Planescape’s Outlands

Let’s round out our Krynn and Planescape connection with Gilean, The Void, and  take a look at the Outlands, the home of Gilean and the hidden Vale. Buy A Players Primer to the Outlands (2e): https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/17301/a-players-primer-to-the-outlands-2e?affiliate_id=50797 

https://youtu.be/CA3SuwNAGtY

Transcript

Cold Open

For every Good there’s an evil, and for every land of order there’s a swirling morass of Chaos.

Intro

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about Planescape and the Outlands, known by some as the Plane of Concordant Opposition. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing the Planescape Campaign Setting boxed set, On Hallowed Ground, and A Player’s Primer to the Outlands supplements for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!

Discussion

We have discussed the foundation of the Planescape setting and its connections or changes to Krynn’s gods through Takhisis and Paladine. But there is one other greater god worth discussing as we round out our Planescape and Dragonlance series. That is Gilean, The Void. What I find interesting is that Planescape doesn’t just take the Krynn creation myth, it expands on it slightly, and in some unusual ways. For example, it correctly states that the High God called Gilean, brought him to the beginning of time and made him the keeper of the eldritch tome called the Tobril. But it adds that this is how Gilean became a god! That’s right, it suggests that Gilean was once a mortal, a scribe who was so scrupulous that he never made a single error. This is what drew the High God’s attention. Of course, others refute that myth as a mortal could never ascend to godhood… right Dragonlance fans? 

In any case, it places Gilean’s home, the Hidden Vale in the Outlands of Planescape. Also known as the Plane of Concordant Opposition. While I am completely ignorant about the Outlands, I decided to look into it, and much like how Takhisis and Paladine have their Krynn noted homes in the Planes, but they are never actually referenced in the same way as the rest of the planes, Gilean is no different. So let’s take a look and have a bit of a primer about the Outlands, the home of tThe Hidden Vale. 

The Outlands is a bit different than all of the other planes, as it holds entrances to them all. The inhabitants of the areas around the entrances built up towns called Gate-towns. Each of these gate-towns reflect the nature of the plane they are connected to. It has been suggested that any gate-town that becomes too similar to its connected plane, actually gets pulled into that plane. The opposite can also be true. If the area in the plane around its gate grows to be in opposition to its home plane, it will be ejected from the plane into the Outlands! This makes a revolving door of order and chaos–as well as a motley population throughout its regions. In the center of the Outlands is an infinitely tall spire, at the top of which rests Sigil. 

Of course, Sigil and the gate-towns are not the totality of the outlands. It contains small villages and realms belonging to unaligned powers. Most are neutral or at the very least amoral. Outside of these regions and gate-towns, the Outlands remains a sparse wasteland of rolling hills...