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The Hinterlands
The Outer Lands, the Edge
Beyond the ring of gate towns lie the untold mysteries of the Hinterlands. Nobody really knows for sure what they contain, for they have a nasty habit of never being the same twice. Thing is, it’s not the churning chaos of Limbo, or the ever-moving revolving discs of Mechanus; the landscape appears perfectly normal. Well—normal for the planes, that is. You could walk for years and never see the same thing twice, they say. But turn around, and within an hour or two you’re right back where you started again. Travellers have told tales of waking in a different place to where they fell asleep, or of cities there that change shape and location hourly. But they also tell of lost civilisations, uncountable riches, and weird creatures called the Strangers who have taken the concept of balance to extremes. Maybe that’s why people go out there—and why they get lost there…
Welcome to the Hinterlands
In which we venture beyond the Known and into the Impossible, courtesy of a few Brave Souls who dared the Hinterlands and won, and their tips on how to avoid Trouble if you’re Foolhardy enough to want to see it for Yourself
Locations in the Hinterlands
- Adlivun, the Frozen Reaches (realm of the Inuit pantheon)‡
- Caves of Ug-Thog (realm of prehistoric petitioners)‡
- Crossed Roads (independent burg)‡
- Cycle, the Eternal (independent burg)‡
- Bleaklands, the (aftermath of the Blood War)‡
- Hintersee (the Sea of Basilia)‡
- Hueiuhcalli, the Old Home of Fire (realm of Xiuhtecuhtli)‡
- Long Valley (a scar on the Hinterlands)‡
- Mountains of Midgard (the Mountains of Meditation)‡
- Quidlivun (realm of Tarqeq)‡
- Spare Wheel (independent burg)‡
- Uçmag, the Freezing Steppes (realm of the Turkic pantheon)‡
- Vyraj, the Other World (realm of the Slavic pantheon)‡
- Dark Forest, the (site)‡
- Wild Woods, the (realm of the Celtic Gaulish pantheon)‡
Planar Pathways Touching the Hinterlands
Powers of the Hinterlands
In which we discuss the myriad of Powers who lay claim to their own little patches of land, their goals and aims, and what not to say if we want to stay in their Good Books rather than the Dead Book.
- Inuit Pantheon‡
- Isitoq (power of surveillance)‡
- Malina (power of the sun)‡
- Negafook (power of cold weather)‡
- Nootaikok (power of icebergs)‡
- Pukkeengak (power of children)‡
- Qailertetang (power of hunting)‡
- Sedna (power of the dead)‡
- Sila (power of the air)‡
- Tarqeq (power of the moon)‡
- Slavic Pantheon‡
- Turkic Pantheon‡
- Xiuhtecuhtli (Aztec power of fire and time)‡
Philosophy and Culture
Theories on the Hinterlands, and rumours of what lies there
- Factioneers’ Opinions of the Hinterlands
- Planewalkers’ Chant on the Hinterlands
- Tales of the Hinterlands
- The Wild Hunt — In which we the Sage of Everything attempts to reveal the true nature of the Hunt, and offer a concise description of its dwelling place in the wild lands knows as the Stalking Ground.
Hinterlands Bestiary
In which are revealed a host of creatures native to the Plane at the Centre, and it’s explained what other denizens and visitors a cutter might meet on her travels.
Source: Jon Winter-Holt, mimir.net. Canonwatch: The Hinterlands were a completely untouched part of the original Planescape [2e] canon, getting barely a paragraph on mention in any book beyond ‘it gets weird out there’. These homebrew fanon pieces are intended to explore the weird and help bring it to life. The Hinterlands are also a great place to add real-world powers and pantheons who never made it to the 2e canon: like the Inuit, Aztec, Turkic or Slavic deities. I also thought it was a good place to explore some of the uniquely weird beings from mythology who tread a fine line between being monstrous and moral, like Krampus, Perchta and Belsnickel. These beings I’ve grouped together as the ‘Strangers’ and they have many origin stories, and ways of causing trouble in the gate-towns. Placing all these new things out here also helps explain why they aren’t prominent in official canon. As with all homebrew material, have fun picking and choosing what, if any, of it fits with your vision of the planes!
