Outlands

Outlands is a term used across fantasy literature, games, and media to describe remote, peripheral, or otherworldly lands that lie beyond the settled or familiar world. The name conveys frontier aspects such as exploration, danger, and the unknown, and it is applied to both physical regions and speculative dimensions. In many works, the Outlands serve as a divider between safe, inhabited areas and untamed or alien realms.

In Dungeons & Dragons Planescape, the Outlands refers to a distinct extradimensional plane located at the center of the Great Wheel cosmology. It is commonly associated with neutrality and balance and is depicted as a crossroads linking many other planes. The plane is home to a variety of locales and inhabitants, reflecting its overarching theme of impartiality, with portals and routes that enable travel to diverse realms. Its portrayal emphasizes exploration and the coexistence of multiple cultures rather than a single, unified geography.

In other media, the term Outlands or similar spellings are used to evoke frontier or otherworldly settings. For example, in the Warcraft universe, the region commonly known as Outland is a shattered demiplane formed when the world of Draenor was torn apart. It features distinct zones and ecosystems and has played a major role in expansion-era storytelling. More broadly, Outlands remains a recurring trope for wild, uncharted, or ancient landscapes that lie beyond established civilizations.

Etymology-wise, the word derives from outland, meaning lands beyond a boundary or country. The concept continues to appear as a versatile shorthand for settings that emphasize distance, danger, and discovery.