Planar Renovation Project: Paraelemental Plane of Ooze

I am late to the party! Gasp!

Well, I am certainly on board for more renovating!

One of the things I wanted to address when I was doing the Inner Planes was the conceptual notions of an element. Elements are very physical things but they also have extremely symbolic meanings to many cultures and I believe this symbolism should manifest in at least parts of the Inner Planes.

The one trouble is there is no single underlying belief that wholly encompasses a given element. Therefore, the unity is based on the concrete rather than the abstract. Points are derived from something wholly neutral rather than a belief that affects everything on that plane. So as a result, you get a smattering of different beliefs that pervade a neutral plane. That's how I perceive it.

However, I think that makes a very interesting dynamic you can't get on the Outer Planes.

I like Growth vs. Decay. It's a good line to follow for the Ooze. Also, the idea of finding beauty where it's least expected is a helpful trait. I'm going to let these ideas stew for a little bit and see what I can come up with.

Doesn't The Lady use a conduit from Sigil to Ooze as a latrine?

This is interesting. I've just been planning an adventure in the plane of Ooze (2nd edit/house). So far I just did a search of the monster database for all the oozes, slimes, jellies, molds, puddings and fungi and similar creatures so I could populate the place and also any monster that has any kind of slime, mold or ooze attack form so I could create "Animental" forms of them - EG Paraelemental Aboleths and so on. And maybe a paraelemental Tannar'ri prince as the plane's ruler.

But this stuff is good. I also liek Pathguy's ideas.

~

I don't think an abundance of life is a bad thing for Ooze. Even pits of biological waste are teeming with some kind of life. Perhaps not an overabundance like you said, but an abundance is definitely worthwhile.

Also remember that Ooze isn't just waste and nasty. It also contains things like plain mud, silt, and so forth. Some of it may actually be very fertile, if very runny. There could be some odd farms and villages that actually make a reasonable living in some particularly nutrient-rich areas of Ooze.

A few ideas:

- Giant single-celled creatures swimming through the primordial goo and waste matter. These creatures are like dangerous oozes, only even less sentient and very dangerous.

- Dense forests and jungles of plants and/or fungi thriving on the waste patches or the healthy, nutritious soil.

- The Pearl Bed: A place where the friction of the ooze frequently coalesces into smooth pearls of various colors. The pearls are highly valuable, but fiercely guarded by some race of keepers (perhaps a new race? could be interesting). The Bed is also hard to find, either because of magic or by its location on the plane (supposedly it's near the border with Water). Still, a basher canny enough to find it and get away can make a good pile of jink selling the pearls.

Chant has it though that the keepers of the Pearl Bed imprison trespassers in the pearls. Nobody's ever been able to prove it but a lot of berks that run off looking for the Pearl Bed never come back. And a couple barmy sods claim they hear the pearls cry out sometimes.

Probably just a lot of screed. Who knows if there really is a Pearl Bed or if some addle-cove just made it up as part of a peel.

Definitely. There's no reason any of the Inner Planes (even Vacuum) can't have varied and exciting ecosystems and cultural development. These places are wholly infinite. It's all a matter of finding the right creatures and humanoids to put into the planes. Air is usually considered the most hospitable because the setting is written from a basically human perspective. To us, Air would definitely be the best, and Steam (another woefully underused plane) would probably be the second best. But Ooze, Magma, Ash, etc., are all perfectly capable of hosting a tremendous depth of life and civilization.

Okay, now I'm getting excited and I want to write up sites. Let's see if I can find the time to write up some sites and kingdoms and so on

The whole "teeming with worms and maggots" thing doesn't really work so well for (most parts) of Ooze. Both still need oxygen, and that's not going to be plentiful (gaseous, dissolved, or otherwise) on Ooze. The oxygen level in the sludge will be extremely poor due to all those damned anaerobes (this won't be a problem for elemental-based beings or "x breathing" spells, but it will be a problem for mundane water-breathing creatures)

Also, more detail is needed on BwimbII, including her motives for pestering Ben-Hadar. Is she just lonely and trying to get anyone's attention, does she think that getting a reaction out of an Archomental will make her more "relevant", or does she possibly have the hots for Ben-Hadar (possibly due to his slobbish behavior?).

In this post I will try to add some sites to the plane.

-The Flushers
Apparently some prime civilization has learned the dark of the planes and portals to allow them to outsource their waste management. By building large, cylindrical pipes that are anchored to the plane, they have connected their sewage system directly to ooze. Now, as if there wasn't enough garbage in the Ooze, they are adding some of their own into the mix. Thankfully they use water to flush their waste, which means that the exhaust of these pipes are actually cleaner than the rest of the plane. There are hundreds of these flushes, some small and some large, some all worn out from use and some that went out of commission centuries ago, and they are scattered around the plane towards the elemental water. A useful thing to know about this is that the flushes are completely stationary. They never move with the tides and rapids of the plane. All of these make the Flushes good places to settle on, which are what many non-elementals are doing. It may sound repulsive to outsiders, but that's because they haven't been in the plane long enough.
There is a barmy exiled spellslinger who lives under a particularly large and old Flush. He claims that he was the one who built the first flush. He tells everyone that the flushes are connected to the prime world through one way portals, and with the correct spell, they can be reversed. He's trying to find this spell to get himself to the other side. What he doesn't tell is why he was the first thing those primes flushed down.

Now that I've finished reading the Ooze entry in the inner planes book, an idea came to my mind. The book suggests that there are many animentals in the plane, such as cats and dogs. Given the nature of the plane, and the proximity to water, I would think there would be far more numerous ooze fishes. Smaller fishes move in huge colonies, and may sweep a berk along if she gets caught in their midst. The larger ones, like whales, move like giant chunks of slimy mess, oblivious to their surroundings. Dolphin are eerily playful, seeming to think they are still as cute as they were in their home plane. Sharks, or swarms of piranhas pose a real threat. They can be impossible to notice before they come and bite you, and then it is already too late because of the countless disease and poisonous substances they carry.
Also not to be underestimated are the ooze of the plane. Notice every ooze gets its intelligence raised one level up while in the ooze, as well as full hp. Which means there are some forms of ooze that are very intelligent. Tanarri lord of ooze, Juiblex, also has a presence in the plane. It can be safe bet that there are rapidly growing, aggressive ooze communities in the plane. It can be that Juiblex is using the plane as a breeding ground for his version of super soldiers (intelligence and full hp oozes).
Finally there is the disease, poisons and acids aspect of the plane, which is so far only used as a means to deter players. Exactly the opposite however, each of these can draw a lot of interest from the right people.
-Choking Gale: Toxic vapors, good for all sorts of poisons and some of these vapors can be implemented to spells like cloudkill. They can also be distilled into fluids or powders. In the border of steam.
-Stagnant Sea: Towards the Salt, this area has acids that can even affect magical weapons and armor. Who in the multiverse wouldn't want some of that? Not only for sinister purposes too- I bet all kinds of jewelers and smiths would make use of these acids.
-Oasis of Filth: This is the boundary with dust, and it is one bad place to be in if you have a weak immune system. All kinds of diseases exist in this place and they contract even to paladins. Just think-Any power worth the "disease" or "plague" in his portfolio should have at least a small outpost here. Not the kind of places you would want to visit on your good day, but no day is good in ooze.

Hmm - I read the entry in The Inner Planes last night and didn't see anything about it being a dark plane. Actually, I remember seeing that there was reasonable visibility.

It might be a lot like Water, where (IIRC) there's an ambient light source. Now sure - you'd need some gaps in the ooze to let things grow, but there's no reason that the plants couldn't live happily on this unexplained ambient light.

And yeah - I want Ooze to be somewhere that's interesting to visit. This thread has given me a lot of ideas along those lines. One of my characters in an upcoming game is going to be a witch - where better for her find strange herbs and such than in a garden in Ooze?

I'm imagining gigantic fungus which has curled around to form a hollow place inside, where other things can grow.

Besides - infinite Plane. There's plenty of room for the awful stuff about it to co-exist with nice stuff. An infinity of slime and acid is kinda boring - the only thing to do when you're there is to try and leave again. But cities in fungus towers and batshit-crazy gardens or forests - that's interesting in its own right.

Hmm - one odd thing about the description in The Inner Planes - those gnomes with their raft and the swamp area. Wouldn't Ooze be like Water - with just an endless lot of Ooze and no surface? How do you have swamps or sail or whatever on that? Swamp kind of implies that it has a surface... unless the whole area's in an air bubble of something, but that seems a bit silly.

Well, yeah, I understand that - I was thinking that it was weird that it was on the mineral side. On the Steam side I could see it working ... unless there are air pockets trapped between long bits of earth/minerals, which could make sense if air bubbles out from the ooze.

And for inspiration: This vision of Ooze reminds me of The Sea of Corruption from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Sure - it's kinda disgusting and absolutely lethal to humans for the most part, but that doesn't mean it isn't fantastic in its own way and that people can't live with it.

What you describe is certainly more inspiring than what is canon, and I really appreciate it. I also acknowledge the importance of various elemental pockets. I simply state that a)An adventure in a given inner plane should feel like that plane - not adventuring in the pocket of a different element. The PCs who visit, say, Ooze should feel they are in the ooze, so that when they do actually reach a safe or clean place, like a pocket of air, they are actually happy and relieved. And when they go back to their kip in Sigil they can really feel like they have visited ooze and can boast about it in a bar tale.
b) An adventure in the inner Planes is above all an adventure of survival against the raw forces of nature. I agree 100% that inner planes can host their own very complicated ecology, however it is probably extremely adapted to that environment, sometimes to the point of being hostile to outsiders. The players should come knowing this and be prepared.
As long as these two points are held, there is no reason why the greater part of an adventure in ooze can take place in a pocket of steam or smoke*.
*I mentioned those two because I think both need a lot of work as well.

I get it and I think we have an agreement!
Now I will throw some undeveloped ideas for some locales.
-What would a pocket of fire in Ooze would look like? Since the plane is full of organic material, it would burn and consume everything that comes near it, creating a massive, ever expanding sphere of ash, smoke and fire around the main pocket. Such a place could be a safe haven for all manner of fire oriented beings, while it would be potentially deadly for other native creatures.
-A particularly loathsome golden lord by the nickname of the Marquis keeps an enormous estate in a secluded part of the paraplane. There he can indulge in his vilest fantasies with a select circle of his friends and other, willing and unwilling initiates. He prefers the location for both its unbearably disgusting nature, which he somehow enjoys, and the fact that there is no higher authority or moral basis he must adhere to in there. Needless to say there is a two way portal to Sigil in the core of his property.
-There could a guy who is trying to find cures to many diseases, some common and some not, using ooze as a base. He tries to isolate the disease causing organisms and study them. His main form of study is infecting himself... And his main cure is trying possible substances to cure the effects. As a result he is almost always infected with lots of different diseases, some even unidentified. He is a helpful cutter who doesnt turn down visitors for a night's stay in his cramped submarine like ship... Provided they volunteer to help him in his rearch by becoming test subjects. He is said to be a bleaker once, but everyone who's seen him say he is way too devoted to his work to ever have been a cabal. He claims to have found vaccines and cures for many diseases, which he will share. Another thing: His body has grown a super immune system from decades of experiments. Most diseases simply don't effect him anymore and those that do usually do not stay on for very long.

In an old campaign I had a cager merchant who imported goods exclusively from Ooze. Things like glue, fertiliser, edible jellies, soaps, sealant, various petrochemical type products. It's a rich if unappealing plane, and I can see it being exploited heavily by quasi-industrial civilisations.

^^There are ALREADY border regions in the canon. There is no need to make new ones; that will just confuse people and conflict with Canon. What is needed now is to expand upon the border regions. Some of them are understandably pure inhostpitable to anything not native to ooze, and others are just plain inhospitable to everything (such as the border region between salt and ooze)

They are:

Core Ooze- pure ooze. BwimbII's fortress (okay, Bwimb's fortress) is located here towards the border with the Choking Gale, and the Trash Heap is located towards the Oasis of Filth, in the direction of the Muckmire. Gelatinous, putrid goo that smells like Essence of Florida Roadkill (WITHOUT the maggots or other bugs that eat the smelliest bits first)

Oasis of Filth (dust)- It's a semi-congealed "almost organic" place is teeming with disease. Badly.

Stagnant Sea (salt)- Ooze becomes thick and briny, eventually becoming caustic enough to corrode metal. As you can probably imagine, not a whole lot lives here. Anything of the aquatic or water subtypes finds the brine dangerous, creatures of the earth subtype corrode into nothingness, and creatures from salt can't tolerate the acid.

Bile Sea (water)- Water becomes green and caustic. Muck clings to the flesh and burns like acid.

Choking Gale (steam)- Roiling clouds of toxic vapor and strong winds.

Slag Marshes (mineral)- Gnome Home is here, obviously. It's floating pretty close to the Muckmire. Morass of heavy, metallic paste with an atmosphere over the top. A silvery, pussy weed called ioungis grows here, and it's poisonous to the touch.

Muckmire (earth)- Ooze takes on a consistency of molases. The muck hardening into compacted soil around the planewalker is a hazard.

Then of course there are the border regions of other planes with Ooze. What I just described were the ones on the Ooze side. Now for the ones on other sides.

Oasis of Filth (dust): not described. Obviously similar to the region of the same name on the Ooze end.

Stagnant Sea (salt): On the salt side, it starts up as crumbling, brittle tunnels and such of salt, and soon breaks up into a thick, brackish bog. Eventually (towards the border with the Ooze region of the same name) it becomes incredibly caustic.

Realm of Cloying Fear (steam): thick atmosphere of oily, gag-inducing pasty vapors

Sparklemire (mineral): subterranean sea of mud teeming with floating, razor-sharp gems. Swimmers take slashing damage each round while here.

""-What would a pocket of fire in Ooze would look like? Since the plane is full of organic material, it would burn and consume everything that comes near it, creating a massive, ever expanding sphere of ash, smoke and fire around the main pocket. Such a place could be a safe haven for all manner of fire oriented beings, while it would be potentially deadly for other native creatures.""

Not everything in Ooze is organic. Remember, Ooze does not just signify slime and rotting organic gunk, it also signifies MUD.
This means that in some pockets, the fire is likely to bake the mud into clay (and yes, watery clay perfectly captures the embodiment of ooze. Trust me, I've worked with the stuff as an artist, and found it at the base of a trickling waterfall in the wild.)

Hmm, what if here you played up the Plane of Ooze as a possible source of life by focusing on the whole "primordial stew" bit? Like, where the Plane of Ooze meets the Positive Material Plane?

You could have varying bits of slime forming and animating to resemble the earliest stages of life. Maybe they would spontaneously evolve and devolve into life at various stages of development in the biological history of life, depending on how close they would border to other planes?

Edit: This gives me another idea. If the plane of ooze is the possible source of life, that knowledge of the original spawning ground would be useful to quite a lot of people. Just imagine the Godsmen (or perhaps the Mind's Eye?) wanting to get a lock on where we all came from? The common seed from where all mortal life as we know it came from.

And of course, they'd also likely want to see if they could shape the primordial stew and cause it to evolve faster. Maybe they'd have some kind of great fortress on the plane of ooze that was basically like a great pseudo-scientific (maybe alchemical?) lab. Where they could sift through different ooze samples looking for that ever elusive true primordial stew?

I could see a Doomguard (or several) infiltrating the Godsmen alchemy fortress to get into some mischief. Maybe they want to figure out how the primordial stew works so they can learn how to break it down? Or, perhaps more insidiously, they're helping the Godsmen evolve the ooze more quickly for their own purposes. After all, the Godsmen themselves believe that once everybody's evolved as much they can, then the multiverse has fulfilled its purpose and it “closes up shop”. That might sound like the ultimate entropy to some Doomguard: the end of the multiverse itself!

To fulfill this ultimate entropy, maybe these Doomguard infiltrators intend on creating a strain of the primordial goo that will help everybody instantly evolve to their “maximum peak”. Problem is, the tranwro4mq5ion may cause a lot of harm and kill off more than a few along the way.