A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE COSMOS

Introduction.


When I started this project, I wanted to define a new, original and comprehensive Cosmos, that could be used with almost all fantasy and science-fiction fantasy settings that do not use a RW religion as basis for the universe. I do not intend in any way to meddle with the religious beliefs of people, I do not wish to explain the origin of the universe in any way, nor found a new religion or want people to think that the universe is made like the fantasy Cosmos I am describing, not on a scientific nor on a religious basis of any form.

What I want to do is simply to create a flexible religious format that can be used by anyone, not only in the D&D game settings, but even with other dozens of fantasy RPGs, as long as you agree with two principles: the existance of a universe (or more universes) and the existance of god-like beings, be they true gods or immortal super-humans.

PART ONE: THE STRUCTURE OF THE COSMOS



PRIME MATERIAL PLANES

The Prime Material Planes have a special importance and meaning in the Multiverse and its cosmic struggles.
For the first thing, Prime Material Planes are among the most accessible ones from other planes. They are dotted with gates and vortexes, that lead to and from outer planes, inner planes, other prime planes; thus, Prime Material Planes are important "railway stations" or "airports" for every planar creature that wants to travel anywhere in the Multiverse.
For the second thing, the Prime Material Planes bear a unique feature in the Multiverse: they are the Planes of Belief. Belief can make mortals Immortal.
Each Prime Plane has a different way of displaying this feature, but it is nonetheless the same: through belief in themselves, a strong group of followers, and the performing of impossible quests, mortals can become Immortals.

At this point, you could wonder why I am speaking of Prime Material PLANES instead of a single Prime Material Plane. It is simple. I am speaking of Prime Material Planes, because there are several Prime Material Planes, and not only one.
The planar position of a single Prime Material Plane is known to every planar creature and god. A Prime Material Plane is surrounded by the Ethereal, and through gates that pass through the Ethereal itself it is connected to the four Elemental Planes (and to the quasi- and demi- elemental planes). Moreover, planars, gods, prime adventurers believe that the Ethereal is also filled with pocket-planes and demi-planes. The problem is that THEY ARE WRONG.
The truth is that most of this so-called "demiplanes" are the other Prime Material Planes! Feature Three of the Prime Material Planes, thus, is that they ALL share the same Ethereal and the same Elemental Planes!

But there is still one more important thing to note: each Prime Material Plane has its own Outer Planes and its own Gods. It's impossible from one Material Plane to reach an Outer Plane that belongs to the Multiverse of another Material Plane!

THE NATURE OF THE MULTIVERSE

To fully understand the Nature of the Multiverse, it is necessary to make a sort of metaphore.

Take a giant plumcake filled with rosins. The plumcake is the Ethereal. The rosins are the Prime Material Planes.

Now take this giant plumcake and put it into a container, divided into four zones, each filled with one perfumed essence. Through the plumcake, the essences in this container can reach all of the rosins. The four essences are the Elemental Planes.

In this container, apart from the essences, there are also two balls, one producing a positive electric charge, one a negative one (yes, I know electricity doesn't work this way, but - hey, it's magic). These two balls represent the Positive and Negative Energy Plane.

This is the Structure of the Inner Planes.

Until now, we have observed a three-dimensional space. Now, let's take a closer look at each rosin, and let's see what happens to the rosins if we see how they interact with something that is located in a fourth dimension, in a fourth space-direction (thus, without touching and interacting at all with what lies in the container or in the plumcake). In this fourth dimension, each rosin is connected to a point (and NOT A ROSIN) in another plumcake, through a "corridor" that is known as the Astral Plane. This plumcake is the whole Ensamble of the Outer Planes (simply called Ensamble from now on).

This time, however, when you reach the new plumcake from the old one, you'll notice that this plumcake is surrounded by a metal box that cannot be crossed. This metal box represents the Vortex.

It is to be noted that the Ensamble too is a single one, a single plumcake. However, this plumcake is divided into many smaller zones separated by the metal boxes (the Vortex), and thus it is completely impossible to reach one Outer Plane if you are not located in the Prime Plane that is connected to the part of the Ensamble that contains that point. This means that the only way to reach every Outer Plane is to pass through all the Prime Material Planes, and from here to a point of the Ensamble (a point in an Outer Plane) in the same area of the Plane you want to reach.

It is very important, at this point, to notice that while all "rosins" are connected to the Ethereal, not all are connected to the Outer Planes. Those that are connected to the Ensamble are the true Prime Material Planes. Those that are not represent the true Demi-Planes, Pocket-Dimensions, and so on. This is the main reason why most gods, planars and immortals believe in the existance of a single Prime Plane, and consider all others demiplanes. There is only ONE Prime Plane that leads to their group of Outer Planes!

A Prime Material Plane and its Outer Planes (plus the common planes of Ethereal and Elemental) is known as one Multiverse. Thus, there are several Multiverses, all sharing the Ethereal, Elemental and Energy Planes.

An example: one Multiverse is represented by the old D&D Game Multiverse (Speheres of Power and Immortal Home Planes, plus the Mystara Prime Plane and the common planes); another by the AD&D2E Game Multiverse (the Alignment Outer Planes, plus Sigil, and the Faerun/Spelljammer Prime Plane); another by the Myth Dimension (unknown Outer Planes, and the Mythological Earth's Prime Plane), and so on (Conan's world, Elric's world, Middle-earth's world, and so on and on and on).

NORMAL AND NIGHTMARE

We have now discussed and analyzed the structure of the Normal Tetraspace, a four-dimensional space made of the Prime Material Planes, the Ethereal, the Elemental Planes, the Energy Planes, the Astral Corridors, the Ensamble of Outer Planes.

However, the whole Cosmos, like we are going to call the whole union of all universes internal to the Vortex, doesn't end here. We still need to discuss the nature of what I will call the Mirror Tetraspace, and is normally known as Nightmare Dimension.

Let's take our normal four-dimensional space, and let's put it in front of a mirror. On the other side of the mirror, there isn't a specular image; instead, there is another four-dimensional space, this time a single one (a single plumcake, ok?), chaotic and blurred, as if the mirror instead of reflecting the single parts of the Normal Tetraspace took all its ingredients, meddled them and then showed them confused and mixed one with the other - after having reverted them completely (sort of left-right, like our commonly used mirrors do). This is the Nightmare Dimension, or Mirror Tetraspace.

The Normal Tetraspace is made up of dimensions 1-2-3-4. The Mirror Tetraspace is made up of dimensions 2-3-4-5. They share three dimensions, but they have a fourth each different from the other. So the Cosmos inside the Vortex results being a pentaspace, a five-dimensional space.

All normal mortal creatures are four-dimensional beings, either Normal (1 to 4) or Nightmare ones (2 to 5). They perceive themselves as three-dimensional creatures, the Normal as 1-2-3 dimensional creatures, the Nightmare as 3-4-5 dimensional creatures. The fourth dimension can be perceived only partly. The ability and skill to perceive and draw upon this fourth dimension is the ability to use magic; like any other ability, the mastery of magic can be learned, although there is always a natural predisposition to it, in a way similar to playing an instrument, learning higher mathematics and so on.

Creatures of Immortal level, like True Gods and Immortals, can perceive all four the dimensions of the Tetraspace, and this is the main reason behind their immense powers.

To cross from the Normal to the Mirror Tetraspace, a creature must undergo a process of "reversion" that converts its 1st dimension into the 5th, its 2nd into the 4th, and its 4th into the 2nd or viceversa, while the 3rd dimension remains the same. This process may take place through spells or through magical gates that leads to a corresponding point in the Mirror Tetraspace. There are also magical mirrors that show what lies on the "other side" in the Mirror Tetraspace (or, if you are already there, in the Normal Tetraspace), and they are sought by any mortal that would dare trying to pass to the other side...

THE VORTEX

We have briefly mentioned the existance of a Vortex that prevents any creature, mortal or immortal alike, from crossing from the Outer Planes of one Multiverse to those of another, requiring thus always the passage through the Prime Planes. This Vortex, in fact a magical barrier that has not a real physical extension, but more a Law of the Cosmos, is an extension inside the Cosmos of the True Vortex, a mass of roaring chaos that physically prevents anything from reaching what lies (if ever something does) outside the Cosmos. The Vortex's extensions inside the Cosmos may be in fact crossed by True Gods, but they will lose time and especially an enormous amount of energy with the risk of failing. The True Vortex, instead, may not be crossed, or, at least, all immortal powers fail inside it, so if anyone would dare to cross it, it would be to its own risk. Nobody, mortal or immortal, have ever travelled into the Vortex and then returned to tell his tale.

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