Air

The Elemental Plane of Air

The Boundless Blue, the Big Sky, the Wide Blue Yonder, the Eversilver Lining

Ahoy, traveler! Open your eyes wide and mind your step—this ain’t the Prime’s tame skies. The Elemental Plane of Air is an endless sapphire expanse where the wind’s a mischievous trickster, and the very idea of ground is just a barmy notion. You’ll float like a fool here unless you’ve got wings or gain a knack for subjective gravity—aye, on Air your personal sense of down is as valid as any other cutter’s!

Sky-isles—floating earth-motes, my friend—they drift like leaves on the wind. Some of ’em sprout jungles, others burgs held together by ropes and prayers, and some cradle fabulous djinn palaces like the infamous Citadel of Ice and Steel. Beware the air elementals; they’ll fling you faster than a feather in a flurry. And the storms, well they brew eternal: clouds loom darker than a djinni’s rage, rains fall up, whirlwinds pluck the unwary and cast them hundreds of leagues away.

Golden rule? Be careful who you trust. The djinn will sweet-talk you out of your coin before you can blink, and if stray too close to the border realms—angry, unforgiving places like Lightning or Vacuum, Ice or Smoke—and you might find yourself spoiling a fresh page in the dead-book.

So remember what’s up—and what’s down, keep a watchful eye on both, and clutch your purse tight. Fair winds, friend!

—Zilvra “Gale-Grin” Ouss, ex-tailor to the Wind Dukes, thrice-banned from the Citadel’s feasts

Conditions

The Boundless Blue is truly unending. The skies here are infinite in all directions, the breezes is fresh like they’ve never before been breathed, and even the air itself glows with a faint light—chant goes that’s a byproduct of air elemental energies. In fact, while there’s no sun here there’s also no night either. Even inside structures a body won’t ever experience true darkness—unless they also pumped the air out of the room.

In most parts of the plane, the temperature is comfortable enough, if a little chilly (10-20 °C). Obviously, there’s any amount of clean, breathable air, but water (even in vapour form) is pretty rare. Same goes for earth and flame; there’s little in the ay of ground to stand on, nor flame to warm yourself by. It turns out, Elemental Air is one one of the least diverse of the elements. The graybeards reckon that ‘air’ can manifest in several different forms; some talk of mephitic air, fixed air or electrified air which can be found in some parts of the plane, but due to the fluid nature of elemental air, most of the stuff that makes up the plane is remarkable consistent.

Advice for Planewalkers

A green planewalker who arrives in Elemental Air for the first time, will immediately—and embarrassingly—start falling in the direction they perceive as “down”. In the worst case, a group of cutters will appear and then all fall away rapidly in different directions, losing each other pretty sharpish! This is because, unlike the Prime and most of the Outer Planes, gravity on Air is entirely subjective. A cutter who’s tumbled to the dark of how it works is able to assert their opinion of where down should be, and then start falling in that direction instead. But a real blood, they can learn to convince themselves that down isn’t a concern of theirs at all—with practise, you can just bob in place.

[Rule: Moving in Subjective gravity. With a successful DC 15 Wisdom Check (made with a bonus action) a creature can convince themselves that “down” is actually a different direction entirely. When a PC succeeds on this check ten times (not consecutively), the DC is reduced by 5, until they learn to shift their perception automatically. Air genasi and aarakocra PCs can add their proficiency bonus to this check. If a creature lives in the subjective gravity and actively practices this moving ability, they can (DC 15 Wisdom check) learn to convince thenself that there is no “down” at all. With a bonus action (no check) it suspends itself in the Air. Natives of the Air, creatures with an Intelligence score 2 or less and objects that aren’t being worn or carried always exist in this suspended state. These rules apply to every other plane with subjective gravity too, and training to move on one such plane allows you to move on any other just as well.]

But learning to stop yourself from constantly falling is only a part of the problem. After all, a berk’s still gotta move. Air elemental creatures can naturally fly wherever they wish to. Animals here have wings, and plants grow out special structures to spread their seeds around. And adventurers can use magic carpets, brooms and boots of flight, fly spell and many more magical or mundane means.

The Labyrinthine Winds

The Plane of Air is almost never still. Winds blow in every part of the plane: Sometimes it’s a light breeze, sometimes it’s a fearsome hurricane, but most often winds are just strong enough to not be a major nuisance. These air currents may seem random to planewalkers, but to air elementals they form a complex network of wind tunnels, paths, rotary crossroads and wind walls—that’s why they sometimes call their plane “Labyrinthine Winds”.

Breezes and gales are mostly harmless, but hurricanes and whirlwinds pose a significant threat for all inhabitants save for the mightiest air elementals (many of whom actually are those hurricanes themselves). They carry both vision-obscuring clouds and dangerous debris. Many native animals can feel a hurricane coming from miles away and retreat, but some (like the windlouse) have adapted to living inside hurricanes. Civilised folks caught out in the open usually resort to magic to protect them from vicious winds. In a settlement, it’s time to batten down the hatches and ride out the storm!

Mapping Infinity — the Boundless Blue and its Environs

Border areas: Each Inner Plane borders at least four others, where the usual conditions may have slight, or drastic, differences. Touching Air are the para-elemental planes of Ice and Smoke, and the quasi-elemental planes of Lightning and Vacuum.

• The heart of the plane is the Vault of the Sky, the deepest and purest part of Air, a thousand thousand leagues of nothing but… well, nothing. The border regions are a fairly insignificant part of the plane. So-called Core Air is a vast expanse of Boundless Blue where all the interesting stuff happens. Well, it happens on the Periphery, where elemental pockets are plentiful, and many different creatures can exist. Going further and deeper brings a basher into the Deep Air. There is plenty of fresh air there—and almost nothing else. Deep Air is the place where Primal Air Elementals roam, enjoying their unbridled freedom.
• Head wetwards towards the Para-Elemental Plane of Ice and the air gets more cold, moist and saline, like an arctic sea breeze. This area is called the Mistral Reach. Here, winds are chilling and floating islands are covered with snow and rime. The cold isn’t as biting as in the Frostfell, but this place harbours few inhabitants. Continuing further, the winds start to carry blizzards and then thick snow. Travelling here is somewhat dangerous, for a careless sod who strays too close to the Precipice, will be subjected to its gravity long before they can see the sheer glacial wall marking the edge of the plane.
• In the opposite direction of flamewards, towards Para-Elemental Plane of Smoke, the air becomes dry, a desert-like winds called the Sirocco Straits. Air here is heated—at first it is pleasantly warm, but quickly becomes hot and then unbearable. It is said that winds generally flow from cold to hot places. While this probably isn’t true for the entire Plane of Air, Sirocco Straits do have frequent dusty storms, as if the residue from eroded Earth pockets gathers there. Ash and dust fill the air until it slowly turns into Smoke. Sirocco Straits are as unwelcoming as the Mistral Reach, though they harbour more dangerous creatures like dust devils. Patrols of djinn are common here too, as this place is strategically important in their fight against the efreeti. Eventually a planewalker will reach a region of choking, heated gas called Scald.
• The paths stormwards towards the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Lightning, leads a cutter through the Ozone Layers. Pungent gases from Lightning concentrate here, giving this place its distinctive smell. For the most part, this place is safe, but sometimes Labyrinthine Winds concentrate the gas, and it becomes toxic. Moreover, ozone is known to react with other elements with less-than-pleasant results. Around the pockets of ooze, smoke and fire (but not radiance) it creates a nauseating smog. As you can guess, Ozone Layers isn’t the liveliest place, although some elementals and quasi-elementals exist here without much difficulty. Closer still to Lightning the air becomes hot and wet, like a tropical downpour is about the start. The thickest thunderclouds then begin to gather in a region called Subdued Cacophony.
• Stillwards towards the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Vacuum, the atmosphere thins, and the sky becomes darker. The complicated web of winds weakens and a chill downward breeze drift takes their place, squally and unpredictable. Surprisingly for border areas, this place called the Twilight Sky actually has some life—nighttime creatures such as owls and bats. They’ve adapted to breathing and flying in the thin, low-pressure air. Some humanoids and more reclusive giants also make their kip here. Air elementals find this place uncomfortable and for a good reason—closer to Vacuum rivers of powerful wind flow through the otherwise thinned-out airy void, as the Great Nothing seeks to suck every last bit of matter into itself. The plane increasingly rarefies into a hazardous place called Thin Air.

Encounters in the Sky

• Bestiary of Air
• Elemental Family Tree
• Elemental Pockets
• Flora of Air
• Hazards of Air

Airy Places

• Armun Kalisk (burg) ‡
• Bellows (burg) ‡
  • A burg where the wind is made in a giant pair of bellows pumped by dragons.
• Blurophil (Riven burg)
  • Twilight’s Wall (quarter)
  • Dragon Magazine #307 p22-23; Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p7,9,11,58,72-83,100
• Borealis (burg)
  • Inner Planes p26-27; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28
• Citadel of Ice and Steel, the (djinni capital, Precipice)
  • An aerodynamic, oval-shaped vessal crafted of ice and metal. Serves both as a military citadel and as the palace of the Great Caliph of the Djinn. Said to have been stolen from an evil archomental by the first Caliph. Orbited by a number of spheres and stones, the freeholds of visiting djinn or the members of the Caliph’s court.
  • Invisible College
  • Inner Planes [2e] p24,27,29; Manual of the Planes [3e] p70; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28
• Deep Air (region) ‡
• Desert Wind (realm of Shu, Scald)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p26; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p91,173
• Dilgyar’s Floating Fortress (site)
  • Planescape: Torment Game (Reddish-Orange Sensory Stone—Frightened Exhilaration)
• Elemental Pockets ‡
• El Ziafar (djinni burg) ‡
• Firmament, the (region) ‡
• Flying Castle (site)
  • Manual of the Planes [3e] p69
• Great Funnel, the (realm of Akadi, Subdued Cacophony)
  • Faiths & Avatars [2e]; Inner Planes [2e] p35; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p181
• Great Maelstrom
  • Inner Planes [2e] p23
• Hatsnarl
  • The Plane Below [4e] p55
• Intangible Invisible, the (Vault of the Sky) ‡
  • The deepest and purest part of Air, a thousand thousand leagues of nothing but… well, nothing.
• Invisible Vineyards (site)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p29
• Jabal Turab (The Mountain of Dust, Scald)
  • A vortex which connects the Planes of Air and Fire. Used by the efreeti to invade the territories of the djinni.
• Kingdom of the Azer (region)
  • Planar Handbook [3e] p141
• Ktll (burg)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p29
• Mackerel Sky (Precipice) ‡
• Monastery of Silent Sound (site, Vault of the Sky) ‡
• Mount Sangaree (site)
  • Planar Handbook p161
• Palace of Unseen Contemplation (Chan’s realm; Vault of the Sky)
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p21
  • Dragon Magazine #353 p46
  • Inner Planes [2e] p26
• Redolent Skies (region of Vault of the Sky) ‡
  • Fragrant Rains (burg) ‡
    • The gentle breezes here carry exotic scents from far-flung planes, delicious smells from cooking fires, and noxious fumes from unspeakable places. The air elementals here each embody a unique fragrance.
  • Library of One Thousand and One Scents (site) ‡
    • A Sensate outpost at the edge of the Redolent Skies, where faction enthusiasts have collected fragrances from Air and across the planes.
• Sorrow’s Roost
  • Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p81-82
• Taifun, the Palace of Tempests (site in Subdued Cacophony)
  • Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes
• Tornado of Torment (realm of Stribog in Subdued Cacophony)‡
• Ur Mar Nidas (burg)
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p100
• Virga (region) ‡
  • Dark stripes of rain blow in from the Great Wine Dark Sea. The rains fall below the endless clouds but evaporate before hitting any solid ground.
• Waterspout (vortex to Water)
  • A major vortex connecting Air with the Elemental Plane of Water. Known to the marids as Bubble Net. Violent and dangerous for any djinn who wish to use it for travel to the Plane of Water.
  • Planar Adventures [PF1e] p140; Inner Planes [2e] p29; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28
• Welkin (realm) ‡
• Yan-C-Bin’s Palace (archomental realm)
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e]

Air Powers

• Akadi (Queen of Air)
  • Dragon Magazine #347 p29; Inner Planes [2e] p25; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p53,191; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28
• Chan (Elemental Princess of Good Air, The Silent One, Glorious Zephyr) (planar air archomental [she/her] / NG)
  • Dragon Magazine #347 p41; #353 p43,46-47; Inner Planes [2e] p25-26,55,89; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8,18,20-21 (19)
• Shu (The Upholder) (Pharaonic Pantheon)
  • Deities and Demigods [3e] p135,157; Inner Planes [2e] p26,26; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p84,86,88,91,173
• Yan-C-Bin (Elemental Prince of Evil Air, Master of Evil Air, The Great Cloud) (planar air archomental [he/him] / NE)
  • Dragon Magazine #347 p30,36,39-41; #353 – 43,47; Inner Planes [2e] p25-26,89; Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e] Vol. 1 p52, Vol. 3 p8,16,18,20-21 (19); MM4 – 7,10-11; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p53

Organisations of the Blue Yonder

• Azer Steel Guild (Kingdom of the Azer)
  • Planar Handbook [3e] p141
• Azure Guard (genasi guards of the Great Funnel)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p25
• Blameless Court (Ur Mar Nidas)
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p100
• Djinn Caliphate
• Ethilum (Ruvoka clan)
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p90
• Guild of Floating Sorcerers (Blurophil)
  • Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p81
• Royal Guard (Blurophil)
  • Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p78
• Silver Strike Guild (Blurophil)
  • Dragon Magazine #307 p21-26

Cutters of Air

• al-Yugayyim, Caliph Husam al-Balil ben Hafhat (Ruler of All Djinn, Master of the Clouds, Son of the Breezes) (planar djinn [he/him]) (Citadel of Ice and Steel)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p24,27,89; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28
• Birus VI, King (Blurophil)
  • Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p76
• Dilgyar (Elemental Prince) (planar [he/him]) (Dilgyar’s Floating Fortress, Air)
  • Planescape: Torment (Reddish-Orange Sensory Stone—Frightened Exhilaration)
• Ert (planar peryton [he/him] / CE) (Sorrow’s Roost)
  • Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p81-82
• Gaunt Hohn
  • Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p76-77,83
• Grandmaster Hvark (planar wind duke of Aaqa [she/her] / N) (Monastery of Silent Sound) ‡
• Haalifith (planar air genasi fighter [he/him] / CN) (Taifun)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p27; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p27
• Kherehuty (human wizard proxy of Shu [he/him] / Harmonium / LG) (Desert Wind)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p26; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p91
• Pulivuin, Brahmas (planar air genasi maguc [he/him] / LN) (The Waterspout)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p29
• Vassilon (planar abiorach rilmani [they/them] / N) (Sorrow’s Roost)
  • Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p73,81-82

Hazards of Air

• Dream Mist
  • Dream mist is a very rare, wispy, pale-blue fog. Feared by planewalkers, dream mist banks are is sought by scavengers who feed on those caught in it.
• Razorgrit Storm
  • Microscopic grains of diamond mix with other hard, gritty substances within the hurricane-force winds of a razorgrit storm.
• Ripplewood
  • A dark-green woody vine, ripplewood has no leaves or root system and draws al its nutrients from the air. See Flora of Air for more details.
• Shimmer Air
  • Bizarre floating clouds composed of brilliant flashes of multicoloured lights, shimmer air illuminates the plane without producing heat.
• Sky Lotus
  • These small, stemless white flowers live and breed while floating through the plane on the wind currents. See Flora of Air for more details.
• Vacuum Vortex (vortex to Air, Vacuum, Negative)
  • A vacuum vortex is a stationary portal between the Elemental Plane of Air and Quasi-Elemental Vacuum or the Negative Material Plane, with extremely dangerous winds of up to 1000 miles per hour.
• Vapour Field
  • A vapour field is a huge expanse of dark storm clouds shrouded in a dense fog.
• Whispering Wind
  • Whispering wind carries sounds all across Air. Sounds can travel hundreds, if not thousands, of miles through the plane over the course of years, decades, or centuries.
• Dragon Magazine #347 p42-45; an article covering hazards and encounters in the Inner Planes

Canonical Sources: Start with the excellent Planescape Inner Planes [2e] book. Other references from D&D and Pathfinder lore are mentioned on the relevant entries.

• Dragon Magazine#008 p4; #307 p22-26; #347 p32,40,42-45; #353 p46-47; #357 p53
• Dungeon Magazine #055 p28-29
• Guide to the Ethereal Plane [2e] p17,20,60
• Inner Planes [2e] p6,8,10,12-13,15,20-29,51,68,72,86,92,94,100
• Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1 [2e] p52-53,128; Vol. 3 [2e] p8,18,20-21,38,46,90,100-101,113,122
• Monster Manual II [3e] p39,127,192; III [3e] p28,48; IV [3e] p11
• Manual of the Planes [3e] p68-70,97,180,184,191-192,195,207
• On Hallowed Ground [2e] p53,91,173
• Planar Handbook [3e] p37,77,80,161
• Planes of Law [2e] Mount Celestia p15
• Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p11-12,26-29,31-32,34-37; Player’s Guide p5
• Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p9,25,27-29,39,42,47,72,97,114
• Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p7,58,72-83,99-100,113

Other Sources: Jon Winter-Holt, Margarita