Pathfinder Planar Cosmology 101: Introduction, Overview and the Transitive Planes

This week we're kicking off a whole new series! Welcome to the planes of Pathfinder!
In this video we're doing a general intro, plus we're discussing the River of Souls, the Boneyard, the Astral Plane and the Ethereal Plane.
▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
0:00 - Intro
0:57 - Planar Cosmology 101
6:46 - River of Souls
15:54 - Boneyard
22:00 - Astral Plane
28:26 - Ethereal Plane
31:24 - Outro
CREDITS
The large high-res map I use is not a Paizo official map, but the work of the incomparable Rob McCaleb ( www.artstation.com/robmccaleb ) used here with their gracious permission.
Content for this video came from "Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Planar Adventures" by Robert Brookes, John Compton, Paris Crenshaw, Eleanor Ferron, Thurston Hillman, James Jacobs, Isabelle Lee, Lyz Liddell, Ron Lundeen, Joe Pasini, Lacy Pellazar, Jessica Price, Mark Seifter, F. Wesley Schneider, Todd Stewart, James L. Sutter, and Linda Zayas-Palmer
If you enjoyed this video, please support Paizo publishing by purchasing this product or others.
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#paizo #pathfinder #golarion #innersea #roleplaying #rpg #history #lore #d&d #planes #cosmology #riverofsouls #boneyard #astralplane #etherealplane

[@NeverSeenMyself]

Just want to say it: MythKeeper, thank you for your amazing work in explaining Golarion's deep and nuanced lore. Your videos are a pleasant part of my day!

[@TheMythKeeper]

Thank you sir!

[@Modelskinny]

You are a top-tier narrator, I’m in bed with the flu going through all of your videos. I have no idea what this world even is. But you describe it so well it’s like I’m there.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Haha! Thank you 🙂

[@flibbernodgets7018]

Planar stuff is really interesting, if you take the time to dive into it. Thank you for making that easier.

[@serjoerickii3262]

Dude I’ve been looking for a video about the planes like this for years. Thank for your great content man.

[@TheBobbyLarsson]

So impressed by the Lyra (His dark materials) imagery, perfect visual explanation to what is being talked about.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Thank you! Totally worth being demonetized for!

[@syvajarvi2289]

We are playing with the Antipode in our campaign. Each of our characters were forgotten dead demigods who fought and died in the war against Rovagug and have been called back into existence from the positive energy plane to start again through mortal lives as a test to rediscover their lost divinity. The APs we have done so far have been fun, but the search for Aroden…. If he can be found… has just begun. We’ve all had some input into the campaign since the table is full of Former forever GMs taking turns with the different story arcs and your channel has been extremely helpful with fleshing out our characters. The fact that Pharasma, Sarenrea, Desna, and a few other deities had a hand in their resurrection since the people of Golaron may not remember them, but the gods that knew them remember their sacrifices.

[@TheMythKeeper]

This is a great campaign concept. Thanks for sharing!

[@syvajarvi2289]

@@TheMythKeeper thank you for the complement on our campaign idea. It came about when we were researching the death of Aroden and his possible resurrection. We wanted to explore the possibility that some of these adventurers are lost deities which is why they tend to have tragic tropes to prompt their adventuring careers.

[@jamesharrison142]

Earth's existence is so cool. It has given me a ton of ideas - has sparked my worldbuilding!

[@elementaryelknone6854]

18:54 that’s my favourite Legend of Zelda game IoI

[@paStLife463]

Wow..what a journey that was...Thank you so much.

[@dustingilmore408]

speaking for my self but i got into pathfinder because of the crpgs, would love to hear your thoughts on the games, and am loving your deep dives on every nook and cranny more of everything please!

[@TheMythKeeper]

I really like the Owlcat games and I'm doing my second playthrough of Wrath of the Righteous right now. Keep your eyes and ears tuned, because I have a Deep Dive on the River Kingdoms, which is where Kingmaker is set. I don't think I'm going to do video game reviews on this channel, but maybe if Owlcat continues to release games in this series I'll talk about them collectively at some point in the future. Thanks for watching!

[@ninthplane8413]

Just started reading Pathfinder Tales - The Redemption Engine and this video makes me appreciate the story even more.

[@Icarys_]

Awesome content. Just inspired my next character If I can ever stop GMing

[@TheMythKeeper]

I know that pain!

[@OMartinez91]

I've DMed for so long that I'm not sure how to play as a PC

[@rylandrc]

@@OMartinez91 I recommend a Summoner, you can play as two characters, and summon creatures with spells to fight for you.

[@jondoh2226]

This is even more interesting than I thought it would be.

[@israelmorales4249]

Thanks, excellent work again!

[@Nyliss]

I'm worldbuilding a pf2 homebrew world, and these series help me immensely with the information I strived for. Thank you!

[@TheMythKeeper]

You're very welcome Nyliss. Glad to have you watching.

[@thedorklylionchannel415]

Great video, and also... great staircase xD

[@TheMythKeeper]

Thanks! 😁

[@Jasmin-lg3gf]

Interesting, didn't know Pathfinder was set in a different universe than DnD.

[@neurolancer81]

Loved the video and your lore deep dives, thanks.

[@TheMythKeeper]

You're very welcome!

[@Raghetiel]

Yes! You, you are just the guy I missed to fully switch from dnd to Pathfinder! I enjoy the system, but there are much less lore sources in audio form, and all others are too specific, or about some culture and history, rather than working of the world. I thank you so much

[@Unikatze]

Fantastic work as always. Ready enjoyable. Wish the rest of my table would take the time to watch your videos :p

[@island2075]

Great stuff!

[@TheMythKeeper]

Thank you!

[@wayward11]

It's going to be interesting when the revisions come out and alignments are no longer a thing. I wonder how much will change and how much will stay the same.

[@TheMythKeeper]

I've been wondering the same thing ;-)

[@Phalcon777]

*Has ADHD brain and will forget to post if he doesn't do it now* I haven't taken the time to go through your full collection I found creature feature and watched all those and now just when a series pops up I start checking them out. This one is near and dear to me as I am converting my D&D world over and taking pieces of it and pieces of Pathfinder and fusing them together. My world features the Tree of life Yggdrasil as the structure of the Multiverse. The Upper good planes are up in the branches and the lower bad planes are at its roots. Midgar the plane of mortals is at the rough "surface" of the tree. I haven't fully fleshed out every plane in both but all are related to Mythology. Asgard, Mt. Olympus, Tian, and many more for upper and for lower Hades, Diyu, Helheim, ect. Some massive difference in things is I don't know where demons come from yet and well Devils are part of Helheim but my hell is based on a game called Monster Train which has all manner of interesting inhabitants. The elemental planes are a blend of both so we have the circle that D&D has that then twists and churns kinda like pathfinders and the addition of Wood and Metal. Except Wood is at the center so it touches all. There are secondary elemental planes as well. Ice, Sludge, Conflagration, Crystal, Molten, and I have not decided if I want to add the third type of planes from D&D which was negetive and positive planes that touch the other 6 elements. Might just do where the planes touch wood. Charred Expanse , Alpine Tundras, Mangroves Swamps, Hemlock Mountains, Ironwood Forests. Sorry I just don't get to talk to TTRPgfs with anyone and I get carried away. Thank you for the videos and have a good day.

[@TheMythKeeper]

No thank you for the long awesome post. I don't know if you can tell but if you look closely at the MK logo for my channel you will see a World Tree hidden behind it ;-) Post. Share. I love it when my lore videos can help people hone in on their homebrew settings.

[@brianrossow6550]

The cycle of souls, all the way back to rebirth, is elegant. I don't see the value of a negative plane in that cycle. Perhaps seeming like the driving force of a soul out of the material plane toward the Bone Yard? Kind of like an ocean to the River of Souls. Only Pharasma and her minions pulling them from the river allows them to move toward other planes to become extraplanar entities.

[@TheMythKeeper]

The negative energy plane breaks down quintessence so the material that travels the antipode is sort of broken down without any of the original creature's experience to be remade in the positive energy plane.

[@brianrossow6550]

@@TheMythKeeper Thank you!

[@tuomastall5836]

In up comming Rage of Elements adds two new inner planes, Wood and Metal.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Thanks for the info

[@tuomastall5836]

@@TheMythKeeper I can't wait for the 2e Kinetist!

[@RicardoPM777]

👏👏👏👏👏

[@lkriticos7619]

Thank you for the run down of how the afterlife and souls work in pathfinder. That's a very useful bit of lore to know and apply. I like the logic to it as well? It's almost like a recycling process of the 'material' making up the soul. Most of the ttrpgs I play don't have anything to say about an afterlife because it's not exactly relevant (I guess Chronicles of Darkness is an exception but that canon always has a different answer depending on who you ask and none of them are exactly 'true'). I think the main ttrpg I've played that does is D&D and it's always felt a little wish-washy to me personally. It felt like a part of the lore I could easily cut out and ignore because it didn't feel like it *did* anything aside from provide a vague origin point for some of the monsters. This feels more like something that can be used in an interesting story.

[@TheMythKeeper]

You're welcome! Hopefully this is information that sticks and you can use it opportunistically in games you run or are a player in.

[@lkriticos7619]

@@TheMythKeeper I hope so! Because the first character I've rolled up (and want to play) is a fetchling summoner with a psychopomp eidolon. So it feels like something I should know. The video made the role of psycompomps a lot clearer and gave me some better ideas for how to play the eiodlon. So thank you! (Scheduling a game and getting someone to DM.... that's in the hands of the gods lol)

[@dungeonmaster16]

didnt know our earth was still around. first time i joined pf i read a crazy theory on since pharasma was one of the earliest gods near golarions creation and with golarion sorta similar to our earth (continents and the ppl with their culture themes. tian xia = asia, avistan = europe, garund = africa and so on.) pharasma had a part in it. with her also seeing and maintain mortals memories when they come to her realm then theory is when golarion was made she looked into the souls/us memories of the world we once came from and planted as the seeds of the new world. aka imagine golarion as a hard maybe Earth - 2.

[@TheMythKeeper]

I like that idea, or perhaps those people, places and cultures echo all across the material universe in worlds beyond ours and theirs because the River of Souls is shared by all worlds.

[@coolboy9979]

Already know that this is going to be good so thank you! Some questions that came up while watching the video: Idk how accurate the depictions are, or if its made by in universe scholars and not the game writers, but if all the elemental planes surrond the material one and border each other, then how can the planes be infinite? Or at least that is very hard to imagine for me. The astreal plane and ethereal plane are used to travel from one place to another. Does that mean that when ever you travel from one plane to another inside of the inner sphere, that you travel through the ethereal plane first? And if you do the same thing in the outer Sphere you travel through the astral plane first? What if players use the wish spell to bring someone back to life, fail because the soul has been already judged, but then wish the soul of that character to be brought back to the material plane. Either it works and the character returns as an angel, or devil or whatever, or does it not work because a god of that plane, or pharasma herself stops it from happening? Would also be interesting to know how mortals (if there is material on it that is) get treated if found in one of those planes. I can imagine that pharasma wouldnt like it at all if a mortal enters the boneyard, but devils might not mind it when a mortal walks around their plane. Also how much control has a god over that plane? Like if a angel would somehow sneak into hell. Would Asmodeus just be instantly allert? Or would devils need to report to him?

[@TheMythKeeper]

Lots of great questions - let me try to answer them here to the best of my ability: #1 - I'm not actually sure that the planes are of infinite scale, they just have the capacity to be so. For example, our own material universe is finite - but it is also known to be expanding - it is possible its potential is infinite even though at a given point of time it is not so. I'm not sure if that helps! #2 - Not necessarily. Both astral and ethereal planes are accessible from both the inner and outer spheres. I like to think of taking the astral plane, as sailing on a ship from a port at sea, and taking the ethereal plane, like chartering a flight over the air. They are both ways of traveling - like an ocean and a sky - but might be more convenient from some places than others. Also, sometimes, some planes might connect without necessarily requiring passage through a transitive plane. The planes are weird. #3 - It depends on the specifics of the Wish. If you try to Wish the 'soul' of a person back - it would fail as it can no longer be separated from the new body of the petitioner it has become - but if you Wish for the person in general (not their soul) then its possible that the angel or devil they have become is recognized by the parameters of the spell as being the same person and therefore whisks them to the material plane. Either way, the new being that the soul has turned into won't be separated from the soul itself, and the original dead person will still be gone for good, barring some divine intervention. #4 - Great question - and yes this totally varies from plane to plane. Typically if a still-living mortal ends up in the Boneyard its just like when Odysseus visited the River Styx - they are out of place and the psychopomps will try to send them home. If they are found in other planes however, the local denizens might be more amenable to their presence. #5 - Gods are not omniscient in Pathfinder, but are pretty aware. Asmodeus would not know instantly, but likely would be able to scry across all parts of the plane if needed, and would quickly find the angel if alerted to its presence. Hope that helps! Thank you for your questions and thanks for watching!

[@coolboy9979]

@@TheMythKeeper thank you, they definitely helped.

[@Phalcon777]

I accidently drank too much caffeine and I am super hyper and on an ADHD fit as well so. I have more world dump. Sorry not sorry?????? idk. So Midgard the material plane of my world. Has Terra (Roman goddess of earth) the Elemental Flux (Elemental planes), her two sibling spheres Mors (Also called Helheim aka Plane of Shadow) and Hybris (Also called Alfheim aka The First World or Feywilds). The Elemental Flux consists of Muspherheim (Fire, Norse), Enenra (Smoke, Japanese) Loftheim (Air, Norse named but doesn't exist), Niflhiem (Ice, Norse),The Four Seas (Water, Chinese), Gaia (Swamp, Mud, Roman), Paititi (Crystal, Incan(Not the best of names. It was the best I could find at the time. I thought Crystal or riches kinda fit together)), Svartalfaheim (Earth, Norse), Minegakure (Metal, Japanese (Stolen from Naruto as I can't find anything better), Kilauea (Molten aka Lavaish) These planes loop around the plane of Wood which I went with Caddo as there is a forest in Texas called that and I am from Texas. Transitive Planes are for the Branches the Sea of Chaos (Astral Plane or Sea), for Midgard you have Domdaniel (sorta kinda the ethereal plane. It comes from Arabian Nights), and for the Underworlds are Death's Rivers. River of Stix and maybe a few others. There is also Azathoth (The Nuclear Chaos aka the Far Realm. Which is Cthulhu's grand father) Seemed fitting. As you can see I tried to pull from various mythologies as SMITE happens to be one of the main games I use to play and always being a mythology buff. I plan on keeping alignment in my game even though Pathfinder is removing it though I am adopting some of the bits nad bobs from it. Life has caused me to not be able to work on this as much as I owuld like but that is fine. Stuff happens. So much work to do. rebuilding everything from near scratch. Also Humans don't exist anymore in my setting. They were wiped out almost completely after a demi-god was tricked by loki who casted I guess what we would call a 12th level spell that froze time for nearly 1000 years outside of Midgard and all magic was in midgard was absorbed by him. He is a key figure in my world called Grand Magus his real name is Strago Magus (final fantasy VI reference) and is trapped inside his tower after he learned of he was tricked and released the spell. He is only alive because of a staff he wields protects his tower and himself and it is Divine Artifact capable of repelling even the mightiest of vengeful gods like Zeus and Odin. There are no Ancestry Pantheons. Orcs might worship Odin, thor or Ares (There is in fact a civilization of Orcs that are very Norse themed basically Skyrim with Orcs and it is called Orcadia. ) Dwarves worship odin, thor and vulcan. Very few worship a single deity and nearly non worship a single pantheon. Many may call them something else but generally I keep it a single name to not confuse players. One of the biggest NPCS in my world is Nox or Nyx. She is the Queen of Ravens, The Mistress of Night, The Primordial Darkness, and the Matron of Souls. She is my Raven Queen. But not the trashy 5e version. She pushes a lot of Influence onto the world. Often times if a party catches her eye she will keep her ravens following them. I do a thing called Themes which I have to rewrite but it is basically this extra element that I give the players. I roll or figure out something fitting based on the choices characters make in game. one of them is The Queens Chosen. Where she picks a player and they get a few things but the biggest one is basically a cheaty revival. Once per game when a player is killed fully. They come face to face with her. It is like a trippy dream state and she offers them a choice. They can die and pass on to w.e they were going to go. Or they can return to the land of the living to help their friends in an epic moment. But they are hers now. When they die next they become her honor guard. Okay. Well I think this is enough. Hope you enjoy lol. Thank you for the videos.

[@Pathsfound]

Been loving all of these videos since day 1, this one is no exception! I'd love to talk with you about the process of making these videos and a few other subjects related to pathfinder lore, where can I reach you?

[@TheMythKeeper]

I'm not on any socials right now - just doing KZbin. But I am reading all the comments, so if you got questions, drop them here.

[@kostapetridis518]

Planes are more philosophical rather than actual. I always find them too complicated...

[@absolutleynotanalien8096]

Is there anything but demiplanes outside the border?

[@TheMythKeeper]

There might be, but that's up for you as a GM to decide. In my view, beyond the borders of the great beyond lie the realms of madness, the domains of the great old gods.

[@absolutleynotanalien8096]

@@TheMythKeeper Azatoth and the other of the two most powerful of them live inside the universe atleast. If I was a dm I would probably just ripp of the spelljammer cosmology I think it looks interesting.

[@themalcontent100]

Just enough not to get sued

[@andresmarrero8666]

I do disagree with that god. Memories are internalized so that the soul may grow so it is impossible to really forget what is now a part of your very being even though they can no longer recall. That is the whole point of life, to help us grow.

[@sunshinecarnivores1919]

How does reincarnation work in the Pathfinder Universe?

[@TheMythKeeper]

Same soul, different body ;-)

[@sunshinecarnivores1919]

@@TheMythKeeper Do certain conditions have to met for it to happen?

[@TheMythKeeper]

@@sunshinecarnivores1919 Same rules as for resurrections. Once the soul has been judged and moved on to its next life, reincarnation is not typically possible.

[@T4N7]

I’m not sure y u used a picture of Sarkhan Vol transforming into a dragon while talking about people dying… he isn’t dying or burning from the inside, he is happily turning into a dragon for a lil while… like he is getting rdy to grandly his day, for planeswalkers battling across the multiverse it is the equivalent of u using a pic of me brushing my teeth while talking about where the various earthly religions believe souls go when they die… it just doesn’t fit the mood

[@TheMythKeeper]

You're right! If you know what that's a picture of, then yes its incongruous. I think at the time I recorded this I was trying to evoke a certain feeling and that image worked for me.

[@Krustulum]

Shit, why would the devs plagiarism so much? Yog, azathot, etc. Jesus name those lovcraftian gods something else.

[@TheMythKeeper]

Yep, if its plublic domain, it can be found in both D&D and Pathfinder

[@adamlatosinski5475]

It was the intention of Lovecraft to encourage other writers to create stories including these beings. By including the lovecrathian mythos into their setting, Paizo continues a long tradition.