D&D 5E [Eberron 5E] Origin of Aasimar?

[RealAlHazred]

So, I've been running a D&D 5E campaign set in Eberron since the playtest. I've got all the books (3.5E and 4E), so I don't lack for source material, and in general I've had no issues adapting things well.

With the release of Volo's Guide to Monsters, there are now player options for a bunch of new races. Some of them are already well-established in the canon (goblinoids, yay!), while others are not but are easily added in (firbolgs as immigrants from Thalanis, the Eberron equivalent of the Feywild, for instance).

One that I'm waffling on is the aasimar. I've long thought the aasimar fluff in core D&D is pretty bland -- there don't seem to be any fantastic hooks in the background material. VGtM's background info is a little better (angelic guides) but there still aren't any cool history hooks. Tieflings and dragonborn in 4E got a fantastic backstory with ancient empires and fell powers, and so on.

So, in Eberron, I've thought of two easy places to put them in.

1) In the history, the whole world used to be overrun by fiends, led by Rakshasa Rajahs of godlike power. The armies of the fiends were eventually destroyed, and the fiends imprisoned, by a combined force of dragons and couatls. Most of the couatls were destroyed in the process, but their spiritual energy lingers, imprisoning the worst of their foes and empowering at least one modern religion (the Church of the Silver Flame). I could see the armies of dragons/couatl having a contingent of mortals devoted to serving the couatl, and receiving a portion of their power in return. This would make aasimar extremely ancient as a race.

2) The plane of Syrania (the Azure Sky) in the Eberron cosmology consists of floating crystal palaces in an endless sky. It is inhabited by angels and similar celestials. Some angels become corrupted and are exiled to Eberron -- these are called radiant idols and frequently form cults of mortals once they get here. I could see aasimar being the descendants of these fallen angels.

What does the community think? Anybody got a better idea? I'm open to anything.

 

[mrpopstar]

Born to a radiant idol cult is a pretty cool origin, in my opinion.

 

[Leatherhead]

Well anything can come out of Cyre, it's a one stop shop for all kinds of magical weirdness.

But I rather like the idea of Thrane having a recent resurgence of aasimar, perhaps as part of the fallout from The Last War. Iirc, there is still a demon somewhere inside the Silver Flame itself, which could explain why aasimar get different powers when they fall.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

5e's angels have (so far) absorbed anything like the archons and Arcadian avengers, so I wouldn't hesitate to make either of them the progenitor of an aasimar in Eberron (and in terms of how to play the angelic guide, I think you could argue that both fit better than Eberron angels).

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Actually, you're in luck! Keith Baker just did an article on his website about this. http://keith-baker.com/dragonmarks-exotic-races-in-eberron/

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I dont know much about Eberron in particular, but if you play with the angle of the Rakshasa, you could re-use the lore of the Devas which have a good background in the 4th ed Eberron Campaign Guid. as they were mostly this edition version of the aasimar. I guess it could be mined for inspiration because the reality of a Deva is directly linked to the Rakshasa.

Dang, Ninja'ed.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Actually, you're in luck! Keith Baker just did an article on his website about this. http://keith-baker.com/dragonmarks-exotic-races-in-eberron/

Thanks, I'd looked before starting to work on it, and he posted between then and now! I kind of agree, but I wanted to provide specific options for my players who have the new books; Keith's answers seem more along the lines of "come up with a cool backstory yourself," which, oddly enough, I don't find as helpful. My players seem to be more comfortable with, "Nah, I'll d something other than the lore-as-written," than no canonical backstory.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Well, my personal take is that while any thing in D&D can exist in Eberron, not everything may be as interwoven as deeply into the known cultures of Eberron. Some things such as Aasimar may be too rare or even unique to have well-developed histories, culture, or society. Your ideas regarding being touched by the Silver Flame is a neat idea, and I can see the influence of radiant idols also working. But I would say most exotic races are either going to turn up in Droaam, Xen'drik, Frostfell, Aerenal, or Arggonessen. They probably don't exist in numbers too great, and so any way you try to fit them into walking around Sharn or other areas of Eberron is going to likely need tinkering and would not likely be recognized by the public at large.