Cookie,
A bit more recon on planar issues; as Dionisio said, the Life plane is being corrupted by Chaos to the point where an entire sea of Chaos has formed. Order elementals from all Foundation and Magisterium planes have converged on the Life plane to reestablish equilibrium, however this has caused issues on the other planes as well. Jamina and I spoke with some of the masters at the Tilmere Mage's Guild last market, and were made aware that about 1/4 of the Ice plane has been melted and destroyed by the plane of Flame. Also, the Lightning plane has encroached on the plane of Earth. The Mage's Guild speculates that this is a result of the absence of Order elementals.
-V