Why do Gods Fear Space in Dungeons and Dragons

The universe of Dungeons and Dragons is an ocean of worlds inside crystal spheres.

But outside the crystal spheres, the ocean itself is composed of nothing but a rainbow ether called the phlogiston.

This phlogiston sometimes forms rivers between the worlds that brave captains used to sail the vast emptiness of existence.

But the gods fear this gassy ether.

The question is, why?

The term actually has two meanings.

It is either the space between the crystal spheres that houses the worlds, or the actual gassy ether that covers it all.

Either way, technically speaking, they are all in the same.

This ether, or as some would call it, ethereal fluid, is actually quite harmless to living creatures, and in fact, you wouldn't quite feel much different going from space to the phlogiston or otherwise.

The density of this ether fluctuates in the vast void, forming rivers and currents between worlds that many sailors use to increase their speeds in their travels.

Generally speaking, the bigger the ship, the faster it will go in this current, since the more contact area in touch with the ether, the faster you will go.

This is why ships that travel between the worlds use sails and wings, that is to increase their contact area with the phlogiston.

The rivers flow in different directions, which means it is actually important for star shards and sailors to know where they are going, since attempting to go against the current would slow you down immensely.

It is not uncommon for long voyages to last months, but if you were to be unfortunate enough to pick the wrong current, that very same voyage might take you years.

As a substance, it is extremely interesting because there is no physical or magical way of reproducing it and, quite frankly, nobody knows what it is made out of.

It is not composed of any material or any element known to any world, and whenever it is tried to be brought inside of a crystal sphere, it simply vanishes without a trace.

The crystal shells that houses every single world are particularly designed to prevent this ether from ever entering, and they do this job very well.

The shells cannot be pierced, cracked, or broken by any known magic or weapon, and furthermore cannot be harmed or manipulated by any god.

The only way through a crystal shell is through portals.

Natural portals open every so often on the shell that allow passage from one side to the other.

And personal portals can also be opened using magic, though these portals do not let the phlogiston through.

It is actually these portals that make the sky look like constellations and stars.

All of this being said, the reality is that nobody knows what the phlogiston is.

And while on that topic, nobody knows who created it and what its purpose actually is.

Nobody knows who created the shells that keep the phlogiston out or what kind of power keeps it from breaking.

There are of course many dangers that exist within the depths of the phlogiston, but the aether itself can be quite harmful if precautions are not made before interacting with it.

The key element of the phlogiston in this regard is that it is extraordinarily flammable.

Any fire sparked within the phlogiston will result in a fiery explosion at its origin of at least three times the size of the original flame.

A single candle will result in your hand being burned.

A lantern will result in your whole arm being burned.

An oil flask being lit

will result in half your body being burnt.

A fireball spell being attempted will result in the spell going off at its origin, which in this case is on you, for 3 times the damage and 3 times the radius.

Because of this property of the phlogiston, all fires are extinguished before entering the flow and instead, the use of magical light or natural sources will have to be used.

Another property of the phlogiston that is quite unique is what happens to those who run out of breathable air and suffocate within its ethereal fluid.

Those that do enter into a state of suspended animation where their skin turns stone-like and the person becomes incapacitated.

Revival is almost instantaneous the second that the suspended individual somehow finds itself inside a new pocket of air, where the skin will go back to normal and the effects will end.

Things however turn a little bit more dour if a creature actually dies within the phlogiston.

That's because your soul cannot technically leave the aether.

Your soul cannot leave the aether because the phlogiston is completely removed and disjointed from the planar realms, and really any other form of travel, whether it would be ethereal or astral.

And this is where things start to get serious.

The connection to the planar realities is completely severed whilst inside of the phlogiston, to the point where many things that you might take for granted suddenly become impossible.

Being disjointed from the planes means that conjuration spells are effectively useless.

You cannot summon devils, demons or any kind of extra-planar creature.

Extra planar spaces, such as bags of holding or more than Kanan's magnificent mansions, suddenly stop working and cannot be accessed.

That genie that you're holding on your golden lamp will not come out once rubbed.

Creatures that exist in multiple planes at once cannot enter the phlogiston, so creatures like ghosts will simply be bounced back whenever they try to leave the crystal shell, and magic items like armor of etherealness will simply not work.

Any kind of spell that scrys onto a planar reality or a crystal sphere will be impossible to cast.

So spells like divination or sending will simply not work.

And on the other side, creatures that might try to interact with you from the planes will not be able to reach you, which means if you have a warlock patron or a priest god, they won't be able to see what you're up to and will not be able to interact with you.

This, though, has harsher ramifications than you might think.

Let me put it bluntly.

Gods have no access to the phlogiston.

They have no power in the phlogiston.

This is why they fear it.

Spellcasting is already difficult enough if you're in space.

especially if you venerate a nature-related god or if you're a druid.

There really isn't any nature in space, so nature gods don't extend their power that far.

Generally speaking, this means that as a cleric following Shantya, the goddess of agriculture, going to space means losing all of your spells.

The problem is that it doesn't matter what kind of god you are or how strong you are, you cannot reach the phlogiston.

Even those that have impressive followings in multiple worlds have no power over this liquid.

When a cleric enters the phlogiston,

he will find that praying every morning will not give him back any spells other than first and second level.

These are the only ones you get access to, and again, only if your god is particularly powerful.

In fact, on average, most gods will not be able to even muster that.

For the most part, once you leave the sphere of influence of your god, you are quite literally on your own.

People have gathered their own theories as to the truth about the phlogiston and the crystal shells that surround all the known worlds.

Of these theories, six have gained some ground.

1.

The gods created the shells and the flow to divide up their territories.

Theologians love to advance these arguments, though it places some limits on the powers they worship.

Space is infinite, even for an omniscient deity, so they broke it up into chaos, the flow, and order, the shells.

The shells are easier to handle and more orderly than the swirling chaos outside.

The gods then divided the spheres up amongst themselves to test good versus evil and law versus chaos.

Some demigods have claimed this to be the truth, but cynics note that they would do so even if it were not so.

Number 2.

The gods have gods themselves, which created the universe and cut them loose in it.

A troubling thought, though a school experiencing a rebirth in realm space which recently experienced their gods at very close range and found them wanting.

An unprovable theory since it leads to the obvious line of reasoning, well, if our gods have gods, why don't we have beings that think of us as gods?

3.

The phlogiston is a naturally occurring object.

The gods created the various shells in order to settle and domesticate it.

The rainbow ocean is like a stream, and the shells are like cities being built along the stream.

Eventually, the cities will join, and the stream disappear entirely.

This would explain most godly reluctance to talk about a part of the universe, the flow, where their power does not reach.

4.

The gods fear the flow and built the shells to keep it out.

5.

The gods fear men and the other sentient beings and built the shells to keep them in.

6.

The phlogiston and the shales are naturally occurring.

The gods only moved in and set up shop.

Someone or something else built the house and the gods just arrived to move around the furniture.

Disliked by theologians because it implies that the powers that be are no more

than adventurous interloopers in their own right, playing most of the less powerful races as saps and suckers with a load of bunk about creating the universe.

As with the other theories, it cannot be proved."

In the end, most people are divided into two main camps.

Those that surmise that the crystal shells were created and positioned by the gods themselves to protect their worlds from the ravages of the phlogiston, and those that believe that such shells were placed by an even higher authority than the gods in order to keep them and mortals inside and confine their activities.

The reality is that crystal spheres do indeed keep the gods inside, for they possess no power over worlds where they don't have a dedicated following.

So what happens to a cleric that passes through the phlogiston and then reaches a different world where its god still has no power over?

Well, if your god is strong, you can actually magically connect to him using the second level spell, Contact Home Power.

Unlimited range with verbal, somatic, and material components, casting time of a single turn with a duration of a week.

What it does is it establishes a very weak link between you and your god that essentially brings the attention of your god to you in this new world.

If your god is strong, then it should be able to give you access to spells of up to third level.

Your goal as a cleric might be, however, to find yourself a different god in this new world that houses the same portfolio as your original god.

So for example, if your original god was a god of nature, then you're likely to find a god of nature in this new world who might be willing to offer you spells on behalf of your original god.

These are actually very common deals that gods make with one another in order to further their agenda throughout the Crystal Spheres.

And generally speaking, most gods are okay with this, except particularly jealous evil gods.

You are theirs forever and no one else's.

An alternative high-powered option if you are a cleric and you need access to all of your spells in this new world and you can't find an alternative god to help you is you can actually have your wizard friend cast a gate spell.

in order to link this new world and the planar reality where your god resides.

Opening such a powerful portal linking both sides will allow your god to give you all the power he normally does.

So then, taking it back, what actually happens then when you die in the phlogiston?

The death in the phlogiston is particularly nasty because you have no access to the planar realities, which means your soul is forever stuck in this rainbow stream.

You can't go to heaven and you can't go to hell if you cannot reach those places.

Many believe that these lost souls, cursed to wander the flow, eventually become what we call Ephemerals, the undead of the phlogiston.

These wraith-looking creatures roam the flow in packs like banshees and attack any vessel they come in contact with.

At first, they might seem ravenous and chaotic, with no goal other than to flush out life, but in reality, they have a dark purpose.

Their attacks drain intelligence, and if they manage to lower your intelligence low enough to have you fall unconscious, they can actually take over your body in a form of possession, and when they do, they will do anything within their power to get your body over to a crystal sphere.

See, these ghost creatures are petty and nasty because they are tormented by being denied entrance into their respective heavens, and as such, they seek to control a body in order to use it to enter a crystal shell so that they can finally depart to the afterlife.

Something that they cannot do in the Flow.

So, to answer the question, why do gods fear space?

They fear it because they have no control over it, they have no power over it, and they cannot see in it.

The Lords of Madness book described the far realm as that which lies at the edge of things, including the prime material realm.

So, do you know what this means?

This means that if you go far enough in the phlogiston, you will eventually find the edge.

You will eventually find the Far Realm.

And if we can't see through it, we can't know what's in it.

There are rumors of dark armies hiding in the phlogiston, waiting to strike.

There are legends of monsters of unbelievable size that roam its depths, of ancient primordials larger than worlds, of otherworldly beings seeking to destroy all the gods from all the worlds, hiding where they cannot be gazed upon.

To make matters worse, it does seem like gods don't really have the ability to manipulate or change the crystal spheres.

This lends credence to those who believe it wasn't made by them, but maybe by some higher authority.

Scary thought, since if something were to ever happen to the crystal spheres and the phlogiston were to get inside, it would mean complete annihilation for both mortals and gods alike.

The ether would touch the sun and create an explosion so big that it would destroy all the planets inside, killing every living member within the sphere.

And with no mortals in the realm, the gods would lose their powers and also die.

That gives you something to be afraid of, doesn't it?

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Guys, thank you so much for watching.

We finished the main three videos that I wanted to cover.

The rules of space, all the ships, and the phlogiston and the shells.

Very, very important stuff.

Now, it's completely dependent on you guys.

If you want to see more, then I'll do more.

If you have specific topics that you want me to cover, then I'll cover those.

Otherwise, we will be basically returning to doing monsters, which I'm actually quite excited about.

i do miss talking about monsters it's like my favorite topic personally uh however uh regardless the next video is going to be uh about tomb of annihilation because i i want to talk about tomb of annihilation secrets things that they don't tell you about about this particular campaign which is really exciting there's some really cool stuff in there but yeah thank you guys for watching and i'll see you all next time bye