The Planes: Arborea
Our next stop in The Planes series is Arborea- a plane of wild passions of joy and rage.
What is Arborea
Manual of the Planes, 2001 WotC
The Olympian Glades of Arborea, sometimes simply referred to as Olympus, is a plane of strong emotions, fast-burning passions, and boisterous creatures. Those who make their home on this plane are as wild as the forests that make up the first layer and are full of bravado, rage, and joy. This plane is largely known for its first layer, Arvandor though also referred to as Olympus, and is often considered the breadbasket of the multiverse. Arborea has two other layers, with the second layer filled with water and the third a dusty desert of sand and snow. Many people will visit the second layer but most refuse to have anything to do with the third layer.
History
Arborea, sometimes referred to as Arvandor or Olympus based on the two major factions that make their home on this plane and was first introduced to Dungeons & Dragons in the Manual of the Planes (1987) and was originally introduced as Olympus. It has gone through several name changes across the various editions with none seemingly able to agree on an appropriate name. 1st edition lists the three layers of Arborea/Olympus as Olympus/Arvandor, Ossa/Aquallor, and Pelion/Mithardir, while 2nd edition simply refers to the layers as Olympus, Ossa, and Pelion. 3rd edition chooses to use the elven names for each layer so that the layers are Arvandor, Aquallor, and Mithardir; while 4th edition removes the plane completely and just has Arvandor exist as a domain in the Astral Plane where it is an archipelago of forested islands on enchanting waters and starry nights. 5th editions makes no mention of the layers of the plane and is simply referred to as Arborea with no mention of Olympus.
For this article, we will be using the latest published names for each layer; Arvandor, Aquallor, and Mithardir. These are considered the elven names for this plane and, due to the Olympian pantheon largely removed from the plane in 3rd and 4th edition, the elven names are the ones that have made it through the editions.
An Outsider’s Perspective
Most see Arborea as the first layer, Arvandor, with few thinking about the other layers. Arvandor is responsible for the sweetest of fruits, the largest vegetables, the best wheat for breadmaking, the best meats from wild game, and the list of foods that come out of Arvandor goes on. All across the multiverse merchants hawk the various food of Arvandor as “pure Arborean,” though many merchants are simply lying so they can charge a higher price for their wares.
Upon arriving in Arborea, the plane lives up to its name of wild emotions and fast-burning passions. Small breezes will quickly shift to violent storms before just as quickly die out to the pleasant breeze, the extremes of weather are fast and brutal but rarely last for longer than a few minutes. The land is incredibly fertile, the trees are massive, the hills the size of mountains, and the mountains the size of earthbergs. The jaw-dropping beauty of Arborea, more specifically Arvandor, makes it so that anyone who comes here yearns to always return.
Coming to visit Arborea comes with a risk though, this plane isn’t just filled with hot-headed and passionate folk, but rather the planes makes them so. This plane imbibes the spirits of chaos and the inhabitants, and visitors, find themselves short-tempered, prone to brawls, but just as quick to jump on a table and give a toast to their opponent’s bravery. Bravado is an art form in the feast halls of this plane and warriors from all over gather to share their stories and to go on many wild hunts across Arborea.
The Plane Above - Secrets of the Astral Sea, 2010 WotC
A Native’s Perspective
Manual of the Planes, 1987 TSR Inc.
Wild passions meet the bravado of warriors on this plane, massive appetites and lack of restraint make this a plane of broad emotions and quick change. The inhabitants, largely the elves and eladrin that call the top layer home, are known for their blustering and wild feasts of passion. They welcome visitors with open arms, so long as the superstitions and rules are followed, even if visitors might not know what they are.
Sacrifices are a common sight, especially by those who try to avoid the notice of gods and the other powers of this plane. The gods highlight the extreme emotions of the plane and are constantly moving against each other, their bravado turning into plans to knock the other gods down a peg, often relying on travelers and inhabitants of the plane to push their plans forward. While some may feel special to be chosen by a god personally, it often ends poorly for them and so sacrifices to please the gods are performed often and with much show. If you can please the gods, they won’t use you in their plans that often end up with their chosen being disposable.
Planes of Chaos, 1994 TSR Inc.
Arvandor, the top layer of Arborea, is filled with massive forests, mountainous hills, and towering mountains, it’s land home to wild forests and dire beasts. Aquallor, the second layer, is a completely different world as the entire layer is a vast ocean, though unlike Mount Celestia’s ocean or the Plane of Water, most of the ocean here is only three feet deep, though many deep chasms are spread throughout the layer where the gods of water make their homes. The third layer, Mithardir, is unlike the other two layers and is often compared to a vast desert. Sand, snow, and dust blow across this barren layer, with very few travelers or visitors to its dead lands.
Depending on where you go across the plane, you might stumble across different monsters, beasts, and inhabitants. The region of Olympus on the top layer is the home to monstrosities like gorgons, medusa, sphinxes, pegasi, chimera, cyclops, and more creatures from greek mythology. Whereas the region of Arvandor is filled with elves, eladrin and beasts far larger than they should be, often considered dire beasts though these Aborean beasts dwarf even them. The second layer is home to all manner of ocean creatures, from sea elves to dolphins, from water elementals to the gods of water and ocean. The final layer is a place of death, wererats can be found hiding in the dunes and ambushing traders, to vultures that circle high overhead and small lizards that scurry across the desert.
Atmosphere
Arborea is like the Material Plane but taken to a grand scale. Many travelers think that the air is charged with pure energy that seems to cause jitteriness for first-time visitors. Arriving here seems to invigorate passions, cause intense moments of joy or rage, and the entire plane is in a constant state of fast-burning emotions. Weather is an easy way of seeing these sudden bursts of emotion, as the weather is largely mild with sudden gusts of wind, lightning, and hail. Most travelers can move across the plane easily, but when the weather suddenly shifts into the extremes, many can be killed by the lightning and hail that suddenly comes out of nowhere. Most find cities to be far safer than traveling the wilds, mostly because shelter is always closeby.
Traits
Travel to the Plane
Traveling to Arborea is as easy as traveling to any other Outer Plane, with several portals located across the multiverse. Travelers in the Astral Plane must look for a sapphire blue portal, while those in Sigil can easily find a portal to Arborea in the Lady’s Ward. Several natural portals link Arborea to its neighbor planes, that of the Beastlands and Ysgard, and sometimes shifting portals will suddenly transport travelers from one plane to the next.
The Plane Above - Secrets of the Astral Sea, 2010 WotC
Traversing the Plane
It’s easy to walk across the top layer, though most don’t recommend trying to travel from one city to the next as the wilderness between each city is so large that it would take months to accomplish. Instead, finding portals that link one city to another, even if you must leave the plane to do so, is by far faster and most would consider safer. The massive forests of the top layer dwarf anything found across the multiverse with the trees being as tall as small mountains. Massive beasts roam through these forests, if anyone can take on one of these beasts by themselves, free drinks can easily be found in any tavern waiting to hear their tale.
The second layer, Aquallor, is a massive ocean though it is only 3 feet deep in most of the layer. This makes for a slow trudge if a traveler decides to take it on foot, but there are plenty of sailing vessels and floating cities that make the journey far easier. Another risk of journeying on foot across this layer is that maelstroms suddenly pick up, with many claiming that those who get sucked up in the maelstrom either die outright or are tossed up to Thalasia, a seaside port city on the first layer of the plane, who has deep oceans and vicious creatures that swim through the waters.
The third layer, Mithardir, is a vast and barren desert of blowing sand, snow, and dust. This layer is considered dying, and that it will eventually disappear from the multiverse once the last of its petitioners merge into the layer. Oceans of sand stretch between ancient ruins of past civilizations and cities, making traveling very dangerous and largely pointless for most merchants. This layer is largely dead and for most people, there just isn’t anything for them here worth dying of thirst and starvation for.
Planes of Chaos, 1994 TSR Inc.
Nature Spirits
All across the plane are the nature spirits that hold power over small portions of forests, rivers, hills, and more. Those who disregard nature by destroying it, without the proper permissions and sacrifices, gain the ire of the spirits. These nature spirits are vengeful and cruel to any who don’t treat their homes with the proper respect that nature deserves. The spirits have the power to move trees, reroute rivers, or cause mountains to spill rocks on the unsuspecting travelers. Their emotions run hot, and the only way to calm them down is to offer up sacrifices worthy of such creatures.
Planes of Chaos, 1994 TSR Inc.
Though, if a traveler isn’t sure what a spirit wants and simply wants to destroy the spirit, that can be very difficult as it requires the destruction of great swaths of land that the spirit controls. So long as there is still life in their domain, the nature spirit can survive. If a traveler so wishes, they can easily treat with the nature spirit by providing gifts to the spirit, and then spirit may take a physical form made of whatever its domain consists of, typically the physical form is a mirror of who they are talking but made with sticks, leaves, tree sap, and more.
Locations
Arborea is separated into three layers: Arvandor, Aquallor, and Mirthardir. Each has its own strange biome, but regardless of which layer you are on, towns and realms are spread sporadically across the plane with great divides of truly wild wilderness.
Arvandor
The top layer, and the most well-known layer, is often considered the breadbasket of the planes and is known for its high-quality food, the immense size of its fruits and vegetables, and the momentous forests that reach high into the sky. Vast expanses of wilderness separate settlements and it takes weeks and months to travel from one settlement to the next. The forests easily stand hundreds of feet tall, with hills the size of mountains, and the mountains soaring high above the hills. The atmosphere of this layer feels charged with energy and passion, and those that live here act with reckless passion and wild surges of joy and rage.
Depending on which side of the layer you are on dictates the natural terrain and what food can be found easily. The realm of Olympus, where the pantheon of Olympia holds its court, is on the tallest mountain of the plane, soaring high into the sky. It’s said that Mount Olympus stretches far down through the planes, its roots stretching down into Hades, the Gray Wastes. Arvandor, on the other hand, is the home of massive forests and the elven pantheon, their forests are considered tame though there is a strong difference between elven tame and a city dweller’s tame.
Arvandor [Realm]
The home of the elven pantheon, this realm is far less pastoral than its counterpart with trees so ancient and so old that they have never known the cut of a wood cutter’s ax and are the home for hundreds of elves. The elves make their home high in the tree branches, safe from the massive predators that crawl through the almost impenetrable underbrush below them. They often go on hunts through the forest, and at night hold great feasts commemorating the hunt. Passions mix and young elven warriors will stand upon the feast tables, boasting of the prowess and getting into brawls.
Hidden within the dark forests of Arvandor are the ruins of giants, their ancient halls resemble small hills that rise over 50 feet tall. The giants once walked all of Arvandor, the layer, before they were ran out of this plane by the elves who found such a liking to the plane. Due to how quickly the giants were forced to flee, many ancient treasures are rumored to be hidden in their ruins, with giants occasionally making expeditions into these forests… so long as the elves don’t notice them.
Grandfather Oak
Planes of Chaos, 1994 TSR Inc.
There are small towns of elves all across this layer, but the largest of them is known as the Grandfather Oak and is home to the elder treant that rules over the town. Moss-Among-His-Roots, Wind-In-His-Leaves is an ancient treant with cracked bark, and yellowed wood, one of his tree-branch arms recently fell off with many suspecting that he is dying. He is known for his sage advice, though even a simple yes or no question often takes at least a day to deliberate on. Due to his age, and his immense wisdom, even the elves often find his slow wisdom to take too long and too many weeks. On the other hand, the treants find the elves brash and sporadic choices as the elves often only take a few hours instead of a few days to answer simple questions.
Grandfather Oak is a massive tree that rises high above the forest and the inhabitants view the tree as a living and sentient creature that slowly morphs its shape to fit its occupants. Fire is restricted in the city, and punishments are extreme for those who allow any fire to get away from them, especially during the fall when the leaves are dry and still hanging from branches. Life on the Grandfather Oak goes by in a blur of revelry and great hunts throughout the forests.
Olympus [Realm]
Planes of Chaos, 1994 TSR Inc.
Here are the petitioners simply referred to as the greeks who celebrate lust and passion, who venerate heroes, and their appetites know no bounds. They believe that every life is an epic waiting to be written and then even a slave can become a hero. The pantheon of gods take an active role in the lives of those who live here, often pitting their worshipers against the other Olympian gods in a bid to grow their standing or knocking the other god down a few pegs.
This realm oversees the vast mountains and hills of Arvandor, the plane, and it is known for its incredible bounty of olives, grapes, and pastoral hills that grow massive quantities of food. The people of Olympus are among the loudest and boisterous when it comes to their epic deeds, their young warriors often going on great quests to benefit their communities. When the reports of massive beasts threaten a town, adventurers head out, some are lucky enough to bring back great epics of their fight while others simply disappear into the wilderness. The wilds of this layer are dangerous, but whenever it is conquered, it is a time to celebrate and spin great songs of the deeds.
Thalasia
One of the greatest cities in Olympus, this city is located on the shores of a great ocean and they are renowned for the massive fish they send off to the rest of the multiverse. Located on the steep and sunny hills, they are often troubled by the great monsters of the sea like sea serpents, hydras, and siren songs. When these monsters endanger the city, adventurers arise up and go out on their ships to conquer the monsters and bring back stories of their epic quests. Many perish in these encounters, and sometimes outside adventurers might stumble upon the city looking for heroes to end the monsters.
Occasionally, a maelstrom will create a funnel that will transport those caught in it to the second layer, Aquallor.
Aquallor
Planes of Chaos, 1994 TSR Inc.
The second layer of Arborea is a massive ocean that stretches off into the distant horizons. While some might compare it to the Plane of Water, it has a definite bottom that is only about three feet from the surface of the water. This layer is the watery domain of the elven and olympian gods who make their home in massive chasms that span thousands of feet or more into the dark depths of the ocean. Some islands dot across the oceans where land elves make their home in tropical climates.
Elshava
Elshava is a strange island floating across the ocean of Aquallor, it first appears to be a land island but is made up of immense logs and floating seaweed. It is covered in coral brick and mother of pearl and has taken on the design of a nautilus shell as it slowly grows large and spirals out. The streets are paved in shell and spiral out from the city and crabs skitter through the shadows much as rats do in other cities. This island floats across the layer and is known for its round sailboats, a peculiar design that is difficult to sail but allows for the large vessels to float through the shallow ocean water. The city conducts trade with islands of land elves and the chasms of the sea elves, prospering and growing ever larger.
Mithardir
The final layer is Mithardir and is a barren desert of sand, dust, and blowing snow. The layer is largely temperate, but everything is covered in a cloud of deep dust that makes it inhospitable for most plants to grow here. The layer is considered to be dying, and very few would ever willingly live here, those that do gather in some of the few cities that still survive in this place and are under constant threat from raiders and bandits. This layer is thought to be ruled over by a god of death and wealth, that ancient tombs dot across this layer filled with the burial treasures of ancient kings and pharaohs.
Planes of Chaos, 1994 TSR Inc.
Factions & People
Bacchae
Some petitioners of this plane are changed forever by its wild energies and become part of the wild mobs of drunken revelers found in Arvandor. These creatures are known as bacchae and often confused for satyrs as they appear to be in mid-transformation between man and beast. The bacchae live for the moment and, while they are typically good nature, are often chaotic and become a danger to travelers as they try to entice newcomers to join them in revelry. If a creature does, they will slowly starve to death as any food or drink they consume with the bacchae provides no nourishment and their bodies will slowly die. If they do die, their spirit joins the bacchae and continues in revelry, not realizing they are a dead spirit.
The Petitioners
The largest group of inhabitants of this plane are those who have died and were deemed to be fit for this plane. Chaotic and good, these souls are taken to the extremes of their personality and were often heroes who often saw little point in following the laws of society. These are the spirits of the boisterous heroes who helped their worlds escape disaster, though those souls are typically present only in the realm of Olympus. The elves and eladrin make up the rest of the petitioners in Arvandor and Aquallor, this is their reward from the elven pantheon for living lives that are true and loyal to the fey deities. They can be found intermingling with mortal elves who were drawn to this plane, or with the other humanoids who were unable to leave once they arrived here.
The Powers
The deities who call this plane home are often good-natured, though that doesn’t mean they are tricky or conniving. The powers of this plane often take great interest in what their counterparts are doing and use the mortals and petitioners as tools to uncover the secrets of other gods and to show up them. While the Olympian pantheon is largely responsible for this behavior, all inhabitants of this realm are superstitious and make sure to provide great sacrifices to the gods and nature spirits. No one wants to get on the wrong side of a god, just as no one wants to gain any special attention from a god.
Encounters
Aquallor’s Ship Race - One of the greatest events on Arborea are the sailing races on Aquallor, and one of the elven lords is looking to have a very good showing this year. They are hiring adventurers to protect their sailing ship, as this race is not only a test of sailing skill, but a test of bravery and violence against the sea monsters in Aquallor.
Divine Champions - An olympian god has decided that a group of adventurers are the perfect champions to show up a trickster god that recently embarrassed them. The adventurers will simply have to go into the trickster’s home and find some dirt on them. The god promises that it is barely dangerous, but if they displease the deity, they’ll regret it for the rest of their eternal afterlife.
Hidden Treasures - An archaeologist claims to have found a map that will lead them to Mithardir and a tomb of an ancient Pharoah. They are offering to any party that will protect them while they investigate the ruins' wealth beyond their wildest dreams.
Owlbear Problems - The people of Grandfather Oak are worried, two massive owlbears had recently been killed near the city, and, based on the rule of three, there should be a third owlbear out in the forest. They are looking for adventurers to head out into the forest and kill the beast as their guard patrols took horrible losses against the ones they had fought.
Sea Serpents - Thalasia is looking for heroes to take a ship out and take down the massive, tentacled serpent that has been blocking their port. Dozens of ships have been sunk trying to fight off the serpent and Thalasia is worried that the creature is only going to grow stronger before it simply wipes their town out.
Resources & Further Reading
Manual of the Planes (1st edition)
For more information on the plane as Olympus and with fewer elves.
The Planes of Chaos (2nd edition)
For more information on creatures, locations, and inhabitants of Arborea.
The Plane Above - Secrets of the Astral Sea (4th edition)
For more information on Arborea as a series of islands known as Arvandor.
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