Demi-planes

Maelstrom

Alignment: any

Source: DM

Location: Outer Planes

Borders: Outer Planes, Ultrablack

This is the plane that’s “between” the Outer Planes. It is very easy to get lost, even for gods. There is a plane-wide status effect of SEL=12 Lost in the Maelstrom. It is known that the far side of the Maelstrom connects to the Plane of the Ultrablack.

Encounters: See below. Credit to the YouTube “Bard of the supernatural” Matthew Santoro.

Number	City	Short Description
1	Agartha	The true location of this place is beneath the Earth's crust under modern-day Tibet. Researchers, who have followed the stories of its existence, now believe that this vast complex of tunnels and chambers should not be entered by human beings. The reason, Agartha, though once an underground city of incomparable beauty has now been corrupted and is haunted by evil demons who hunger for human souls.
2	Utgard	This city is an ominous place in Norse mythology. It's said that the city of Utgard is populated with giant humanoids, one of which dwells in a putrid, underground cave. Competing accounts of Utgard provides several different descriptions of the city. In one, it's said that the giant creatures living there are Ettins, more famously known across the world as trolls. The inhabitants of Utgard are sometimes depicted as so grotesque that even looking at one can cause deep and terrible fear. These creatures sometimes stray into our world and live in the darkness, waiting to snatch curious people who wander too close to their world.
3	Biringan City	This mythical city is said to be found in the Samar province of the Philippines and is also known as The Invisible City. The city is said to be populated by the Engkantos. These supernatural beings are able to shapeshift, often impersonating people in order to get close to their prey. Sailors and explorers have encountered this invisible city, and those who have made it out alive say that the shapeshifters there have built huge, technologically advanced buildings, which reach up to the sky. Most recently, a Japanese company found satellite images which showed large bright lights where the city is supposed to be. Thinking these bright lights were the result of gold and uranium deposits, they attempted to mine the area. A series of mysterious accidents then forced the miners to flee the region and to never return.
4	Scholomance	In some traditions, it's described as a huge building with fortified walls. In others, it's a city filled with sinister creatures. Whichever description is sighted, one element always remains. That Scholomance is overseen by the devil himself. Folklore accounts describe how Satan visits Scholomance, riding a dragon which is as fearsome as the knight. This often creates unusual weather patterns, some of which can be deadly. While some argue that Scholomance Scholomance. It will reveal itself to those with twisted intentions and lead them deep underground to an audience with the "Lord of the Flies" himself.
5	The Lost City of Z	An ancient city, complete with elaborate statues, archways, and hieroglyphics. Fawcett was hellbent on finding this lost city, and so traveled to the Amazon forest on two different occasions to find it. During the second expedition in 1925, Fawcett and his son headed into the forest to find The Lost City of Z. They both vanished. No one knows what happened to them, and some suspect that they did indeed find this mythical place, but that it was already inhabited by something terrifying.
6	City of Caesars	This city is supposedly filled with treasures beyond compare. The myths surrounding the city claims that it only appears momentarily, and then vanishes without a trace. Those unlucky enough to enter it might get their hands on gold and diamonds, but they will also come face to face with its inhabitants, swirling apparitions and monstrous giants, all filled with the urge to destroy anyone who dares to enter the city in search of their fortune.
7	Hy-Brasil	Some believe that the island city is a refuge of a dark sorcerer whose powers wain every seven years, resulting in a momentary lifting of the treacherous fog which surrounds the island. There are maps going back to 1325, which contains sketches of the island and its location, but legends say that anyone who makes it through the fog to Hy-Brasil will forever be imprisoned there.
8	Youdu	This sprawling city is under the Earth in a place called the region of darkness. The Chinese Goddess Hotu is said to rule the city of Youdu, and there is an existing hierarchy of shambling demonic creatures who are used to carrying out punishments for those who have not lived their lives correctly. Some of these demons have the power to peer into the human soul and see whenever a person's lying. If they have told a falsehood, then their punishment is unimaginable. The streets of Youdu are littered with ghosts, waiting to be reborn in the land of the living.
9	Zerzura, The White City	Rumored to exist deep within the desert where the Nile River twists like a snake. Descriptions of this place go back to the 13th century where those who encountered the city described it as a city of shining white in the sweltering Egyptian sun. This legend, however, may be connected to other descriptions of a similar mythical city in the region, which goes back thousands of years. Those who search for The White City do so with great care, because the legend says that beneath it, the queen and king of the White City sleep. Not only that, but they and their surrounding treasures are guarded by huge ferocious giants, which will consume anyone they find within The White City's walls
10	The Nameless City	A strange city in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. The ruins are older than human civilization, and the creatures which inhabit it appear to crawl and slither along the ground, resulting in corridors and rooms too low for a human being to stand upright.

The Funny Farm

Alignment: any

Source: My parallel to Don Miller’s insane asylum in State College Collective

Location: Prime Material Plane

Borders: Plane of Nightmares, The Abyss, Maelstrom.

This is a place where those not in touch with reality or sane of mind go to live out the rest of their days. The inside resembles the old TV trope of a bedlam house/lunatic asylum. There are other areas that resemble a more dream-like appearance. The surfaces are made out of this material that can be best described as pastel colored stones with blue, purple, & red stained tiffany glass windows that can appear on the floors walls or ceiling. Looking into these windows show that they are not windows in the traditional sense but instead glimpses of what is temporally imprisoned inside like insects preserved in amber. It is rumored that whoever rules over these particular areas have the ability to reshape the walls, floors, and ceilings at will. If you do find a window and look out, you would see the planes this place borders. The dilapidated nature is reminiscent of the music video for the song “The Devil In I” by the band Slipknot. There is a plane-wide status effect of SEL=1 insanity and SEL=15 Frelled.

Encounters: Various committed NPCs who may have been PC’s once, run of the mill mental patients, Nightmare Spirits of the Land, various spiritual undead, Possible archetypes of figures from the band Slipknot, etc.

The Ozone

Alignment: any

Source: Lost in the Ozone, song by Motorhead from the album Bastards (1993)

Location: Outer Planes

Borders: Chemical Elemental Plane of Oxygen, Demi-plane of Barney'd Gods, Maelstrom.

This is a plane made famous by Lemmy of Motorhead when he got lost in it. The terrain is a vast, hungry, empty sea of pale blue, pungent-smelling gas. It features winter storms that freeze you and summer weather that burns you alive. Notable places in this plane are the Islands of the Damned. Here everything is mute; sound doesn’t transmit. There is a plane-wide status effects of SEL=12 Lost in the Maelstrom, SEL=10 Broken, and SEL=2 Drowning. Priests are cut off from contact with their gods here. All beings in this plane always start in a group of [x1].

Encounters: Lemmy of Motorhead, lost, dying, and Broken.

Rian’s Dreamscape

Alignment: any

Source: RDM’s Dreams since birth.

Location: Astral Plane

Borders: The Far Place, Plane of Dreams, and Plane of Nightmares.

This is a demi-plane that encompasses all the dreams I have ever had and will ever have in my limited time alive. Most of the landscapes involve extra-dimensional spaces larger on the inside or containing extra rooms not normally belonging, abandoned buildings, major interstate highways, etc. Visitors to this plane gain flying. Plane-wide status effects of SEL=1 Forget and SEL=5 Lose Track Of serve as minor annoyances to those who travel here. I routinely forget or lose track of my vehicle when dreaming. Travelers who attempt to execute a plan generally encounter some form of resistance taking the form of distraction or a literal physical barrier.

Encounters: A “Lost” 2007 Silver Chrysler 300, various family members, a dog named Hudson, a dog named Logan, etc.

Tel’aran’rhiod

Alignment: any

Source: Wheel of Time

Location: Astral Plane

Borders: The Far Place, Plane of Dreams, and Plane of Nightmares.

This is a parallel dimension that exists alongside the waking world. It is a realm shaped by the collective unconsciousness of all living beings and is accessed primarily through the ability known as Dreaming or the Talent of Tel'aran'rhiod.

Fluidity and Malleability: Tel'aran'rhiod is a realm where reality is fluid and mutable. Dreamers can manipulate the environment according to their will, shaping landscapes, buildings, and even altering the laws of physics. This fluidity allows for incredible feats of creativity and imagination.

Reflection of the Waking World: The Dreamworld often mirrors the waking world but can also incorporate symbolic or metaphorical representations of real-life locations and events. It is a realm where the subconscious mind can manifest in tangible form, offering insights into the thoughts, fears, and desires of both individuals and societies.

Shared Dreams: Dreamers can interact with each other in Tel'aran'rhiod, enabling communication and collaboration across vast distances. This allows characters to meet and interact in the Dreamworld even if they are physically separated in the waking world.

Timelessness: Time in Tel'aran'rhiod does not flow in the same way as in the waking world. Events can occur at different speeds, and dreamers may experience time dilation or compression depending on their perception.

Dangers and Dark Entities: While the Dreamworld offers great potential for exploration and discovery, it is also fraught with peril. Malevolent entities such as nightmares, darkspawn, and even Forsaken can threaten dreamers. Additionally, prolonged exposure to Tel'aran'rhiod can lead to a loss of identity or sanity if one becomes too disconnected from reality.

Astral Projection and Travel: Skilled Dreamers can use Tel'aran'rhiod for astral projection, allowing them to observe events in the waking world from a distance or travel to specific locations instantaneously. This ability is often used for reconnaissance or covert operations.

The Immaterium

Alignment: any C

Source: WH40K

Location: Maelstrom

Borders: The Far Place, Astral Plane, Ethereal Plane

The Immaterium, also referred to as the Empyrean, the Aether, the Sea of Souls, the Realm of Chaos, Warpspace or most commonly, the Warp, is an alternate dimension of purely psychic energy that echoes and underlies the familiar four dimensions of the material universe.

The Warp is the source of all psychic powers and known instances of so-called sorcery or magic as well as the home dimension of the powerful entities known as the Chaos Gods and their myriad legions of daemonic servants. The terms Chaos and Warp are often used interchangeably by those aware of their existence within the Imperium of Man.

Superficially, the Immaterium is Mankinds solution to the problem of faster-than-light travel. The Warp functions as the medium for FTL interstellar travel, with voidcraft entering it using a Warp-Drive and navigating its flowing currents of psychic energy with the aid of a psychic Navigator.

The psychic energy that makes up the Immaterium is believed to be the direct result of the existence of sentience in the universe, particularly the intelligent species of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is considered a dark reflection of the material universe, an ocean of chaotic psychic energy and raw emotion given physical form.

The Immaterium is also rumored across many cultures, Human and xenos alike, to be the final resting place of the spirits of the dead, making it an effective underworld within the Warhammer cosmology.

Encounters: Daemons, Undead Spirits, Intelligent Worldthought Networks, Psychic Elementals / Eelementals.

Demiplane of Consciousness

Alignment: any

Source: RDM

Location: Ethereal Plane

Borders: Plane of the Ultrawhite, Astral Plane, Plane of Dreams, The Immaterium

There are only two things in this demiplane: bubbles of conscious thought and the void between them. These bubbles constantly wink in and out of existence as the beings they belong to fade into and out of consciousness through sleep and altered states of mind.

This realm remains only a demiplane rather than a full plane because, despite containing the conscious thoughts of all sentient beings in the multiverse, that number is arbitrarily large but still finite.

Travelers normally must arrive via astral projection or by not occupying physical space at all, as there is effectively no room between the bubbles. Movement occurs by pure intent, similar to traversal within the Astral Plane.

If movement between bubbles is achieved, it becomes possible to invade the conscious thoughts of another being, literal voices in the head. Such actions are actively guarded against, as they would otherwise set catastrophic precedents. The invaded being is effectively the god of their own bubble, capable of thinking intruders into any number of horrifying fates.

In a final, deeply dangerous twist, it is theoretically possible to invade ones own conscious thought. This causes a recursive thought-echo and almost invariably results in catastrophic insanity. Congratulations, you broke your own brain with your brain.

Encounters: Ultrawhite beings, Nightmare Dimension entities, Psionic beings, and creatures composed purely of thought (e.g., Thought Eelementals).

Imaginationland

Alignment: any

Source: South Park

Location: Astral Plane

Borders: Demiplane of Consciousness, Plane of Dreams, The Immaterium

This plane is where all beings created by human imagination reside. Horror movie villains, fictional heroes, novel characters, and mythic constructs all exist here as fully realized entities. Native beings refer to humans as Creators.

The realm is divided by a metaphysical structure known as the Barrier, separating the good and evil halves of the demiplane. At the center lies a neutral city governed by a mayor who insists that imagined things are no less real than any other existence.

In recorded history, Imaginationland was once the target of a coordinated attack by militant extremist forces seeking to collapse the Barrier. Their goal was to unleash both halves into open conflict and reshape the balance of the demiplane through chaos.

Encounters: Woodland Critters, ManBearPig, movie villains and heroes, and minor imagined creatures.

Riverworld

Alignment: any

Source: Philip Jose Farmer

Location: Alternate Material Plane

Borders: PC Retirement Bubble, Elemental Plane of Positive Energy

On Riverworld, every human who ever lived and died-from the earliest Neanderthals up to 1983-is resurrected on the banks of a seemingly endless river on an unknown planet. Along the river's almost 18 million twisting and turning miles, some 36.6 billion humans are miraculously provided with food but given no clue as to the meaning or purpose of this strange afterlife.

Riverworld has been engineered to consist solely of a single long river valley that snakes across its entire surface. The river's source is a small north polar sea, from which it follows a tightly zig-zagging course across one hemisphere before flowing into the other, ultimately returning to the same sea. The river has an average depth of 1.5 miles (2.4 km), and its width ranges from 6.8 miles (10.9 km) to 24.8 miles (39.9 km). It is shallow near the shore but plunges to enormous depths toward the central channel.

The banks are generally smooth and gentle, expanding into wide plains on either side before rising into jagged hills and an impenetrable mountain range. The valley averages 9 miles (14 km) in width but includes narrows and occasional widenings into lakes with islands. There are no seasons; daily variations are metronomic. The only animal life consists of fish and soil worms. The vegetation is lush and varied, including trees, flowering vines, several kinds of fast-growing bamboo, and a resilient mat of grass.

Riverworld has no visible moon, but the sky is filled with stellar objects: gas sheets and stars close enough to show visible disks.

The resurrected awaken with nearly-indestructible containers tied to their wrists, commonly called "grails", which produce food, drink, cloth, and luxury items such as alcohol, tobacco, marijuana (and lighters), hair care tools, makeup, and a hallucinogenic chewing gum known as "dreamgum." To operate, grails must be placed on large mushroom-shaped "grailstones" found at intervals along the riverbanks, which emit an electrical discharge three times per day (corresponding to breakfast, lunch, and dinner).

In the Riverworld universe, sapience is the result of an artificially created soul known as a wathan, produced by generators distributed among many worlds by an unknown ancient alien race. Wathan generators create wathans that attach themselves to sufficiently advanced chordates. Wathans are indestructible but detach from the body upon physical death and then wander the universe without purpose.

Unobservable Universe / The Outside / The Skein / Outside the Pattern / 5th Dimension

Alignment: any

Source: RDM

Location: Between Multiverses / Ultraplanes

Borders: Plane of the Ultrawhite, Plane of the Ultrablack, The Ultraplanes

This is RDM"s synthesis that the "unobservable spaces" described in various fiction and theory are all pointing at the same conceptual region. It is a place that does not share physical space with any universe. Here are some of its major lenses:

The Outside (Ender's Game): An area that does not share space with the universe. It is accessible to entities with sufficiently vast mental capacity-such as Jane and the Formic Hive Queens. Jane uses it for instantaneous transportation, while the queens draw aiuas from there. In this view, anything can be created from the nothingness if held strongly enough in the mind.

The Skein (Warhammer 40k): The Skein of Fate represents the intricate web of fate and destiny connecting all living things. Every action and decision contributes to the weaving of this cosmic tapestry, influencing the destiny of individuals and entire civilizations. The Skein is the Eldar perception of the same extradimensional structure of causality.

Outside the Pattern (Wheel of Time): The Pattern is the carefully woven reality maintained by the Wheel of Time. "Outside the Pattern" refers to what lies beyond that woven reality-a mysterious, undefined realm that exists apart from the Pattern. Some entities or forces exist beyond the Wheel's influence, not bound by its cyclical nature, time, or destiny. These are often described as beings or powers exempt from the normal rules of the turning Wheel.

5th Dimension (theoretical physics): In string theory and related models, additional spatial dimensions beyond the familiar three (plus time) are proposed. These extra dimensions are often compactified-curled up at scales far smaller than can be observed. Conceptually, higher dimensions can encode alternate configurations of reality, timelines, and physical laws, providing a mathematical frame for "outside" spaces.

In the Collective cosmology, all of these descriptions map to a single domain: a non-spatial conceptual layer between multiverses and the Ultraplanes. It is a region where thought, fate, and extra-dimensional structure intersect-and where sufficiently powerful minds can treat existence itself as raw, editable data.

The Ways

Alignment: any

Source: Wheel of Time

Location: Between Outer Planes

Borders: Plane of the Ultrablack, Astral Plane, Ethereal Plane

The Ways is a mysterious, eerie dimension-an ancient network of interconnecting pathways created by the long-gone civilization of the Aes Sedai. These paths exist outside normal time and space and were once used as safe, rapid transit. Now they are perilous, haunted by malevolent entities such as Machin Shin, the Black Wind, which devours the minds and souls of unwary travelers.

The atmosphere within the Ways is oppressive and decayed, steeped in a sense of slow-motion ruin. The paths are lined with towering stone columns and archways, shrouded in perpetual darkness. The architecture is both grand and ancient, reflecting the advanced craftsmanship of their creators, but the once-magnificent structures now stand in disrepair, overrun by encroaching shadow.

Navigating the Ways is difficult and dangerous: the pathways are labyrinthine and can shift without warning. Travelers require experienced guides or magical aids (such as the One Power or its Collective equivalent) to have any hope of safe passage. Despite its dangers, the Ways remains a critical means of long-distance transport, allowing vast distances to be crossed in a fraction of the time needed in the physical world-at the cost of risking annihilation by the Black Wind and other lurking horrors.

The Outer Planes

Alignment: All

Source: Standard D&D Cosmology

Location: Beyond the Astral Plane

Borders: The Astral Plane, The Maelstrom, Individual Alignment Planes

The Outer Planes form the Great Wheel of aligned realities—afterlives, divine realms, ideological battlefields, and metaphysical end states. Each reflects an absolute moral or ethical principle made manifest as terrain.

Travel within the Outer Planes is governed as much by belief and philosophical alignment as by distance. Mortal logic degrades rapidly.

Encounters: Gods, petitioners, exemplars, fiends, angels, ideological entities.

The Ultraplanes

Alignment: Beyond alignment

Source: RDM

Location: Beyond the Great Funnel / Beyond the Outer Planes

Borders: Ultrawhite, Ultrablack, Multiversal Funnel Apex

The Ultraplanes are composed of annihilative pre-existence material identical to that which forms Spheres of Annihilation. They are not planes in the conventional sense but the exposed substructure of creation itself.

Points of light within the Ultraplanes represent the closed tips of Funnels leading to entire Multiverses. These lights may divide or extinguish as universes split or collapse.

At the absolute center reside the Pre-Ascended Ones surrounding the Cog, attended by annihilation-born servitors.

Encounters: Pre-Ascended Ones, Ultraplanar Cows & Bulls, Visitors, Living Annihilation Fields.

The Astral Hub

Alignment: Any

Source: RDM

Location: Central Astral Plane Convergence

Borders: Prime Material Planes, Outer Planes, Ethereal Plane

The Astral Hub is a stable transit nexus where long-range astral traffic converges. It functions as a metaphysical intersection for soul-travel, thought-based navigation, spell routing, and planar redirection.

The Hub has no permanent terrain but manifests as shifting platforms, gates, and conceptual docking zones shaped by collective astral intent.

Encounters: Soul travelers, projection mages, astral constructs, transit wardens, echo-shades.

The Far Place

Alignment: Any

Source: RDM

Location: Astral Periphery / Near Outside Adjacency

Borders: Astral Plane, Plane of Dreams, Tel’aran’rhiod, The Outside

The Far Place is the outermost reachable region of the Astral Plane before conventional reality coherence breaks down. It is a thin conceptual buffer between organized thought-space and the absolute non-space of the Outside.

Structures here appear unfinished, over-extended, or half-imagined. Distance becomes symbolic, memory becomes terrain, and intention substitutes for navigation.

The Far Place is often used unintentionally as a misjump zone by reckless dreamers, projection errors, failed psionic translations, and broken recalls.

Encounters: Lost dreamers, broken projections, Outside leaks, conceptual predators, half-formed realities.

Concordant Opposition (The Outlands)

Alignment: True Neutral

Source: Planescape (Expanded by RDM)

Location: Center of the Outer Planes

Borders: All Outer Planes, The Maelstrom, The Great Funnel, Sigil

Concordant Opposition, commonly called the Outlands, is the absolute neutral hub of the Great Wheel. It exists as the stabilizing fulcrum between all aligned Outer Planes.

At its exact center stands the infinitely tall Spire. Magic fades as one approaches its base, reality becomes increasingly static, and divine authority collapses into silence.

Roughly one-seventh of the way up the Spire lies the city of Sigil, torus-shaped, sealed to direct divine entry, and ruled by the Lady of Pain.

Farther up the Spire lies the realm of Smileylich, Lord of the Liches, connected directly to the Ultraplanes through the Great Funnel.

Encounters: Planar travelers, neutral immortals, Spire guardians, Sigil agents, Funnel anomalies, ideological refugees.