Finder’s Archives – Cinder Glade

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Finder’s Archives.

In this column, we take some of the lands from Magic: The Gathering and turn them into something you can use for your fantasy games.

The stats given in each entry assumes that you’re using Pathfinder or 5e for your games, but they can easily be converted over into any fantasy system. This time we trek across the planes to the Cinder Glade.

Cinder Glade

The Cinder Glade is what is known as an elemental fragment. Elemental fragments are small areas of elements that are out of place. In the case of the Cinder Glade, it is part of the Elemental Planes of Air, Earth, and Water that have broken through the barriers into the Elemental Plane of Fire. Here the lava and fire of the Plane of Fire are interrupted and mortal life can be supported, as it has all the ingredients needed to provide for “normal” life. It still isn’t safe by any means, but it is a minor sanctuary in an inhospitable place. In essence, small groups of the other 3 elements have combined here to create islands floating on the currents of hot air.

Lay of the Land

No one knows who or what created the Cinder Glades, but it has been there for at least a couple of centuries. The fire elementals who live near it have little understanding of time, and for the most part simply try to destroy it, even though it seems immune to many of their ravages.

The dirt itself is fertile and several fruit trees have grown here and provides sustenance for those who live here. Those residents who have made the Cinder Glade their home live in homes that have been excavated from the floating clods of earth. In total, a small community of some 200 people lives here, including a small order of druids known as the Sisterhood of Flame.

Dangers

Life in the Cinder Glade is relatively safe, as long as you stay on the islands (which are connected by various rope bridges and other contraptions to keep the residents able to move to and from each island), but once you leave the safety of the islands, you’re deep in the Elemental Plane of Fire, with all the dangers that entail in the shape of fire-dwelling creatures like efreeti, fire giants, fire elementals, and more.

Within the Cinder Glade itself, the biggest danger is the Sisterhood of Flame. While they seem lucid, the people who live here generally believe that the sisters are insane as they use branding irons and fire as part of their religion. Where others would have tattoos, they have burn marks and brands, and the sisters believe in the sanctity and divinity of fire. They hope to transcend and become creatures of pure elemental flame once they are pious enough, but until then, they suffer the indignity of mortal limitations and live within the Cinder Glade.

And that concludes this week. And remember, bring that Ring of Fire Resistance.

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Kim Frandsen

40 years old, and a gamer since I was 13. These days I freelance as a writer for various companies (currently Fat Goblin Games, Flaming Crab Games, Outland Entertainment, Paizo, Raging Swan Games, Rusted Iron Games, and Zenith Games), I've dipped my hands into all sorts of games, but my current "go-to" games are Pathfinder 2, Dungeon Crawl Classics and SLA Industries. Unfortunately, while wargaming used to be a big hobby, with wife, dog and daughter came less time.

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