Places
Prime Mundane Plane / Prime Material Plane (PMP)
What would be most familiar to us. Contains what amounts to Earth’s “analog”. Many different sapient species and cultures. Humans are/were ubiquitous here.
The Spire
A seat of human civilization, advanced tech and human-led inter-dimensional research and travel. An oligarchy with fantasies of legitimate democracy, it enjoys comfort and power at the expense of those without. The Spire isn't the only advanced human civilization, nor is it the "center" of human society (there's nothing that could be called that), but it is notable for being connected to many different places and worlds, primarily human lead ones, and for its tendency to view itself as a shepherd that calls the shots on inter-dimensional travel - and gets into everyone else’s business about it as a result.
Rowena
A human city with a focus on AI advancement in its technological centers. Like most human cities, connected to the Spire. Anaïs, Liu-Fang, and Gryphon lived here before a Cascade aftershock destroyed it. This is where Jamie resided before their neural transfer, and the ruins are where her stasis pod is found.
Grand Archive
A massive, golden library on the moon. Independent, but open to all, it is the biggest repository of knowledge in the PMP. After the Cascade, it locks its doors to the outside.
Border Dimensions / Border Worlds / Interstitial Planes
The slurry that exist between more defined dimensions - similar to connective tissue and interstitial fluid. They can be liminal in places, easy to slip in and out of. They can surround a dimension or form complicated webs between the crevices of other dimensions. In general, border dimensions keep planes from rubbing up against one another. One could say that this act of “rubbing” is what creates them in the first place. All or most border dimensions are connected in some way, as they are a part of the same "lattice".
Lady Nighthawk's Realm
A small border world that is the domain of the great wyrm Lady Nighthawk, mother to all things that call the night home. It is well hidden, though not difficult to enter if you know where to look. As it doesn’t hold much value for inter-dimensional travelers, and holds many dangers in its flora and fauna, it is seldom visited or spoken of by outsiders.
The Demonlands
A border dimension that's wrapped around Hell like a thick film, and spills out into the crevices between nearby dimensions in a massive lattice. Sprawling and vast, the Demonlands are notable for containing the only true entrance to Hell. Around this gate is a massive city, that has grown and evolved like a shambling tumor over hundreds of years, The city around the gate has been built and destroyed and rebuilt and re-destroyed a thousand times, it is a massive patchwork of various ages of tyrants and opportunists. The city has become a seedy underbelly to the rest of the world. The surrounding area is barren, but not uninhabited - its vast swathes of desert are notable for the dangerous sandworms that live there, preventing free travel.
Within The Gate City
Jules' Borough
A small borough that Jules calls home, and attempts to protect.
Mushrooms & Roses
A bar that functions as Jules' base of operations. Decently popular, but pretty empty during the day. Has live entertainment sometimes, hosts a variety of musicians. Previously owned by a demon who left it in the care of her bartender. A very relaxed and homey place. Connected to the living spaces of the bartender, Jules, and her inner circle.
Pawn Shop
Maintained by horse slug demon. Is a convenience store as much as it is a pawn shop - you can come here to sell things or to buy soda. HGF mans the door here. Neighborhood kids often come to get free treats from the owner.
Library
An archive supported by Jules. Maintained by two humans. In the aftermath of the cascade, they want to preserve what they can. Has books, VHS tapes, cassettes, posters, and any other type of media.
Co-Op
A co-op, largely hydroponic. Jules keeps a close eye on it and frequently offers her protection. Tomiy operates their herb garden and lab near here, and often offers unsolicited advice to the farmers.
Tomiy's Lab
Tomiy grows recreational plants here, and researches demon rituals for Jules.
Anais and Liu Fang's Place - Apartment Block
A decently sized hole in the wall apartment, in a building that's falling apart at the seams. They don't pay rent, as Liu-Fang has become an inpromptu handyman for the myraid of problems that need fixing. Anaïs does work more sporadically with computers and cybernetics out of a makeshift lab.
Gryphon's Lab - ???
Where Gryphon sets up shop after the cascade. Well hidden and densely packed wtih everything he needs to continue his work.
SE7EN - Downtown
A massive nightclub that's busy at all hours. Jules used to work out of here, but left for undisclosed reasons.
Market
A large plaza filled with tents and shops. Always crowded and difficult to navigate, but the stuff here is the real deal. Varanid gunsmith shop is a large, semi-permanent fixture here.
River of the Dead / Hubur
A large river that bubbles up from Hell and runs through the city. Main source of water. One of the few routes that physical matter can leave Hell. Catches things lost in-between planes as it flows.
Within the Desert
Miru's Castle
An old castle from a bygone age on the very edge of the desert. Miru appropriated it as a base of operations a long time ago, and now it hosts the portal he created to the Reach. The life from within spills out and consumes the structure.
Underworlds
Material planes very "close" to pure energetic planes. Like a hydrothermal vent, the energy that seeps through the thin wall between them causes blooms of strange life and magic. These planes, called “underworlds”, act as filters to these energetic planes, paired together with them like binary stars. Underworlds are places of incredible potential and power, often goals of inter-dimensional research.
Hell
Named for Hel, a notable tyrant and figure of legend. The chaotic world beyond the River of the Dead has been given many names by many people. Humans call it Hell, elves call it Hades, demons call it Old Home. Hell is notoriously hard to enter or exit, and no one wants to go in, anyway - it is a place of abject, terrifying chaos. Violent and erratic, the connection between this underworld and its energetic plane is thin, creating a volatile space that can only be survived by the most powerful creatures - most notably, extremely old and powerful demons. The main gate to Hell - noticeable for being the only two-way door, allowing both entry and exit - is locked tight, and has been for hundreds of years. While small, hidden gateways exist, they only lead in - there is no way to leave once these boundaries are crossed.
The Reach
Notable for the symbiotic network that runs through it, all of the Reach’s life is connected to its substructure, and life foreign to the Reach can become entangled in it. This quality made it ripe for exploitation by inter-dimensional travelers as an energy source, among other things. All life brought to the Reach will eventually become naturalized to it after only a few generations, creating a situation where the “native” life of the Reach and the “naturalized” subspecies that have developed there are difficult to distinguish. Native and naturalized creatures in the Reach will undergo “separation sickness” if they are to leave, due to their connection to the Reach’s substructure. A willful mind has a different effect on the symbiotic network of the Reach, in that it can wrest control of a system that is otherwise impulsive and mindless. Through humans discovering, trying to control, and being subsumed into the Reach's deepest, most base structures, the first Reach King is born, and the dimension becomes a terrible seat of tyranny. Among its other effects, the Reach has a unique color palette that seeps into anything born there. It saps saturation and warmth, replacing it with cool tones of purple, gray, white, black, and opalescence.