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The Great Great
Ring
Magnum Opus: Now
there's a name that strikes fear into the hearts of
cutters who'd rather dark stayed hidden. Magnum's the
Curator of Sigil's Musée
Arcane, a small
organisation dedicated to unravelling the sordid history
of the Multiverse. Sound like a tough job? Better believe
it is, cutter!
Anyway,
Magnum's map of the Way the Planes Are holds a lot in
common with Na'Tak Karari's: the features are the same,
they're just in a different order. See, Magnum doesn't
hold with the traditional "Inner" vs. "Outer" Plane
thing: To her, they're all just names, convenient only
for the people who use them, rather than the people who
want to explain them.
Rather
than the planes being a pillar (see Na'Tak
Karari's map), she
argues they they actually form a ring. Remember the Unity
of Rings, cutter? Well, this is just the same, except
what with the Great Ring of the Outer Planes and the Ring
of the Inner Planes, and, as some say, the Ring of
Crystal Spheres on the Prime, this is more a case of
Three Rings inside one.
The
Rule of Threes doesn't stop there, either. Not only are
there three sets of Planes of Substance,
(Elemental, Material and Philosophical), but there are
three Buffer Planes, (Ethereal, Astral and Ordial)
which not only separate the planes of substance, but
allow a planewalker to travel from one to the other. In
the very centre, Sigil touches all and none of the
planes at once.
"What's
that?" I hear you cry. "The Ordial Plane? What
flam is that barmy tout spouting now?" Well, my inquiring
cutters, let me tell you what Magnum Opus has to say
about this 'Ordial Plane'...
"Ever
wondered how powers and petitioners can exist on the
Inner Planes? If, as everyone reckons, the energy for
powers comes from the belief of the Primes, and
filters into the Outer Plane which it most closely
resembles, from where do Inner Planar powers draw
their energy? Well, they could do it through conduits
that cross the Astral, the Prime Material (avoiding
that nasty Phlogiston, of course), and the Ethereal
(that's three whole infinities). On any one of those
planes, their conduits are vulnerable to attack,
parasites or natural forces.
"How
about a convenient shortcut? A plane which links the
Outer and Inner. You're saying you've never heard of
it, ain't you? Well, what better defence for this
place than eternal secret? If you don't even know its
there, you ain't likely to go there and mess
everything up. Think about it: Nobody knew about the
Astral until they discovered it one day -- or so the
chant goes.
"Where
do those powers with 'unknown' realms really live?
Surely they ain't all tucked away on the planes
somewhere? Someone'd spot one of their petitioners or
stumble into their realm sooner or later. Couldn't
they all be hidden on an unknown plane like the
Ordial?
"It's
true that the Outer Planes are shaped from belief, but
they bear an uncanny resemblance to the Inner Planes
at times. The Outer Planes have elements just like the
rest of them, and something's got to have put them
there. Why drag them through three planes when they
could be pulled through the Ordial?
"Finally,
and perhaps most convincingly, take the Rule of
Threes. Three Planes of Substance, three dimensions of
space, three moral concepts, three ethical, three
parts of the Prime (planet, wildspace, phlogiston) and
only two Buffer Planes? It don't follow in my book,
berk. There must be a third. But alas, I
can't prove a word."
Magnum
Opus reckons the only reason nobody's yet found the
Ordial Plane is because nobody's looking in the right
place. She aims to put that right. If the powers try to
stop her, then she knows she must be onto something
big...
Mapping the Infinite:
Index
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