“It's a place of raw, unmeasurable potential, and here you are using its wonders to swindle the common folk out of coppers.”
The Astral Plane, The Arcane Plane
At A Glance
Function: The Astral Plane is a transitive plane, facilitating travel between planes and providing the energy of potential required for spellcasting.
Rulers: The Archaic Pantheon rules this plane, headed by Aracne.
Inhabitants: Dragons and Giants are native to The Astral Plane.
Description
The Astral Plane, also known as The Astral Sea or The Arcane Plane, is a transitive plane. It links the Outer Planes and the Inner Planes, allowing for travel between them. One can also use it to travel from any plane to any other plane, although going from an Outer Plane to another Outer Plane might be easier through the planes themselves, and The Ethereal Plane proves safer for travel between Inner Planes.
In addition to facilitating travel, the Astral Plane facilitates the casting of spells and existence of magical creatures. The Weave refers to the regions of The Arcane Plane which intersect with other planes, allowing those within those planes to draw upon the Arcane Plane's raw magical energy to cast spells. A region of a plane devoid of The Weave is akin to an expansive area affected by an Antimagic Field, only allowing creatures or items imbued with the strongest of magical natures to retain their magical properties.
Like the other higher planes, the Astral Sea is unstable. It contains come chunks of material matter which have fallen through from the Inner Planes, but most of what appears to be material in the plane is merely conceptual, composed of raw magic potential (mana) and subject to change at the whims of the plane.
Material creatures unsuited to the plane who spend extended time in it might develop Mana Poisoning, with the plane's raw magic wreaking havoc on their material make-up. This Mana Poisoning is only worsened with magic, and it best cured by spending time in an antimagic zone.
Location:
The Astral Plane runs through all planes, stopping just short of The Far Realms, although some speak of places where the Astral Plane crosses, and the Far Realms can be reached.
Neighbors:
There are gateways which connect The Astral Plane and The Outer Planes, and the Astral Plane and The Elemental Planes. Such reliable gateways are harder to come across in the Shadow-Wild and the Material Plane, and most resort to teleportation magics to enter the Astral Plane from these locations.
Inhabitants:
Giants and Dragons are both native to the Astral Plane. Dragons are known to be innately powerful spellcasters, often assisting Aracne with her magical experiments. Giants are legendary magic item crafters, masters of crafting and runic inscription both.
Many aberrations also find their way here, seeming most at home in the endless starry expanse.
Rulers:
Aracne rules this plane, although she does little in the way of keeping order, busy with managing arcane matters across the planes.
Origin
The Astral Plane was born out of The Far Realms, the first plane to form from that unfathomable expanse. It is probably closest to The Far Realms in nature, not that anyone knows enough about The Far Realms firsthand to be sure, but the plane is full of raw potential waiting to be shaped into almost anything.
History
Encounters
Session #: <Session(s) the location was visited in the campaign, and events that happened there>