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48 thoughts on “Patron Preview: Ethereal Haunts and Borders”
What are the Ethereal Veil and the Border Ethereal like down in Khyber, whether in Material Plane Khyber caverns or in Khyber demiplanes?
What are the Ethereal Veil and the Border Ethereal like on the moons of Eberron?
Do the Ethereal Veil and the Border Ethereal have anything to do with the dreamspace?
What is the Border Ethereal like in the wild zones of Sarlona?
In your setup, if one creature enters the “Ethereal Plane” while a second creature enters the “Plane of Shadow,” both in the same location, would they both wind up in the Ethereal Veil?
That reminds me, I know they reprinted the 3e map of the Orrery of Planes in Rising that shows the Plane of Shadow, but is it still a thing? Most of the reasons it even existed have shifted around between editions.
I personally have never used the Plane of Shadow in a campaign. Exploring how I WOULD use it would be a different article, but I’d probably just split it up between the Ethereal Veil and Mabar.
I love the thought of hags having niche domains in the Veil.
Would Haunts know to avoid them on a preservation level, or maybe encouhters with ethereal night hags are an exception to their moments of repetition- for good or ill.
Amazing artcile, thanks Keith!
What are the Ethereal Veil and the Border Ethereal like in the feyspires?
As you might expect from this question and previous inquiries, I am a little worried that the Border Ethereal, specifically, might be redundant in areas that are already supposed to be overtly otherworldly.
Summing up…
Khyber Material: Ethereal Veil.
Khyber Demiplane: Ethereal Veil.
Dreamspace: Entirely unrelated.
Feyspires: Ethereal Veil.
Wild Zones: More difficult question, because the Wild Zone is already a projection of one plane into another. I’d say it would essentially be a Ethereal Veil in which objects are solid; it’s no STRANGER than the Wild Zone itself, but it has an Ethereal Presence.
Moons of Eberron: That depends on your interpretation of the moons.
Looking to Feyspires and Demiplanes, remember that in THE PLANES you mainly just have an Ethereal Veil. Most of the time, the Veil is just backstage of wherever you happen to be, whether that’s a Feyspire, a demiplane, or a castle. Manifest Zones in particular are stretched between, and that’s where you find the Borders.
In the final version of the article, it might help to use “the Ethereal Veil” as the general term, and use a different term to distinguish the “regular Ethereal Veil” from the Border Ethereal.
Are characters in the Ethereal Veil still capable of three-dimensional pseudo-flight?
Love the article!
I can already imagine an adventure like the time traveling level from Dishonored 2, but instead you are shifting between a Haunt and the material plane to navigate a space, maybe in a Dolurrh manifest zone to impede magic to prevent easy teleportation but make it easier to shift in and out of the ethereal.
My question is pretty tangential so I am not sure if this will get an answer here, but I am curious about what traveling to a “broken world” or previous version of Eberron would be like. Is it like a world-sized Haunt, or are the people there somewhat more aware? Have all the planes become remote for them without “the other planes worn as a crown” in the Maze of Realities model?
All planes are remote. Time doesn’t progress. You’ll have to decide if this means that the sun doesn’t move and water is frozen or if it’s a groundhog day situation where it keeps reliving the last moments. The intent is “Pretty apocalyptic.”
What do you see the role of Ethereal Plane native denizens being (ethergaunts, thought eaters, joystealers, etc.)? Would they be denizens traveling over from other planes or be a product of the place in between in your conception of the Ethereal Veil?
How would a phase spider (or veil spider) interact with the ethereal veil, would it be a strange native of the veil, or something magebreed on the material?
Fortunately it only harasses the Material for a short time before losing interest… because… it’s just a phase.
I’ll expand on creatures of the Veil in my next pass, but there’s no need for it to be magebred. The Veil is part of reality, just like air and water. Fish evolved to thrive in water, birds to take to the air; in Eberron, there’s no reason creatures like blink dogs and phase spiders wouldn’t be produced by the process of natural evolution in a supernatural world.
Now you got me exited on what strange and terrible monsters lurk in the ethereal.
Let me say it’s such a huge joy to finally see an article about the Ethereal. Believe it or not finding an answer to what it was in Eberron was the thing that caused me to find your blogs and become enraptured by Eberron as a campaign setting. It’s kinda like things have gone full circle for me. Thank you for your brilliant setting and for answering this question.
You’re welcome! Thanks for your support.
The thought that this brings me (also mentioned on Big Red) is twofold:
1) Are Wild Zones essentially where the ethereal has been “blown off” the connection between the Material and the plane in question?
2) Could reality storms, or aukraraks, happen everywhere, but only happen in the ethereal as a sort of “weather” there, with the Material feeling little more than “a warm day” or “I feel healthier today”?
Are Wild Zones essentially where the ethereal has been “blown off” the connection between the Material and the plane in question?
Yes, I think that’s a good way to look at it. Normally the planes intersect in the Ethereal and some of the effects leak out into the material. In a Wild Zone, the Veil has broken down and the plane has spilled out into the Material.
Could reality storms, or aukraraks, happen everywhere, but only happen in the ethereal as a sort of “weather” there, with the Material feeling little more than “a warm day” or “I feel healthier today”?
Definitely. I’ll expand on the general experience of the Veil in my next pass—including the creatures that dwell there—and this is a logical thing to add.
The thought occurs then that perhaps the Unmaker didn’t start unmaking the Material to create wild zones, but destroying the Ethereal Veil in Sarlona.
It should be noted that Aukuraks don’t just make the local weather “a warm day” or make you feel “a little healthier”.
Per Secrets of Sarlona pg.144, Fernian Reality Storms would cause “uncomfortable heat”, with embers and ash swirling around. Fire Spells were automatically given Enlarge and Enhanced Metamagics, while Cold Spells couldn’t be used at all. And this was accompanied by Storm conditions; either a Sandstorm, Snowstorm, or Thunderstorm depending on the environment, each with their own hazards (suffocating, freezing, or electrocution respectively).
I wouldn’t say that’s just “a little more” than a warm day. That’s a deadly day on the best of them
Would you reconcile what you’ve outlined on the Ethereal Plane as it relates to the “Eberron and the Multiverse” section of Eberron: Rising from the Last War, which says that Eberron’s cosmic system exists within the depths of Ethereal Plane?
Yes, I would; I’d say that it exists with the depths of the ASTRAL Plane. As I said at the start, with this approach, ignore everything you’ve heard about the Ethereal Plane.
It sounds like your idea of Ghosts and the Ethereal is very close at times to the Domains of Dread from Ravenloft. Is that intentional or a happenstance of shared narrative folklore inspirations?
Largely the latter? The main thing is that an Ethereal Haunt is far more casual than a Domain of Dread. The Haunt ghost is held by their own lingering issues, not trapped by a Dark Power. Haunts are typically smaller in scale; a Haunt could be a single building as opposed to a vast domain. And when it comes to adventurers, they can shift in and out of the Haunt with blink; it’s not as challenging as escaping the mists.
My DM’s Guild supplement Dread Metrol explores the idea of Eberron and Ravenloft. Haunts are usually more haunted house rather than a cursed county.
How common are radiant idols in the Border Ethereal between Sharn and Syrania? I think that if you had to spotlight any one Border Ethereal in particular, it should be this one, because it is the one Border Ethereal that players are most likely to interact with.
How common are radiant idols in the Border Ethereal between Sharn and Syrania?
There are no radiant idols in the Border Ethereal of Sharn. Radiant idols are cast into the material plane, and by default have no power that would allow them to cross the Veil. Keep in mind that even the angels seen in the skies of the Border Ethereal of Sharn are largely misty images of angels in Syrania; it’s not that there’s a large population of invisible angels.
I think that if you had to spotlight any one Border Ethereal in particular, it should be this one, because it is the one Border Ethereal that players are most likely to interact with.
This does make sense.
On this subject, is there a way for a character to distinguish between “misty images” of creatures on the other side of the Border Ethereal, and creatures that are actually in the Border Ethereal?
If a character is using a magical ability to peer into a Mabaran Border Ethereal, and they see a succubus/incubus, how can they distinguish between a succubus/incubus in Mabar and one that is actually in the Border Ethereal?
Is there a way for a character to distinguish between “misty images” of creatures on the other side of the Border Ethereal, and creatures that are actually in the Border Ethereal?
Sure! It’s not supposed to be a challenge. Creatures that are not present in the Border are literally misty images. They are cast in shades of gray and are translucent and ghostly. It could be tricky to tell with a ghost or a shadow as they’re already misty and translucent; either one could be mistaken for the echo of a creature on another plane. But if you’re looking at an incubus, the simple question is can you see through it? So in the case of the Syranian angels, you can see them circling in the sky, but if you get close to one it’s quickly obvious that it’s an echo and not physically present.
Would see invisibility the spell be a magewright spell of a exorcist, as it’s ability to see into the ethereal would be useful in haunts? And also for a counter-espionage from those that do use the ethereal for such ends, such as night hags/fiends/dragons.
The Mark of Shadow’s powers of illusion in 3.5 were enmeshed in the 3e lore about the Plane of Shadow; would you move those connections to the Ethereal Veil in a more modern take on the cosmology?
Yup. From the article, “there are some scholars who believe that many illusion spells function by shaping the Veil and pull it into reality.”
I could see it named the shadow veil (by phiarlan). As it’s in the shadow of other planes. (also a bit spooky)
Maybe the elvish word for “Shadow” and “Ethereal” is the same, so different approaches to understanding the same meaning.
Under your manifest moons model (i.e. the one you use in your Spelljammer in Eberron article), do the moons still have an Ethereal Veil and/or a Border Ethereal, if the moons are essentially wild zones?
In this article, you say, “In the Border of Sharn, the Unburdened property is in effect and all creatures can fly.” Does this mean that movement is not, in fact, freely three-dimensional in the Ethereal Veil and the Border Ethereal?
In the Veil movement is three-dimensional; in most Haunts and Borders, it’s not. Just as you can’t walk through walls in a Haunt, you also can’t walk on the air.
Since you mention Sul Khatesh and her Court of Shadows in this article, might the Ethereal Veil have anything to do with the Court of Shadows? Its members claim to perceive some sort of shadow kingdom beyond reality, after all.
Are there any holes in Ethereal coverage, places that for some reason the Veil cannot reach (not because they are covered by Ethereal solids; places were the plane just doesn’t concur with the Material/Planes)?
Not generally. Remember, in this model the Ethereal isn’t a separate plane that intersects, it’s an extension of each plane—every plane has its own Veil, and the Border Ethereal is what happens when two Veils intersect. The one place I’ve suggested it is the Wild Zones of Sarlona, where the idea is that the Veil has been ripped away and the planes directly collide.
This implies the Veil acts as a buffer protecting planes from each other. Which suggests interesting things about the Mournland, which I have often envisioned as a sort of collision of planes.
Which in turn got me wondering whether the Veil would be present in the Mournland, or what the Veil would look like if it was present.
Could you please clarify the following two points in this article?
“The Feywild is a term that could be used to describe Thelanian Borders.”
“The Wild Zones of Sarlona are exceptionally powerful manifest zones—often described as planar beachheads. My personal inclination is that Wild Zones don’t have Ethereal Borders—that the reason they are wild is that the Border Ethereal normally acts as a buffer between the planes, but has here collapsed and fused them directly together.”
In Exploring Eberron, p. 196, you say, “Many feyspires serve as planar beachheads; they are tied to specific manifest zones in Eberron, and when the time is right, they can slip into Eberron for a short time.”
How do feyspires in the Material Plane work, then? Do they have a conventional Ethereal Veil? Do they have a Border Ethereal keyed to Thelanis (i.e. a “Feywild”-type Border Ethereal)? Do they effectively function as wild zones, with effectively no Ethereal?
“Many feyspires serve as planar beachheads; they are tied to specific manifest zones in Eberron, and when the time is right, they can slip into Eberron for a short time.”
I’ve bolded the key word here. Traveling feyspires are already tied to manifest zones. Therefore, they will have a Border Ethereal. However, the answer is CLOSE to wild zones. It’s not that they have NO Ethereal; it’s that the Ethereal is effectively indistinguishable from the material. I’ve said that Thelanian Borders have a story. Around a feyspire, the story of the Border is the story of the Feyspire. The Border doesn’t have a separate anchor; the spire is its anchor. The main difference is that the Border likely doesn’t have inhabitants. So if you’re in Shae Loralyndar and you cross the Veil with Blink, you’ll find yourself in the same room, with everything just as vivid—no gray shadows—but that there’s no creatures around. Creatures in the material will still be visible as echoes; there’s just no creatures in the Veil, unless they also blink. It’s literally like stepping backstage; the walls are still there, but you’re avoiding the actors.
Aside from standouts like Jaela Daran and Mordain the Fleshweaver, are there mortal humanoid spellcasters in Khorvaire who can actually cast 7th-level Etherealness (previously known as 7th-level Ethereal Jaunt)?
In Exploring Eberron, p. 25, you mention that “Magical effects of 6th level or higher are usually the product of more advanced civilizations.” However, in your January 2021 article on wizard circles, you mention that there are exceptional wizards in Arcanix who can cast Teleport, a 7th-level spell.
How does this apply to 7th-level Etherealness, then? Can it be cast by those same wizards in Arcanix who can cast 7th-level Teleport? What about truly exceptional, Siberys-marked Orien scions?
How does this apply to 7th-level Etherealness, then? Can it be cast by those same wizards in Arcanix who can cast 7th-level Teleport? What about truly exceptional, Siberys-marked Orien scions?
So first off, something I’ve brought up before is that in my campaign, NPCs often don’t cast spells in the same way as a player character. There are mages in Arcanix who can cast teleport—but they might cast it as a ritual that takes ten minute to cast and three spellcasters working together. The spells used by player characters reflect the needs of player characters—notably the common requirement of being able to cast a spell in six seconds. Most of the professors at Arcanix are more like advanced magewrights than Wizards. They may be able to produce effects a player character can’t, but they may be bound by limitations the player character ignores.
I’ve called out in this article that both the Guild of Endless Doors and the Twelve are working to find new techniques to cross the Veil. If you’d like it to happen in your game, one of them might discover an expensive ritual that duplicates the effects of Etherealness, or Orien might develop a focus item allowing a Siberys-marked heir to cast it. But I wouldn’t just say that Orien now has a corps of 13th-level wizards.
Both 4e and 5e have “the Elemental Chaos” as a concept. What does “the Elemental Chaos” refer to here? Borders Ethereal of Fernia, Kythri, Risia?
What does “the Elemental Chaos” refer to here?
Nothing; I don’t see the Elemental Chaos as having a direct parallel in Eberron. Comparing Mabaran and Thelanian borders to the Feywild and Shadowfell makes sense because they serve a similar role; the 5E Shadowfell specifically calls out that “Landmarks from the Material Plane are recognizable on the Shadowfell”—that it’s a close reflection of reality. The 5E Elemental Chaos is where “the pure elements dissolve and bleed together into an unending tumult of clashing energies and colliding substance”—that’s nothing like the Fernian Border I suggest here, where you’re still in the forest that exists in the Material, but the trees are on fire.
Not everything has a direct parallel. In Eberron, the role of the Elemental Chaos is primarily divided up between Kythri, Lamannia, and Fernia, with a little overlap with other planes. In many ways Risia is the antithesis of the Elemental Chaos, since it embodies stagnation and preservation.
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What are the Ethereal Veil and the Border Ethereal like down in Khyber, whether in Material Plane Khyber caverns or in Khyber demiplanes?
What are the Ethereal Veil and the Border Ethereal like on the moons of Eberron?
Do the Ethereal Veil and the Border Ethereal have anything to do with the dreamspace?
What is the Border Ethereal like in the wild zones of Sarlona?
In your setup, if one creature enters the “Ethereal Plane” while a second creature enters the “Plane of Shadow,” both in the same location, would they both wind up in the Ethereal Veil?
That reminds me, I know they reprinted the 3e map of the Orrery of Planes in Rising that shows the Plane of Shadow, but is it still a thing? Most of the reasons it even existed have shifted around between editions.
I personally have never used the Plane of Shadow in a campaign. Exploring how I WOULD use it would be a different article, but I’d probably just split it up between the Ethereal Veil and Mabar.
I love the thought of hags having niche domains in the Veil.
Would Haunts know to avoid them on a preservation level, or maybe encouhters with ethereal night hags are an exception to their moments of repetition- for good or ill.
Amazing artcile, thanks Keith!
What are the Ethereal Veil and the Border Ethereal like in the feyspires?
As you might expect from this question and previous inquiries, I am a little worried that the Border Ethereal, specifically, might be redundant in areas that are already supposed to be overtly otherworldly.
Summing up…
Khyber Material: Ethereal Veil.
Khyber Demiplane: Ethereal Veil.
Dreamspace: Entirely unrelated.
Feyspires: Ethereal Veil.
Wild Zones: More difficult question, because the Wild Zone is already a projection of one plane into another. I’d say it would essentially be a Ethereal Veil in which objects are solid; it’s no STRANGER than the Wild Zone itself, but it has an Ethereal Presence.
Moons of Eberron: That depends on your interpretation of the moons.
Looking to Feyspires and Demiplanes, remember that in THE PLANES you mainly just have an Ethereal Veil. Most of the time, the Veil is just backstage of wherever you happen to be, whether that’s a Feyspire, a demiplane, or a castle. Manifest Zones in particular are stretched between, and that’s where you find the Borders.
In the final version of the article, it might help to use “the Ethereal Veil” as the general term, and use a different term to distinguish the “regular Ethereal Veil” from the Border Ethereal.
Are characters in the Ethereal Veil still capable of three-dimensional pseudo-flight?
Love the article!
I can already imagine an adventure like the time traveling level from Dishonored 2, but instead you are shifting between a Haunt and the material plane to navigate a space, maybe in a Dolurrh manifest zone to impede magic to prevent easy teleportation but make it easier to shift in and out of the ethereal.
My question is pretty tangential so I am not sure if this will get an answer here, but I am curious about what traveling to a “broken world” or previous version of Eberron would be like. Is it like a world-sized Haunt, or are the people there somewhat more aware? Have all the planes become remote for them without “the other planes worn as a crown” in the Maze of Realities model?
All planes are remote. Time doesn’t progress. You’ll have to decide if this means that the sun doesn’t move and water is frozen or if it’s a groundhog day situation where it keeps reliving the last moments. The intent is “Pretty apocalyptic.”
What do you see the role of Ethereal Plane native denizens being (ethergaunts, thought eaters, joystealers, etc.)? Would they be denizens traveling over from other planes or be a product of the place in between in your conception of the Ethereal Veil?
How would a phase spider (or veil spider) interact with the ethereal veil, would it be a strange native of the veil, or something magebreed on the material?
Fortunately it only harasses the Material for a short time before losing interest… because… it’s just a phase.
I’ll expand on creatures of the Veil in my next pass, but there’s no need for it to be magebred. The Veil is part of reality, just like air and water. Fish evolved to thrive in water, birds to take to the air; in Eberron, there’s no reason creatures like blink dogs and phase spiders wouldn’t be produced by the process of natural evolution in a supernatural world.
Now you got me exited on what strange and terrible monsters lurk in the ethereal.
Let me say it’s such a huge joy to finally see an article about the Ethereal. Believe it or not finding an answer to what it was in Eberron was the thing that caused me to find your blogs and become enraptured by Eberron as a campaign setting. It’s kinda like things have gone full circle for me. Thank you for your brilliant setting and for answering this question.
You’re welcome! Thanks for your support.
The thought that this brings me (also mentioned on Big Red) is twofold:
1) Are Wild Zones essentially where the ethereal has been “blown off” the connection between the Material and the plane in question?
2) Could reality storms, or aukraraks, happen everywhere, but only happen in the ethereal as a sort of “weather” there, with the Material feeling little more than “a warm day” or “I feel healthier today”?
Are Wild Zones essentially where the ethereal has been “blown off” the connection between the Material and the plane in question?
Yes, I think that’s a good way to look at it. Normally the planes intersect in the Ethereal and some of the effects leak out into the material. In a Wild Zone, the Veil has broken down and the plane has spilled out into the Material.
Could reality storms, or aukraraks, happen everywhere, but only happen in the ethereal as a sort of “weather” there, with the Material feeling little more than “a warm day” or “I feel healthier today”?
Definitely. I’ll expand on the general experience of the Veil in my next pass—including the creatures that dwell there—and this is a logical thing to add.
The thought occurs then that perhaps the Unmaker didn’t start unmaking the Material to create wild zones, but destroying the Ethereal Veil in Sarlona.
It should be noted that Aukuraks don’t just make the local weather “a warm day” or make you feel “a little healthier”.
Per Secrets of Sarlona pg.144, Fernian Reality Storms would cause “uncomfortable heat”, with embers and ash swirling around. Fire Spells were automatically given Enlarge and Enhanced Metamagics, while Cold Spells couldn’t be used at all. And this was accompanied by Storm conditions; either a Sandstorm, Snowstorm, or Thunderstorm depending on the environment, each with their own hazards (suffocating, freezing, or electrocution respectively).
I wouldn’t say that’s just “a little more” than a warm day. That’s a deadly day on the best of them
Would you reconcile what you’ve outlined on the Ethereal Plane as it relates to the “Eberron and the Multiverse” section of Eberron: Rising from the Last War, which says that Eberron’s cosmic system exists within the depths of Ethereal Plane?
Yes, I would; I’d say that it exists with the depths of the ASTRAL Plane. As I said at the start, with this approach, ignore everything you’ve heard about the Ethereal Plane.
It sounds like your idea of Ghosts and the Ethereal is very close at times to the Domains of Dread from Ravenloft. Is that intentional or a happenstance of shared narrative folklore inspirations?
Largely the latter? The main thing is that an Ethereal Haunt is far more casual than a Domain of Dread. The Haunt ghost is held by their own lingering issues, not trapped by a Dark Power. Haunts are typically smaller in scale; a Haunt could be a single building as opposed to a vast domain. And when it comes to adventurers, they can shift in and out of the Haunt with blink; it’s not as challenging as escaping the mists.
My DM’s Guild supplement Dread Metrol explores the idea of Eberron and Ravenloft. Haunts are usually more haunted house rather than a cursed county.
How common are radiant idols in the Border Ethereal between Sharn and Syrania? I think that if you had to spotlight any one Border Ethereal in particular, it should be this one, because it is the one Border Ethereal that players are most likely to interact with.
How common are radiant idols in the Border Ethereal between Sharn and Syrania?
There are no radiant idols in the Border Ethereal of Sharn. Radiant idols are cast into the material plane, and by default have no power that would allow them to cross the Veil. Keep in mind that even the angels seen in the skies of the Border Ethereal of Sharn are largely misty images of angels in Syrania; it’s not that there’s a large population of invisible angels.
I think that if you had to spotlight any one Border Ethereal in particular, it should be this one, because it is the one Border Ethereal that players are most likely to interact with.
This does make sense.
On this subject, is there a way for a character to distinguish between “misty images” of creatures on the other side of the Border Ethereal, and creatures that are actually in the Border Ethereal?
If a character is using a magical ability to peer into a Mabaran Border Ethereal, and they see a succubus/incubus, how can they distinguish between a succubus/incubus in Mabar and one that is actually in the Border Ethereal?
Is there a way for a character to distinguish between “misty images” of creatures on the other side of the Border Ethereal, and creatures that are actually in the Border Ethereal?
Sure! It’s not supposed to be a challenge. Creatures that are not present in the Border are literally misty images. They are cast in shades of gray and are translucent and ghostly. It could be tricky to tell with a ghost or a shadow as they’re already misty and translucent; either one could be mistaken for the echo of a creature on another plane. But if you’re looking at an incubus, the simple question is can you see through it? So in the case of the Syranian angels, you can see them circling in the sky, but if you get close to one it’s quickly obvious that it’s an echo and not physically present.
Would see invisibility the spell be a magewright spell of a exorcist, as it’s ability to see into the ethereal would be useful in haunts? And also for a counter-espionage from those that do use the ethereal for such ends, such as night hags/fiends/dragons.
The Mark of Shadow’s powers of illusion in 3.5 were enmeshed in the 3e lore about the Plane of Shadow; would you move those connections to the Ethereal Veil in a more modern take on the cosmology?
Yup. From the article, “there are some scholars who believe that many illusion spells function by shaping the Veil and pull it into reality.”
I could see it named the shadow veil (by phiarlan). As it’s in the shadow of other planes. (also a bit spooky)
Maybe the elvish word for “Shadow” and “Ethereal” is the same, so different approaches to understanding the same meaning.
Under your manifest moons model (i.e. the one you use in your Spelljammer in Eberron article), do the moons still have an Ethereal Veil and/or a Border Ethereal, if the moons are essentially wild zones?
In this article, you say, “In the Border of Sharn, the Unburdened property is in effect and all creatures can fly.” Does this mean that movement is not, in fact, freely three-dimensional in the Ethereal Veil and the Border Ethereal?
In the Veil movement is three-dimensional; in most Haunts and Borders, it’s not. Just as you can’t walk through walls in a Haunt, you also can’t walk on the air.
Since you mention Sul Khatesh and her Court of Shadows in this article, might the Ethereal Veil have anything to do with the Court of Shadows? Its members claim to perceive some sort of shadow kingdom beyond reality, after all.
Are there any holes in Ethereal coverage, places that for some reason the Veil cannot reach (not because they are covered by Ethereal solids; places were the plane just doesn’t concur with the Material/Planes)?
Not generally. Remember, in this model the Ethereal isn’t a separate plane that intersects, it’s an extension of each plane—every plane has its own Veil, and the Border Ethereal is what happens when two Veils intersect. The one place I’ve suggested it is the Wild Zones of Sarlona, where the idea is that the Veil has been ripped away and the planes directly collide.
This implies the Veil acts as a buffer protecting planes from each other. Which suggests interesting things about the Mournland, which I have often envisioned as a sort of collision of planes.
Which in turn got me wondering whether the Veil would be present in the Mournland, or what the Veil would look like if it was present.
Could you please clarify the following two points in this article?
“The Feywild is a term that could be used to describe Thelanian Borders.”
“The Wild Zones of Sarlona are exceptionally powerful manifest zones—often described as planar beachheads. My personal inclination is that Wild Zones don’t have Ethereal Borders—that the reason they are wild is that the Border Ethereal normally acts as a buffer between the planes, but has here collapsed and fused them directly together.”
In Exploring Eberron, p. 196, you say, “Many feyspires serve as planar beachheads; they are tied to specific manifest zones in Eberron, and when the time is right, they can slip into Eberron for a short time.”
How do feyspires in the Material Plane work, then? Do they have a conventional Ethereal Veil? Do they have a Border Ethereal keyed to Thelanis (i.e. a “Feywild”-type Border Ethereal)? Do they effectively function as wild zones, with effectively no Ethereal?
“Many feyspires serve as planar beachheads; they are tied to specific manifest zones in Eberron, and when the time is right, they can slip into Eberron for a short time.”
I’ve bolded the key word here. Traveling feyspires are already tied to manifest zones. Therefore, they will have a Border Ethereal. However, the answer is CLOSE to wild zones. It’s not that they have NO Ethereal; it’s that the Ethereal is effectively indistinguishable from the material. I’ve said that Thelanian Borders have a story. Around a feyspire, the story of the Border is the story of the Feyspire. The Border doesn’t have a separate anchor; the spire is its anchor. The main difference is that the Border likely doesn’t have inhabitants. So if you’re in Shae Loralyndar and you cross the Veil with Blink, you’ll find yourself in the same room, with everything just as vivid—no gray shadows—but that there’s no creatures around. Creatures in the material will still be visible as echoes; there’s just no creatures in the Veil, unless they also blink. It’s literally like stepping backstage; the walls are still there, but you’re avoiding the actors.
Aside from standouts like Jaela Daran and Mordain the Fleshweaver, are there mortal humanoid spellcasters in Khorvaire who can actually cast 7th-level Etherealness (previously known as 7th-level Ethereal Jaunt)?
In Exploring Eberron, p. 25, you mention that “Magical effects of 6th level or higher are usually the product of more advanced civilizations.” However, in your January 2021 article on wizard circles, you mention that there are exceptional wizards in Arcanix who can cast Teleport, a 7th-level spell.
How does this apply to 7th-level Etherealness, then? Can it be cast by those same wizards in Arcanix who can cast 7th-level Teleport? What about truly exceptional, Siberys-marked Orien scions?
How does this apply to 7th-level Etherealness, then? Can it be cast by those same wizards in Arcanix who can cast 7th-level Teleport? What about truly exceptional, Siberys-marked Orien scions?
So first off, something I’ve brought up before is that in my campaign, NPCs often don’t cast spells in the same way as a player character. There are mages in Arcanix who can cast teleport—but they might cast it as a ritual that takes ten minute to cast and three spellcasters working together. The spells used by player characters reflect the needs of player characters—notably the common requirement of being able to cast a spell in six seconds. Most of the professors at Arcanix are more like advanced magewrights than Wizards. They may be able to produce effects a player character can’t, but they may be bound by limitations the player character ignores.
I’ve called out in this article that both the Guild of Endless Doors and the Twelve are working to find new techniques to cross the Veil. If you’d like it to happen in your game, one of them might discover an expensive ritual that duplicates the effects of Etherealness, or Orien might develop a focus item allowing a Siberys-marked heir to cast it. But I wouldn’t just say that Orien now has a corps of 13th-level wizards.
Both 4e and 5e have “the Elemental Chaos” as a concept. What does “the Elemental Chaos” refer to here? Borders Ethereal of Fernia, Kythri, Risia?
What does “the Elemental Chaos” refer to here?
Nothing; I don’t see the Elemental Chaos as having a direct parallel in Eberron. Comparing Mabaran and Thelanian borders to the Feywild and Shadowfell makes sense because they serve a similar role; the 5E Shadowfell specifically calls out that “Landmarks from the Material Plane are recognizable on the Shadowfell”—that it’s a close reflection of reality. The 5E Elemental Chaos is where “the pure elements dissolve and bleed together into an unending tumult of clashing energies and colliding substance”—that’s nothing like the Fernian Border I suggest here, where you’re still in the forest that exists in the Material, but the trees are on fire.
Not everything has a direct parallel. In Eberron, the role of the Elemental Chaos is primarily divided up between Kythri, Lamannia, and Fernia, with a little overlap with other planes. In many ways Risia is the antithesis of the Elemental Chaos, since it embodies stagnation and preservation.