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The Elemental Plane of Fire

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The Elemental Plane of Fire is described in one of the few surviving fragments of the Compendium of Fire as a realm of unrelenting heat and ceaseless flame. It is a place where the ground itself blazes with molten rock, rivers of lava carve paths through burning wastelands, and the air shimmers with an oppressive heat that few can endure. The sky above is alight with a permanent glow, that grows to a white hot furnace during the day, and dims to a red fiery twilight at night. Travelers who enter this plane unprepared for the supernatural heat of this real are doomed to perish, their bodies scorched beyond recognition.

The Plane of Fire is described by Airion as the most dangerous of the Elemental Realms, the hardest to study, for only those with magical resistance to the oppressive heat of the plane can survive there. The most reliable scholarly studies of the Plane of Fire were conducted by the Drankorian society Concordia Pyrae, an order of planar scholars and pyromancers dedicated to uncovering the secret essence of fire itself. Their Compendium of Fire, a ten-volume encyclopedia on the plane, was tragically lost during the Fall of Drankor, leaving significant gaps in our modern understanding of this realm.

Portals to the Plane of Fire

Little reliable information is known about portals to the Plane of Fire. Like all elemental planes, the Plane of Fire can be reached from the Ethereal Plane, through shimmering curtains that resemble bright red flames. The elementalist Airion the Mistspeaker collected tales from fire giants that suggest permanent portals to the Plane of Fire may exist at the heart of volcanoes, and that temporary elemental vortexes may spawn in the midst of the most intense wildfires. How one might safely traverse a portal of molten lava is not obvious, although several cryptic hints point to the lost Compendium of Fire.

Traveling on the Plane of Fire

Few firsthand accounts of travel on the Plane of Fire exist due to its inhospitable nature, although many secondary sources refer to the Compendium of Fire, unfortunately now lost. The sources that do exist are fragmentary and contradictory, and little reliable information can be gleaned from them.

Inhabitants of the Plane of Fire

See more: Elementals

Lyrannis of Aquilona cataloged many denizens of the Elemental Plane of Fire, including the proud and imperious genies of flame, the Efreeti. Described as towering figures with skin like molten brass and eyes that burn with inner fire, the efreeti are renowned not only for their arrogance but also for their remarkable craftsmanship and vast collections of treasures. Unlike their djinni cousins, who embrace whimsy and freedom, the efreeti are exacting and meticulous. They are known to enslave talented artisans, using them to create items of exquisite beauty, from enchanted weapons to elaborate works of art, which the efreeti prize above all else. Despite their harsh reputation, efreeti are not wasteful. Even the most prideful among them will value a skilled tool or creation, treating it with an almost reverent care.

Other denizens of the plane include elemental creatures of fire and magma. While many of these must take the forms familiar to those who conjure such creatures, humanoid shapes made of swirling flame, others, such as the Azer, have solid bodies burning with an inner fire. One must assume these beings typically serve the efreeti as laborers and soldiers, though perhaps some manage to carve out their own existence in the molten wastes.

However, nearly all reliable reports of denizens of the Plane of Fire are based on those who have been summoned and bound into service of a mortal master on the Material Plane, and must be assumed to be incomplete, or biased, in the absence of careful scholarly studies from planar travelers.

Landmarks on the Plane of Fire

Due to the harsh conditions, reliable maps of the Plane of Fire do not exist, and much of its geography remains unknown. However, tantalizing clues point to several possible landmarks in this fiery realm.

  • Nalzuris, sometimes translated as the Golden City, thought to be a center of efreeti palaces and forges.
  • The Cinder Wastes, of which little is known beyond the name.
  • The Sea of Fire, a sea of lava, fire, and ash supposedly spreading from center of the plane.