All mortal are connected on a spiritual level to Eberron’s thirteen planes. This is most obvious with Dal Quor and Dolurrh. When (most) creatures sleep, their spirits are drawn to Dal Quor, where their dreams take shape. When creatures die, their souls are pulled to Dolurrh. These facts are obvious and indisputable. But many people don’t realize that just like their spirits are pulled by Dolurrh and Dal Quor, they’re similarly tied to all of the planes. A storyteller might be inspired by Thelanis without ever knowing it, while an artist’s revelation may come from Xoriat, and a soldier’s courage could flow from Shavarath. The basic energy of life itself flows into the world from Irian, while Mabar consumes both life and hope. These forces are everywhere, as much a part of the soul as gravity is part of the world.
Eberron and Its Planes
Eberron’s thirteen planes of existence enfold the Material Plane of Eberron itself. Though Eberron is part of a wider multiverse, it’s completely cut off and has its own unique cosmology. Each of these thirteen planes have qualities of both Inner and Outer Planes as defined in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and affect the Material Plane in subtle and obvious ways. In addition to the constant influence of the planes on each creature, planes can also affect the world more directly, as seen in manifest zones and coterminous periods.
About the Planes
The most important thing to understand about the planes is that they’re ideas. Each one is a pure, iconic concept. War. Peace. Chaos. Order. They are eternal, and with few exceptions, unchanging. Eberron is the Material Plane, where these concepts come together and interact. It’s a world that feels the passage of time, where life can change and evolve. The planes of Eberron are archetypal ideas. The precise details can change, but there’s always been war in Shavarath, and always will be; that’s what Shavarath is.
Universal Properties
If adventurers visit one of the planes, they’ll find it has certain unnatural properties that can be felt consistently throughout the entire plane of existence. A plane’s universal properties can often be felt on Eberron itself; one of the most common effects of manifest zones is to extend one or more of that plane’s universal properties into the Material Plane, sometimes reliably, other times unpredictably. The section for each plane presents a list of universal effects that affect that entire plane; these generally apply to all creatures within that plane.
Time doesn’t pass at the same rate on every plane; it could move faster, slower, or even unpredictably. For spells and similar effects that target oneself or require concentration, the duration is calculated based on the flow of time the caster is currently experiencing. If a spell doesn’t require concentration and is cast on a target other than self (for example, a geas spell), its duration is based on the target’s current plane and time.
Planar Denizens
Every plane’s inhabitants are unique, but each creature can generally be classified in one of the following categories.
Manifestations. A dragon rains fire down on a platoon of soldiers in Shavarath. Cheering crowds throng the streets of the Amaranthine City of Irian. Dragon, soldiers, crowds—none of these things are truly real. When you dream that you’re taking a test at Arcanix, the sarcastic professor and mocking students aren’t fully sentient spirits; they’re manifestations of Dal Quor, created for that scene, and as soon as you wake, they’ll vanish. These creatures can appear to be sentient, and you might be able to have a conversation with soldiers in Shavarath—but they won’t have anything to say that you couldn’t imagine coming out of the mouth of an extra in a war movie. As a general rule, manifestations can’t leave the layers of the planes that they’re in, and like dreams, they usually don’t persist indefinitely; when their purpose is served, they simply evaporate until they’re needed again. Very rarely, a manifestation might develop a more independent, sentient existence—like the drifters of Dal Quor—though they’re generally still bound to their plane of origin and unable to deviate from their central purpose.
Manifestations vary by plane; in Dal Quor they’re called figments, while in Shavarath, they’re conscripts. In some planes, the manifestations are formed from the soul-stuff of mortals, while in others they’re entirely imaginary. A plane never runs out of the potential for manifestations, but these creatures typically follow the internal logic of a scene. If you fight a dragon in Shavarath, it feels just like fighting an actual dragon, and when you kill it, it seems dead and you can enjoy your victory. However, if you return a day later, there’s no sign of the corpse, and instead, there’s a new dragon in the sky.
Some planes don’t have manifestations of creatures, because the ideas they represent don’t need them. Instead, these planes generally rely on native mortals to make up the supporting cast. So while Shavarath needs a constant churn of conscripts in battle, and Dal Quor creates figments to flesh out mortal dreams, other planes—Dolurrh, Fernia, Lamannia, and Syrania—don’t create manifestations. For example, Lamannia needs mortal beasts to tell its story; birth, growth, and even death are part of its concept, and reflecting that requires a mortal population.
Immortals. Immortal beings are an integral part of their native plane, each expressing a particular aspect of its core ideas. For example, in Shavarath, devils embody the concept of war fought in pursuit of tyranny, while angels are living symbols of the endless fight for justice. The name “immortal” doesn’t mean “unkillable”—they can indeed be killed (as discussed in the “Killing Immortals” sidebar). While immortals don’t show the effects of age, some have a limited lifespan and can die a natural death as well. However, their essence is immortal and their numbers remain constant.
Most immortals don’t care about Eberron. Many consider Eberron to be an unfinished experiment, while their realm is the finished, perfected work of the Progenitors. Others simply believe in their purpose to the exclusion of all other things; to the angel of Shavarath, the eternal battle is the single most important struggle in the multiverse, and leaving their post for even an instant could give the enemy an advantage. So most immortals aren’t concerned with the fates of mortals or their civilizations; of course mortals may die, that’s their most defining feature. An angel has seen many human civilizations rise and fall—what’s one more? While there are a few exceptions—immortals who chose to dwell on Eberron, whether to prey on mortals, observe them, or assist them— immortals are generally bound to their planes, and your problems are not their problems.
Immortals don’t reproduce as mortal creatures do; if they’re killed, their spiritual essence is instead reabsorbed into the plane and eventually reassembled. For example, in Shavarath, angels and devils are constantly being killed, but they’re just as quickly being reborn to fight again. Immortals are each born as embodiments of specific ideas and don’t choose their path; they’re already mature, possessing their full abilities and knowledge, and imbued with an absolute understanding of their purpose. So while immortals possess great power, they lack the potential of mortals to grow and evolve, and find the idea of questioning their beliefs or straying from their purpose to be inconceivable.
There are exceptions to all rules, of course. The kalashtar exist because a handful of quori turned against il-Lashtavar. Likewise, radiant idols are angels of Syrania that were corrupted by their time on the Material Plane and desired mortal adoration. But these examples are vanishingly rare. Sometimes it’s because the unusual immortal is born embodying a unique perspective on the usual concept; this is essentially a mutation, as opposed to a choice. In other cases, an outside force might change or corrupt the immortal’s fundamental nature. And rarely, an immortal might have an unusual sense of identity and the ability to choose.
If an immortal changes in a way that alters its core concept, this is often accompanied by a physical transformation, such as a corrupted angel becoming a radiant idol, thus losing its ability to fly. Immortals may be able to increase their abilities by absorbing other immortals, acquiring artifacts, or through other means unique to their plane. They simply don’t grow or gain experience through time alone; after all, some of them are as old as the universe itself, and in the absence of a dramatic cause, they’re utterly unchanging.
Mortals. Mortal creatures live in the planes, but they’re much like their counterparts in Eberron. They have families and children, and can live quiet lives or be driven by grand ambitions. Unlike manifestations and immortals, mortal creatures can evolve and change their ways, and of course, they can die. In some planes, mortals are either subjugated by immortals or voluntarily serve them; in others, they pursue their own paths. In some cases—such as the merfolk of Lamannia or the eladrin of Thelanis—these creatures are natives of their home plane, were created by it, and have always been a part of it. Others—such as the frost giants of Risia— originally came from the Material Plane and simply carved out a place in their new plane. These non-native mortals may have lived in the planes for many generations, but on a fundamental level, they aren’t truly a part of it.
Planar Variation. The same type of creature can appear in different planes—demons can be found in Fernia, Dolurrh, Shavarath, and more. They might use the same statistics, but their appearance and motivations vary dramatically based on their planes, and they have no sense that being “demons” makes them all allies. The balor of Shavarath embodies the savagery of war; its wings are of steel, and blood drips from its notched sword. The balor of Fernia represents the terrifying destructive power of fire; its wings and sword are made of pure flame. With any planar creature—especially immortals—consider the idea it represents and how that can be uniquely embodied.
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