The Elemental Plane of Earth

• A plane in the Energy Realms

The Elemental Plane of Earth, as described in the revered dwarven saga The Song of the Eternal Earth, is a realm of solid stone, where the walls of endless caverns press in, and the weight of rock dampens even the loudest echos. It is a land of endless stone, soil, and crystal formations in every imaginable hue, where labyrinthine tunnels twist and turn, glowing faintly with veins of precious minerals, leading to vast subterranean chambers. Although The Song of Eternal Earth speaks of a “sunless sky”, few scholars believe there is, in fact, a surface above the endless caverns of the Plane of Earth.

An excerpt from The Song of Eternal Earth

Beneath the stone, where shadows lie
And mountains touch a sunless sky
The halls of earth stretch deep and wide
A timeless realm where echoes die

No breath of wind, no waters fall
Just silence vast, that cloaks it all
The ground holds firm beneath its weight
An endless force, unshaken, tall

Through crystal halls where treasures gleam
With veins of gold and amber’s beam
The earth keeps secrets, cold and still
In depths beyond the brightest dream

Beware the depths where stone may fall
And shifting ground may bury all
Its ancient will does not relent
A silent power, vast and tall

Portals to the Plane of Earth

The great geomancer Khevaris Stoneweaver studied planar access to the Elemental Plane of Earth extensively. According to his writings, the most direct way to reach this realm is through the Ethereal Plane, where passages to the Plane of Earth appear as gray curtains that look like shimmering stone.

Less predictable but more common are the elemental vortexes, which occur deep underground, and in areas of extreme seismic activity. Khevaris recorded accounts of miners uncovering strange rifts that led directly into this vast plane, often at great peril to themselves. Unlike the Plane of Air, where portals flicker and shift, the Plane of Earth is said to hold its connections more firmly, though they may be hidden deep beneath the surface of the Material Plane. Many dwarves believe that the deepest caverns below the mountains blend seamlessly with the Elemental Plane of Earth, those who were lost explore deep beneath the earth, never to return, may have wandered across a planar boundary.

Traveling on the Plane of Earth

Traveling within the Elemental Plane of Earth is as challenging as it is fascinating. While those with the ability to move through stone can navigate it with relative ease, most travelers must contend with narrow tunnels, immense caverns, and sudden shifts in the ground. For, despite the feeling of solidity of the immensity of stone present in this realm, the Plane of Earth is not static. Reliable reports collected by the planar geographer Balrik Frostbeard suggest that tremors and quakes constantly reshape its passages, sometimes creating spectacular new vistas and other times collapsing entire routes. These seismic shifts can reveal buried treasures, such as veins of adamantine or chambers of glimmering quartz, but they can also trap the unwary in eternal darkness.

Inhabitants of the Plane of Earth

See more: Elementals

The Dao are probably the most famous inhabitants of the Plane of Earth, though they feature in far fewer tales and legends than their more famous cousins, the djinni and the efreeti. The dao are generally described as having smooth, stone-like skin, giving them an almost statuesque appearance, and to favor elaborate jewelry of gemstone and fine metal. Though many tales suggest the dao have a certain haughty arrogance to them, perhaps even a callous disregard for the free will of those that labor in their extensive mines, they are also rumored to possess vast memories. Indeed, the dwarven loremaster Varnir Emberstone claimed, in the preface of her detailed history of Labkhan, to have learned impossible facts from the dao.

Other creatures of stone and earth also populate the plane. Elementals formed of raw rock and soil roam its depths, from towering, lumbering beings of granite to smaller, sharper constructs of flint and obsidian. While most of these elementals are said to take on the humanoid forms often seen among summoned creatures, Lyrannis of Aquilona recorded descriptions of creatures that retained an almost boulder-like appearance, and others with bizarre forms, such as the three-legged xorn.

Unconfirmed rumors speak of massive creatures of stone and earth, as big as a mountain, that roam the surface above the caverns of the Plane of Earth, but, as there is no evidence that the Plane of Earth has a surface, Lyrannis of Aquilona is more than happy to dismiss these claims as mere flights of fancy in her seminal work, On Elemental Forms.

Landmarks on the Plane of Earth

The Elemental Plane of Earth is an endless labyrinth, and mapping it is an impossible task. Indeed, the concept of landmarks itself may be meaningless, for despite the apparent solidity of the Plane of Earth, its tunnels and caverns are constantly shifting. Nonetheless, reliable reports suggests that these landmarks, at least, are relatively stable:

• The Pillar of Karth, described as towering spire impossibly hard stone, vibrating slightly to the resonances of some hidden song of the earth. Said to be at the very center of the plane, some believe it is a remnant of the plane’s creation, containing the raw essence of earth.
• The Emerald Chasm: A vast abyss lined with massive emerald crystals, some as large as towers, which glow faintly with an eerie green light, carved into the homes of the greatest and most powerful of the Dao.