An Overview of the Outlands(PPO)

The Outlands are known to the Cluelessess as the "Plane of ConcordaJrkQpposition." (Fact is, they get most of the planar names wrong, which is a sure way to mark a prime.) Just one of many Outer Planes, the Outlands are still a very unique place. For starters, it's got entrances to every other Outer Plane, making it a central clearing-house for all sorts of planar beings. And then, of course, there's the spire. A body'd have to be blind to miss that — it rises up out of the middle of the Outlands, infinitely tall, with the city of Sigil hovering on top. The spire's a good example of how primes worry too much. They always want to know how something that's infinitely tall can have something else on top of it. But that kind of thinking just drives a berk barmy. In the planes, things are the way they are, and it's best just to leave it at that. Another problem is that primes figure their out-of-touch universe is the center of everything. When they found the Outlands — a plane connected to all other Outer Planes — they had to cobble up a quick reason why it couldn't be the center of the multiverse. So they called it the "Plane of Concordant Opposition," the idea being that the Outlands are opposed to the other planes. Nothing is further from the truth, berk. The Outlands (sometimes just called the Land) are at the center of all things, with gates leading to the other planes. A traveler headed for one of those planes just has to use the right gate. 'Course, creatures from the other side can come through the gates, too, so a berk's got to watch his step. The gates see a lot of use in both directions, so folks figured it'd be a good idea to build towns around each one. These settlements are known as gate-towns, and each is described later in this booklet (starting on page 8). Funny thing about gate-towns, though - they reflect the mood of whatever plane their gate leads to. For example, the poor sods in Bedlam are half-barmy (some would say more than half) just from living next to the Gate to Pandemonium. Even the town itself can take on the mood of a plane, buildings and all. Fact is, if the mindset of a town gets too morally and ethically aligned to its plane, it'll get sucked through the gate. The whole burg just disappears from the Outlands and moves to the other plane. If the town of Excelsior gets too good and too lawful, for example, then it'll join the choir on Mount Celestia. What happens next depends on the town. For some places, another copy just pops right up out of nowhere, taking the place of the original. Other towns, though, won't be copied. They'll have to be rebuilt by any cutters willing to lift a hammer. In any case, when a town's sucked away, the gate stays. 'Course, it might be a bit worse for the wear, but folks can't really say. Even a planar doesn't know the dark about everything. But remember, berk — the gates work both ways. If a town can go through, it can come back out. Parts of the Outer Planes that don't measure up morally and ethically with the rest of their plane can break off and slide into the Outlands. For example, if a paladin built his home on evil Baator, it just wouldn't work. Sooner or later, his place would drift back to the Land (and good riddance, the baatezu would say). This usually only happens to spots on the upper levels of the plane - the stuff farther down is pretty well anchored. And given the endless nature of planes, such swapping back and forth is minor. Besides the gate-towns, the Outlands have a good number of other spots a traveler should know about. Some are just small villages, but some are the realms of powers who like the unaligned, free-wheeling nature of the Land. 'Course, a truly evil power setting up shop in the Outlands suffers the same problem as the gatetowns. That is, Loki can create a citadel there and fill it with malicious berks, only to have it eventually slip into his native plane. This means that most of the powers of the Outlands are neutral, or, at least, amoral - beyond the ethical and moral definitions of most planars.