Re-Thinking Cosmology

Because I’ve been bingeing fantasy lately, I started thinking again about some of my cosmology ideas. My general approach for a while now has been “There’s only one universe in my D&D world(s), but there are several states of matter, like ethereal and astral.”

Here’s a slightly expanded crude cosmology map:

left-hand	MAIN BRANCH	right-hand
(ghostly)	Physical	(eternal)
(umbreal)	Ethereal	(empyreal)
(mirror)	Astral	(pocket)

The rows define the three major arcane states: Physical matter (tangible,) Ethereal Matter (intangible,) and Astral matter (conceptual.)

The left-hand and right-hand columns are kind of vague at the moment, but in general the left-hand column is “less true” to the primary nature of that row, and the right-hand column is “more true” to its primary nature. So:

• Ghostly matter is not quite intangible, more like a gas or a cloud of dust that maintains its shape.
• Eternal matter is intangible and immutable.
• Umbreal matter is intangible but still visible and chilling to the touch.
• Empyrean matter is intangible but brightly visible and warm to the touch.

The “mirror” and “pocket” states will need some explaining, but I’ll get to that in a future post. Will probably be doing this as a series, one row at a time.

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