Tovec
Explorer
I thought what was done with the Abyss was one of the better notions of the 4e cosmology, coupling the ephemeral nature of the Elemental Chaos with the malicious intent of Tharizdum to create a true heart of darkness, where the multiverse spirals away into entropy and oblivion.
The 4e cosmology has several great themes, and even ramp up the confict between Law and Chaos, even though these forces aren't explicitly included in the alignment chart. The cosmology works as a great river, flowing from *somewhere* beyond even the Astral Sea (a place of eternal creation). Then you have the Astral Sea, where things are permanent/eternal/immortal. Where the Astral Sea touches the Elemental Chaos, you have the Material Plane, where things persist but change, evolve but remain the same, where opposits clash but remain in balance. Beyond the Material Plane you have the Elemental Chaos, where things do not persist, but also aren't wasted (everything turns into something else, in a constant recycling ring). And beyond the Elemental Chaos, you have the Abyss (a place of eternal destruction), opposite not to the Astral Sea, but to the place *beyond* the Astral Sea.
It's a rather elegant cosmological construct that still gives you all the blocks to rebuild previous cosmologies just by changing the pieces around.
This post is great. I mean I disagree with the basic assumptions that go into it but it crystallizes a few things in my mind very well and so I thank you Klaus.
So, in 4e, it goes from super-astral to astral to material to elemental and abyss. It goes from "pure creation" to "entropy" with some stops in between. The elemental plane then becomes a place where elements break down.
Compare that to pre-4e versions, where (unless I am completely missing my mark) the elemental planes were the building blocks of the material plane. They were inner because the were used as the blocks that formed everything else.
Those are very different, and you can't just "rebuild previous cosmologies" from that.
It is also opposite of what CN's Limbo was, which was an outer plane of creation but of temporary creation. In that way, when you merge CN into CE, because CE is the only real alignment for chaotics, you go from creation to "universal destruction". Fundamentally missing what chaos meant for YEARS (since the wind dukes, I believe) and saying ALL chaos is demons and their chaos-evil that destroys. (Also ignores the supreme-law stagnation thing but that one is less obvious.)