[ Earth ] [ Mapping Infinity | Pockets | Bestiary | Flora ]
Elemental Pockets in Earth
The sturdy structure of the Plane of Earth hides all sorts of secrets in its crushing depths. Wormholes and vortices leading to other elemental planes are commonplace here, and while the unceasing pressure does slowly close up and heal the boundaries between planes, pockets of other elements in Earth can often prove rather stable. The geological timescale is vastly slower than that of mortals, after all. Even when a pocket lose its connection to the plane of origin, it may take many years for it to be consumed by the ever-creeping rock. As is often the case with elemental bubbles in the Inner Planes, they are often teeming with life, providing a home to a plethora of creatures—both natives of Earth themselves, and outsiders.
Air
A fresh breath in the crushing dark. Pockets of Air are without doubt the most useful to mortal travellers. Not only they supply the tunnels of our plane with breathable air, they also exist as precious naturally occurring open spaces in the depths of the Anvil. Of course, this means the bigger pockets are usually claimed by some berk or other, from myconid colonies to duergar outposts, who prize these open spaces as sanctuaries. When a pocket of Air becomes disconnected from its plane of origin—and you can tell this has happened when the breezes stop blowing—the air slowly seeps away through tiny fissures in the stone. Graybeards reckon this is why many of the tunnels in the Anvil contain breathable, if thin and musty, air.
Ice
Land-locked glaciers, bounded in all directions by rock or rubble. Pockets of Ice tend to be more destructive than pockets of Salt or Mineral when they are new, as the ever-expanding glacial floes crack rocks and carve smooth tunnels in the earth. Once they’re cut off from Para-Elemental Ice they create vast reservoirs of fresh water once they’re cut off from their source and oh-so slowly thaw. Many of the large caverns of Earth can be traced back to originally being Ice pockets which gouged and scoured, leaving tell-tale marks on the plane for aeons. These caverns are served by networks of smooth tunnels which run out in all directions, carved out by the meltwaters.
Water
The liquid lifelines that pockets of Water give are much sought after by foreigners too. We Earth elemental creatures have no need for drinking water ourselves—and for some of the more soluble bashers it can even be dangerous, for some kinds of stone are more easily worn down than others. Earth denizens tend to shun such flooded chambers, but water-breathers and Primes explorers flock to them. While gently flowing water can seem harmless enough, given time and persistence it erodes even the solidity of stone. Sometimes, the walls of a water-filled pocket might break through into another cavern. In such cases, marvellous caves and aquifers can form. Stalactites and stalagmites form where mineral-rich waters seep away from water pockets, depositing all manner of exotic shapes in scale and lime as they evaporate.
When the connection to the Plane of Water is severed, a water pocket quickly becomes brackish and muddy and its water is eventually absorbed into the thirsty soil. Beware the kua-toa who stalk these murky depths, harvesting unwary planewalkers.
Dust
Living pockets of swirling Dust erode Earth, forming so-called eolian caves as whirlwinds of entropy disintegrate boundaries and weaken rock. These smooth windswept caverns and tunnels can take a notoriously long time to heal, but once they do, residual dust is compressed, becoming something akin to sandstone.
Lightning and Steam
Storm caverns. Pockets of these elements carry both air and moisture, which makes them perfect for strange ecosystems of mosses and moulds to grow in. Fewer sapient creatures than you might expect tend to inhabit such pockets, since it seems no one appreciates living in the soaking cloud which might either zap you or infect you with spores. Still though, life finds a way, as they say, and all sorts of strange and delicious fungus can be found in storm caverns.
Vacuum
Dreaded Vacuum pockets create airless caves in the thick of the Plane. While they’re not dangerous to may creatures of Earth, who have no need to breathe, they can prove surprisingly deadly to mortals. Planewalkers should look out for warnings carved into tunnels, because we locals do sometimes forget that Vacuum pockets pose a problem. They are generally devoid of life however, because there’s nothing much of use in these barren places.
Fire, Radiance and Magma
Forge-hearths and death-zones. Most Fire pockets are hot enough to cook a mortal, light paper and wood aflame, but only leave soot on the rock walls. But get one hot enough and it’ll melt stone too; and of course, there are pockets to the Para-Elemental Magma around as well. For most creatures these hot pockets are incredibly dangerous places. They melt the rock around themselves, and the resulting lava streams through any cracks, igniting everything in its path and melting smooth lava tubes. Cannier races, such as dwarves, have learned to tap into the fiery power of such pockets using them as forges—although they pay for it in terms of damage to their lungs.
Pockets of Radiance have another unpleasant feature—sometimes they shower their surroundings not only with heat and light, but also with invisible radiation. After extinguishing, these pockets leave behind deposits of weird glowing minerals which make planewalkers strangely sick, even as they covet them.
Smoke
These toxic tombs bring all the unpleasantness of a fire pocket with none of its usefulness. Pockets of Smoke are hot, poisonous and should be avoided. Even the efreet steer clear, leaving smoke pockets to fire snakes and desperate refugees. Collapsed tunnels can sometimes funnel smoke into adjacent caverns, threatening to suffocate entire settlements.
Mineral, Ash, Salt, and Ooze
Earth’s kin. These elements merge seamlessly with stone as they’re similar to Earth in their composition and thus can co-exist in the rocky environment undisturbed. Over time they are compressed by the pressure and become new kinds of rocks. Salt veins become graveyards for mummified relics and creatures, convenient places to store parchments and scrolls to protect them from moisture, or larders where foodstuffs are preserved. Ooze pockets nurture slime civilizations, are crushed into slate or mudbrick, or are just used as dumping grounds for the waste of the dao burgs. Mineral pockets—lodes of gemstones, cobalt, or uranium—draw both hungry xorn and greedy mercenary miners. Ash pockets are compacted by the crushing of the Anvil into seams of coal, which are eagerly sought by dwarven forgemasters. All things solidify under pressure, birthing new strata.
Negative Energy
It’s well worth knowing that a fungus known as darkshine marks the blighted regions which surround Negative energy pockets, warning planewalkers of the dangers ahead. In these accursed places, spheres of darkness corrode the Earth around themselves, making the terrain treacherously unstable and dangerous to touch with bare skin. Plenty of burrowing undead creatures are attracted to, or use such pockets as lairs. Among such creatures are guecubu, despicable earth-based undead villains, who seek to avenge their deaths upon any unfortunate berk who stumbles past them.
Positive Energy
Positive energy pockets usually manifest as dense glowing crystalline formations, which slowly grow around their edges, ending up producing a geode with an energised core, which vibrates with uncanny planar energies. So-called Vitality Crystals are sought after by cutters of all races, both for their healing powers and their precious crystals which have the power to purify air, cure ailments, and even repel undead.
Prime
Most vortices between the Plane of Earth and the Prime Material Plane lie deep beneath the surface of the planets. Graybeards say that it’s the movements of these planar pathways which cause earthquakes. Sometimes entire cities can end up being swallowed by a vortex during a powerful quakes. These unfortunate burgs rarely manage to survive such a transition, and arrive in the depths of Earth as little more than mangled ruins. Many of these places are now only inhabited by the esoteric beings known as lithic loci, literal embodiments of archaic civilisations from times long forgotten. One notable feature of Prime pseudo-pockets is how they tend to have objective one-directional gravity in their bounds.
Feywild
A piece of the Feywild in the Plane of Earth is characterized by weird colours of stone and lichen and intoxicating air. Plenty of fey creatures, such as oreads and lampads, live in those places.
Shadowfell
Darkness and shifting shadows fill caverns that have been touched by the Plane of Shadows. Grave elementals and strange undead roam these horrid places.
Sources: Margarita and Jon Winter-Holt
