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Mastering the Wild / The First World

Features and Inhabitants

Source Ultimate Wilderness pg. 129
While the majority of the Material Plane’s universe is empty space populated by a diverse and seemingly endless number of different star systems and worlds, the First World is simply that: a single world that seems to stretch forever in every direction. Everything in the Material Plane has analogues in the First World, but the First World versions are often exaggerated in some way. Mountains are taller, oceans are deeper, and forests grow at unusual angles. Colors are more vibrant, flavors more potent; everything is amplified to oversaturated extremes, the cause of which is the First World’s proximity to the Positive Energy Plane. Much as the Shadow Plane is a realm of muted colors and near darkness due to its proximity to the Negative Energy Plane, so too is the First World skewed in the opposite direction.

The flora and fauna of the First World both resembles that of the Material Plane and exceeds it. What entities resided on the First World in its fledgling moments remains unknown, but ancient dragons and other primal forces of nature are likely candidates. Since then, all manner of wildly alien and unimaginable creatures have come to call the First World home, themselves exaggerated in much the same way as the plane’s geography. Creatures are more vivacious, more energetic, and more fecund. The most widespread of the First World’s denizens are creatures of the fey type, making up more than half of the First World’s populace, but they are neither the first denizens of the plane nor the most powerful. Any creature found on the Material Plane could conceivably be found in the First World, different from their mortal cousins in subtle or dramatic ways. The easiest way to represent the differences between a Material Plane creature and its First World counterpart is to apply the fey creature template. But even something as simple as changing a creature’s appearance or abilities can transform a mundane specimen into a denizen of the First World.

Between the suffusion of positive energy throughout the First World and the unique qualities drafted into its planar tapestry, the cycle of life and death is not linear as it is on the Material Plane. Creatures native to the First World that die either are outright reborn anywhere from a day to a year after their death or are otherwise recycled into the plane and reconstituted as another member of their kind. Some creatures even lead asynchronous lives, having memories of versions of themselves that have not come to pass (or may never) rather than just memories of their pasts. As such, natives of the First World do not always understand the concept of death; this can lead to deadly misunderstandings with travelers from the Material Plane or natives of the First World stranded on the Material Plane. In the latter case, the death of a First World native on the Material Plane is the absolute end of its life, and the soul is instead subject to the rules of the Material Plane—often without realizing it until it is too late.

Notable inhabitants of the First World include creatures of the animal, fey, plant, and vermin types. Of the fey, the most legendary of the First World denizens are the members of the wild hunt, but all fey have ties back to this realm. Beyond animals, fey, and plants, the following creatures are among those most often encountered in this dimension: almirajes, animal lords, bandersnatches, blink dogs, catoblepases, cerynitis, delgeths, drakainias, drakes (all), elementals (all), elohims, ettercaps, fachens, faerie dragons, fey creatures, giant eagles, grodairs, grootslangs, jabberwocks, jubjub birds, leucrottas, linnorms, manitous, pegasi, sards, shining children, thrasfyrs, thunderbirds, unicorns, vishaps, wendigos, will-o’-wisps, worgs, winter wolves, and yeth hounds. Undead are incredibly rare in the First World, but those that do exist there tend to be powerful and unique.

The Eldest

Source Ultimate Wilderness pg. 131
Large swaths of the First World are carved up into fiefdoms and other such dominions by native inhabitants of great power. The demigods who call the First World home are some of the oldest beings in creation, and many have resided on this plane since before the Material Plane was woven into existence. Known collectively as the Eldest, they are as reclusive and secretive as they are ancient. The Eldest have relatively little interaction with the gods who dwell elsewhere in the Great Beyond, but like those divinities, they maintain cults and sects on countless Material Plane worlds. The religions of the Eldest are most commonly found in regions where the boundaries between the Material Plane and the First World grow thin. Fey often worship members of the Eldest, and many gnomes look back to their ancient roots in the First World and venerate the Eldest as well. Though the Eldest have nothing against cities or civilization, their worship tends to be less popular in heavily populated areas. Barbarians, druids, hunters, and others who live in the wild often venerate a member of the Eldest or the pantheon as a whole.

Table 4–3: The Eldest lists the most widely worshiped members of the Eldest, along with their areas of concern, domains, subdomains, and favored weapon for cleric and warpriest followers.

Table 4-3: The Eldest

NameALTitleAreas of ConcernDomainsSubdomainsFavored Weapon
Count RanalcCNThe TraitorBetrayal, exiles, shadowsChaos, Darkness, Nobility, TravelExploration, Loss, Martyr, NightRapier
The Green MotherNEThe Feasting FlowerCarnivorous plants, intrigue, seductionCharm, Earth, Evil, PlantCaves, Decay, Growth, LustSickle
ImbrexLNThe TwinsEndings, statues, twinsCommunity, Earth, Law, StrengthFamily, Home, Metal, ResolveDire flail
The Lantern KingCNThe Laughing LieLaughter, mischief, transformationChaos, Charm, Madness, TrickeryDeception, Love, Lust, ThieveryDagger
The Lost PrinceNThe Melancholy LordForgotten things, sadness, solitudeKnowledge, Madness, Nobility, ReposeAncestors, Insanity, Martyr, MemoryQuarterstaff
MagdhLNThe ThreeComplexity, fate, tripletsKnowledge, Law, Luck, RuneCurse, Fate, Thought, WardsScythe
NgNThe HoodedSeasons, secrets, wanderersKnowledge, Magic, Travel, WeatherExploration, Seasons, Thought, TradeGauntlet
RagadahnCEThe Water LordLinnorms, oceans, spiralsChaos, Evil, Scalykind, WaterAncestors, Dragon, Oceans, VenomWhip
ShykaNThe ManyEntropy, reincarnation, timeDeath, Destruction, Madness, MagicArcane, Catastrophe, Divine, InsanityLight mace