The Hidden Realm
Realm of Annam
Location: Outlands (?) (or a connected demiplane)
Alright, cutter, let’s cut through the chant about Annam’s Hidden Realm. First off, this sneaky realm ain’t found on any cutter’s map. Some reckon it’s a demiplane hitched to the Outlands, cloaked in magic thicker than a Sensate’s perfume. Others say it’s in some parallel plane, with a gate leading to the Outlands. Others reckon it is in the Outlands, but it’s just cloaked by magic and likes to move around and keep everyone guessing. It’s like trying to grab smoke, this place. But the Hidden Realm apparently has been visited by some persistent, or lucky, planewalkers, who’ve been able to describe it. Apparently, it’s a completely barren mountain with a single crystal tower. And at the centre? Annam himself, perched in the tower, peering over the multiverse. But peering for what? That’s the dark that no one’s lit up yet.
The chant goes that in this secret gaff, Annam’s got a thousand-piece orrery of the multiverse that spins like the wheels in a Guvner’s head, all perfect and precise. It’s said to be a lonely perch for the big fella, surrounded by all the gears and sprockets of creation but not a soul to share it with. Some bloods think it’s a bit of a tall tale, spun for the colour of it. But in the planes, who’s to say what’s tale and what’s truth?
Now, Annam wasn’t always a hermit. Back in the day, he had a pad in Gudheim, right in the heart of Jotunheim on Ysgard’s prime layer. A crystal palace, it was, decked out with an orrery crafted by his grandsons. The place was a regular haunt for the Ordning—the Giantish Pantheon—with heroic giant spirits on guard and pious giant priests dropping in for festivals and the like. And by ‘the like’ I mean they were invited to dine with the power for their last meal before they died. Of natural causes, one hopes.
Why is this realm secreted away? Well, the story goes that back in ancient history, there was a giantish land called Ostoria on a Prime called Faerûn, and it was the apple of Annam’s eye. Legends disagree on how it was destroyed, but hit the skids it did, and after this Annam decided to pack up and move to the Hidden Realm. It’s like he wanted a place where he could be alone with his thoughts, away from the prattle of gods and mortals. And even when Jotunheim got tossed into the Elemental Chaos after the Spellplague, Annam kept his Hidden Realm right there, in his own little pocket of cosmos.
Canonical Sources:
- On Hallowed Ground [2e] p175
- Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p29
- Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p18
Source: Jon Winter-Holt, mimir.net