Planes of Monvesia: Cosmology

RETCON NOTE:  This post replaces both the majority of "Planes of Monvesia: The Six Spheres" and portions of "Planar Inhabitants of Monvesia"

The planar cosmology of Monvesia is not as complex as traditional D&D campaign settings.  In this setting, six Spheres form the basis of known cosmology.  The two-dimensional model of the Spheres as presented by the Universal Orders in Communion with Dray is inaccurate.  The Spheres should be considered in three-dimensional space, overlapping each other so that they connect at a single point.  This is the basic cosmological structure of the Monvevian campaign setting.

Each Sphere is a meta-plane encompassing smaller planes  They are the fundamental energies of the cosmos, embodying the six Temperaments and their associated Elemental forces:

• Hierosphere, or Altruist Sphere
• Necrosphere, or Nihilist Sphere
• Aerosphere, or Idealist Sphere
• Lithosphere, or Materialist Sphere
• Pyrosphere, or Vitalist Sphere
• Hydrosphere, or Dynamist Sphere

Orbimond, the Material Plane

Plane of Six Spheres

The [Prime] Material Plane (or Mortal World/Realms) exists at the point where all six Spheres meet. It is the only point in the cosmos where opposing Spheres come in contact.  Many mages and philosophers have suggested that it is this contact of opposing forces that has made life possible.  The other planes radiate out from this point, affected by the interactions of the Spheres.

In is called Orvemondt in the Honderreicher language, and Orbemonde in the Cuorrian language.

Artificers, Bards, Druids, and Rangers all draw their energy from the Material Plane.  The inhabitants of this plane are collectively called mortals--including beasts, dragons, humanoids, and monstrosities.

Shield of the Universal Order of
Spiritual Thought, depicting a 2-
dimensional representation of the
point that the Six Spheres create
the Material Plane.

Nefretic Cosmology

In my Nefret campaign, the souls of gods and mortals are inexorably tied to the structure of the planes they inhabit--for every being is composed of an aspect of each plane.  With a strong culture of life, death, and afterlife, it is important to establish the details of the soul and planar cosmology early on in the campaign.  The player experience interacting with these elements needs to be consistent.

Since I know my players follow the blog, I'll also point out that the information here isn't really privileged.  This is the basic knowledge that any character with 1 rank in an appropriate skill would know.

Nature of the Souls

All beings, mortal and immortal, are composed of several souls:  a body (khat), a spirit (ka), a mind (ba), a shadow (sheut), a heart (ib), and a name (ren).  In death, these components separate--and may be transformed and/or reunited in the afterlife.

Body - Material Form

A living body and a dead corpse both share the designation of khat. After death, the the corpse may be preserved as a mummy--which can be the result of natural forces or of artificial embalming.  The khat is a mortal, decaying body born of the mortal world of Gebeb.