Frostfell (plane)

"Keep your wits about you, and for Gods' sake, keep moving&mdash;anything that stops might freeze that way."

- A visitor to the Para-Elemental Plane of Ice

The Para-Elemental Plane of Ice, also known as the Frostfell, was the Inner Plane at the intersection of the Planes of Air and Water. It was a place of utter cold.

Description
Much like the Plane of Earth, the Plane of Ice was primarily solid towards its center, though caverns and crevasses cut through the otherwise solid ice in places. Where the plane bordered the Plane of Water, scattered icebergs floated; where it bordered the Plane of Air, the ice ended in a jutting white wall.

This solid ice wall was a surface upon which one could walk, a sheet of craggy ice extending in all directions as far as eye could see and where hazardous blizzards scoured. Icy mountain peaks erupted from the surface in places. The air was breathable on this surface, but the temperature was deathly cold. This region of the plane was called the Precipice, and many visitors foolishly thought it to represent the whole plane, though the majority of the plane existed below the Precipice.

Gravity existed on this para-plane; up was towards the Plane of Air, while down was towards the Plane of Water. When one approached the "bottom" of the place, more and more water was present until the ice broke up into chunks atop the Plane of Water. This border region was called the Sea of Frozen Lives. Because of how it seemed like the icebergs of the Sea of Frozen Lives seemed to float upon the Plane of Water, some called the Plane of Ice itself the Floating Plane or the Bobbing Plane.

In the lateral directions, once could travel along the endless ice to the borders of the Negative Energy Plane, the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Salt, the Positive Energy Plane, and the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Steam. These border regions were known as the Frigid Void, the Stinging Storm, the Shimmering Drifts, the Fog of Unyielding Frost, respectively. The Frigid Void was free of snow and blizzards and a region of absolute darkness and cold. The Stinging Storm was an area of hailing salt storms. The Fog of Unyielding Frost was full of bitter cold vapors that could freeze one's lungs. The Shimmering Drifts was perhaps the oddest region, as the snow falling here was infused with an energy that could cause severe confusion to those it contacted.

The majority of the plane, however, existed below the Precipice. About half of the caverns within this endless ice were elemental pockets of air; the others were essentially underwater lakes full of ice-cold waters. Some boulders were also deeply buried in the ice as well.

Not all regions of this para-plane were the same temperature. Some areas could be survived with only mundane means of warmth, but other areas were so cold that only by means of magic could one survive. Some scholars insisted that the plane had some areas so cold that the very words one spoke would freeze solid. In Sigil some merchants sold bottles of distilled "chaos" and "sadness", prepared from such frozen ideas. Others said that even light itself would freeze here in this "true cold".

To reach the Plane of Ice with the plane shift spell required a planar fork of pewter, an alloy of lead and tin. However, tt was risky for travelers from other planes to shift to the Frostfell, for they might end up embedded in the ice. If damage from the cold did not slay them, they would be unable to move. Whether they lived or died, their bodies would be incredibly preserved. If they did not die from the cold, they were likely to be crushed by the extreme pressure of the ice.

Travel within the plane was equally dangerous, whether walking atop the Precipice or tunneling deep within the Core Ice, for the entire para-plane was subject to constant shifting and buckling of the ice. There were avalanches and sinkholes and crushing fissures.

Besides mundane travel from one of the other Inner Planes, the Para-Plane of Ice could be reached through portals, but few such permanent portals existed naturally. A portal to Cania was here, and some planewalkers claimed that one existed to Muspelheim in Ysgard as well. Two portals to the Abyss were rumored to exist, one of which was to the Soulfreeze, layer 566.

Sometimes, elemental vortices would connect the Material Plane to the Frostfell, usually from arctic wastelands, terrible blizzards, or the coldest depths of the ocean.

Government
The Plane of Ice was unique among the Para-Elemental Planes in that it had a powerful archomental desiring to establish his realm with the full status of a major Elemental Plane. Lord Cryonax longed for ice to be considered the fifth element and wanted the borders of his realm to be the Para-Elemental Planes of Slush and Snow. His ambitions even stretched so far that he hoped to supplant the other Elemental Planes altogether!

Locations
Cryonax's fortress, the Chiseled Estate, was found at the very center of the plane.

Inhabitants
Nearly three-quarters of the open caverns with the ice contained life. A little fewer than half of such living creatures found there would be beings of air, while the rest would be beings of ice. In the subterranean lakes, more than a quarter would be beings of water, with the rest being creatures of ice. In both cases, such lifeforms would be immune to the effects of the bitter cold of the water.

Most fauna found here were icy, angular counterparts to creatures of the Prime, looking much like ice or snow sculptures. Such entities could move freely and unharmed through ice, water, and air in the other Inner Planes.

Among the more intelligent planar creatures, ice mephits were native to the plane. Marids and djinn sometimes visited, but neither were native to the Frostfell. The marids often hunted here.