Talk:Cosmology of Creation

'cosmic roadmap'

From the prime material,

cast ethereal Jaunt or etherealness to reach the ethereal plane

Shadow Walk to reach the plane of shadow, or, move large distances on material by 'skirting the edge'.

plane shift or gate to reach any other material plane: inner planes (elemental, energy) outer planes (wards, lateral materials)

astral projection to create astral self to reach the astral plane, and from there, you can reach anywhere else (making an avatar body as detailed in the spell) only way to reach the outer madness? kinda makes sense...

actually entering the astral 'for reals' requires very high-level goodies (spelljammers? Aether Flyers?)

casting all the above except ethereal jaunt requires a ritual (8 hours)

dim door, dimensional bounce, shadow step, litany of escape, damnation stride, kings castle, getaway, teleport object, walk through space, teleportation circle, transport via plants, and word of recall are travel spells within any material plane, cannot ever pierce dimensions, standard action to cast.

teleport/greater teleport are rituals to travel long distances within any material plane, cannot ever pierce dimensions

note that this means teleport/great tele, dim door, shadow walk, ethereal jaunt, and etherealness are useless in the astral

Fun With Infinities

In the context of infinite time, given an infinite number of Material Planes, one might assume that, eventually, every Material Plane would spend at least some time as the Prime Material Plane. This is an incorrect assumption. Mathematically, within an infinite space, all non-infinite possibilities can exist. The key in that is only non-infinite possibilities can exist. For example, one single Material Plane could never occupy the Prime for infinite time, or there would only be one Material Plane (since all Material Planes exist purely because they possess the possibility of becoming the Prime). Conversely, there must exist a finite number of Material Planes that will never occupy the Prime (because, within an infinite set, all non-infinite possibilities must occur). Thus, within the infinite Material Planes, there are a finite number that can be Prime, even within the context of infinite time (and the theory that time might be infinite is hotly contested and largely unproveable; of course, so is the theory that time is finite).

Given all this, we can presume that many millions, and perhaps billions, of Material Planes have occupied the Prime for some variable length of time. Some have undoubtedly held the Prime for mere moments, while others have lingered for uncomfortably long epochs of time.

Much attention is given to what properties a Material Plane gains when it ascends to the Prime, and even some discourse has occurred regarding just how a Material Plane might come to occupy the Prime, but very little is said about those millions of Material Planes which have surrendered their vaunted position in the cosmological hierarchy, and fallen off of the Prime. These planes suffer upheavals of all kinds, as their worlds shuffle into mediocrity — continents tremble and slide beneath the ocean waves; civilizations once celebrated for their fairness and grandeur become corrupted and violent, lashing out at their neighbors and fracturing within; strange and unique weather phenomenon appear for the first time, causing destruction and mayhem; and perhaps most devastatingly, the plane becomes vulnerable to extraplanar infiltration. This can present in the form of demonic hordes, devilish insinuation, subsumption by one or more Atropals, or even a calamitous co-phasing into one or even several other Material Planes (though never the new Prime). (Editor's Note: Many theorize that this is one of the reasons there is so much interaction with the First World and our Material Plane, though that implies that our plane must also not occupy the Prime. I can only hope that brighter minds will find some other explanation.)

Pre-Creation Myth

Long before the Celestial Bureaucracy existed, this plan had a single god who created the many flora and fauna of the world. This god, whose name is now forgotten to time, was a being of benign chaos, who reveled in the establishment of strange new biomes, creating vast biodiversity within them, and establishing non-hierarchical communities of non-civilized species in each. These ecologies evolved and some spread more quickly than others, but overall, the world was populated with a dizzying array of creatures, both mundane and strange, and countless species of plant life, insect life, weather, etc.

Then one day, the world was invaded by dark forces that worshipped the Outer Madness. Heralds of the terrible Atropals, they used the inherent chaos of the world to build a bridge into it for themselves, and sought to expand this bridge to invite their masters in as well, so that they could consume the Nascent Seed of this Material Plane. The god fought for his domain, and tried to defend his creation, but was eventually overrun by their endless numbers and devious tactics. He was slain by these dark cultists and their monstrous minions. In his dying breath, the god shattered his own divine mantle, granting all of his many creations an Aura of Life. This aura persists today and is the very reason that creatures can access magic or grow in power beyond the limits of their physical forms. The god's divine corpse was consumed by the cultists in an effort to strengthen their own ritual, and try to complete their portal for their masters.

Just as this calamity seemed like it would end this Material Plane's story forever, another calamity occurred, and saved it. Another plane, fresh from the Prime, and falling into its own age of darkness, commingled with this plane. Continents cracked; oceans moved or dried up; new moons erupted from the land and fled into the night skies; fire and smoke choked the life from many things, while torrential rains and flooding drowned many others. But in all of this upheaval, the gods of this new interloper plane saw these cultists of Madness and purged them. They scourged the atropals, even as their terrible appendages sought purchase on this world, rending them mercilessly until they released their hold.

Many ages passed. Some of these gods fled to more vibrant planes of existence, while others were slain by their own acts of hubris or valor. New gods arose. (insert the story of the spark of civilization here).