Plane of Air
Among the four Major Elemental Planes, the Plane of Air is likely to be the one
most often visited by travelling Mages. The
gentle air currents make an excellent mode of transport and the majority of the
denizens of the Plane have little or no interest in outsiders. Because of the Plane’s friendly nature, it is home to a
large number of powerful Mages and no small number of Demons.
The Portal
to this Plane takes the form of a swirling mass of dense cloud that the Mage
must project his mind through. As the psychic form seeks entrance to the Plane it will be
buffeted and attacked by the Wind Guardians of the Plane.
These Guardians can do no actual harm to the Mage, but they can force
them away from their intended course and cause them to arrive in a different
part of the Plane than they originally wished.
In the case of those Mages with a very weak Will Power, the Wind
Guardians can cause them to be expelled from the Plane of Air and arrive in one
of the less hospitable Planes.
Marisha sat
cross-legged in the comfort of her Room of Portals.
Around her the smoke from the burning incense rose up, forming intricate
patterns that a skilled Mage could read and understand but would be nothing more
than smoke clouds to an outsider. Breathing
deeply, Marisha inhales the narcotic fumes and can feel her Imagination being
let loose. Colours explode inside
her mind and she catches glimpses of a thousand different Planes before she can
force her mind to follow the path that leads to the Plane of Air.
With a supreme effort of Will, the Mage ignores the temptations that
surround her and concentrates on the complex pattern that will channel her
Psyche in the direction that she wants to travel.
The
smoke from the incense appears to solidify and take the form of a firm, 3 ft
wide disk that hangs in the air in front of the Mage.
The surface of the disk is made up of a hundred colours that constantly
change shape and pattern, much like an oil spill on a puddle.
Marisha searches deep within herself until she locates the area of her
mind that can access the Planes. There
is an intense pain as her Psyche is separated from her physical body but it is
over before the Mage can even gasp and Marisha finds herself floating above the
empty shell of a body she once occupied. With
a thought, the Psyche turns to face the disk and the Mage gathers her
Imagination around her. Marisha
floats towards the disk and as soon as she touches the surface of it she is
caught up in the chaotic smoke patterns and dragged deep into the Portal.
Once she has entered the Portal,
Marisha finds herself clothed in an exact copy of her physical body.
It takes a moment for her to realise that she is plummeting through the
air towards a ground that she will never reach.
With a simple Spell she cancels her fall and hovers in the air.
The air around her is buffeting her and growing stronger by the second
but this does not concern the Mage. Her
clothes and hair are being blown about in all directions but with another Spell,
the wind dies down and Marisha is in an area of calm.
The calm lasts for only a moment before it is scattered by the arrival of
one of the Wind Guardians.
The air around the Mage condenses and
takes the form of a gigantic snake. The
creature towers above the puny human and opens its mouth to reveal fangs that
drip with venom and saliva. With a
lightning fast strike, the beast drops down on Marisha, wraps itself around her
and starts to drop through the Plane of Air towards a mass of dark clouds.
Marisha kicks and struggles but it makes no difference to the Guardian,
panic rips through her and for long moments she is helpless.
She remembers tales of Mages who ventured into this Plane only to be
banished to other, darker realms by the creatures that guard the Portals.
Fear sharpens the Mage’s wits and she remembers the Spell that her
Master taught her. Striving for
calm, she mumbles the words that should free her from the clutches of the Wind
Guardian.
The snake slows its descent as
Marisha finishes the Spell but it shows no sign of loosening her.
In fact, its great coils start to tighten and the Mage finds herself
slowly being crushed. She repeats
the Spell desperately, trying to remember the exact way her Master pronounced
the words. Sweat breaks out on her forehead as she channels her Will into
the Spell and the snake starts to writhe and twist but still it does not free
her. Screaming the words out now,
Marisha flings the Spell at her opponent, her entire Will is being put into this
effort and she knows that if the Spell fails this time she will be left weak and
helpless.
As the last syllables of the Spell
escape her lips the Wind Guardian stiffens.
Cracks appear all over its near invisible surface and time seems to stand
still for a moment. The sound of
moving air currents dies away and even the noise of Marisha’s gasps for breath
is muted. Suddenly, the Guardian
explodes into a million pieces and the chunks of solid air that threatened to
drag the Mage to her doom dissipate back into the Plane that conjured it up.
Marisha is free from the Wind
Guardian but she is far from the Portal where she entered the Plane and the
fight has left her tired and drained. She
wipes a hand across her eyes and forces herself to remember the reason that she
entered this Plane – the HeartStone.
The
Plane of Air is made up of vast expanses of open space, dotted with the
occasional floating dwelling. These
dwellings take many forms, everything from castles in the air to enormous
bees’ nests that throb with activity. Bird
creatures nest in the limbs of huge trees that have their roots in nothing more
solid than clouds and there is a city that is made up entirely of large balloons
and kites.
The centre
of the Plane is an area of gently moving currents and white clouds and it is
here that the majority of the denizens live.
Life tends to be leisurely and calm for most and wars and conflicts are
virtually unheard of, All the denizens of this area have learned to co-operate with
one another, no matter what their form is and winged humans can be seen
conversing with glowing globes of pure energy.
Every creature in the Plane of Air has adapted to life in this Element in
some way and Mages will find that if they spend too much time in this Realm they
will start to change and evolve. Those
that specialise in Spells that draw power from this Plane will quickly develop
an affinity for the creatures of the Air and will find themselves becoming less
and less comfortable on solid ground.
The
calmness of this area is not carried throughout the entire Realm however.
If a Mage travels far in any direction from the centre they will find
themselves in area that rapidly become less hospitable.
In one
extreme there is the chaos and anarchy of the Maelstrom.
Hurricanes rage and tornadoes make air travel next to impossible.
Thunder and lightning crash through unsettled skies and the whirlwind
that lies in the centre of this area will see clouds, Elementals and even light
dragged down into the depths of the Maelstrom.
It is rumoured that in the centre of the Maelstrom there is a Portal to
an undiscovered Plane and this rumour has drawn many of the more adventurous
Mages to investigate. Pupils of
Storm’s Academy in particular seem drawn to this area of immense power but
only the best of them have the strength to survive, let alone prosper there.
There are vast amounts of raw power available to those who are strong
enough to claim it and the Mages and Elementals of the Maelstrom should be
treated with respect, if not fear.
At the
opposite end of the scale is an area of absolute calm where nothing ever
changes. The air is still,
oppressive and dense and vast fog banks hide most of the area.
Stasis, as this area is called appears to be empty and worthless but the
very calmness of the area is a source of power.
There is nothing to oppose any Mage who tries to use power in Stasis and
those who have decided to make this Realm their home are virtually unbeatable
while in Stasis. Unfortunately,
they have very little power once they leave this area since it is close to
impossible to remove anything from the location.
Deep in the heart of Stasis is an area where nothing moves or changes,
not even Time. It is possible for a
Mage to enter this area as a young man, leave as an ancient grey-beard and find
that no time has passed on their home Plane.
This area is used as a prison by some of the more powerful creatures of
the Plane of Air and any visitor would be well advised to be very sure of their
route home.
Marisha
paused for a moment to get her breath back and as she hung in the air, she felt
the pull of the Maelstrom. Gazing
downwards, she looked into the heart of a thunder storm that seemed to be
rushing towards her. Lightning
flickered across the dark sky and was quickly followed by a dull rumble of
thunder. It only took the young
Mage a few moments to realise that it wasn’t the storm that was coming towards
her but the other way around. She
was being dragged down towards the chaotic mass of wind, rain and electricity.
The
storm was still many miles distant so Marisha felt no real fear.
She simply muttered a basic Flight Spell and willed herself up and away
from the clouds. Nothing happened! A cold sweat broke out across her body as Marisha looked
within herself, searching for more power. It
didn’t take her long to realise that she simply had nothing left to give.
The battle with the Wind Guardian had drained her meagre resources and
she needed time to regain her strength. Peering
downwards again the Mage realised that she wasn’t going to be given the time
she needed.
The air current around her was
growing stronger by the second and the thunder was getting noticeable louder.
Marisha assumed a cross-legged sitting position in the air and tried to
empty her mind to speed the regaining of her energies.
Within a few seconds she had gathered her Psyche around her and entered
the Mantra state. Moments later, thunder crashed below her and the Mage was
jolted out of her rest. Marisha
leapt to her feet, cursing loudly and inventively.
There was no way she could regain her strength in time to escape the
Maelstrom, so what was she to do?
Her right hand crept up to her face
and started twisting the long, dark curl of hair that always fell over her ear. There has to be some way out of this, something that she can
do! The twisting became more
violent as she became more worried and when the Mage heard a gasp of pain, it
took her a moment to realise it was her own.
Releasing her hair, she angrily stuffed both hands deep into the pockets
of her robe. The fingers of her
left hand closed around something cold and hard that she didn’t recognize.
With a puzzled frown she pulled out a small plain ring and looked at the
inscription that was engraved on it, “Vistax”.
Marisha knew that the ring had not
been in her pocket when she entered this Plane and she couldn’t understand
where it had come from. Surely the
Wind Guardian could not have placed it there, but there was no other
explanation. The young woman searched for some other answer to the riddle
but none came to mind. The word on
the ring was obviously a command sigil of some kind but a command for what?
What would happen were she to say the word, dare she take the risk?
The air was whistling past her now
and the thunder was loud enough to send vibrations through her entire body.
Marisha’s robes were damp to the touch and her hair lay in long,
tangled strands. She could feel the
power of the Maelstrom pulling at her and the air was thick with the crackle of
electricity. A bolt of lightning
seared through the air less than a dozen yards distant from the Mage and set her
skin tingling with the charge. Marisha
lifted the ring and stared at it for a moment longer as she made up her mind.
What were her choices? Imminent
destruction in the Maelstrom or taking the risk of using the unknown ring.
Some choice!
“Vistax,” she said.
The inhabitants of the Elemental
Plane of Air are as varied and diverse as in any of the Planes.
Many of the denizens have taken forms similar to that of the birds of the
Prime Plane, light bodies with wings to propel and guide them through the Plane,
while others have developed into creatures of energy, pure thought and nothing
more. The Elementals of this Plane are mostly invisible or at best
can be seen as creatures of mist or smoke.
The majority of these beings are happy to let human Mages travel through
the Plane and keep themselves to themselves.
There are a few, however, that delight in annoying and obstructing others
whenever they get the chance. Many
of these creatures have taken the form of humanoid beings with leathery wings,
similar in many ways to those of a bat. These
Chiropera live within the cave systems in some of the floating mountains that
cross the Plane and are extremely hostile to anyone they come across.
Close to
the centre of the Plane there is a city of balloons that has been colonised by
creatures from across the various Realms. The
city, Convention, is a bustling centre of commerce and it is said that anything
can be bought here; for the right price. The
enormous balloons hold aloft entire buildings which are connected by a series of
walkways and rope bridges and are constantly cared for by squads of workers
employed by the City Council. The
Council is made up of 12 Elementals who have advanced to the stage of pure
thought. These creatures appear as
glowing globes of light and they communicate through a form of Telepathy.
Convention is a common meeting place for Mages and it is considered by
all to be neutral ground.
The largest
creature that is native to the Elemental Plane of Air is the Leviathan.
These huge creatures can grow to be up to 4 miles in length and 1 mile
across. They look much like dirigibles or airships and the bodies are
covered by a thin membrane that looks much like a soap bubble, although it is a
thousand times stronger. As these
creatures grow, their bodies create many passages and tunnels inside themselves
that contain nothing apart from air. Some
of the residents of the Plane have taken to actually setting up home within the
bodies of the Leviathans and this arrangement seems to be a happy one for all
concerned. The residents get safety
and somewhere to live while the Leviathans gain someone to communicate with and
protection from outside attacks. The Leviathans have no natural defences and some creatures,
especially the Chiropera, find the flesh of the Leviathan to be very tasty.
The
Leviathans are a long lived race and they have a very, very slow thought
process. It can take them many
minutes to answer a simple “Good Morning”, and this has led to the common
belief that that they are stupid creatures.
This is not true! The
Leviathans are an extremely intelligent people but their bodies and brains are
so large that it takes a long time for thoughts to percolate through them. When
communicating, the Leviathans use a limited range Telepathy, they can
communicate with anyone that is within 5 miles of them, as long as that person
is not in a hurry of course.
There are
more than two dozen floating citadels that wander through the Elemental Plane of
Air, each one of them owned by a potent Mage or some other creature of power.
One of the most infamous is the one that belongs to the Demon Lord
Semetain. The fortress is a
gigantic, gothic castle populated with hundreds of Chiropera and other foul
creatures. The castle is normally
found on the borders of the Maelstrom but Semetain can direct it to any part of
the Plane that he wishes. Semetain
himself has resided in the Plane of Air for many centuries and has taken a form
that looks to many to be that of an Angel.
He stands over 8ft tall and has a golden skin that reflects the light
from the many candles that are always burning in his home.
Long, blonde hair flows over his shoulders and down his back and lies
between the two white-feathered wings that sprout from his shoulders. His hands and feet end in long, bird-like claws and his eyes
are a pure black that seem to pierce through any illusion.
He is superbly muscled and can perform incredible feats of strength when
he chooses not to use his psychic powers. Semetain’s
only clothing is a plain black loincloth that is buckled with a silver brooch
showing a hand holding a flame. At
his side, Semetain always has a silver edged scimitar with many runes and sigils
engraved on its blade. The handle
is bound in black leather and the pommel is a huge ruby that burns with an
unnatural fire. When drawn,
lightning flickers along the length of the scimitar and it is said that Semetain
has manage to bind many lesser Demons into the weapon.
Semetain
fled from his home Plane centuries ago and has been building up a power base in
the Plane of Air ever since. It is
not known what his goals are but it is known that the Demon Lord is an expert in
Spells that involve either Fire or Air. He
has been able to summon and control many Air Elementals and he has even been
able to summon Fire Elementals to the Plane of Air, a very difficult feat.
Semetain takes a particular delight in the Chiropera and always surrounds
himself with dozens of these ugly creatures.
He has also shown a great interest in Mages and often tries to tempt them
to his service with gifts and promises. If
these fail he resorts to threats and then his true nature shows through.
When Semetain becomes enraged, his voice deepens to a fierce, harsh growl
and flames crackles over his feet and hands.
He will leave a flaming trail wherever he treads and his eyes will change
from black to a violent red colour.
There is in
intense hatred between Storm and Semetain, mainly because they are so similar.
The few Mages that the Demon Lord does manage to convince to help him
invariably come from Storm’s Academy and this only serves to heighten the
hatred that the Arch-Mage holds for the Demon Lord.
The air above Marisha suddenly darkened and small bolts of lightning shot in all
directions from it. The young Mage
screamed as the black cloud dropped towards her and enveloped her in its gloom. She could feel dozens of small hands grabbing at her hair and
tugging her clothes but she could see nothing through the impenetrable darkness
that surrounded her. She tried to
slap the prying hands away but her fingers passed through them as though they
were nothing more solid than air. A
great pressure built up around her, as though some massive weight was crushing
down on her from all directions and Marisha dropped to her knees to escape the
pressure but it only grew worse and when she thought that she could bear it no
more, it increased. Blood burst
from her nose and ears to flood down her face and she could feel her bones
buckling under the weight, and then it was gone!
The
darkness that surrounded her disappeared as rapidly as it had enveloped her and
Marisha realised that she could feel solid ground under her feet.
The flow of blood from her ears and nose slowed and then stopped and
after a few deep breaths the Mage managed to stop herself from shaking.
She rubbed the tears from her eyes and gained the courage to look around
herself.
She was in a large hall, lit only by
candles. The floor was made of
black rock and the ceiling arched far above her head.
Beams and rafters crossed the open roof space and dozens of winged
creatures sat on the beams looking down at the Mage. The creatures stood about 5ft tall and were thin and wiry.
Their skin was a grey colour and their nails were blood red.
They had no hair and no clothing and Marisha could easily see that there
were both males and females in the group that watched her.
Their faces were flat, with no noses and large mouths filled with yellow
fangs. Their eyes were deep set and
of many different colours, red, grey, blue, black and the creatures had small
slits where there should have been ears. Sprouting
from their backs were large, black wings that looked to be leathery.
These wings gleamed in the candle light and were covered in slime or
mucus of some kind. Marisha had
never seen these creatures before but recognised them from her Master’s
lectures – Chiropera.
The walls of the room were covered in
hangings and tapestries that showed scenes of carnage and battle.
Weapons and shields were interspaced with the hangings and many of them
showed signs of hard use. Marisha
had appeared in the middle of the room and at one end was a large double door
made of dark wood and bordered in polished silver.
At the other end of the room was a huge throne that looked to have been
carved out of solid marble. Sitting
on the throne was a beautiful creature with golden skin and long, blonde hair.
Large white wings flared out from its back and it had a huge, curved
sword sitting across its lap. Its
clawed feet gripped hold of a step leading up to the throne and the talons
looked sharp and strong. The
creature looked fairly human but his eyes were plain black with no pupil or
iris.
Semetain!
Her Master had warned her of this one many times and all of Marisha’s
fears came flooding back. She
backed away but stopped suddenly as pain shot up her spine and she collapsed to
her knees. Gasping for breath, she
could just see a pattern on the floor through her tears.
The pattern formed a circle and the Mage was in the middle of the circle.
It took many moments for Marisha to convince herself that it was what she
knew it in her heart to be, a Circle of Binding.
She had been bound by a Demon just as she had so many times bound them.
Semetain’s laughter boomed through
the hall and the Chiropera quickly took up the joke.
Marisha took the time to force herself to her feet again and she looked
directly up at the Demon Lord.
“Well, little one,” said
Semetain. “I see that you found
my gift.”
He opened his clawed hand and the
ring that Marisha had found lay glistening on his palm.
The Demon closed his hand once again and flame flared briefly around it.
When he opened his hand once more, the ring was gone and ashes spilled
onto the floor by the throne.
“You have used my gift and now
there is a price that must be met. Surely
you have realised that nothing ever comes free?”
The Demon Lord leaned forward on his
throne and peered closely at the young Mage.
Marisha could feel his eyes burning into her mind, reading her thoughts
and raping her memories and she tried to use a Spell that would force him out of
her head. Once again, the Demon’s
laughter echoed around the chamber.
“You’re pitiful powers will have
no effect in my domain and you are stupid beyond belief to even attempt them.
I was going to offer you a deal, a chance to let you work for me but you
are of no value to me. You hardly
had the strength to escape the Wind Guardian, let alone anything else.”
Semetain let out a deep sigh and put
his chin into one of his clawed hands.
“It is a pity, but I have no place
for dead weight. Still, you can be
of some use to me, a small favour to repay me for the use of my ring.
You may feed my pets!”
Realization burst over Marisha like a
wave and she tried to say something, anything that might change the Demon’s
mind but it was too late. The
Chiropera had already dropped from the roof and were winging their way towards
her. The last thing that the Mage heard before she was torn apart
was the Demon’s booming laughter merging with her own screams of pain.