I think the Prime gets a bad rap a lot of the times, but one need only look at the mortals who became gods, the souls of mortals coveted by fiends, and the planet of Ortho to notice that the crystal spheres of the Prime have impacted the Multiverse for both good and ill.
Looking at the Log X thread, we can see many Prime worlds that are valuable trading partners to planar businesses as well as worlds where a planar can win fortune and fame.
The idea for this article is to discuss different ways to make prime worlds more important to the Wheel as well as the possibilities for promoting prime worlds (specifically a GM's homebrewed world) as major planar players.
Any and all thoughts welcome!
During WWI, there was a popular tune with the line "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree [Paris]?" The tune was about farm boys that had gone to fight in Europe returning to find farm life dull.
I mention this as the Prime has a similar problem. While the game can be played in any way one desires, the Prime usually stands as what's "normal". While it may be odd to describe worlds with dragons and civilizations living under the earth as normal, I think most campaigns are run with the Prime having some level of realism.
If I were to introduce a planet that was a cube floating through space, I strongly suspect that my players would strain their ocular muscles rolling their eyes. But if they take a jaunt to Acheron, they just accept it or (preferably) enjoy the symbolism or sheer oddity of the situation.
Similarly if I change the laws of physics on the Prime (to make for interesting combat/problem-solving situations), they typically cry foul. Heck, they even get touchy if I introduce an area where the rules of magic work differently. (Done to prevent them from solving a problem using their usual stand-by magical solution)
Arguably, maybe I should find a better group of players. But for whatever odd reason, they accept (and rise to the challenge) when they know they are in a strange plane or demiplane.
So what's the difference? I guess it's just that what we consider "normal" is typically dull to us and is expected to behave by consistent rules. Oddly, we are much more forgiving of inconveniences and difficulties when we adventurously go to someplace we consider exotic. I could imagine some Parisians having romantic notions of traversing the American plains (and embracing the pioneer/cowboy spirit when faced with hardships) at the same time that the American farm boys were pining for the exotic attractions of Paris.
In the same vein, the Prime being the norm doesn't have as strong a theme (or at least not one that is obvious to us). The Outer Planes are about ideas and belief. The Inner Planes are about the power of raw substance. But what label would a resident of these areas use describe the Prime?
In the early 20th century when world travel wasn't quite as easy as it is today, an American might have a romantic notion of the culture and history of Europe; without acknowledging the decadence or lack of "frontiers" to tackle
A European might have a romantic notion of rugged survival and the potential to carve one's own destiny in the Old West; without acknowledging the brutal and often tedious demands just to survive away from civilization
So why would a fire elemental want to trek to the Prime? What element (pardon the pun) is here that he wouldn't find back in his elemental plane?
Would a fiend find a posting to corrupt souls in the Prime to be a punishment or to be a reward? Would it be a tedious backwater for him keeping him from important things (like the Blood War)? Or would it be a playground with endless possibilities compared to the tedium of the Blood War?
At present, I don't have any answers for these questions. But I do feel that until the Prime has some kind of hook, then you can create as many worlds as you like but they will lack to fire up the PCs imaginations all that much.