PEACEABLE KINGDOMS OF ARCADIA

It is the land of perfection.

It is where laws are made for the common good.

It is the plane where harmony is born.

Arcadia thrives with orchards of perfectly lined trees,
ruler-straight streams, orderly fields, and cities laid out in
geometrically pleasing shapes. The mountains are unblemished
by erosion. Everything on Arcadia works toward the
common good and a flawless form of existence. Here,
nothing intrudes on harmony.
It is said that everything on Arcadia is as perfect as it can
be, neither as strictly regimented as Mechanus nor as
devoted to the perfection of the individual as Celestia. But this is not entirely
accurate. In fact, the inhabitants of
Arcadia are often so convinced of their own righteousness
that they are hard-pressed to recognize their own flaws.
This likely contributed millennia ago to the loss of the
bottommost layer of Arcadia, Menausus, which spiritually
transmigrated to Mechanus, becoming one with the gearworks
realm of ultimate law.
St. Cuthbert of the Cudgel, deity of goodly retribution,
has his realm on Arcadia.

ARCADIA TRAITS

Arcadia has the following traits.

• Normal Gravity.
• Normal Time.
• Infinite Size: Each layer of Arcadia stretches through
  an infinite, well-ordered landscape.
• Divinely Morphic: Lesser deities can transform Arcadia
  with a wave of the hand, but the plane has the alterable
  morphic trait for other creatures.
• No Elemental or Energy Traits.
• Mildly Law-Aligned: Chaotic characters on Arcadia
  suffer a –2 penalty on Charisma-based checks.
• Normal Magic.

ARCADIA LINKS

Portals to other planes are few on Arcadia, but they are permanent,
clearly identified fixtures. Arched trellises of
flowering ivy, holly, or some other lush, verdant growth
mark each gateway to another plane. Portals also connect
farflung locales on Arcadia, as well as running between its
two layers. Portals between the layers are usually set between
huge, rune-carved plinths standing 40 to 50 feet tall.

ARCADIA INHABITANTS

Many mortals from the Material Plane live on Arcadia,
settling among such other creatures as archons, aasimar,
devas, and the ever-present einheriar militias (see Arcadia
Petitioners, below).
Arcadia is also home to peaceful animals: golden foxes,
coppery hares, and silver-wooled sheep, as well as all
manner of organized insects such as wasps, bees, and ants.
Giant-sized versions of these animals and insects also can
be found throughout Arcadia.
Formians have a few hive-cities on Arcadia, but their
expansionist ethic is muted (at least outwardly). Arcadia’s
harmony would be spoiled should warrior formians begin
to march.

Arcadia Petitioners

The petitioners of Arcadia are called einheriar. The einheriar
appear much as they did in their previous lives,
though they are markedly more healthy and robust. They
are all fanatically devoted to making sure the common
good is maintained.
Using their abilities to discern the alignment of all they
meet, einheriar make it their business to police the plane. If they catch any
nonlawful or nongood creature, they
have three possible courses of action. Chaotic good or
neutral good visitors are tolerated so long as they follow
the laws of Arcadia. Those who are truly neutral are asked
to finish their business and leave. Those who are tainted
with evil in any aspect are immediately and remorselessly
attacked.
The einheriar have the following special petitioner
qualities:

Additional Immunities: Sonic, acid.

Resistances: Cold 20, electricity 20.

Other Special Qualities: Detect chaos, detect good.

Detect Chaos/Good (Ex): Einheriar can detect chaos or detect
good at will (as the spells cast by a 5th-level cleric).

FEATURES
OF ARCADIA

There is nothing native to Arcadia’s two layers that does
not contribute toward perfection and peace. The fields and
forests are swollen with grain and fruit, all growing
without tending or fear of infestation. Even the “wild”
flowers grow naturally to create the most harmonious
blend.
The trees of Arcadia are wondrous specimens. These
great plants grow in both neat forests and straight-rowed
orchards. Their bark has a copper, gold, silver, or iron
sheen. Their leaves range from deep green to fiery red, but
the leaves never fall. Fruit is always in season. On rare,
wondrous occasions a plucked fruit suddenly manifests
magical properties, mimicking the effects of a randomly
determined potion (see Chapter 8 of the DUNGEON
MASTER’s Guide). The fruit is nonmagical until picked.
Vision is normal on Arcadia. Night and day are
determined by the Orb of Day and Night atop Arcadia’s
tallest peak. Half the orb radiates light, and the other half
is dark. It rotates evenly and without fail, lighting part of
the infinite plane while another part falls into natural
darkness. There is no dusk or dawn, just day or night.

Abellio

The first layer of Arcadia is mostly flat, though there are
mountains and hills arranged just so. Forests, lakes, fields,
and streams are all found here. It is a layer of plenty, and
everything, even common beasts, is dedicated to the good
of all.

Mandible: Formians are rightly feared for their
dedication to spread to all planes and all worlds. Not so the colony of formians
on Arcadia, or so the myrmarchs and queen are quick to demonstrate to the paranoid
einheriar. Their hive-city is called Mandible. Unlike a common hive-city, Mandible
is open and mostly above ground. From the outside, the hive looks like an appealing
geometric mix of two- and three-story buildings, parks, and spires. The tunnels
hidden below the city are rarely seen by nonformians. Still, visitors are welcome
above in the markets and inns. The Queen Mother K’l’tk’thra (called Clarity
by nonformians) rules Mandible from her royal chamber deep within the tunnels.
Clarity spends her days overseeing the business of the hive, breeding, and protecting
the Place of Eggs.

Mount Clangeddin: A perfectly conical mountain,
standing apart from any range, rises at least thirty thousand feet above the
fields below, its peak wreathed in clouds and storms. This edifice was raised
by the great dwarven hero Clangeddin Silverbeard. The mountain’s interiors are
riddled with great halls, galleries, and dwarven-carved roads paved with flagstones.
Costly lamps, hot and cold forges, and city-wide feasting halls all provide
light and merriment for the underground visitor. Strangers are welcome here,
especially those who come to order special weapons from the legendary smiths
who labor in the hottest portions of the forge. The dwarves who live within
Mount Clangeddin, both mortal and petitioner, spend half of each day drilling,
training, and perfecting their military skills to honor their lord Clangeddin.
Visitors seeking to raise an army sometimes come to Mount Clangeddin, tempting
the deity with stories of righteous warfare. Sometimes, Clangeddin is moved
by such appeals and assigns axes to the cause.

Basilica of Saint Cuthbert: High walls manned
by specially chosen paladins surround this mighty edifice of St. Cuthbert. Within
the walls stands the basilica itself, whose highest dome reaches a mile into
the sky. At the very center of the basilica is Cuthbert’s seat, called the Seat
of Truth, though he rarely takes it. A curved open canopy supported by four
serpentine pillars shelters the seat. St. Cuthbert brought the pillars home
as trophies after a brief crusade into the Nine Hells. As the deity of common
sense, wisdom, and similar sentiments, St. Cuthbert is noted for his rulings
on matters of state, philosophy, and everything else. However, he is also called
St. Cuthbert of the Cudgel, and wherever the deity goes, so goes his bronzewood
weapon. If words do not suffice, St. Cuthbert’s cudgel does. Einheriar and privileged
clerics, paladins, and others of deep faith stay in the basilica with St. Cuthbert,
though he sends many out on missions in his name. Modest accommodations are
set aside for occasional supplicants wishing to hear the wisdom of St. Cuthbert.

Buxenus

The second layer of Arcadia looks much like the first, with
its pleasant valleys swathed in perfectly even grass,
naturally growing orchards, and circular lakes. However, it
has also become a mustering ground where forces of
Arcadia slowly gather their strength for a presumed
ideological thrust into Mechanus in an attempt to recover
the lost layer of Menausus. How this “reliberation” will
actually occur is anyone’s guess.
Here and there on this layer are the training grounds of
a particularly militant sect of mortals from the Material
plane called the Harmonium. Though they seek to do
good, the “retraining camps” do more harm than anything
else—or so say many authorities.
In these camps, the Harmonium indoctrinates “borrowed”
mortals of a chaotic alignment in the dictates of
law and harmony in an attempt to change their spiritual
identity to one more harmonious than before. Unfortunately,
the success rate is low. In the greater scheme of
things, these camps may actually be shifting the layer of
Buxenus more toward law than good. If such a shift
continues, Arcadia could eventually lose its second layer to
Mechanus, along with the third layer already gone. Menausus
The third layer of Arcadia actually no longer exists (and
has not, for millennia). Its planar essence has joined with
Mechanus. This cataclysm is attributed to overcolonization
by formians, and their overriding, unmerciful lawful
mindset. No one can now guess which particular portion
of Mechanus is actually Menausus, but a good bet is that a
large portion of the formian hive-cogs were once hivecities
in Menausus.

THE STORM KINGS

The Storm Kings (actually three kings and one queen) are four
once-mortal beings who have assumed the mantles of Rain,
Wind, Lightning, and Cloud. Though the Storm Kings are not
deities, the power each of them commands rivals that of a
demideity. The Storm Kings control the weather on Arcadia, and
they work in tandem according to precisely laid plans. It’s their task to ensure
that every part of the plane receives a perfect
blend of rain and shine.
The Storm Kings live in citadels around the Orb of Day and
Night spaced evenly at the compass points. Each citadel
reaches high into the sky until the tallest spires are lost in the
bright haze. Weather appropriate to each Storm King surrounds
his or her castle.