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The Ethereal Plane

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The Ethereal Plane.jpg
The Ethereal Plane [T]
Physical Traits:
  • Gravity: None
  • Time: Normal Time
  • Shape and Size: Immeasurable
Structural Traits:
  • Lasting Structure
  • Morphism: Alterable Morphic
Essence Traits:
  • Mixed Essence:
  • Alignment: neutral
  • Magic: normal

Description

The Border Ethereal and the Deep Ethereal

The Ethereal Plane, like some other planes can be said to be composed of "layers". The outer, or top, one is referred to as the Border Ethereal. The name is descriprive in that it is bordering some other plane, like the Material Plane, or the Fey Wilds.

The Ethereal Plane is unique in the way it overlaps the planes it borders, and produce a separated Border Ethereal for each of these contacts. That is to say the Border Ethereal overlapping the Material Plane is separate to that which overlaps the Fey Wilds. This is why the Border Ethereal can not be used for planar travel like the Astral Plane.

Common to all instances of the Border Ethereal is their connection to the Deep Ethereal.

In general

While it is possible to see into the Material Plane from the Ethereal Plane, the latter is usually invisible to those on the Material Plane. Normally, creatures on the Ethereal Plane cannot attack creatures on the Material Plane, and vice versa. A traveler on the Ethereal Plane is invisible, insubstantial, and utterly silent to someone on the Material Plane.

The Ethereal Plane is the seat of emotional forces, the mist-shrouded home of haunts and horrors, and the ever-present doorway between the worlds of the "Inner Sphere" (material plane, fey wilds, and the shadow plane). The Ethereal Plane coexists with these planes, interpenetrating them and generally mimicking their contours and vistas, albeit with greatly reduced visibility thanks to drifting fog and the slow rise and fall of fading sheets of light like the somber interior of a thunderstorm.

From within the Ethereal Plane, these neighboring worlds appear hazy and indistinct, as if viewed through frosted glass. Inhabitants of neighboring planes can’t perceive the Ethereal Plane at all, though certain mortals blessed or cursed with psychic sensitivity sometimes catch glimpses of its vistas. Since the Ethereal Plane is generally invisible from the other planes of the Inner Sphere, creatures under the effects of spells like ethereal jaunt and etherealness cannot be seen by creatures who are not themselves ethereal. Normally, creatures on the Ethereal Plane cannot attack creatures on the Material Plane, and vice versa.

Within the mists of the Ethereal Plane, warped, indistinct versions of locations overlap their Inner Sphere counterparts. This, coupled with the inherent weightlessness of creatures in the plane, makes it tempting to use the Ethereal Plane as a vantage to scout out unknown locales by passing through incorporeal walls and floating over traps with ease.

The twisted remnants of mortal souls comprise the vast majority of the Ethereal Plane’s inhabitants. Some souls, freed from their physical bodies by death, remain tethered to the Ethereal Plane by profound emotional distress and cannot proceed along the multiversal currents to join the "River of Souls" flowing inexorably toward purgatory until they sever the powerful emotional ties that bind them. Indeed, the longer these souls remain stalled on their afterlife journey, the closer they slide toward the Negative Energy Plane, and the more of their memories and personalities become subsumed by raw emotional distress and psychic damage. These souls eventually manifest as incorporeal undead, frequently in the form of wraiths and spectres.

Spiritualists

Spiritualists call out to the spirits of the Ethereal Plane and open their physical minds as refuges for them to inhabit. With practice and the help of a trained spiritualist, a spirit can even take its own physical form on the neighboring planes by cloaking itself in a sheath of ectoplasm, the ghostly substance that acts as a veil between worlds. These spirit guides are known as phantoms, and while they are loyal to the spiritualist to whom they are bound, the emotional connection to the Ethereal Plane remains strong, manifesting in jealousy and fiery outbursts from even the kindest of souls. The ectoplasmic nature of the Ethereal Plane is extraordinarily susceptible to the thoughts and emotions of the plane’s inhabitants. The ethereal version of a physical location is informed not just by its actual dimensions and appearance, but also by the memories and impressions of the spirits that haunt it. For example, on the Ethereal Plane, an old mansion might look as it did in the era of its ghostly inhabitants. If those spirits find final rest, their memories cannot sustain the structure, and it falls into an ethereal ruin. Some incorporeal spirits become so entwined with the emotional nature of the plane that they can manifest these ectoplasmic vistas in an overlapping location on a neighboring plane, temporarily cloaking it in a disturbing reflection of some past incarnation.

Demiplanes

The sweeping expanse of the Ethereal Plane is home to countless pocket realities known as demiplanes. Many of these unique realms are the private domains of powerful arcane spellcasters, the playgrounds of minor gods, or the prisons of creatures that pose such danger to the cosmos that they must never be released.

Properties

Movement on the Ethereal Plane

The Ethereal Plane’s lack of gravity and near-total absence of solid matter would normally make movement close to impossible; however, as a result of its psychic resonance, creatures can move themselves through the plane via a sustained force of will. This requires the same action as regular movement, but the creature only moves at half its normal base speed (or one-quarter its normal speed if it lacks an Intelligence score). A creature with a swim or burrow speed can use that speed to determine its halved movement rate instead. Creatures capable of flight or whose movement is based on non-terrestrial means such as ectoplasmic gliding can move at their full speed. Movement in this fashion is a purely mental action, and a creature that is paralyzed can still move normally in this manner. Any effect that prevents thought components from functioning also prevents movement in this way on the Ethereal Plane.

Vision in the Ethereal Plane

The ever-present mist and fog on the Ethereal Plane give the realm an eerie, gray-green glow such that true darkness is rare, but the mist also distorts and obscures line of sight beyond 300 feet. From this distance to a distance of 900 feet, creatures and objects are visible as blurry, indistinct shapes in the mist and gain concealment. Beyond 900 feet, vision is obscured completely, although certain immense objects may be visible as lighter or darker shapes in the mist at great distance.

Abilities that allow for sight through mist or fog grant the ability to see normally, yet this does nothing to change the fact that there is rarely anything of import to see in this mostly empty realm.

Bordering

The Ethereal Plane border the material world, the fey wild, the shadow plane, and a number of demi-planes, but not at the same time. Each bordering plane has its own Border Ethereal, which overlap in a way unique to the Ethereal.

It does, however, not border anything beyond these inner planes, so when on a trip in the Astral Plane, or on one of the outer planes, a spell or other effect relying on the existence of the ethereal plane will not function.

Stats

Denizens

Deities

Outsiders

Petitioners

History

Some think that the Ethereal Plane originated along with the first uncontrolled emotional outburst, while others postulate that the emotional connection is just a biproduct of the deeper connection the plane has with dreams and imagination.

In any case, like the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane existed before the efforts of the Planesmiths, having seen a fair share of explorers long before the Ordering.

About

In short, the Ethereal is a buffer plane bordering many of the "inner" planes, like the material, shadow and the fey wilds. Phasing into the Ethereal Plane is possible on these planes, but the same is not always true for other demi-planes or the outer planes that lie at the outer border of the Astral Plane.