Random Lore The Planes Pt. 1

The Cosmic Ontology of Yuhia

The Cosmic Ontology of Yuhia posits that reality is structured in a hierarchy of Planes, ranging from the untainted Celestial Planes to the inevitability of True Death. It encompasses everything that exists and everything that has existed. Everything that is known about the planes was taught to mortals from beings closer to Creation. The Planes of Reality are broadly divided by Immortality and Mortality. Those that are on the Immortal side are known generally as the Higher Planes and those on the Mortal side are the Lower Planes. These are broad terms to describe the states of reality and their relation to one another.

The Great Mystery

The Great Mystery is the concept of what occurs before creation. Not even the Mightiest of True Immortals can enter Creation. Creation lies at the top of existence and no mortal or immortal can know its truths. It is the home of the Gods or so many believe. It is believed by many that should one ever come to understand the Great Mystery they would obtain Godhood and ascend beyond reality.

Creation

Little is known about the Plane of Creation as no one can enter it although it is the source of all existence. Some True Immortals worship it as God, others see it as a source of mystery that should be solved.

Celestial Planes

The Celestial Planes are newly created Planes of Existence. These places are untainted and inaccessible as they manifest the power of Creation in its purest form, shaping the fabric of reality itself. However, can be observed by the True Immortals and even shaped to some extent. The Celestial Planes are fought as they represent the purity and potential untouched by the limitations of time and mortality.

The Start of Immortality

Immortality can not exist in the Celestial Planes because the concept of eternity, immortality, life, death does not exist in the untainted. Once a Celestial Plane is tainted it “falls from Creation” and from there it is impregnated with concepts that solidify it in reality. Time is always first and with time comes Contradiction; Eternity and Finality. These concepts give birth to all other facets of reality including Immortality and the True Immortals.

Higher Planes

The Higher Planes are what most people know as the home to the True Immortals also known as the True or Divine. The Higher Planes are actually a category of possibly millions or billions of Planes of Existence all at different Stages in their “Descent” from Creation. The Higher Planes consist of The Transitory, Falling, Barrier, and Infernal Planes. 

Transitory Planes

All Planes of Existence are “Falling” away from Creation towards True Death. Those that Remain in an “Orbit” around the Celestial Planes are known as the Transitory Planes. Extremely powerful races of True Immortals are capable of maintaining their Plane of Existence’s vicinity to Creation for  a time. However they can only maintain, once a Plane has descended it can never be made to rise.

Falling Planes

The Falling Planes are those that do not “Orbit” Creation and instead continue to Descend losing their power of Creation as they do so. The process of falling or what “Losing the Power of Creation” means is unknown. It was human theologist Thomas that posited that the “Power of Creation” is not an actual power like magic and mana but instead a state of being. He believed it was much like how steam and ice are both water they are just in different states.

Barrier Planes

The Barrier Planes are a relatively new concept explained by the demons. According to the Archdemon Pendeco the Barrier Planes are an artificial construct created by many beings from the Higher Planes. The purpose is to make it far more difficult for planes to continue to descend even after they have lost the vast majority of their Power of Creation. The scope of the construct spans countlest realities, timelines and infinities. It is impossible for mortals to fully comprehend the magnitude of the construct.

The Infernal Planes

The Infernal Planes are an anomaly to the structure of the Higher Planes. The Infernal Planes rest on “The Divide” which is a metaphysical separation of Mortality and Immortality. Where most Planes of existence will fall out of the Higher Planes once they come into contact with the Divide, The Infernal Planes grow in power and remain in an extremely volatile state. It is because of this volatility that both Immortals and Mortals are born here and can coexist. However the energies of the Plane often corrupt those that live there turning them into Demons and Devils.

The Divide / End of Immortality

In the Higher Planes concepts are as tangible as the ground beneath a mortal’s feet. The concept of Light, Dark, Space, Infinity, Time etc. can be fluid and even altered by True Immortals. This stops at the Divide; the formerly “fluid” structure of reality is made rigid and unmovable. Concepts that would prevent change are stripped out and fed into the mass of power that is the Divide. Immortality and Eternity are exchanged for Mortality and Finality. 

Start of Mortality

Mortality, the transition from immortal to finite existence, marks the emergence of mortal planes, where life flourishes amidst the echoes of lost power. The Lower Planes, spanning from Destabilized Reality to Heat Death, embody the fleeting nature of mortal existence, teetering on the brink of annihilation.

Lower Planes

The Lower Planes also known as the Realms is the general term for mortal worlds. The Lower Planes refers to the Destabilized Reality right after a Plane descends through The Divide, the Mortal Planes which are where Mortals live, and finally Heat Death or Entropy where life and mortality ends.

Destabilized Reality

In the life cycle of the Lower Planes the first step is Destabilization. It is in this form that the changes made to reality thanks to the divide fully solidify. This era in the lower planes creates the concepts for which life can thrive. Realities that can not stabilize will fall apart and feed into “The Divide”.

Mortal Planes

The Mortal Planes is the only time and place in existence besides the demons of the Infernal Planes that mortal life can form and thrive naturally. 

Heat Death / Entropy

The fate of all life is to die and the fate of all the Lower Planes is to one day meet its end. Once a plane has run its life cycle it will be a dead reality incapable of supporting life, or souls. Reality will simply stop as its concepts break down. No one knows what this entails, only that it is the end.

 True Death

True Death is the end of all things and the lowest point of the Planes of Reality. It is at this point that a Plane will cease to be. True Death represents the nadir of existence, the conclusion of the cosmic cycle.

Below Death

Below Death is not a real place but instead a concept held by few. This concept is that there is more beyond True Death or that perhaps True Death is cyclical and that things do not cease to be but instead return to creation. The concept of Below Death was popularized by the Emerald Elf philosopher Voltiar Horis and became part of the common theosophy of the Emerald Empire. After the fall of the Emerald Empire the idea of Below Death evolved to the concept of reincarnation on a cosmic cycle. It is a challenge to the notion of finality and perhaps a misguided take on the nature of existence itself no mortal will ever know for sure.