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Planes

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Planes, also known as dimensions, are large pseudo-geographic designations in the Warcraft universe. Some adventurers go beyond Azeroth to other planes of existence. It is there that they encounter eternals and demons, adventurers and villains, strange and vastly powerful creatures, and conflicts that span worlds — if not the universe itself.[1]

There is something greater than the physical world of Azeroth. It lies infinitely far away, yet also infinitesimally close. It has places of brilliant purity and the darkest chaos. Creatures of air, fire, and shadow call these places their homes; and those from Azeroth who dare to travel into these realms will find them unlike anything they have ever seen before.

They are the planes, and the physical world of Azeroth is but one of them. Though the titans and eternals have known about the planes for longer than the recorded history of the world, the first time mortal creatures on Azeroth suspected there was something other than the world around them was when the Kaldorei made their way out of the jungles to the shores of the Well of Eternity and stared deep into its waters. There they sensed a great power, and in a course of events that would change the world forever, dedicated themselves to its study. They hoped that they would discover the moon goddess Elune within its waters, but instead they plumbed the darkness and felt the cold touch of the Burning Legion waiting on another plane, the Twisting Nether.[2]

Planes make up the universe and cosmos.

Contents

Multiverse

The multiverse is the term for all the planes of the universe put together. The multiverse is the universe. Malygos studies the various planes of the multiverse both remotely and in person. It is said that Al'Akir is aware of all air spells that are cast anywhere throughout the multiverse, although if this is true, he rarely becomes personally involved in their resolution unless they affect him directly.[3]

Material Plane

See also: Planet

The Material Plane[4], also known as mortal plane(s), mortal world(s), material world(s) or physical world(s), encompasses the planets, moons, and suns. This includes planets such as Azeroth, and included such planets as Draenor. Each planet may be considered its own plane as well.

The Material Plane refers to mortal, material worlds such as Azeroth and, in the past, Draenor. Each of these worlds, though they share most of the same planar traits, is treated as its own separate plane — spells such as teleport that allow for transport within the Material Plane do not allow for transport between isolated material pockets. Another plane, the Twisting Nether, must be traversed to journey from one to another. While the existence of other material worlds remains a possibility within the cosmology, few others than Azeroth and Draenor (whose remains now float in the Twisting Nether as Outland) have yet been reported — though the orc shaman Ner’zhul attempted to open portals to other material worlds from a dying Draenor in the aftermath of the Second War. If they do exist, all material worlds would be made from the same planar material as the known material worlds, though they might possess different basic planar traits (from basic physical traits to magic traits).[4]

The eternals and even the goddess Elune share residence on the Material Plane of Azeroth with mortal beings.[5]

Ethereal Plane

No exact equivalent of the Ethereal Plane exists in the Warcraft universe. Only the Emerald Dream can be clearly mapped to another plane, that of the physical world of Azeroth, yet they remain distinct places in the cosmos and grow more disparate with each change made in the mortal realm. Ethereal Spells result in the target becoming invisible and intangible to all creatures and effects on the Material Plane.[4]

As such, any creature described as existing or otherwise interacting with the Ethereal Plane is treated as simply being incorporeal on the Material Plane (Azeroth), but are considered invisible.[6][7]

Positive Energy Plane, Negative Energy Plane, and Shadow Plane

These forces are not limited to any single plane; they are instead an integral part of every aspect of the Warcraft universe, woven into every plane. Thus, spells that call upon these energies such as harm, heal and shadow conjuration instead draw upon local sources rather than reaching to another plane. Positive energy remains associated with the energies possessed by living beings, and negative energy with the motive forces of death and the undead. Thus, spells that aid the living with positive energy will harm the undead, and spells that would injure the living using negativeenergy will heal the undead. Magical weapons that have effects wielding these energies draw upon that positive or negative energy bound into their own material, freed by enchantment.[5]

The Shadow Plane apparently exists, known as the Realm of Shadow.

Inner and Outer Planes

See also: Spirit world

Only the titans remain as creatures who may originate from a place beyond the known planes, and the dwarves have yet to discover the answer to their mystery.

The final destination of the spirits of the deceased remains a mystery to the priests and philosophers of Azeroth. However, as spells such as resurrection can reunite a dead body with its spirit, and a majority of living creatures from the tauren to the troll shadow hunters claim they can communicate with and call upon the power of the spirits, a widely held belief is that the spirits of the dead remain on the Material Plane — in an immaterial state that can only be altered or contacted through the use of magic.[5]

Realm of Shadow

The Realm of Shadows, also known as Shadow Realm or Shadow Plane, is a dimension apparently accessible by powerful death knights such as Lady Alistra and Salanar the Horseman, who can teleport others (and probably themselves) to and from it. It appears as a shadowy version of the real world. Salanar the Horseman's dark riders kills captured horses and raises them as Acherus Deathchargers there, and death knight initiates must then venture into the realm to defeat the horsemen and take the deathchargers for themselves, a task in which few of the initiates succeed. Shadowy Tormentors inhabit this dimension. This may be the same as the World of Shadows that becomes visible when an Elixir of Shadows is drunk. It may also have something to do with shadow magic and shades.

Other planes

A group of heroes discovered a small portal in the Nether. The portal lead to a demiplane full of titan artifacts — weapons the Pantheon deemed too destructive to use.[8]

Notes

  • Old gods ruled over the primal (first, original) plane until the coming of the titans.[9]
  • A pocket universe was used by Krasus in order to ensure the future of the blue dragonflight. The mage tore an opening in reality and put a few viable dragon eggs into this "pocket universe". He then sealed the opening until a later time when he could surrender the eggs to someone trustworthy. It is noted that time is significantly slower in the dimension.[10]
  • A pocket universe has been created by Chromie, a blue dragon in the guise of a gnome, within a room in the inn of Ruins of Andorhal.

See also

References

  1. ^ Shadows & Light, 136
  2. ^ Shadows & Light, 128
  3. ^ Shadows & Light, 101
  4. ^ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Shadows & Light, 131
  5. ^ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Shadows & Light, 132
  6. ^ Manual of Monsters, 134
  7. ^ World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game, 243
  8. ^ Shadows & Light, 155
  9. ^ The Sundering, 156
  10. ^ The Sundering, 25
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