Plane of Ice
Of all the Minor Planes of
the Multiverse, the Plane of Ice is one of the most inhospitable. By day, the
feeble light of a dim, red sun is reflected back in a rainbow of light and
colours. Very beautiful to look at but potentially deadly as it can cause a
form of snow blindness that can leave the eyesight permanently damaged. By
night, the temperature drops even further and the storms arise. Fierce winds
whip up the snow and ice turning them into a rain of sharp crystals that can
tear flesh from bone in a matter of seconds and drops visibility to zero.
When a travelling Mage wishes to enter this Plane they must first
summon up a Portal. As the Mage starts the Incantation they will see a
hexagonal, flat surface appear in the air directly in front of them. They must
now increase the volume and tempo of the Incantation to solidify the Portal or
it will fade away like a light snow in the morning sun. If the Incantation
continues, the Portal will grow more secure and it will take the form of a
mirror, hanging in the air above the Mage. He mirror will perfectly reflect the
entire room apart from the Mage themselves. It will be as if the Mage simply
doesn’t exist! At this point, the traveler must recite the Incantation that
will draw them out of their physical body and give their Psyche true form. The
mirror-Portal will now reflect the image of the Mage’s non-corporeal form but
the physical body will remain hidden.
To fully enter the Plane of Ice, the Mage must send their Psyche
through the mirror and away from the Prime Plane of Shardar. This takes an act
of great Will since any experienced Mage will know deep down, that the Plane of
Ice is not a place where they really want to be. The Psyche will hurtle towards
the Portal and, if the Mage’s Will is strong enough, they will break through the
mirror, shattering the glass which turns into a shower of ice crystals, and find
themselves in the freezing desolation of the Plane of Ice.
On first viewing, the Plane appears to be completely barren and
empty, but appearances can be deceptive. There is no soil or earth on this
Plane, just snow and ice, and very few things manage to live here, mainly
because of the lack of elements necessary to most life-forms. The few plants
that do manage to grow here have adapted to these strange situations in that
they can root themselves in nothing more solid than ice and can prosper on the
energy that is given off by the dim sun. They have developed photosynthesis to
such a high degree that they no longer need the nutrients and chemicals that are
common in the soil of most Planes. These plants are uniformly white and appear
extremely strange to those travelers that are used to bright colours in plants
and flowers. None of the plants can grow to anything higher than a few feet,
and most take the forms of mosses and lichens.
One of the rarest of these plants is a tiny tree-like plant that
grows only in the highest of the Plane’s mountains. The delicate shrub looks to
be made out of glass or clear ice and, if boiled into a tea or stew and then
drunk, it will give the drinker images of far off places and distant times.
With practice, the drinker can tune these images so that they can keep watch on
what is happening anywhere in the Multiverse, or even look through time to
specific events. Unsurprisingly, this plant, known as the Ice-Bark tree, has
great value throughout the Planes.
Most of the other plants of this Plane grow in sheltered hollows or
hidden valleys where weather conditions are not as fierce as they are on the
majority of the Plane. Even in these milder locations, the plants are hard
pressed even to survive and the slightest change in conditions can kill them off
within hours. It has been known for travelers to make camp in an area
surrounded by tiny grasses and mosses and to wake in an area devoid of
vegetation. The heat given off by a human body can change the climate enough to
destroy these delicate plants and extreme care must be used whenever a visitor
is attempting to harvest or cultivate any of the flora from this Plane.
The vast majority of the residents of this Plane are Elementals who
are perfectly suited to the environment, but there are a few natural creatures
who manage to survive in these harsh conditions. The animals are strange
mixtures between mammals and reptiles, with both fur or hair and leathery skin
or scales. They can survive on next to no food for months at a time and most of
them are herbivores that forage for the few plants that can be found. The
dominant form of these herbivores is a creature about the size of a sheep with a
thickly furred torso, but with leathery skin covering the legs, tail and head.
The four legs end in sharp, strong claws that are used for clinging onto snow
and ice but can be dangerous weapons when the creature is enraged or is forced
to defend its young of its mate. The head is similar to that of a crocodile
although it is much smaller, and its eyes are set low down on its head. The
Groat, for so it has been called, has a tail that ends in a flat, spade-like
area that is covered with thick and sturdy scales. The groat uses its tail to
shovel snow over itself when it has to take cover from the storms that ravage
the surface of the Plane. The creatures will bury themselves under an
insulating layer of snow to escape the worst effects of the weather and have
been known to hibernate for weeks at a time to escape the most hostile of
conditions.
Groats usually travel in mated pairs, with one or occasionally two
young ones along with them. They are completely harmless creatures that are
valued because of their pelts. The skins of their bodies are very warm and are
prized both for their thermal value and the beauty of the white, silky soft
fur. They can be sold in most of the civilized Planes and the trade value of
these pelts is constantly rising as the groats become more and more scarce.
The main threat to the groat, apart from foreign hunters and
trappers that is, is a large, carnivorous native animal called the Thamul. This
fearsome monster stands over 9’ tall and has adapted perfectly for hunting in
the untoward weather conditions that abound in the Plane of Ice. The beast is a
quadruped, but often rears up onto its hind legs. Especially when looking for
prey or about to attack. It looks very similar to a polar bear, apart from the
long, reptilian, prehensile tail that it has. The tail can be used for either
knocking its prey off balance or grasping and constricting them. The thamul are
virtually deaf and blind, but they can sense thermal variations from miles
away. Just below their neck is a part of bare flesh that can sense changes in
temperature as easily as it can sense changes in the weather. This patch of
skin looks like, and has a very similar texture to leather and it is completely
impervious to cold down to temperatures of -200 degrees C.
The thamul is armed with long claws and razor sharp teeth that it
uses when attacking its prey or defending its territory from invaders. The
beasts are fiercely territorial and will attack without hesitation anything or
anyone that is unwise enough to venture into any land that is claimed by a
thamul. Luckily, these creatures are solitary beasts and it is extremely rare
to find more than one of these animals within a 100 mile radius of another one.
When two thamuls meet they will either fight to the death or mate, and after
mating, the mail is forced to flee from the area or it will be attacked, and
usually killed, by the female.
There are no humanoid residents on the Plane of Ice, simply because
conditions are too hostile for them to prosper. Stone ruins have been found in
the middle of a featureless area known as the Sea of Remorse that show signs of
humanoid occupation but these have been dated as being more than 2,000 years old
and very little is left of them. They give no clue as to what might have
happened to the original occupants or where they could have come from, let alone
where the stone, which is not natural to the Plane, might have been brought
from. Many Mages have studied these ruins and found nothing of worth but, over
the last 10 years, few have ventured into the ruins and fewer still have
returned.
The reason for this is the Demon Cyclopea, a powerful entity who has
claimed the ruins as her own. About 10 years ago, as is measured in the lands
of Shardar, the thick ice in the Sea of remorse burst apart in an explosion of
light and energy and a tiny ball of light was seen to rise from the depths of
the frozen ocean. The light source grew rapidly, increasing in size until it
was more than half a mile across and hovering almost a mile above the frozen
Plane. The heat from the globe was felt hundreds of miles away and plants and
animals all over the Plane were killed by the foreign warmth. For a day and a
night, the sphere stayed where it was growing in strength and brightness until
it was impossible to look towards the Sea of Remorse without risking blindness.
Ice and snow melted for hundreds of miles around the globe, causing Icequakes
across the realm, the weather conditions were disrupted and the Elementals
refused to go anywhere near the globe.
Finally, at the end of the second day, the globe exploded sending
flaming shards across the Sea of Remorse and beyond. Vast clouds of steam rose
from where the globe had erupted from the Ice and much of the Plane was
blanketed by foul smelling smoke. When the steam cleared, a creature could be
seen standing on the edge of the crater that the globe had created. The
creature had long black hair that was tied back by a silver circlet that ran
across its forehead and was dressed in long, black robes. It leaned on a wooden
staff and looked just like a human female would, apart from it being over 20’
tall and having only a single large eye in place of the two normal ones. This
was the Demon Cyclopea.
Since her arrival upon the Plane of Ice, Cyclopea has striven to get
as many of the Elementals working for her as possible. She has had them restore
the ruins to a live-able state and has made them the base of her power, as well
as renaming them the City of the Eye. The ruins are now almost restored to the
beautiful city that they once were and the stand in the centre of the Sea of
Remorse like a priceless jewel set in a ring of silver. Cyclopea has turned
what was once a temple to a long forgotten god into her home and in the centre
of the building is a huge brazier that constantly burns. The fire has no
obvious fuel source and the red and yellow flames give off no heat, so some
believe that this fire is a mere illusion. In fact, the brazier and
specifically the flames are a Portal to the Plane of Fire. Cyclopea is known to
communicate with a powerful entity that dwells on the Plane of Fire, but it is
unknown what they are planning or even who she is talking to.
Despite her great size, the Demon Queen is a very graceful creature
and when she walks it is as though she is gliding on air. Her black robes swirl
around her like so many shadows and the only sound that can be heard is the dull
click of her wooden staff on the icy ground. Cyclopea never goes anywhere
without her staff and it is rumoured to be the heart of her great power.
Through the staff the Demon Queen can see into people’s hearts and minds and
read their thoughts and wishes. She has great command over the minds and
thoughts of others and manipulates people in the same way that a puppet master
would manipulate his creations. She is an expert Illusionist and any Mage
foolish enough to visit her should remember that nothing will be as it seems
where the Demon Queen is involved.
Elementals constantly trickle into the City of the Eye and Cyclopea
turns them to doing her will. Some of these creatures are sent to harvest the
Ice-Bark tree, while others are sent into different Planes through the Power of
the Demon Queen. Once on these foreign Planes, the Elementals can act as spies,
scouts, assassins, whatever Cyclopea whishes, but they are mostly used to keep
her informed of the actions of the Powers of the Multiverse.
There are two main types of Elementals on the Plane of Ice, those
that seem to be formed of solid snow and ice and those that look as though they
are clouds of wind-blown snow. The solid ones look much like statues built of
glass or crystal and most have a form very similar to that of humans. A small
percentage of these Elementals have the ability to change their shape whenever
they wish to do so and it is these ones that arte usually the leaders amongst
their brethren. These Elementals are extremely strong and are very difficult to
hurt by most means. They are, however, very vulnerable to heat, both Magical
and natural and this is a serious weakness for them if they ever have to leave
their home Plane. These creatures are commonly known as Ice Elementals and are
the more common of the two types. They tend to live in vast caverns or tunnels
carved under the mountains and glaciers of their home and they have very little
to do with most outsiders. Ice Elementals are quite barbaric and fierce and
think of any outsiders as enemies, attacking them before thinking to ask
questions.
The second type of Elemental, the Snow Elemental, is much more
powerful than their cousins and are therefore much more dangerous to any
traveling Mage. They can control the weather conditions around themselves in a
limited manner, causing storms to rise up and attack their foes or even the
ground to crack and break beneath any enemies. They have no physical form and
are unaffected by natural heat. Magically created heat still has the normal
devastating effect on them as it does on their cousins. When the Snow
Elementals wish to, they can become completely invisible and silent and this
makes them the perfect spies. Amongst the Snow Elementals, there are a few of
great age that have mastered the control of temperature and can cause natural
creatures to freeze solid between one breath and the next. Fortunately, the
Snow Elementals are more advanced than the Ice Elementals and have no desire to
inflict pain or suffering on anyone. (Apart from the ones who have been
subverted by Cyclopea of course!)
Any traveling Mage that comes across a Snow Elemental is likely to
be treated with great courtesy and respect, although not with any great deal of
trust. Most of the Elementals have no great liking for the Demon Queen who has
recently arrived in their realm and would gladly see her banished back to her
own Plane, but they do not have the power to do so themselves.