Elysium is a mystical world of secrets and a nexus of many channels of power. Beyond the barriers of movement or the senses there are other worlds, other planes of existence that interact with Elysium. This is an overview of those places.

Once another plane has been glimpsed or visited, its known locations can be viewed by selecting the plane from the menu bar at the top of the main Map Screen. Before a specific plane has been viewed or visited, the selection button for that plane is grayed out and inaccessible.

The Celestial plane is one of the more difficult planes to access by most players.

There is a single permanent portal going from the Primal plane to the Celestial plane, guarded by an angelic fortress on the Primal side

Otherwise, there are always sacred springs in the Void that lead into the Celestial plane.

Finally there is one very easy means of access to this plane: play as the Voice of El and open all of the seals, bringing about the apocalypse and causing a gate to the Celestial Plane to open in Elysium. The obvious downside to causing the apocalypse is that it is the apocalypse; it makes it enormously difficult for the player, and everyone else, to survive indefinitely. While the player may be able to sneak past the angels and into the Celestial Plane, it is only a matter of time before the carnage in Elysium claims their last citadel or wipes out the last of their opponents, ending the game and cutting short their exploration.

The Celestial Plane is guarded by a mixture of saintly humans (mostly weak, apart from the occasional spellcaster or mounted paladin) and powerful angelic beings (often very dangerous, sometimes capable of charming and/or banishing invading troops en masse). It does feature a fair number of small settlements, but these always seem to be guarded, and there is a constant risk of patrolling angels moving in to reclaim them. Its bronze citadels are interesting and boast strong walls, but they seem mostly useless other than as a place to garrison troops - they cannot be used to recruit units, nor do they produce mercenary offers, trade, or gold income. What's more, the plane does not appear to offer any sources of iron at all; invading the Celestial is a difficult uphill battle for little reward, only worthwhile for the chance to explore somewhere new (and the glorious hubris of literally attempting to attack and dethrone God).

Bizarrely, the Celestial Plane features a large number of sacred springs - though these are in keeping with the plane's theme, they are also places where the veil between worlds is thin, meaning that Horrors from the Void will often crawl out of them and scurry around gobbling up saints! The angels usually win any skirmishes against such threats, but their human counterparts tend to have less success, so the Celestial Plane's villages are sometimes left empty (though they might be occupied by stealthy or invisible Horrors).

At the centre of the plane is a divine fortress which may well be the single most heavily fortified citadel in the entire game. This fortress grants a universal gold bonus if someone manages to take control of it, but doing so requires overcoming its enormous angelic garrison and their mighty archon commander, Abrasax. It is not immediately clear whether this Archon is literally El or simply an avatar of the deity's will, but in either case, a prospective conqueror must be prepared for a ferocious fight indeed.

Should she somehow gain ingress to the Celestial Plane, a Witch may find herself well-suited to invading it. Very few angelic units have any sort of resistance to poison, so Witchery spells are quite good at killing them, and the Witch can summon a lot of protective minions which are neither human nor banishable, thus preventing the angels from immediately neutralizing the bulk of her army.

The Sky is not far away enough from Elysium to be an actual plane and the planar immortality ability regards the Sky, Elysium and Agartha as being the same plane. Not being that far away, the sky is influenced by Elysium and the dry deserts in Elysium will prevent the forming of clouds above them.

Unsurprisingly, the Sky is easiest to explore with flying units. These will become exhausted after ending a turn in open sky, and will immediately descend to Elysium if they do so while already exhausted, so be sure to land them on clouds in between flights; a non-amphibious flyer that gets tired and falls into water will instantly drown. Units that are both flying and floating make particularly good Sky (and ocean) explorers, as they cannot drown in this way. If a faction does not have any means of obtaining flying commanders, they will have to look for a beanstalk, rainbow, or mountain peak to climb, instead.

The terrain in the Sky tends to change from month to month, so it's important to check the types of clouds being passed over when exploring this plane. Unstable clouds can be safely walked on, but it's best to keep an eye on them, as they may turn into dissipating clouds soon. A dissipating cloud is about to vanish and should generally be avoided, even though it can technically still be walked across; if an army runs out of AP or is ambushed before moving off of a dissipating cloud, all of its non-flying units will plunge to their deaths when the cloud fades away beneath their feet. Specific types of "cloud" nodes - such as cloud villages and cloud forests - do not become unstable, and can be safely stood upon for any amount of time.

If a faction is able to conquer a cloud city or similar citadel, they will be able to recruit cloud-person troops there. Since these are relatively expensive, and since cloud citadels cannot be used to recruit non-cloud units, it is wise to plan on leaving a few of the attacking troops behind as a garrison once the citadel is seized. Heavily fortifying one's Sky nodes is not always a good use of resources; the Sky may not feature as many wandering independents as Elysium, but some of its monsters attack with howling winds and arcing lightning, allowing them to decimate huge numbers of ordinary troops in a surprisingly short time.

Sometimes merchants will sell a 'magic beans' item to you. This item can be equipped to a commander and used by them to turn a tile into a 'magic beanstalk' tile that can be used to enter or leave the Sky by climbing it. This can be useful for getting large amounts of ground troops quickly to a desirable location in the Sky that you have scouted out and don't see any other easy way to access.

Occasionally, the Sky will be generated with a portal to the Elemental plane of Air, providing easy access to that realm.

Another portal that only appears in the Sky is the portal to Aztlan, the location of the High Priest's patron deities. This will always take one to the serpent-head-shaped island on Aztlan.

Both the above portals don't appear in every game.

The plane in which all players and AI contenders spawn in.

In all on-land parts of Elysium, you may find these sites: Farm, Hoburg Village, Hamlet, Village, Town, Port, City, Capitolum, Watchtower, Tower, King's Castle, Coal Mine, Iron Mine, Silver Mine, Gold Vein, Gold Mine, Graveyard, Gallows, Old Battlefield, Ancient Temple, Ancient Forest, Swamp, Colossus, Magic Library, Academy of Higher Magic, Gem Deposit, hoburg manufactury, palace of the mountain lord

The northern parts of Elysium are covered in snow and - generally speaking - are less defended by the Independents. Aside from regular sites, you may find Iron Bogs (swamps that produce one iron, as well as Fungi or Herbs for appropriate classes). Due to the never-ending winter, it's harder to move without Snow Movement.

The middle parts of Elysium are mostly plains. This is where the most Farms, Hamlets, Villages, Towns and Cities spawn. Usually you'll find Forest tiles, surrounding an Ancient Forest there, which constantly spawns beast-type Independents, as well as Brigand Camps spawning Slingers and Bandits.

The southern parts of Elysium are deserts and plains. Aside from generally lesser number of settlements, there are Jungles instead of Forests and in addition to occasional brigands you'll find villages of savage tribes and pygmies. The roaming animals change to Elephants and Scorpions. Within the deserts, you may find: Desert Palace, Ziggurat, Pyramid.

The oceans of Elysium are occasionally hiding Gem Deposits and Coral Reefs.

Agartha is said to lie between Elysium and Inferno, where demons dwell. While most scholars reject the idea, there are those who claim that it would be possible to dig down into the infernal realm to liberate sinners from eternal torment. If this would be morally acceptable is a popular discussion in some magic academies. More so than the discussion on how to embark on such an endeavor.

The cavern realm. It can be easily reached by the Pale One, Warlock and Necromancer, or by the High Cultist and Demonologist with more difficulty. A small part of it can be reached by the Dwarf Queen.

Pale One's method of entry: Cave Grubs (Minor Summoning of the Deep) - Tunnel Downwards - produces a gateway that anyone can use. Cave Grubs can also tunnel through the underground, allowing easy exploration.

Warlock's method of entry: Champion of Earth may Pass Through the Earth Downwards, while King of Earth may either do the same or Tunnel Downwards. A Warlock of Earth may also summon a Purple Worm; simply having it in one's army will allow any commander to tunnel downwards. Finally, a Warlock of Earth may use the Dig ritual to tunnel down from Elysium, create tunnels within Agartha, and dig back up into Elysium much faster than by using burrowing units - but as every casting costs gems, this can become quite expensive over time.

Necromancer's method of entry: Tartarian Spirit may Pass Through the Earth Downwards, and can explore the entire area by passing through the earthen walls. It cannot take units without Passwall.

Dwarf Queen's method of entry: Portal of Dvalin cast by Daughters of Dvalin connects a citadel to a room with an Ancient Statue of Dvalin. Without help from your allies, you'll not be able to do dig through the realm.

High Cultist's method of entry: VERY ROUNDABOUT! A starspawn may enter the Void and seek out a portal to the Nexus or the Elemental Plane of Earth. From there, there's a Gateway connecting the Citadel of the Mountains to the Elemental Plane. (Technically any class can theoretically do this if they can swim off the edge of Elysium with amphibious units, but any commander not native to the Void will very rapidly go insane once there, and refuse to move anymore.)

Demonologist's method of entry: VERY TIME CONSUMING AND EXPENSIVE. After summoning the demon lord Orcus, you can have him make a major summoning until you get a Tartarian Spirit, which may Pass Through the Earth Downwards. It cannot take units without Passwall.

Occasionally, you'll find natural pits leading to Agartha; anyone can use these, although those without passwall or tunneling troops may not be able to get far down there.

Sometimes a very rare magic weapon called 'the shovel of the mole king' will appear on the market. This gives the unit equipping it the 'tunneling' trait.

Anyone with access to the Elemental Planes can reach Agartha via the High Cultist's method.

Most of the realm is simply Cave Wall tiles, which have to either be dug through with Tunneling units, or passed through with Passwall units. Both methods take a very long time, but there are benefits. There may be three citadels in Agartha, such as the Citadel of the Mountain King and the Sealed Chamber (probably best left alone), which means if you manage to dig your way to them and take one of them back from the Independents, you'll be invulnerable to the players without any access to Agartha. There are Gem Deposits and Crystal Forests, giving you income and gems once you take them, and if your army is amphibious, you can flood the entire Plane by digging through the walls to the ocean. Agartha also does not have deserts, tundra, or seasonal snowfall, so any existing or pre-excavated tunnels can potentially be useful as underground highways for long-distance travel (provided one has a way to return to the surface at the desired location).

There are four regions in Inferno. One is the fiery realm from which the entire plane has been named. On the opposite side of the plane lies Kokytos, an icy realm where sinners are half buried in ice and snow. Between them lies the ashen fields of Pandemonium, where constant war is waged between the dukes and lords of hell. Here lies the capital of Belial, Lord of corruption. The entire plane is surrounded by the Abyss, dark chasms and caverns inhabited by sun-fearing demons, shades and fiends of darkness. Somewhere in the perpetual darkness lies the dark abode of the Arch Devil Abbadon.

The demon realm. It can be reached by all the classes capable of tunneling or passing through the earth and by the Demonologist.

Demonologist's method of entry: Simple. Infernal Gate ritual, or Personal Gate ritual. Getting back out again may prove more difficult. Be warned that demon-summoning rituals do not work in Inferno.

Alternatively, for those with the correct abilities, you can tunnel or pass through the earth downwards in Agartha. Extreme caution must be taken when tunneling into Inferno, since the demons within will often use the tunnel to access Agartha and (assuming a connection exists without passing through the water) Elysium.

Pale One is an ideal class for experimenting with tunnel-based access - simply refrain from breaking through to Inferno until you have another commander with a Cave Grub ready to open a path to the Deep Ocean in a single movement (Scrying may be useful to plan this), then flood that section of Agartha immediately after completing your highway to hell. Because none of the demons are amphibious, they will be completely unable to reach Elysium without drowning themselves in the flooded tunnels, leaving you free to explore their plane at your own leisure (and peril).

A Witch can sometimes reach the Inferno by discovering swamps in the Inferno using her ability to detect and teleport to them; however, the existence of inferno swamps is not strictly guaranteed.

Inferno is a very hostile place and full of benefits to everyone - except for the Demonologist. All the settlement types present in Elysium are there in Inferno, with the added suffix 'of Sinners'. These settlements do not ever produce Sacrifices, however there are various mines that produce a lot of gold and gems. There may also be an Old Battlefield or two scattered around. Even classes that do not need Inferno's resources may benefit from conquering one of its citadels, if only to bolster siege armies with a tough frontline of Bloodsworn.

The terrain is mainly snow and ice, water, lava, or ashen fields. All of the important sites (citadels, mines with big income) are guarded by a Demon Lieutenant and at least 20 demons. Settlements have guardians in the form of Sinners, who wander to the nearby Infernal Towers, bolstering it's defenses.

Bear in mind that Inferno is often patrolled by very dangerous armies made up of various infantry, lesser demons, and lots of Hellhounds led by greater demons. These patrolling armies are fairly belligerent and are extremely difficult for many classes to defeat, so tread carefully. This is especially true if an insane cultist has opened an Infernal portal in Elysium at any point, as doing so seems to greatly agitate the forces of Inferno and cause them to roam around and pick fights much more aggressively, even once the portal is closed.

Aside from the Demon Lords' Citadels, there's always an Infernal verion of the Capitolum.

On rare occasion, Spell Scrolls can teleport the magic user attempting to use them to Inferno, stating "There was something wrong with the Spell Scroll."

Skilled Necromancers have mastered the means to travel the stygian paths of Hades to move great distances. Hades is the realm of the dead and is detrimental to all living beings. Each month a living being staying in Hades, it will suffer some damage that can’t be healed until it leaves the Underworld.

The underworld. Normally, only the Barbarian, Witch, Demonologist and Necromancer can easily access this plane.

Hades is a mirror-world of the Elysium. Everything there looks the same as in Elysium, except dead. The settlements do not give out Hands of Glory, but the Swamps still produce fungi and herbs - something that can be exploited by a Witch or Barbarian.

The mines in Hades are usually guarded by Tartarian Spirits, Dark Citadels by Wraiths or Banes, settlements by Ghosts. Shades, Dispossessed Spirits, Ghouls and Spirits roam the Underworld and one of the Demon Lords waits in Sheol. There's also a Ghost-version of the Capitoleum in both Empire and Fallen Empire ages, though it tends to be extremely heavily defended by very powerful spirits.

Sometimes upon world generation, a 'cave to the underworld' tile is made, guarded by a single kerberos. This is a direct route between Elysium and Hades. This only appears sometimes, and is not guaranteed to appear.

Hades always contains a portal leading to Aztlan, so there is a single, very difficult route to enter Hades for any player: go to the Elemental plane through any available portal, conquer the nexus, enter the Primal plane from the nexus, then enter Aztlan and brave the mesoamerican demon gods to enter Hades.

Barbarian's method of entry: all of the ancestor spirit units can plane shift from Elysium into Hades, or vice versa, at any time.

Witch's method of entry: upon successfully reincarnating as an immortal Bog Witch, the Witch gains some necromantic abilities 

Demonologist's method of entry: the Demon Lord Orcus has access to Necromancer rituals.

Necromancer's method of entry: multiple Necromancy rituals that permit looking into and entering Hades, as well as a handful of units (the various Shades in particular) capable of plane shifting at will. An ordinary Necromancer can only cast Stygian Paths to temporarily enter Hades for rapid travel, but a Grand Necromancer can cast Planar Swap to permanently enter or leave Hades - with his entire army in tow - at any time (and to banish any units at his destination to the location he just left, possibly enabling cooperative planar travel in a multiplayer game).

In the late game, the Senator can access it by becoming a Dark Emperor and from there a God Emperor of the Underworld, granting access to the Plane Shift ritual. The easiest way to become a Dark Emperor is to start in the Dark Age era and use the fallen capital. Without that, doing so can be difficult; you can use the capital of the Underworld, but that requires reaching it first. You can also become the Dark Emperor in the capital of Hades.

Additionally, any ethereal undead unit is capable of plane shifting to Hades with any other ethereal units in their army, at will, for just 1 AP. This is mostly useful to the Necromancer (who can turn into a Plane Shifting ghost by using Twiceborn at a graveyard, and can give any of their undead commanders easy plane shifting abilities by giving them an artifact that grants etherealness), but in a few situations, other sides can benefit from it as well. Note that once you've successfully reached Hades by any method, recruiting a ghostly commander (sometimes available from any Hades settlement) will let you go back.

Note that Hades is very inhospitable to living creatures! Most mortal creatures will lose health every turn and never naturally recover health as long as they remain on this plane. Even a huge and very powerful army can rapidly wither and dwindle to nothing in the realm of the dead, so if you are planning to explore it, try to do so with an army made up entirely of undead, constructs, and other Hades-immune units.

Each of the six realms are islands separated from its neighbor by a small gap of Void. Each themed realm contains the summons and deity of one of the six types of priests the Priest King class recruits. The deities dwell here normally and return here if killed on other planes.

A portal between Aztlan and the Primal plane will always appear in every game.

A portal between Aztlan and Hades will always appear in every game on the 'tail' of the serpent, the home of the deathly Teotl of the Underworld.

Sometimes there is a 2-way portal from the Sky realm to the head-island of Aztlan, which is the realm of the thunderous Teotl of the Sky. This does not appear in every game.

Sometimes there is a 2-way portal from Inferno to Aztlan. This does not appear in every game.

In a sense, the celestial serpent links the heavens and hells, as well as life and death.

But by some unknown force, or a divine decree, the worlds were suddenly separated and anchored in Time. Demons were imprisoned in the depths of Inferno and the dead were forbidden to walk among the living, banished forever to the Underworld. The Primal Plane from whence all beasts come, was set apart and only there were animals and monsters allowed to grow in size and power.

But not all inhabitants of the Primal Plane are animals. When mankind arrived in Elysium and the Planar Gates begun to close, the first men of Elysium, the Sidhe and the Tuatha, left for the Land of the Ever-Young beyond the gates, never to be seen again.

Being in the primal world has a mystic effect on animals - including Markata and Atavi troops - and they will become larger, stronger and more intelligent if they are there long enough. This effect is permanent and the animal will not diminish in power if they leave again.

The Primal plane is directly accessible from the center of the Elemental plane, the Nexus. Simply conquer and your good to go.

On one edge of the plane is a small peninsula surrounded by water, with the land route to the peninsula guarded by a stationary army of angels in a bronze citadel. Either swim or fly around the army, or just defeat it to enter the peninsula to find a portal to the Celestial plane.

The plane also has two more sub-planes separated from the rest. These are Devaloka and Rasatala. One is a heavenly place home to Hindu gods and their servants, while the other is a hellish plain filled with fierce demons led by three Asuras. These can be accessed through rainbows on the Primal Plane's northwest and southeast edges, respectively.

A path to the realm of the Aztlan demon gods always spawns in the Primal plane.

This plane is not inherently lethal to anyone who accesses it (unlike Hades with its omnipresent life drain, the Void with its constant teleportation and insanity, or the Elemental Plane of Fire with its all-consuming heat). Despite their befuddling magic, the Sidhe and Fir Bolg who guard its villages are otherwise fairly unremarkable infantry, and a decent-sized force can usually crush them without too much trouble. As long as the player is cautious of any strong animals and other primordial beasts wandering around, the Primal World is comparatively safe to explore, making it one of the more attractive destinations for any would-be planar tourist.

Separating the Elemental Realms is the Nexus, a site of tremendous magical knowledge and power. It is said that the Nexus was created by the powerful warlocks aided by beings from another world. The purpose of the Nexus was probably to channel power from the elemental planes into unimaginably powerful rituals. However, some say they were tricked into creating it by the strange beings in an attempt to destroy the world. The Elemental Planes are both difficult to reach and perilous in the extreme, the Nexus even more so.

The Elemental Planes are actually a single plane divided into four quadrants, one for each element. The fire plane is covered with lava, making it dangerous to traverse without fire resistance; the water plane is covered with ice and water; the air plane is composed of clouds (which, though they can be walked on, are slow going), and the earth plane is a network of tunnels. Each plane has three citadels within it for its Elemental Royalty. At the center-pointing corner of each plane is a Primal Gate leading to a central Nexus, but you'll have to fight a Wheel of Frost and Flames and a Wheel of Storm and Stone at each gate if you want to pass through.

The Nexus itself is a citadel and a level 3 library. Additionally, citadels in each quadrant of the plane offers occasional random recruits of units of its element, while the central Nexus offers Ether Warriors and Ether Lords. The island of ash upon which the Nexus resides also features several portals (in addition to the Primal Gates connecting it to the elemental quadrants); these grant access to most of the other planes, allowing for extensive planar exploration. Be warned though, all of the gates are guarded. The cardinal gates are each protected by a squad of four Guardians. Also, the occasional Purple Worm appears to attack anything around the Nexus.

The south gate connects the Nexus with the Primal Plane, while the north gate is completely disabled as it originally led to Elysium, but had to be sealed to keep the Ether Lords from returning and further devastate the world. The west gate leads to the prison of Baal, guarded by an army of Sumerian spirits led by either Urmahlullu or two Shedu. The east gate leads to the Eternal Vault, a structure filled with artifacts, but guarded by powerful enchanted constructs, Guardians and a Vessel of Lore as a leader.

Nobody has automatic, direct access to the Elemental Planes. However, portals to them are frequently found in Elysium, and and a guaranteed gate to the Earth plane is somewhere in Agartha (meaning that anyone with Agartha access can get there if determined enough.) Portals to the water plane are frequently found in the ocean.

Additionally, there is always a one-way portal from the Void that leads directly to the Nexus, although finding it without units that can safely navigate the Void is difficult; this means that a sufficiently determined High Cultist is guaranteed to be able to reach it.

But the void is not uninhabited, horrors and other strange beings that are mostly unknown to Elysium thrive in the void and if we are lucky they will never enter Elysium. Care has to be taken, as certain buildings designed to manipulate the power of the void, e.g. pyramids, have been known to close the gap and enable void creatures to enter Elysium.

The horror realm. It can be reached by swimming through the edge of the map, tunneling down from Inferno, or stepping into the gaps between the Elemental Planes. The High Cultist has easy access to it via their rituals.

While not as belligerently hostile in nature as Inferno, it can be even more threatening in the long run. Commanders who end up there - excluding those native to it - may lose up to 99 sanity per turn. There's a chance you'll be teleported from where you stand to another location in the Void every few turns. The place is also literally swarming with otherworldly Horrors, some of them powerful enough to destroy (or enslave!) deities and Demon Lords... and many of which can apply Horror Mark, an incurable status which permanently places a unit at risk of being attacked by Horrors at any time. As such, even if you miraculously manage to fight through the Void's nightmarish inhabitants, stumble across a path to Elysium or the Nexus, and escape that starry realm, any surviving units should be checked for Horror Marks and abandoned if they have them; it's only a matter of time until a Doom Horror or somesuch god-eating monstrosity homes in on them like a tentacled nuclear missile, and you really don't want your army to be caught in the crossfire when that happens.

In other words: don't go to the Void, unless you have a Starspawn commanding an army of horrors yourself, or access to Void Ships. Even then, navigating the void is extremely difficult - though anyone who succeeds in doing so can potentially conquer the Elemental Nexus, and invade nearly all of the other planes from there.

Commanders capable of exploring the Void without going insane include: Starspawn, Void Lords, Yithian Sages, and Ether Lords. Some powerful undead also slowly recover sanity over time, although this is not as reliable since they may not recover it fast enough and find themselves trapped there. Mindless undead are immune to insanity, but are not available as commanders. Note that Ether Lords are available to any class, if they conquer the Nexus at the center of the Elemental Plane; however, doing so makes exploring the Void somewhat redundant, since its most useful feature is its backdoor gate to the Elemental Nexus itself.