A note to Astrel: I assume basic knowledge of the “Great Wheel cosmology” as described by Master Wetet in his well-known manual.
1
Possessed of a unique perspective, having been to other realities entirely, I must say that the most peculiar fact regarding the world of Haylene is that it is entirely flat.
To expand: I have personally visited six other worlds that would be considered “material” and have evidence of the existence of over a hundred others.
2 Generally, a material world possesses the following qualities:
Mortal creatures, possessed of both body and soul, are native to this worlds.
Creatures of spirit (such as fiends or celestials) are not generally native, nor are creatures of the elements (elementals).
The world connects to the Great Wheel (or aspect thereof) by the Astral Plane, and the elemental planes by way of the Ethereal.
The world possesses a consistent and generally immutable sense of time, as well as common physical laws, including gravity and simple laws of physics.
By these definitions, Haylene is certainly a material world, possessing all the necessary characteristics and existing in the proper “place” in the accepted cosmological models. However, virtually all other worlds I have encountered consist of concentric sphere (more accurately ellipses), with a massive source of energy in the middle, creating a system of such size that any native to Haylene would have problems comprehending it.
3 In such cases, great “planets,” orbit this energy source (which serves a purpose to them analogous to our own Sun), the inhabitable ones being thousands of leagues of across. Being spherical, they often have lands ten times the size of our modest world.
By contrast, Haylene is a flat disc, for all intents and purposes circular, that exists on a plane of existence roughly two thousand leagues in in diameter.
The reason for this lies in the creation of the world… instead of forming around a central point, there was a tremendous divide of energy, creating a flat plane and forcing the divine forces of the Great Wheel to organize the matter and energy of creation as a disk. I can describe this disk, and have even been to the edges: it is generally composed of granite, it is at sea level about 30 miles feet thick, dry land (the portion above sea level) is about 800,000 square miles. The rest is covered in water, the vast majority is open ocean.
The disc is bounded by an intense veil of shadow seems to be actually be planar in nature. Approximately a day’s travel from the edge, the veil of shadow intensifies, such that within 10 miles of the edge one transitions to the Plane of Shadow (and can actually travel freely within that plane).
4 As one approaches the edge, one enters the Deep Shadow and leaves Haylene completely. This veil actually continues into the sky, forming a perfect dome. A brilliant portal to the Plane of Radiance, approximately 12 miles across, travels across the veil from East to West every day, varying in its path on a 363 day cycle.
5 At night, it seems to disappear beyond the horizon, and it is my personal theory that it illuminates a mirror dimension.
The moon and stars are of particular interest. The stars are each portals to various demiplane, each unique in their origin and history. Our three moons drift in and out of the Deep Shadow according their orbits along the dome, which are neither concentric nor aligned with plane. Their complex motion is what leads to the various conjunctions that have defined our history.
All of these features are unique to Haylene: I have discovered other worlds that are not strictly spherical, but never another flat earth. The circumstances of our creation… of the Divide Primordial, and our mirror dimension… define us, and keep Haylene in a particular peril that may lead to our ultimate downfall.
1 While any edition that uses the Great Wheel cosmology, Annals of the Last Conjunction assumes the 2nd Edition Planescape version as default. This includes the city of Sigil.↩
2 These worlds include Athas (Dark Sun), Eberron (Eberron), Krynn (Dragonlance), Neverness (from Bruce Cordell’s modules), Oerth (Greyhawk, as well as Hollow Earth and Mystara) and Toril (Forgotten Realms).↩
3 The Red Witch is, of course, describing crystal spheres from the Spelljammer campaign setting. Haylene is not accessible via the phlogiston, but rather only through the Deep Shadow and spells such as plane shift.↩
4 As an exception to the rule, the setting assumes the Plane of Shadow exists as described in the 3rd Edition Manual of the Planes.↩
5 This is an error on the part of the Red Witch. Haylene’s sun is actually a portal to a demiplane with significant similarities to the Paraelemental Plane of Radiance.↩
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