Cosmology

High above the world of Riadus, past the orbits of the sun and moons, lies the vast and complex Divine Cosmos. The Cosmos holds the homes of the gods, the realms of the honored dead, the plane of dreams and more.

Each of the planes listed in the following pages includes a short stat block of key information. The plane’s type — whether it’s a plane, dimension, or world — appears in the stat block’s heading, followed by the traits that define that plane (these traits are defined in Pathfinder GM Core 172-173). The following entries also provide important information about each plane.
Category: This indicates whether the plane is part of the Elemental Manifest, the Cosmic Weave, the Divine Cosmos, or dimension.
Divinities: A list of all of the deities, demigods, and other powers that call this realm their home.
Native Inhabitants: A sample of typical inhabitants of the plane. Also listed are the plane’s shades, the souls of dead mortals who have been judged and sent on to whichever plane reflects the life they led. More information on shades can be found in Monster Core.

The Elemental Manifest

Formed within the Astral Sea, the Elemental Manifest is a convergence of the six elemental planes, bound to the Cosmic Weave and brought to life by the ebb and flow of the Wellspring and the Withering.

RiadusWorld

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities Nadurra, Enosi
Native Inhabitants dwarves, elves, humans, goblins, orcs, wulfen and countless other ancestries

Riadus is a world that sits in the center of all creation. Its existence is due to the deities merging together the elemental planes and infusing them with life from the Wellspring. To keep the world safe and stable, three moons and the sun were created in orbits that separate Riadus from the Divine Cosmos.

SolaraWorld
Fire

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities Triceal
Native Inhabitants archons, shades (the light)

The sun which shines upon Riadus is known by many names, but most call it Solara. While home to Triceal, Solara is occasionally worshiped in its own right. Worshipers of either hope to find their reward here among the countless torches which, combined, provide Riadus with light and heat.

LumosWorld
Erratic

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities none
Native Inhabitants undead fey

The smaller and dimmer of Riadus’s two visible moons, Lumos is rumored to be hostile to all but it’s rare undead fey inhabitants. No deities call this moon home, but it is frequently used as a neutral meeting place for deities and their minions who do not wish to involve Tark in their dealings. For most mortals, Lumos is nothing more than the “other moon” in the sky whose phases were used in ancient times to determine the number of days in the week.

LunaWorld
Sentient

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities Feilona
Native Inhabitants shades (the changed), the wild hunt

Luna is the bright and large moon which appears above Riadus and whose phases help determine the length of each month. When mortals say “the moon” it is almost always Luna which is being referenced. Luna is home to Feilona who leads the Wild Hunt, an eternal hunting party that chases prey throughout the other planes.

The Dark MoonPlane
ShadowStrange Gravity

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities Losteroth
Native Inhabitants sentient animated objects, shades (the taught)

Riadus has a third moon which is visible neither in the day or night sky, save for its ability to eclipse the stars, and occasionally the sun and other two moons. It is unknown if it orbits close to Riadus, is constantly changing its orbit or follows no orbit at all and simply goes where it wishes. It is home to the Great Library of Losteroth.

Plane of AirPlane
AirSubjective Gravity

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities elemental lords of air
Native Inhabitants air elementals, cloud dragons

The elemental plane of air, where air elementals come from.

Plane of EarthPlane
Earth

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities elemental lords of earth
Native Inhabitants crystal dragons, earth elementals

The elemental plane of earth, where earth elementals come from.

Plane of FirePlane
Fire

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities elemental lords of fire
Native Inhabitants fire elementals, magma dragons

The elemental plane of fire, where fire elementals come from.

Plane of MetalPlane
Metal

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities elemental lords of metal
Native Inhabitants metal elementals

The elemental plane of metal, where metal elementals come from.

Plane of WaterPlane
Subjective GravityWater

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities elemental lords of water
Native Inhabitants brine dragons, water elementals

The elemental plane of water, where water elementals come from.

Plane of WoodPlane
Subjective GravityWood

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities elemental lords of wood
Native Inhabitants forest dragons, wood elementals

The elemental plane of wood, where wood elementals come from.

The WellspringPlane
Subjective GravityUnboundedVitality

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities none
Native Inhabitants shades (the reborn)

The Wellspring is the source of life-sustaining vitality and the origin of mortal souls. A portal linked directly to the Wellspring lies within the center of Solara, which grants its light the ability to give life to plants and animals, and harm the undead.

The WitheringPlane
Subjective GravityUnboundedVoid

Category Elemental Manifest
Divinities Amyalli
Native Inhabitants wraiths, shadows and other undead

A realm of death and decay, the Withering is the antithesis of the Wellspring. While not exactly an opposite or opposing force to the vitality of its counterpart, the two produce a directed flow of energy which manifests as the cycle of life. In isolated areas this flow can be halted or reversed, resulting in the creation of undead. The acceleration of this flow, however, can be equally dangerous as it can be used to age and erode as well as heal.

Amyalli, the goddess of death, makes one of her homes here.

The Cosmic Weave

The so-called transitive planes of the Cosmic Weave represent the metaphorical fabric upon which the Elemental Manifest and the Divine Cosmos are created.

The Astral SeaPlane
Subjective GravityTimeless

Category Transitive
Divinities none
Native Inhabitants shades (the unbound)

The Astral Sea is the quintessential firmament upon all of creation is build. It connects to all other planes, demiplanes and dimensions, but exists apart from each. This is effectively an empty plane, devoid of all things except what foreign elements find there way here. The Astral Sea is sometimes traversed by travelers who wish to cross between planes which do not border each other. Doing so is hazardous as becoming lost in the endless expanse of featureless eternity is often indistinguishable from being on any sort of path.

Ethereal PlanePlane
Subjective Gravity

Category Transitive
Divinities none
Native Inhabitants ether spiders, hags, shades (the terrorized)

The flow of energies between the Wellspring and Withering gives rise to the misty realm of the Ethereal Plane. This plane is where the souls of the dead first appear and are then drawn along the invisible currents toward Ale’oma. Souls who resist this current occasionally become ghosts (or other incoporeal undead), though more often that not those that fail to arrive in the halls of judgement fall prey to the many inhabitants who prey upon fresh souls.

Planar travelers prefer the use of the Ethereal Plane over attempting to navigate the Astral Sea. The Ethereal Plane overlaps with the planes it borders, which allows those in the Ethereal to peer into the neighboring plane. This make navigation much more reliable, and often faster, though the dangers of hostile ether spiders, hags and undead are always present.

SkotosPlane
Shadow

Category Transitive
Divinities Shimai
Native Inhabitants fetchlings, shades (the lost), umbral dragons

Also called the Plane of Shadow, this murky, umbral realm at first appears to be a distorted mirror copy of Riadus. While it is true Skotos is a “shadow” of the worlds created by the Elemental Manifest, the places and creatures here are equally real and substantial as their counterparts.

The Divine Cosmos

Also called the Outer Planes, the Divine Cosmos are realms of faith and philosophy. They represent where mortals are judged after death and the punishment or reward these souls have earned by their actions in life. More so, these planes are the embodiment of the wills of the deities who rule them. Each plane fills a vital role in how the Elemental Manifest functions.

Ale’omaPlane
Timeless

Category Cosmic
Divinities Amyalli
Native Inhabitants psychopomps, shades (the dead)

It is in these Halls of Judgement that the souls of the dead are tried and measured. A council of deities – typically composed of Caeldon, Olim, Nual and Tylden – argue on the side of the Cosmos whether a petitioning soul deserves reward or punishment. Should the council rule for punishment, the petitioner’s patron deity, or more likely a representative servant, will argue on their defense. The judge Tark oversees these arguments and arbitrates the proceedings to ensure their fairness. Souls, once judged, are sent as shades to a plane appropriate to their faith, with destinations for those deemed worthy of punishment being far less pleasant than the destination for those deemed worth of reward.

Amyalli claims to make residence somewhere in this plane, though she does not frequently attend the court.

ArcadiaPlane

Category Cosmic
Divinities Deya, Nual
Native Inhabitants azatas, shades (the chosen)

Also call Elysium or the Promised Land depending on ones faith, Arcadia is a real unrestrained by order. Passion of any kind is nurtured here and following through on ones desires can often earn rewards in excess of the satisfaction of completing a worthwhile task. Inhabitants are insatiably helpful, even to extraplanar visitors who should not be there.

AstriaPlane

Category Cosmic
Divinities Tark
Native Inhabitants aeons, shades (the remade)

Astria is a realm of pure and absolute order. The plane takes the form of an endless and perfect city. Though Tark calls this plane his home, he dose not see himself as it’s ruler. The utopian city is run smoothly and perfectly by its inhabitants who require no further instruction than to continue with their duties.

InfernusPlane

Category Cosmic
Divinities Nayshima, Tylden
Native Inhabitants devils, shades (the damned)

Often viewed as a realm of evil and suffering, the Hells of Infernus serve as the primary method of punishment for damned souls. Most deities send their irredeemable here not just for punishment, but as a final chance as redemption. A damned soul is punished according to its faith and then tested to see if any further punishment is required or if the soul as earned a second appearance within the courts of Ale’oma. Accepting such an invitation is risky, however, as the devils often so precise in the timing of their notifications a soul is barely on the brink of redemption by the time a soul is allowed to make their appeal. Finding oneself undeserving of reward can find a soul in far worse a situation as punishment intensifies, or they find themselves being hurled into the Beyond.

The devils of Infernus serve a secondary purpose, though one of equal importance. Infernus is responsible for prevent the demons of the Rift from invading and destroying that which the deities have perfected. As a result there exists an Army of Hell, ruthlessly lead by Tylden, which is at constant war with the monstrosities that escape the Rift.

SmidloftPlane

Category Cosmic
Divinities Daarok, Estlore, Olim, Vortex
Native Inhabitants aeons, shades (the returned)

Sometimes called the Vortex due to its appearance as much as it is associated with the pantheon of the dwarves, Smidloft is the heavenly reward most mortals think of when dreaming of a reward in the afterlife. The realm is a towering mountain surrounded by a swirling ring of smaller demiplanes which appearance of which gives the plane its common name. Each demiplane is one of an infinite number of personalized paradises. Such a reward is promised to shades who further prove their worth upon the mountain in service to the gods.

The BeyondPlane

Category Cosmic
Divinities none
Native Inhabitants daemons, elder things

Past the Divine Cosmos, past the Stars, lies the unknown realm of the Beyond. No mortal or deity knows what lies within the Beyond save for Tark who left the Beyond to make his home in the Cosmos. Some believe the Beyond is infinite nothingness and that Tark actually emerged from the Stars, while others believe there is another Cosmos hidden somewhere within the endless black. All that is known for certain is any who have attempted to traverse the Beyond have returned with an incurable madness or have not returned at all.

The Blessed IslandPlane

Category Cosmic
Divinities Caeldon, Valera
Native Inhabitants angels, shades (the cleansed)

Floating in the Cosmos is a seemingly small island surrounded by the crystal clear waters of the Astral Sea. Upon the island exists simple but pure paradise of sanctuary and transcendence. Shades often take the form of sapient wild animals who have a carefree existence in an idealized land.

The RiftPlane

Category Cosmic
Divinities Belroth
Native Inhabitants demons, qlippoth, shades (the spawn)

The tear in the fabric of the Divine Cosmos known as the Rift is a place of true horror and destruction. The origins of the Rift are unknown, but the consequences of its existence are common knowledge. A seeming fracture to a false universe, the native qlippoth posed such a threat to the deities an army of demons were created and sent into the Rift to seal it. Though victorious, the demons became so corrupted by the war against the qlippoth they transformed into monstrous versions of themselves. Though the true goals of the qlippoth are unknown, the goals of the demons are quite simple: the complete destruction of everything.

The StarsPlane
MetamorphicTimeless

Category Cosmic
Divinities Hectus, Kairos
Native Inhabitants proteans, shades (the formless)

Scattered across the border of the Beyond are tiny motes of light which seem to function as a warning of what may lie on the other side. The Stars are lanterns, candle flames, torches or some similar flickering light source set on the edge of reality. They fill the night sky, forming constellations which assist in navigation and inspire fantastical tales of the heroes and monsters of the heavens. Living among the Stars are the proteans, creatures of endless shapes and variety who appear to form fully from the Beyond, or perhaps from a dying star. Shades, called the formless, may end up trapped here if they are cast into the Beyond but manage to catch a Star before crossing over.

Other Dimensions

Existing between or within the other planes are smaller realms which defy simple categorization, such as demiplanes, dimensions and fundamental forces of the cosmos.

AuroraDimension
Flowing

Category Dimension
Divinities Aetherea
Native Inhabitants animate dreams, shades (the lucid)

Also called the Dreamland or the Dream Dimension, the Aurora is a place where Riadus and the Ethereal intersect in a unique way that catches the dreams of living mortals while they sleep. Aetherea rules over this semi-real dimension and its inhabitants to craft dreams of prophecy and inspiration to those who she feels need special guidance.

TimeDimension
ErraticStatic

Category Fundimental
Divinities unknown
Native Inhabitants unknown

Purely theoretical to most who attempt to study it, the Dimension of Time of time, if it exists, is effectively impossible to access using any mortal magic. Those who have attempted have reported witnessing other times and places, or perhaps just a swirling mass of cloud-like lightning, but nothing which could prove they traveled through time or entered the time dimension itself.

The WildDemiplane
ErraticMetamorphic

Category Demiplane
Divinities High Fey
Native Inhabitants fey

As the world of Riadus was brought into existence, it was initially a wild and unpredictable place. The first creatures where spirits of nature who went about establishing the natural world and populating the world with its flora and fauna. As humanoid ancestries rose to form more complex societies, however, these wild places reflexively retreated further within themselves. Thus the Wild, a realm both a part of, yet separate from, Riadus itself.

As civilization rose, particularly human civilization, the Wild retreated to the most remote regions, far from any city or road, becoming a more fierce and feral place as it did so. As the Wild withdrew, some of its inhabitants remained in Riadus, not quite embracing civilization but not quite shunning it either. Other fey remained within the Wild, but would occasionally foray into Riadus to cause mischief.