Elemental Planes¶
"Elementals literally create and form matter upon which all other creation rests." — the Cosmology Revision (S001)
The Elemental Plane is the oldest layer of Terrun and the one everything else is built on. "Much smaller than the material plane", it is home to the elementals, "whose existence is tied very strongly to the Material plane", and "almost all manipulation of the physical non-living world in the Material Plane happens in conjunction with the Elemental Planes." The Revision speaks of one Elemental Plane with parts; the older cosmology of four planes, Air, Earth, Fire and Water, is kept below, since the Revision itself slips between the singular and the plural.
Also called: the Elemental Chaos (its original state), the Elemental Planes, the Elemental Plane.
Formation¶
"The Elemental Plane (known originally as the Elemental Chaos) pre-dates the arrival of the Einar and every other plane. The other planes are built on top of the raw Elemental energies brought to order by the Einar." When the elementals were imprisoned on their plane at the end of the Primordial War, the Fae Realms and the Material Plane were built on top. The Primordial Elementals, "the most powerful elementals that were unable to be controlled", were imprisoned on the Astral Plane to prevent a resurgence of elemental power (S001).
The Nature of Magic describes the age before the Einar as one in which "Fae magics ruled and great elemental lords shaped, played and created on the Material Plane", and the Throne of Law as the thing that "was formed to bind the elementals in eternal servitude and into its jailkeepers, the Titans. Each Titan was bound to a host of elemental subjects which were imprisoned on the Elemental Planes" (S208). The Titans were "living chains for the Primordials"; "they tame the Elemental plane, making the physical plane possible (and inhabitable). They do so even in death" (S448, S543).
The four planes¶
The older cosmology divides the plane by element and names its rulers (S013, S421). The Revision lists the same beings without assigning them planes.
| Plane | Holds | Rulers |
|---|---|---|
| Elemental Plane of Air | "All matter related to Air and Wind." | Aurastus "remains the primary ruler of this plane, with 3 other significant rival primordials" (S013); sole ruler in S421. |
| Elemental Plane of Earth | "All matter related to Earth, Stone and Metal." | Dharanak, "undisputed ruler of the plane, with 4 subordinate primordials" (S013). |
| Elemental Plane of Fire | "All matter related to Fire and Heat." | "Once ruled by the Primordial Elemental, Vulcanex; now tightly contested between 3 primordials: Vulcanex, Ambusthene" and a third unnamed (S013). |
| Elemental Plane of Water | "All matter related to Water." | "Subdivided into 6 regions and a cold war exists between its 6 ruling primordials", among them Sequanos, Poseidos, Neptulos and Tempestallos (S013); Sequana alone in S421. |
The Revision's roll of denizens runs: Ambusthene, Primordial Flame Elemental; Aurastus, Elemental Aspect of Wind; Dharanak, Elemental Aspect of Stone; Neptulos, Elemental Aspect of Sea; Poseidos, Primordial Ocean Elemental; Sequanos, Primordial Water Elemental; Tempestallos, Primordial Storm Elemental; Vulcanex, Elemental Aspect of Magma (S001). The beings themselves belong to Primordials.
Rulership¶
"When the Throne of Law was shattered, the four Primordial Elementals which assisted the young gods were freed as part of the bargain. These four primordials (known as the Elemental Aspects) ruled the Elemental Planes exclusively." That rule ended "during the Age of the Dark Sun and a subsequent release of many other Primordials. Conflicts are now common across the Elemental Planes as a new balance of power is being established" (S001). The Fifth Age magic notes describe the result from the Material side: elementals "fighting savage elemental wars on the Elemental Plane, leading to many cataclysmic events on the Material" (S014). Fire has its own hierarchy of six Sovereign Fire Primordials, among them Ambusthene, "Sovereign of Searing Refulgence", and Maegera, held by Khardas; one of Ambusthene's prisons lies in the Illuri Fold of the Rift (S010).
The Fae Magic notes add that the primordials who helped Kalar overthrow the old gods are "kept in a sort of minimum security prison on the Elemental planes", that "it is believed that there is one primordial per domain (18 total)", and that the primordials "don't really like the Faeries ... they consider them usurpers" (S279).
Elemental Chaos¶
The Elemental Chaos is what the plane was before the Einar: the "raw Elemental energies" the other planes were built upon, the state in which "Fae Magic ... existed when Elemental Chaos ruled" before "the Chaos was defeated and order was brought to the Material" (S279). Terrun "exited its Elemental Chaos phase" with the arrival of the Einar (S001). The name may be returning: "It is also rumored that a portion at the center of the Elemental Plane has reverted into a raw maelstrom of energies: a new Elemental Chaos" (S001). The Acadian notes place the Fae plane "just above the Elemental Chaos" and count the Chaos among the energies that feed the Netherworld (S358).
The nature of elementals and the Elemental Cycle¶
"Almost all living things in the Elemental planes are some form of Elemental. Lifeforms from the other material planes struggle with its harsh conditions and a lack of food sources for consumption." Elementals "draw energy/sustenance directly from their plane and in the process of using/consuming it, release it back into the plane as part of an infinite cycle", described in Djarstrom's Treatise on the Elemental Cycle (Lesser Texts). This is why they stay home: "to be away from it is to be cut off from sustenance." They have no soul and are "bound to a set of elemental energy that belongs to them. To truly destroy this energy is to destroy all matter associated with it on the other material planes. Generally killing an elemental is just scattering their energies back to the elemental plane. It will eventually reform." Few are conscious; "most are driven entirely on instinct in an almost mechanical fashion" (S001, S013). The older cosmology puts it the other way about: the matter they are tied to on the Material "is their Soul", and "if all elementals were destroyed in this way, the Material Plane would cease to exist" (S421); see Souls and Spirits.
Layering, connections and visitors¶
The plane sits at the far end of the elemental chain: Elemental ⟷ Fae Realm ⟷ Material (S001). "Material forms with powerful elemental protection and energy-based projections may visit the elemental planes." The older cosmology lists "energy and associative connections to all Material Planes" and a physical connection to the Prime Material "via the Fae Transitory Plane" (S013), or connections to the Energy Planes and the Material (S421). Astral Law governs the Elemental Planes and divine energy is available here (S205). The Terrestrial colleges of Arcane Magic each manipulate one of the four planes (S208, S304), and the oldest rules note that elemental magic "works only on planes which are adjacent to the elemental plane" (S371).
In the Fifth Age the plane became a refuge. "Fae and Dragons continue their steep decline since the Faewild Wars. Most have retreated (if they can) fully into the Elemental Planes", and the Wood Elves of Oth'Baelin "intentionally weaken the boundaries between the material and elemental planes in their lands using Fae Vertexes" (S112); see Fae Realms.
Earlier accounts¶
The Cosmology of 2022 and the archive cosmology both hold that "the Material and Elemental Planes pre-date the arrival of the Einar" and that the elementals "fought with the Einar over the dominion of the Material Plane" (S013, S421); the Revision keeps the Elemental Plane's priority but makes the Material a later construction. The archive cosmology also has the Primordial Elementals imprisoned "on the Material Plane" rather than the Astral (S421). The Compendium's age of Faerie has the Faeries rule "the Elemental and Material Planes" and later transition "to the Elemental plane where they were less vulnerable and more powerful" (S372, S384).
Gap
The rival and subordinate primordials of Air, Earth, Fire and Water are left as "??" in the source. No source describes the landscape of any elemental plane, where the "center" of the plane lies, or how the four planes relate to the Revision's single Elemental Plane.