Re: Planar Structure and Cosmology

I always viewed the plane of shadow as a sort of
anti-plane, the oposite of all the othar planes.  You
have the outer planes up there at the top, the lower
planes down there at the bottom, the primes in the
middle between the outer and inner, but the plane of
shadow runs along "next" to them all and mirrors all
levels, only it is like a negative image of them.
This is how the river styx can run all the way from
Hell and the Abyss in the outer planes, and then it
runs down through the plane of shadow all the way to
the negative energy plane of the inner planes.  It
makes a sort of loop, with half of it in the shadow
plane and the other half in the inner and outer
planes.  It also runs out sometimes into parts of the
prime planes and touches them.

I was also thinking, the Hindus have seven levels of
reality.  The highest is the spiritual, which would
correspond with the outer planes, the lowest is purely
physical which would correspond with the elemental
planes.  Along these lines, I was thinking of seven
shells to the multiverse.  The inner planes, then the
deep etheareal, then the border ethereal, then the
primes (and the pholgiston) then the "near" astral,
the "deep astral, then the outer planes.  This is
seven levels, going form purely physical to purely
spiritual.  The connection between the spiritual and
prime planes is the mental plane, the astral.  The
connection between the physical and primes is the
plane of life and death, the ethereal.  And of course,
behind it all and mirroring it is the plane of shadow.

--- 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/
>
>
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