Lamannia: The Twilight Forest

Source: Exploring Eberron

Lamannia is a reflection of the natural world, intensified and exaggerated. The air is pure and clean, the water fresh and clear. Colors are impossibly vivid. It’s suffused with life—a realm in which any stone could be an earth elemental, where any tree could be awakened. Vegetation is nearly always in bloom, and beasts are almost always in the peak of health. Except for a few layers such as the Rot, Lamannia reflects the ideal state of the natural world. Here are some of the plane’s consistent properties.

Extended Druidic Magic. When a creature casts a druid spell with a duration of 1 minute or longer while in Lamannia, the duration is doubled. Spells with a duration of 24 hours or more are unaffected. A DM could decide to extend this effect to other characters that draw on primal sources of magic, such as a Gatekeeper ranger or a Greensinger bard.

Indomitable Beasts. Beasts and elementals have a +2 bonus to Constitution and advantage on Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma saving throws. Upon its arrival in Lamannia, any elemental or beast that’s charmed or bound in any way is immediately freed from that effect; this can be disastrous for an elemental airship that’s thrown into the plane.

Elemental Power. When a creature casts a spell that summons or conjures an elemental, it does so as if the spell were cast at a level one higher than the spell slot that was expended.

The Land Provides. A creature has advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks made to forage for food or shelter. In most layers of Lamannia, the vegetation is bountiful and the land sustaining. (While in the Broken Land, it may be very difficult to forage, but you’ll at least have advantage to help you with the roll!)

Primordial Matter. It’s difficult to destroy or contaminate the matter of Lamannia. All nonmagical food and drink is purified and rendered free of poison and disease. In addition, natural materials such as wood and stone are tougher than their mundane counterparts. When trying to destroy objects made of Lamannian materials, increase the Armor Class suggested in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide by 3, and double the hit points of the object.

Standard Time. Time passes at the same pace as on the Material Plane, and is consistent across its layers.

Each of Lamannia’s layers highlights a particular aspect of primal nature. One layer in Lamannia might contain a single colossal mountain peak; on the other hand, the Twilight Forest could be as large as Khorvaire (or even Eberron itself). The edge of a layer could be an impassable physical barrier, or it could wrap around onto itself—if you sail far enough in the Endless Ocean, you’ll find yourself back where you began. Most layers of Lamannia follow a traditional day-night cycle, though they aren’t synchronized across layers, and when the moon Olarune is visible, it’s always full.

The portals that connect the layers of Lamannia often only allow travel in one direction. Any deep pool of water may connect a layer to the Endless Ocean; but while you can get to the Ocean by diving into a pond in the Twilight Forest, there’s no gate back to the forest on the other side. The Endless Ocean contains small islands, and if you explore one, you’ll find you’ve moved to a new layer.

The following are just a handful of Lamannia’s many layers. In creating a layer, think of a distinctive natural feature—a canyon, a desert, a lone mountain—and build the layer around it. What creatures would be found there? Have any outsiders taken up residence? Is there an unusual role for elementals? How does it connect to other layers or Eberron?

The Twilight Forest

The sky is hidden by the dense canopy of this vast rainforest, leaving the forest floor in an endless twilight. The trees are over a hundred feet in height—impressive, certainly, though not as tall as the greatpines of the Towering Wood in the Eldeen Reaches. But as people further explore the Twilight Forest, they come upon strange ridges and walls of wood, some forming twisted wooden canyons. Following these, explorers discover they’re the roots of unimaginably colossal trees, vast titans wider and taller than the towers of Sharn. The Twilight Forest as mortals experience it lies in the shadow of the grander canopy that rises far above it, and these enormous trees are home to megafauna and mightier beings.

Though the Twilight Forest is wild and untamed, explorers can find wide cleared paths through the lower forest. Survival experts may recognize that these aren’t trails created by humanoid hands; rather, they’re the paths of totems, who have crushed the lesser forest beneath their colossal feet. The forest is filled with beasts—mundane and dire creatures in the lower forests, megafauna in the grand canopy above it, and the occasional passage of totems. There are multiple communities of lycanthropes scattered throughout the lower forest. A clan of wererats have carved out a warren in the roots of a colossal tree, while a pack of wild wereboars feuds with werewolves descended from exiled templars. An ancient elf druid named Haral, who spends most of her time in the form of an owl, does her best to maintain order; she is assisted in this by a megafauna owl she calls Ruark.

The forest has many other inhabitants, and a few minor elementals can be found in this layer. A gust of wind, a pool of water, a rolling stone—in Lamannia, any of these things could be alive.

The Broken Land

The Broken Land is a volcanic region filled with high mountains and lava plains. There are constant eruptions, and the layer is home to many fire and earth elementals that engage in an ongoing environmental conflict. Fire elementals flow out with the lava as volcanoes erupt; earth elementals work to contain the eruptions and to rebuild the shattered peaks, only to have them erupt again. Few beasts manage to thrive in this layer, but some tough dinosaurs have clawed out a niche. While this region has fewer connections to Eberron than the Twilight Forest, it’s also possible to find remnants of other travelers here; it’s a harsh and deadly landscape for stranded adventurers or for those who seek a lost relic from this place.

The Endless Ocean

This layer reflects the majesty of the ocean depths. It’s home to a vast array of fish and aquatic beasts, along with merfolk tribes and a wide range of water elementals, from simple sentient currents and weirds to massive leviathans and battling megafauna. The Endless Ocean is where the gnome Tasker encountered an island that turned out to be a totem turtle. True islands are few and far between, and most are actually portals to other layers of Lamannia. There are many points in the Endless Ocean tied to manifest zones (most located in ocean depths) in the Material Plane.

The First Storm

A layer of plains and low hills, this region is permanently lashed by hurricane winds and endless storms. Beasts huddle in caves and the limited shelter, while all manner of elementals clash in the storm-lashed plains. A massive elder tempest drives the heart of the storm; during the Sundering of Sarlona, an apocalyptic cult in Ohr Kaluun sought to bring this elemental to Eberron, believing it would destroy the world.

The Rot

Decay is part of nature, and this is reflected in the swamp-like Rot, a relatively small layer filled with fallen, rotting trees. Corpses of megafauna beasts lie scattered around the layer, and giant insects and other massive scavengers prey on their remains. There’s a community of wererats thriving in the Rot, and there could be a small outpost of the Children of Winter who found their way here. While the Rot is a symbol of death and decay, it’s entirely natural, and undead have no place here. It’s possible a necromancer could arrive here, hoping to animate the massive corpses; however, this would violate the theme of the plane, and if there’s any higher power at work in Lamannia, it would certainly direct forces to counter this. While most layers of Lamannia are free from disease, disease itself is part of nature; a manifest zone tied to the Rot could spread plagues into the surrounding region.

Titan’s Folly

Lamannia is filled with precious natural resources; it’s hardly surprising that an advanced civilization would try to harvest them. During the Age of Giants, the Group of Eleven set up a research station and mining camp in a layer of Lamannia. After a decade struggling against megafauna attacks and elemental-enhanced weather, the outpost was finally overwhelmed and abandoned. It’s a testament to the arcane engineering of the giants that anything remains of this structure . . . although it may be that it remains because the ruin itself has become a symbol of nature reclaiming civilization. Vines and moss cover shattered walls, and the bones of giants are scattered throughout the remnants of this garrison. Valuable and powerful treasures may well be hidden in the Folly, but explorers will have to contend with aggressive elementals, dangerous beasts, and traps left by the long-dead giants themselves.

A town is established in the desolate Blade Desert, but it thrives beside a small lake that provides fresh water and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of fish. In a small Eldeen village, the locals live in harmony with a breed of giant rabbits unknown elsewhere in Khorvaire. A tribe of shifters lives in the branches of three massive trees that grow in a Lamannian manifest zone. These are all examples of how Lamannia can affect the Material Plane; below are a few more.

Manifest Zones

Lamannian manifest zones are relatively common, and usually share one or more of the plane’s universal properties. They’re often found at the heart of a region that resembles the connected layer; zones tied to the Endless Ocean are found underwater, while manifest zones tied to the Twilight Forest can be found in the Towering Wood, the King’s Forest, and other vast woodlands. It’s relatively common for these zones to serve as gateways to Lamannia, though they might require a lunar alignment or a coterminous period. This goes in reverse too, as creatures can be pulled through to the Material Plane, from hostile elementals to deadly megafauna.

Zilargo has a number of valuable zones with the Elemental Power property, and House Cannith and the Twelve are eager to find more of these zones—though they’re also dangerous, as elementals sometimes spontaneously manifest in such places, linger for a few hours, then dissipate. Bound elementals can also break free from their bonds in some Lamannian manifest zones—especially unfortunate if that elemental is responsible for keeping an airship aloft!

Plants and beasts near Lamannian zones often are significantly larger and healthier than their counterparts in other areas, and many House Vadalis enclaves are built in these zones. Zones with the Primordial Matter property can also be a valuable resource for communities, with purified food and water and the presence of extremely durable wood and other materials for industry. The prison of Dreadhold is built in such a manifest zone.

However, though Lamannian manifest zones can be useful tools for communities and dragonmarked houses, some zones actively resist and repel civilization. Weather, vegetation, and a rapid rate of decay can combine to quickly destroy structures built in the zone and overgrow the ruins.

Coterminous and Remote

While Lamannia is coterminous, the effects of Lamannian manifest zones are enhanced. In regions of unspoiled nature— such as the Eldeen Reaches and the wilds of Q’barra—fertility of both plants and animals is enhanced, and beasts conceived in these periods are often exceptionally strong and healthy. Spells that target beasts or elementals are extended; if a spell has a duration of 1 minute or longer, the duration is doubled; spells with a duration of 24 hours or more are unaffected.

While Lamannia is remote, fertility rates drop, and beasts born in these periods are often weak or sickly. Animals are often uneasy, and the duration of spells that affect beasts or elementals are cut in half, to a minimum duration of one round.

Lamannia traditionally becomes coterminous for a week around the summer solstice, and is remote for a week during the winter solstice.

Lamannian Artifacts

Lamannian vegetation is prized by alchemists. Herbs and roots from Lamannia can produce exceptionally strong potions, and many types of Lamannian vegetation have innate magical effects; there are bushes in the Twilight Forest that naturally produce goodberries. Lamannian lumber likewise can have unusual properties, mirroring the densewood and bronzewood found in Aerenal. Lamannian wood and stone can serve as powerful focuses for primal magic, for creating figurines of wondrous power, or for tools designed to summon or bind elementals.

Source: Exploring Eberron

Lamannia is a source of elementals and dire beasts. It’s wild and untamed, strengthening primal magic and providing a haven to lycanthropes. It resists any intrusion by civilization. Here are a few ideas for working it into your story.

A Savage Land. When a party of adventurers unknowingly passes through a Lamannian gateway, they must find a way to survive in this wild realm. This could be as simple as finding another manifest zone to take them home, or it could require them to survive in Lamannia for months while waiting for the planes to become coterminous. Or perhaps their airship passes through a manifest zone and the elemental breaks free; the adventurers are stranded, along with other survivors.

Megafauna Island. An island near a Lamannian manifest zone is discovered to be the home to an unusual array of megafauna beasts. Adventurers could stumble onto this on their own, or they could be hired by an heir of House Vadalis who wants to investigate the rumors without drawing the attention of rivals in the house. Perhaps the adventurers find a legendary megafauna ape—which, if captured, might break free while on exhibition and climb the towers of Sharn!

At War with Nature. An Ashbound druid manages to establish a new Lamannian manifest zone in a major city, such as Fairhaven or Sharn. It’s causing the city to crumble, releasing elementals and dense vegetation as the wilderness takes over. Can the adventurers find a way to remove the manifest zone?

http://keith-baker.com/dm-lamannia/

A common story about Lamannia tells of an explorer who passed through a manifest zone and found herself on a vast mountain peak. Pressing up the mountain, she was exploring a mysterious thicket when she was set upon by rats the size of wolves. She fought the rats, but was on the verge of being overwhelmed . . . until a giant beak flashed down and snapped up a rat in a single bite. The wide “thicket” wasn’t natural briar; it was the nest of a gargantuan roc, one of Lamannia’s many impressive denizens.

Beasts

Lamannia’s primary inhabitants are beasts—both ones that you might encounter in the wilds of Eberron, and massive creatures that can be seen as iconic representations of their type: the idealized incarnation of Bear or Wolf. Any natural creature can be found in Lamannia; indeed, some sages assert that the presence of a creature in Lamannia is what defines it as “natural.”

For the most part, Lamannian beasts are no smarter than their counterparts on Eberron. However, some animals possess intelligence similar to that granted by the awaken spell, though even these beasts generally follow their natural instincts and live wild lives. While the giant owls of Sharn may own shops and run for city council, the giant owls of Lamannia are content to hunt the beasts of the Twilight Forest. So it’s possible to find creatures in Lamannia that speak Common or a Primordial dialect, but most have little interest in long conversations.

The beasts of Lamannia generally fall into the following four categories.

Mundane animals are identical to their counterparts in Eberron. Any natural creature can be found in a layer with an appropriate environment. If such beasts are the first things adventurers encounter in a visit to Lamannia, they might not even realize they’ve traveled to another plane.

Dire animals are creatures of remarkable size. Such creatures are more common than mundane animals; in the Twilight Forest, most owls are giant owls, and they prey on giant weasels and rats. The Monster Manual has a few examples of “dire” and “giant” beasts, but any natural beast could have a dire counterpart in Lamannia.

Megafauna are gargantuan beasts. The roc is an example of Lamannian megafauna; those found in Eberron have been drawn through manifest zones or slipped between planes during coterminous periods. The DM can create a wide range of megafauna; a pack of gargantuan wolves could hound the adventurers, or they might meet a megafauna serpent that uses the statistics of a purple worm—perhaps even a megafauna dinosaur! While these creatures are similar in form to beasts, they are typically classified as monstrosities. Between their vast size and their connection to the plane, they’re immune to most effects that target beasts, and you can’t charm a roc with a simple animal friendship spell.

Totems are beasts that are beyond the tactical scale— creatures that can be measured in miles. The gnome explorer Tasker tells a tale of an island in the Endless Ocean that turned out to be an enormous turtle; another of his stories features a pack of lycanthropes living in the fur of a massive roaming wolf. Such totems aren’t natural creatures and don’t need to eat. Their origins and purpose are unsolved mysteries, but most sages believe that they are immortal spirits projected by the plane itself. Some claim that the totems are connected to all creatures cast in their image. Others believe that the totems are sources of primal power, and barbarians, shifters, and druids can receive power and guidance from them. All that’s known for sure is that they’re immune to common spells, and there are no accounts of anyone successfully harming or communicating with a totem.

Elementals

After beasts, the most common inhabitants of the plane are elementals. Unlike the genies, mephits, and anthropomorphic elementals of Fernia and Syrania, Lamannia’s elementals are the pure, living essence of the elements, unburdened by any humanoid desire. These include the standard earth, fire, air, and water elementals, but they can come in a wide array of sizes and forms. Adventurers exploring the Broken Lands could encounter tiny globs of lava crawling across the land, while the leviathans of the Endless Ocean and the elder tempests of the First Storm are forces of apocalyptic power.

The Zil gnomes commonly summon and bind the elementals of Lamannia, using them to propel lightning rails and airships. While intelligent, these elementals are utterly alien. They have little concept of time and perceive the world purely through the balance of elements. The sole desire of most elementals is to express their element: to burn, to flow, to fly. Many have an antagonistic attitude toward spirits of other elements, which drives the deadly conflict between them in the Broken Land—this poses an obstacle in dealing with elementals, as they tend to perceive humanoids as globs of water. While it’s possible for a character that speaks Primordial to talk with a Lamannian elemental, it’s usually difficult to establish any sort of common basis for negotiation. Still, there are legends of wandering druids who “befriended earth and air,” so anything is possible!

Humanoids

There are merfolk in Eberron—such as the Kalamer of the Thunder Sea—but their people began in the Endless Ocean of Lamannia, and are still found there. These primordial merfolk remain close to their elemental roots and instincts. They wield druidic magic, but don’t craft tools or structures. Other humanoid natives of Lamannia are much the same; any race with a strong primal connection could be tied to Lamannia, but they’re driven by instinct and avoid the trappings of civilization. There could be tabaxi dwelling in the branches of the Twilight Forest, but if so, they’ll seem wild.

Over a century ago, during the Silver Crusade, there were many lycanthropes who fled to Lamannia. As long as they remain on this plane, a lycanthrope can’t spread the curse to anyone other than their offspring, and the unnatural impulses of the curse—the drive to prey on innocents, the bloodlust that can cause a victim of lycanthropy to lose control of their actions—are suspended. Meanwhile, primal instincts are amplified; Lamannian werewolves remain predators and take joy in the hunt, but they aren’t driven to evil, and remain in full control. Packs and communities of lycanthropes are scattered across the layers. Most are descended from lycanthropes who fled Eberron to escape both the templars and the dark power whose corrupting influence led to the crusade; these shapeshifters embrace their primal nature and rarely assume humanoid forms. But there are also packs descended from afflicted templars who chose exile over death, and who strive to preserve the beliefs and traditions of their ancestors.

A handful of druids and rangers have crossed into Lamannia and chosen to remain in this primal paradise. Many run with lycanthrope packs, embracing their feral instincts and spending their days in wild shape. Others act as planar shepherds, seeking to minimize the impact of dangerous manifest zones and help unwary travelers.

Greater Powers?

There are no celestials or fiends in Lamannia. Yet explorers often report a feeling that they are being watched, and there are times when random events seem to be guided by an unseen hand. When outsiders have sought to establish industries in Lamannia, they’ve been attacked by megafauna or elder elementals, or struck by especially vicious turns of weather. It’s possible that this is the work of the totems, and that they have great influence over their layers. Or there could be a greater power that watches over the entire plane. Some scholars assert that the moon Olarune is the consciousness that governs the plane, and Eldeen shifter traditions that predate the practices of the Wardens of the Wood also reflect this belief. Shifter druids suggest that Olarune created the shifters, and the first lycanthropes were her champions.

Achaierai, animals (all), arrowhawk (all), belker, celestial animals, bebilith (demon), hellcat (devil), air elemental (all), earth elemental (all), water elemental (all), fiendish animals, djinni (genie), avoral (guardinal), leonal (guardinal), hellwasp swarm, invisible stalker, lycanthropes (all), air mephit, dust mephit, earth mephit, ooze mephit, salt mephit, water mephit, nightmare, thoqqua, tojanida (all), vermin (all), xorn (all), yeth hound.

Manual of the Planes: dao (genie), marid (genie), ooze paraelemental (all), smoke paraelemental (all).

Monster Manual III: Avalancher, battlebriar, dust wight, gulgar, wood woad, woodling creatures.

Dread Blossom Swarm

Dread blossoms are native to the plane of Lamannia, the Twilight Forest. They gather in the jungles of Aerenal. Millennia ago, elf sorcerers living on Xen’drik brought the first dread blossoms to Eberron to plague their giant masters. Dread blossom swarms continue to ravage the inhabitants of the jungles of Xen’drik and Aerenal. The elves of Aerenal have been accused of deliberately transplanting and unleashing dread blossom swarms upon their enemies, most recently the orc tribes of the Shadow Marches.

Gulgar

In the EBERRON campaign setting, gulgars originally came from Lamannia, the Twilight Forest. They are most often encountered near the eastern peaks of the Mror Holds, bordering the Lhazaar Principalities, although wyverns and manticores pose a constant threat. They periodically trade with the Mror Holds dwarves, offering livestock in exchange for crystals.