Yes, I know Elysium exists, and I also want something distinct from it. I've been thinking about this for a long time, and hints of it can be seen in the story Trouble in Paradise.

Ontology

Heaven draws heavily from Paradiso, albeit with just five locations instead of all the planets, focusing on a Magic take on the four cardinal virtues. With the exception of the Sun Sphere, all have a single virtue but defined by the lack of the opposite virtue, which is a theme in Dante's Paradiso. They all have planetary names because I couldn't come up with alternatives; just assume this is a plane with equivalent planets to ours.

- The Sun Sphere is the highest section of heaven and attainable by those exemplifying all four virtues. It is an unfathomly strong light, perhaps a palace of sorts (Fair Basilica but less gross).

- The Moon Sphere is for those exemplifying prudence but lacking in fortitude. The landscape is dominated by seas of silver, that can be sculpted to the souls' pleasing. Intellectual discourse abounds, a bliss in exchanging ideas and crafting perfection, but with the hollow regret of not being brave in life.

- The Mercury Sphere is for those exemplifying temperance but lacking in justice, those who did good out of selfish reasons. It is a dim city lit by luminous gold, forming liquid pools and mires but also everything from coins to building blocks. It is an hedonistic existence, but the ambitious residents are forever reminded of being barred from the highest sphere.

- The Mars Sphere is for the courageous ones brimming with fortitude but no prudence. It is a superficially hellish landscape of lava and fire, but dotted by beautiful coliseums and art museums. All manner of games and artistic pursuits are availiable, almost enough to make one forget the regret of not being wiser in life.

- The Venus Sphere is for those who exemplified justice (by the broader definition of "giving everyone what they deserve") in life but lack temperance. As such, it is an Eden full of vast forests and vineyards. Its residents live in arcadian bliss, though perhaps wishing they had more temperance and self-control in life.

The Angels

The plane's angel's ultimately spawned from the mana of the Sun Sphere, but as they were reassigned to the lesser spheres they acquired characteristics of their mana.

- The Malachim, despiste their lofty position in the Sun Sphere, are the angels most likely to interact with still living mortals and go fight evil beyond heaven. They most closely resemble the generic winged people, albeit with a few minor eldritch traits like multiple pairs of wings with eyes on them. They serve as heaven's armies and guardian angels to the mortals, as well as psychopomps bringing the souls of the righteous to the afterlife.

- The Ophanim are associated with the Moon Sphere and thus represent the more abstract angelic concepts, being wheels with eyes. They converse with the intellectual souls, inspiring them to meditate on the nature of divinity.

- The Hashmalim are associated with the Mercury Sphere and are forms made from gold or amber, usually humanoid and winged but bearing an exposed ribcage with no heart. They effectively act as the caretakers of the ambitious souls stationed here, catering to their needs and inspiring them to reach new heights. A number resent their lot in life, but are not stupid enough to go against the combined forces of heaven and make a coup.

- The seraphim are associated with the Mars Sphere and resemble angelic dragons or serpents, bearing six pairs of feathered wings. After the Malachim they are the angels most likely to leave heaven to strike at heretics, but many remain within their sphere, living sources of inspiration for artistic endeavours. Many playfully spar with their soul charges in coliseums.

- The cherubim are associated with the Venus Sphere and are chimeric amalgamations of animal and human body parts, thankfully usually covered by their wings (which usually have eyes in them). They rejoice with the souls of their sphere in their bacchanalias, but many often patrol the borders like guard dogs, territorially defending their realm from the rest of paradise.

I certainly wouldn't mind seeing this world developed more, although I personally will not be a whole lot of help. I do not have much knowledge of, or interest in, angels, and my world-building stamina in general is pretty much at an all-time low. Still, maybe I can help propel this forward with a couple questions. There are really more thinking points than anything else, so feel free to answer them or not answer them as you see fit.

Is this plane going to be populated only by angels, or are there other sapient creatures, as well?

Angels in Earth history are, of course, tied to real-world religions. Do the angels of this plane serve some "higher purpose" or entity?

Do you intend these angels to be mana constructs as we see on other planes, or are these supposed to be biological creatures?

Are the angels "unopposed" in this plane?


That last one is potentially interesting to me because depending on the answer, this plane might have an interesting parallel with my plane of Helkavin, which is dominated by demons. In that world, there were originally angels, but them seem to have been defeated. Humans also exist there.

- Other sapient beings exist. In fact this is just the heaven, like Theros Beyond Death only showed the Underworld or Strixhaven ignored most of Arcavios. Humans, elves, phoenixes...

- Possibly. I toy with the idea of there being an Abrahamic God analogue, but there being none and just being a purpose laid to the angels works just as fine

- Mana constructs. Likely starting off as before each sphere takes its toll

- Its possible there are demons and archons to represent hell or the material world respectively. However, the focus is on "heaven"

In following the trend with Raven's approach:

Are there any particular cultural chess you're going to try to build into to evoke cultures?

Are the planetary names placeholders?

With the introduction/leak of Sphere as a land type, does that influence any approach you'll try?

- Probably Ancient Israeli with Persian elements

- Yes

- I already kind of invisioned this heaven as having spheres, it's just a matter of orientation. Moon is closest to the mortal realm, followed by Venus, Mars and Mercury with Sun at the top

I never read Paradiso. Which parts are Dante and which are original?

The basic layout in terms of virtues and planets assigned (and even the "absences") are all Dante. I simply played with the angelic hierarchies and added an "absence" to fortitude/Mars (which doesn't have one on account of being superior to the other listed virtues)

In terms of geography, what kind of world structure are you looking at? Primarily Earth like? Possibly a flat world? What composition would be water v land with so much emphasis on the heavens being so important?
Theoretically, what would weather patterns look like?

Not sure, could go with the Biblical/Mesopotamian "foundations of the earth", though a round world would similarly work, nested within the celestial spheres as ours was believed to be. Whicherver the model, I imagine a watery primordial chaos that the angels shaped into the world as it is.

Mostly an arid environment and temperate as most of the Middle East, though the heavenly spheres are lush naturally. Clouds would be beneath heaven, just below the moon sphere.

Wait, so Mars (bravery? bravado?) was the chief virtue next to the sun? IT was oldie times, of course that's what they went with. Just please tell me it was still "first among equals" under the sun.

Well, above the sun (since Dante's Paradise has all "seven planets"). A key difference here is that I fused the sun with the sphere reserved for God, so it stands at the top