Alter Aeon The Great Library

Welcome to the Alter Aeon Historical Archive!

Note - as with any topic, researchers should question the reliability
and veracity of these texts.  The library's aim is to preserve
documents, not verify accuracy.

AABN:  10523
Title: a book entitled, 'An Overview of the Pure Elemental Planes, Volume 1'

The title of this hard-covered book is gilded in gold lettering on the
front cover.

An Overview of the Pure Elemental Planes, Volume One

by Rephinati, high priest of Xandar

A summary of the information presented therein can be found in the table of
contents.  It reads as follows:

Chapter 1.  Pure Elemental Planes vs. Border Elemental Planes

Pure elemental planes are far removed from Alter Aeon.  The physics of pure
elemental planes are so different than the prime material plane that matter
from the material plane simply cannot exist there, unlike border elemental
planes which can support matter from the prime material plane (although may
not supply basic necessities such as air or food).  Each pure elemental
plane has a border elemental plane between it and the prime material plane
which serve as transitions between the two planes.  Like matter from the
prime material plane, matter from border material planes cannot be conjured
via evocation magic.  Only matter from pure elemental planes can be
conjured in this fashion.

Examples of border elemental planes are the plane of water (which borders
the ice plane), the plane of air (which borders the lightning plane), the
plane of earth (which borders the crystalline plane).

Chapter 2.  The Plane of Fire

The fire plane is the elemental plane most easily accessible via evocation
magic.  Thus, it the plane most frequently accessed by mage spellcasters.

The fire plane is also the most well-studied and charted of the pure
elemental planes, largely thanks to the Fire Plane Invasion of 640 RD.  The
god of fire, Shadowfax, supplied groups of adventurers the supernatural
means to actually enter and survive in the plane of fire, something that
cannot ordinarily be done.  Adventuring mages took advantage of the
situation to closely examine the nature of the plane while thus protected. 
This proved to be a boon to planar researchers, since such an opportunity
will likely never present itself again.

The plane of fire is an interstellar mass of low-density plasma.  The
plasma is warm but not hot.  When evocation magic is used to conjure
material from the fire plane for a spell, it summons a portion of this
plasma which instantly ignites upon contact with matter in the prime
material plane.

Chapter 3.  The Plane of Ice

The ice plane is the secondmost easily accessible elemental plane via
evocation magic.  Studies show that it appears to be a colossal mass of
low-density amorphous ice.

When this ice is conjured via an evocation spell, it compresses and becomes
more dense.  The ice remains amorphous, however, making it easily
distinguishable from naturally-occurring ice on Alter Aeon, which is
crystalline.

Chapter 4.  The Plane of Lightning

The plane of lightning is by-and-large a great deal like the plane of fire.
They may be adjacent to one another or even parts of the same interstellar
mass of plasma.  The difference between the two planes is that the plasma
in the lightning plane is highly ionized.

Thus, when this plasma is transported to the material plane via evocation,
it instantly reacts with the matter around it, manifesting as electricity.

Chapter 5.  The Plane of Crystal

The plane of crystal is believed to be a vast mass of low-temperature
silica.

When the silica is conjured to the prime material plane, it hardens and
crystalizes into the cloudy quartz-like forms that we are well-acquainted
with.  The formations of these crystals are hard to control, which is why
crystal is the most difficult pure element to master.