The Shadow Planes

The Shadow planes are the six realms of the Prime Material Plane. They exist in a space that is understood from the point of view of the Elemental or Outer Planes to be the same space, however a material being can only occupy one of the planes at a time. For this reason, they are not well understood by beings who spend the majority of their time in the Outer or Elemental Planes.

The six shadow planes are a refuge from powerful outer planar beings because they are the home of the Primordials, whose incredible power even extends over the gods if they were to enter the "mortal realms" where concepts such as time and entropy reign. Each of the shadowplanes has a unique character and unique inhabitants, but because of their similarity and proximity, they are often somewhat aware of eachother and interact frequently.

The Planes are said to be "waxing" or "waning" from eachother sometimes, at which points their interactions are particularly strong or particularly weak. When fully "waxing," for example, it is possible to shift from one plane to another through a simple misty-step spell, for example, or even to simply move from one to the other in particularly close places. These proximal locations often carry significant lore around them because they are frequently the sites of crossovers.

Ardun
Ardun is what is understood as the core world, the starting world, or the base material plane. It is the homeland of humans, halflings and dwarves and it resembles Earth in almost every way. Ardun is unique because of the existence of the Sun, a massive fiery disc that moves through the sky to create day and night cycles; another unique feature of this plane.

Those visiting Ardun from other shadowplanes cannot rest because of a feeling of anxiety or the need to get on with what they are doing. Similarly, when Ardun is waxing in other planes, those lost in their work make look up from it to find they have shifted into Ardun.

Climate
It is bright in the day, sometimes even too bright for the native humanoids. It is dark at night, usually too dark for the native humanoids to see. Tempuratures range from -20 to 40 degrees over the entirety of Ardun, with regional, seasonal, and daily changes accounting for the huge range.

Ecology
The Sun is the central figure in the ecology of Ardun. Leafy green plants convert sunlight and radiant energy into sugars and nutrients in the form of fruits, vegetables and nuts that are eaten by herbivores which are eaten by carnivores. In the oceans the same story continues, with green algae and plants feeding fish which feed other fish, sharks and whales. Other ecological cycles exist, but pale in comparison to the sunlight-energy cycle that ends with decomposition through surface insects and a very small amount of fungi.

Feywild
The Feywild is the home of the fey creatures, including Elves, Gnomes and Orcs. Unlike other planes, the Fewwild's dark blue-green sky is constantly illuminated by massive auroras.

Those visiting the Feywild from other planes cannot rest because they are torn between feelings of dread and fear in silence and darkness, and feelings of whimsical delight in light or loud places. They may find themselves humming, telling stories, or dancing when they should be resting. Similarly, those from other planes who daydream, or aimlessly wander might find themselves in the Feywild if it was waxing at the time.

Climate
The feywild's climate is dominated by its seasons, which are brought about by the Eldarin or True Elves. The winters dip as cold as -10, and the summers as warm as 30 degrees. Seasons are regional, and they change according to the seasonal state of the majority of the Eldarin in the area. Completely wild areas are in perpetual spring.

Ecology
The Ecology of the Feywild is based off the auroras. The very large trees of the Feywild reach up touch the auroras in the sky, syphoning off their magical energies. Some birds and insects do the same, while many types of omnivores eat both plants and animals that are primary producers. Lastly, a class of extremely dangerous carnivorous predators and a groups of large fungi including miconids decompose what is left.

Shadowfell
The Shadowfell is the home of fell creatures such as dopplegangers and vampires. Unlike other planes, the light of the Shadowfell comes from fog and clouds, and fell light does not illuminate colours, so the entire plane is naturally lit in black and white, with colour only appearing when outside light sources make an appearance.

Those visiting the Shadowfell are gripped by nightmares when they try to sleep, and the longer they stay in the Shadowfell without overcoming these fears, the stronger the night terrors become. If the Shadowfell is waxing, people who are having nightmares or attempt suicide may wake up there instead of wherever they belong.

Climate
The shadowfell is cool, between -5 and 20 degrees, without seasons or day-night cycles or significant regional variation. Precipitation comes in the form of rain, sleet and snow, as well as a dark ichor that sometimes condenses out of the air like dew.

Ecology
Much of the living energy of the Shadowfell comes from beings in other shadow planes that die in horrible circumstances or become hopeless and lost. There are few native plants, since there is no light and the sandy soil is not fertile to fungi. Only some lichens feeding off the ichorous condensation and carrion from other planes form the base of the fell ecology. Scavengers and preditors make up the rest of the food chain, and the tendency of corpses to spontaniously reanimate means traditional decomposers such as insects and fungi must make way for larger, more capable ones such as opossum and hyena-like creatures.

Underdark
The Underdark is the home of Dark Elves, Derrow, and Sverfbelin. It is the only shadowplane without a sky, but is naturally lit by its uniquely luminescent lichens and algae.

The underdark whispers dark secrets to its inhabitants, and its psyonic links are best sensed just as one attempts to fall asleep. In that cold darkness, the dripping of water on the rocks becomes footsteps and the wind in the tunnels dissonant whispers that lead people astray. Instead of resting, unacclimated people might wander away in the Underdark without any provisions whatsoever, not even as much as a candle to light the way. People digging or mining in other planes sometimes stay too long underground. If the underdark is waxing, they might spot a tiny tunnel to crawl through, only to have it close behind them and drop them into the Underdark forever.

Climate

The Underdark has a layered climate, with the uppermost layers remaining around 15 degrees constantly, tempurature dropping by 1 degree for every 100 feet of depth until -5 at -2000 feet, then rising again by 1 degree of depth until reaching the base of the Underdark at -5500 feet.

Ecology

The ecology of the Underdark starts with chemical reactions of the lichens fungi and algae which provide a base for all other life. The minerals in the stone and waters of the Underdark are full or potential energy and metabolic catalysts, making the base fruits of the underdark - the mosses - extremely nurishing to its large, energy hungry middle rank. These insects, fish and mammals must use extreme strength and durability to find and consume their food, so they are ill suited for predation. The Underdark has a relatively small number of natural predators, but its abundance of unique minerals and natural resources means it has a large number of humanoid dangers.

Abqaria
Abqaria is home to the Jinn and their creation, the genasi, as well as mephits and elementals. Its sky burns blinding white at all times, dimming slightly in 20-30 hour cycles.

Visitors to Abqaria find it too hot and too fascinating to rest in. They are overcome by a sudden passion for theories or gizmos, they begin hurriedly scrawling their ideas into notebooks or even the sand, without caring whether or not they blow away. Similarly, those who pass out to heat stroke

Climate

Abqaria is a hot plane, sitting between 30-60 degrees most of the time, however it can periodically dip into very cold tempuratures (as low as -5) for a few hours at a time. And with no water or plantlife to moderate tempuratures on most of the surface, these freezes can be every bit as fatal as the heat. These dips correspond to monsoon rains that quickly fill the dry riverbeds and travel hundreds of kilometers to the sea, sometimes flash-flooding areas that have not gotten a spot of rain for decades.

Ecology

Clinging to flash floods, small rivers and oasis, Abqaria is fuelled half by ordinary green plant life, and half by elemental energy beings such as mephits and elementals that form the base of its food chains. It therefore has a small group of herbivores, but an unnaturally large number of very clever, fast and arcanely adaptive carnivores able to eat both the herbivores and the elementals such as blink-jackals.

Manatuana
The Realm of the Thousand Islands, Manatuana is unlike the rest of the shadowplanes in that it is fractured in over a thousand demi-planes that float around eachother like a foam of bubbles. Very frequently it is harder to get from one of the Thousand Islands to another than it is to get from Manatuana to the other shadow planes.

Visitors to Manatuana must make a constitution check when they arrive, but its effect only comes to light much later. If they fail the check, they can only take a long rest if they have spent the better part of the previous day travelling as far away from where they took their last long rest as possible. Typically visitors can only intentionally travel to one of the Thousand Islands if they either have been to the island before, or they meet the circumstances under which the island will appear.

Climate

Each of the islands has its own independant climate, though the vast majority are temperate, averaging from 5-30 degrees all year round, with more or less frequent ocean storms such as monsoons or hurricanes.

Ecology

Being disconnected from one another, the ecology of the islands can be quite unique and breathtaking.

List of the 1000 Islands of Manatuana