The Parallel Planes

Parallel planes are strange copies of the material world. Where seas and mountains lie in the world, similar seas and mountains exist in these parallel planes. Yet they are not perfect copies. A thriving human city in the mortal world might be a forested vale in the Feywild and a haunted ruin in the Shadowfell. It seems that the Feywild’s version of a locale in the natural world is a pristine memory of what that place was like in the youth of the world, whereas the Shadowfell’s version shows a vision of how that same spot will look when its people pass away and it falls into ruin. Although some natural features vary between these planes, the biggest differences between them are the structures of sentient creatures. The kingdoms and castles of the eladrin are not replicated in the mortal world or the Shadowfell. Similarly, the city of Gloomwrought exists only in the Shadowfell, and no city stands in the corresponding spot in either the mortal world or the Feywild

The Feywild

  The Feywild (sometimes known as the Plane of Faerie) is a verdant, wild twin of the mortal realm. Towering forests sprawl for a thousand leagues. Perfect amber prairies roll between pristine mountain peaks soaring into the flawless clouds. Emerald, turquoise, and jade green seas crash along endless beaches. The skies are a perfect blue not seen in the mortal world—until storms come, coaldark thunderheads boiling with fierce winds and torrential rains. In this world, arcane power thrums through every tree and rock. All existence is magical.   The creatures native to the Feywild—the enigmatic eladrin, the vicious hags, the wild dryads, and the tyrannical fomorians—are all charged with the mystic energy of this plane. Some are blessed by it, and some are warped. Like the land around them, the fey who inhabit this plane run to extremes. Good fey are noble and just, protectors of the natural world and those mortals they choose to show favor to. Evil fey are dark instinct unleashed, all blood and claw and rage. The creatures of the Feywild can be kind, cruel, noble, monstrous, and savage—often all at the same time.

The Shadowfell

  The Shadowfell is the dark echo of the mortal world, a twilight realm that exists “on the other side” of the world and its earthly denizens. Legend has it that an otherworldly dimness arose around the remnants and tatters of the raw stuff of creation. Over time, these shadows coalesced and assumed a form similar to the natural world, but darker, more ominous, and thrumming with a strange and unexpected power. This murky land spawned beings of its own and drew others from different parts of the cosmos. It came to be filled with a diverse population of creatures, fair and foul.   The Shadowfell is more than just a mirror, even as darkly cast and twisted as it is. This plane is the destination of souls loosed from their bodies. It is the domain of the dead, the final stage of the soul’s journey before moving onto the unknown. For this reason, the Shadowfell draws the attention of any with an interest in death. The power and allure of this place even drew the Raven Queen from the Astral Sea to take residence among the spirits, to govern them, and to monitor their movements as they await the inexorable pull of dissolution.