Planar Alignment and Exemplar What-ifs

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swiftcutter's picture
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Joined: 2010-03-22
Planar Alignment and Exemplar What-ifs

Just musing...

As it stands, the ideal of each of the outer planes is described in terms of its location on the D&D alignment axes. What if we gave each of the outer planes its own "alignment word" instead? So Arcadia, rather than being the plane of "law with a good bent," might be the plane of "harmony." (It seems like the residents of such planes would think of themselves as the "purest" form of a particular ideology rather than an offshoot.) The planes of pure law, chaos, good, and evil in the current system could obviously remain the same, though I wouldn't mind hearing alternatives. I've been trying to come up with a word for each plane, but it's hard, and I figured you guys would have some good insight.

I also was wondering about the planes that lack exemplars. If they did have exemplars, what would they be?

Quickleaf's picture
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Joined: 2012-02-03
Re: Planar Alignment and Exemplar What-ifs

You mean one-word ideals that encapsulate what each plane is about? Sure I'll play Smiling

Mechanus - Order

Arcadia - Harmony
Mt Celestia - Virtue / Reverence
Bytopia - Industry / Work ethic
Elysium - Peace
Beastlands - Nature / Primal beauty
Arborea - Passion
Ysgard - Bravery

Limbo - Chaos

Pandemonium - Madness
Abyss - ?
Carceri - Survival (by any means necessary)
Gray Waste - Apathy
Gehenna - Suffering
Baator - Pragmatism / Tyranny
Acheron - Discord

Hyena of Ice's picture
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Joined: 2009-09-25
Re: Planar Alignment and Exemplar What-ifs

Actually, Gray Waste is suffering, if you look at beings such as the Oinoloth. IIRC there are other embodiments of physical pain and pestilence on the Gray Waste-- apathy is another form of suffering, and even the Oinoloth is hardly immune to it-- he is diseased *though it does not cause physical pain*, disillusioned, and left behind by his bretheren-- he represents the old and obsolete paradigm of the Yugoloths to cause primordial versions of suffering-- pain, pestilence, apathy, as opposed to the new paradigm, which is intrigue and manipulation. Of course he is still central to the Loths' ultimate plan, but beyond that he has taken a much lesser role due to the migration to Gehenna and the paradigm shift.
If you look at what a neutral evil being truly is at its purest, I would say that the Gray Waste also embodies selfishness, even if Gehenna and Carceri better fit this description (the hags certainly fit it to a T) (I like to call Neutral Evil "Neutral Selfish" BTW, just like a lot of people like to call Lawful Good "Lawful Stupid" and chaotic evil "Chaotic Stupid")

Gehenna's theme would be malevolence, not suffering (remember that everyone and everything on Gehenna is out to get you just for the lulz) This is not the same as what is found on Carceri, as malevolence does not fit the description.

I think there should be a better term for Carceri, though I can't think of one at the moment.

The abyss is Anarchy/Mayhem (I include the slash and second word to clarify which definition of anarchy we speak of. It is not the same as the form of "anarchy" found on Limbo, and Limbo should not be summarized as "anarchy", anyhow, as its form of chaos generally does not encorporate the mayhem associated with rioting, even though riots are certainly common on Limbo, I would not categorize them as everyday occurences like they would be in the Abyss.)

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factotums
Joined: 2010-06-26
Re: Planar Alignment and Exemplar What-ifs

I would like to see different exemplars within the same plane for the different aspects of that plane.
For example, one of my complaints about the Grey Wastes is that there are a few passing references to it also being a plane of disease and pestilence; but I have seen very few instances where they have done anything with that theme (e.g. towns/settings based around themes of disease, etc.)
So how about an "angel/exemplar of pestilence" along with the exemplars of death and those of suffering or despair (depending on how you see the plane)?

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