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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 9581600" data-attributes="member: 58172">When later products mention the Tree cosmology it becomes necessary to sort thru what earlier editions of D&D say about the Tree.However, I just noticed, the 2024 Dungeon Masters Guide no longer refers to the Tree cosmology (page 173). The Wheel is default, and all other "configurations" are unofficial."The Great Wheel. The default D&D cosmology ... visualizes [the planes] as a group of concentric wheels."Still, because the method of traveling is thru "portals", the actual "distances" and "locations" is only a model of convenience. For the Wheel, placing Positivity and Good "up", and Negativity and Evil "down", are obviously nonliteral. That "Law" is on the left side, and "Chaos" on the right side, is likewise nonliteral. It is just a convenient way to depict the planes and signify how Law and Chaos, Good and Evil, are in opposite directions sotospeak."Since the primary way of traveling from plane to plane is through magical portals, the spatial relationship between different planes is largely theoretical."So, there are legitimate alternative models to map out the multiverse.Despite other models to map out the multiverse are possible for the default cosmology, the 2024 DMs Guide avoids mentioning the Forgotten Realms Tree as one of them.What the 2024 DMs Guide carefully says is the following:"Other Configurations. For your campaign, you can use a different model of the planes. Here are several examples: Planes situated among the roots and branches of a great cosmic tree (literally or figuratively)." Etcetera.Here the configuration is for any kind of tree, whether Norse Yggdrasill, Rabbinic Ets Khaim, or Forgotten Realms Tree. The DMs Guide actually avoids mentioning the Forgotten Realms Tree.A DM can use other kinds of multiverses, such as Magic The Gathering or one where most of the default planes simply dont exist. But these are not the "default" and are only "for your campaign".Notably, the Forgotten Realms Tree and the Eberron Orrery and the 4e Axis are no longer an official part of the D&D multiverse.Nevertheless, the default Wheel itself is officially only a "theoretical" model. One can still use a different model for the default cosmology, in a way that doesnt deny the rest of the default Wheel.</blockquote>

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