Pathfinder has a tabletop RPG setting that goes the extra mile in terms of its lore. Golarion is the setting for most adventures, but it is only one planet in a multiverse of magic, technology, and adventure. In addition to other planets, there are countless alternative planes with different environments and even laws of physics — quite like all the various daedric realms of The Elder Scrolls.

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Of note are the nine alignment-based planes that make up the Outer Sphere, on the fringes of the more Inner Sphere which includes the plane that Golarion resides on. These planes have strong associations with their alignments' philosophies and creatures, and each is very distinct.

9 Heaven (Lawful Good)

Pathfinder Heaven Unleashed Book art

Home to angels and lawful good celestials called archons, heaven is a concept that most everyone will be familiar with. It is a rather stereotypical experience for the deceased mortals who end up there, with them meeting their lost loved ones and granted an afterlife that befits who they were in life.

It's not all happiness and peace though, as the bottommost level of Heaven is known as the Threshold — a place of defensive fortifications and militaristic buildings. The eternal war against the forces of evil must be fought in the Outer Sphere and as a result, Heaven puts its archons to work as soldiers.

8 Nirvana (Neutral Good)

Pathfinder Agathions from Nirvana art

While Heaven is a built-up mountain full of lawful goodness, the plane of Nirvana is a lush and green expanse. Here, mortals who were good but not particularly lawful nor chaotic can expect to live a restful, peaceful existence.

The angels of Nirvana are known as agathions and take the form of angelic animals — such as the vulpine vulpinals and silvanshee who look like housecats. Agathions are more restful than their warlike cousins and are tasked with looking after the souls of those who end up in their realm.

7 Elysium (Chaotic Good)

Pathfinder Desna in Elysium

Fans of Hades may be familiar with Elysium. While in that game it takes the form of a warrior-filled afterlife full of annoying enemies and a particularly frustrating boss, in Pathfinder Elysium is an overgrown wilderness. From incredible mountains to roaring seas it's as chaotic as it gets.

Azata reign as the angel of choice here, and they are a varied bunch. Many of them are fey-like, while others have animal parts, and all embrace the chaos that their plane is so deeply associated with. While they relish the fight against evil, they are just as likely to end up interfering with mortals in frivolous contests or flirtations.

6 Axis (Lawful Neutral)

Pathfinder Map of Axis

Free of the confines of 'good' or 'evil', Axis represents lawfulness in its most pure form. Taking the appearance of a gigantic golden city, it directly contrasts with the bewildering, untamed land that is the Maelstrom.

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Despite looking like one huge city, Axis is actually full of millions of smaller settlements that are inhabited by the most lawful of passed-on mortals and the resident axiomites. These creatures represent pure law and a born from mortal souls, often those of mathematicians, crafters, and architects.

5 The Boneyard (Neutral)

Pathfinder the Goddess of the Boneyard Pharasma

Every mortal soul will end up in the Boneyard, as it is the realm of Pharasma, goddess of life and death. Here they are judged and sent to whichever of the Outer Planes suits them most.

Those who are judged to be truly neutral may end up serving as psychopomps. These creatures are tasked with the ushering of souls onto the next life and have many tasks that help this surprisingly bureaucratic process along. Powerful psychopomps may become psychopomp ushers who are worshipped as demigods.

4 The Maelstrom (Chaotic Neutral)

Pathfinder protean in the maelstrom

Barely following the laws of physics, the Maelstrom is the planar incarnation of chaos. This plane is made up of two distinct regions. First is the central Cerulean Void — a roiling ocean of mysterious liquid that can freeze or evaporate at a moment's notice. Surrounding this body of chaos are the Borderlands, which often mirror the landscapes of adjacent planes.

Inhabiting the Maelstrom are the proteans, serpentine and unfathomable creatures that can warp reality both within and around themselves. For example, the scholarly akizendri can nibble and corrupt sources of knowledge such as books and scrolls — and will do so simply to introduce chaos into the would-be readers' lives.

3 Hell (Lawful Evil)

Pathfinder a devil in hell

Like its good-aligned parallel, Hell is an easily graspable concept. Built on hierarchies of evil and power, this pit of sin is filled with devils who inflict punishment on the poor, unfortunate souls who end up there. Also contrasting with Heaven (and a neat reference to Dante's Inferno), Hell is a layered plane at the bottom of which sits its ruler.

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Asmodeus is an archdevil and the only archdevil to claim full godhood, accruing a significant of worship from the evil-aligned mortals of Golarion and beyond. What's quite interesting is that he created Hell, and thus Hell is the only of the Outer Planes to be made on purpose.

2 Abaddon (Neutral Evil)

Pathfinder Four Horsemen of the apocalypse charon apollyon szuriel trelmarixian

Representing the purest evil to exist, Abaddon is home to the four horsemen of the apocalypse and their servants. While the majority of Abaddon is covered in a seething, putrid mist there exist four fitting citadels where the horsemen keep their thrones. Death's citadel, for example, takes the form of a chain of islands around which the River Styx flows.

Abaddon is filled with daemons (not to be confused with demons) who seek the destruction of life for the very sake of it. Each daemon represents a certain way of dying - for example the agrademons who are born of fiery deaths, and the piscodaemons who are born of venom.

1 The Abyss (Chaotic Evil)

Pathfinder Abyss art

Connected to, but not as chaotic as, the Maelstrom, the Abyss is a horrific place to end up for a mortal soul. Initially populated with ancient and cosmic qlippoth, the plane was colonized and taken over by demons (not to be confused with daemons).

While daemons form from the concepts of different deaths, demons form from the souls of different types of sinners. Evil amounts of gluttony, for example, produce a nabasu, demonic cannibals with disgustingly long tongues. Possibly most terrifying of these demons are the balors, who are born from the cruelest mortals whose sins are too many to count.

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