Clint_L
Legend
"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven" (Milton ripping off Shakespeare).
I can conceptualize a plane of evil or a plane of good. Sort of. But only by imagining things that I think are good or bad. There is no good or evil without context. At best, you can have an authority declare that x is evil and y is good, and folks might be persuaded (or indoctrinated) to agree. So the characteristics of, say, a plane of good would have depend on the individual experiencing it. But that doesn't work for a shared setting. So what D&D does is express some place like the Nine Hells by using widely accepted cultural signifiers.
It's just another fun fantasy environment. Like Narnia, or Florida.
I can conceptualize a plane of evil or a plane of good. Sort of. But only by imagining things that I think are good or bad. There is no good or evil without context. At best, you can have an authority declare that x is evil and y is good, and folks might be persuaded (or indoctrinated) to agree. So the characteristics of, say, a plane of good would have depend on the individual experiencing it. But that doesn't work for a shared setting. So what D&D does is express some place like the Nine Hells by using widely accepted cultural signifiers.
It's just another fun fantasy environment. Like Narnia, or Florida.