#Center of All

[kassil]

Planescape and the Great Wheel

I've seen some people (understandably) complaining about the Great Wheel cosmology of D&D, and how the default design of things implies a wackified version of christian theology, with Heavens that are Nice Places and Hells that are Nasty Places and some weird stuff sprinkled in elsewhere. It's extremely unpleasant in a lot of ways (and I won't defend the setting at all when it comes to Orientalism - Planescape was arguably worse about it than other settings, since they happily tried shoehorning any pantheon they could find into the planes somewhere.)

(If you want to complain about there being planes of evil and planes of good, take it up with the people who insist that alignment is a thing that has to be in the system. As it stands, it is baked into the rules and changing that requires a lot of homebrew work, but that's a topic for a different day.)

But while Planescape as a setting was what popularized the Great Wheel cosmology the most, I want to be clear that while newer editions paint it as some inherent cosmological megastructure, in Planescape the fundamental concept is that the only cosmological truths are the rule of threes, the unity of rings, and the center of all. That Great Wheel is just a ring imposed by the current Powers of the multiverse, organized in patterns of three, with the Spire and Sigil as an artificial centerpoint. Asking what lies beyond it, what came before it, and what's really inside it are all absolutely valid questions that the setting itself wants you to ask and answer.

There's nothing writ about it officially, but there are plenty of hints and winks - that the fiends of the hells aren't the first to live there, and might be as wardens of the prior occupants or vermin infesting an abandoned home, depending on where and when and how you look. The same goes for the celestials, and the exaggerated alignment aspects of their home planes, combined with the many, many problems both implied and plainly depicted in the material make it pretty clear that the planes are both a battleground and a construction. Planes lose fragments of themselves to other planes all the time; the more-lawful-than-good Arcadia lost an entire layer to the entirely-lawful Mechanus, and while the people who caused it would very much like to get it back, it's clear that none of the planes are immutable - just mostly under divine control.

And then there's the fact that magic - including divine magic and the very powers and essence of the gods - fades as you get closer to the immense spire at the heart of the Great Wheel. Get a god close enough and they're no tougher than a barbarian with an axe. It strongly implies that things aren't what they seem at first glance, even if it's treated as a natural law; to say nothing of Sigil and the Lady of Pain, who can forbid gods from the city and apparently killed one who tried to claim portals as his domain. The City of Doors, which has portals that defy all the understood laws of planar travel, linking everywhere with everywhere without a need to pass through the transitive planes.

Planescape outlines a massive, complex, and self-contradictory Great Wheel cosmology, one that was plainly meant to make you ask "So what if I use Plane Shift to try to teleport to the far side of Mount Celestia?" Because what's past the embodiment plane of Lawful Good? It's either conceptually rarefied to the point that you'll never come back after dissolving into it... Or it's whatever the current Powers really don't want you seeing and learning about. An Astral Sea, a plane of Dreams, a plane of Time, entire other cosmological systems built around other designs, the homes of things older than existence, or any number of other things. All tidily hidden behind "oh yeah that doesn't exist/it's the Far Realm where reality just sort of dissolves we don't try going there/nothing to worry your pretty mortal head about, leave those questions to the gods."

(Which any Athar worth their membership will absolutely begin poking at immediately, while the Bleaker will tell you that it doesn't matter what the gods say, if you help them get the soup finished for the public kitchen they'll introduce you to a guy in the Gatehouse who says she's seen some things, and the other factions all do their own thing and pay the gods and their agents no mind.)

This is all just a long way of saying "The Great Wheel is there as a narrative tool, and breaking the Wheel and finding out what it was built to hide is a narrative that can be told."

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

License to Kitty.

[nutsack90]

goddamnb!!

chill out man!!!

[hinamie]

long way home

[dozydawn]

“A Palestinian girl stands holding stones in her hands waiting in Ramallah in the West Bank for Israeli soldiers to arrive to the place where a young Palestinian was shot dead the same day. 20 February 1988.”

Photographed by Eric Feferberg.

[ruporas]

your love returns in tragedy (ID in alt)

[paintedcrows]

Some Fords! (and Martin K Blackwood is also there)

[skunkes]

the restrained sniffer

[spicyraeman]

Lae'zelmancer week day 6: Blood-Red

[smeagol-on-my-deagol]

the fact that richard sees/wants us to see judy poovey as sort of dumb, while also seeing/wanting us to see julian morrow as some revolutionary mind when they're having the same damn thoughts is crazy to me

like near the end of the first chapter when we hear some about the class discussion, one of the points julian discusses (in simple terms lol) is how people who tend to bottle things up and stay composed all the time end up causing greater amounts of destruction when they "lose control" than people who allow themselves to lose control on occasion, but he does it with many words and references

and richard is like "wow this is awesome how sick is this guy"

then at the beginning of chapter two, judy poovey is telling richard about the time henry beat the fuck out of spike romney and she says something about how when uptight people lose it they REALLY lose it, but in terms just as simple as those

and richard just goes "yeah, i guess"

which there for sure is something to be said about the way people use words and the difference that use of language has on the way people feel about certain concepts, but you know

[tinkkles]

I really do love the fresh take on the dead wife aspect in scavengers reign like. She didn't die in some terrible accident or at the hands of an evil third party, she died because of you. Because of your ambition and carelessness and because you didn't prioritize her enough to even look for her as the ship was going down. You will carry this guilt for the rest of your life. She will haunt you forever. Pray that her ghost is enough to change you for the better.

[wayward-wren]

Thinking about. Stanley Pines. Once summer, not long after Weirdmaggedon. Sitting in his seat, staring at the tv but realising slowly he's not really watching TV, he's listening.

Listening to Soos, taking a tour group around the Shack, his voice confident and happy, eagerly telling tourists all kinds of tall tales. Soos, with his young son strapped to his chest, held close and dear to his heart, always knowing he is loved and wanted by his father.

Listening to Wendy and Melody, laughter turning to deeper conversations in the gift shop as Wendy pours out her latest dating drama and Melody listens sympathetically--not quite a mother, but an older sister figure is all Wendy wants at the moment.

Listening to a distant boom coming from the basement, a cause for some concern that fades quickly as three peals of laughter follow soon after. One deep and familiar, as comforting and close as the sound of a ship's motor and the open sea. One young and high, cracking with adolescent awkwardness. One loud and cackling, a hint of madness never quite leaving it but more settled than it used to be. And Stan figures it's probably time to send someone down to drag Ford, Dipper and McGucket upstairs before they forget what light is and get too nerdy.

Besides it's nearly dinner time, and he's listening to Mabel's steady, unrelenting chatter in the kitchen, punctuated by a few grunts of acknowledgment from Abuelita as they prepare a meal.

And Stan feels a strange, unusual sensation wash over him, something he hasn't felt for over half a lifetime, by a boat on a beach. A sensation of contentment, of security, of peace. And he realises that if he stood up and walked into any one of the rooms in the Shack he would be greeted with smiles and faces lighting up to see him and cheerful cries of his name.

And he looks down at the darned pig sleeping beside his chair and things, with oddly misty eyes, that he spent thirty years trying to find his brother again. And he succeeded--but somehow, he got more than that. He had formed around him, without even realising it, a family.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The musical episode.

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[yuviur]

Summer vacation, 4am.

Tons of easter eggs in this one! Click the image to find them (and for better quality ofc)

Close ups and process shots under the cut, description in alt text

[giantkillerjack]

Me: hm, I want something to put on the TV as background noise... Huh. Looks like YouTube is recommending something called The Last Unicorn. That's perfect, it's probably some old shitty animation that has aged poorly! I can watch it ironically!

Me, 2 hours later as the credits roll: *crying, cheering, buying the book, composing the songs*

Me, 2 weeks later: So I have compiled all of the quotes from the book that I think could make good tattoos, and also, HOW HAVE I NEVER LEARNED ABOUT HOW THE LAST UNICORN FUCKING SLAPS??? This gay-ass little fairytale fed my soul! Watered my crops! Transed my gender! Can't believe I heard of this story from youtube recommendations, of all places!!

[bloodsoakedbuckley]

mentally, physically, emotionally, i am always here. it always comes back to this.