The Cosmology of Eberron

[Frostmarrow]

At Wizards we today find a Gearing up for Eberron-article about the Eberron cosmology.

I find it pretty neat. I was more impressed with The Great Wheel when it was first released but Baker seems to have had the game in mind at all stages of development.

 

[Nightfall]

Yep. Keith did a good job of making a unique world and yet still make it work within the confines of the Great Wheel. Sort of. I like the coterminous aspect of the cosmology.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I like aspects of it, but dislike others.

The idea of revolving, waxing/waning planes seems to imply moons of some sort. I'd rather have fewer of them, with well-defined cycles that play into the calendar of the campaign than have it be 'at DM's whim,' which doesn't fit at all with the way worlds generally work. It makes it cinematic, but you'd think sages who study these things would've codified when and where such things happen, much as even primitive sages here had the cycles of the moon and rotation of the stars down pat (and could even predict eclipses). And then you'd have major world events associated with things -- a grand druid war when the nature-plane came close, a legendary war against fire when the flame plane came close, etc. These would define the world in calendar and in nature....

I like the idea of revolving 'moon planes,' especiall when you can travel to them at various points, but less that did more, and a more regular system, would be ideal.

The planes themselves are rather flavorless. It's basically every energy represented by a plane: Good, Evil, Law, Chaos, Life, Death, Nature, Fire, Ice, Earth, etc.....everything has it's plane. While functional, it's dry as heck.

 

[Nightfall]

The planes themselves are rather flavorless. It's basically every energy represented by a plane: Good, Evil, Law, Chaos, Life, Death, Nature, Fire, Ice, Earth, etc.....everything has it's plane. While functional, it's dry as heck.

What you wanna them to have like hordes of Demons running around in the Chaotic Sphere?

 

[Derulbaskul]

I really like these ideas.

The Great Wheel has never been to my taste since it was first invented and I really liked the "planar bleed" ideas that I first saw in Manual of the Planes. Anyway, if I ever end up doing my own campaign world I think I'll be borrowing a lot from Eberron's cosmology.

 

[I'm A Banana]

What you wanna them to have like hordes of Demons running around in the Chaotic Sphere?

Sure. That makes interesting world-building choices.....now you have Chaos and Evil entwined.......say, make that also the plane of Water, and suddenly your world's seas are filled with demons, and the oceans are dark and dangerous places.

Suddenly, that's something interesting. Having the three divided up makes them 'pure,' but it's not like it takes Eberron to say "Plane of Water should have fishies!" The planes are pretty no-brainers, really. Anyone with the DMG and half an imagination could think of them.....now the Chaotic Evil Plane of Water........suddenly, you've got something intriguing and reflective on the psychology and evolution of the world........

 

[Nightfall]

So let's say I have LE god of War, Pain and Death. And his Hell is semi-reminance of a combo of Hieronymous Bosch's hell and Clive Barker's, with lots of iron and chains. Is that more hellish than D&D Hell?

 

[I'm A Banana]

Depends.

D&D "Hell", the Nine, Baator, whatever, is much more fire-brimstone-plots-and-schemes. It's about flames, self-corruption, and intelligent evil, a smile and a stab in the back. This means that in the world of D&D, those who lie and decieve, who achieve rank through destroying all goodness, are "hellish," and the beasts from that realm do likewise.

Your theorietical "Metal Hell" is something like a dark industrial nightmare, cold gears and chains grinding, with grays and blues, sizzling and macabre. It's the distant logic of a machine, of neccessity, of weapons and armaments, sacrifices to the grinding links of blood-soaked chain. This means that in a world influenced by that, war itself is hell, the pain and blood are suffering, and those who can wield their power crush those who cannot beneath the sword, or the metal boots of their underlings. Likewise, the devils inspired by this hell would be more visceral than normal, torturous and violent, and not just for their own self-interest. They would rend a victim limb from limb to show that victim that they are indeed nothing more than a cog, and can be discarded if they grow troublesome.

In Eberron, Hell, aparently, is "Eternal Battle with Other Cosmic Forces." And it can just as easily be Heaven, or the Abyss, because they all cause it. Hell is a fort. That's not exactly as inspiring as either metal-hell or D&D hell. It's just kinda "Oh, this is where Devils come from." Devils in Eberron...er....hate....celestials........yeah.........surprise?

 

[Frostmarrow]

The cosmology of Eberron sort of remind me of the string-theory or the M-theory. Scientists nowadays think that in our world there might be parallell universes. Those realities, and our own, are great big membranes in hyperspace. (We can only perceive 4 dimensions but there are 11!) Sometimes two membranes connect and massive amounts of energy are transferred. It's like when two bedsheets hung out to dry connect. -In fact it has been suggested that the Big Bang is the result of two membranes brushing together.

In Eberron things are a bit more poetic than that but the general feel remains. Realities connect for a brief spell and they rub off on one another. It's fresh, up to date, yet very D&D!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Sure. That makes interesting world-building choices.....now you have Chaos and Evil entwined.......say, make that also the plane of Water, and suddenly your world's seas are filled with demons, and the oceans are dark and dangerous places.

Suddenly, that's something interesting. Having the three divided up makes them 'pure,' but it's not like it takes Eberron to say "Plane of Water should have fishies!" The planes are pretty no-brainers, really. Anyone with the DMG and half an imagination could think of them.....now the Chaotic Evil Plane of Water........suddenly, you've got something intriguing and reflective on the psychology and evolution of the world........

The Eberron approach might be easy, simple, and possibly a bit flavourless, but it might be the best for a Campaign Setting that has to suit many people.
A plane as you described leads to a certain focus - if you read from this plane and think of it as one of the important ones, you might seem forced to think that most demons like water, and the seas are considered chaotic and evil in the Campaign Setting. And that causes a certain flavour not everybody might want or need for a special campaign. I know, you can always ignore it (or use it as seeds for great adventures), and it are only implications, but I think a more "generic" approach is right for this Campaign Setting...

Mustrum Ridcully