Factioneers’ Opinions of the Hinterlands
It’s a Mighty Big Area to Know Nothing About
It’s a sad fact cutters, despite the number of bloods there are on the planes, that nobody really knows what lies in the Hinterlands. Could it be that the Great Mysteries of the Planes make their kips there, of all places? Ironic if that were true, since the Hinterlands start only a few steps outside of the Gate Towns which are so heavily travelled.
It’s been said that the Hinterlands (or the Outer Outlands as many a wag’s called ’em) are simply outside of mortal ken, perhaps due to their very nature, or perhaps by design. They’ve been called the Birthplace of the Planes, or the Lands Beyond Belief, or the Eternal Uncertainty. It’s a cert that the normally reliable concepts of space and time simple don’t work properly there: A cutter can walk with his back to the Spire for days, turn, and a few hours later he’ll be near a Gate Town again!
Well, as there ain’t likely to be an answer provided any time soon, I’ll let you in on some of the screed that’s being spun by ordinary, everyday berks like yourself…
What Mysteries do the Hinterlands Hold?
Azalam the Geometer, Known for his Somewhat Circular Logic
“Out there, anything that can happen, happens. Anything that could have happened, happened. There are literally an infinite number of possibilities for any thing. So there are an infinite number of possible realities. In a slaadshell, if you can think of it, it’s out there. And it’s probably out there if you can’t think of it, too!”
Debris, Doomguard Planewalker and Eavesdropper
“Absolute rubbish! Any cutter worth his salt knows that you can explore the Hinterlands without being blipped into another plane. Once you walk past the gate-towns, the influence of the adjoining plane gets weaker, not stronger.
“No, what I’ve been exploring the Outlands to find is the very edge. I’ll bet that it’s crumbling away slowly towards the centre, as the Multiverse itself erodes. Near the end of time, the gate-towns’ll be swallowed up by the encroaching nothingness, and at the very end, the Spire itself’ll collapse into nothing, and the Outer Planes will fall to the Prime. Ah! What a beautiful thought!”
Nomin Bookchaser, a Guvner who Believes Sigil is an Artifact
“The Hinterlands are formed when The Lady moves Sigil around. See, the Hinterlands are described by planewalkers as a sort of ghost-town, with illusions of past and future events, warped perceptions, and the like. This is all formed because the Lady is moving the entire surrounding areas around, including all the Gate Towns within a certain distance of the Spire.
“Part of the function of the Spire is to provide the magical energy needed to do this. Everything within the Spire’s circle of influence—the Rings around it—is transported when The Lady uses Sigil—actually an artifact. The vast amounts of energy used in the transportation of the ‘Lands and Sigil cause the warped reality of the Hinterlands.
“Why does she do this? Good question, berk! Who can tell what music She’s dancing to? Maybe the Spire’s a vortex of Planar Energy, sucking unshaped belief from the Outlands up into Sigil. As an area’s depleted of energy, the Lady shifts the Spire, Sigil and the gate towns to a virgin area of the Outlands.
“How often does Sigil move and when was the last time that this occurred? Once again, who can tell? Perhaps it has something to do with Aoskar’s Death?”
Thalvish, Screamer from the Sensates
“The tanar’ri are trying to eat through the gate towns quickly to get to Sigil. Each time they pull a gate town into the Abyss, the distance between the gate and the Spire is reduced. The chant goes that there’s a string of ruined burgs on the Plane of Infinite portals, so it sounds like the tanar’ri’re getting closer to their goal. Who knows what’ll happen if they reach the Spire?”
Erodine, a Sinker who’s Counting the Seconds the Multiverse has Left
“That’s absolute flam, as anyone who’s ever watched a burg slide full knows. The Outlands merely fills in the gap with new ground, and the gate-towns remain equidistant from the ring. Sodding hells, now I sound like a Guvner!
“Still, entropy has one trump card to play. What if all the gate towns were to slide at once? Perhaps then the Outlands’d start to shrink. Now, how in the Planes could we fix that up…?”
Modus Vivendi, Guvner Theoretician, on the Nature of Everything
“The Outer Planes are created from the collected beliefs of billions of mortals on the Prime, right? What then of belief systems or ideas which aren’t represented by the collection of mortal thoughts? Which plane do they go to?
“For example: A mirror. Now mirrors aren’t thought of ethically, and there ain’t a Power of Mirrors that I’ve ever heard of. Does that mean there ain’t a place in the Outer Planes that embodies the essence or mirrorness? A place where the perfect mirror exists, where reflections and diffusions and refraction themselves exist in a corporeal form?
“So where would a place like this be found? Mirrors don’t have morals, so where does that put ’em? The Ethereal? Astral? Both are planes with no substance of their own. Inner Planes? They’re more basic than a complex structure like a mirror. How about the Outlands? There’s plenty of space out there in the Hinterlands for such things that don’t fit in with the belief structure of the Planes.
“Some other theoretical facets of the Hinterlands:
- Spirals (there may be a new spiral planar pathway)
- Colours (maybe there’s an emerald city, or a tower of blue hues)
- Bells (the temple of a thousand bells, perhaps)
“So that’s what I postulate you’ll find in the Hinterlands: A collection of things, ideas, concepts and phenomenon which don’t belong anywhere else. Physical forces personified, and Spheres of Control that no Power’s yet claimed.
“Maybe a planewalker could trawl around in the Hinterlands and come across some concept that’s never been dreamed of before by mortal or Power…something that’s natural in the multiverse but hasn’t been discovered yet? That’s the Hinterlands for me.
“Give me a nice thick book any day of the week, basher.”
Salabim, Signer Projector and Dreamer of the Real All
“In my interpretation of the Multiverse, and therefore, in My Multiverse, I imagine that new planes are spawned from the Outlands as I dream up new types of morals and ethics. There are be budding planettes out there in the Hinterlands somewhere, just waiting for a final mental nudge, and they’ll drop off and form whole new realms of belief.
“Hmmm…..An eighteenth Outer Plane…What shall I name it?”
Tobba Nedwin, Guvner Spatial Mathematician
“I’ve been studying the nature of the planes for years, and it seems to me that the best way of looking at the whole picture is by means of analogy. How’s that work, you ask?
“Take a flat sheet of paper and draw a circle on it. For simplicity’s sake, that circle’s the Spire and Sigil doesn’t exist on the paper. Now, if each gate town is a smaller circle spaced around this “flat-Spire” then you can see that the Hinterlands lies beyond this “flat-Great Ring.”
“Here’s the rub, friend. Instead of a flat sheet of paper, you take the surface of a sphere. Put a the “flat-Spire” on the top of your sphere, and place the “flat-Gate Town” circles around the “Spire.” Can you picture that? Good. Now if a little flat person walks from the “Spire” to a “Gate Town,” nothing seems odd. But if that same berk keeps going, keeping the Spire at his back, you see where he’ll end up? That’s right! At the opposing “Gate Town” of the “flat-Great Ring!” Now all you’ve got to do is bump the whole picture up one dimension and you’ve got the Outlands! Follow me?
“No? That’s fine, just go to our Library and ask for my works on Extra-Directional Mathematics and Its Applications to the Existing Multiverse (a twenty-seven volume set). Wait! Where’re you going! I’ve more to tell!”
Remmer Tal, expanding on his Barmy Idea that the Spire is the source of all Entropy
“The Hinterlands are parts of the planes which have reached their final stage of entropy. When a part of the Outlands directly adjoining the Spire is ready to fully decay, the Spire ejects it out to the nonexistent edge of the Outlands (no one said paradoxes were easy, berk). The Outlands are reinforced by pieces taken from adjoining planes.
“One day, however, the so-called ‘infinite’ planes will run out. At that point, the Multiverse will begin its final stage of decomposition. When the first ever ejected piece reaches the Spire, it will all finally collapse in on itself.
“Of course, I imagine that there might still be some bits of reality floating around, kind of like Limbo, I would think. But eventually, even that will be gone, and the Multiverse will be nothing- kind of like what you see when you look over Sigil’s rim, actually. And you still don’t believe it’s the capitol of entropy?”
Rowan de Gallas, Sensate Bard
“You know the Centre of the Outlands is where powers meet on equal terms. The Centre of the Centre is where powers can’t meet: Sigil.
“The Hinterlands are where powers meet on uneven terms. This is where powers are promoted and demoted—at least according to some Godsman I met.
“The place where gods fight are on the edge of the Hinterlands. The Hinterlands themselves are a result of powers’ powers pure, combined or reversed. Thus you might find Baal’s Temple of Life, or Brihaspati’s Realm of Stupidity.
“Best advice is don’t go there more than once. Experience taught me that wisdom.”
Eblis, Tiefling Factotum for the Bleakers
“Dark of the Hinterlands? There ain’t none. Don’t lead nowhere special, ain’t any Powers there worth speaking of…
“Take my advice. Do something else. Why?” *Sigh* “You don’t get it, do you?”
Anacoluthon the Xaotician
“The Land’s a system, like a climate or something. People moving in it find that it is pretty stable: They can’t seem to leave the area near the Great Ring.
“However, there is evidence to suggest that:
“a) There are a few things, like the Eternal Carnutes (home of Toutatis and Belisama, and the other Gaulish powers) that lie outside the Ring but inside the system.
“b) That the system is not 100% stable, and someone walking the right way, or using the right key, might be able to reach other rings, as explained by Keljios above. Those rings are semi-stable systems too.”
Sacrimarn the Godsman
“It’s all about belief. No-one much seems to believe in the reality of objects in the Hinterlands, and so they can’t travel to them. Just like the rest of the Land. The Hinterlands therefore contain stuff just like what’s currently in the Land, but with fewer believers.
“We should try to find out about the Hinterlands. The more we know about them, the more places we can visit, and the better we’ll become. The Guvners and the Sensates would both like this idea, too.”
Oax, of the Xaositects
“Hinterlands?
“Come hinter” *giggle*.
“you’ll this And. headaches Just tell does. I’ll Chaos Lots. everything And. and Stare people there’s. nothing Athar too there and no Lots me showers of at one you Today powers I’m get have so. rules chaos all.”
Anacoluthon the Xaotician, with a new Perspective
“The Outlands are in three parts (by the Rule of Three) and each is a ring. The innermost is a degenerate ring…the part containing the Realms of really neutral Powers, the Rilmani empire and and the Spire. The second ring includes the Great Ring and the Realms near it. The Third ring is also degenerate, because it has no outer edge. That is the Hinterlands. They are the opposite of the Spire, and yet like the Spire: Infinite and largely empty. But the Spire is an infinite peak, and the Hinterlands are an endless plain.”
Renee of the Signers
“It’s quite simple. The Hinterlands are the realm of no power, and are governed by no belief. Because of the total lack of ideas in this area, practically anyone can shape the Hinterlands’ terrain. But the emptiness of the Hinterlands can never be defeated… If you imagine something on the Hinterlands, that doesn’t help. It’s you, and you alone, giving shape to the land. That’s why it’s so easy to get out of the Hinterlands… You can’t bear the psychological agony of being alone with your thoughts, so mentally propel yourself as fast as you can manage to some known ground, where there are other people around. (You did know that travel on the Outlands is affected by your mind, didn’t you?).
“Now, if enough people went into the Hinterlands together, they might be able to between them imagine a new gate-town, and who knows, even a new plane for it to be a gate-town to.
“But, did you come to me to hear my bone – box rattling, or did you have something else in mind…?”
Caffren K’Taleth, Guvner and self-proclaimed HinterMage
“The key to understanding the nature of the Hinterlands is easy for a berk, once he gets familiar with some basic principles of magical energy. Magic flows in different directions on different planes, but on all of them (save the Outlands), it’s parallel to the plane itself or nearly so. This is apparently its only usable form.
“On the Outlands however, the Spire draws magical energy into the Weave and directs it upwards, through the centre of Sigil, (which might, incidentally, explain why Sigil is empty in the middle). A funnel effect is created where, the closer you get to the Spire, the more perpendicular the magical energies are to the plane. Thus, they become less useful (and are eventually nullified).
“The further you get from the Spire however, the closer to parallel the magic gets and thus strengthens as it becomes more available. It also flows more rapidly towards the Spire (this explains both why the outer rings are wider than the inner rings and why it takes longer to walk away from the Spire then it does towards it). I suspect that the energy never really reaches parallel (merely coming infinitely close to it) or the plane would become entirely magical. Perhaps it does and that’s where all creatures draw magic from, I must research further…”
Gradient, a Prime Factor of the Mathematicians
“The Outlands are divided in three portions and each is a ring. The innermost is a degenerate ring…the bit containing the realms of really neutral powers and the Spire. The second ring includes the Great Ring gate-towns and the realms near it. The Third ring is also degenerate, because it has no outer edge. That is the Hinterlands. The rings are the opposite of the Spire, and yet like the Spire: Infinite and largely empty. But the Spire is an infinite peak, and the Hinterlands are an endless plain.”
Encan Weltax, a Bleaker knowing the only meaning must be within yourself
“Well as you go spirewards the magic starts to fail, but as you start going anti spirewards your magic starts to work better and when you get to the Hinterlands magic becomes so powerful even a sodding berk’s got more magic than he can control and since they can’t control it , because no one can at least no mortal can control, only powers can and then only maybe!
“The power of the flow of magic in the Hinterlands starts to rule over time and space, and you got all the weird phenomena that you’ve seen, the stuff that bashers find out there are formed by their subconscious, because it has to do what it can with this raw energy so the brain-box doesn’t blow, so it starts to channel the magical flow and just a little of the magical flow is enough to produce whole cities or realms, but since our minds are weak we can’t control all the stuff that we produce, and then you find all these barmy things, fundamental concepts like mirrors (personality problems), spirals, dreams (so you better start learning how to interpret dreams, berk) and other bizarre stuff you got packed in the back of your brain-box.
“Well now I’m going to visit another dark of the back of my mind.”
Source: Jon Winter-Holt, Alex Roberts, Paul Nasrat, Vincent Schoefer, Emlyn Shannon and many other authors whose names have unfortunately been lost in the mists of the Hinterlands