Ethereal curtain

**Ethereal curtains**, also called **curtains of vaporous color**, were the barriers between the Deep Ethereal and the various Border Ethereal regions of the Ethereal Plane. Some scholars instead reported a single infinite curtain that separated the two regions of the Ethereal, in which case it was called the **Wall of Color**.

## Description

“
See!? It does look like a wall of chocolate! Xanxos *likes* chocolate, especially when it's dribbled over raw elf. Are you an elf? Hey, come back here!
”
— Xanxos the slaad, showing off the ethereal curtain to the Plane of Ooze before lunch.

Ethereal curtains appeared like enormous sheets of colored vapor, which continuously were in motion. The motion had been described as the flapping of a world-sized flag. Motes of sparkling light flickered over their surfaces. Some who had seen ethereal curtains described them as looking something like the northern lights found on some worlds.

The curtain or curtains were only visible from the Deep Ethereal side and never from the Border Ethereal.

Anyone separated by a curtain from the Border Ethereal was completely protected from any harm by any force or being on the other side, whether on the Border Ethereal or the bordered plane.

### Curtain Colors

The color of an ethereal curtain indicated to which Border Ethereal region it led. To those who believed in a single ethereal curtain, the curtain had separate colors in different areas, which indicated the destination. Trusting in the color of the curtain to lead you to your desired target, however, was considered risky. The colors of the curtains to most of the major planes are listed in the table below, along with other methods of planar travel:

## Travel

If a traveler faced an ethereal curtain, desire alone was all that was necessary to enter through the curtain and find oneself on the other side, at the border of another plane able to see into it from the Ethereal. (Strangely, something prevented anyone from reaching the Border Ethereal of the Material Plane around Krynnspace; the ethereal curtain to this part of the multiverse was somehow blocked.)

Likewise, any planar traveler desiring to leave the Border Ethereal of any plane needed only to will it, and she or he would immediately appear facing an ethereal curtain of the appropriate color. To an observer still remaining on the Border Ethereal, the traveler would appear to vanish in an enveloping, roiling mist. (An exception to this was found on the Border Ethereal of the Demiplane of Dread, from which it was impossible to enter the Deep Ethereal.) Later scholars believed that the only way to enter the Deep Ethereal from the Border Ethereal was with a *plane shift* or *gate* spell.

Traveling along a curtain before entering it would allow one to appear at a point overlapping a different location on the bordered plane, but since it was not possible to see through the curtain, it was generally not possible to predict which direction of travel along the curtain would lead to which location, nor did distances traveled in the Deep Ethereal in any way correspond to distances in the Border Ethereal. Some travelers of the planes argued that those who were clever enough could recognize patterns in the flashing lights in the curtain to find previous sites of entry.

Traveling to another curtain or area of a curtain could *feel* like a journey of anywhere from 10 to 1,000 hours, though the time that had actually passed in the Material Plane would not be as long. Traveling to the place where passage through a curtain would take one exactly to the desired destination in the Border Ethereal always took longer than if someone simply had willed to reach a given border in general.

If a visitor to the Deep Ethereal was under the effects of a magic item or spell, such as *etherealness*, and the duration of the magic wore off, the traveler would immediately be forced through the nearest ethereal curtain and would materialize on the corresponding plane of existence.

## Appendix

### Notes

1. ↑ The Great Wheel cosmology presented in *Manual of the Planes* for the core setting of 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons has a simplified Ethereal plane, with no separation between Border Ethereal and Deep Ethereal. However, it also presents the Deep Ethereal as an alternative set of rules, more in line with the earlier 1st- and 2nd-edition descriptions. Core 3rd edition furthermore alters ethereal curtains, such that they can travel to any plane, not only Inner Planes—although the optional rules for the Deep Ethereal seem to suggest a restoration of their previous behavior. They are described as functioning much like color pools, in contrast to their function in the two earlier editions. Fifth edition restores the earlier distinction of Border and Deep Ethereal and restores the function of ethereal curtains as barriers not portals.
The Forgotten Realms setting does not strictly follow core rules, and in novels written for both 2nd and 3rd edition, the Border Ethereal is explicitly mentioned, strongly implying that the optional 3rd-edition rules for the Deep Ethereal should be used, not the standard set of simplified rules.

### See Also

* Mount Olympus, from which similar shimmering curtains among the trees and rocks on its slopes led to other planes.

### Appearances

* *Tantras*
* *The Fallen Fortress*
* *Ghostwalker*
* *The Howling Delve*

### References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Jeff Grubb (July 1987). *Manual of the Planes 1st edition*. (TSR), pp. 12–14. ISBN 0880383992.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins, James Wyatt (2014). *Dungeon Master's Guide 5th edition*. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-0786965622.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 David "Zeb" Cook (1994). *Planescape Campaign Setting, A DM Guide to the Planes*. Edited by David Wise. (TSR, Inc), p. 23. ISBN 978-1560768340.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Bruce R. Cordell (1998). *A Guide to the Ethereal Plane*. Edited by Michele Carter, Keith Francis Strohm. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 14–15. ISBN 0-7869-1205-7.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Bruce R. Cordell (1998). *A Guide to the Ethereal Plane*. Edited by Michele Carter, Keith Francis Strohm. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-7869-1205-7.
6. ↑ Jeff Grubb (April 1987). “Plane Speaking: Tuning in to the Outer Planes”. In Roger E. Moore ed. *Dragon* #120 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 42–43.
7. ↑ Jeff Grubb (July 1987). *Manual of the Planes 1st edition*. (TSR), p. 62. ISBN 0880383992.
8. ↑ Jeff Grubb, Bruce R. Cordell, David Noonan (September 2001). *Manual of the Planes 3rd edition*. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 49. ISBN 0-7869-1850-8.
9. ↑ Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). *Manual of the Planes 4th edition*. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 16. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
10. ↑ Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins, James Wyatt (2014). *Dungeon Master's Guide 5th edition*. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 47. ISBN 978-0786965622.
11. ↑ Jeff Grubb (July 1987). *Manual of the Planes 1st edition*. (TSR), p. 12. ISBN 0880383992.
12. ↑ Bruce R. Cordell (1998). *A Guide to the Ethereal Plane*. Edited by Michele Carter, Keith Francis Strohm. (TSR, Inc.), p. 20. ISBN 0-7869-1205-7.
13. ↑ Jeff Grubb, Bruce R. Cordell, David Noonan (September 2001). *Manual of the Planes 3rd edition*. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 57. ISBN 0-7869-1850-8.
14. ↑ Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Christopher Perkins, James Wyatt (2014). *Dungeon Master's Guide 5th edition*. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 49. ISBN 978-0786965622.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Bruce R. Cordell (1998). *A Guide to the Ethereal Plane*. Edited by Michele Carter, Keith Francis Strohm. (TSR, Inc.), p. 16. ISBN 0-7869-1205-7.
16. ↑ Bruce R. Cordell (1998). *A Guide to the Ethereal Plane*. Edited by Michele Carter, Keith Francis Strohm. (TSR, Inc.), p. 19. ISBN 0-7869-1205-7.
17. ↑ Bruce R. Cordell (1998). *A Guide to the Ethereal Plane*. Edited by Michele Carter, Keith Francis Strohm. (TSR, Inc.), p. 9. ISBN 0-7869-1205-7.
18. ↑ David "Zeb" Cook (1994). *Planescape Campaign Setting, A DM Guide to the Planes*. Edited by David Wise. (TSR, Inc), p. 45. ISBN 978-1560768340.