Positive Energy Plane
*Positive Energy Plane by WyldSoul of deviantart
The Positive Energy Plane is the birthplace of all life, of all souls. It is the extropy to the Negative Energy Plane’s entropy, the beginning to the afterlife’s end. Like the brilliance of the sun, its raw power is so great that few can hope to stand against it unprotected. It is pure, unrestrained creation.
The Birthplace of Everyone’s Souls
You know how undead are sustained by the essence of the Negative Energy Plane? Well, the reverse is true for living creatures (the exceptions are outsiders and elementals, who spring forth from their respective planes). The souls of those yet to live are formed in special citadels and gardens on the Positive Energy Plane, and then depart for the Material Plane and other worlds to inhabit potential vessels. These “pre-born” beings are incorporeal, mindless, microscopic entities. They belong to no species; a soul can just as easily become a lizardfolk or human depending on the vessel it enters.
These places are known as “soul gardens” to the few planar travelers aware of their existence. Such places usually take the form of massive orbs of stone, metal, glass, or other non-living material. The places appear bereft of life and contain no living spaces or visitor’s quarters, although divination magic and abilities which detect souls picks up the presence of quadrillions of invisible souls moving all over the place. The sensation is overwhelming, and the caster must succeed on a Will Save (DC 25) or fall unconscious for 1 minute. Even on a success, he is dazed for 1d6 rounds.
Due to a non-aggression pact between the major deities and planar powers, nobody save the truly mad attempt to control or halt this process. Even undead creatures originate from living beings. This doesn’t stop Lower Planes fiends from venturing to the Plane to snatch up some souls, but the Positive Energy Plane has a very powerful trump card: Spiritovore Energons (see Bastion of Broken Souls).
In addition to a legion of Contingency spells, magical traps, and Lumi volunteers, the souls gardens have Spiritovore Energons serving as guardians. These large entities have inscrutable motives, but appear to be tasked with safeguarding souls. They are supremely powerful, where even the least of their number can give a pit fiend a run for his money. Even if a would-be southief manages to avoid detection and infiltrates the complex, he must succeed on a DC 35 Spellcraft check to cast a spell which involves the manipulation, transportation, destruction, or imprisonment of souls. Regardless of whether the spell is successful, 1d4+1 Spiritovor Energons are teleported right next to the soulthief and attack.
Great Cities of the Lumi
The Lumi (see Monster Manual 3) are humanoid beings who radiate a magical white light. Their floating heads are separated from their bodies, giving them a distinctive appearance among the Great Wheel’s inhabitants. Their brilliant spiral cities of crystal are terrific works of beauty, incorporating colorful hues and giving their buildings a prismatic flair.
The Lumi are stand-offish, unafraid to speak their mind, and any form of illusion or falsehood is punishable by death. They’d just be another group of extremists avoided by right-thinking folk, were it not for their aggressive foreign policy. They’re particularly insistent on forcing this worldview on others, and they believe that any damage or suffering caused by their crusades will be outweighed by the long-term gain of knowledge and truth.
The Lumi used to be the slaves of an ancient empire ruled by Illusionists and Enchanters; reality was mutable, as the magicians could simulate facsimiles of reality, engender love and hate, and otherwise shape the minds and perception of the populace to do whatever they want. A particularly strong-willed Lumi managed to break free of this magical hold, and he could not go back to this false world. He brought the Light of Truth to his brethren and overthrew the mages; from then on, the Lumi swore to never deny reality or engage in any form of self-deception so that they can never be enslaved again. Without propaganda, ignorance, and universal access to knowledge and truth, people can truly think for themselves and achieve freedom. This is the Lumi’s ideal society.
Lumi cities are not located near any major planar crossroads, but they do have several valuable commodities for traders: divination magic, knowledge, and information. Lumi libraries are truly impressive, and they steadfastly seek to preserve all forms of works produced. The Lumi do not even destroy propaganda and factually incorrect texts, as even these works can help people learn from the mistakes of the past (“those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it”); however, such books are labeled as “factually incorrect” in appropriate passages and contain editor’s footnotes refuting the offending passages. They also sell produce of the most powerful magic items related to divination and dispelling illusion and enchantment magic; minor magic items and magical services of a relatively low Caster Level (10 or less) are sold to travelers at 120% market price, but more expensive ones require that the purchaser prove his trustworthiness to the city. As part of the agreement, purchasers need permission to sell the more powerful items anywhere else without their consent (the Lumi aren’t fond of pure self-interest).
The Lumi serve two major purposes in games: as allies who provide the PCs with service in exchange for quests and the pursuit of knowledge, and as single-minded fanatics eager to enforce their will on the Multiverse. A party might procure heretical texts and banned books to sell to the Lumi city, and then help fend off an invasion force from that very same city. It might be a possibility that the Lumi have fooled themselves into thinking that their way is the correct way of living; if one of them were to ever accept this, he would commit suicide for betraying his own tenets.
The Living City
One of the more interesting inhabitants of the Positive Energy Plane is the Ravid. These serpentine creatures are capable of granting the spark of life in non-living material. Their very touch is enough to animate an object, and they don’t suppress this ability when on other planes (they often don’t comprehend the destruction their actions can cause). The Ravids are a constant nuisance to the Lumi, as the devastation wrought by the creature can take years to rebuild.
A group of traveling Clerics of a God of Light established a colony on the Positive Energy Plane. Dubbed Morning’s Gaze, the colony served as a haven for fellow believers and all who sought enlightenment. They incorporated powerful magic into their buildings to shield themselves from the Plane’s harmful effects, but such abjurations were useless against the touch of the Ravid. All it took was a colony of the creatures to send the city into chaos.
Buildings lurched off their foundations and moved of their own accord; furniture broke through walls and dashed down the streets; the clock tower’s arrows spun erratically; the constant ringing of the church bells deafened the local clerics. Through some unknown magical disaster or the unique energies of the Plane, the Ravid’s spells did not wear off. Most of the inhabitants either fled or perished, and the city to this day remains a riotous sea of ever-shifting buildings and landmarks moving without rhyme or reason.
How do adventurers factor into this? Well, a lot of items of religious significance remain in Morning’s Gaze, most of them now animated. The city’s too dangerous for most travelers, and navigating the place is almost impossible without magical aid. PCs sent on a quest to this city must be wary, for every piece of treasure and magic item they find is animated and potentially hostile.
Adventure Hooks for the Positive Energy Plane:• An influential ally of the PCs has been found guilty of a Lumi court of being intellectually dishonest. He was found in a Lumi city trying to sell an item by downplaying its flaws; the PCs are sent to the city to represent the ally. They must either prove his innocence or help him escape, both of which are fraught with risks and potentially earn the undying enmity of the Lumi.
• War has come to the Positive Energy Plane! A minion of Orcus managed to obtain one of the unborn souls from the spiritovore citadels. The soul is brimming with amazing power, and the other demon lords learned of Orcus’ capture. Ambition for power has overwhelmed the fiends’ common sense, and now every demon lord, night hag, and Lower Planes soul trader of note are amassing legions of minions and mercenaries to take over the citadels. Every major faction and deity is now amassing troops in the Positive Energy Plane to fight them off and guard the citadels. The more treacherous deities are planning on seizing control of the citadels for their own purposes; if even one faction lays claim to even a single soul garden, they’ll have unimaginable power over countless life-forms-to-be. The PCs may be hired hands, emissaries or champions of a deity, or just looking for an excuse to fight fiends.
• The animated objects of the Living City have found an escape portal back to the Material Plane. Nearby towns and villages are afflicted with the animation curse of Morning’s Gaze, and household tools and buildings start creating more duplicates to expand their reach as reinforcements from the Positive Energy Plane arrive to provide assistance. The objects are being directed a very old and powerful Ravid, who seeks to expand the city’s influence to other Planes.
