The Outlands, also called the Concordant Opposition, the Plane at the Center, and simply the Land, are the plane of neutrality, the hub of the Great Wheel of the Outer Planes. They are the destination of souls neither lawful, chaotic, good, or evil enough to qualify for anywhere else. They are the home of the realms of the neutral gods. They are the home of the cosmic force of Balance, as personified by the enigmatic, plotting Rilmani. There are no suns, moons, or stars above the Outlands, although night, day, and twilight occur in equal amounts.
The Outlands have three main parts:
The Spire is an infinitely tall pillar of what is apparently rock in the center of the infinite Land. How an infinite plane can have a center is one of the many paradoxes associated with the Outlands. Another one is how an infinitely tall mountain like the Spire can nonetheless have a visible top. It does, and above it can be seen a stony torus hovering in the sky; most assume that this is Sigil, the City of Doors. The Spire cancels out magic, psionics, the powers of the gods, even mundane effects like poison, the closer one gets to it. Some sages speculate that at the Spire itself, where Sigil apparently is, life itself should be impossible. At the Spire's slope, all is equal, all is balanced. Deities are no more than mortals there, and thus they treat this place as a neutral ground where they can negotiate without the greater deities dominating the lesser ones.
The Ringlands are the concentric circles of diminishing power surrounding the Spire. They move somewhat unpredictably, so that a realm or site where ninth level magic works one day may not work very well the next. Sixteen gate-towns exist on the outermost periphery of the Ringlands, where portals to the other outer planes exist. Around these portals, traits from those other planes influence the Land, so that things are wilder and more chaotic around Xaos, the gate-town to Limbo, and more ordered and geometric around Automata, the gate-town to Mechanus. Toward the Spire, the terrain of the Outlands becomes more balanced: forests, deserts, lakes, mountains, and chasms all in perfect equilibrium. The great sea Tir+fo+Thiunn is in the Ringlands, as is the vast river Maat. Most divine realms are in the outer rings of the Ringlands, where the powers of their servants and themselves are not much affected.
The Hinterlands are the misty, mysterious plain surrounding the Ringlands and the gate-towns into infinity. They are difficult to explore, as it takes a long time to get any distance into them, but it is very quick to travel back. They seem to actually resist incursions.
All movement in the Outlands is subjective. It takes 3-18 days to move between any two neighboring sites (such as the Gate-towns), or between one ring to the next. Though some 3rd edition sources refer to "miles" in the Land, in truth distance is less defined than that in the Outer Planes. The Ringlands are infinite, in the sense that there is no limit to the amount of realms and sites that can fit inside them.
Additional Resource:
Free tracks from A Player's Primer to the Outlands
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