The Prime Materials

The Prime Materials were the four material planes which were forced together during the Convergence. Each one of these planes was an echo of the others. The four conjoined planes overlap as a demi-plane named Bridges.

The planes were named Bastion, Dust, Fey and Shade.

Bastion
Before the Convergence Bastion was a pastoral land of few cities and temperate access to the Weave. Whilst beasts and monsters of all varieties still lived in Bastion the land was ruled by the humanoid races who populated the word with rudimentary technologies.

The Archlord of Bastion was Elminster Aumar who used his demi-god like position to travel the land helping the seemingly unimportant folk in their every day lives, though he usually did this in disguise.

Most of the humanoid races of Bridges originated in Bastion, especially the humans, halflings, orcs and dwarves.

Dust
Dust was a contrast of Bastion's simplistic bliss as a plane of rampant technological growth and conflict. Pools of civilisation were few but dense, with most of the population living in crowded cities full of weird inventions. Noble houses, business cabals and religious sects fought constantly between themselves using the Warforged as proxy soldiers. The planes limited access to the Weave is a likely reason why tech flourished here more than anywhere else.

The Archlord of Dust was Ambrose Pierce, an ascended member of one of the noble families who used his position to escalate and deescalate conflicts at his whim and for profit.

Races like the goblins, warforged and lizardfolk hail from Dust.

Fey
The Plane of the Fey (sometimes known as the Feywild) is defined by it's close relationship to the Weave, a connection that granted all flora and fauna of the plane a verdant quality. In this plane the arcane and esoteric was king. Due to the wild nature of it's people and nature no true civilisation grew on the Feywild and instead most of it's inhabitants lived in small communal groups named Courts, inspired by the local deities of the land who banded together in the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. On Fey it is perpetual day, the sun always hovering in a perpetual sunset.

The Archfey was Corellon Larethian, originally a minor fey who mediated between the Courts of the Fey who eventually ascended due to his fairness and impartiality.

Many of the beastfolk races such as the mousefolk and the monkeyfolk were originally from Fey. Elves and Gnomes famously trace their lineages back to the Courts of the Fey.

Shade
The Shade was the dark mirror to the other three Primes but by no means does that mean it was solely evil. Shade's sun was always just below the horizon and so everything was cast in the dull grey of early morning. Much like the Fey the plane had a strong connection to the Weave that twists some of it's inhabitants and it's landscape dramatically. Life was tough in the Shade so only the most prepared could thrive but the planes people always had an abundance of gallows humour ready at a moments notice. Most people of the Shade lived in the city of Gloomwrought that held out the undead and spirits that haunted the plane.

The Archshade was a being known only as the Raven Queen, a former mortal who ascended to her status and used her power to erase her name and history from the cosmos. In this position she became an exarch of Kelemvor and assisted the god in the duties of the Death domain.

Some of the humanoid races in Bridges came from the shadowfell, as well as some of the elvish people. The Kenku emerged from the plane also.