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The Elemental Plane of Water

The Elemental Plane of Water has long fascinated poets and playwrights, who paint vivid pictures of the mysteries, beauties and terrors of the place, from the vision of a vast coral reef bursting will life, floating beneath a shimmering sea, described in famous tragedy The Siren’s Embrace, to the haunting picture of the twilight depths where monstrous whales of unimaginable size slowly drift, following trails of bioluminescence to unknown secrets, described in the Drankorian epic Into the Abyss. Though scholarly study of the Plane of Water often discounts these fanciful pictures, all agree that the Plane of Water is a boundless, featureless expanse of water, lit by a faint, ambient glow, the endless depths broken only by isolated floating islands of coral and rock, some overgrown with lush aquatic flora, others barren and sharp.

Sailors and the Plane of Water

The Plane of Water has long fascinated sailors in particular, and despite scholarly claims to the contrary, tales persist of a surface on the Plane of Water, an endless expanse on which one can sail forever, which can usually only be reached via an elemental vortex at the heart of a storm. Collected here are a few of the most famous such reports.

Bella Stormwind, halfling sailor, who traveled the Green Sea in the years before the Great War, was known for her tale of being swept into a typhoon, fearing her ship lost with all crew, only to find her ship afloat on a strange tropical sea, with clear blue waters and no land in sight. She sailed for weeks, following dolphins who sang in a strange tongue, and guided her into a storm that returned her to the Green Sea, miles from where she vanished.

Zahir, a sailor from Sulqat, became famous for his miraculous survival after his ship was destroyed in a gale off the coast of the Mawakel Peninsula. Zahir claimed he awoke on the strange shores of a shimmering island of brilliant white sand, floating in a mysterious sea, and returned after spending seven years in service to a marid.

Kauno the Mariner, a legendary sailor in the myths of the Skaer, is the subject of many tales, including one in which he supposedly sailed single-handedly into a violent storm, following the song of a ancient whale singing mysterious songs. In the heart of the storm, it is said, the sea turned calm, and Kauno found himself on a dead calm sea, dark and cold and smooth, with a wind that filled his sails yet did not touch the waters. He sailed for months, following the whale, listening to its songs, before returning to the Green Sea.

Portals to the Plane of Water

The planar geographer Ishara Venn, writing from the University of Tollen, spent decades collecting tales and lore of portals to the Plane of Water. Like all elemental realms, the simplest form of access is via the Ethereal Plane, where portals to the Plane of Water appears as rippling curtains of deep turquoise. Ishara, however was most fascinated by the numerous theories of permanent portals between the Material Plane and the Plane of Water, typically thought to be located in the extreme depths of the seas. Of particular fascination to Ishara was a vast underwater canyon in the Western Gulf, where mariners reported an eerie stillness in the water and sightings of strange, unearthly lights. She argued that such phenomena might indicate latent portals, though no exploration of the area has ever returned with confirmation.

Folk tales among sailors emphasize a different picture. Many mariners believe the stories, discounted by most scholars, of elemental vortexes at the heart of storms, that can carry people, or even entire ships, across the planes. It is also commonly believed that, if one sails far enough west into the Endless Ocean, one will eventually sail across a boundary into the Plane of Water. Although these beliefs are typically discounted as folk legends by most planar geographers, Ishara Venn claimed in her work The Seams Between Worlds that elemental vortexes, at least are too robustly and consistently described to be dismissed as false.

Traveling on the Plane of Water

Navigation through the Elemental Plane of Water is a daunting task. Not so much because of the inhospitable environments or fierce currents (although those who cannot breathe water will find their journey to the Plane of Water tragically short), but because of the profound lack of orientation on the Plane of Water. With no up or down, no stable landmarks, and vast expanses of featureless water in all directions, even experienced planar travelers have described a sense of existential dread while adrift.

The floating islands of coral and rock offer some relief from the boundless water, but they are few and far between. Rumors speak of bioluminescent algae growing on certain islands or drifting in long, winding trails that some believe could serve as markers for paths through the plane. Whether these trails lead anywhere meaningful—or deeper into the unknown—is a matter of speculation.

Inhabitants of the Plane of Water

See more: Elementals

The marids, enigmatic genies of water, are the most famous inhabitants of the plane. Unlike the organized societies of the efreeti or djinni, marids are solitary, each crafting their own unique realm in the vastness of the plane. These watery palaces, constructed from living coral, glowing algae, stark rock, shimmering ice, or stranger things, are as elusive as the marids themselves. Rarely do marids interact with mortals, and when they do, it is often in exchange for lengthy service.

Beyond the marids, the Plane of Water teems with elemental creatures. Bioluminescent water elementals drift in silence, while nereids and aquatic mephits dart between coral reefs. In the depths, however, lurk the plane’s true terrors: leviathans. These immense creatures, described in Leandros of Drankor’s catalog On the Mysteries of the Infinite Depths, include colossal squids the size of cities, endless serpents that glide through the dark, and shadowy forms that defy identification. Foremost among these legends is Gazankoa, a being so vast and ancient that even the marids whisper its name with caution. Leandros described it as a creature of unending hunger, with tentacles that stretch for miles and a presence that seems to warp the water itself. Whether Gazankoa is a single entity or a symbol of the plane’s darker mysteries remains unknown.

Landmarks on the Plane of Water

The few solid landforms in the Plane of Water do not seem to remain fixed in location, and no explorer has been able to adequately map, or even name, these features. Nonetheless, some regions of the Plane of Water are traditionally distinguished by planar geographers:

  • The Shimmering Sea: A light filled expanse of warm waters, teaming with life. Extensive floating coral reefs, as well as vast mats of tangled seagrass, are commonly found in this region.
  • The Abyssal Trench: The deepest and darkest reaches of the Plane of Water, where no light reaches, are often referred to as the Abyssal Trench, and are thought to be the home of vast leviathans. Some even claim that, in the dark, a vast canyon lurks.
  • The Murky Wastes: A region of waters filled with pockets of silt and floating sediment, mixed with anoxic regions where no life can thrive.