The Verse

The Verse is the collective name for all the planes that have grown from the World Tree.

From here and on, the planes will be presented in the order from top and down.

The World Tree
All the planes grow up and around the World Tree. It's a part of the Void that has taken on form to hold the Planes together. The Material Plane sits in a tight circle under what one would call the middle of the World Tree. Above it towers the Elemental Planes, resting on the Planar Pillars. After the Planar Clash, the Pillars broke and now the Material and Elemental Planes rest on each others. It's said that a part of the World Tree broke off in the Clash. No one knows where it might have ended up, or if it's floating in the Void.

The Astral Plane
The Astral Plane is where wisps, the souls of creatures, go when they depart the Material Plane. It is a strange realm, which links to all other planes. It floats like a cloud inside and around the World Tree and is anchored by the Arial Chains.

It is possible to travel to the Astral Plane, and from the Astral Plane you can reach all the Planes of the World Tree. You can go to the Astral Plane physically and simply mentally, though these have different meanings.

Traveling to the Astral Plane can be done both physically and mentally, though it is very hard and rare to do it bodily. Usually, one simply project their mind into the Astral Plane and when they find their intended destination, they simply materialise in the other Plane as if they had physically traveled there by dream. A traveler in the Astral Plane move by simply thinking about moving, but distance has little meaning. The smarter a creature is, the easier it can control its movement by act of will.

One's death - either in the Astral Plane or the destination planes - causes no actual harm. Only the severing of a character's silver cord while on the Astral Plane (or their death of their physical body on the Material Plane) can result in their true death. Therefor, it's usually safer to travel by projection than seek out a portal. Things that might sever the traveler's silvery cord are psychic winds and specially made weapons of the Astral Plane's inhabitants. If a person travels bodily into the Astral Plane, they have no silvery cord.

Gateway Pools
Gateways leading from the Astral Plane to other planes appear as two-dimensional pools of rippling colours, in different sizes. Traveling to another plane requires locating a colour pool that leads to the desired plane. These gateways can be identified by colour.

Psychic Winds
A psychic wind isn't a physical wind like that found on the Material Plane, but a storm of thought that batters travelers' minds rather than their bodies. A psychic wind is made out of lost memories, forgotten ideas, minor musings, and subconscious fears that went astray in the Astral Plane and created this powerful force.

A Psychic wind is first sensed as a rapid darkening of the silver-grey sky. Soon, the area becomes as dark as a moonless night. As the sky darkens, the traveler feels buffeting and shaking, as if the plane itself was rebelling against the storm. As quickly as it comes, the psychic winds passes and the sky returns to normal.

The Psychic wind has two kinds of effect: a location effect and a mental effect. A group of travelers journeying together suffers the same location effect, but the mental effect depends on the traveler.

The Arial Chains
The Arial Chains are what keeps the Astral Plane grounded. They are not material and it is unknown how they are able to anchor the Astral Plane. You cannot travel to them.

The Outer Planes
Spread across the entire World Tree, several small bubbles of Outer Planes lie alone, attached to the sides of the World Tree. These can be reached from the Astral Plane's colour pools.

It is unknown how many Outer Planes there are and what properties they have, but they are known to be there.

The Elemental Planes
The Elemental Planes consist of five planes of existence that used to tower over the Material Plane but is now in ruins all around it after the Planar Clash: The Elemental Plane of Air, The Elemental Plane of Earth, The Elemental Plane of Fire, The Elemental Plane of Spirit and The Elemental Plane of Water.

The Elemental Plane of Air
The Elemental Plane of Air borders the Elemental Plane of Fire and the Elemental Plane of Spirit.

The Elemental Plane of Air is an open expanse with constant winds of varying strength. Here and there, chunks of earth drift in the openness - the remnants of failed invasions from the Elemental Plane of Earth. these earth motes serve as homes for the creatures who reside in the Plane, and many motes are covered with lush vegetation. Other creatures live on cloud banks infused with enough magic to become solid surfaces, strong enough to support towns and castles.

Storms are frequents, mostly on par with strong thunderstorm but occasionally more like fierce tornadoes or might hurricanes. The air is mild, except near the Elemental Plane of Fire (where it's searing hot). Most of the Plane is a complex web of air streams, currents and winds. These range from stiff breezed to howling gales that can rip a creature apart. Even the most skilled flying creatures must navigate these currents carefully.

The area between the Elemental Plane of Air and Elemental Plane of Fire is sometimes referred to the Plane of Ash. Howling winds mix with cinder storms and lava to create and endless storm front - a wall of flames, smoke, and ash.

The Elemental Plane of Earth
The Elemental Plane of Earth borders the Elemental Plane of Fire and the Elemental Plane of Water.

The Elemental Plane of Earth is a chain of mountains rising higher than any mountain range in the Material Plane. On the high ranges, eternal forests cover the tops. There is no air above them, and the tight canopies of the trees create almost a world of its own inside. The rest of the Plane is the honeycomb of caves and caverns that resides under the entire Plane.

The mountains nearest the Elemental Plane of Fire host no forests, and the caves are filled with seeping lava and the air reeks of sulfur. The mountains succumb to the water near the Elemental Plane of Water, and it seeps into the caves to create gigantic underwater caverns.

The Elemental Plane of Fire
The Elemental Plane of Fire borders the Elemental Plane of Air and the Elemental Plane of Earth.

The Elemental Plane of Fire hosts a blazing sun that hangs at the zenith of a golden sky, waxing and waning on a 24-hour cycle close to the Material Plane's. It ranges from white hot at noon, to deep red at midnight, the darkest hours of the Plane displaying a deep red twilight. At noon, the light is nearly blinding. Most businesses take place during the "night".

The weather on the plane is marked by fierce winds and thick ash. Although the air is breathable, creatures not native to the plane must cover their mouths and eyes to avoid stinging cinders. The wind is always at least blustery and rises to hurricane force during the worst storms.

The hear is comparable to a hot desert on the Material Plane and poses real threat to travelers. The deeper one goes into the Plane, the less water can be found, and on most areas of the Plane, the travelers have to only depend on their own supplies.

The Elemental Plane of Spirit
The Elemental Plane of Spirit borders the Elemental Plane of Water and the Elemental Plane of Earth.

The Elemental Plane of Spirit is a realm of thought and dream. It is a great silvery sea, the same above and below, with swirling wisps of white and grey among motes of light and distant stars. Most of the Elemental Plane of Spirit is a vast, empty expanse. A visitor might stumbled upon chinks of rock drifting forever in the silvery void. Creatures on the Elemental Plane of Spirit don't age or suffer from hunger or thirst. For this reason, many humanoids that live on the Plane establish outposts in concentrated places.

Visitors to the Elemental Plane of Spirit experience weird sensations and, while traveling to the other Elemental Planes are not a good experience either, one cannot stay in the Elemental Plane of Spirit for a long time. One can see wide spread stars

The Elemental Plane of Water
The Elemental Plane of Water borders the Elemental Plane of Earth and the Elemental Plane of Spirit.

The Elemental Plane of Water has a warm sun that arcs across the sky, seeming to rise and set from within the water at the horizon. Several times a day, however, the sky clouds over and releases a large amount of rain, often accompanied by spectacular shows of lightning, before clearing up again. At night, a glittering array of stars and auroras cover the sky.

The Elemental Plane of Water is an endless ocean, that sometimes weirdly rises as if traveling up mountains, or create layered roads of water. There are islands and peaks that rise from enormous coral reefs that seem to stretch forever into the depth. The storms that move across the sea sometimes create temporary portals to the Material Plane and draws ships into the Elemental Plane of Water. Surviving vessels from countless worlds and navies ply these waters with little hope of ever returning home.

If the sea isn't calm, it's battered by storms. On occasions, a tremor in reefs sends rogue waves sweeping across the plane, swamping entire islands and driving ships into the reefs.

Many cities are built in level with the water level, and they revel in the sunlight and feed off of the depths.

The Planar Pillars
The Planar Pillars are ethereal Pillars that hoist the Elemental Planes up above the Material Plane. They are material and can sometimes be seen over the edges of the Elemental Planes. It is unknown what they are made of or how they hold the Planes together, but no one ever knew about them before the Planar Clash.

The Planar Clash
The Planar Clash, casually nicknamed the Third Sundering or simply the Sundering, refers to the event where the Planar Pillars broke and the Elemental Planes crashed into the Material Plane.

The Third Sundering occurred around 100 years ago from the present, after another great Elemental War. After the Elemental Warden of Fire, Karazh, disappeared with the Elemental Core of fire, the Ashbringers brought him back under their control to destroy the Material Plane. Not much later, the Elemental Water of Earth, Zaren, disappeared as well.

The war that unfolded was terrible and people across all Planes came together to oppose the Ashbringers. In the end, the Elemental Cores within Karazh and Zaren exploded. The explosion was without match and the two, closest to those Planes, of the five Planar Pillars were shattered in the explosions. This caused the rest of the Pillars to crumble. The Elemental Cores within the Elemental Warden of Water, Volcha, the Elemental Warden of Air, Eriv, and the Elemental Warden of Spirit, Haiev, exploded upon impact as the Elemental Planes ripped into the Material Plane.

The Elemental Planes fell into the Material Plane, and the veils between them were torn and broken in many places. Now, large areas across both the Planes and the Material Plane mesh together and allow travel.

The Material Plane
Alandor is the Material Plane of the Universe.

Previously above it, on the Planar Pillars, rested the Elemental Planes, that have now broken and fallen into Alandor.

Outside the Elemental Planes, is the void of the Astral Plane.

The Twelve Hells
The origin and home for all fiends, demons and devils. All of these are returned to the Twelve Hells when they are slain.

The River Styx flows through the nine known levels, ending in a dark pool at the bottom of the ninth level. Travel between the layers is easiest done on the River Styx.

It is not easy for a demon or devil to climb out of the Twelve Hells, having to pass through the Void to reach the other planes from its place near the roots of the World Tree.

Only Nine levels of Hell have been documented throughout history, though mentions of three deeper levels are mentioned or spoken of in tales and myths.

Trivia

 * There are more Planes in the World Tree, but these are unknown or unspoken of
 * Much of the World Tree is still shrouded in mystery, and crash of the Planar Pillars is the only physical proof of the parts of the World Tree. It sparked a lot of new research and science around the Verse