BUILD YOUR OWN WORLD Like what you see? Become the Master of your own Universe!

Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild

Xoriat

Xoriat, the Realm of Madness, or the Realm of Revelation depending on your viewpoint, is a plane that is beyond description. It is everything that is unnatural, all of the ways that reality could be but isn't. Mortals risk having their minds shattered by merely vising the plane, as their minds attempt and fail to make sense of what they see. It is the home plane of the enigmatic entities known as the Daelkyr.   Xoriat is the counterpart to Lamannia, unnatural where the Twilight Forest is primordially natural. Xoriat offers a glimpse into the inner workings of reality that we don't normally get to see, and that our minds are incapable of handling. Xoriat suggests that things which we, and the people of Eberron, take to be fundamental aspects to reality, such as time or space, are actually malleable and inconsequential. These concepts form the foundations of our reality, but Xoriat is the ground that the foundation is built upon, and it's proof there is another way.   Xoriat is a deeply dangerous place for mortals, but it is not inherently evil. Like all of the planes, Xoriat influences mortals in the Material Plane, providing them with inspiration and driving them to question what they think they know. At a distance, Xoriat can be a positive force in people's lives, but much like staring into the sun is dangerous, mortals who gaze too deeply into Xoriat find themselves unable to differentiate reality from fiction.   There are no known records of any mortal travelling to Xoriat and returning. As such, the effects of the plane are entirely unknown on Eberron, and are a spoiler.   View Effects of Xoriat
On the surface, Xoriat seems to be more chaotic than Kythri, but Xoriat is not defined by this chaos. The apparent chaos is a side effect of the nature of the plane, but there is a logic to the workings of Xoriat, it is just beyond our understanding. Magic is unpredictable in Xoriat, and creatures that travel there find themselves learning uncomfortable truths they aren't equipped to process. Time moves at different rates amongst the planes, but at least it always moves forward. This is not always true in Xoriat, and it's entirely possible that someone who travels there can return to the Material Plane before they left. This unreliability is not just limited to the flow of time, any aspect of reality can be unreliable in Xoriat.   Xoriat is composed of a seemingly infinite number of layers, stacked upon each other. Each Daelkyr has their own layer, which spawned them and is shaped by their thoughts, and usually reflects their theme. Not all of the layers have a daelkyr associated them, and they aren't all capable of supporting life.
  Roughly 9000 years ago, Xoriat became coterminous with Eberron and the daelkyr crossed over into Khorvaire. This event is referred to as the Xoriat Incursion, or the Daelkyr War. The Daelkyr and their minions clashed with the Empire of Dhakaan, a conflict that would ultimately lead to the collapse of the empire. In particular, the daelkyr Dyrrn, the Corruptor created a curse that disrupted the Dhakaani psych and cut them off from the Uul Dhakaan.   The Daelkyr were eventually sealed away in Khyber by the Gatekeepers, druids of the Shadow Marches that were trained by the dragon Vvaraak. The Gatekeepers then constructed Dimensional Seals that disrupted the orbit of Xoriat around Eberron, and prevent it from becoming coterminous again. These seals have held, and the Daelkyr War was the last time that Xoriat was coterminous with Eberron. The Gatekeepers patrol and maintain the Dimensional Seals to ensure that this remains the case.   Unlike Dal Quor, which is completely cut off from the Material Plane, Xoriat still has active manifest zones on Eberron. Many of them are sealed by the Gatekeepers, which limits their impact on the environment, but there are certainly manifest zones remaining that the Gatekeepers didn't, or couldn't, seal.
Type
Dimensional plane

Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild