Great Wheel cosmology Great Wheel is the cosmology model in which the world of Toril was said to exist during the first and second editions of the " Advanced Dungeons & Dragons " game , although the actual term " Great Wheel " didn ' t mean the cosmology as a whole until the 3rd edition of the " D & D " game and its " Manual of the Planes 3rd edition " . In second edition , " Great Wheel " or " Great Ring " meant the Outer planes only . The cosmology as a whole didn ' t require a name other than " the Planes " or " the Multiverse , " as there weren ' t any formally named alternatives in the " AD & D " game . Ed Greenwood created the Faerûnian pantheon by choosing deities from the first edition " Deities & Demigods " book , sometimes renaming and modifying them , with the aim of ending up with one deity for every Outer plane or Outer planar layer in what we now call the Great Wheel cosmology . In this sense , the Faerûnian pantheon was created with the Great Wheel in mind . As it was described in first and second edition , the Great Wheel was a complex , comparatively cosmopolitan place in which the gods of many worlds and pantheons mingled , the beliefs of many faiths and peoples bleeding together in a set of Outer planes shaped predominantly by the polar forces of Law , Chaos , Good , and Evil . Thus it was that Lliira and the Greek goddess Hecate could feud over the love of the Sumerian god Enki and work at a pleasure palace operated by the Aztec gods Xochipilli and Tlazoteotl . That was in first edition , long before the debut of the Planescape Campaign Setting in 1994 , which offered alternative names for many of the planes . " On Hallowed Ground " noted a number of alliances between the gods of Toril and those of other worlds , for example between the original Mystra and Wee Jas of . In the novel " Tymora ' s Luck " , a plot by a god of Toril ends up involving the gods of . In 3rd edition , the Forgotten Realms cosmology was , with the World Tree cosmology replacing the Great Wheel . No in - game explanation was given for the change , which shifted the realms of many deities around to group them by pantheon or theme rather than alignment . Nonetheless , planes of the Great Wheel continued to receive mentions in official products . For example , in " Sacrifice of the Widow " , Cavatina Xarann tells that Vhaeraun ' s realm is in Carceri ( Tarterus ) and Eilistraee lives in Svartalfheim . The Player ' s Guide to Faerûn still uses the terms Inner and Outer planes even though they are no longer thought of as concentric spheres . Basic Structure . While the precise details of the Great Wheel cosmology changed to various extents throughout the first , second , third , and fourth editions of the game , as described in second edition it consists of a series of somewhat concentric spheres . In the center were the Prime Material Plane s ( Earth - like alternative worlds ) each surrounded by an Ethereal plane ( misty realms of proto - matter ) . Outside of the Primes and Ethereals were the Inner plane s , also called the Elemental plane s , which had their own structure based on a sphere . Then came the Astral plane which connected the Prime Material planes to each other ( bypassing the Ethereal planes ) and also to the last sphere , the Outer plane s . The Outer planes , also called the Planes of Power , were 16 planes arranged in a circle ( the Great Wheel ) defined mainly by alignment and surrounding a 17th neutral plane known as Concordant Opposition . The Inner planes were the six major elemental planes ( Fire , Earth , Water , Air , Positive Energy , Negative Energy ) , the four para - elemental planes ( Smoke , Ice , Ooze , Magma ) , and the eight quasi - elemental planes ( Lightning , Steam , Radiance , Minerals , Vacuum , Salt , Ash , Dust ) . They can be thought of as being on the surface of a sphere with Positive Energy at the north pole , Negative Energy at the south pole and Fire , Earth , Water , and Air on the equator , equidistant from each other . The para - elemental planes were found on the equator between the boundaries of Fire , Earth , Water and Air ( Magma was between Fire and Earth , for example ) . Four of the quasi - elemental planes were found between the boundaries of Positive Energy and the four elements ( Steam was between Positive Energy and Water , for example ) . And the other four quasi - elemental planes were between Negative Energy and the four elements ( Vacuum was between Negative Energy and Air , for example ) . The Inner planes were surrounded by the Ethereal plane s , which connected them to the Prime Material planes . Demi - plane s , in second edition , were planes of finite extent found within an Ethereal plane . They may have been the creations of extremely powerful wizard s , technologist s , or demigod s or they may have been created when a large glob of proto - matter began to pull away from its Ethereal plane and achieved separation . Demi - planes might eventually collapse in on themselves , re - merge with its parent Ethereal , or merge with an Inner plane or Prime Material plane . Each demi - plane had its own rules regarding gravity , vision , magic , and material make - up . The Prime Material Plane touched both the Astral plane and its Ethereal plane , though these planes in the second edition cosmology did not touch one another . In 1994 the " Planescape " setting collapsed the alternate Prime Material planes into a single plane consisting of the countless crystal spheres of the Spelljammer setting , star - studded orbs that each contained a planetary system . Crystal spheres included Realmspace , which contained the " Forgotten Realms " setting ; Greyspace , which contained the " Greyhawk " setting , and Krynnspace , which contained the " Dragonlance " setting . The spheres were surrounded by the Phlogiston , a many - colored chaos that was considered beyond the power of the gods . Ethereal Planes . In the Great Wheel model each Prime Material plane had its own Ethereal plane in which nothing was solid , including living creatures , their possessions , weapons and armor . All metal became ethereal metal , flesh became ethereal flesh , stone to ethereal stone , etc . The Ethereal touched its Prime at all points and bound it to the Inner planes but the connections were not abrupt transitions like to / from the Astral plane but rather a gradual process in what was called the Border Ethereal . If you consider the Ethereal to be an ocean , a person in the Border Ethereal would be standing in the surf near the shore , invisible to those on land but able to see them and their surroundings dimly . One could travel along the shore , staying in the surf , and step back on land at some other point , or move away from the shore toward the Deep Ethereal . A " curtain of vaporous color " marked the transition between the Border Ethereal and the Deep Ethereal and each plane had its own color . After traversing the Deep Ethereal and reaching the curtain of the correct color , you would pass through to the Border Ethereal of your destination plane . By use of magic ( or the natural ability that some creatures were thought to have , like phase spider s ) one could fade into the Ethereal and travel at will . Gravity gave a sense of up and down , but movement in any direction was equally easy and objects released hovered in place . The proto - matter swirling about the Ethereal plane could be used to create demi - plane s , either through natural fluctuations in the medium or by the actions of powerful beings . The known Demi - plane s at the time were the Demi - Plane of Shadow , the Demi - Plane of Time , the Demi - Plane of Electro - Magnetism and the possibly legendary Demi - Plane of Imprisonment . Astral Plane . The Astral plane was described as infinite nothingness interrupted only by small islands of material that broke off from their native planes and occasional spinning columns of astral conduits ( called " wormholes " or " gates " and resembling water spouts from a storm at sea ) . The Astral plane connected the various Prime Material Plane s with each other and to the first layers of all the Outer planes . Travel in the Astral was usually accomplished by spell , psionics , device , or " color pool " and involved leaving your physical body behind while your astral self traveled to your destination . During this transit , a nearly unbreakable silver cord connected your astral self back to your physical body . When you arrived at another plane , a new physical body manifested out of local materials . Wormholes linked specific places in the Outer planes to each other and to fixed locations in the Primes — quicker but likely more dangerous because your physical body was transported directly to a terminus that might be inhospitable or guarded . Outer Planes . The Outer planes were organized according to alignment , which is most easily visualized as a wheel with spokes radiating from the center of true neutrality . In the diagram below , planes associated with Good ( sometimes called the Upper planes ) are found above the line running from Nirvana to Limbo , and Evil - associated planes ( sometimes called the Lower planes ) are below . Planes associated with Law are found to the left of the line running from Elysium to Hades , and Chaos - associated planes to the right . Many of the Outer planes were divided into layers — infinite sub - regions that metaphysically overlaped the other layers of the same plane . Inner Planes . The four elemental planes , Air , Fire , Earth , and Water , plus the two energy planes , Positive Energy and Negative Energy , made up the six major Inner planes . Between each pair of adjacent elemental planes was a para - elemental plane . The eight quasi - elemental planes were found between the four elemental planes and the two energy planes . The four para - and eight quasi - elemental planes add up to twelve minor planes for a total of eighteen Inner planes . Each plane was made up of primarily one type of matter but pieces of other Inner planes may have found their way in ( or been brought in by powerful forces ) . One thing all Inner planes had in common was they were all hostile to lifeforms from outside , particularly the Prime Material Plane s .