Inhabitants - Earth (TIP)

__TOC__
Many powerful and dangerous creatures share my home. An outsider who crosses them had better know what he faces, or he may find himself a permanent part of the unyielding stone around him.
==Elementals==
Most of the beings that dwell in the plane of Earth are, obviously, what outsiders call elementals. We shad call them the heartfolk. Usually, they are our allies, and we revere them as lords of the plane, for that is what they are. (The term "heartfolk" includes not only common elementals-those big, walking hunks of stone and earth that spellcasters love to unleash on their enemies-but also mephits, fundamentals, archomentals, pech, earth weirds, and the like.-the Editor)
Almost all heartfolk are of neutral alignment, and therefore peaceful and easy to live with-at least, from a shad's point of view. However, the influence of the great and mighty Sunnis and the terrible but equally mighty Ogremoch, the Princes of Elemental Good and Evil, constantly tempt them to act in ways contrary to their nature. Much to our chagrin, the heartfolk who serve these fanatical lords do not look or sound any different from those who stay on the neutral path.
When elemental creatures choose not to move, they generally blend in with the plane. After all, an earth elemental does not stand out when resting against a wall of stone and dirt. Thus, any such creature is effectively invisible so long as it remains motionless. In addition, these beings are immune to the effects of spells like earthquake or stone shape while in their own plane.
Most creatures native to the plane of Earth (as well as those of Magma, Ooze, Mineral, and Dust) have the ability to move effortlessly through the solid stone of the Anvil. This effect is similar to a passwall spell. In addition, they can extend this skill to any other creature that they are touching. In this way, a native guide can enable visitors to move swiftly indeed. We shad are not so blessed. We dig.
Most primes, I am told, generally perceive creatures of Elemental Earth to be slow and ponderous. This notion often grows into a belief that such beings think as slowly as they move. As usual, outsiders are ignorant of the truth. The reality is that the Anvil's natives live at a slower pace than the rest of the multiverse. We think in terms of years and centuries-not hours, days, and weeks. One can rest assured that anything we do will be well thought out and carefully considered.
==Animals==
Few animals live in the Elemental Plane of Earth. We shad have encountered only giant ants, many species of worms, moles, mice, and other burrowing creatures. Many originate from other planes.
==Monsters==
I have heard that wise adventurers around the multiverse agree that some of the most dangerous creatures one may encounter call the Elemental Plane of Earth home. These include such beings as xom, xaren, and galeb duhr. Though not always monsters in the sense that shad would use the word, such beings can be terrifying in combat if one is so foolish as to anger them.
Perhaps the most dangerous creatures of the Anvil, at least in terms of sheer destructiveness, are the hordes. These insectlike things swarm over the plane, destroying everything in their path. They are the enemies of all else that dwells in Earth, especially the kryst, a race of lawful good elementals.
Other monstrous creatures are found throughout the plane as well. Schools of khargra swim through the earth itself, often hunted by pech and chaggrin grue, as well as by my own people. Of course, when they do not hunt khargra, pech tribes often wage wars among themselves. These clashes may involve sandlings, earth weirds, and others.
==Dao==
The race known as the dao makes its home in the Elemental Plane of Earth. The dao live in huge cities that flaunt their great wealth and power. Curiously, the majority of the people who live in these places are not dao. Rather, they are slaves gathered from every comer of the multiverse.
Dao are evil creatures and meantempered in the extreme. They delight in the accumulation of wealth and care nothing for the harm and suffering this causes others.Proof of this can be seen in the opulence of their dwellings. Shad hate dao, for they capture and enslave us to put to work in their mines, cities, and homes. They even use us to help capture other slaves. Most shad slaves die in captivity, for we cannot take such a life for long. The dao do not care.
A great many dao citadels lie within the plane of Earth, each located at the heart of a vast mazework. The typical dao mazework is home to 4d10 dao and 8d10 slaves, most of whom are elementals or elemental-kin of some sort (but often include humans, dwarves, drow, gargoyles, goblins, gorgons, jann, minotaurs, umber hulks, and many, many more). At the head of these folk is a dao ataman or hetman, who is aided by a seneschal of great wisdom. Dao warriors often ride greater basilisks into battle and utilize xom, stone giant, and sandmen mercenaries.
Each mazework is associated with one or more elemental pockets, and the nature of that resource greatly affects the flavor of the place's architecture and life. A classic example of this is the Fiery Cascade. This stronghold is located between two pockets of elemental Fire, which have been tapped to create a vast, three-dimensional network of flaming moats. The technique proves most effective at keeping unwanted visitors out.
The dao live in a realm known as the Great Dismal Delve, which I shall describe later.
==Dwarven Races==
One should expect to find dwarves, gnomes, and the like in the Elemental Plane of Earth. There are those who say that dwarves originated here, but most agree that this is untrue. Even if the theory is false, these subterranean races are quite at home in the endless depths of the Anvil. They may even have coined that term for the plane.
If any dwarflike race clings to the plane of Earth more than the dwarves themselves, it is the svirfneblin, also called deep gnomes. These wise beings hold a tight alliance with the heartfolk and defend themselves (and even others) against the dao. My people enjoy the company of the svirfneblin, but I do not believe that they truly give us the respect that we give them. Still, they come to our aid if the need arises, for we have many mutual enemies.
Although the deep gnomes are thought by outsiders to keep their homes mainly on the Prime Material Plane, their secret is that their real cities are here-fabulous, gigantic complexes that rival even those of the dao (who resent them for it)
==Other Races==
Cyclopes and giants of all types live in secretive tribes or alone in the hidden caverns of the Elemental Plane of Earth. Similarly reclusive bands of fomorians have also been found in the depths of the Anvil. Like their kin, these creatures are fairly content if left alone.
Dragons, basilisks, cockatrices, and medusae (and their maedar mates) can all be found scattered throughout the plane. In addition, at least one large community of neogi lurks here. These horrible creatures are the bane of those around them. Countless tribes of pech and the like have tried to destroy the neogi, only to be eaten in the process. The fact that the colony has a fair-sized army of umber hulk slaves defending it is more than enough to convince most outsiders to avoid this part of the Elemental Plane of Earth.
Lastly, a few powerful creatures from other planes have made their home in the Anvil. Stone giants, for example, are found in surprisingly large numbers. The ruvoka are also well represented in the depths of the plane, as are the tribes of my people.
==Powers==
The gods have not shied from making their homes in the depths of the Elemental Plane of Earth. In addition to Geb, the earth god of the Egyptian pantheon, the plane offers a home to Sunnis, Grumbar, and Ogremoch. These lords of variously aligned elemental beings struggle constantly for supremacy, although most of the battles are waged between the followers of the evil Ogremoch and his good counterpart Sunnis. Grumbar tends to sit back and watch with some amusement as the two rivals weaken each other in battles that do not involve him.
GEB. Unlike most of the members of the Egyptian pantheon, Geb has chosen to live outside the realm of Heliopolis on Arcadia. Instead, he makes his home in a vast series of caverns hidden away at the heart of the plane of Earth. Geb's labyrinthine realm is known as the Caverns Under the Stars. Rumor has it that a portal to Elysium (where his wife and sister Nut resides) lies at the center of Geb's caverns. (For more information about the Caverns, refer to "The Sites," later in this chapter.)
Geb is a good-natured fellow who takes an unusually keen interest in the affairs of his worshipers and petitioners. He does not object to outsiders paying a visit to his home, and provided visitors behave themselves, his petitioners prove good hosts.
Those who die after serving the interests of Geb in life take up residence in the Caverns. The most worthy of them take the form of the stars that twinkle above it while others are seen in the flashing gems that line the walls. The majority of the spirits, however, make up the dark-skinned, blackhaired citizens who dwell in the Caverns. They are a friendly crowd, generally willing to help an outsider as long as he is not rude, offensive, or disrespectful.
The greatest problem facing Geb is the fact that Shu, another of the Egyptian powers, has been commanded to keep the earth god away from his bride. Although the two have never openly battled, there is a constant struggle between them. An outsider who can bring Geb news of Nut, his beloved sister-wife, is likely to be treated as an honored guest in the home of this most cordial power.
GRUMBAR. Grumbar is by far the largest and most powerful earth elemental one will ever meet. He is known to my people (and to some other races) as the Living Mountain and Earth Father. A greater power, Grumbar is the master of all neutrally aligned earth elementals.
Few outsiders have had the honor of standing in the presence of Grumbar. Heartfolk and others lucky enough to have met with the god report that they were guided into a large pocket of air (or other suitable elemental material) for the encounter. One side of the pocket was a vast wall of stone, in the center of which was what they presumed to be the gigantic face of Grumbar. When their meeting concluded, the face melted away into the rock and the heartfolk were free to go about their business. It is possible, of course, that the face was not that of Grumbar but one of his proxies, and that no one has ever seen the true power.
As Sunnis and Ogremoch wage their endless battle for supremacy and ultimate domination of the plane of Earth, Grumbar just sits by and watches. From time to time, he lends aid to one side or the other, but only when the balance of power is about to tilt too far in either direction. The hand of Grumbar may be suspected at these junctures, but it is never visible.
OGREMOCH. Ogremoch is an archomental, one of the Princes of Elemental Evil. He appears as a rocky humanoid standing 10 feet tall. His eyes gleam like chipped obsidian, and his body sparkles with flecks of mica. His home, an immense fortress known as Stonemire, stands upon a giant plateau inside an immense cavern near the border with the paraplane of Magma. The temperature here is so great that few living things can tolerate it. Fountains of molten stone, clouds of searing hot smoke, and geysers of scalding steam are scattered about as decorations. The plateau upon which Stonemire rests is said to contain the bodies of countless sods who ran afoul of the god. Whether they were slain and then buried or imprisoned by means of a powerful entomb spell is difficult to say.
Ogremoch has earned the nicknames Stone Tyrant and Master of Black Earth. When he is not planning a fresh scheme of evil, he often wanders the Anvil looking for new subjects to intimidate, new slaves to command, or new opponents to challenge. Fear of his sudden appearance pervades all of Earth, though few can actually claim to have seen the Stone Tyrant.
It is said that Ogremoch constantly watches for the rise of a truly mighty villain. Should he ever find a creature of sufficient wickedness and energy, he will supposedly carve that being into a juggernaut of evil the likes of which the Anvil has never seen. This is the plan, wise men say, by which Ogremoch ultimately hopes to destroy his hated rival, Sunnis.
SUNNIS. Sunnis, the Princess of Good Earth Creatures, takes the form of a tall, muscular woman with features chiseled out of stone. Mercy and understanding shine in the deep blue of her scintillating sapphire eyes. Also known as the True Stone or Lode Mother, Sunnis does not really concern herself with amassing followers. This does not mean that she lives an isolated existence, however, for a number of earth elementals, galeb duhr, xorn, and other creatures serve her at all times.
The Princess makes her home in the Sandfall, a fortress built within a cavern underneath a perpetually falling column of sand. The sand eventually drains down into what appears to be a bottomless pit not far away from Sunnis' stronghold. (Some heartfolk say that she plans to lay a trap one day for her greatest enemy, Ogremoch, and hurl him into that eternal abyss.) Many folk have likened the Sandfall's area to the bottom half of a great hourglass. Some say the earthy cascade flows eternally from the quasiplane of Dust-a gift from a suitor from Dust to the one he loves. Is this true? Who can say? While countless beings covet the hand of this powerful matriarch, her own feelings in such matters remain hidden.
Rumor has it that the heart of Sandfall is built around a gleaming crystal some 50 feet across. Those who have seen it-or claim to have seen it, at any rate-say that it gives off a blinding light. It has been variously stated that this treasure is either the heart of a star, the finest gem ever gleaned from the quasiplane of Mineral, or the source of all earthly magical power.
When she is not in her home, Sunnis travels the Anvil in search of exotic treasures, worthy heroes, and other items of great value. It is said that anyone who brings her a truly unique treasure will find a special place in her heart and win a mysterious boon. The exact nature of this reward is a subject of much speculation, but considering the power Sunnis commands, it could be quite magnificent.
==Proxies==
As one might imagine, any realm that includes powers also hosts their proxies as well. This place has its own number of those most powerful of mortals.
QUEEN HAPSHEPSUT. Hapshepsut (Px/♀ half-elf/F 12/NG) is Geb's loyal servant and agent in the world of mortals. She is as fierce a defender of her lord as a body is ever likely to encounter. Hapshepsut is said to have been the first mortal to ever find her way to the Elemental Plane of Earth. As a reward for her efforts, Geb transformed the lovely half-elf into the powerful creature she is today.
Anyone who fancies himself worthy enough to challenge this slender, almost frail-looking woman quickly learns that he has made a terrible mistake. In combat, the queen wields a magical flail that unleashes an earthquake spell each time it strikes, and her dusky skin is as hard as granite.
KAYLH. Whispered tales tell of a powerful creature named Kaylef that wanders the Anvil in an endless odyssey of destruction and carnage. Most relate that Kaylef was a dwarf warrior/priest from a world of earth and fire. His loyalty and ferocity won him the attention of Ogremoch. The Stone Tyrant tested Kaylef, believing that the dwarf might be the instrument of evil he had long sought. To his disgrace, Kaylef was found wanting.
The testing procedure left the dwarf with powers so great that it is impossible not to classify him as a proxy. The truth of it, however, is that he has been cast aside and long since forgotten by Ogremoch. Kaylef blames no one but himself for his failure, seeking solace in unending violence and destruction.