This might be obvious, but are we getting a blog for the magical dimensions in part 3 of the revisions? If not, we could really use a second cosmology blog solely for the main universe, something like "The True Extent of Earth-616." I have a truckload of different things going on, but if a blog like that's not being planned, I could potentially make one.
From what I know, the
Splinter Realms, also known as the
Archipelago of Anguish and Redemption or the
Dark Dimensions, all used to belong to a single massive
Dark Dimension, until they splintered away during an ancient conflict, leaving the main Dark Dimension as the largest one. The Dark Dimension of course, assimilated many Splinter Realms into itself throughout the dominion of rulers like Dormammu.
All the Splinter Realms should be at least
High 1-B since as I explained in my
Limbo profile, Limbo is
High 1-B, and as I explained in my
Dreamqueen profile, all the Splinter Realms should scale to Limbo in dimensionality.
Mephisto's Hell is classified as one of the Splinter Realms, but I'm not sure if the same goes for all the Hell Dimensions (though they have unique
High 1-B justifications already).
What I'm still trying to figure out is how the Splinter Realms fit in with the Inner Planes and Outer Planes. Let me elaborate with this cosmology map [Source: Marvel Tarot (Vol. 1) #1; 2007]
So the
Inner Planes are a series of dimensions closely tied to the Earthly Plane, and the
Outer Planes engulf dimensions past the Earthly Plane.
The map isn't drawn to scale (by which I mean, drawn as a ladder where the planes at the top transcend the ones at the bottom). Dimensions like the Crimson Cosmos and Purple Dimensions are explicitly part of the Outer Planes, which transcend the Inner Planes, which includes the Astral Plane. Like Ultima explained in Part 1,
pan-dimensional entities like Slorioth will be High 1-B in nature. The Splinter Realms, being pan-dimensional, are also High 1-B in nature. As you can see on the map, the High 1-B Splinter Realms (
Archipelago of Anguish and Redemption) are listed on the top half while the Low 1-A Astral Plane is on the bottom half. Cloudsea, one of the Inner Planes, is simultaneously one of the Splinter Realms. I'm probably sounding super confusing at this point, but what I had in mind was:
- Inner Planes (Unknown baseline): The Inner Planes include realms like Asgard, which I don't believe we have a specific tiering for.
- Splinter Realms (Baseline High 1-B): Limbo is a pan-dimensional netherworld where all times are one, which interfaces with all planes of existence and realities, with Earth-616 hosting an infinite number of such dimensions, making it High 1-B in nature. Limbo is the center of the Splinter Realms with the other ones lying right outside its borders, making all the Splinter Realms High 1-B in nature for being adjacent to Limbo and thus sharing its nature.
- Astral Plane (Low 1-A): The Astral Plane is supposedly one of the inner planes, and is accepted as Low 1-A both here and here. It could be considered the "highest" of the inner planes for being explicitly Low 1-A.
- Outer Planes (Baseline Low 1-A): It stands to reason that since the Outer Planes should encompass and/or transcend all the Inner Planes including the Astral Plane, they should be Low 1-A by default.
Keep in mind that although my justification for the Splinter Realms belonging to the Inner Planes was that all the Splinter Realms seem to be adjacent to each other, and one of the Splinter Realms Cloudsea is part of the Inner Planes, the totality of the Splinter Realms belonging to the Inner Planes may not be necessarily set in stone. There could always be a Splinter Realm that's Low 1-A in nature and belongs to the Outer Planes, but what I'm trying to say is that it wouldn't upscale the baseline for the rest of the Splinter Realms.
Also
@Eseseso, I saw your
Marvel Magic sandbox here and couldn't help but notice you were struggling to find justifications for the Dark Dimension's cosmological size. I assume you were hoping to find
Low 1-A justifications seeing as Dormammu, in his dimension, has the
Low 1-A feat of confronting Eternity and holding his own in a fight that would end in trans-dimensional holocaust threatening to destroy both of them? I'm just going off the Marvel Wiki, but
the Dark Dimension is said to belong to the Outer Planes, which as I said, should be Low 1-A for lying beyond the Inner Planes, which include the Astral Plane, so that could be your Low 1-A justification. At any rate, it would be bare minimum
High 1-B despite lacking pan-dimensional statements since the
4-issue Magik storyline with Amanda Sefton (specifically issue #3)
seemed to imply outright that Dormammu was one of the Lords of the Splinter Realms. There's also the fact that the Dark Dimension supposedly
assimilated many Splinter Realms into itself.