[dc]A[/dc]rcadia is the land of perfection.
It is where laws are made for the common good. It is the plane where harmony is born.
Arcadia thrives with orchards of perfectly lined trees, ruler-straight streams, orderly fields, and cities laid out in geometrically pleasing shapes. The mountains are unblem ished by erosion. Everything on Arcadia works toward the common good and a flawless form of existence. Here, nothing intrudes on harmony.
It is said that everything on Arcadia is as perfect as it can be, neither as strictly regimented as Mechanus nor as devoted to the perfection of the individual as Celestia. But this is not entirely accurate. In fact, the inhabitants of Arcadia are often so convinced of their own righteousness that they are hard-pressed to recognize their own flaws. This likely contributed millennia ago to the loss of the bottommost layer of Arcadia, Menausus, which spiritually transmigrated to Mechanus, becoming one with the gear- works realm of ultimate law.
St. Cuthbert of the Cudgel, deity of goodly retribution, has his realm on Arcadia.
Arcadia is also home to peaceful animals: golden foxes, coppery hares, and silver-wooled sheep, as well as all manner of organized insects such as wasps, bees, and ants. Giant-sized versions of these animals and insects also can be found throughout Arcadia.
Formians have a few hive-cities on Arcadia, but their expansionist ethic is muted (at least outwardly). Arcadia's harmony would be spoiled should warrior formians begin to march.
The trees of Arcadia are wondrous specimens. These great plants grow in both neat forests and straight-rowed orchards. Their bark has a copper, gold, silver, or iron sheen. Their leaves range from deep green to fiery red, but the leaves never fall. Fruit is always in season. On rare, wondrous occasions a plucked fruit suddenly manifests magical properties, mimicking the effects of a randomly determined potion (see Chapter 8 of the DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide). The fruit is nonmagical until picked. Vision is normal on Arcadia. Night and day are determined by the Orb of Day and Night atop Arcadia's tallest peak. Half the orb radiates light, and the other half is dark. It rotates evenly and without fail, lighting part of the infinite plane while another part falls into natural darkness. There is no dusk or dawn, just day or night.
Mandible: Formians are rightly feared for their dedi- cation to spread to all planes and all worlds. Not so the colony of formians on Arcadia, or so the myrmarchs and queen are quick to demonstrate to the paranoid einheriar. Their hive-city is called Mandible.
Unlike a common hive-city, Mandible is open and mostly above ground. From the outside, the hive looks like an appealing geometric mix of two- and three-story buildings, parks, and spires. The tunnels hidden below the city are rarely seen by nonformians. Still, visitors are welcome above in the markets and inns.
The Queen Mother K'l'tk'thra (called Clarity by non- formians) rules Mandible from her royal chamber deep within the tunnels. Clarity spends her days overseeing the business of the hive, breeding, and protecting the Place of Eggs.
Mount Clangeddin: A perfectly conical mountain, standing apart from any range, rises at least thirty thou- sand feet above the fields below, its peak wreathed in clouds and storms. This edifice was raised by the great dwarven hero Clangeddin Silverbeard.
The mountain's interiors are riddled with great halls, galleries, and dwarven-carved roads paved with flagstones.
Costly lamps, hot and cold forges, and city-wide feasting halls all provide light and merriment for the underground visitor. Strangers are welcome here, especially those who come to order special weapons from the legendary smiths who labor in the hottest portions of the forge.
The dwarves who live within Mount Clangeddin, both mortal and petitioner, spend half of each day drilling, training, and perfecting their military skills to honor their lord Clangeddin. Visitors seeking to raise an army sometimes come to Mount Clangeddin, tempting the deity with stories of righteous warfare. Sometimes, Clangeddin is moved by such appeals and assigns axes to the cause.
Basilica of Saint Cuthbert: High walls manned by specially chosen paladins surround this mighty edifice of St. Cuthbert. Within the walls stands the basilica itself, whose highest dome reaches a mile into the sky.
At the very center of the basilica is Cuthbert's seat, called the Seat of Truth, though he rarely takes it. A curved open canopy supported by four serpentine pillars shelters the seat. St. Cuthbert brought the pillars home as trophies after a brief crusade into the Nine Hells.
As the deity of common sense, wisdom, and similar sentiments, St. Cuthbert is noted for his rulings on matters of state, philosophy, and everything else. How ever, he is also called St. Cuthbert of the Cudgel, and wherever the deity goes, so goes his bronzewood weapon.
If words do not suffice, St. Cuthbert's cudgel does. Einheriar and privileged clerics, paladins, and others of deep faith stay in the basilica with St. Cuthbert, though he sends many out on missions in his name. Modest accommodations are set aside for occasional supplicants wishing to hear the wisdom of St. Cuthbert.
Here and there on this layer are the training grounds of a particularly militant sect of mortals from the Material plane called the Harmonium. Though they seek to do good, the “retraining camps” do more harm than anything else—or so say many authorities.
In these camps, the Harmonium indoctrinates “bor rowed” mortals of a chaotic alignment in the dictates of law and harmony in an attempt to change their spiritual identity to one more harmonious than before. Unfor- tunately, the success rate is low. In the greater scheme of things, these camps may actually be shifting the layer of Buxenus more toward law than good. If such a shift continues, Arcadia could eventually lose its second layer to Mechanus, along with the third layer already gone.
It is where laws are made for the common good. It is the plane where harmony is born.
Arcadia thrives with orchards of perfectly lined trees, ruler-straight streams, orderly fields, and cities laid out in geometrically pleasing shapes. The mountains are unblem ished by erosion. Everything on Arcadia works toward the common good and a flawless form of existence. Here, nothing intrudes on harmony.
It is said that everything on Arcadia is as perfect as it can be, neither as strictly regimented as Mechanus nor as devoted to the perfection of the individual as Celestia. But this is not entirely accurate. In fact, the inhabitants of Arcadia are often so convinced of their own righteousness that they are hard-pressed to recognize their own flaws. This likely contributed millennia ago to the loss of the bottommost layer of Arcadia, Menausus, which spiritually transmigrated to Mechanus, becoming one with the gear- works realm of ultimate law.
St. Cuthbert of the Cudgel, deity of goodly retribution, has his realm on Arcadia.
Arcadia Links
Portals to other planes are few on Arcadia, but they are per- manent, clearly identified fixtures. Arched trellises of flowering ivy, holly, or some other lush, verdant growth mark each gateway to another plane. Portals also connect farflung locales on Arcadia, as well as running between its two layers. Portals between the layers are usually set between huge, rune-carved plinths standing 40 to 50 feet tall.Arcadia Inhabitants
Many mortals from the Material Plane live on Arcadia, settling among such other creatures as archons, aasimar, devas, and the ever-present einheriar militias (see Arcadia Petitioners, below).Arcadia is also home to peaceful animals: golden foxes, coppery hares, and silver-wooled sheep, as well as all manner of organized insects such as wasps, bees, and ants. Giant-sized versions of these animals and insects also can be found throughout Arcadia.
Formians have a few hive-cities on Arcadia, but their expansionist ethic is muted (at least outwardly). Arcadia's harmony would be spoiled should warrior formians begin to march.
Feature of Arcadia
There is nothing native to Arcadia's two layers that does not contribute toward perfection and peace. The fields and forests are swollen with grain and fruit, all growing without tending or fear of infestation. Even the “wild” flowers grow naturally to create the most harmonious blend.The trees of Arcadia are wondrous specimens. These great plants grow in both neat forests and straight-rowed orchards. Their bark has a copper, gold, silver, or iron sheen. Their leaves range from deep green to fiery red, but the leaves never fall. Fruit is always in season. On rare, wondrous occasions a plucked fruit suddenly manifests magical properties, mimicking the effects of a randomly determined potion (see Chapter 8 of the DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide). The fruit is nonmagical until picked. Vision is normal on Arcadia. Night and day are determined by the Orb of Day and Night atop Arcadia's tallest peak. Half the orb radiates light, and the other half is dark. It rotates evenly and without fail, lighting part of the infinite plane while another part falls into natural darkness. There is no dusk or dawn, just day or night.
Abellio
The first layer of Arcadia is mostly flat, though there are mountains and hills arranged just so. Forests, lakes, fields, and streams are all found here. It is a layer of plenty, and everything, even common beasts, is dedicated to the good of all.Mandible: Formians are rightly feared for their dedi- cation to spread to all planes and all worlds. Not so the colony of formians on Arcadia, or so the myrmarchs and queen are quick to demonstrate to the paranoid einheriar. Their hive-city is called Mandible.
Unlike a common hive-city, Mandible is open and mostly above ground. From the outside, the hive looks like an appealing geometric mix of two- and three-story buildings, parks, and spires. The tunnels hidden below the city are rarely seen by nonformians. Still, visitors are welcome above in the markets and inns.
The Queen Mother K'l'tk'thra (called Clarity by non- formians) rules Mandible from her royal chamber deep within the tunnels. Clarity spends her days overseeing the business of the hive, breeding, and protecting the Place of Eggs.
Mount Clangeddin: A perfectly conical mountain, standing apart from any range, rises at least thirty thou- sand feet above the fields below, its peak wreathed in clouds and storms. This edifice was raised by the great dwarven hero Clangeddin Silverbeard.
The mountain's interiors are riddled with great halls, galleries, and dwarven-carved roads paved with flagstones.
Costly lamps, hot and cold forges, and city-wide feasting halls all provide light and merriment for the underground visitor. Strangers are welcome here, especially those who come to order special weapons from the legendary smiths who labor in the hottest portions of the forge.
The dwarves who live within Mount Clangeddin, both mortal and petitioner, spend half of each day drilling, training, and perfecting their military skills to honor their lord Clangeddin. Visitors seeking to raise an army sometimes come to Mount Clangeddin, tempting the deity with stories of righteous warfare. Sometimes, Clangeddin is moved by such appeals and assigns axes to the cause.
Basilica of Saint Cuthbert: High walls manned by specially chosen paladins surround this mighty edifice of St. Cuthbert. Within the walls stands the basilica itself, whose highest dome reaches a mile into the sky.
At the very center of the basilica is Cuthbert's seat, called the Seat of Truth, though he rarely takes it. A curved open canopy supported by four serpentine pillars shelters the seat. St. Cuthbert brought the pillars home as trophies after a brief crusade into the Nine Hells.
As the deity of common sense, wisdom, and similar sentiments, St. Cuthbert is noted for his rulings on matters of state, philosophy, and everything else. How ever, he is also called St. Cuthbert of the Cudgel, and wherever the deity goes, so goes his bronzewood weapon.
If words do not suffice, St. Cuthbert's cudgel does. Einheriar and privileged clerics, paladins, and others of deep faith stay in the basilica with St. Cuthbert, though he sends many out on missions in his name. Modest accommodations are set aside for occasional supplicants wishing to hear the wisdom of St. Cuthbert.
Buxenus
The second layer of Arcadia looks much like the first, with its pleasant valleys swathed in perfectly even grass, naturally growing orchards, and circular lakes. However, it has also become a mustering ground where forces of Arcadia slowly gather their strength for a presumed ideological thrust into Mechanus in an attempt to recover the lost layer of Menausus. How this “reliberation” will actually occur is anyone's guess.Here and there on this layer are the training grounds of a particularly militant sect of mortals from the Material plane called the Harmonium. Though they seek to do good, the “retraining camps” do more harm than anything else—or so say many authorities.
In these camps, the Harmonium indoctrinates “bor rowed” mortals of a chaotic alignment in the dictates of law and harmony in an attempt to change their spiritual identity to one more harmonious than before. Unfor- tunately, the success rate is low. In the greater scheme of things, these camps may actually be shifting the layer of Buxenus more toward law than good. If such a shift continues, Arcadia could eventually lose its second layer to Mechanus, along with the third layer already gone.