Arborea

The Olympian Glades of Arborea, also known as Olympus, was the Outer Plane in the Great Wheel cosmology model embodying the chaotic good alignment. (In the Realms, people referred to the entire plane as Arvandor, since the Olympian powers were not known there. )

In the World Tree cosmology, the realms of Arvandor and Brightwater in the first layer were considered Celestial planes in their own rights. Arvandor, in particular, survived the Spellplague and became part of the World Axis cosmology.

Description
Arborea was first and foremost a land of emotions, running high, deep, and far. These were not all positive emotions; Arborea was a place of powerful love and hate, where rage and joy were equally common and equally honored. The plane was most accurately described as "boisterous", favoring melodrama rather than stoicism, and the violent moods and whims were backed by steel. It was a larger than life realm of huge appetites, quick as a change of heart with fervent affections and passions that blazed bright before burning out.

Vibrant energy filled Arborea, the air tingling with excitement and constant anticipation in the literally emotionally charged atmosphere. It was not merely a place where the emotional gathered, but a place that made those present short-tempered, passionate, and, at times, hammy. Like Limbo, it could be considered the opposite of Mechanus, not in the sense that it countered rigid order with formless chaos, but in that its deep-seated feelings were the antithesis of Nirvana's mechanical logic. However, though greed, envy, lust, and wrath were strong on Arborea, charity, justice, love, and kindness were equally rampant.

One of Arborea's more subtle aspects was its addictive quality. The longer one stayed, the more likely one would never want to leave, and after about a month would possibly need to be dragged back home by well-meaning friends. Just because they left Arborea however, didn't mean they had escaped its pull; they would need to be confined until the intense yearning subsided and its influence had waned.

Geography
Compared to its depraved counterpart in the Abyss, which had, if not literally then effectively, an infinite number of foul layers, Arborea could seem small since it possessed only three. However, while the Abyss was a chaotic cluster of miniature realms, its individual, warring worlds each horrific and harsh in their own unique ways, the comparative cohesiveness of Arborea's layers was not to be mistaken for a lack of diversity.

In truth, Arborea was a fantastically patchwork plane, a crazy quilt of thriving climates and environments with endless abundance. Though named after its endless, rolling forests, that was a mere fraction of the plane. Settled landscapes were pleasant and pastoral, with gently rolling hills, meadows, vineyards, fruit orchards, and fields of oats, barley, wheat, and millet, all passing by in quaint succession. Unlike the neighboring Beastlands it was not totally given over to wilderness, and it wasn't an obvious deathtrap like the Abyss, the emotional journeys likely being more dangerous than the virtually harmless environment.

However, in the hinterlands between settlements, Arborea's wilderness could be almost impassable, increasing in hostility the deeper in one went and not just because of prowling predators. Normally even the Arborean winter was mild, but the weather of the plane was as whimsical and unpredictable as the inhabitants. The plane lacked the serenity of its lawful counterpart Mount Celestia, its pleasant breezes turning to violent storms in an instant and death on the plane coming mostly from lightning and hail. Still, one normally had to go looking for trouble in Arborea to find it, and even the weather at its most extreme didn't soil the overpowering and bewildering beauty of the plane.

Arborea's larger than life aspect was both figurative and literal, the big emotions reflecting the big plane. The sheer extravagant size of everything simply couldn't be understated: every craggy mountain was stupendous, every ravine unbelievably deep, every lush forest filled with monstrously huge trees, every ocean unimaginably deep, every river mighty, and every plain a wild stretch. Never doing small, Arborea's immensity made it difficult to traverse due to steepness and distance. Realms aside from those of common knowledge potentially laid hidden, ruled over by unknown beings.

Nature Spirits
The Abyssal layers were said to be sentient, though unintelligent and dormant, each with their own primal urges and hungers (other layers not precluded from their tastes). Likewise, Arbroea itself was determined to remain true to itself, wild and pure. Though most visitors to Arborea were unaware of it, the very land was alive with nature spirits. Some of these were the better known sylvan guardians such as dryads, sylphs, and sprites, but the actual spirits of the land itself were far greater. Every forest, glade, mountain, stream, and cloud had a guardian, and carving through virgin lands before polluting the environment was sure to provoke a reaction.

Exactly what that reaction would be varied from place to place, but the less tame the terrain, the more severe the results would typically be. A river might flow backwards or simply vanish and an angered spirit of a grove might move all the landmarks around while the offender slept. Spirits were immortal unless one planned to destroy the entire land they were protecting, but luckily such things weren't likely to be needed. Though they tolerated no infringement, the nature spirits were typically either too shy or too benevolent to actually be dangerous, and could instead be reasoned with. Most of them would create a shape to communicate through resembling the other party, a forest for example taking on a humanoid form with leafy hair, twigs for fingers and eyes of sap.

Layers
This plane had three layers with unique landscapes:

Arvandor
The layer of Arvandor was sometimes referred to as Olympus. Its two realms&mdash;so vast and influential that their names became synonymous with the plane and the layer they occupied&mdash;coexisted with little conflict: Olympus, home of the Greek pantheon, and Arvandor, domain of the Seldarine. Even before the World Tree cosmology became popular, the influence of the Greek pantheon was primarily focused on other Prime Material Planes and had minor contact with the Forgotten Realms. Indeed, the two domains were separated by thousands of miles/kilometers of unclaimed wilderness and, due to the slight curvature of the landscape, were not visible to each other despite being located at the highest peaks of their respective lands.

This layer was starkly mountainous with deep chasms, huge passes, and foothills the size of Prime plane mountains. Giant trees adorned the rugged terrain while the flatter parts were covered with untended vineyards, orchards and fields of wild wheat, eventually giving way to wilderness. Monsters and evil beasts took advantage of the lack of vigilance and roamed the wild places, providing a challenge to any who would go exploring.

Aquallor
Ossa to the Greeks and Aquallor to the elves, this layer was mostly filled with shallow seas no more than three feet (one meter) deep, with no islands or shores. The River Oceanus had its outlet here, delivering travelers from Elysium or the Happy Hunting Grounds/Beastlands safely in the middle of nowhere. The mighty sea was wracked with powerful storms. The shallow seabed was occasionally broken by cavernous trenches leading to undersea domains of various sea gods or by huge maelstroms that funneled water back to Thalasia in Elysium, thus completing the cycle.

The barriers between layers of this plane were somewhat rare compared to other Outer planes. Being the middle layer, Aquallor had barriers that led to the watery realms of Poseidon and Deep Sashelas in Arvandor, as well as a few that lead to the third layer, Mithardir. Aquallor was also home to many sea elves and other aquatic creatures.

Mithardir
Also known as Pelion; Mithardir meant white dust in the Elven language, and the mysterious third layer was a land of blowing white sand, with snow in the colder regions. Both the Greeks and the elves had stories and legends about powerful beings who once lived here, creating artifacts and architecture that became all but buried in the dust after they presumably died or departed. Their fate, and that of any creatures left behind, remains unknown.

Cosmography
Dominating the Greek-controlled realms was Mount Olympus, a towering edifice that served as home to many of the Greek gods as well as a multiplanar conduit connecting Olympus directly to Hades, Gehenna, Tarterus, and Alternate Prime Material Planes without passing through the Astral Plane. The usual color pools existed for Astral travelers and the permanent portals to neighboring Outer planes Happy Hunting Grounds/Beastlands, Gladsheim, and Concordant Opposition took the form of large, spinning crimson disks. Divination was required to determine the destination of each portal and all pools and portals within thousands of miles/kilometers of the Greek or elvish demesnes were either guarded, surrounded by stone walls and iron gates, or both.

Inhabitants
Agathia, devas, planetars, solars, hollyphants, and foo creatures, formed the usual cohort of creatures ubiquitous to the Upper planes. But Arvandor was also the home of giant beasts and legendary monsters, such as giant bears, boars, eagles, lions, serpents, wolves, and wild cattle. Chimerae, cyclopses, giants, gorgons, harpies, medusae, sphinxes, and pegasi all made nests or lairs in the mountainous terrain, or lived and lurked in the wilderness of the first layer.

Realms
Arborea housed the elven and Greek pantheons, as well as the realms of the deities Lliira, Sune, and Tymora. Although the gods of the realm of Olympus and Toril occasionally interacted, the people of Toril rarely concerned themselves with the affairs of the Olympians and vice versa.

Nearly all the known realms of this plane existed on the first layer.
 * Aerdrie Faenya, Seldarine Goddess of Air and Weather, wandered among the layers of Arvandor and Gladsheim accompanied by dozens of huge birds, taking her realm with her.
 * Araleth Letheranil, Seldarine Prince of Stars, stayed in his House of Glowing Stars on Arvandor.
 * Corellon Larethian, chief deity of the Seldarine, once had a realm here.
 * Deep Sashelas, sea god of the Seldarine, inhabited the waters that bordered the other great elvish realms. Some sages put his realm named Elavandor in Aquallor.
 * Erevan Ilesere, Seldarine God of Mischief and Change, once made his home on this plane.
 * Finder Wyvernspur ascended to demigod status at the end of the Godswar and initially chose this plane for his realm, which he called Fermata.
 * Hanali Celanil, Seldarine Goddess of Romantic Love and Beauty, had a crystal palace here that surrounded an enchanted fountain which fed the magic pool Evergold (called Canathas by the Greeks).
 * Hephaestus, the craftsman among the Greek deities, inhabitated a volcanic area within the realm of Olympus.
 * Hlal, the draconic Jester, was know to lair somewhere on this plane, though the site was a secret.
 * Iallanis, giant goddess of love and beauty, had her realm of Florallium on the first layer.
 * Kirith Sotheril, the elven Magess, resided in the realm of Tethridar within the Arvandor
 * Labelas Enoreth, elvish God of Longevity and rival to Erevan, once had a realm here.
 * Lliira, Goddess of Joy, Carefree Feeling, Contentment, Release, Hospitality, Happiness, Dance, and Patron of Festivals, once shared the welcoming realm of Brightwater on in this plane with several other goddesses.
 * Melira Taralen, the elven Songstress, resided with her mother at the Evergold.
 * Nephthys of the Mulhorandi pantheon had a large palace carved from rock which blended in with the desert far away from the demesnes of the Greek and the elves. Some sages put her realm called Amun-thys in Pelion/Mithardir.
 * Poseidon, god of waters, maintained his marine realm, Caletto, in Aquallor.
 * Rillifane Rallathil the Leaflord, whose realm was also his body, once put down his roots on this plane.
 * The Seelie Court of the Faerie Queen Titania, including Oberon, Caoimhin, Damh, Eachthighern, Emmantiensien, Fionnghuala, Nathair Sgiathach, Sqeulaiche and Verenestra, often stayed in Arborea as part of its wanderings.
 * Sehanine Moonbow, the Daughter of the Night Skies, resided with Corellon in Arvandor.
 * Sharess, the Lustful Mistress, joined her fellow goddesses in the realm of Brightwater in Arvandor after the Time of Troubles.
 * Shevarash, the Black Archer, had no realm of his own, but often stayed within Arvandor.
 * Solonor Thelandira, God of Archery and Hunting, had a realm of thick forests and rapidly flowing streams named Pale Tree here.
 * Sune, human Goddess of Love, Beauty, Passion, and Charisma, once made her home, Brightwater, on this plane. She shares the waters of Evergold with Hanali Celanil.
 * Syranita, goddess of the aarakocra, had her realm named Whistledge in Olympus.
 * Tyche, the Netherese goddess of fortune and fate, had a small domain within the joint Greek realm of Olympus.
 * Tymora, human Goddess of Good Fortune, Luck, Victory, Skill, and Patron of Adventurers and Warriors, resided in the realm of Brightwater in Arvandor.