The existence of Elysium is seen by many a planar theoretician as proof of a mulitversal law of equipose. The existence of Hades by this way of thinking requires an Elysium--or vice versa--for the sake of balance. While Hades leeches everything of meaning and embodies a sense of hopeless, Elysium is pervaded by a sense of contentment and quiet joy, absent from considerations of the past or future of the cosmos. It is the middle ground between the transcendence of self of the Holy Mountain and the pursuit of absolute freedom and sensate pleasure of Arborea.
The theriocephalic guardinals may appear fierce on other planes but in Elysium they are more gentle of mein. They are mostly content to observe, only occasionally engaging visitors in conversation. In general, there is less conversation in Elysium than elsewhere; people are content merely to be.
To the sages and seekers of the Holy Mountain, the tranquil meadows and forests of Elysium are actually another trial. If one can forsake personal contentment in the name of restoring the Godhead and Unity, then one may be worthy to see the summit of the Mountain, though of course, this may take life times.
The waters of the streams and limpid pools of Elysium are veritable liquid balms to the soul. Small vials go for high prices on material worlds where they are employed as nostrums and curatives. In the lower planes, such liquid is even more potent, though its mere possession may cause something akin to an immune response from reality itself and bring unwanted attention upon the possessor.
Acquiring waters for resale isn't as easy as it might appear. Elysium resists. Not in any violent way, but its nature contrives to lull visitors into its calm and contentment. Previous goals may come to seem less worthwhile or completely useless.
5 comments:
Love it. I wonder why guardinals get mean on less relaxed planes. Maybe there's an irritation that ultimately gets on their nerves and the manifestation ultimately degenerates.
But thinking about elysian waters finding their way into the possession of lower plane peons makes me think of Himon's mission to teach the children of the armagetto how to build their own mother boxes and so acquire a kind of immune response against their awful day-to-day reality. Not saying that's your intent here but now I wonder if this is planescape New Genesis, a kind of idyllic supertown where nothing ever happens and that's a profound relief.
Regarding the guardinals I think something like that is likely the case. Were they stay too long somewhere else in a different emotional ambience, they would become something else.
The New Gods mythos has definitely been on my mind some when writing these, though I hadn't thought of that specific angle!
I wonder if Elysium (the plane itself) makes it easier to export its waters if the people doing it are working toward a good cause - fighting some kind of psychic plague or hellish opponent on the prime plane, for ex. I also wonder if con artists might recruit naive do-gooders to go retrieve said waters by lying about their motivations and then divert the stuff to more profitable and less noble purposes.
I think those are both sound suppositions!
I'm loving this tour or the multiverse!
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https://jonbupp.wordpress.com/for-dungeon-masters/multiverse/outer-planes/
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