Pandemonium

Pandemonium, formally known as the Ever-Changing Chaos of Pandemonium, is the plane of Chaotic Neutrality among the Outer Planes.

It is a realm of mutable matter, shifting landscapes, powerful currents, and forms whose permanence can rarely be taken for granted. Vast bodies of rock drift alongside elemental concentrations, suspended waters, fragments of forests and other terrain, clouds of gas, and stranger formations produced by the plane's continual change.

Pandemonium has no formal layers. Its known regions extend in every direction around a single fixed feature known as the Stillpoint, giving the plane a broadly spherical arrangement despite the absence of any known outer boundary.

Broadly speaking, the outer reaches are more stable than the regions nearer the Stillpoint. This is not a precise division, and chaos tides or wandering formations can disrupt otherwise persistent regions, but the plane generally becomes more mutable as one travels inward.

Structure and Environment

Pandemonium has no consistent division between land, sea, and sky.

Some regions consist almost entirely of open space filled with drifting matter. Forested fragments, rivers, masses of stone, pools of water, pockets of flame, clouds, and pieces of unfamiliar terrain can exist independently of any larger landscape.

Elsewhere, enormous bodies known as Great Masses remain coherent for centuries or longer. Some stretch for hundreds or thousands of miles and support mountains, valleys, rivers, ecosystems, settlements, and extensive cavern systems.

Even these regions are not entirely permanent. Great Masses move through the plane, gradually change course, fracture into smaller bodies, or occasionally collide with one another.

Many large formations follow broad curved paths around the Stillpoint. For this reason, planar charts usually depict Pandemonium as an immense three-dimensional sphere centered upon it, though no edge or enclosing boundary has ever been found.

The Stillpoint

The Stillpoint is the most stable known feature of Pandemonium.

It appears as an immense, perfectly dark sphere suspended within the plane. Its surface reflects no visible light, and attempts to determine its exact size or composition have produced inconsistent results.

The surrounding regions are among the most unstable in Pandemonium.

Streams of elemental substance, shattered terrain, clouds of debris, and even entire Great Masses can be drawn into long curved trajectories around the Stillpoint. Some remain caught in these movements for centuries before eventually breaking away.

The Stillpoint itself has never been observed to move, change, or react to anything around it.

Planar scholars generally describe it as a singularity within the structure of Pandemonium, though its nature remains unexplained.

Among petitioners of Pandemonium, the Stillpoint is also associated with final union with the plane. Those who willingly seek such an end allow themselves to drift into its depths and do not return. This is a deliberate act rather than an ordinary danger of approaching the Stillpoint.

The slaadi are closely associated with the turbulent regions surrounding it. Some are believed to emerge directly from mutable matter found there, though slaadi also reproduce through other means.

Mutable Matter

Matter throughout Pandemonium exists at different degrees of stability.

Some formations remain recognizable for generations. Others change rapidly as stone softens into liquid, elemental concentrations separate or combine, land breaks apart, or existing structures settle into new forms.

Sentient creatures can influence particularly unstable matter through concentration and force of will.

Small amounts can be shaped into temporary ground, shelter, barriers, simple structures, or other useful forms. Larger changes require greater effort, cooperation, specialized techniques, or unusually powerful individuals.

The resulting forms can persist for some time, particularly when repeatedly reinforced.

Petitioners who spend long periods within Pandemonium often become increasingly adept at shaping both mutable matter and their own planar forms. These abilities remain matters of intent rather than uncontrolled mutation.

Settlements therefore exist throughout Pandemonium wherever inhabitants have found sufficiently stable terrain or developed reliable methods of maintaining it.

Chaos Tides

Periods of heightened planar instability are commonly known as chaos tides.

During a tide, drifting formations may accelerate, mutable matter becomes more active, local gravity can fluctuate, and structures that have remained stable for years may begin to fracture or change.

Chaos tides vary greatly in scale.

Some affect a single cavern or drifting formation for a few hours. Others pass through enormous regions and alter routes used for generations.

Their arrival is not always completely without warning. Experienced inhabitants recognize changes in planar currents, gravity, wind, and the behavior of unstable matter that can indicate an approaching tide.

The Kezharin have developed particularly extensive methods for observing and recording these patterns.

Gravity

Pandemonium has no universal direction of gravity.

Large solid bodies generate their own local pull. Creatures standing upon a Great Mass are drawn toward its surface in much the same way they would be on ordinary ground.

Inside large caverns, gravity commonly pulls outward toward the surrounding stone. Floors, walls, and ceilings can therefore all serve as ground depending on where a traveler stands.

Water follows the same local conditions. Rivers can cross cavern walls or ceilings before descending toward another surface.

Gravity becomes much weaker between solid formations.

Objects moving through the open reaches tend to continue along their existing momentum until another force alters their course. Flight, magic, anchored lines, or some other means of propulsion are therefore essential in many regions.

The Great Masses

The largest stable formations in Pandemonium are known collectively as the Great Masses.

Some are little more than enormous bodies of stone. Others support forests, grasslands, mountains, lakes, settlements, or unusual combinations of terrain drawn together over long periods.

Their movement is usually slow enough that generations can live upon the same mass without witnessing a major change in its surroundings.

Over longer periods, however, their routes can carry them into entirely different regions of the plane.

Some settlements maintain relationships with communities on neighboring masses whose paths regularly bring them close together. Others may lose contact for decades when their respective routes begin to diverge.

Many petitioners first arrive among these more stable regions, where established settlements and persistent terrain provide a comparatively manageable beginning to their afterlife.

The largest Great Masses also contain the cavern systems for which Pandemonium is widely known.

The Howling Caverns

Caverns within the Great Masses can reach extraordinary dimensions.

Some chambers stretch for hundreds of miles, while tunnel systems branch through enormous volumes of stone.

Powerful winds move constantly through many of these passages.

In quieter regions they produce a persistent low roar. Elsewhere they become strong enough to extinguish ordinary flames, throw travelers from their footing, or carry unsecured creatures through the tunnels.

Sound travels remarkable distances along these currents.

Shouts, impacts, animal calls, and other noises can be carried far beyond their source before becoming lost among the greater roar of the caverns.

The loudest passages can damage unprotected hearing and make ordinary conversation nearly impossible.

Settlements exist within more stable portions of the cavern systems, particularly where the winds follow dependable patterns or can be redirected through constructed barriers and channels.

Movement and Travel

Travel through Pandemonium depends heavily upon the region being crossed.

Great Masses can often be traversed through ordinary overland travel, though their scale can make journeys considerably longer than they first appear.

The open reaches are much more difficult.

Travelers must account for momentum, moving destinations, local currents, changing gravity, and the possibility that the terrain they intend to reach may no longer occupy the same relative position.

Travel toward the Stillpoint generally leads into increasingly unstable regions. Experienced inhabitants and petitioners sometimes make such journeys deliberately, seeking environments where matter responds more readily to will, though doing so is never necessary for life within the plane.

Long-distance navigation relies on persistent landmarks, recorded currents, portal cycles, the movement of major Great Masses, and the Stillpoint.

Maps of Pandemonium frequently include dates, projected movements, environmental conditions, and several possible routes.

A chart that was accurate twenty years earlier may remain useful, but rarely without adjustment.

Connections to Other Planes

Pandemonium can be reached through the Astral Plane and through established planar portals.

Permanent crossings exist near some settlements and Great Masses, while others are anchored to formations that continue moving through the plane.

A portal can therefore remain entirely functional while its location relative to other landmarks changes considerably.

Connections to the Outlands are among the best documented.

Other portals lead to neighboring Outer Planes or more distant destinations, though some become accessible only when particular formations or planar conditions align.

The changing position of these crossings has made Kezharin navigators and other experienced local guides valuable to planar travelers.

Inhabitants

Pandemonium supports a varied population of native creatures, petitioners, and settled peoples.

Slaadi are among its best-known inhabitants and are particularly numerous in the regions surrounding the Stillpoint.

The Kezharin are another people native to Pandemonium. Their communities are concentrated primarily on Great Masses, within stable cavern regions, and around routes where several persistent currents regularly intersect.

Petitioners are most commonly encountered in the more stable outer reaches, though experienced individuals may travel or settle considerably closer to the Stillpoint. Over long periods, their planar bodies become increasingly responsive to conscious choice, allowing them to alter their appearance without losing their underlying identity.

Some petitioners eventually undergo a voluntary transformation into crystalline planar beings known as Shardminds.

Howlers inhabit many of the deeper cavern systems, while rare howling dragons occupy some of the largest tunnels and remote Great Masses.

Other native life includes morphic creatures adapted to changing environmental conditions, as well as predators capable of using unstable matter to conceal themselves or move through otherwise difficult terrain.

Communities founded by outsiders can also be found throughout the plane. Freeholds, trading posts, monasteries, research settlements, isolated fortresses, and independent communities occupy regions stable enough to support them.

No single authority governs Pandemonium.

Shardminds

Shardminds are crystalline planar beings associated with Pandemonium, some of whom arise when mortal petitioners voluntarily pass into a fully planar state.

Each possesses a stable central core surrounded by numerous independent crystalline fragments. The shape, color, size, and structure of both the core and surrounding shards vary considerably between individuals.

Most Shardminds retain broadly humanoid configurations, particularly when interacting with mortal peoples, though no single arrangement is required. Some possess unusual proportions, additional limbs, pronounced asymmetry, widely separated fragments, or other configurations reflecting individual preference.

Their bodies are held together by will rather than conventional anatomy.

A Shardmind can separate, rotate, and rearrange its component shards to form a new configuration without becoming shapeless or losing its recognizable crystalline nature. Once chosen, a form can remain completely stable for as long as the Shardmind desires.

No two Shardminds need arrange themselves alike, and no configuration represents a final or perfected form.

They are also exceptionally capable of influencing Pandemonium's mutable matter. Older and more experienced Shardminds can shape and maintain increasingly substantial structures or environments through concentration, though their abilities vary greatly between individuals.

There is no fixed hierarchy of Shardmind forms. Individual beings may grow greatly in experience and power without passing through prescribed stages of transformation.

Slaadi

Slaadi are closely associated with Pandemonium's mutable nature.

Their bodies vary considerably, and transformation plays an important role throughout their lives. Most belong to recognizable forms, though age, unusual environments, and repeated changes can produce increasingly individual characteristics.

Their societies rarely maintain lasting centralized institutions.

Slaadi may gather around particular locations, powerful individuals, common interests, or temporary goals before dispersing when circumstances change.

Some inhabit the regions around the Stillpoint for generations, while others wander throughout Pandemonium or travel beyond the plane.

Exceptionally ancient and powerful slaadi are sometimes known as Slaad Lords.

The title carries no formal authority and has no divine significance. A Slaad Lord is simply a slaad whose age, power, and accumulated transformations have made it a singular being that no longer fits comfortably into the ordinary forms of its kind.

Some attract followers or control territories. Others remain solitary.

No recognized hierarchy exists among them.

The Kezharin

The Kezharin are a small people native to Pandemonium, recognizable by their large ears and eyes, compact builds, and patches of short fur along the face and limbs.

They are particularly skilled at navigating moving terrain, changing gravity, unstable portals, and the large-scale currents that carry matter through the plane.

Kezharin communities place considerable value on observation, experimentation, engineering, and practical problem solving.

Their charts frequently record movement and timing alongside location. A Kezharin navigator may be interested in where a Great Mass will pass several weeks from now, how a portal's position changes during a chaos tide, or when two distant routes are expected to intersect.

Their settlements are built with the same expectation of change.

Bridges rotate or detach, platforms can be repositioned, structures are anchored against changing gravity, and entire sections of a settlement may be moved when surrounding conditions demand it.

Kezharin rarely attempt to make Pandemonium permanently stable. Their methods are intended to allow communities to continue functioning as the plane changes around them.

Native Creatures

Pandemonium supports forms of life adapted to conditions that would make survival difficult elsewhere.

Howlers are particularly common within the cavern systems. They travel in packs and use powerful calls to communicate and hunt through regions where ordinary sight can be unreliable.

Howling dragons are much rarer. These great predators possess senses and abilities adapted to the winds and acoustics of the largest caverns, and some establish territories spanning enormous sections of a Great Mass.

Other predators have learned to exploit Pandemonium's mutable matter.

Some stalkers instinctively shape nearby unstable material around themselves, allowing their bodies to blend with stone, liquid, debris, or other surrounding substances while approaching prey.

Chaos beasts possess naturally morphic bodies capable of adjusting to different environments. Their forms may change as they move between rocky terrain, open currents, elemental regions, or other unstable surroundings.

These adaptations affect the creatures themselves and are a natural part of Pandemonium's ecology.

Settlements and Freeholds

Permanent settlement is possible wherever sufficient stability can be maintained.

Some communities occupy naturally persistent regions. Others rely upon architecture, magic, collective shaping, or continual maintenance.

Pandemonian settlements vary enormously.

A town may occupy the inner surface of a vast cavern, a fortress may be built across several connected fragments, or an entire community may travel upon a Great Mass as it moves through the plane.

Independent freeholds are especially common.

Their governments range from councils and elected leaders to hereditary rulers, communal agreements, guilds, or systems developed for a single settlement's circumstances.

Few institutions possess authority beyond the territories that recognize them.

Natural Hazards

Pandemonium can be extremely dangerous to unprepared travelers.

Unstable terrain can fracture, Great Masses can collide, and chaos tides may render familiar routes unusable.

Open regions present the danger of uncontrolled movement when no stable surface is nearby.

Elemental concentrations can also create sudden local hazards when previously separated substances meet or when a stable environment changes.

The Howling Caverns add violent winds, intense noise, unusual gravity, darkness, and predators adapted specifically to those conditions.

Navigation remains one of the plane's greatest long-term difficulties.

Survival

Survival requirements vary greatly between regions.

Great Masses and established enclaves can support ordinary mortal life, including agriculture, stored water, permanent buildings, and long-lived settlements.

Travel through open Pandemonium requires reliable propulsion, anchoring equipment, and some means of locating moving destinations.

The Howling Caverns require dependable light, protection from excessive noise, and preparation for powerful winds.

Food and water should be carried whenever travelers expect to spend significant time away from settled regions.

Experienced travelers rarely depend upon a single planned route. In Pandemonium, successful journeys depend as much upon knowing when to change course as knowing where one intended to go.