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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
Chapter 8: The Age of Lost Omens

The Great Beyond

Source Core Rulebook pg. 418 4.0
Countless planets lie beyond Golarion's solar system, but even these myriad worlds of the universe, known as the Material Plane, are but a fragment compared to what lies in the multiverse beyond. Other planes of existence and strange dimensions wrap this reality in a series of layered, nested spheres, known collectively as the Great Beyond. This model of reality is as much a metaphor for concepts that mortal minds have difficulty grasping as a physical description, for within the Great Beyond, anything is possible.

Inner Sphere

Source Core Rulebook pg. 419 4.0
The core of the multiverse is the Inner Sphere. Here, the vast expanse of the Material Plane and its countless worlds can be found. The Elemental Planes surround the Material Plane like layered shells, with the Plane of Air on the inside, transitioning to the Plane of Water, then to the Plane of Earth, and finally to the Plane of Fire, in something of a reversal of order in which these elements most often appear on habitable planets. The planes of Positive and Negative Energy are also within the Inner Sphere, their opposing nodes of life and death, creation and destruction, light and dark forming the start and the end of all existence.

Outer Sphere

Source Core Rulebook pg. 419 4.0
The scope of reality within the Outer Sphere is difficult to grasp. Here the gods dwell and the souls of the dead gather to be judged by the goddess of the dead, Pharasma, atop the spire in the realm that is her Boneyard. Anything is possible in the Outer Sphere, and its realms are as much manifestations of philosophies and belief as anything else. From the towering mountain of Heaven to the endless gulfs of the demon-held Abyss, be it the agonizing pit of Hell or the boundless wonders of Elysium, all of reality is represented within the Outer Sphere. Over time this reality erodes away and is recycled back into the raw material of life within the Positive Energy Plane.

Other Planes and Dimensions

Source Core Rulebook pg. 419 4.0
Some planes exist in the same physical or metaphysical space as others, overlapping these other planes like overlays of reality. They include the ghost world of the Ethereal Plane, which overlays the Inner Sphere; the dizzying vastness of the Astral Plane, which overlays almost all reality and fills the seemingly endless gulf between the Inner Sphere and the Outer Sphere; and the fey-haunted First World and the sinister Shadow Plane, which each overlay the Material Plane. Stranger reaches of the Great Beyond exist as well; some, such as the Dreamlands, are visited often (if accidentally), while others, such as the enigmatic Dimension of Time, are visited rarely, if ever. In all cases these dimensions cannot be accessed by normal means, and each has their own method of entry and exit.