods.

By those two books, the only method of traversing cosmologies is
through the plane of shadow. You walk deep enough into shadow and you
can come out through a different cosmologies' plane of shadow.

Basically this was done to make the plane of shadow the replacement
for the Phlogiston in 3.0.. obviously being the spelljammer buff I am,
I don't want that but I'd be hesitant to remove that role from the
plane of shadow. Instead I figured that the Phlogiston and plane of
shadow can serve the same purpose.. it just happens that the
phlogiston is much more consistent, safer, and economically viable.


On 4/12/05, Dreamer <dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk> wrote:
> In <URL:news:local.spelljam> on Tue 12 Apr, DarkTouch wrote:
> > My personal Speculation on the Phlogiston:
> >
> > I actually see the Phlogiston as being the most objective portion of
> > reality out there. It is a giant tapestry that holds everything
> > together. Though the Phlogiston seems to just be a sea of floating
> > flammable gas, it is the raw stuff that everything else is made of.
> >
> > Dimensionally the Phlogiston is flat. A solid monolith of reality.
> > There are of course rumors of the rare portion of space outside the
> > phlogiston but the only other plane that truely runs parallel to it is
> > the Plane of shadow which is stretched much too thin as it reaches
> > across the distances to be able to interact with the phlogiston or
> > beings in it.
> >
> > The Crystal Spheres have long since pulled the raw material they need
> > in order to create everything they need inside themselves. Like
> > bubbles in seafoam this is a naturally occuring process specific to
> > the materia of the phlogiston.. just like how in our reality spaces
> > gasses collase and eventually erupt into new stars, so too does the
> > phlogiston collasce until its outsides seal into a new crystal shell.
> >
> > Within each shell as it forms is first simply "reality".. the material
> > plane of that world. Solid and relatively unchanging. As it stabalizes
> > though, Dieties either move in, are called by the sentients
> > developing.. or the reality is simply 'nothingness' until a creator
> > diety gets its hands on it. Through whatever means however new planes
> > are then fasioned off of the material.. they have a
> > spiritual/conceptiual nature that goes beyond the prime but is based
> > off of it... just like each person has a soul. (Yes, this is very
> > existentialist theory)
> >
> > Generally, the plane of shadow isn't created within the world but it
> > finds its way in there anyway.. sometimes appearing to be just a minor
> > demi-plane but often growing to take over and more strongly influence
> > things. The rawest of Crystal Spheres involves a single shell holding
> > a material plane plus the mirrored shadow plane.
> 
> Certainly interesting!
> 
> Why do you single out the Plane of Shadow for special treatment
> like this?
> 
> Is the phlogiston connected wuth the Plane of Radience in some
> way, which, I think, is usually taken to be the opposite of the
> Plane of Shadow?
> 
> Because it is everywhere, does the Plane of Shadow affect
> spelljamming in some way, or can it be used in interesting ways,
> as none of the other planes are accessable in the phlogiston?
> 
> I am still using the original DnD planar structure, as it was
> before they introduced things like a Plane of Shadow (or a Plane
> of Radience). Hence, Shadow Magic (etc) is not making use of that
> plane, and it is more to do with a warping of physical reality.
> See rear of PHB 1st Ed AD&D.
> 
> I tend to find four elements, plus the negative material to keep
> undead happy, and the positive material to balance that, good
> enough for just about any reasonable purpose.
> 
> 
> > So because of this, I don't see the Phlogiston as having any
> > relationship with the other planes of a sphere beyond the material
> > just as the desk I'm sitting at has no interaction with my soul.
> 
> Unless your desk has a soul, or spiritual component, as some
> systems hold all objects to have! [grin]
> 
> 
> > On 4/12/05, Dreamer <dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk> wrote:
> > >
> > > 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/
> 
> ********************************************************************
> The D&D; Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd
> The Spelljammer Homepage: http://www.spelljammer.org
> To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@??????.???????.com
> with UNSUB SPELLJAMMER-L in the body of the message.
> 


-- 
-DT
http://www.darktouch.net