Cosmology

Those familiar with the default Dungeons and Dragons cosmology will find the planes of the Steel Empyrean familar but different in important ways. Many of the same planes still exist but are experienced in a different form as modified versions of the Material Plane of the Steel Empyrean but with features filtered, exaggerated, and developed under the influence of each plane's god. The island of New Horizon, for example, can be found in both the plane of Lawful Good and the plane of Chaotic Evil, but in very different forms. Only Lawful Good individuals there would find reflections of themselves more or less closely represented while others will usually find Lawful Good versions of themselves instead. Once they die, they die on all planes except the plane of their alignment where they move to another layer of that plane and become a planar being of the appropriate type.

Travelers from the Steel Empyrian can sometimes find doorways to the planes through either spells or permanent portals. Both methods typically lead to the first layers of the inner (elemental) and outer (ethical) planes which are themselves interconnected in different ways.