Celestial Bodies, Day & Night In the Outlands?

8 posts / 0 new
Last post
glamourweaver's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2008-12-03
Celestial Bodies, Day & Night In the Outlands?

Does the Outlands have a Sun & a Moon?  I'm assuming it has day & night (the art seems to indicate so anyway)... is it just an indistinct illumination and then darkening, or are there actual celestial bodies (or the image of them anyway) in the sky overhead?  If so, over which horizons do they rise and set & is it at a stable rate (12 hours of day & 12 hours of night) or are there seasons where day & night grow longer and shorter through the year?  If I missed this info anywhere, please point it out to me!

 

Similar question applies to Elysium, Arborea, & Ysgard.

ripvanwormer's picture
Offline
Factol
Joined: 2004-10-05
The Outlands has no

The Outlands has no celestial bodies. As with Sigil, the sky lights up until Peak and then gets dark until Anti-Peak. The light comes from the sky in general rather than any specific celestial body. 

The only Outer Planes noted to have anything like a sun or a moon are Arcadia (which has the Orb of Day and Night, which stays at "noon" position and goes dark for twelve hours of the day), the Beastlands (whose sun Selara is eternally at "noon" in Krigala, whose moon Noctos is always straight overhead in Karasuthra, and whose sun and moon are both at the horizon in Brux) and some of the layers of the Abyss. And, of course, Carceri with its orbs and Gehenna with its distant volcano layers, and Ysgard with its rivers of earth.

Most outer planes either rely on indistinct light from the sky or from whatever suns and moons are in the sky of the neighboring sun and moon gods. For example, in Elysium near Pelor's realm, Pelor maintains a sun. The Indian god Savitri maintains a sun of his own in his realm, while Tsukuyomi maintains a moon.

Ysgard is lit by the fiery undersides of the earthbergs above the one where you're on. Carceri is lit by other orbs. Gehenna is lit by the volcano-layers in the distant void (as well as whatever molten lava and pyroclastic activity is nearby).

This is all from the original Manual of the Planes and The Player's Primer to the Outlands. And Planes of Conflict, in the case of Gehenna. 

I'd also like to point out that because most of the Outer Planes are infinite expanses of land, it's not possible for a celestial body to "set." Unlike in a Prime world, they'd just run into the ground. That would be okay if the sun god has a palace to park his chariot in, but it doesn't work if the sun is a big ball of fire that incinerates the forests and boils the seas. Of course, Carceri, Gehenna, and Ysgard all have plenty of void for celestial bodies to be in, but they're exceptions and they've already been covered. I guess the sun and moon in the Beastlands are always low in the sky, but don't dip below a "horizon" that doesn't really exist, but then again I suppose things don't have to make sense in the Outer Planes. 

 

 

Iavas's picture
Offline
factotums
Joined: 2006-07-12
There's also Mount Celestia,

There's also Mount Celestia, which has each layer shining down like a sun onto the layers below. I swear, that plane is the hardest for me to envision.

ripvanwormer's picture
Offline
Factol
Joined: 2004-10-05
The thing to remember with

The thing to remember with Mount Celestia (as both the original MotP and Planes of Law made clear) has many, many mountains in it, any of which can be used to get to the higher layers.

Lunia  is an infinite silver sea dotted with island-mountains. The one that the gate-towns of Heart's Faith, Soul's Desire, and Nemmiron are on is only one of them. There are a theoretical infinite number of other island-mountains, any of which can be ascended by those who have been found worthy to reach Mercuria.  All of them have the light of Chronias shining down from their peaks.

Mercuria has a theoretically infinite number of mountains as well framing its lush green valleys. Any of them can be ascended to reach Venya. And so on.

The 3rd edition MotP wasn't terribly clear about this, but earlier sources were.

There is, however, only one or possibly two ziggurats in Jovar. There's Yetsirah, which has seven tiers. There's also an "infinite ziggurat" mentioned in Planes of Law and the 1e MotP, but isn't clear if this is the same as Yetsirah or something else. I suppose if there are two, there might be more than two, but I'd assume that Yetsirah is the only one.

 

Iavas's picture
Offline
factotums
Joined: 2006-07-12
Ah, thanks a bunch, rip.

Ah, thanks a bunch, rip. That makes a lot more sense than the way I was imagining it (which was essentially an infinitely long mountain wall). I've read through the 2e sources, of course, but since I was introduced to the planes through the 3e MotP, I probably misread the 2e descriptions in light of my previous mental image.

ripvanwormer's picture
Offline
Factol
Joined: 2004-10-05
Well, the poster map in

Well, the poster map in Planes of Law doesn't help, since it shows it as a single mountain (as the map in the 3e Manual of the Planes does). But the text mentions multiple mountains.

glamourweaver's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2008-12-03
Well it IS a single

Well it IS a single mountain... in addition to being made up of infinite expanses of mountains.  Yes it's a paradoxical contradiction that's impossible to imagine at the same time; but then so is Carceri having the void between the orbs inclosed in each layer, so is Baator being a descending cone when each layer is infinite, so is the city at the peak of an infinitely tall spire.  Welcome to the Outer Planes.

 I imagine Arborea tends to be lit by Helios & Selene in their chariots passing infinitely overhead during day & night, with stars visible at night artfully arranged by the two ruling Pantheons. 

ripvanwormer's picture
Offline
Factol
Joined: 2004-10-05
Yes, although the elves

Yes, although the elves have sun and moon gods of their own. 

Agreed on the paradoxical nature of the planes. The website Li Po's Hermitage suggested that those who only worship one god see a single mountain, while those who worship many gods see many mountains. 

Planescape, Dungeons & Dragons, their logos, Wizards of the Coast, and the Wizards of the Coast logo are ©2008, Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc. and used with permission.