The Ethereal Sea

The Ethereal Sea is the multifaceted interstitial fluid of the universe. Composed largely of innumerable islands, continents, planets and the corpses of forgotten gods suspended within an endless expanse of grey mists, silver skies and other strange weather phenomena loosely analogous to a material ocean, the basic geography consists of an arbitrary number of layers that serve different purposes. Many planes such as the Material Plane and Elemental Poles have adjacent ethereal layers known collectively as the Border Ethereal. A border layer coexists, invisible and intangible, alongside the plane it borders. Another major layer is the Deep Ethereal, often known as the Astral Plane, which connects to all border layers and to many other planes. Within the Astral exists countless varieties of demiplanes and byways through which travel to virtually anywhere in the universe is possible. Other major layers include the whimsical Plane of Dreams, where fantasy becomes reality and reality becomes fantasy, and the esoteric Akashic Record, where all knowledge may be discovered in the Libraries of Babel.

The Ethereal Sea supports an ecosystem populated with just as much life as any other plane, all with special adaptations suited to the unique nature of their home. There are many kinds of inhabitants, permanent and transient, counterparts of material creatures and wholly unique species: ghosts and other spectral undead, phase spiders, blink dogs, animate dreams, astral devas, ectoplasmics and psychoplasmics, ethereal marauders, greymalkin, corpsespinners, hypnalis, nightgaunts, possession devils, shulsaga, thought eaters, xill, aether elementals, qael, and more.