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:  13772
Title: a book entitled "Magus Novum I: The Planes"

The universe is vast and diverse in its composition. One of its chief
features is known as the Proximity Principle, which can be summed up as
follows:

"The closer you get to any given point in the universe, the more like that
point surrounding space becomes. Therefore, the farther you get from any
given point in the universe, the less like that point the surrounding space
becomes."

Some of the laws governing matter and magic are subtly different in the
distant corners of the universe. This change in laws is gradual from point to
point, however the composition of space can often abruptly and radically
change, as surely as the surface of a blazing star is different from the
frigid void that surrounds it. Because the laws are different and the
universe is huge, distant locations can have vastly different compositions.
These regions of differing composition are sometimes referred to as  "planes"
or, less accurately, "alternate dimensions".

A number of these planes have largely homogenous compositions. They are known
as the elemental planes. There are several elemental planes known to exist:

The elemental plane of air
The elemental plane of fire
The elemental plane of cold
The elemental plane of water
The elemental plane of earth
The elemental plane of crystal
The elemental plane of darkness

Other planes are as diverse and complex as this world, though with vastly
different natures. These include the several known Demon Realms and the
nearby worlds of Chaos, the Nightmare Realm as well as the far-flung Realms
of Light from which angels hail. The world of Alter Aeon is sometimes
referred to as the Prime Material Plane.

Some distant places, while incredibly far from the world of Alter Aeon, are
in fact very close on the scale of universe. While having alien environments,
they are, like this world, massive rocky spheres orbiting distant stars,
obeying known physical laws. These worlds are sometimes mistakenly identified
as planes. Known worlds include the Fire World of Khinzhai, the Ice World and
the World of No Magic.

Normally, accessing the planes would be impossible, for they are too far away
to travel to through any conventional method. The founding principle of
the mage's art is finding the faults and ripples within the fabric of the
universe. These faults can be manipulated to draw forth and shape materials,
creating effects ranging from balls of fire to walls of ice to iron-hard
force fields. Supremely talented mages can even teleport themselves across
continents, create two-way portals or summon elemental creatures  from
distant planes and bow them to their will.