The Akashic Records - Planar Location
What are the Akashic Records?
Within the folds of mental energies is a singular place that exists at a single point in time, at the very edge of time itself. Within this hallowed plane are endless shelves ladened with scrolls, a compendium of all that has happened, will happen, and is happening. These shelves hold all events, recorded on indestructible tablets and scrolls, composed upon sheets of astral aether and written in silver vapor. This plane holds all events of history and, if a traveler can somehow arrive here, they can select the scrolls written of their life and learn the past, present, and future.
History
No thing ever comes from nothing. For time to become, it must first be recorded. While few may know when the multiverse was first formed, those first moments are recorded in the Akashic Records long before the multiverse was formed. Even the creation of the Akashic Records is recorded within the Records, though the scroll with that knowledge is heavily guarded by the Aetherians. The Aetherians, strange guardians and guides who inhabit this plane, safeguard key secrets to the universe and ensure that the astral tablets are never removed from the confines of this library. The greatest tablet they safeguard is the first one, written by an ultimate being that existed before time and all things.
An Outsider’s Perspective
Outsiders have different perspectives of this place, with some claiming it appears like an infinite hallway with doors leading to new rooms and insights, while others claim it looks like a great library with shelves stacked and overflowing with scrolls. Some have even described it as still images laid out on a strip that flows forward, backward, and in all directions, able to be maneuvered about by the viewer depending on how they wanted to view an event.
Most people, who have visited this plane, describe a great library with a ceiling so high that it either doesn’t exist, decorated to look like an astral sky, or simply too far away to view. Overflowing shelves hold thousands upon thousands of scrolls and tablets that are laid haphazard over each other, carefully placed in a precise way by the Aetherians who act as the librarians.
Many describe ancient floors made of glass-like clay, wooden shelves covered in dust, and endless rows of knowledge. There doesn’t seem to be a central location within the library, or if there is, none have recorded finding such a place, and one travels around as if in a guided dream. They know where to go by instinct through the plane, or at least, the books and scrolls they gaze upon all seem to be guiding them to their goal.
A Native’s Perspective
The Aetherians guard this special place jealously, not wanting to risk its knowledge to outsiders who will only corrupt what is here. For that reason alone, the Aetherians rarely look kindly on visitors and seek to remove them as quickly as possible from the Records. They rarely use violence, unless they are forced to, but are quick to banish visitors before they can cause too much of a problem. Few understand the mindsets of the Aetherians, as they are impervious to divination magics to read their minds or judge what they might do next.
Aetherians aren’t the only ones who reside in this plane, as they are accompanied by the Inevitables. Inevitables are thinking constructs created by an unknown being who gave them the single task of protecting the Records, the timeline, and every thing that stems from such a task. Both seek to maintain the order of the Records, ensuring that none can come and go as they will, seeking hidden knowledge and using it to alter the timeline.
Atmosphere
As the Akashic Records is a purely mental plane, existing perhaps somewhere in the psychic energies of the Astral Plane, there is no atmosphere for physical manifestations. While physical matter can exist here, it is not affected by time, weather, temperature, or atmosphere. There is light here, though it is only as bright as is best for a visitor's eyes and seeing the glowing manuscripts. There is a breathable atmosphere only so much in that if a visitor's lungs take in air, they feel as if they are working. The temperature is pleasant, but only because it is whatever is most comfortable for a visitor.
For some travelers to this plane, they prefer studying during heavy thunderstorms and so they hear crashing thunder and sheets of rain, while others prefer absolute silence and so only their thoughts accompany them here. Some have even claimed to hear soft music echoing through these sacred halls, though if they have companions with them, their experience may be far different.
Traits
Travel to the Plane
The Records exist as a purely mental plane, meaning it has no physical location. It exists within the minds of all living creatures, all inanimate materials, and every thing. Some believe that it exists within the silver vapors of the Astral Plane, as the scrolls, tablets, and books that line the shelves all appear to be made of astral energies, a glowing purple light that ebbs and flows. Even the writing within the manuscripts appears like the silver mist that bisects the Astral Plane, creating a sea of silver vapor.
As such, the Akashic Records might be one of the hardest places to visit as it physically doesn’t exist. Certain spells, like plane shift, might be able to be used to visit such a place, but they require very specific components that are impossible to exist within the laws of the universe. Plane shift itself requires a physical tuning rod that is attuned to the plane, and since there is no physical nature for this plane, there is nothing for the rod to attune to. The secret of traveling to this plane lies in the mind.
Some monks have learned the secrets of projecting their mental body into the Astral Plane, sending it to distant planes. This same technique is required to reach the Akashic Records, though it requires an elaborate ritual to work properly. Some monks have claimed to do it by themselves with no setup, but they are incredibly rare, especially those who are telling the truth about their travels. Spellcasters have found their ways of reaching this plane, often by spending many hours adjusting and augmenting an astral projection spell, but the costs of such an endeavor make it far out of reach for most.
Traversing the Plane
Arriving upon the plane, the visitor finds themselves in a hall lined by bookshelves. They are free to wander the rows and crisscrossing intersections of shelves, propelling themselves forward by walking or merely thinking like on the Astral Plane. Millions of scrolls litter the shelves around them, though what secrets they hold are hidden until they are picked up and read as there are no markings or designators. How the Records are organized is esoteric and only the Aetherians are likely to know the truth of that matter.
The only danger of wandering these endless corridors is that the Aetherians or Inevitables will spot you. While this won’t, likely, end in death, they won’t take kindly to such trespassers and you can quickly find yourself banished from the Akashic Records. They rarely send you back to your home plane, but cast you to a random plane as punishment for imposing on the Records. This might wind up with you standing in front of a pit fiend or a deity of your opposite alignment, or you may end up simply standing in the Outlands or one of the elemental planes far from any real danger. You are free to try and return to the Records, as you aren’t permanently banned from entering it, though the process of returning can be just as expensive and labor-intensive as the first time you travel there.
Reading the Records
The sole purpose for most who visit the Akashic Records is to read what is recorded. Some seek knowledge lost to time, while others wish to gaze on their future. While the endless bookshelves and confusing corridors lack any identifying tags, few can enter this place and complain that they couldn’t find what they were searching for. The Akashic Records seem to know what you are truly seeking, with you appearing in the right section of the Records to find what you truly want. This might mean you thought you were searching for arcane secrets from a long-lost city that sunk beneath the ocean waves, but what you truly wanted was the future of how you found the long-lost city.
Though, those who gaze into their future should be warned, the more they see what is to come in their future, the less likely it will happen as they see it. The more someone is aware of their fate, the more fate changes, and morphs so that no one can accurately know everything that will come and how they can defeat it. By simply knowing that an event will occur, the reader can prepare for it and act differently than in the timeline where they knew nothing of the upcoming event. Because fate may change for them, it changes for everyone and the timeline is altered - causing the Records to be wrong. The Akashic Records can never be wrong, and so something must be fixed, which alerts the Aetherians and Inevitables that someone has broken fate, causing them to fix fate and the timeline. This is one of the few instances where they fight to destroy, and if they destroy you, you are wiped from the mental plane itself, all mentions of you in the Records are removed as if you had never been.
It is thus, with great caution, that monks and archmages may read their future. They don’t gaze into their own fates, but rather look at their colleagues, friends, and allies, watching their fate unravel. They watch their future from the sidelines of others, avoiding causing any damage to their fate and calling upon the wrath of the Aetherians and Inevitables.
Factions & People
Aetherian
Also called Guides or Guardians, the Aetherians are a strange group as they are fiercely protective of their library, but have been known to help those who seek greater insights. They appear either as beings of pure energy, not at all, or as the same race as the visitor to the Records. They offer their help only to those who resist the temptations of touching the tomes, scrolls, and tablets that line the shelves, providing insights into the timeline and fate. So long as a visitor only levies questions at the Aetherians, and doesn’t seek to find their own answers within the tablets, the Aetherians are reasonable and helpful. They provide guidance, can read the tablets to the one they are helping, and are even said to be pleasant if lacking most emotion. Their responses aren't always straightforward though, causing those with little patience to dive into the Records and hope they are not caught.
For as long as the Akashic Records have existed, so have the Aetherians who act as the librarians and caretakers of this plane. It is unclear exactly how many of them there are, or if there is only one who has many guises. Some even believe that the Aetherians are just The Aetherian, the creator of the Records and recorder of time and things.
No one has been able to summon an Aetherian from the Records nor have there ever been any confirmed sightings of Aetherians outside of the Records, though how anyone would know is beyond anyone's guess. Rumors persist that the Aetherians are timeless only so long as they remain within the Records, similar to the Inevitables. If they leave the Records, visiting a time anywhere in the multiverse, they can never return to that time again as they existed then already and can not exist multiple times at the same time. This might explain why they never leave the Records, for if they did leave for even just a moment, it would mean they could never revisit that moment if they ever had the need or want to do so again.
Inevitables
Inevitables appear like clockwork beings, bodies made of fine metal carefully crafted with no wasted material or useless parts. It is said that the Inevitables were only created upon the first mortal visiting the Akashic Records who interfered with the timeline. For whatever reason, they were formed into creation, perhaps because the mortal made it so that the Records needed protection. These constructs are the only ones, that outsiders know of, to leave the Records and enforce the laws of time, ensuring that no mortal or deity wavers too far from what is recorded in their great library, even if the Inevitable is unaware of what is written.
The deities of Mechanus were so taken with the ideas of Inevitables, that they crafted their own. Unfortunately for them, their Inevitables often display strange idiosyncrasies and must often be rebuilt and reprogrammed after a few hundred or thousand years. The ones that were formed in the Records have never shown that variation in their behavior. Common names for deity-created Inevitables include Kolyarut, Marut, and Zelekhut; if there are names or designations for those from the Records, only a handful may even know it.
While it is only hypothesized for the Aetherians, it is a known fact that the Inevitables are never able to revisit a time when they left the Records and took physical form. This is why Inevitables are only sent one by one to a specific time, even if it would make more sense to send two at a time. Once an Inevitable visits a specific time, they can never revisit that time no matter where they appear in the multiverse so whatever governing force commands them is very cautious about when they are sent out.
Encounters
Dream Guides - One of the party members is being contacted in their dreams by an unknown entity claiming to be reading the Records and their fate. They claim that unless the party member follows their exact instructions then they will enter a timeline that will end in millions dead. They claim to be Aetherian, but who are they really, and want are they seeking to gain?
Hunted by Time - Someone who has researched the Akashic Records is being hunted for changing the timeline, even if they have no idea what they did to alter it. They are seeking adventurers to protect them and figure out how to fix this before they are removed from existence.
Lost Inevitable - A strange creature is wandering the streets of a city, seeking a way to return to the Records. They are mere days before they will be obliterated as they will exist in two places at once, a dangerous proposition that might destroy the world.
Spell Mishap - When someone in the party missed their teleport or plane shift, a mishap happened and they are now in the Akashic Records. What might they uncover in this library and can they evade the guardians of this plane?
Resources & Further Reading
The Akashic Records are believed to be a real place by many who practice theosophy and anthroposophy. There are many books on those who have claimed to visit this place that can provide insights and inspiration in running it in your games. In addition, inspiration was taken from Brent Weeks’ Lightbringer Series, the tv show Loki (2021), and the Planescape Campaign Setting.
