Material Plane¶
"The crown jewel of the planes and considered the center of existence." — Terrun Cosmology (S421)
Contested
This page is named in the open question Material Plane and the Mithis barrier. The 2026 Cosmology Revision says the Material Plane was constructed by the Einar; the 2022 Cosmology says it existed long before them.
The Material Plane is the Mortal Realm: "the places where physical matter is manifested by the elements and is inhabited by a wide variety of lifeforms both with or without souls" (S001). Every other plane is defined by its relation to this one. The planet Terrun, its lands and seas, are the matter of Geography; this page is about the plane as a layer of the cosmos.
Also called: the Mortal Realm, the Prime Material, the Prime Material Plane, the Material.
Formation¶
"The original Material Plane (also known as the Mortal Realm) was constructed by the Einar after their victory in the Primordial War. As part of that victory, the most powerful and sentient of the elementals were locked away." The plane was raised on the imprisoned elements together with the Fae Realms: "When the Elementals were imprisoned on their plane at the end of the Primordial War, the Fae and Material planes were built on top." For most of the age that followed the Einar "squabbled and disagreed on how to bring order to their new world. The Throne of Law was forged to settle the matter and granted uncontestable dominion to 12 High Gods of the Einar. When the Throne was shattered, this dominion passed to the Einar (The Younger Gods) which claimed the shards, numbered now in the hundreds" (S001).
The history of the earlier ages describes what the Einar found: "When the Einar arrived, the Material plane was an Elemental battlefield, with the elements in a state of constant conflict" (S386). The Nature of Magic agrees that before them "great elemental lords shaped, played and created on the Material Plane" (S208). How these accounts fit together is told on Creation.
Layering¶
The Material stands at the near end of both chains of planes (S001):
- Elemental layers: Elemental ⟷ Fae Realm ⟷ Material
- Astral layers: Astral ⟷ Rift / Netherworld / Abyss ⟷ Shadow Realm ⟷ Material
The inner planes "act as different 'dimensions' of the Material. They overlap with the material and intersect in space", so a portal opened here crosses to a consistent place on the far side, though not a consistent distance (S001). The Shadow Realm has "direct gateways ... to all locations on the material", and the Rift's islands are each "attached to a contiguous part of the prime material" while "adjacent islands are not adjacent in the prime material" (S017). The older cosmology calls the Material "the largest plane in terms of material, many of the other planes project matter or energy into this plane" (S421). It is the plane the Energy Planes fuel and the only one, in the archive's view, that material forms may visit as of right.
Magic on the Material¶
Mithis exists only here. Mithis "is a crucial magical particle found only the material plane" (S419, told on Mithis), and "Mithis energy is only available to casters when on the Material Plane (they cannot rest to regain energy anywhere but the Material Plane). Mithis-based casting, magical items and enchantments will function anywhere that Astral Magic functions" (S205). Astral Law governs the Material along with the Astral, Elemental and Abyssal Planes (S205). The oldest rules say simply that "Arcane magic focuses on manipulating the material plane" (S371). Where magic has been used too heavily, the land itself can die: the Compendium's regional notes call such places the Withering or Earthblight and blame "a complete exhaustion of local Mithius energy" (S498, Magic's Arcane Magic).
The Abyss cut from the Material¶
One account of the Demon Wars has the Abyss made from this plane. "Kalar took one of the shards and with help from many other Einar (and their shards) forged the Anthu'Mithis (Worldstone, which created the Mithis Plane). The Anthu'Mithis split off a portion of the Material Plane into a separate plane known as the Abyss. This was a tremendously destructive act and shook the foundations of Terrun, triggering worldwide cataclysms" (S386). The Revision instead makes the Abyss out of Astral Shards, with the Mithis Plane as the barrier between.
Other worlds¶
"The planet Terrun and the Prime Material are one and the same. It is assumed from reputable sources (some Einar) that there are other planets out in the Void, some inhabited, some not. They are not treated as part of this cosmology because of a lack of information and no known methods of transit between them" (S013). The Revision confirms the separation: a material plane is a planet, its layers do not extend into the Void, and "you cannot travel from the subplane of one material plane to another; they are not connected" (S001). The worlds the sources do name are gathered on the Void page.
Earlier accounts¶
The Cosmology of 2022 and the archive cosmology hold that the plane is older than the gods: "The original Material Plane (known as the Prime Material) existed long before the arrival of the Einar. It was a barren place, a physical expression of elemental energies given off by the elementals. When the Einar arrived and began colonizing it, it took the elementals some time to realize the source of the drain on their energies and freedom." After the Primordial War "the material plane was divided as the sovereign matter was extracted and embedded within the Astral Plane and Throne of Law" (S013; S421 likewise). The Compendium's age of Faerie says the Worldstone "protects the boundaries of the Material plane in general from the intrusions of other creatures" (S372, S384). The Acadian notes place the Netherworld "below the Material Plane" (S358). In the oldest classification the Material was simply "The Prime Material Plane", a group of one (S372).
Gap
No source describes the Material Plane's edges, whether it has any, or how far the inner layers extend around the planet. The "sovereign matter" extracted from it in the older account is explained on Astral Shards, but nothing says how much was taken or from where.