Arborea

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.

Ecosystem

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.
A Native’s Perspective
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.
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.

Tourism

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.
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.

Type

Plane of Existence

Location under

Upper Planes