An archaic representation of the outer planes, before the discovery of the cordant planes.
If the inner planes are the raw matter and energy that makes up the multiverse, the outer planes are the direction, thought and purpose for such construction. Accordingly, many sages refer to the outer planes as divine planes, spiritual planes, or godly planes, for the outer planes are best known as the homes of the gods. Deities may live elsewhere, but they thrive on the outer planes. Other creatures inhabit the outer planes too, some that are the servants of deities and others that fiercely guard their independence.
Although they may seem more hospitable to travellers than the inner and transitive planes, their landscapes can change on the whim of the powerful forces that live on them. The desires of the godly forces that dwell on these planes can remake them completely, effectively erasing and rebuilding existence itself to better fulfil their own needs.
The outer planes also usually serve as the great reward for the spirits of the deceased. The departed come to the afterlife of their god’s creation, or perhaps of their own moral outlook if that dominated their philosophy.
Broadly, the outer planes can be divided into four distinct groups: upper planes, lower planes, neutral planes, and cordant planes.
The upper planes are places of beauty and goodness, home of celestial gods and outsiders. Connected by the river Oceanus, the pure of heart find their afterlives among these planes.
The lower planes are places of horror and evil, home of dark gods and fiends. Connected by the river Styx, the wicked are cursed to afterlives here.
The neutral planes are places devoid of traditional morality, places of absolute law, absolute chaos, or something in between. The absolute planes are quite alien to most people, and the lands in between are eerie, otherworldly places.
The cordant planes lie between the Outlands (a neutral plane), and the eight most extreme of the aligned upper and lower planes. They are poorly understood and under-explored regions of the multiverse.
The outer planes are arranged in a wheel of morality, like a compass. At each of the four cardinal directions are the planes of extreme chaos, law, good and evil. Between them, along the wheel’s edge, are planes where these alignments mix. In the centre lies the Outlands, and between the Outlands and the most extreme planes lie the cordant planes. The Twilit Realm is also an outer plane, but behaves much like a transitive plane.
Most of the outer planes have multiple layers – planes within the plane that are often radically different in nature.
List of Known Upper Planes[]
Arcadia (The Peaceable Kingdoms, strongly lawful and mildly good)
Celestia (The Seven Mounting Heavens, strongly lawful and good)
Bytopia (The Twin Paradises, strongly good and mildly lawful)
Elysium (The Blessed Fields, strongly good)
Beastlands (The Wilderness, strongly good and mildly chaotic)
Arborea (The Olympian Glades, strongly chaotic and good)
Ysgard (The Heroic Domains, strongly chaotic and mildly good)
List of Known Lower Planes[]
Pandemonium (The Windswept Depths, strongly chaotic and mildly evil)
The Abyss (The Infinite Layers, strongly chaotic and evil)
Carceri (The Tarterian Depths, strongly evil and mildly chaotic)
Hades (The Grey Wasters, strongly evil)
Gehenna (The Bleak Eternity, strongly evil and mildly lawful)
Baator (The Nine Hells, strongly lawful and evil)
Acheron (The Infernal Battlefield, strongly lawful and mildly evil)
List of Known Neutral Planes[]
Mechanus (The Clockwork Nirvana, strongly lawful)
Limbo (The Ever-Changing Chaos, strongly chaotic)
The Outlands (The Concordant Domain, strongly neutral)
Faerie (The Twilit Realm, mildly neutral)
List of Known Cordant Planes (All strongly neutral)[]
K’un Lun (Mildly lawful and good)
Avalon (Mildly good)
Pangea (Mildly chaotic and good)
Discordia (Mildly chaotic)
Perdition (Mildly chaotic and evil)
Nether (Mildly evil)
Sheol (Mildly lawful and evil)
Purgatory (Mildly lawful)