Plane of Earth

The Plane of Earth is located in the Inner Planes and is the home for earth elementals, Dao, crushing stones and the rarest gems, minerals, and materials throughout the planes. This plane is the least hospitable of the Inner Planes, which many travelers might gawk at and point at the Plane of Fire as being the most dangerous, but the Plane of Earth is unmoving and does little to nothing to help travelers who appear here. Many inexperienced travelers can appear inside of this plane, finding themselves encased in rock, unable to move and suffocating as they are imprisoned; even if they are able to arrive in an open space, there is no natural air to breathe.

Fauna & Flora

Living in the Plane of Earth is very different depending on who you are. The elementals drift throughout the plane with many, like the Xorns, looking for gems to devour for sustenance. Others, like the Dao, live in massive cities where they have slaves to do their biddings and to mine out precious materials so that they can trade with others across the planes. Many imbibe the values of earth, they are stubborn, resistant to change and with many valuing solitude.
For elementals, journeying through the Plane of Earth is freeing. They can move and pass through stone as if it isn’t even there, allowing them to search through the plane for travelers or hidden magical items. These elementals are uncaring at the best of times to the plights of outsiders, though they can be bribed to help out those who are stuck inside of the plane and need to be released from their stone tombs. They are always on the hunt for rare, priceless gems and many see those gems as delicacies to enjoy.
Al-Qadim: Secrets of the Lamp, 1993 TSR Inc. Al-Qadim: Secrets of the Lamp, 1993 TSR Inc.
The Dao are the genies of the Plane of Earth and are focused on amassing their wealth and treasures, of building their reputations and enslaving creatures as a way to grow their power. They live in the Great Dismal Delve, a continent-wide fracture in the Plane of Earth where their massive city resides, this is one of the few places in the Plane where the crushing stone is held back so that the Dao can conduct trade and entertain visitors.

Natural Resources

Because the Plane of Earth is solid stone, there are no natural sources of air and instead, travelers must either travel to a location inside of the plane that has air, like the Great Dismal Delve or be able to bring their own supply. In the earlier editions, the Plane of Earth was solid stone with small pockets that might contain air, ash, magma, lightning, water or just be a vacuum with no atmosphere. In 5th edition, the Plane of Earth becomes a twisting maze of caverns and tunnels built inside of massive mountains that reach so high up into the air that there is no air at their tops. While you can journey to the outside of the mountains, there is little to nothing out there.

History

Visiting the Plane of Earth is a dangerous proposition for any traveler, not only is there the chance that you might arrive inside of a slab of stone, but you might arrive in front of the Dao who enslave anyone they can or you could arrive near elementals who are often hostile to anyone from The Material Plane. Traveling the @Ear is not for the weak, though there can be riches beyond imagination hidden throughout the plane.
Many are called to travel this plane because of the very nature of this plane, it’s solid stone makes it a prime hiding spot for ancient relics and powerful items that can’t simply be destroyed. Wizards will come to this plane to create their towers hidden in the stone, employing the elementals to act as guards. Travelers might even stumble across these ancient relics if they are very lucky… or, they’ll find the fossil remains of someone who traveled into the Plane of Earth but was entombed in stone.
If you can travel through stone, the plane opens up and you can explore and search for riches beyond measure. The rarest gems, stones, and minerals can be found in veins throughout the plane and many mining operations have been started to exploit these never-ending resources.

Tourism

Traveling through this plane can be very complicated if you lack any magical abilities or have little strength. If you have the ability to walk through stone or morph the stone into a passage, you can explore the plane, though you must also be able to create some way for you to breathe as there is little to no natural deposits of air in this plane. If you are strong, you can mine through the layers of rock and hopefully find the Great Dismal Delve or a vortex to take you out of the plane, though you also have to worry about how much air you have available.
While the Great Dismal Delve is the largest of its kind, there are a variety of other pockets throughout the Plane of Earth where elementals and others who are trapped on this plane make their home. There can be pockets only a few feet wide to miles wide, home to Mephits to Xorns to Dao looking for more slaves. Or you might stumble across a mining operation where the workers are worked non-stop as they dig out priceless gems and precious materials.

Type

Plane of Existence

Location under

Inner Planes