Assuming yer not dead from boredom... 
I know you've been sitting here looking to do something 
Well - here's a something.
I need in character (or at least somewhat amusing and accurate) descriptions for Portal Locations on the webpage.
To give you an idea what I mean:
/portals/info.php?intLocationID=45
There's *LOTS* of Locations now, and they all could use some little bit of an intro - so get cracking and I can get to posting it up.
Well, best way to tell is to just take a look:
I haven't taken much of a catalogue of what's been done and what's not...
allright then. I'll just do what suits me (if I find time :cry: ) and do that.
Y' don't see me complaining We've all got life crunches - so we put out what we can. I'm hoping other's have seen this thread too and are just being quiet about getting something in. Even if you only do one thing - it's one more thing than we had before.
(Drools)
Really? I can write the intros to all of those?
Mmm... donuts. Aaaaaaglglglglglglglgl.
Well, the intro to the Donut - Sigil - is already done, but according to the Unity of Rings premise, isn't every plane a donut?
(A mighty movanic deva descends from the Celestial Mount, ready to smite me for my silliness. Jeremo the Natterer gives me a stern glare.)
Is this too long?
The Elemental Plane of Air
"By air as by a thread, O Gautama! this world and all beings are strung together." - Brihad. Upanishad, III. 7, 2.
There are those who say that Creation began with a single Word, but to speak that word required a first Breath.
Those who have said that have continued to say that this first Breath became the Elemental Plane of Air, source of all breezes and gales. And if you go deep enough into Air, and look long enough, you can still taste that first Breath of Creation, and draw it into yourself, and become one with the Source of all things.
At least, that's the hot air they blew at me in the Temple of Air, where I got my primary schooling while I was growing up in Tradegate.
Outer Planars say a lot of things about the elements. Fr'instance, they associate Air with the intellect, with perception, with the higher mental facilities.
They say it also represents the bridge between the two extremes of Earth and Heaven. Because Outer Planars are obsessed with gods, they point to the god Shu, who dwells in the Elemental Plane of Air. Shu is supposed to seperate his son Geb, who dwells in Elemental Earth, from his daughter Nut, who lives in the Outer Planes. They even stretch the metaphor further, saying that Air represents the middle ground between all extremes: Neutrality, the crucial axial point in the Rule of Threes. They say that Air represents the Material plane, midway between matter and spirit, and they point out that almost all Material Plane natives need air to survive, as if that proved anything.
If you say something like that to elemental natives, they're likely as not to just stare at you in vague disgust. I've even heard them laugh, which is one of the many reasons I stopped paying attention to the Temple of Air's gas and became a devout agnostic. Inner Planars don't twig to that sort of thing. The only stories about their elements they like are the ones that credit them with the creation of all things - I've never met an air elemental who was willing to say it wasn't an incarnation of the First Breath of Creation, and they're normally the most talkative of the elementals by a long shot.
Anyway, that's enough about what people believe to be true about the Elemental Plane of Air. Inner Planes don't have nearly as much to do with belief as the Outer Planes do - they're much more about how things are. So here are some things I know are true about the plane:
Mostly, the plane is a vivid, deep blue, brighter and bluer than any sky you'll see on any other plane. In fact, the Boundless Blue is one of its names. It's still clearly a sky, mind; there are clouds of every kind here and there throughout, dark gray with moisture or blinding white with the light of the Positive Energy Plane, far away on the other side of Lightning (though how the light passes through all those clouds is beyond me - it doesn't seem to come from any particular direction, and the Plane of Air has no sun). Pockets of other elemental matter are rarer - floating islands of earth or fire or ash do appear, though, spilling for whatever reason from planes both neighboring and distant. Djinn seem to prefer these sites; plain air isn't interesting enough for them.
It has a border with the Paraelemental Plane of Smoke called the Eternal Haze, the elemental home of toxic gas. Some expect the Plane of Air to comprise all possible atmospheres, even the stranger ones you'll find in the Lower Planes and alien parts of the Material Plane, but in fact most of it is the pure, clean air of the kind that Upper Planars breathe. Pure air atoms, you know. All the bad air, the green dragon breath, cloudkill spells, and so on, is here where Air touches Smoke.
It has a border with the Quasielemental Plane of Lightning called Subdued Cacophany; it's as stormy there as it ever gets in the Plane of Air, but not quite so extreme as the Plane of Lightning itself.
The border with the Paraelemental Plane of Ice is called the Precipice. It looks like an arctic wasteland, and gravity is oriented accordingly; toward the solid Plane of Ice is "down," while the howling blizzards that form the nearest part of Air are "up."
In the last border, the air of the plane gets thinner and harder to breathe, and the bright blue sky becomes darker and dimmer, until you end up in the nothingness of the Quasielemental Plane of Vacuum. I usually just call this region Thin Air, but it doesn't have a proper name. The natives of Vacuum don't twig to that sort of thing.
The most cosmopolitan burg in Air is the city of Bluphoril, founded by refugees from the world of Ortho. It's built of glass and metal, and it's an impressive sight. It's a city of art and philosophy, with beautiful parks and wild festivals. My friend Manuel is from there.
The most important burg is the Citadel of Ice and Steel, also known as the Court of Ice and Steel; it's the capital city of the djinn. The most common theory in the air is the first djinni caliph stole it from Cryonax, the Elemental Prince of Ice, and before that they had a different capital which is now lost. It has its share of visitors - the djinn value everything unique and rare - but it's not a center of planar trade like the City of Brass is.
- by Raul
The Elemental Plane of Fire
Fire is divine love. Fire is purity. Fire is spirit. Fire is wisdom. Fire is truth. Fire is passion, energy, hate.
This is what we were taught, as they prepared us for our journey, for the mission that would take up centuries of our lives.
We are the monadic devas. Our purpose is to guide the Inner Planes, which are the foundation of all existence, toward the path of Good. Our superiors believe the inner planes direct the growth of all the others, and it is the role of the Outer Planes to direct them, completing the circle, preparing the elements for the forms they must ultimately take; we must bring intelligence and purpose to the raw substance of Creation.
For this, we are taught about each of the elements, their meanings and significance. We are taught that Fire is perhaps the most important of all, for without it mortals would have no will, no drive to become better than what they are. Both the lower and higher emotions are empowered by Fire; it is our duty to nurture the plane so that it emanates more of the higher emotions for the benefit of all.
In the 364 years I have been assigned to this plane, however, I have come to doubt. When I look at Fire, at its bright-burning skies and its boiling seas, I see neither love nor hate. If Fire is Truth, Truth is without meaning. Truth is only eternal burning, with neither purpose nor goal.
My fellows tell me I must have faith, faith that we can bring to the plane the meaning that our mission requires. I see the endless wars of the elementals and efreet and see no hope for this. There is no way such thoughtless carnage can be harnessed toward a greater goal, and no way for it to stop. Such energy is an inherit part of the plane; that much is true. The fighting will not stop until all the fires of the plane are reduced to ash.
I see the war between Imix, prince of elemental evil, and his son Zaaman Rul, prince of elemental good. I see Zaaman Rul defeated, his army scattered, his war forever driven to the underground. I see the genocidal ambitions of the efreet against their cousins the djinn, and against their lost brothers the sollux. I see the tyrannical salamander nobles and their selfish ambitions. I see the savage violence of the pyrophors, the vain pacifism of the helions, the foolish idealism of the phoelarchs, the mindless replication of the fire bats.
My fellows tell me that our success is assured; we will help Zaaman Rul reassemble his armies and this time he will defeat his evil father. With his power and territories consolidated, he will attract enough sollux - good-aligned exiled brothers of the efreet - and phoelarchs - planetouched descendents of phoenixes - and djinn to ensure the defeat of the efreet and their baatezu allies. Perhaps the firre eladrins will send their support. The helions are more than wise enough to keep the peace among the remaining factions.
They are foolish. Even if their plans actually had a chance of success - and they do not, they have never succeeded and will never succeed - the are built on a faulty premise. The violence inherent in them will only beget more violence, which will beget more violence, which will beget more destruction and war. The element of fire is one that can only ever destroy that which it touches. Even should the existing tyrants fall - Whitebeard, Makkee, and Lord Brand of the salamanders; Sultan Marrake al-Sidan al-Hariq ben Lazan of the efreet; Imix the Prince; the Tyrant-King Kossuth himself, ruler of all fire elementals - even should they all be destroyed by the cleansing flames of our allies, worse will take their place. Fire may flicker, it may shift and it may transform, but it will never become something it is not. It will never be the shining beacon of hope we want it to be. It is fire, and that is all it is.
- Arel, Shepherd of the Monad of Flame
Any particular voice or narrative style you want them in? Or, perhaps more importantly, any voice or style you don't want them in?
[Oh, and I promise to edit & submit those two thingits of mine soon. Please don't hit me! No! Noooooo!]
The Transitive Planes
Yar, the transitive planes they be the great seas of the planes, cutter! The Outer planes, the Inner planes, they be the continents where your landlubbin berks think all of the important stuff goes on, but you and I know, don’t we, cutter?
Back on the Prime a sailor learns that the sea held more mysteries than any of the courts of man and beast on land. Out here on the planes, floating through the great seas of the transitive, ye’ come to find out that the Prime and the Multiverse aren’t so different. The three transitive oceans are thick with magic and mystery, yar, and each has its own personality and its own secrets.
The Astral, smallest of the infinite seas is a vast expanse of silver where neither wind nor paddle will push our grand vessel; only by thinkin’ can we get where we need to go! She’s a calm sea, dotted with portals and conduits, and crawling with ‘yanki dogs just waitin’ to pillage our cargo and torch our sails. But if’n the saw-ears show their ugly yellow noses we’ll send ‘em to the deadbook with half a thought, even less if’n we’ve just loaded up with supplies!
The Ethereal, she’s a cold lonely pond of mist and shadows. A berk’ll be wandering for days before seeing anything that looks like it might be REAL, let alone land. The clouds push in on all directions and the voices of those who once roamed the living lands whisper in a basher’s ears, driving even the most canny blood a little bit barmy. But suffer the noise of the dead and the coldness of the mists and ye’ll find strange and wondrous things. Islands dot the Misty Sea, pocket dimensions rife with treasure and adventure for those brave enough to break into them. Where the Astral’s a sea of vast expanses and sudden storms, the Ethers are doldrums of all encroaching mists, muted colors and vivid hues, and legends and secrets just below the surface.
Now, I said three seas, I did, but I’ve only ever traveled the two. Ain’t a salty dog alive whose sailed the last sea, and if you ever meet one who claims to call him a damn liar and spit in his cheatin’ eye. The last sea, the Ordial, she’s an enigma wrapped in adamantine and then swallowed by Her Serenity (may her Blades avoid my sails). Bashers tell legends of the Ordial, the Hidden Sea, a tempestuous place where thought and thing are one and the same. Now, I’m no metaphysicist – leastwise no more than the next basher on the planes – I’m just an old salt, so I can’t begin speculating about a plane no one’s ever seen, but I’ve always imagined it as a swirling maelstrom of tidal forces and existential storms, the ultimate challenge to a great sailor.
Sail with me, cutter, and I’ll show you the great colossuses of the Silvery Astral, headstones, tombs, and corpses of the gods. You’ll see the wondrous cities of the Zhen-Kai and sail through the tempestuous region of dreams as the mists of the Ethereal enshroud our vessel. If ye be lucky, I may even take yer scurvy behind huntin’ for the hidden and mysterious sea some call the Ordial, a tempestuous maiden with mysteries unseen by mortal or immortal eyes. So, whaddya say, berk? You in for the long haul?
- Captain Ular One-Eye, owner of "The PlaneWitch", working on acquiring a new first mate
Vivid colors. The Ethereal Plane has vivid colors.
Colors on the Material Plane are muted (in fact, reduced entirely to shades of gray) when seen from the Border. And everything else seen through the mists is somewhat shadowy and obscured, but the colors of the ethereal mists themselves are bright. The Curtains of Vaporous Color that seperate the Shallows from the Deep are also of brilliant hues, as befit the source of all dreams.
"First blue, then aquamarine, then emerald swirled with crimson, all in continuous and ever-changing patterns."
Touch, smell, and taste are muted in the Ethereal. Hearing is actually amplified. Vision is difficult, because of the mists. Temperature has no meaning at all.
Source: A Guide to the Ethereal Plane.
So, in other words, you're right. It is a plane of muted colors. But it's also a plane of vivid colors. And it's not cold - that's the Quasielmental Plane of Steam.
A small matter. Otherwise, very good job. Oh, where you say "I'm just an old salt with one," what one do you mean?
Ooohhhh. Apparently I'm *blind*. I need to check my notification settings. This shall be much the updated on the site.
re: Length. These look like good solid lengths, so that's very good on that
re: Voice. We should avoid a dry 'and this is what it says in the book' approach - we've got the chance to make something evocative, in character, for the description, so we should certainly go for that. I *could* cut and paste from the book if I wanted to, but what would be the fun in that? If you have a particular character you want to develop as a 'theme' for a collection of the planes go for it. (For example I could see a Primal writing up all the inner planes... or Doomgaurd covering Salt, Ash, and Dust... etc etc...)
I think I'll use Captain One Eye in each Transitive Write-up... He's fun!
:: Primus goes off to stat him as an NPC and a Cutter and incoirporate him into I, Modron ::
Posted up guys!
Is there any other post i've missed in the forums while i've been doing too much coding and not enough goofing off?
this sounds like fun.
but could you post a list of all the portal locations that are free? that way, we can avoid overlapping entries and such. I assume there's one for each of the outer planes, but what else?