The Great Beyond

Most travel in Starfinder is either between The Pact Worlds or between those areas controlled by the Pact Worlds and the many uncharted worlds of the surrounding galaxy. With billions of planets and other astronomical bodies to explore, “real space” offers nearly endless opportunities for excitement and adventure for those with the bravery and fortitude to face them. Yet there’s more to Starfinder’s setting than just binary suns, new life-forms with alien biology, and asteroids rich with resources ready to be exploited—much more.
All of what most mortals think of as reality, including the Pact Worlds’ entire galaxy, is part of a realm of existence called the Material Plane. Yet this is only one tiny portion of the multiverse, which is a vast conglomeration of planes and dimensions sometimes called the Great Beyond: a place of departed souls, gods, and strange creatures beyond mortal ken. Scholars usually divide these planes into the Inner Sphere and the Outer Sphere, though these names and attempts to map their relationships can’t hope to truly describe the incomprehensible geometry of overlapping infinities.

THE INNER SPHERE

The planes of the Inner Sphere can be thought of like a fruit, with the Elemental Planes forming layers of skin. Inside—the meat of the fruit—is the Material Plane, with the twin poles of the Positive Energy Plane and the Negative Energy Plane acting as the fruit’s pit. Yet while this would be complex enough, the pull of the Positive and Negative Energy Planes has also caused the Material Plane to delaminate and separate, forming strange reflections of itself: the Shadow Plane and the First World. Permeating and binding all of these realms together is the Ethereal Plane.

The Drift

Reachable only via technology, The Drift allows starships to quickly travel great distances. A relatively new plane, the Drift is generally considered to be part of the Inner Sphere. However, due to its strangeness, scholars are still debating how it fits into the grand design.

Elemental Planes

The Planes of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water are home to creatures and landscapes formed from their respective elements, often inhospitable to mortals. Within the planes, many different factions vie for control, from genies to the minions of the elemental lords.

Ethereal Plane

Existing conterminously with the many other planes of the Inner Sphere, the Ethereal Plane functions as a way to travel between the planes. However, the Ethereal Plane isn’t the empty place it appears to be at first glance, and many strange beings dwell there.

The First World

Created as a rough draft for the Material Plane, the First World was long ago abandoned by the gods, and it can be thought of as a palimpsest—the sketch behind the final painting of the Material Plane. Largely cut off from the other planes and full of vibrant energy from its proximity to the Positive Energy Plane, the First World is a constantly reinvented landscape where fantastic beings called Eldest warp reality and rule the native fey.

Negative and Positive Energy Planes

The Positive Energy Plane and its dark twin, the Negative Energy Plane, exist to create and destroy life, respectively. While the Negative Energy Plane drains life and creates strange mockeries of it (and is responsible for animating undead creatures), the Positive Energy Plane is no safer, as its pure vitality overwhelms and consumes mortal bodies.

Shadow Plane

True to its name, this plane is a shadowy reflection of the Material Plane, though the native beings and places found here are often twisted almost beyond recognition. Distance is strangely variable here, as is the morality of the plane’s residents.

THE ASTRAL PLANE

Acting as a buffer between the Inner Sphere and the Outer Sphere, the void of the Astral Plane churns with a silvery-gray haze. Spirits of dead mortals pass through this plane as part of the River of Souls on their way to final judgment in the Boneyard.

THE OUTER SPHERE

If the Inner Sphere is the nucleus of an atom, then the Outer Sphere is the outermost shell of its electrons, with the Astral Plane as the space between them. Along the inside face of this infinite, hollow “ball” lie all the realms mortals think of as the afterlife. Soul energy begins in the Positive Energy Plane, takes shape and sentience as mortal life on the Material Plane, and then, after death, passes through the River of Souls and receives Pharasma’s judgment to end up on one of the Outer Planes, often in the service of a deity or transformed into an angel, demon, or other such “outsider.” Each plane represents one of the nine metaphysical alignments, although the reason behind this, as well as what lies beyond the Outer Sphere, remains unknown.

Abaddon (NE)

Home to the nihilistic daemons, the wasteland of Abaddon is ruled by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who wish to see the destruction of all living things.

The Abyss (CE)

Innumerable horrors inhabit the mind-shattering layers of the Abyss, ranging from alien qlippoth to repugnant demons and the ruling demon lords.

Axis (LN)

A single gigantic metropolis, Axis is home to the mechanical inevitables and their creators, the axiomites. Both work to study the laws of the multiverse and protect it from the encroaching chaos of the Maelstrom.

The Boneyard (N)

Atop a colossal spire, this location serves as the terminus of the River of Souls, where the dead are judged by the goddess Pharasma and her court of psychopomps before being sent on to their appropriate afterlives.

Elysium (CG)

This plane’s lush wilderness forgoes the physical trappings of civilization, catering to those well-intentioned souls who desire an afterlife of unadulterated freedom and creative passion.

Heaven (LG)

The mountain of Heaven—a bastion of benevolent order—is divided into seven tiers, watched over by gods and archons as they reward the just and muster the armies of the righteous.

Hell (LE)

Asmodeus, the Archfiend, created Hell as his own domain; then, he portioned it into nine layers and placed eight of them under the control of terrible archdevils, creating a realm of perfect, brutal order.

The Maelstrom (CN)

Constantly shifting and transforming, the chaos of the Maelstrom is inhabited by the snakelike proteans who revel in its bizarre nature.

Nirvana (NG)

A perfect countryside that stretches in all directions, the fields, forests, and hills of Nirvana are home to those enlightened and virtuous souls who desire an idyllic realm for introspection.

INTERACTING WITH THE GREAT BEYOND

The Great Beyond is home to angels, deities, fiends, and other inscrutable beings who possess great knowledge and power, so it is understandable that some would seek to contact them to learn their secrets or capture them for nefarious purposes. Mystics who pray to gods and goddesses believe that their divination spells such as augury and vision are directly answered by their patrons. Mystics and technomancers also have access to the spell contact other plane, which allows direct contact with extraplanar powers, albeit at great risk. Alternatively, spellcasters can attempt to entrap such creatures with a planar binding spell and compel them to perform a task. Travel between the Material Plane and other realms of existence is possible through spells such as ethereal jaunt, plane shift, and shadow walk.

Type

Multiverse