The Great Wheel cosmology was the prevalent cosmological model in which the world was said to exist. The Great Wheel was described as a complex, comparatively cosmopolitan place in which the gods of many worlds and pantheons mingled, the beliefs of many faiths and peoples bleeding together in a set of Outer Planes shaped predominantly by the polar forces of Law, Chaos, Good, and Evil. Thus it was that
LLIIRA and the Greek goddess 'Hecate' could feud over the love of the Sumerian god 'Enki' and work at a pleasure palace operated by the Aztec gods 'Xochipilli' and 'Tlazoteotl'. In fact, a number of alliances existed between the gods and those of other worlds, for example, between
MYSTRA and 'Wee Jas of Oerth', as well as a plot by a god ending up involving the gods of 'Krynn'.
The actual term "Great Wheel" did not mean the cosmology as a whole until the development of the
WORLD TREE cosmology. The terms "Great Wheel" or "Great Ring" meant the Outer Planes only. During this time, the cosmology as a whole did not require a name other than "the Planes" or "the Multiverse," as there were no formally named alternatives yet.
By the later years, some sages began to use again the
GREAT WHEEL cosmology model, while other sages preferred to use the
WORLD TREE or the
WORLD AXIS models. Of the three, the
GREAT WHEEL model remained the most commonly used; however, it was modified to include the planes discovered after the
SPELLPLAGUE.
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