History of the Elemental Planes

WotC's D&D Alumni series has a new article called An Elementary Look at the Planes. The article takes a look at the history of the elemental planes from the Great Wheel article of Dragon Magazine #8 (July 1977), through various sourcebooks and adventures, their codification in Manual of the Planes in 1987, right up to the Elemental Chaos of D&D 4E and the return to a variation of the Great Wheel in 5E.

Find the article here.

​

 

[psiconauta_retro]

What a great coincidence! I just recently got the original AD&D Planescape boxed set and started reading it. This review of the history of the planes is awesome!

 

[Kramodlog]

I wish this sort of article would be written about the history of powerful entities of D&D's history like the Slaad Lords, Sardior, the General of Gehenna...

 

[Hussar]

Who or what is a "Sardior"?

 

[TwoSix]

I thought the section on Dragon #27, with planes of good and evil intersecting the elemental planes, was really interesting (certainly new to me!). I wonder what the elemental associations were for fertility-barrenness or pleasure-pain?

 

[TwoSix]

Who or what is a "Sardior"?

IIRC, that's the Bahamut/Tiamat analogue for gem dragons.

 

[DerekSTheRed]

I dig the Zelazny reference. The Amber series (later books especially) give good adventure inspiration for elemental settings.

 

[Shemeska]

Really nicely researched. I find the 2000-present grouping rather odd, since the 2000-2008 3.x inner planes retained the Great Wheel continuity. The 4e Elemental Chaos was a significant disjuncture from continuity prior to that point and it just strikes me as off to include that thematic outlier grouped in with the 3.x material.

I would point out that certain para and quasielemental plane locations from 2e did carry over into 3.x and were detailed in Dragon magazine and elsewhere. The quasi/para elemental planes themselves as distinct planes no, but locations therein yes. So it isn't strictly correct that they weren't detailed, at least from that perspective.

 

[Kramodlog]

Who or what is a "Sardior"?

Sardior the Ruby Dragon! God of Gem Dragons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardior

 

[Hussar]

Sardior the Ruby Dragon! God of Gem Dragons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardior

Cool. I learned something new today.

 

[pemerton]

I wonder what the elemental associations were for fertility-barrenness or pleasure-pain?

From Dragon magazine v 27, p 8:

Midway between cold and good is the quality pleasure. Joining moisture to good in a similar manner is fertility. Above heat is beginning, and above dry is light. In this way, fire and air are near light, which is appropriate, while earth is both fertile and the place of beginning. . . .

elow cold is ending, below moisture is darkness, below heat is pain, and below dryness is barren. In this way new axes are created, as pain is directly opposite pleasure, and ending opposes beginning. The evil qualities of fire are now seen to be pain and barren, and darkness is a quality of both earth and water.​