Arborea
| Greyhawk Plane | |
| Olympian Glades of Arborea | |
|---|---|
| Type | Outer plane |
| Layers | 3 |
| Alignment | Chaotic good |
| Native Inhabitants | Eladrins, angels, bacchae |
| Greyhawk Powers | Ye'Cind, Trithereon, Phaulkon, Aerdrie Faenya, Wenta, Hlal, Iallanis, Corellon Larethian, Lirr, Deep Sashelas, Rillifane Rallathil, Syranita, Labelas Enoreth, Erevan Ilesere, Sehanine Moonbow, Hanali Celanil, Solonor Thelandira, Rudd, Morwel, Faerinaal, Gwynharwyf. |
Arborea or, more fully, the Olympian Glades of Arborea, is a chaotic good-aligned plane of existence. Arborea is the plane where Chaos and Good mix in equal amounts. It is the plane of passion, where emotions of all kinds rise to extremes. It is a plane of myth and heroism, full of stories and epics both comic and tragic. It is a place of liberty and libertines, of those who seek out everything life has to offer, of frenzied bacchae and altruistic eladrins. It is wine, song, and psychotropic substances. Most terrain features are guarded by spirits of nature - nymphs, dryads, oreads, asrai, satyrs, and spirits of the land - who demand respect and gifts from those who would trespass their domain.
Arborea is also referred to as "Olympus" or "Arvandor", though technically those names describe separate realms within the plane. Arborea is stylized as a peaceful plane of natural beauty with a multitude of thriving environments. Much of the plane is dominated by vast tall forests, but also includes glades of wildflowers and fields of grain. As a plane that also embodies chaos, it has a wild and often sudden nature. The weather can change drastically at short notice, changing from warm sunshine to raging winds and back again in just a few minutes.
Inhabitants
The eladrins, powerful vaguely elf-like celestial creatures are the protectors of Arborea, the most common of which is the coure. Lillends are also common on the plane. Many types of celestial and anarchic version of common animals, natural creatures suffused with tendencies of good or chaos, are found in Arborea.
Arborea has two main types of petitioner, the first of which are the spirits of the elven dead. Some take the form of celestial creatures or others simply merge with the plane itself, as a final reward after death. The second main type are the bacchae, drunken revelers who perpetually indulge in wild celebrations, enticing visitors to join with them.
Structure
As an outer plane, Arborea is spatially infinite, further consisting of three infinite layers (or sub-planes). Arborea’s first layer shares borders with the neighboring planes of the Heroic Domains of Ysgard, the Outlands, and the Wilderness of the Beastlands; travel is possible between Arborea and these planes at certain locations. Portals in Arborea are crimson disks, usually surrounded by stone walls or iron gates.
The Ingmar Brook in Arvandor leads to Alfheim in Ysgard, presumedly moving through Syranita's realm of Whisteedge. The Gnarl, in Erevan Ilesere's realm, contains a root of Yggdrasil that can also be used to get to Ysgard (or elsewhere).
Once a month, during the full moon, the River Oceanus flows to the Gates of the Moon in Ysgard.
The town of Thrassos in Arborea's first layer contains a portal to the Outlands town of Sylvania.
Layers
The wandering realm of the Seelie Court often appears on the plane of Arborea, always in a different location.
Arborea has three layers:
Arvandor/Olympus
In previous editions, this layer was known as Olympus, but the most recent edition of Manual of the Planes refers to it only as Arvandor. This layer is a region of mountains, deep primeval forests, and the most fertile farmland in all the planes. Olympus is known in Sigil as the "breadbasket of the planes" for the many foods grown here, more and more flavorful than anywhere else. Both the Olympian and elvish pantheons maintain communal realms here. It's also the place where most eladrins dwell in hidden pocket realms lit by twilight. The Society of Sensation has a palace of eternal beauty and pleasure, the Gilded Hall, on this layer.
Arvandor has a day and night cycle matching that of the material plane.
Arvandor, the realm of the Seldarine, is located on this layer, and this realm is the source of one of the layer's most common names. Wenta also dwells in the realm of Arvandor, at least for the moment.
The realm of Brightwater is located on Arvandor. A variety of deities have homes here, including Lliira, Sharess, Sune, and Tymora, Ye'Cind, and Rudd (although Rudd also has a realm of her own in Ysgard).
The actual realm of Olympus is found here, and is home to many deities of the Greek pantheon, including Zeus, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Hera, Hermes, and the titan Rhea. The goddesses Lirr dwells there as well, in the city of Polykeptolon.
There are several other realms located on this layer, including the aarakocra goddess Syranita's realm of Whistledge, the giant goddess Iallanis's realm of Florallium, Trithereon's realm of The Forking Road, and Chih-Nii's realm of Loom of the Celestial River.
Aquallor/Ossa
Ossa is an infinite ocean dotted with islands, the domain of the sea gods. The eladrins of this layer are beautiful creatures called novieres; they have aquatic adaptations to help them swim. The sea is every bit as wild as one would expect in a plane of Chaos.
When not with the Seldarine, Deep Sashelas also has his own realm of Elavandor on Ossa.
Poseidon's realm of Caletto can be found on Ossa.
Mithardir/Pelion
Pelion is an infinite desert filled with sandstorms and snow. Once—long, long, ago—it is said that Pelion was as fertile as Arvandor and Ossa, but some terrible error was made, some plane-scouring war or harmful interpretation of Chaos left nothing but sand-covered ruins. Though many other gods and entire pantheons have abandoned Pelion, the goddess Nephythys, protector of the dead, remains. There are many forgotten things buried beneath the sands, remnants of an empire of titans and secrets of the time before Creation itself. It was in the ruins of Pelion that Orcus discovered the obscene power known as the Last Word. There are eladrins in Pelion too, wild, passionate beings called bralani dancing and fighting their way across the wastes.
Fauna
- Arboreal dragon
Creative origins
Arborea is based loosely on Mount Olympus in Greek mythology. Its name is probably derived from "arboreal".
See also
Bibliography
- Baur, Wolfgang. "Enemies of My Enemy." Dungeon #149. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2007.
- Cook, Monte. Dead Gods. Renton, WA: TSR, 1997.
- Grubb, Jeff. Manual of the Planes. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1987.
- Grubb, Jeff, David Noonan, and Bruce Cordell. Manual of the Planes. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2001.
- McComb, Colin. On Hallowed Ground. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1996.
- Noonan, David. Complete Divine. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2004.
- Perkins, Christopher. Warriors of Heaven. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1999.
- Smith, Lester W., and Wolfgang Baur. Planes of Chaos. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1994.
- Wyatt, James, Darrin Drader, and Christopher Perkins. Book of Exalted Deeds. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2003.
