Image of the Inner Sphere here for reference.

Okay, so for those who don’t know, the Planes of Metal and Wood are “regrowing” in the Inner Sphere, and will eventually be full-fledged layers of the Inner Sphere after eons, but for now they’re basically fragmented. Metal is between earth and water, and wood is between water and air.

Now, Paizo “added” the elements of wood and metal to be inclusive with the Chinese philosophy of Wuxing), which is that five elements feed into and counter one another.

So, to my main point. The Inner Sphere is set up in a very specific way, with each elemental plane being its own layer (minus Metal and Wood because of their current unique circumstances), with the Universe at its core. Ignoring the Universe for now, the order of the layers finally clicked with me.

It all comes back to this image.

If you stick the element of air between wood and fire, then start at fire and go clockwise (which is the cycle of “fire feeds to earth,” etc.), then you get the layers of the Inner Sphere! Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, Air.

I dunno. I found it interesting.