Negative Energy Plane
| Negative Energy Plane | |
|---|---|
| (Plane) | |
| Titles | The Void Entropy's Heart The Final End Nothing |
| Sphere | Inner Sphere |
| Gravity | Subjective |
| Time | Normal |
| Realm | Unbounded |
| Structure | Lasting |
| Essence | Negative-dominant |
| Alignment | Mildly neutral |
| Magic | Enhanced and impeded |
| Denizens | Danavas, hunduns, nightshades, sceaduinars, undead |
| Divinities | None |
| Description | A pitch-black expanse of hungry, devouring nothingness |
| Images of Negative Energy Plane | |
Source: Last Watch, pg(s). 60–65 | |
The Negative Energy Plane—also known as the Void,[1] Entropy's Heart, the Nothing, and the Final End[2]—sits at the metaphysical center of the Shadow Plane, in much of the same way as the Positive Energy Plane does for the Material Plane. The plane is considered to be the polar opposite of the Positive Energy Plane in the arcane tradition and complementary in the esoteric tradition.[3][2]
It is a place of annihilation and destruction, leaching life energy from all who come near it. A barren wasteland of emptiness with few surfaces, the Negative Energy Plane is the home of countless undead creatures, many of them intelligent and extremely powerful. In fact, the plane is the source from which all undead draw their power and un-life.[4][5][2]
Properties
The plane is saturated with negative energy that drains life from beings that rely on positive energy, including mortals, within moments; most who arrive without magical protection or planar attunement immediately turn to ash and become wraiths. Food and natural materials, such as mundane cloth and leather, rot immediately, and metal rusts away within days. It is inherently dark—natural light sources go out on their own—and frigid. Gravity is subjective and directional, but movement is a matter of will more than physical force.[2]
Holy power and magical light tend to attract the attention of the plane's resident undead. Closer to the plane's heart, negative energy consolidates into twisted obsidian-like crystals.[2]
Geography
The plane mostly consists of bleak emptiness. The few exceptions include elemental pockets, where the plane intersects with the Elemental Planes, as well as a number of unique features.[2]
- The Escarpment, cliffs on its metaphorical edge near the Material Plane where material worlds abut the Nothing. Cataracts of liquid entropy pour over parts of these cliffs, while the higher peaks are home to powerful outsiders.[2]
- Chasm to Shadow, manifesting its border with the Shadow Plane as an impossibly deep ravine filled with shadows. The mixture of shadow and entropy produces a powerful, almost sentient malice that attracts passing fiends, drawing them into the Chasm's depths where they transform into nightshades.[2]
- Floating Islands rent from the Escarpment by erosion, float into the void until they eventually crumble away and are often claimed by powerful beings.[2]
- An array of planets consumed by the void, including Fallen Duromak, known as the Dead Worlds and haunted by the undead.[2]
- Crystalline knots of negative energy that are home to, and birth, the sceaduinars.[2]
- Dawn spirals, termini of black holes in the Material Plane, formed by fragments of matter drawn through the celestial bodies.[2]
- Entropy sheets that manifest pure destruction and which often obscure ancient monuments and sealed gates.[2]
Inhabitants
Incorporeal undead creatures, including the plane's most feared nightshades, dominate the plane.[5] Corporeal undead, such as liches and graveknights, also travel to the plane and meet or reside in protected settlements like Malikar's Keep.[2][6]
The most prominent natives of the plane are sceaduinars[7] and sceazirs,[2] who spawn from crystalline knots of negative energy that form strange angles.[5][2] Oblivions also coalesce from the entropy that courses through the plane.[2]
Other beings who visit or live in the plane include daemons, at least one danava, devourers, hunduns, umbral dragons, and void-ravaged survivors who have acclimated to the void. A few movanic devas voluntarily brave the plane as front-line defenses against its inhabitants.[2]
Places of interest
References
Paizo Inc. published a major article on the Negative Energy Plane in Last Watch.
For additional resources, see the Meta page.
- ↑ Dennis Baker et al. (2014). Undead Slayer's Handbook, p. 4. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60125-604-1
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 Patchen Mortimer. (2019). Into the Void. Last Watch, p. 61–65. Paizo Inc.. ISBN 978-1-64078-126-9
- ↑ Jason Bulmahn et al. (2015). Occult Adventures, p. 238. Paizo Inc.
- ↑ Erik Mona et al. (2008). Campaign Setting, p. 181. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-112-1
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Jason Bulmahn et al. (2015). Occult Adventures, p. 240. Paizo Inc.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Robert Brookes et al. (2018). Planar Adventures, p. 116. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-64078-044-6
- ↑ Amber Stewart. (2009). The Great Beyond: A Guide to the Multiverse, p. 9. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-167-1