Mechanus

The Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, sometimes called Nirvana, was an Outer Plane in the Great Wheel cosmology representing the alignment of lawful neutral and home of the modrons.

"Mechanus is a place of rules. Law and process. Organization above all. The denizens of this place disagree on how order is to be maintained, but in the end we all serve its structure. Without structure, we are nothing."

- A parai, a creature native to Nirvana.

Description
This plane was filled with an infinite number of country-sized circular interlocking gears which were habitable on one or both sides. These great flat wheels were at least in diameter and had teeth that meshed at right angles, all turning slowly in synchronicity. Each disk had its own gravity that operated in a sphere circumscribing it exactly and pulling normal to the top and bottom surfaces. The void between the gears was filled with air, allowing easy flight. Outside a gravity sphere, objects would feel only very weak attraction to nearby disks.

A plane of Law and order, Nirvana had equal amounts of light and dark, heat and cold, and equal measures of the four elements. There was a place for everything and everything was in its place. Even individuals living here existed to fit into the greater scheme of things and thus achieve a perfect society. There was no pain, but the only pleasure was in successfully filling a role like a gear in a machine. Passion, fantasy, and illusion did not exist here, except for what might be brought in by visitors, and any who tried to foment individualism or stir passions for a cause soon found they were not well received.

Nirvana was connected to the Prime Material Planes via the Astral Plane, and to the Outer Planes of Arcadia, Acheron, and Concordant Opposition by portals which appeared once every revolution of the gears they belonged to. The period of rotation depended on the size of the gear, but a typical period was twenty days. The portals stayed open for exactly one day. There was one portal to Concordant Opposition, located at the center of the featureless bottom side of a large gear, that was continually open.

Inhabitants
The only creatures native to Nirvana were the modrons, a race of beings organized in a rigid caste system and ruled by Primus, the One and the Prime. The most common modrons were the monodrones, single-function drones used as common laborers, servants, or soldiers.

Realms

 * Amaunator, the long-dormant Netherese sun god, once made his home, the Keep of the Eternal Sun, here.
 * Enki, Untheric god of rivers and oceans, once had a realm in Nirvana.
 * Helm of the Unsleeping Eye once had a realm here  called Everwatch.
 * Hoar, The Doombringer, Lord of Three Thunders, had a realm called Doomcourt here.
 * Horus-Re, also known as Horus the Avenger, had a realm on a very minimally developed disk here.
 * Lendys, draconic deity of balance and justice, resided in Nirvana.
 * Mystra, Lady of Mysteries, had a realm in Nirvana up to the Time of Troubles.
 * Mystra (Midnight) briefly took over the realm of Mystra on Nirvana before creating her own domain on Elysium called Dweomerheart.  (Dweomerheart subsequently became its own plane in the World Tree cosmology model.)
 * Primus, the One and the Prime, was a greater deity and ruler of a vast realm in Nirvana called Regulus, centered on his great tower at the hub of a huge gear.
 * Psilofyr, the myconid deity of community and healing, once thrived in a realm called Mycelia here.
 * Utu, god of the sun in the Untheric pantheon, once lived here. As a chaotic good deity, it was suggested by sages that he was held here by Enki to keep him under control.
 * Yama, the Judge of the Dead among the Lords of Creation, resided in his palace of Yamasadena within his city of Yamapura on Mechanus.

History
After Orcus killed Primus and triggered an unexpected Great Modron March, he left the Energy Pool in Regulus to search for the Wand of Orcus, leaving the way open for a secundus to be promoted into the new Primus. However, prolonged contact with the Pool caused Orcus's evil influence to taint a fraction of the modrons. One tainted secundus disputed the ascension of any one of the other three and rebelled, leaving Mechanus and taking almost a million modrons with him. The dissidents settled a modron colony in Acheron, where they regrouped to later attempt to retake the plane. This schism crippled the modron race and paved the way for a formian invasion of Mechanus.

In the late 15 century DR, the wild mage Delina was sent to Mechanus by Martikay in order to search for a way to cure her from her wild magic surges. After interacting with several modrons, she was brought to trial by the Fraternity of Order at Regulus under charges of being an agent of chaos. She was found guilty and summarily sentenced to exile from the plane. The experience allowed Delina to better understand, rather than control, her wild magic.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * The Great Modron March
 * Comics
 * Evil at Baldur's Gate 3
 * Video Games
 * Neverwinter Nights: Tyrants of the Moonsea