The Elemental Plane of Air

• A plane in the Energy Realms

The Elemental Plane of Air, as described in the ancient elven poem The Lay of Estar, is a realm of endless skies, of varied hues, across which vast clouds drift on the endless winds. It is a realm of extremes, from the soft, sweet-smelling summer’s breeze blowing gentle clouds, to the howling winds and violence of a hurricane. While there is no ground on the Plane of Air, motes of earth float like islands in the sky, some as small as boulders, others miles upon miles across, and some cloud are solid enough to support great cities of djinni and other inhabitants of this plane.

An excerpt from The Lay of Estar

Endless skies of azure spread,

Where light and shadow softly wed;
No earth below, no bound nor shore,
A realm of winds that ever soar.

The clouds like ships in silence glide,
Or clash as titans, wild and wide;
Some whisper secrets, calm and fair,
While others storm with thunder’s flare.

Through all, the winds in endless flight,
Sing dawn’s soft breath, or cry of night;
A world unbound, both vast and high,
The endless hymn of cloud and sky.

Portals to the Plane of Air

The elementalist Airion the Mistspeaker extensively studied planar travel and connections between the planes. While much of his important work was lost during the Blood Years, a careful study of what fragments of his work do remain has allowed planar geographers to reconstruct some information about likely connections between the Plane of Air and other planes.

First, like all Energy Realms, the most straightforward, if challenging, way to reach the Plane of Air is via the Ethereal Plane, which surrounds all the Energy Realms. Airion, quoting a lost fragment of a text written by an unknown Drankorian explorer of the Ethereal Plane, reports that portals to the Elemental Plane of Air from the Ethereal Plane resemble shimmering curtains of blue mist. Far more dangerous, but easier to access, are the elemental vortexes that sometimes appear in the center of particularly dangerous and powerful storms, or at the summit of the highest peaks of the Sentinels, which sweep travelers, willing or unwilling, across the planes.

Airion claimed that, due to the ever-changing and impermanent nature of the Plane of Air, no permanent portals between the Material Plane and the Plane of Air could exist, but whether this is merely speculation, or a fundamental cosmological truth, no one knows.

Traveling on the Plane of Air

The most reliable scholarly studies of travel on the Elemental Plane of Air come from Studies of the Aerial Sphere, a monograph series describing the experiences of those who traveled to the Plane of Air, published by the Drankorian scholarly society known as the Occulta Ludum. Although only three of a reported ten volumes survive in their entirety, much can still be learned from these first-hand accounts.

While there is no ground, creatures that lack a natural or magical ability to fly still fall. Although this is not dangerous, per se, unless one is unlucky enough to strike an earth mote or a solid cloud, it does make traveling difficult. Several reports in Studies of the Aerial Sphere do claim that a skilled traveler can willfully control the direction they fall, which, with practice, can be used to move quickly and precisely around the plane. Landing on a solid surface, however, appears quite dangerous, as multiple reports describe travelers who, unable to precisely reverse their fall at the correct moment, struck a solid surface too fast and suffered significant wounds.

Of course, even creatures who can fly do not find travel on the Plane of Air easy. In Studies of the Aerial Sphere, multiple reports describe the buffeting winds of the plane. Indeed, from these reports, it appears that much of the plane is best thought of as a labyrinthine maze of air streams and wind currents, that make navigation for even the skilled flier difficult.

Inhabitants of the Plane of Air

See more: Elementals

The Djinn, the most famous native creatures on the Plane of Air, need no introduction. Blue-skinned, tall, and muscular humanoids, whose lower legs seem to seamlessly merge with billowing mists, djinni feature prominently in the stories and lore collected in On Elemental Forms, and in many other tales and legends. Variously described as mischievous, honorable, and as changeable as the winds, djinni, legends say, can grant great boons or rain storms and destruction down on those who displease them.

While the djinni are described as elegant, beautiful, even ostentatious, most other native inhabitants of the Elemental Plane of Air are nearly invisible, creatures of wind and air. The common elementals, often summoned by conjurers, are of this type, although on the Material Plane they condense into clouds.

There are rumors of more powerful and strange things in the Plane of Air: vast, sentient storms, elder tempests from an ancient age.

Landmarks on the Plane of Air

No reliable maps exist of the Plane of Air. Nonetheless, careful scholarship suggests a few landmarks that are likely real:

• Sumana, the City of Clouds, and home of the Dukes of the Four Winds. This is reported to be one of the great cities of the Djinn, a place of towering domes built of spun clouds.
• The Breath of Aerys, at the very center of the Plane of Air itself, said to be a place of pure stillness, the source of air itself. The djinni speak of this place as holy, and guard this place from travelers to the Plane of Air.
• The Azure Archipelago, a cluster of floating islands, described in The Lay of Estar and in many subsequent reports. They are said to be lush, verdant islands, drifting in a synchronized dance, surrounded by walls of perpetual mist.