World Cosmology

Lithria is a world that encapsulates more than just the Material Plane that most academics are born to. Many such academics spent many centuries of life discussing, arguing, and exploring these planes to better understand the world they and all others had come into, and in doing so a general consensus had formed in the years just prior to the Freeze's dominion. While by no means prescriptive – the universe always creates exceptions to the neat boundaries that mortal races make – this understanding is the most widely prevalent understanding of how the many planes fit together. Many cultures have many different explanations, ideas, and beliefs on how true the specific construction of this model is; what is known, however, is that these are the planes that are known to exist by all who must interface with them. As a result of this, common alternative names are provided in parenthesis for each plane, should they have one.



Lithria (The Prime Material Plane)
The material plane, simply known as the world of Lithria, requires little explanation. It is the world the main bulk of living races are born to, and the planet of Lithria is currently being frozen by a mysterious force. Beyond the planet, in the depths of space, there are other strange beings that exist on the periphery of understanding. Rarely, these creatures fall from the sky on great meteors and roam amok on the world—the only times any understanding is born about their existence. Under the planet, in deep tunnels and caverns, miles below the surface is the Underdark, where creatures almost as strange and alien as those from the cosmos live in cramped tunnels and unknowable caverns.


The Ethereal Plane (The Astral Plane)
The Ethereal Plane, sometimes known as the Astral Plane, is the realm of ghosts and souls in transit to the Godrealms, directly overlapping Lithria. This place is a greywashed copy of the world, empty save for the souls of the departed and the rare creature that calls this place its home or tool. It is known that, while time does still flow normally here, creatures and objects on the plane are not subject to the effects of time while within it; food, water, and even sleep become unnecessary (though rests from travel still are). Given its direct overlap with Lithria, the Ethereal can be entered from any point on the Material Plane, and indeed is each time a creature passes on from it.


The Faewild 
The Faewild is also overlapped with Lithria, but unlike the Ethereal it is "separated" and skewed, and so isn’t directly connected at all points across Lithria. Instead, individuals can find their way into this plane by complete accident at certain points around the world where things are strange and unusual, or can purposefully discover their way into the plane at more stable points of contact. Regardless of the nature of the entrance, these are often known as Alleys. Alleys sometimes manifest accidentally—a wrong turn around the right tree, and you've stepped one-way in the land of the Fey. Others are created purposefully, either by magic or some desire of the capricious Fey within. The Faewild is where the Fey live and come from naturally, where they operate in semi-natural-semi-political groupings under powerful Archfey. Beyond that however, the Faewild is home to great and mighty beasts of all sorts, a collection of primal creatures that make the exaggerated wilderness of the Faewild a dangerous place to roam, even for some faeries. The plane is overrun in massive forests, with normal and giant versions of all plant life that can be named—and plant life that can't be grown anywhere else.


The Shadowfell
Lithria’s dark reflection, the Shadowfell exists only within the real world’s shadow, directly underneath it in a grim echo. It mirrors a version of Lithria where things and people are wrong, twisted, and evil. The Shadowfell is known to be split into fractally many versions and planes. First, there’s a general version of the Shadowfell that reflects the world broadly as it is, but far darker and twisted in all the ways it is possible to be. Deeper than that, however, is the fractal infinity of the nightmare plane, spoken of uncertainly as containing "every living creature's personal worst nightmares." Whether caused by the plane itself, or magic which feeds on its known dark energies, the rare travelers of the plane have returned in horror over the things they had become; one need be careful, lest they get pulled into their own personal nightmare.


The Plane of Fire (Hell/The Hells)
One of the so-called 'Elemental Planes,' and more colloquially named "Hell," the Plane of Fire is the realm of creatures such as fire elementals and Ifrits, as well as Devils and Demons who derive their powers from flames. The regions controlled by Fiends within this plane tend to be mixed between grand, nightmarish cities of decadence and control, and horrific pits of flame and torment where captured mortals are abused for demonic pleasure. The regions controlled by creatures such as the Ifrits are more civilized, though still harsh and prone to abuse, appearing more as the government of a Lithrian country might, only in a world of fire, heat, and demanding control.


The Plane of Water (The Abyss)
One of the so-called 'Elemental Planes' and more colloquially named "The Abyss," the Plane of Water is one of deep, lightless, frigid water, and is filled with creatures of those depths. While it’s naturally home to water elementals and the Marids, it’s also home to the Devils and Demons who derive their power from water and cold. Emotions are heightened in this place, causing those who arrive unprepared to be driven to panic quickly in the endless dark and suffocating weight of the frigid ocean. However, such attenuation to feelings spares the residents no shortage of variety in emotional highs. The regions controlled by the Fiends tend to take advantage of this crushing darkness, while the Marid-run regions tend to be brightly lit with aquatic lights to furnish beautiful cities, often with accommodations for air-breathing travelers.


The Plane of Air (Heaven/The Heavens)
One of the so-called 'Elemental Planes' and more colloquially named "Low Heaven," the Plane of Air is home to the air elementals, the Djinn, and serves as the home for the myriad of celestial servants of the Gods. Unlike the other elemental planes, there is little conflict between the Djinn and their neighbors, with most parts of the skybound land being shared—however, mortals are typically unwelcome by ancient Djinn law, and many Angels are strict in their upholding of this ancient pact.


The Plane of Earth
One of the so-called 'Elemental Planes' and the only one without a common name, the Plane of Earth is inhabited chiefly by earth elementals and Dao. It is the least-traveled of the elemental planes, because travelers from other planes are killed on sight by both the Dao and the mechanical servitors that steward the plane. The purpose for this is entirely unknown, with those rare few who have the ability to traverse the massive expanses of stone, earth, and cave systems almost never seen to return back to the Material. Those that do only speak of an endless number of Dao and mechanical servants, to which any choice but fleeing was met with death or what seemed to be capture. Modern reports – numbering only in the low single digits who declare to have seen such – claims there to be Dao-run cities policed by the mechanical creatures who serve alongside them. To what end such violent creatures would create such supposed expanses is widely unknown, with theories varied wildly and all conflicting.


The Godrealms
Somewhere separate from these planes are the Godrealms, the lands in which the Gods reside when not touching the mortal world. This is where it is commonly believed all souls eventually go when they die. None have gone to these realms and returned alive, and the souls that have been revived after passing on have no recollection of this place when they return. What each place within the Godrealms appears as is a mystery.