Beastlands (plane)

The Wilderness of the Beastlands, also known as the Happy Hunting Grounds, was the Outer plane representing alignments between neutral good and chaotic good in the Great Wheel cosmology model. Some characteristics of this plane were ascribed to the World Tree cosmology planes of Arvandor and the House of Nature when that cosmology became popular. Arvandor survived the Spellplague while the House of Nature split in at least two parts, one of which became the Deep Wilds and the other merged with the Green Fields as described by the World Axis cosmology model.

"The beast within finds expression without here on the Beastlands."

- The Wylder Lysander.

Description
The name Happy Hunting Grounds was given to this plane by those that first scried it, assuming the abundant and varied game and wildlife would be a sportsman's paradise. But the native inhabitants of this plane were all capable of speech and comparable to humans in range of intelligence. Some of the most intelligent creatures could even wield magic. All natural creatures and their giant versions from the Prime Material Plane, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and invertebrates, excluding enchanted creatures and monsters, were represented here, and they called their home the Beastlands.

The Beastlands had three layers, all heavily forested with normal and giant trees, plants, moss, and fungi. Each layer had its own time of day which never varied. Weather was regionally distributed and provided all manner of conditions for the habitats of all creatures. Weather in one region did not affect adjacent regions, so an arid desert could exist next to a snowy winter region for example. Any attempt to control the winds, weather, or atmosphere was countered by those airborne creatures who lived in the region.

Yggdrasil, the World Ash, extended its branches to all layers of the Beastlands. The reason was unclear, since there were no realms of the Norse pantheon anywhere in the plane. Some speculated that the wilderness and life-giving properties of the plane were sufficient to root the tree there.

Krigala
Krigala was the upper layer, connected to the Astral Plane by color pools and to Elysium, Arborea, and the Outlands by portals disguised as large holes in hollow trees. The river Oceanus flowed in a relatively straight course from Amoria in Elysium through Krigala on its way to Arborea. The sky was perpetually lit by a noonday sun directly overhead regardless of distance traveled.

Brux
The second layer of the Beastlands was constantly in dusk or dawn due to two suns on opposite ends of the horizon, hovering there and turning the sky a reddish hue. The landscape of Brux was similar to that found in Krigala. Brux was the location of the Library of All Knowledge.

Karasuthra
The bottommost layer was the land of starlight. Above any clouds or fog that might exist in a region was a clear night sky full of wandering stars. The stars moved randomly such that all attempts to map them into constellations were unsuccessful.

Inhabitants
In addition to the myriad species from the animal kingdom were the usual Upper plane sentient creatures, such as hollyphants, planetars, solars, devas, foo creatures, agathia, and baku.

Another form of life unique to the Beastlands were the mortai, also known as the "faces in the clouds". They appeared as cumulus clouds with large humanoid faces and could communicate with anyone if they so wished. The mortai were considered very wise and could converse on most any subject. They also had complete control over the air and weather. Their origin was unknown but it was thought they might be collections of good and somewhat chaotic spirits.

Realms

 * Balador, the benevolent lord of werebears, maintained his realm of Ursis in Brux.
 * The Cat Lord, and other Beast Lords, once held territory on this plane.
 * Deneir, Lord of All Glyphs and Images, had a realm called the Library of All Knowledge on Brux.
 * Eagle, the great spirit worshiped by the green elves, made his home in the demiplane called the Upper World, but spent much of his time in the Happy Hunting Grounds.
 * Ferrix, the playful goddess of weretigresses, had no permanent realm but freely roamed the layer of Brux.
 * Haela Brightaxe, Lady of the Fray, was the the dwarven goddess of battle and luck. She resided on Brux in her realm Findar Endar, a pleasant grotto hidden by unending mists deep within the surrounding forests. Her personal dwelling there was a simple cave protected by seven of her "Guardians", einheriars of her favored fallen dwarven warriors.
 * Mielikki, Lady of the Forest, established her realm, the Grove of the Unicorns, on Krigala around 1369 DR.
 * Milil, God of Poetry, Eloquence, and Song, shared his realm, the Library of All Knowledge, with Deneir.
 * Nobanion the Lion King, once held sway over the Pridelands, his realm in Krigala.
 * Quorlinn, the kenku deity, resided in Filchnest in Krigala.
 * Remnis, the great lord of eagles, nested in his realm of Goldenroost in Krigala when he was not flying the planes on some mission.
 * Rellavar Danuvien, the Frost Sprite King of the Seldarine, made his realm named the Ice Plain in Karasuthra.
 * Shiallia, patron of pregnant forest creatures and planter of trees once had a realm in Krigala called the High Glade.
 * The Seelie Court of the Faerie Queen Titania, including Oberon, Caoimhin, Damh, Eachthighern, Emmantiensien, Fionnghuala, Nathair Sgiathach, Sqeulaiche and Verenestra, often visited the Beastlands on its wanderings.
 * Skerrit the Forester, god of the centaurs, had a realm called Skerrit's Glade in Krigala consisting of a string of glades and meadows.
 * Stronmaus, the giant deity of Sun, Sky, Weather, the Seas, and Joy, lived in the Beastlands in a realm named Stormhold in Karasuthra, whenever he did not stay near his father's home on Ysgard.
 * Thard Harr, god of the jungle dwarves, stayed on the Forbidden Plateau in Krigala between his wanderings.
 * Ubtao, Father of the Dinosaurs and Creator of Chult, once had a realm called the Forbidden Plateau in Krigala.

Appearances

 * Video Games
 * Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
 * Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition