Earth

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The Elemental Plane of Earth

The Anvil, the Crushing Deep, the Cavern

Feel the Tremor

Air is movement. In the Boundless Blue, the Labyrinthine Winds twist and turn, as all kinds of breezes and hurricanes clash and flow in all directions. Earth moves too—but its movements are great and slow, as if it takes time to think its next move through. Water is substance. The Bottomless Deep envelopes you in its moist caress, seeking to expose you to all manner of substances and creatures floating and swimming through it. Earth has plenty of substance too—but it doesn’t mix; it doesn’t want to mingle with you or with itself. Fire is energy. The Crematorium sparks with blistering heat, it destroys and consumes, only to spew out the inferno of flames. Earth possesses energy as well, plenty of it—but it doesn’t burn, it rarely even crushes, but rather crawls as slowly and rhythmically, like some kind of as multiversal resonance. Until of course, it does not—sometimes Earth becomes impatient and angry, unleashing movement and substance and energy all at once, and when its earthslides and rockquakes happen, even the most dim-witted of sods cannot deny the Might of Earth.

I will not be so foolish as to suggest it is the most powerful of the elements. But for sure, it is the greatest in scale. The archomentals of our plane, Ogremoch and Sunnis, wage an eternal war of slow observation and mighty strikes; the dao build their grand and terrible cities; while the dwarves, gnomes and giants toil in their mines, each hoping to capture even a smidgeon of the beauty of the Anvil. It’s an appropriate name indeed—for in the depths of Earth things of beauty are born only under the great pressure.

I am Tam Aran (planar shad [any pronouns] / LN), the first shad member of the Fraternity of Order. I’ve made it my life’s mission to explore the Elemental Plane of Earth to its fullest extent and to share my knowledge with folks from other planes. And yet, the more I learn, the more it becomes clear to me: How much more wonder lies unexplored all throughout my home!

Physical Conditions

MOVEMENT: The Elemental Plane of Earth is an infinite expanse of earth. The substance itself varies greatly in different places and regions—from sand and dirt to marble and granite and even harder kinds of stone. All of these are forms of the same elemental earth (sometimes mixed with other elements), but they vary greatly in colour, texture and hardness, especially when it comes to digging through. Creatures who use only their hands to dig through, move at a pitiful speed of 5 feet per minute and then only through soft soil. Those who use tools or digging spells, can travel faster—but not by much. If you can’t learn to earthglide like a local (and few can), then I recommend visitors to use tunnels, magic or hire an elemental guard, some of whom can impart their earthglide ability to those why they travel with. A warning though, if you’re not used to it, the feeling is like a cross between being dragged through a hedge backwards and breathing sand. It won’t harm you, but until you get used to it, it certainly feels like it should.

PRESSURE: Speaking of tunnels, there is one thing many newcomers don’t realise. The Anvil heals any wounds it receives. Very slowly, over the course of weeks, months or even years, caves and corridors seal shut, as new layers of earth and stone, endlessly growing somewhere in the Deep Earth, push at its walls. If a creature finds itself entombed within the earth, for example if it falls asleep in a narrow passageway, they will taste the crushing power of this pressure—though more often than not they end up suffocating way before that.

Solid objects that have been fully compressed by earth slowly become one with it. Sand becomes sandstone, wood becomes coal, and bones fossilise. Many fossils have been unearthed during the exploration of the Anvil, some of them—still alive in a strange elementally-undead form. This sealing is why our plane did not become a network of endless holes and passageways. There are, however, ways to stop this process, both magical and mundane—by carving the walls in a special way. Elemental natives of the Anvil, especially weirds, often take great offence at this kind of blockage though, and must be appeased. However, there are certain, seemingly natural caves, that have existed as they are for many decades, if not millenia. They don’t shrink, and elementals generally steer clear of those places. The dark of such caves is yet to be revealed, but most of them are claimed by non-native creatures. Up Top is one such place, and I’ll tell you more about there soon enough.

GRAVITY: In the tunnels and caves weaving through the Plane of Earth, the gravity pulls creatures towards the walls, whichever direction they face. Thus, creatures don’t have to worry about losing orientation or falling into the fissure—they can literally walk upside down around the circumference of the tunnel. It takes practise to do it elegantly, mind. And a strong stomach.

However, in some regions the gravity can be changed—either artificially or naturally. It can suddenly become directional (potentially causing cave-ins), weaker (like in the Aviary) or stronger (especially in the deeper reaches of the plane). On the border with the plane of Dust, the gravity pulls towards the Plane of Earth, allowing creatures to stand. Creatures who can glide through earth, like earth elementals and dao, are not affected by gravity while moving around in solid earth, and can move in any direction.

VISION: Unlike the other three basic Elemental Planes, the Plane of Earth doesn’t produce its own natural light. With the exception of the occasional glowing mushroom or fluorescent mineral, the tunnels, caverns and solid rock is absolutely dark. Fortunately, torches are enough to provide illumination. Unfortunately, torches consume air, which is precious enough already. Creatures with darkvision will find it functions well enough in open spaces like caves, but even they can’t see through solid matter, if they wish to travel by earth gliding. At the same time, tremorsense and other versions of blindsight work perfectly throughout the plane—in fact their range is doubled compared with the Prime, due to how vibrations interact with powerful energies of the elemental earth. But even users of those senses should beware—sound travels very far here, and berks who rely on sonic vibrations to ‘see’ too much risk awakening something very unfriendly.

EARTHQUAKES: While the Elemental Plane of Earth may seem unchanging, it does in fact seethe with invisible energy. Most of the time it’s a slow inexorable crawl of the titanic layers of stone, but sometimes this crawl becomes a sudden jump. Earthquakes happen frequently in the Anvil. Often they are merely a small tremor, but sometimes they can be catastrophic, even fracturing the fabric of the plane. We races of stone know to use protective magic to calm the earth in these moments.

Regions of Earth

• Core Earth
  • Great Dismal Delve
  • Great Rift
  • Sediments, the ‡
  • Up Top ‡
• Furnaces (border with Magma)
• Mud Hills (border with Ooze)
• Protolith, the (Deep Earth) ‡
• Sandstones (border with Dust)
• Unnamed Border (border with Mineral)

Read more here: Borders of Earth

What’s Where in the Anvil

• Aviary, the (site)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p38
• Buhayrat al-Naar (burg in the Furnaces, formerly Lavaloch) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p89
• Black Palace, the (site)
  • Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p27
• Blistering Labyrinth (realm of Ayrzul, in the Furnace) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p88
• Caverns Under the Stars, the (realm of Geb)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p36,38; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p88,173
• Citrinide (cavern in Up Top) †
  • Topallah (burg)
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p89
• Darrai Sei Rosani (the Valley of Light) (region)
  • Dungeon Magazine #144 p69-70,72,79
• Deadground, the (site in Sandstones) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p88-89
• Deathdelve (site)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p13
• Echolost
  • Earthpool (site)
  • Node of the Eartheurge (site)
  • Wall of Echoes (site)
  • Planar Handbook [3e] p168-169
• Emergent Facet (realm of Sairazul) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p93
• Fiery Cascade (stronghold of the dao)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p35
• Fortress of Azeraak (site)
  • Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p27
• Goldhive (mining burg in the Unnamed Border) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p90
• Great Dismal Delve, the (realm of the dao)
  • Hidden Fulcrum (site)
  • Free Market (site)
  • Sevenfold Mazework, the (site)
  • Dragon Magazine #347 p36; Inner Planes [2e] p35,38-39; Manual of the Planes [3e] p71-72,172; Planes of Law [2e] Acheron p23, Player’s Guide p11; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p29; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p27
• Great Mountain (realm of Grumbar)
  • On Hallowed Ground [2e] p181
• Great Rift (region)
  • Planes of Chaos [2e] Abyss Poster
• Iron Crucible (planar vortex to Fire)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p39; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p29
• Moaning Diamond (site, former prison of Sairazul) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p93
• Opaline Vault, the Rainbow Metropolis (burg in the Furnaces) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p90
• Pale River (planar vortex to Water)
  • Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p29
• Rianttyr Na-Mecas (city of humans)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p39
• Sandfall (realm of Sunnis)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p37; Dragon Magazine #353 p48; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. III [2e] p21
• Saline Sarcophagus (site in Mud Hills, vortex to Salt) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p89
• Somnisphere (site in the Great Rift) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p90
• Stonemire (realm of Ogremoch)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p31,37; Dragon Magazine #347 p36; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. III [2e] p17
• Stonetide (burg in Mud Hills) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p91
• Totholia (city of dwarves and gnomes)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p39
• Up Top (region) ‡

Denizens of Earth

• Flora of Earth
• Bestiary of Earth

Powers of Earth

• Azyrul the Fossilized King (earth primordial of bone, buried secrets, radiation) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p92
• Geb (Egyptian power of the dry earth)
  • Deities and Demigods [3e] p135,148,151; Inner Planes [2e] p26,36,38; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p84,86,88,90-91,173
• Grumbar (earth elemental power of rock, stone)
  • Dragon Magazine #347 p29; Inner Planes [2e] p36; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p53,181; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p29
• Nivi Rhombodazzle (gnomish power of gemstones and chance) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p91
• Ogremoch (archomental of elemental evil)
  • Dragon Magazine #347 p30,32,34-36,39,41; #353 p48; Inner Planes [2e] p30,34,36-37,75; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p53; Planescape Monstrous COmpendium Appendix III [2e] p7-8,16-18,21,34; Monster Manual IV [3e] p7-9
• Sairazul the Crystalline Queen (earth primordial of earth’s bounty, caves, fertility, gems) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p93
• Sunnis (archomental of elemental good)
  • Dragon Magazine #347 p36; #353 p43,46-49; Inner Planes [2e] p34,36-37

Earth Shakers and Movers

• al-Zalazil, Kabril Ali al-Sara (Great Khan of the Dao)
  • Inner Planes [2e] p38-39; Manual of the Planes [3e] p173; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p29
• Amchromis (crystal dragon ruler of Amchromis) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p89
• Ashadieeyah bint Khalid (Sultana of the Jabali) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p88
• Azeraak (earth elementalist wizard)
  • Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p27
• Brajeti (ruvoka clan)
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p90
• Claudliplude XII (King of the Xorns)
  • Dungeon Magazine #144 p74-76
• Eartheurge (earth elemental sorceror)
  • Planar Handbook [3e] p169
• Farah abd Aziz (jabali) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p93
• Jaram (jabali philosopher) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p88
• Kaylef (dwarf fighter-priest proxy of Ogremoch [he/him])
  • Dragon Magazine #347 p36; Inner Planes [2e] p37
• Mauz, Bicai (planar earth genasi)
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. III p123; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p73
• Rav (planar dao [he/him] / NE)
  • Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p62-63,72-73
• Rezthyrian (ancient dragon) †
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p93
• Tiv (planar shad [any pronouns])
  • Inner Planes [2e] p30-39
• Xio, Xanxel (Great Khan of the Dao)
  • Dungeon Magazine #144 p69
• Zanvadir (planar oread gnome cleric of Nivi Rhombodazzle [she/her] / N)

Hazards of Earth

• Ghost Tunnels
• Rock Rot
  • Dragon Magazine #347 p47

Canonical Sources: Dead Gods [2e] p86; Dragon Magazine #008 p4; #347 p36,42,45-48; #353 p48-49; #357 p54; Dungeon Magazine #144 p69; Guide to the Ethereal Plane [2e] p17,20,87; Inner Planes [2e] p6,8-10,12-13,18,30-39,41,46,72,77,80,96,98,114,116,120; In the Cage [2e] p10; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. I [2e] p50,128; Vol. III p7-8,17,21,26,34-35,38,46,54-55,90,96-97,106-107,122; Monster Manual II [3e] p88,108,115,181; Monster Manual III [3e] p78-79; Monster Manual IV [3e] p9; Monster Manual IV [3e] p70-71; Manual of the Planes [3e] p70-74,138,172,182,192-193; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p53,88,173; Planar Handbook [3e] p38,77,80,168; Planes of Law [2e] Acheron p23; Player’s Guide p11; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p12,26-27,29-34,36,38; Player’s Guide p5; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p25,27-29,39,42,47,54,117; Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p72

Source: Margarita, Jon Winter-Holt