Mortals have developed several different models for describing the structure of Creation. None is considered a literal map of planar geography, since distance between planes is understood to be metaphysical and relational rather than spatial. Instead, the models emphasize different aspects of the same imperfectly understood structure: broad affinity, the organization of Creation, or the practical relationships used in planar travel.
The three most widely recognized models are the Great Wheel, the Turning Sphere, and the Constellation Model. Scholars often use more than one depending upon the subject being discussed, and disagreement over which model is most useful does not necessarily imply disagreement over the realms themselves. Other models survive in particular religious traditions, magical schools, and regional philosophies, but most remain specialized or comparatively obscure.
The Broken Hour is not included in accepted versions of any of the three models. Fragmentary stories of such a realm exist, but mortal scholars possess too little reliable knowledge of it to place it meaningfully within a cosmological framework.
The Great Wheel
The Great Wheel is the most common introductory model of planar cosmology. It places the physical universe containing Kor Sirok near the center and arranges other planes around it according to broad philosophical, theological, and metaphysical affinities. The Fundamental Realms and Reflective Realms are generally shown close to physical reality, while divine realms occupy broader outer regions.
Modern versions commonly divide the divine realms into five families: the Realms of Flourishing, Realms of Stewardship, Realms of Striving, Realms of Want, and Realms of Adversity. The Anchorhold, The Still Haven, and The Ordered Reach are usually shown separately as Exceptional Realms, since their functions do not fit comfortably within those families. The Abyss, when included, is likewise placed outside the ordinary divine groupings because it is neither a divine realm nor an expression of the same organizing affinities.
The Wheel does not imply that neighboring realms are physically adjacent. Two realms drawn close together are understood to possess stronger metaphysical similarities or relationships, making transitions between them potentially easier or more predictable. Opposition can also create a strong relationship, so two realms can be represented near one another precisely because their natures interact strongly despite being philosophically opposed.
The Great Wheel remains popular because it is simple to teach and easy to reproduce. Priests, adventurers, students of planar magic, and educated travelers are likely to recognize its basic structure even if they know little about the deeper theory behind it. More advanced scholars frequently criticize it for flattening complex relationships into a two-dimensional diagram, but few dispute its usefulness as a conceptual introduction.
The Turning Sphere
The Turning Sphere is a more sophisticated three-dimensional development of the Great Wheel. It preserves many of the same categories but distributes them across the surface and interior of a sphere rather than around a flat circle. Because the sphere can be rotated freely, the model is intended to discourage the assumption that Creation possesses a meaningful planar north, south, above, or below.
In most versions, the physical universe containing Kor Sirok occupies a central position, while the Fundamental and Reflective Realms are arranged relatively nearby. The five families of divine realms occupy broader bands or regions around them, and Exceptional Realms can be placed outside those bands without forcing them into categories that poorly describe their nature.
The most distinctive feature of the Turning Sphere is its treatment of the Anchorhold. Morgrom is conventionally represented beneath the physical universe and the rest of the spherical model, with lines extending upward toward many or all of the other realms. The placement is symbolic rather than geographic. It represents the scholarly understanding that the Anchorhold provides a stable reference for relationships throughout Creation rather than occupying a literal location underneath the planes.
The Still Haven and The Ordered Reach are commonly placed apart from the ordinary divine bands, while the Abyss is usually represented as an irregular region that does not conform neatly to the sphere’s other groupings.
The Turning Sphere is especially common among theologians, advanced planar scholars, and those interested in the relationship between Naevra, the Anchorhold, and the wider structure of Creation. It is less convenient to draw than the Great Wheel, so it is often encountered as sculpture, magical projection, mechanical model, or elaborate scholarly illustration.
The Constellation Model
The Constellation Model is primarily used by planar navigators and scholars of The Verge. It abandons the idea that realms should occupy fixed positions relative to one another and instead represents each plane as a node connected to other nodes by lines indicating known relationships.
The strength, reliability, and character of those relationships are more important than apparent distance. A strong connection may indicate substantial metaphysical affinity, a stable Vergeway, repeated successful passage, or some other durable correspondence. Weaker, uncertain, or changing relationships can be shown with different markings, allowing the same chart to distinguish between philosophical similarity and an actually navigable route.
The broad categories familiar from the Great Wheel remain useful for identifying clusters, but the Constellation Model does not require them to occupy separate bands. A realm associated with Stewardship might possess an unusually strong relationship with one associated with Adversity, while a Fundamental Realm can appear directly connected to several divine realms for reasons specific to known Crossings or long-established routes.
As a result, Constellation diagrams can become extremely complicated. A detailed chart may show individual regions, planar seams, Crossings, Vergeways, historically important routes, and relationships that appear only under particular conditions. Charts prepared for actual expeditions are therefore often regional rather than attempts to represent all of Creation at once.
The Anchorhold appears prominently in most advanced Constellation models because of the extraordinary number of relationships associated with it. Its node may possess more connections than any other known realm, though this does not imply that ordinary planar journeys pass through Morgrom. Structural relationships associated with the Anchorhold must be distinguished from actual routes that a traveler can follow.
The Constellation Model is the most useful of the common models for practical planar navigation, but it is also the least accessible to non-specialists. Its diagrams change as routes are discovered, old connections fail, or scholars revise their understanding, and there is consequently no single authoritative Constellation chart.
Creation’s Boundary
The three models differ in how they represent the limits of Creation. The Nascent Expanse is not a plane and cannot be positioned meaningfully alongside realities within Creation, so most diagrams either omit it entirely or depict an abstract boundary beyond which the relationships described by ordinary planar geometry cease to apply.
Vharath is known well enough to appear in some advanced and religious models as Vharath — The Eightfold Depths, positioned beyond Creation rather than among the divine realms. The Living Concord appears less consistently because reliable mortal knowledge of it is much more limited. Neither should be interpreted as merely another distant plane.
The Anchorhold possesses stable relationships with both outclaves, and sufficiently detailed models sometimes depict those connections. These lines represent exceptional relationships maintained across Creation’s boundary rather than Vergeways. A traveler cannot infer from such a diagram that Vharath or Lethara can be reached by following the same planar mechanisms used between realms within Creation.
The placement of either outclave beyond the boundary is therefore conceptual. It indicates that the realm persists within the Nascent Expanse while remaining related to Creation through the Anchorhold, not that it occupies a measurable location immediately outside Creation.
Comparison of the Models
The three models answer different questions. The Great Wheel is best suited to explaining the broad character and affinities of the planes. The Turning Sphere is useful for illustrating the larger organization of Creation and the unusual structural role attributed to the Anchorhold. The Constellation Model is most valuable when the question is not what a realm resembles, but which relationships might actually matter to a traveler attempting to reach it.
Planar scholars sometimes summarize the distinction with a common saying:
The Wheel explains what the planes are like. The Sphere explains how Creation holds together. The Constellation tells you how to get there.
None should be mistaken for a complete description of Creation’s literal shape. Each converts relationships that do not behave like physical geography into a form mortal minds can compare, discuss, and use.
Other Models
Many lesser-known cosmological models are used by particular cultures, religions, and magical traditions. Some depict Creation as a tree, a series of nested shells, a system of rivers, or a hierarchy of ascending and descending realms. Others emphasize only the planes relevant to a particular deity or region and make little attempt to describe Creation as a whole.
These alternatives occasionally preserve useful insights that the major traditions overlook, but most have remained regional or specialized. Scholars commonly study them when examining the history of planar theory, comparing religious traditions, or investigating unusual relationships that fit poorly within the better-known models.