item for sale, though the price might wei! be more than
gold. The efreet are fond of trading in favors, especially
when they have the upper hand in negotiations. Perhap
a magical disease or poison can be cured only with
something that must be purchased in the bazaars
of the city.
The heart of the city is th e towering Charcoal
Palace, where the tyrannical sultan of the efreet reigns
supreme, surrounded by efreet nobles and a host of
slaves, guardians, and sycophants.PLANE OF WATER
The nature of water is to flow, not like the gusting wind
or the leaping flame, but smoothly and steadily. It is the
rhythm of the tide, the nectar of life, the bitter tears of
mourning, and the balm of sympathy and healing. Given
time, it can erode all in its path.
A warm sun arcs across the sky of the Plane of
Water, seeming to rise and set from within the water
at the visible edge of the horizon. Several times a day,
however, the sky clouds over and releases a deluge
of rain, often accompanied by spectacular shows of
lightning, before clearing up again. At night, a glittering
array of stars and auroras bedecks the sky.
The Plane of Water is an endless sea, called the Sea
of Worlds, dotted here and there with atolls and islands
that rise up from enormous coral reefs that seem to
stretch forever into the depths. The storms that move
across the sea sometimes create temporary portals
to the Material Plane and draw ships into the Plane
of Water. Surviving vessels from countless worlds
and navies ply these waters with little hope of ever
returning home.
The weather on the plane is a lesson in extremes.
If the sea isn't calm, it is battered by storms. On rare
oc.casions, a tremor in the planar firmament sends a
rogue wave sweeping across the plane, swamping entire
islands and driving ships down to the reefs.
Life flourishes in the upper reaches of the Sea of
Worlds, called the Sea of Light because of the sunlight
filtering down into the water. Aquatic humanoids craft
castles and fortresses in the coral reefs. The marids
are the distant stewards of this region, content to allow
the lesser folk to compete for territory. The nominal
emperor of the marids dwells in the Citadel ofTen
Thousand Pearls, an opulent palace made of coral and
studded with pearls.
The deeper extents of the plane, where no sunlight
reaches, are called the Darkened Depths. Horrid
creatures dwell here, and the absolute cold and crushing
pressure mean a swift end to creatures accustomed
to the surface or the Sea of Light. Krakens and other
mighty leviathans claim this realm.
Any land that rises above the surface of the sea is
hotly contested by the few air-breathers that live on the
plane. Fleets of rafts and ships lashed together serve
as solid ground where nothing else is available. Most
natives of the plane never break the surface of the sea
and thus ignore these habitations.
One of the few actual islands on the plane is the Isle
of Dread. The island is connected to the Material Plane
by means of a regular storm that sweeps over the island.