Otherworldly Geography

Faerie is a place of nature unbound. Its inhabitants are often aloof and apart from the squabbling that goes on in the wider cosmos.

Songs of the Sidhe by David Ross

Mortals generally dwell upon Terra, the first layer of the plane known as the Mortal Coil or Material Plane. The two other layeres below Terra are collectively known as ‘Faerie.’ These two layers are Annwn (‘anoon’, also called the Otherworld or Near Faerie) and Ladinion (also called the True Otherworld or Deep Faerie). Terra, the relatively mundane realm of mortals, is often called the Fleeting Realm by fey because time passes away much faster there than in Annwn or Ladinion. In the past, some have mistakenly called Faerie a separate plane or a specific world within Terra.

Faerie Planar Traits

Annwn and Ladinion share the following traits.

• Light Gravity: Characters suffer a -2 circumstance penalty on attacks and  Balance, Ride, Swim, and Tumble checks; they gain a +2 circumstance bonus on Climb and Jump checks. All weights are halved. Weapon ranges double.  Damage dice from falling is reduced from d6 to d4.
• Erratic Time: Time in Faerie generally passes notably slower than in Terra. The ratio between mundane time and faerie time is often thought to be 1 day = 1 week for Annwn and 1 hour = 2 weeks for Ladinion, but there is considerable evidence that both ratios are (or once were) different in some places.
• Infinite Size: At the very least, the layers of Faerie are each as large as Terra.
• Alterable Morphic.
• No Elemental or Energy Traits: Sections of each layer may have the minor positive-dominant or minor negative-dominant trait, but Faerie as a whole does not.
• Enhanced Magic: Faerie is highly magical, and all arcane and nature-based divine (druid, ranger, etc) spells cast here are at +2 caster level.
• Erratic Time: Time in Faerie generally passes notably slower than in Terra. The ratio between mundane time and faerie time is often thought to be 1 day = 1 week for Annwn and 1 hour = 2 weeks for Ladinion, but there is considerable evidence that both ratios are (or once were) different in some places.
• Infinite Size: At the very least, the layers of Faerie are each as large as Terra.
• Alterable Morphic.
• No Elemental or Energy Traits: Sections of each layer may have the minor positive-dominant or minor negative-dominant trait, but Faerie as a whole  does not.
• Enhanced Magic: Faerie is highly magical, and all arcane and nature-based divine (druid, ranger, etc) spells cast here are at +2 caster level.

Annwn has the following additional traits:

• Impeded Magic: Teleportation across ranges larger than 3 miles and all calling effects are impeded by the temporal storm and fail unless the caster succeeds at a caster level check (DC 15 + spell level). Successful spells are still subject to distortion; see the sidebar Spacetime Distortion on the next page for more information. Those who succeed on their check realize that there is a chance of the spell being lost in time and space and may choose to cancel the spellcasting without expending the spell slot (though the casting time is still wasted). Those who succeed on the check by 15 or more can choose to take either the less or more distorted of two possible results for time distortion and space distortion without learning what those distortions are beforehand. For example, a distortion of 1 minute, 1 round, 0 feet, and 75 feet would be 1 round and 0 feet distorted if ‘less distorted’ was chosen. This impediment also affects spells attempting to cross planar boundaries into or out of Annwn.

Ladinion has the following additional traits:

•  Impeded Magic: As Annwn‘s property, but teleportation is only unhindered out to 300 feet and the Spellcraft DC is 30 + spell level.
•  Entrapping: Any non-native that eats or drinks anything from Ladinion, or takes anything from the place, must make a Will saving throw at the next sunrise (DC 10 + number of consecutive days spent in Ladinion) and again at sunrise each day that he remains in Ladinion thereafter. If he fails any save, the visitor has become enspelled by the magic of Faerie and cannot leave of his own free will. Moreover, all aspects of the mortal world seem insignificant, crude, and disgusting to him. If he has already left Ladinion, or if he is forcibly removed from there, he begins to waste away and suffers 1d4 points each of Constitution and Wisdom drain per week. The drain vanishes if the victim returns to Ladinion but reappers if he leaves. A wish or miracle is required to break this curse.