Where the planes press close to the world, the world presses back — and sometimes the world is a person
Planetouched are not a people in the way that elves, dwarves, or halflings are a people. They do not share a common history, a homeland, a language, or a culture. What they share is a condition: the imprint of one of Eberron's thirteen planes on a mortal body, producing individuals whose appearance, abilities, and instincts are shaped by forces beyond the material world. The term "planetouched" is a scholarly category — useful for classification, but papering over the fact that a Fernian tiefling from the Demon Wastes, an Irian aasimar born in a Thranish manifest zone, and a Lamannian genasi raised in the Eldeen Reaches have virtually nothing in common except being unusual.
In Eberron, planetouched do not descend from unions between mortals and celestials or fiends in the way that other settings describe. They are products of the cosmology itself — born when planar influence saturates a person at a critical moment, whether through the ambient power of a manifest zone, a direct interaction with a planar entity, or the lingering effects of an ancestor's bargain with forces beyond the material world. A child conceived in a Fernian manifest zone during a coterminous period might be born with crimson skin and eyes of cold flame. A warrior who survived a near-death experience in a Mabaran zone might produce children with shadow-touched features for generations. A family of warlocks who made pacts with fiendish powers in ancient Sarlona might pass their tiefling nature down through centuries of blood. The mechanism varies; the result is a person who carries a piece of another plane inside them, whether they want to or not.
FROM THE PLANAR CODEX — DORIUS ALYRE IR'KORRAN, MORGRAVE UNIVERSITY "The cosmology of Eberron is not distant. Thirteen planes orbit the material world in a vast dance of convergence and withdrawal, and where they press close — in the manifest zones that dot every continent — their influence seeps into soil, stone, air, and flesh. Most people who live near a manifest zone experience this influence as ambience: the Shavarath zone makes the locals quarrelsome, the Lamannian zone makes the crops grow tall, the Mabaran zone makes the winters feel longer and the nights feel heavier. But occasionally the influence goes deeper. A child is born with fire in their veins, or shadow under their skin, or the precise, crystalline logic of a celestial order woven into their thoughts. The planes do not ask permission."
Planetouched are organised here by type — aasimar, tieflings, and genasi — but the more meaningful distinction is usually by origin, since the plane that touched you determines your nature far more than the category you fall into.
Aasimar are touched by the positive or celestial aspects of a plane, imbued with a fragment of immortal essence that marks them as something more — or at least something different — than the mortal they might otherwise have been.
Tieflings are touched by the malevolent or destructive aspects of a plane. The most numerous tiefling population in Eberron is the Venomous Demesne, a hidden city-state in western Droaam populated by the descendants of Sarlonan refugees from the ancient kingdom of Ohr Kaluun.
Genasi are the rarest of the planetouched — purely elemental, touched by the raw substance of a plane without the celestial or fiendish colouring that defines aasimar and tieflings. A genasi is neither blessed nor cursed; they are a remarkable mutation, a mortal body infused with elemental force.
Planetouched do not share a faith. Their spiritual lives are shaped by the communities that raised them and by the nature of the plane that touched them. A Silver Flame aasimar may be the most devout Thranish templar in their diocese. A Venomous Demesne tiefling practises the warlock traditions of Ohr Kaluun. A Carrion Tribe tiefling worships an Overlord. A Daanvi aasimar might follow no religion at all, relying instead on the celestial logic that suffuses their thoughts. A genasi born in the Eldeen Reaches might be drawn to druidic traditions.
The one common thread is the guide — the planar entity whose influence shapes the planetouched individual. For aasimar, this guide is often an active presence: a celestial voice that communicates through dreams, urging the aasimar toward specific behaviours or goals. For tieflings, the connection is usually less direct — more an inherited inclination than a conversation — though Demesne tieflings whose families maintain active warlock pacts may have patrons who take a very personal interest. For genasi, there is typically no guide at all; the elemental force is impersonal, a condition rather than a relationship.
THRANISH PARISH RECORD — VILLAGE OF ASHENVEIL, SOUTHEAST THRANE Recorded by Prelate Dorin Vassal, 993 YK. Twins born to Aldren and Sera Torvaine, 14th of Olarune. The boy is healthy and unremarkable. The girl has eyes the colour of ember and hair that does not burn but glows faintly in darkness. The midwife was alarmed. I have assured the family that manifest zone births are uncommon but not unnatural, and that the Silver Flame makes no distinction between the souls of the touched and the untouched. I have written to the Cathedral for guidance nonetheless.
Planetouched are rare enough in the Five Nations that most citizens have never met one. Those who have tend to react based on the specific type rather than the category: an aasimar who reveals rainbow wings in Thrane will be welcomed with reverence; a tiefling with horns and ember eyes will attract wariness in the same town. Eberron is a world of wide diversity — people deal with dozens of different peoples daily — and a planetouched individual is more likely to be a subject of curiosity than of persecution. But curiosity has its own burdens, and a planetouched person who wants to live quietly will find it difficult when their appearance advertises their nature with every step.