Syrania, the Azure Sky
Plane — Peace, Commerce, Knowledge & Contemplation — Moon: Therendor, the Healer
Imagine a perfect blue sky, stretching to every horizon. There is no sign of the sun, but the sky is clear and bright, and floating crystal towers gleam as if caught in a sunbeam. A warm, gentle breeze brushes over you, and there is a faint sound of distant chimes. You feel absolutely calm; in this moment, all anger melts away.
This is Syrania, the Azure Sky — and while people often think first of its floating towers and crystal spires (the same magic that sustains the great towers of Sharn), Syrania is far more than an architectural curiosity. It is the plane of peace and all that flourishes in peaceful times: commerce, education, reflection, and the slow, patient accumulation of understanding. There are no vast armies here, no dangerous monsters. The magic of Syrania allows all creatures to communicate across any language barrier and dispels aggression so thoroughly that violence requires an act of conscious will to even attempt. As such, Syrania serves as a common crossroads for beings who travel the planes, and its Immeasurable Market is the safest place in existence to interact with fiends, slaadi, and other extraplanar beings who would be lethal enemies anywhere else.
Syrania's counterpart in the planar orrery is Shavarath, the Eternal Battleground — the plane of war and everything war destroys. Where Shavarath embodies conflict, Syrania embodies the things that conflict makes impossible: the marketplace that cannot function during a siege, the university that cannot teach during a bombardment, the diplomatic negotiation that cannot begin while swords are drawn. The tension between the two planes is one of the fundamental dynamics of reality: without war, peace becomes complacency; without peace, war consumes everything worth fighting for.
However, while bloodshed is rare in the Azure Sky, you can still make deadly enemies here. Mortals are always wise to tread lightly in the cities of angels.
Universal Properties
Syrania encourages communication and negotiation and grants all creatures the gift of flight.
Unburdened. All creatures in Syrania can fly, moving through the air as naturally as walking. The Open Sky of Syrania is an endless void, and without flight, you would fall indefinitely — but this property ensures that you will not.
Gentle Thoughts. It is difficult to muster hostile emotions in Syrania. Creatures have disadvantage on Intimidation checks, and the plane's atmosphere subtly discourages anger, resentment, and aggression.
Standard Time. Time passes at the same pace as on the Material Plane and is consistent across all regions.
Universal Understanding. A creature can understand the literal meaning of any spoken language it hears and any written language it can see. This does not decode secret messages or reveal the meaning of symbols that are not part of a written language, but it eliminates the barriers of tongue and script entirely.
Absolute Peace. To make an attack or cast a damaging spell, a creature must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the action is lost — the creature simply cannot bring itself to commit violence. Unlike lesser angels and visitors, the virtues, dominions, and thrones of Syrania are immune to this property and can take aggressive action to defend the plane or pursue their domain. However, they always attempt nonviolent or nonlethal solutions first.
The Structure of the Azure Sky
Syrania is not divided into layers in the traditional sense. Instead, it is comprised of crystal spires floating in the seemingly infinite void of the Open Sky. The space within a spire may be far larger than it appears from the outside — whether the spire leads to the multiple towers of the University or the vast expanse of the Immeasurable Market. All regions are connected through the medium of the spires and the Open Sky itself.
The Open Sky
The Open Sky is the vast blue expanse from which the Azure Sky takes its name — a clear, bright, sunless firmament that shows no signs of passing time. The moon Therendor is visible but does not move or show phases. Despite its seemingly infinite space, the Open Sky wraps around on itself, effectively forming a three-hundred-mile cube. Travel between the farthest points takes significant time but is possible. There are no native threats in the Open Sky; the only danger is not knowing where you are going, as there are hundreds of spires.
The Dominion Spires
The majority of spires are the seats of individual dominions — the angels who devote their existence to the contemplation of a single specific concept. Each spire has the general flavor of a library or museum, with additional facilities appropriate to the dominion's study. The spire of a dominion of nature has carefully cultivated gardens. The spire of a dominion of war has displays of armor and a dueling chamber. But these are still places of study and contemplation; the seat of a dominion of war is not an impenetrable fortress, and the gardens of a dominion of nature are cultivated, not wild.
The University
The pursuit of knowledge is something that flourishes in times of peace. The Throne of Knowledge maintains the University of Syrania, where chosen students study an astonishing array of subjects with virtues of knowledge and the occasional guest dominion. The catch is that students must be admitted — and there is no formal application process. At the moment, the University has only twenty students, chosen from across the planes by roaming virtues. No one knows exactly what criteria the virtues use.
For planar travelers, the University is a good repository of general knowledge; if the scholarly virtues cannot help, they will likely know the way to a dominion that can. A particularly devoted character might even study at the University — perhaps a wizard's studies are conducted under the tutelage of a Syranian virtue, or a warlock's Celestial patron is their thesis advisor.
INSCRIPTION — ENGRAVED IN CELESTIAL ON THE OUTER WALL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SYRANIA. TRANSLATION BY ARCANIX FACULTY.
To know a thing is not to possess it. To study war is not to wage it. To contemplate sorrow is not to grieve. We are not the things we study. We are the act of understanding them.
The Immeasurable Market
While most planes are isolated from one another, commerce and peaceful interaction are defining aspects of Syrania. Most planes have back doors that lead to the Immeasurable Market. The crystal spire in the Open Sky is merely a gateway leading to an open marketplace that extends as far as the eye can see. To one side, a slaad haggles with a modron over the price of hippogriff eggs; to the other, a sly dao shows a Shavaran balor a selection of Fernia-forged blades. It is said that anything you can imagine — and many things you cannot — can be found in the Immeasurable Market.
The Market includes customers and merchants from across the planes, including the Material Plane; there are a few back doors hidden on Eberron, and those who find them can make extraordinary profits trading in exotic goods. The Market also includes a significant number of native immortals — angels who serve the Throne of Commerce, managing transactions and ensuring that the Market's rules are observed.
Not everything is priced in gold. Common currencies in the Market include precious metals and gems, memories, secrets, services, oaths, performances, exotic organs, and — rarely but not unheard of — souls. Oaths sworn in the Market carry considerable weight, and those who break their word may find themselves facing a tribunal in Daanvi. A merchant who accepts a soul as payment gains possession of that spirit upon the seller's death, preventing it from reaching Dolurrh and eliminating any possibility of resurrection unless the soul is reclaimed.
MERCHANT'S GUIDE — CIRCULATED AMONG SELECT MEMBERS OF HOUSE THARASHK AND THE AURUM. AUTHOR UNKNOWN. UNDATED.
If you have found a back door to the Immeasurable Market, you are either very lucky or very foolish, and in my experience, those are the same thing. Here is what you need to know.
First: you cannot fight there. The plane will not let you. Accept this. The slaad at the next stall who is selling what appears to be your mother's necklace cannot hurt you, and you cannot hurt it. Breathe. Negotiate. If you cannot negotiate, walk away. There are other stalls. There are always other stalls.
Second: not everything is priced in gold. The dao selling Fernian firebrand blades does not want your galifars. She wants a memory of your first kill, or the name of your firstborn child, or three drops of blood from a willing dragon. If the price sounds reasonable, you have not understood the price. Read the terms again. Read them a third time. Then read them once more.
Third: the angels are watching. They are always watching. They do not care about your profit margins. They care about their domains. If you purchase a weapon that falls within the domain of a dominion of war, that dominion may take an interest in where the weapon ends up. This is not necessarily a threat. It is not necessarily not a threat.
Fourth: guard your back door with your life. A merchant with reliable access to the Immeasurable Market can acquire goods that do not exist anywhere else in Eberron. This is worth more than gold. This is worth more than dragonmarks. Tell no one. If you must tell someone, tell them less than you know. If they find the door on their own, smile and welcome them as a competitor. Then find a new door.
The Last Resort
This small, elegant inn sits on a spire at the edge of the Open Sky. It caters to visitors from across the planes, offering comfortable rooms and excellent food. The Last Resort's primary attraction is its reputation as the safest place in existence for enemies to meet face-to-face, the literal bar at the end of world. Under the effects of Absolute Peace, even the most bitter rivals can sit across a table and negotiate without fear of violence — though the words exchanged at these meetings can sometimes be more dangerous than swords.
Denizens
Syrania is a curiously empty plane. While the Immeasurable Market is always bustling, most of that traffic comes from other planes. Syrania's own spires have comparatively few inhabitants — not so few as to feel desolate, but few enough that the plane always feels slow and peaceful. There is no need for anyone to perform menial tasks; damaged structures gradually repair themselves, and litter and debris slowly dissolve.
Angels
The native inhabitants of Syrania are winged humanoid immortals, collectively referred to as angels. Unlike the angels of other planes, most Syranian angels are neutral in alignment — they are not champions of justice or bringers of hope, but observers and scholars, defined entirely by their domain of study. Their appearance is influenced by that domain: the Dominion of Storms might be wreathed in lightning with wings of storm clouds, while the Dominion of Trees could have bark for skin and moss for hair.
Angels (the lowest order) have no names or domains. They serve as scribes, guides, and assistants, performing minor tasks. They do not engage in combat and are largely interchangeable.
Virtues are a higher order, with names and broad domains — Hazari, Virtue of Nature. They act as assistants and emissaries for the dominions, spending much of their time contemplating their domain while also gathering information: fetching records, interviewing visitors, or venturing beyond Syrania to observe discreetly. A dominion is always aware of everything that happens to its virtues and immediately receives all information they collect. Virtues can change their form to conceal their presence while gathering intelligence.
Dominions focus on a very specific aspect of a single domain — not just war, but swords; not just nature, but wolves. They have names, specific domains, and extra titles: Tezaria, Angel of the Storm, Dominion of the Seventh Spire. Each dominion seeks to achieve mastery of one pure concept. An angel of dreams understands dreams, can explain and interpret them, and can shape them if it chooses — but it is not a quori. An angel of war studies the art and theories of war — but it is not a soldier of Shavarath. Some believe that it is through this contemplation that the concept continues to exist, though most mortals and immortals consider this unlikely.
Thrones are the greatest angels of Syrania. There is a single throne for each domain, and each possesses profound knowledge of its entire domain. Thrones are known only by their domain — the Throne of War, the Throne of Commerce — and they are bound to all dominions whose studies fall within their purview, knowing everything experienced by those dominions. They largely remain in deep contemplation, acting only if Syrania itself is threatened or if a dominion succumbs to corruption. A throne has powers equal to or greater than a solar.
Many sages assume that the thrones are themselves tied to a still-greater force that knows everything they experience and shapes the plane itself. If such a force exists, it has never been identified.
Radiant Idols
Syranian virtues sometimes travel to the Material Plane to conduct research for their dominions, concealing their nature through magic or invisibility. Occasionally, a dominion itself ventures to Eberron, pursuing a lead or studying mortals directly. This venture is dangerous, for even angels fall.
Many sages believe that touching Eberron's ground makes angels vulnerable to the influence of Khyber and the overlords; others theorize that mortal worship — the positive energy that sustains the Undying Court — is like a drug to the dominions. Whatever the cause, dominions who interact with mortals run the risk of becoming corrupted. Such immortals crave mortal adoration and seek to dominate mortals by exercising the power of their sphere. Once corruption takes hold, there seems to be no way to undo it — even if the angel is destroyed and reforms, the corruption remains. These fallen dominions are stripped of the power of flight and condemned to walk the Material Plane as radiant idols: dangerous, beautiful, and deeply wrong.
Planar Manifestations on Eberron
Manifest Zones
Manifest zones tied to Syrania can reflect one or more of the plane's properties, often in limited forms. The manifest zone containing the city of Sharn has a lesser aspect of the Unburdened property — it does not grant true flight, but it enhances effects that allow flight or levitation, enabling the skycoaches and flying buttresses that support the towers. A zone with the Absolute Peace property might have a lower DC for the saving throw, or might encourage peaceful behavior without actively enforcing it. Temples are often built on Syranian zones with Absolute Peace, while universities and House Sivis search for zones with Universal Understanding.
Hidden across Eberron, there are a few portals leading directly to the Immeasurable Market. These take many forms: an actual door, a large chest, a shallow pool of water. A back door opens only under specific circumstances — when opened with a special key, at a certain time, when blood is spilled, or when a heart is broken. Most who discover these portals guard them jealously, for a merchant with reliable access to the Immeasurable Market can acquire goods that do not exist anywhere else.
Coterminous and Remote
When Syrania is coterminous, goodwill spreads across the world and people find it nearly impossible to contemplate violence. During the Last War, these periods brought welcome moments of peace — there are stories of enemy soldiers coming together to share stories or play games. The Absolute Peace and Gentle Thoughts properties apply worldwide, though if a creature is attacked or witnesses friends being harmed, it is freed from Absolute Peace for one minute. The influence of Syrania limits violence, but once conflict breaks out, it cannot stop it.
While coterminous, the skies are clear and the weather calm. It is believed that in a Syranian manifest zone during this time, you can fly into the Open Sky simply by flying straight up to the edge of the sky — though this may be apocryphal, and there is only one way to find out.
When Syrania is remote, the skies are gray and the sun cannot be seen. People feel quarrelsome. Diplomacy is harder. Outside Syranian manifest zones, all flying speeds are reduced by ten feet to a minimum of five feet — a dangerous prospect for the towers of Sharn, which depend on Syranian magic for their stability.
Traditionally, Syrania is coterminous on the ninth day of the month of Rhaan, once every ten years. Followers of the Sovereign Host celebrate this day every year as Boldrei's Feast, a time for people to come together and resolve grievances; the tenth-year coterminous celebrations are especially grand. Syrania is remote on the same day, five years later — still celebrated, as people make a conscious effort not to give in to anger.
Syranian Artifacts
Syrania's greatest treasure is the Immeasurable Market itself, with all manner of exotic goods available there. Many dominions are more interested in collecting relics tied to their domain than in creating them, but a few do both; the limits of what they produce are tied to their domain.
Other Syranian items are usually linked to the plane's universal properties. The power of Syrania enhances flight — there is a stall in the Market that sells wings of flying resembling angel wings. Items that encourage or enforce peace may come from Syrania, along with objects that enhance diplomatic ability. A ring that grants Universal Understanding, a cloak that imposes Gentle Thoughts on those nearby, a crystal that records and replays any language spoken in its presence — these are the treasures of a plane that has never needed a sword.