Eberron Q&A Thread: By Popular Demand

[Fable Wright]

I dont have a problem with dragon mark I just have problem with pompus egomaniac rulers with int 3 ruling kingdoms like they are some thing

Cannith does not rule kingdoms, none in any position of power have int 3, and they're currently in a rather shabby state of disrepair at the moment.

well this is why I use dc 5 on knowledge check

...No, that kind of rumor would not be found on a DC 5 knowledge check. A DC 5 knowledge check is something 50% of all Sarlonan farmers and Aundairian elves would know; the existence of House Cannith itself is closer to a DC 5 check.

Another weird one: I know that Prince Rygar ir'Wynarn claims to be an heir to the throne, and I *think* I remember Sebastes ir'Kesslan claiming something similar in Q'Barra, but has anything official backed that up beyond a few lines of possible rumors or claims in the books?

To my knowledge, they do not. Given that Sebastes ir'Kesslan was a Cyran refugee and not ruling his country, though, it's unlikely that he was actually an heir to the throne, and while Rygar ir'Wynarn does have the royal last name, it's unclear whether he actually has the genealogical tree to back it up.

[Regitnui]

To my knowledge, they do not. Given that Sebastes ir'Kesslan was a Cyran refugee and not ruling his country, though, it's unlikely that he was actually an heir to the throne, and while Rygar ir'Wynarn does have the royal last name, it's unclear whether he actually has the genealogical tree to back it up.

I've actually researched this; no, there is no conclusive proof of Rygar being a long-lost scion of the Wyrnarn family. However, in my game, he is, but so far removed that he couldn't even claim land anywhere. Sort of like the great-great-grandchild of Jarot's sixth sibling who got forgotten about shortly after Jarot gained the throne. However, his megalomania is fueled by something other than his assumed heritage...

[CowardlyPaladin]

1) You previously mentioned that the Path of Light is about living up to the ideals of the Quori spirit, could you elaborate what those ideals are
2) So Rakasha aren't Outsiders in the standard D&D/Planescape sense, instead they are the products of Khyber, and Courtials are the product of the one in the sky (Sybris?) What are the product of the beings from Ebberron? And if these primordial dragons embody Sky, Earth, and Under earth respectively, what kind of goals do their children have?
3) So if the Rajahs ever got free, they wouldn't make any effort to take over the world, they would just sort of puntz around and by virtue of doing that would make mortal life almost unberable?
4) Do the Lords of Dust infight? Do they make alliances with other evil outsiders or is this a Rakasha party only?
5) If they are related to Khyber, do the Cults of the Dragon Below operate with the Lords of Dust?


Also why are the Aurum the setting's punchline?

[Dragolord]

1) You previously mentioned that the Path of Light is about living up to the ideals of the Quori spirit, could you elaborate what those ideals are
2) So Rakasha aren't Outsiders in the standard D&D/Planescape sense, instead they are the products of Khyber, and Courtials are the product of the one in the sky (Sybris?) What are the product of the beings from Ebberron? And if these primordial dragons embody Sky, Earth, and Under earth respectively, what kind of goals do their children have?
3) So if the Rajahs ever got free, they wouldn't make any effort to take over the world, they would just sort of puntz around and by virtue of doing that would make mortal life almost unberable?
4) Do the Lords of Dust infight? Do they make alliances with other evil outsiders or is this a Rakasha party only?
5) If they are related to Khyber, do the Cults of the Dragon Below operate with the Lords of Dust?


Also why are the Aurum the setting's punchline?

In brief?
1. Essentially, the Path of Light is about doing good, defending the innocent, and trying to get rid of the Inspired. There are 69 Kalashtar spirits, so the exact details vary, but those are the essentials.
2. Eberron became the world. Everything that came from it, from Giants to Halflings, are her children, just as every monster is one of Khyber's. Their goals vary, but Khyber's spawn want to rule everything, Siberys's want to defend the world from their devil cousins, and Eberron's just want to live and fight amongst themselves.
3. If a Rajah is freed, then it's presence will corrupt the area, yes, but most of them would want to take more direct action, as well. It wouldn't be hard for them to take over the world again, but it wouldn't be easy. The dragons could probably defeat a single Overlord, anyway.
4. The Overlords aren't actually rakshasas themselves. It's just a title, as they personally ruled the real rakshasa. They rule supreme over all evil beings, which includes all evil outsiders.
5. The Cults of the Dragon Below are insane to the last man, each in their own special way. As such, they can work with anyone and anything. The Lords of Dust, Daelkyr, Inspired, the Blood of Vol, et cetera. They may not even be aware of it.
As for your last point, I'm not entirely sure what you meant, but the Aurum can conceivably be involved in anything, and any important NPC could be a member. As such, they can be worked into almost any campaign.

[CowardlyPaladin]

My head cannon for what happened with the Day of Mourning was all of the schemes...at the same time.

Spoiler

Show

It was a super weapon being devolved by the Queen which was activated at the exact same time as the other 4 nations sent a series of super weapons against them. Meanwhile several Dragonmarked houses were involved in some needlessly complicated and highly dangerous magical experiment, unknowingly working right next door to a Group of Dreaming Dark Agents setting up a powerful ritual that would bind everybody's dreams to the Quari, and a third building in the area Housed a band of Vol cultists who were trying to recreate the Mark of Death. Around this time, a Daelkar decided to cause chaos for the LOLZ, just as some of the Lords of Dust were trying to unlock the Overlords using the souls of those killed in the war. A rogue Giant hiding in a swamp hoped to finish the ritual that led to the destruction of Xen'drick, while the a cabal of Night Hages hoped to create a plague that would wipe out all non "monster" races, while a band of 10 Dragons were secretly trying to decipher a fragment of the prophecy in the heart of the nation using magic. Meanwhile a pacifist sect in the nation hoped to create a bunch of Walls of Force to buy the nation time to negotiate a truce. This all would of worked out fine, but at that exact moment an absent minded gnome bartender thought this was the exact time to mix a new type of drink and...well you know the rest

Follow up to my questions

1) Ok, but does the Path of Light have any tenants beyond generic goodness? I know that meditation is a bit part of the faith, who does that manifest?
2) Ok, so what exactly are the goals of the non Ebberon Dragons? Khyber from what I can tell is just kind of a jerk, which is odd in a setting that seems to be about moral ambiguity, while his sister is just sort of nice. What does Khyber want beyond destroying and corrupting everything? What does his sister stand for beyond "not letting Khyber do that." Well she is dead, but her spawn...you know what I mean
3) So What exactly are the Rajah? They serve Khyber and are its creepy children, but they aren't Rakasha?
4) I thought only Night Hags and Rakasha came from Khyber, the Demons/Devils seemed to be more confined to the planes like the Quori but less interested in the affairs of mortals
5) This isn't a follow up question, but just a general question, how do Night Hags work in this setting, they are said to be spawn of Khyber like the Rakasha, but they don't seem to be nearly as nihilistically awful, and isn't a coven of them running a nation now?

[Dragolord]

Follow up to my questions

1) Ok, but does the Path of Light have any tenants beyond generic goodness? I know that meditation is a bit part of the faith, who does that manifest?
2) Ok, so what exactly are the goals of the non Ebberon Dragons? Khyber from what I can tell is just kind of a jerk, which is odd in a setting that seems to be about moral ambiguity, while his sister is just sort of nice. What does Khyber want beyond destroying and corrupting everything? What does his sister stand for beyond "not letting Khyber do that." Well she is dead, but her spawn...you know what I mean
3) So What exactly are the Rajah? They serve Khyber and are its creepy children, but they aren't Rakasha?
4) I thought only Night Hags and Rakasha came from Khyber, the Demons/Devils seemed to be more confined to the planes like the Quori but less interested in the affairs of mortals
5) This isn't a follow up question, but just a general question, how do Night Hags work in this setting, they are said to be spawn of Khyber like the Rakasha, but they don't seem to be nearly as nihilistically awful, and isn't a coven of them running a nation now?

1. They meditate and perform rituals because they believe that by doing so, they are speeding up turning of the ages, and coming closer to destroying the Inspired and their Quori. The tenets of the faith are to be good people, essentially.
2. I'm not entirely sure where you're getting this. The Primordial Dragons don't have any goals whatsoever. Siberys is actually dead, and his sisters became Eberron and the Underdark, respectively. That isn't metaphorical. Eberron is literally the remains of a vast dragon. If they're aware of anything, they certainly aren't trying to do something.
3. Incredibly, incredibly, powerful and evil beings. As I said, the rakshasa serve them, so they are often known as the rakshasa Rajahs, but they're far more than them. It's the difference between Sauron and Durin's Bane.
4. If it's evil, it came from Khyber. Khyber made most of the evil planes, after all, so a Balor from Fernia will still obey the Overlords.
5. The Daughters of Sora Kell are indeed the rulers of Droaam. The Night Hags did come directly from Khyber, yes, and on a par with the Lords of Dust. As for their alignments, remember, nothing in Eberron is ever completely as it seems. It's entirely possible to be both Evil and a nice person, although it is rare. It's certainly possible to be evil and a well-intentioned ruler of a monstrous nation. As an aside, Droaam isn't actually a nation. It was never formally recognised by the Treaty of Thronehold. Rakshasa are uniformly evil, because they're rakshasa. If any became Good, then they would most likely become a Couatl, or some other powerful good-aligned being.

[Hecuba]

[Puts on the nitpick hat]

3. Incredibly, incredibly, powerful and evil beings. As I said, the rakshasa serve them, so they are often known as the rakshasa Rajahs, but they're far more than them. It's the difference between Sauron and Durin's Bane.

The both Sauron and the assorted Valaraukar were corrupted Maiar: one is more powerful than the others, but they are both fundamentally the same kind of being.

A better Tolken analogy might be the distinction between the elves and the wizards.

[Dragolord]

[Puts on the nitpick hat]

The both Sauron and the assorted Valaraukar were corrupted Maiar: one is more powerful than the others, but they are both fundamentally the same kind of being.

A better Tolken analogy might be the distinction between the elves and the wizards.

Very true, although the difference in power between the Istari and the greatest of the elves is too small to truly be apt.

[Hecuba]

Very true, although the difference in power between the Istari and the greatest of the elves is too small to truly be apt.

On the contrary - I think on close scrutiny, it stands up very well: the powers of the Istari are sharply limited both by the strictures of their mission and by being incarnated in a physical form (though the later has benefits for direct exercise of power as well). The greatest of the elves, when armed with the equivalent of major artifacts, generally matches them this constrained level of power they can exercise in the books.

By the same token, the ability of the Rajahs are highly constrained by being locked up. The most powerful of the Rakshasa can likely at least equal their exercise of power on Eberron under those circumstances (especially if you throw them an artifact to get ship done with).

If circumstances were different, the Istari and the Rajahs would be well ahead. But circumstances are what they are.

[Dragolord]

On the contrary - I think on close scrutiny, it stands up very well: the powers of the Istari are sharply limited both by the strictures of their mission and by being incarnated in a physical form (though the later has benefits for direct exercise of power as well). The greatest of the elves, when armed with the equivalent of major artifacts, generally matches them this constrained level of power they can exercise in the books.

By the same token, the ability of the Rajahs are highly constrained by being locked up. The most powerful of the Rakshasa can likely at least equal their exercise of power on Eberron under those circumstances (especially if you throw them an artifact to get ship done with).

If circumstances were different, the Istari and the Rajahs would be well ahead. But circumstances are what they are.

The Rajahs, however, cannot exercise their powers, beyond a few minor uses. The Istari were not permitted to, but, if it had become absolutely necessary, could have incarnated as Maiar, though the intervention of the Valar would have resulted. If anything, in terms of powers, the bound Rajahs are closer to the elves, with their subtle influences and deceptions, than the active Istari, who are closer to the Rakshasas themselves. Besides, certain elves of the First Age, such as Eärendil and Fëanor, were more powerful than the embodied Istari. No rakshasa, try as they might, is more powerful than an Overlord in any form.

[Fable Wright]

3) So if the Rajahs ever got free, they wouldn't make any effort to take over the world, they would just sort of puntz around and by virtue of doing that would make mortal life almost unberable?

To elaborate on Dragolord's answer, they will take any and all actions they can to become freed, but I'm fairly certain that they wouldn't try to conquer the world directly. Instead, it's likely that they would just want to further their own agendas; Bel Shalor would corrupt mortals for fun, Rak Tulkesh would seek to start a war, etc. Few would want to directly rule or take over the world.

4) Do the Lords of Dust infight? Do they make alliances with other evil outsiders or is this a Rakasha party only?

They definitely do make alliances with other outsiders, but I will dispute that the Rajah rule over extraplanar Evil outsiders. Extraplanars would likely respect the Rajahs' powers, but they weren't on the mortal plane back during the Age of Demons, don't have a vested interest in bringing the Rajah back, and are highly unlikely to exist on the prime material plane for long periods of time. The Rajah don't just automatically rule Khyber's children, they earned that title on the material plane through respect.

Also why are the Aurum the setting's punchline?

In a setting where your enemies could be a conspiracy made of beings millions of years old who run the world from the shadows, dragons with hoards and agendas unimaginable to mortals, beings living in your dreams that know your thoughts and have 10 hours to plan for every one you sleep, or magidungeonpunk ex-Nazi special agents, the Aurum are a group of rich people who do bad things for profit and try to get taken seriously as one of the game's big bads.

2) Ok, so what exactly are the goals of the non Ebberon Dragons? Khyber from what I can tell is just kind of a jerk, which is odd in a setting that seems to be about moral ambiguity, while his sister is just sort of nice. What does Khyber want beyond destroying and corrupting everything? What does his sister stand for beyond "not letting Khyber do that." Well she is dead, but her spawn...you know what I mean

In the great game of creation, Khyber stood for Evil. That is, putting yourself above everything else, and tearing down everything that could be a threat to you. In my headcanon, s/he believed that the drive and struggle of beings to fight one another would lead to the most interesting world for hir siblings to watch, full of the dramatic conflicts that keep things interesting.

On the other hand, Siberys stood for Good. Sacrificing yourself to protect others, and the weak around you. In my headcanon, he believed that this would preserve the beautiful things in creation so that nothing precious would ever be lost, and he and his siblings could forever treasure the small advances they made in the world.

At the moment, though, they don't exist any active presence in the world.

5) This isn't a follow up question, but just a general question, how do Night Hags work in this setting, they are said to be spawn of Khyber like the Rakasha, but they don't seem to be nearly as nihilistically awful, and isn't a coven of them running a nation now?

There are, it is said, a total of 13 Night Hags in the setting, though one, Sora Kell, has gone missing. Night Hags essentially served as neutral ambassadors in the Age of Demons, dealing between the Rajahs and the Quori-equivalent of the time, the Rakshasa and the dragons, and essentially serving as respected messengers that would rarely get involved in conflicts. They are still Evil, as they still milk people for nightmares, harvest souls, and so on... but in Eberron, Evil isn't doesn't mean 'terrible person'. King Kaius is Evil, but he's one of the strongest advocates for peace in the modern age, and every action he's taken in office has been to protect his people.

4. If it's evil, it came from Khyber. Khyber made most of the evil planes, after all, so a Balor from Fernia will still obey the Overlords.

If it were trapped on the material plane, and if it were near enough to the Overlord that it was in hearing range, a Balor from Fernia would obey the overlord. It does have a self-preservation instinct. It would not instinctively seek an Overlord to help free, nor care what the Lords of Dust want outside of what they're offering him for his services, nor would it go to a freed Overlord to try and receive orders. Khyber's children are not one big happy family, and the rift is especially big on different sides of the astral.

5. The Daughters of Sora Kell are indeed the rulers of Droaam. The Night Hags did come directly from Khyber, yes, and on a par with the Lords of Dust. As for their alignments, remember, nothing in Eberron is ever completely as it seems. It's entirely possible to be both Evil and a nice person, although it is rare. It's certainly possible to be evil and a well-intentioned ruler of a monstrous nation. As an aside, Droaam isn't actually a nation. It was never formally recognised by the Treaty of Thronehold. Rakshasa are uniformly evil, because they're rakshasa. If any became Good, then they would most likely become a Couatl, or some other powerful good-aligned being.

Okay, a few things to correct here.
1. The Daughters of Sora Kell are not Night Hags. They are an Annis, Dusk, and Green hag, respectively, but they received the Half-Fiend template from their mother, Sora Kell.
2. Droaam was not formally recognized as a nation by the Treaty of Thronehold because it was two years old at the time of signing. Everyone believed that it would collapse. However, as the nation has grown and prospered over the past 10 years, each nation but Breland is increasingly likely to recognize it. It has some of the best laborers one could ask for, excellent ties with House Tharashk (one of the most powerful Dragonmarked Houses), and it has both received and sent ambassadors to each of the five nations at various points. It's not a nation yet, but it could be soon.

[CowardlyPaladin]

So the three Dragons are just Good Evil and Neutral Personified, but without Law or Chaos? And the Demons/Devils/Rakashas are all the spawn of Khyber, just only the Rakasha seem to care about releasing the overlords, who are just sort of...evil.

Do I have that right? And do the Overlords have motives more complicated than being generally evil? Or the Rakashas too for that matter

[Dragolord]

So the three Draongs are just Good Evil and Neutral Personified, but without Law or Chaos? And the Demons/Devils/Rakashas are all the spawn of Khyber, just only the Rakasha seem to care about releasing the overlords, who are just sort of...evil.

Do I have that right? And do the Overlords have motives more complicated than being generally evil? Or the Rakashas too for that matter

The Primordial Dragons don't represent the alignments. It's just that Khyber is evil, and the others happen to be good.

Let's use a metaphor for your second one. It's four o'clock on Thursday afternoon. It's been a long, hard, week at work, and your boss, a notorious slave-driver, has fallen asleep in his office. Most of you are just sitting around, a few of you are working, although much more slowly than the boss would like, and that one annoying colleague of yours is trying to wake him up, so he can make everyone get back to work. That man represents the Lords of Dust.
(Yes, I know it doesn't quite work. I'm just trying to put this to bed.)

[CowardlyPaladin]

The Primordial Dragons don't represent the alignments. It's just that Khyber is evil, and the others happen to be good.

Let's use a metaphor for your second one. It's four o'clock on Thursday afternoon. It's been a long, hard, week at work, and your boss, a notorious slave-driver, has fallen asleep in his office. Most of you are just sitting around, a few of you are working, although much more slowly than the boss would like, and that one annoying colleague of yours is trying to wake him up, so he can make everyone get back to work. That man represents the Lords of Dust.
(Yes, I know it doesn't quite work. I'm just trying to put this to bed.)

I thought Eberron are Neutral.

So why are the Rakashas the annoying work college, do they have a closer connection to the Overlords than the other Fiends, or is it just because they are earthbound and so don't have much else to do with their time?

The reason why I keep asking is because Eberron seems to be very into villains who have complicated and understandable motives (except the Daelkar obviously) so I'm trying to figure out how the fiends operate.


Actually I heard there is more to the Angels from the Sky realm then meets hte eye, can anybody elaborate on that?

[Fable Wright]

So the three Draongs are just Good Evil and Neutral Personified, but without Law or Chaos? And the Demons/Devils/Rakashas are all the spawn of Khyber, just only the Rakasha seem to care about releasing the overlords, who are just sort of...evil.

Do I have that right? And do the Overlords have motives more complicated than being generally evil? Or the Rakashas too for that matter

Demons and Devils were created by Khyber when he was helping make the planes of Eberron. Rakshasas and Overlords were born from his flesh.

Dragolord's metaphor was apt, if a bit lacking. The Overlords are more than just 'Evil'; they've got likes and dislikes and things they specialize in. At the end of the day, though, humans near them are driven mad and probably killed, and the Overlords love tormenting people in accordance with their specialties. The Rakshasa knew the overlords back in their heyday and had a great deal of fun helping them out, usually didn't get the brunt of the torment, and respawned anyway if they did so no harm no foul. The Rakshasa's motives are generally evil to the core, but all they want is to indulge their (sadistic) tastes for a while, and it turns out the best way to do that is get the Overlords free again.

They just tend to be incredibly classy while on the job, unlike most extraplanars when they visit the prime.

EDIT:

So why are the Rakashas the annoying work college, do they have a closer connection to the Overlords than the other Fiends, or is it just because they are earthbound and so don't have much else to do with their time?

They're closer than other fiends because they're the most numerous Native Outsider with the Evil subtype, but most evil native outsiders have the same kind of drive Rakshasa do.

The reason why I keep asking is because Eberron seems to be very into villains who have complicated and understandable motives (except the Daelkar obviously) so I'm trying to figure out how the fiends operate.

Capital-E Evil, with their twist being that they have a much better claim to owning the planet (then and now) than any of the other races, have some seriously powerful relics from when they ruled the planet, and have shapeshifting and sorcerous powers.

Actually I heard there is more to the Angels from the Sky realm then meets hte eye, can anybody elaborate on that?

Are you talking about the Angels of Syrania, or the Radiant Idols (the actual villain material) that they cast out?

[Prime32]

1) You previously mentioned that the Path of Light is about living up to the ideals of the Quori spirit, could you elaborate what those ideals are

1) Ok, but does the Path of Light have any tenants beyond generic goodness? I know that meditation is a bit part of the faith, who does that manifest?

The world is shaped by dreams. Dal Quor is a realm of nightmares because its current zeitgeist/ruler il'Lashtavar ("The Dreaming Dark") was born through negative thought. They believe that focused meditation can eventually change the nature of il'Lashtavar and bring about a golden age.

3) So if the Rajahs ever got free, they wouldn't make any effort to take over the world, they would just sort of puntz around and by virtue of doing that would make mortal life almost unberable?
3) So What exactly are the Rajah? They serve Khyber and are its creepy children, but they aren't Rakasha?

It is often said that no one knows if Eberron's gods truly exist... but that's in the sense of D&D's mechanical definition of a god: a being with a divine rank.

The rajahs are anthropomorphic personifications of negative concepts, and the most powerful known beings in the setting (at least one is CR 50). Even within their prisons, they continue to exert their power on the world on a more limited scale. Their numbers include beings who in other settings would be classified as gods (Tiamat), demon lords (Levistus) or elder evils (Atropus), as well as original entities like Bel Shalor (who lurks inside the Silver Flame sending false messages that lure followers to zealotry).

It's also implied that the Dark Six are based on stories of the rajahs which became distorted over time (e.g. that The Shadow was based on records of Bel Shalor and Sul Khatesh).
http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/Overlords

4) Do the Lords of Dust infight? Do they make alliances with other evil outsiders or is this a Rakasha party only?

The rakshasa are the most prominent members of the Lords of Dust due to their skill at intrigue, but it contains other demons as well. Also, not all rakshasa want to free their former masters - some want to steal their power.

5) If they are related to Khyber, do the Cults of the Dragon Below operate with the Lords of Dust?

Most of the Cults of the Dragon Below don't actually worship Khyber (at least not directly), and don't have much in common with each other. They tend to be associated with aberrations more than anything.
There was an article that delved into the different forms a cult might take, in... Dragon magazine IIRC?

The Lords of Dust might find it useful to create or manipulate a cult, though.

[CowardlyPaladin]

wait what are the radiant Idols?

[Gildedragon]

wait what are the radiant Idols?

Fallen celestials that start up super sketch cults of personality. They land in sharn (as it is a cyrania manifest zone) though can then migrate outwards. They might land in other manifest zones (if they exist) but are notable in sharn as being the source of the city's corruption. They can bestow domains and instakill any follower.
They are detailed upon in ECS or in Sharn CoT
As to why they fell: they ceased being pure G... Which is super worrisome as Cyrania doesn't produce new angels. The ones that were there upon Eberron's creation are all the ones there will ever be. If they are killed or they fall... Too bad, one angel less

[Fable Wright]

Fallen celestials that start up super sketch cults of personality. They land in sharn (as it is a cyrania manifest zone) though can then migrate outwards. They might land in other manifest zones (if they exist) but are notable in sharn as being the source of the city's corruption. They can bestow domains and instakill any follower.
They are detailed upon in ECS or in Sharn CoT
As to why they fell: they ceased being pure G... Which is super worrisome as Cyrania doesn't produce new angels. The ones that were there upon Eberron's creation are all the ones there will ever be. If they are killed or they fall... Too bad, one angel less

Okay, a few corrections here. They're defined in Sharn, City of Towers. Also, the plane is Syrania with an S, not Cyrania.

Second, the reason they fell, specifically, was that they ceased believing in the Sovereigns IIRC. Not usually out of malice in their hearts, but because of a lack of faith. The problem with Angels falling is that, like the Rakshasa, they respawn over time. If they die, they reform; if they're bound, they can be freed. If they fall, there is forever one less Angel in Syrania. A Radiant Idol will always reform on the Material plane, and be forever fallen.

Third, they don't bestow domains, but they do claim one to use for themselves, and they have a variety of powers to use on their cultists outside of just killing them. They can discern the location of any cultist, scry on them, and torture them as well... though the combination of Scry and the innate ability to Greater Teleport makes them exceedingly dangerous even if they do not grant spells to their followers.

Finally, they have a distinctive feature that you forgot to mention: Their wings were ripped off. Not just 'they don't have wings', but 'their back is still raw and bloody no matter how much time has passed, they can no longer fly even when polymorphed, and flight granting magic just fails within 30ft of them like they were antimagic'. Which is rather awkward, given that the upper levels of Sharn can't even be reached without flying magic.

[CowardlyPaladin]

So let me run this down

Angels come from Sibyris, and their are limited number of them.

Rakashas/Demons/Devils come from Khyber, and their are unlimited of them.

When Angels or Rakasha die, they will be reincarnated. Should an Angel fall though, they will become a Radiant Idol and that angel is gone forever. They have the creepy wings. And they fall, not for ceasing to be good, but for losing faith in the Sovereigns, which is not the case for the children of Khyber, who don't seem to have a similar relationship to the Lords of Dust.

The Rakasha dwell on the Material Plane, the Angels dwell in the Sky plane and the battlefield plane (along with the demons and devils). The Angels in Shavarath are different from those in Syrania correct?

[Regitnui]

Siberys, but yes.

[CowardlyPaladin]

Siberys, but yes.

Wow, sucks to be good.

Ok, so can the reverse happen? Can Rakasha rise and become...I don't know, subdued icons?

[Gildedragon]

I was rereading the Radiant Idol entry and I couldn't find anything about faith in the Sovereigns having anything to do with their fall. Instead it said that their sin was wanting to be worshiped by mortals.

A fiend (demon or devil, not a rakshasa) could ostensibly be exiled from the hells for being too nice... Though I feel the fiends would rather torture and kill the defector. The Radiant Idol's exile is a sort of mercy on behalf of the angels.

If a Rakshasa turned good, I'd expect the lords of dust to imprison the Rakshasa. Possibly killing it near the Lair of the Keeper(? that massive soul-trapping K-shard formation)

The good counterpart of Rakshasas aren't angels but couatls

[Dragolord]

A fiend is evil personified… and as a result, it is both always evil and a much purer evil than you tend to see in mortal creatures; on a scale of one to ten, it goes to eleven. It is possible for the angel to fall or the demon to rise (as shown by the Quori bound to the kalashtar), but in these cases the spirit will typically physically transform to reflect this change. An angel that falls from Syrania will become a fiend or a radiant idol, for example. So when you meet a devil, you can generally be pretty sure it’s lawful evil, because that’s what it means to BE a devil.

Relevant, I think.

[CowardlyPaladin]

Wouldn't that mean an Angel who falls turn into a Demon/Devil (not a Rakasha cause they are opposed to the Couatl) instead of a Radiant Idol? Is the Radiant Idol a special kind of fall?

[Gildedragon]

Wouldn't that mean an Angel who falls turn into a Demon/Devil (not a Rakasha cause they are opposed to the Couatl) instead of a Radiant Idol? Is the Radiant Idol a special kind of fall?

On the scale of evil
Fiends>>>Radiant Idols>=Angels
A good aligned angel that grows so conceited as to demand worship will get dewinged and sent on a one-way trip on the sharn express

[CowardlyPaladin]

On the scale of evil
Fiends>>>Radiant Idols>=Angels
A good aligned angel that grows so conceited as to demand worship will get dewinged and sent on a one-way trip on the sharn express

ok, why only Sharn? Is there something about that city specifically?

[Gildedragon]

ok, why only Sharn? Is there something about that city specifically?

It is built on a manifest zone for Syrania; so odds are that something that falls from the Azure Sky lands in Sharn

[CowardlyPaladin]

It is built on a manifest zone for Syrania; so odds are that something that falls from the Azure Sky lands in Sharn

Ah that makes sense. So the Angels in Syrania are the only ones who make Radiant Idols, what about the Angels of the battlefield plane?

[Gildedragon]

Ah that makes sense. So the Angels in Syrania are the only ones who make Radiant Idols, what about the Angels of the battlefield plane?

Those aren't angels. They are archons