Expanding Eberron

[Prime32]

Eberron's planes are one of the weakpoints of the setting - only Dal Quor and Xoriat have any real story hooks, and the rest just seem kind of random.
Throw me any ideas you have on making them more interesting. Poorly-detailed locations like Frostfell and the Ring of Siberys are also game.

For reference:

• Daanvi, the Perfect Order
  
• Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams
  
• Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead
  
• Fernia, the Sea of Fire
  
• Irian, the Eternal Day
  
• Kythri, the Churning Chaos
  
• Lamannia, the Twilight Forest
  
• Mabar, the Endless Night
  
• Risia, the Plain of Ice
  
• Shavarath, the Battleground
  
• Syrania, the Azure Sky
  
• Thelanis, the Faerie Court
  
• Xoriat, the Realm of Madness

[Prime32]

Some initial thoughts:

Fernia, the Sea of Fire
The efreeti City of Brass is built around a group of unusually stable portals leading to various other planes. Through their strict control of these portals, the efreeti have become the greatest political power of Fernia as well as masters of planar trade. However, the quori have their eyes on the city, and no one's sure how far their plans have advanced.

Some efreet breed (or perhaps farm) fire elementals by carefully tending the maelstroms in which they are spawned, selling exceptionally strong or obedient elementals for use as mounts or to enterprising elemental binders. A novelty market exists in elementals of unusual shapes and colours.

The efreet look down on other races (unless they're customers), with a legal system which restricts the rights of non-efreeti citizens - a number of rebellions have taken place, but none have met with success. *insert notable firre eladrin*

The Scarlet Feathers is an organisation resembling something between an organised crime group and a religious cult. Its leader, Grefis the Grand (NE fiendish phoenix^MM2), promises his predominantly phoelarch^MM3 clerics freedom from efreeti oppression and rebirth as true phoenixes. However, he has neither the ability nor the interest in doing so. Due to his vanity Grefis avoids physical confrontation at all costs, for fear that someone will ruffle his feathers.


A great spherical mechanism, seemingly of Giant construction, floats within Fernia like a sun. At seemingly random intervals (ranging from days to decades), sections will rotate and reconfigure, creating a set of entrances and passageways which is never the same twice.
It is said that deep within lies the true heart of Fernia, a sea of golden flames which can be harnessed for ultimate destruction or ultimate purification (making this an appropriate location for artifact creation/destruction and character rebuild quests). Explorers from numerous factions across the planes can be found within the sphere, despite the risks, some having been trapped for centuries when the exits suddenly moved. Besides that, the sphere is inhabited both by ancient guardians and colonising beasts.
A handful of red and gold dragons have settled nearby, believing the rotations of the sphere may be linked to the Prophecy, and sometimes sponsor exploration parties.


Shavarath, the Battleground
Why is everyone fighting, besides hating each others' guts?  Does something bad happen if demons occupy a particular region?

[oslecamo]

Honestly, the extra planes in Eberron seem to be intended for background mostly. As a low level setting, there's really not suposed to be a lot of planar traveling, with only kings and similar stuff being remotely close to having plane shift effects and stuff.

Shavarath, the Battleground
Why is everyone fighting, besides hating each others' guts?  Does something bad happen if demons occupy a particular region?

The fighting needs no purpose, the fighting it's its own purpose. Don't ask why a plague spreads or why a fire burns. Don't ask why they fight. BATTLES FOR THE BATTLEGROUND!

Campaign hooks:
-One of the armies there spills into Eberron itself and keeps their rampage whitout giving a damn about all the petty political intrigues. They must be stoped!
-The PCs need an army? Come here, prove your mettle, and the warriors will flock to you!


Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead
-I had Maruts "catalogue" dead souls here. They can always use an helping hand on the matter.
-A local organization specializes into hunting down all those that try to cheat death.


Thelanis, the Faerie Court
-"Insert Touhou faeries plot here"

[Prime32]

Honestly, the extra planes in Eberron seem to be intended for background mostly. As a low level setting, there's really not suposed to be a lot of planar traveling, with only kings and similar stuff being remotely close to having plane shift effects and stuff.

There's actually a lot of ways to travel between planes - when Fernia is close you can travel to it just by jumping into a fire for instance. Plus there's a lot of planar observatories to tell when this kind of stuff is possible, so even low-level characters could travel to other planes, just not very reliably (and you might need protection gear).

Or maybe the giants invented stargates.

[oslecamo]

Notice the critical part of "when planes are close", which rougly translates into "whenever the DM pleases".

[veekie]

Which, is a bit more likely when further material on the planes is available. Also theres manifest zones and stuff that make it significantly easier. And for those who care I think theres a calender somewhere for it.

[Prime32]

Risia, the Plain of Ice
The vast wastes of Risia are a no-man's land - a place where people have travelled since ancient times when they don't want their activities known. Rumors persist of places in Risia with features similar to the Mournland - was the Day of Mourning caused by a weapon which was tested here, or is someone trying to make it look that way?

The Boiling Sea is Risia's only body of water - while most of the sea is not literally boiling, it is kept liquid by a number of manifest zones to Fernia. Most of Risia's native population clusters around this sea, while its depths are inhabited by amphibious remorhazes of immense size. Risia and Fernia maintain cordial relations, hampered by few inhabitants of either plane being capable of surviving in the other. Ice devils are the most common go-betweens, being immune to both planes' elements. Stories passed down by the frost salamanders say that they and their fiery kin could once travel between the two planes freely, their element transforming to match their environment. No living salamander is known to have this ability, which is blamed on a divine curse (the exact god varies depending on the telling).

Somewhere in Risia lie a series of caverns known only as The Archive. In the same way that institutions like Morgrave University collect knowledge, the Archive collects people. Within its vast halls sleep thousands of creatures dating back to the Age of Demons, of every race and kind. While the Archive does not share information on its founders, they were clearly masters of illusion spells - the current staff in fact consist entirely of simulacrums of creatures drawn from their records.
To those who can find them, the Archive provides services ranging from information to imprisonment to mercenary troops. Instead of gold, anyone seeking the Archive's assistance in some matter must pay with rare creatures. While they will accept a piece of hair or fur (enough to create a simulacrum) for minor requests, originals are greatly preferable.

Frost Simulacrum [General]
Your simulacrums are fortified by the powers of Risia.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast simulacrum
Benefit: When you create a simulacrum it gains immunity to cold and +1 to all mental ability scores.

The fighting needs no purpose, the fighting it's its own purpose. Don't ask why a plague spreads or why a fire burns. Don't ask why they fight. BATTLES FOR THE BATTLEGROUND!

If it was something more like Ysgard/Valhalla (they're fighting just because fighting is fun) I'd have no problem with it, but there's little to suggest that.

Though I suppose you could still have valkyries of all three factions scouring the planes for mighty warriors and offering them immortality in exchange for fighting forever. Some people would consider that paradise. (and most would consider it better than Dolurrh)
EDIT: I think we've found one of the motives for demonic possession. But demons and devils still need an explanation for why they're scattered among different planes.

[veekie]

For the fiendish species, was there ever a unified origin for them? A link to one of the Great Evils of the setting?

[Agita]

For the fiendish species, was there ever a unified origin for them? A link to one of the Great Evils of the setting?

The default is to equate the demon princes and archdevils to the rakshasa Rajahs and go from there. I don't remember if there was anything more elaborate on them, but I don't think so.

[veekie]

Then its fairly simple, while the Rajahs were free, they left bits and pieces of themselves around the planes, which became independent emanations when they were sealed.

[RedWarlock]

Well, it may not to be to everyone's taste, but the 4e Eberron more explicitly ties the cosmology together, with Syberis being stretched into not just the ring belt but also the actual Astral Sea, and Khyber being extended into not just the underdark, but in its depths also reaching to the Elemental Chaos. The Primordials and Demon Lords are equated to the Rajahs.

The explanation for Shaverath is that it is the cause and reflection of conflict on the mortal plane. A dominant victory by the Demon faction means that battlefields across Khorvaire become that much more frenzied and destructive.

The 3e-specific description had the three factions as the leftovers of the demons, devils, and so forth that didn't already fit another plane's concepts. Ice devils alongside Ice Mephits in Risia, and Balors and Pit Fiends, both fiery, alongside other flame-based outsiders in Fernia. Others, likewise. Basically, the blood war's leftover conscripts, with a third side of celestials thrown in.

The 4e-specific origin is that the three factions are actually expeditionary forces from the other planes through interplanar portals. The forces were sourced from (and I think continually reinforced by) the Abyss in the elemental chaos, Baator (which is added as a plane in 4e, since they tweaked the definitions of 'plane' so the original's baker's dozen didn't quite match up (or the other way around), and I want to say Syrania. They met there, began fighting, and the war-as-concept nature of the plane took them over and made them and their 3-way war into a reflection of the plane's nature. The rest of the text as above.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

The 3e versions of the 2e Planescape stuff,
was usually rather thin. You could basically
straight-hack Eberron onto 3e Planescape.
It would increase the amount of material,
without being quite so "extravagant" like 2e.
 

Fernia = almost a Devil's daughter's name
and the 2e plane has fire ... lots of fire.
I mean, that's not stretching things very much.

Dal Quor / Xoriat ... who's to say the Plane Of Dream
is not somehow an actual part of the Far Realms?

etc ...

One way to handle all this, is to have all the linkages
of Eberron be like the Yggdrasil or the Infinite Staircase.
Perhaps it is the Orrery Plane, except writ large (literally).

[veekie]

For Dal Quor, the difference is the horrors are literally mortal nightmares made flesh, symbolically relevant. Personally in a greater cosmology I figure all the planes of Eberron would work as a self contained bubble, especially with how they crossover and intersect more easily than elsewhere.

[McBeardly]

I think that one of the best additions to the planar system would be the creation of more quori that represent specific types of nightmares. Perhaps one that sends its victims flying into the air and then forces them quickly back down to earth, one that stalks people from just outside of their visual range, etc.

[Agita]

I think that one of the best additions to the planar system would be the creation of more quori that represent specific types of nightmares. Perhaps one that sends its victims flying into the air and then forces them quickly back down to earth, one that stalks people from just outside of their visual range, etc.

And one that puts people at work/in class in their undies?

[Libertad]

Lammania the Twilight Forest: The New Druidic State of Nartora

Druidic orders of the Eldeen Reaches revered this plane since time immemorial.  Its unspoiled woodlands and close primeval connection to their magic makes it a prime destination for all five sects of the Eldeen Reaches.

Several members of the Greensingers are making efforts to colonize settlements in the plane with help of allied Fey.  The order's recruiting sympathetic souls to leave the world of Eberron behind to "live beyond the Material and ascend to Lammania."  The will build a new micro-state of Nartora, a nation founded upon reverence for the sanctity of the natural world and the Fey.  Children will be tested for Druidic potential, and all practitioners, no matter their sect, is eligible for citizenship.  Bands of Druids will use their connection to the plane to master nature renewal techniques to heal the suffering of the land wrought by the Last War.  The Greensinger Elders hope to master a spell formula which will rid the Mournland of its fell taint.  This accomplishment, they hope, will help legitimize their standing among the signers of the Treaty of Thronehold and earn them goodwill from peace activists.

The sect's individualism, combined with the Fey's capricious nature, means that their efforts have not advanced very far.  The biggest donors are Cyran refugees and sympathetic Druidic sects.

Unfortunately, with civilization there is intrigue: multiple factions of Silver Oaks all have competing interests.  The Cyrans care only for the restoration of their homeland, while the Fey-allied Druid want the nation to become an extension of the Fey Courts.  Some of the more moderate Druids contemplate alliances with the Dragonmarked Houses of Jorasco and Vadalis to help with their natural renewal formulas, while the conservative factions view the Dragonmarked Houses as industrialist exploiters whose only loyalty is to the gold piece.  If Nartora does not fall to foreign machination, it may fall to internal infighting.  Whether to restore order or unity or to hasten its fall, the fate of the new nation rests upon the PCs' shoulders!

[Prime32]

The Fiendish Codex I Web Enhancement has info on the Demon Princes in Eberron.

• Baphomet: Lives in Lamannia with his aspects; he sends them to Eberron to assist cults, generally in the Eldeen Reaches and the Demon Wastes.
  
• Dagon: Aspects inhabit the underground seas of Khyber, and occasionally those of Eberron; when summoned, these aspects remain in the world above for a while after their contract ends.
  
• Demogorgon: Lives in Shavarath; his aspects act as foot-soldiers and are also found in Q'Barra, the Shadow Marches, and underwater.
  
• Fraz-Urb'luu: His aspects are native outsiders found in the Demon Wastes and Khyber.
  
• Jubilex: Lives in Shavarath; his aspects occasionally visit Khyber.
  
• Kostchtchie: His aspects spend most of their time in Xen'drik trying to recruit frost giants; some also live in Risia.
  
• Malcanthet: "If used in your campaign, aspects of Malcanthet come from Lamannia, the Twilight Forest, where they have somewhat fey characteristics and outlooks. On Eberron, they can be found in the Eldeen Reaches and Karrnath, and they shun the monster nations."
  
• Orcus: Lives in Shavarath. Most aspects stay there, but some appear in Khyber or the Demon Wastes, and they're occasionally summoned by the Blood of Vol.
  
• Pale Night: Lives in Xoriat(!) and commands all pseudonatural creatures. Presumably the other obyriths live in Xoriat as well.
  
• Pazuzu Pazuzu Pazuzu: Lives in Shavarath.
  
• Zuggtmoy: Her aspects are native outsiders who live in the Demon Wastes and Khyber doing fungus gardening, and often show up to assist cults to her.
  

The fluff there could be interpreted as "demons were born on all planes independently, but through the same process". In this case, the loumara demons are presumably native to Dal Quor.


EDIT:
FC2 places amnizu devils in Dolurrh. From its Web enchancement:

• Bel: Lives in Shavarath. Pretty easy to transplant, seeing as his realm is a battleground anyway.
  
• Tiamat: Aspects found in Argonessen, or occasionally Xen'drik.
  
• Kurtulmak: Aspects found in kobold settlements.
  
• Dispater: Lives in Shavarath. His aspects like fortresses.
  
• Mammon: Aspects are cityslicking native outsiders who stir up greed and corruption, particularly among the minorities and monster races.
  
• Belial: "In the EBERRON Campaign Setting, aspects of Belial live on Shavarath, where they really dislike being. All that fighting. They much prefer to make their way to Khorvaire or Xen’drik, and if they don’t have a specific mission, they can be found amusing themselves (at someone’s expense) in the civilized lands."
  
• Fernia: Little information, and relatively obscure in-setting. Presumably lives on Shavarath with her father.
  
• Levistus: His layer of Hell is transplanted to Risia; whenever Risia becomes coterminous his aspects escape into Eberron and start gathering power to free him from his imprisonment.
  
• Sekolah: Aspects are rare, appearing mostly in the sahaugin-controlled waters near Xen'drik.
  
• Glasya: Lives in Shavarath; her aspects also attend some of her cults in Khorvaire.
  
• Baalzebul: Lives in a "decayed and polluted realm" in Shavarath. When Shavarath becomes coterminous his aspects sometimes appear as part of infernal squads. Aspects summoned to Eberron prefer to return home as soon as possible.
  
• Mephistopheles: He and his aspects pretty much stay in Shavarath all the time.
  
• Asmodeus: Same as Mephistopheles.
  

Levistus is intriguing...

[Prime32]

Random thought: I can see Shavarath being appealing to many warforged who no longer have a place to go. So if they were picked up by, say, demons, I could imagine them doing some remodelling...