Lamannia embodies primordial nature, untapped and untamable. It"s often called the Twilight Forest,and is depicted as a realm of colossal trees and massive beasts. However,the forest is just one of the facets of Lamannia. Every natural environment is represented in various layers that exemplify and exaggerate their features.Windswept desert, raging ocean, endless plains—all can be found here. In other planes, these environments are backdrops to the story the realm is telling. In Lamannia, the environment is the story. It doesn’t need the help of fey or fiends to make its point, because the land itself is the point.
Some scholars assert that Lamannia served as a blueprint for the Material Plane—that here, the Progenitors perfected the ideas of storm and stone. They believe that the natural world is infused with the essence of Lamannia, and that druids and others who wield primal magic actually manipulate that Lamannian essence. And indeed, druids who travel to the Twilight Forest can be overwhelmed by the sheer force of nature that infuses this place.
Lamannia lies close to the world, and it's one of the easiest planes to reach. Its treasures are natural objects imbued with elemental power—wood, stone, herbs, and plants, all of which are stronger and more potent than their mortal counterparts. But when you come to Lamannia, there are many predators, and you are prey; anyone who seeks to despoil the embodiment of nature will be hunted.
Denizens
A common story about Lamannia tells of an explorer who passed through a manifest zone and found herself on a vast mountain peak. Pressing up the mountain, she was exploring a mysterious thicket when she was set upon by rats the size of wolves. She fought the rats, but was on the verge of being overwhelmed...until a giant beak flashed down and snapped up a rat in a single bite. The wide 'thicket' wasn't natural briar; it was the nest of a gargantuan roc, one of Lamannia’s many impressive denizens.
Beasts
Lamannia's primary inhabitants are beasts—both ones that you might encounter in the wilds of Khorvaire, and massive creatures that can be seen as iconic representations of their type: the idealized incarnation of Bear or Wolf. Any natural creature can be found in Lamannia; indeed, some sages assert that the presence of a creature in Lamannia is what defines it as 'natural.'
For the most part, Lamannian beasts are no smarter than their counterparts on Eberron. However, some animals possess intelligence similar to that granted by the awaken spell, though even these beasts generally follow their natural instincts and live wild lives. While the giant owls of Sharn may own shops and run for city council, the giant owls of Lamannia are content to hunt the beasts of the Twilight Forest. So it's possible to find creatures in Lamannia that speak Common or a Primordial dialect, but most have little interest in long conversations.
The beasts of Lamannia generally fall into the following four categories.
Mundane animals are identical to their counterparts in Eberron. Any natural creature can be found in a layer with an appropriate environment.
Dire animals are creatures of remarkable size. Such creatures are more common than mundane animals; in the Twilight Forest, most owls are giant owls, and they prey on giant weasels and rats.
Megafauna are gargantuan beasts. The roc is an example of Lamannian megafauna; those found in Eberron have been drawn through manifest zones or slipped between planes during coterminous periods. While these creatures are similar in form to beasts, they are typically classified as monstrosities. Between their vast size and their connection to the plane, they're immune to most effects that target beasts, and you can’t charm a roc with a simple animal friendship spell.
Totems are beasts that are beyond any typical scale— creatures that can be measured in miles. The gnome explorer Tasker tells a tale of an island in the Endless Ocean that turned out to be an enormous turtle; another of his stories features a pack of lycanthropes living in the fur of a massive roaming wolf. Such totems aren't natural creatures and don’t need to eat. Their origins and purpose are unsolved mysteries, but most sages believe that they are immortal spirits projected by the plane itself. Some claim that the totems are connected to all creatures cast in their image. Others believe that the totems are sources of primal power, and barbarians, shifters, and druids can receive power and guidance from them. All that’s known for sure is that they’re immune to common spells, and there are no accounts of anyone successfully harming or communicating with a totem.
Elementals
After beasts, the most common inhabitants of the plane are elementals. Unlike the genies, mephits, and anthropomorphic elementals of Fernia and Syrania, Lamannia's elementals are the pure, living essence of the elements, unburdened by any humanoid desire. These include the standard earth, fire, air, and water elementals, but they can come in a wide array of sizes and forms. Adventurers exploring the Broken Lands could encounter tiny globs of lava crawling across the land, while the leviathans of the Endless Ocean and the elder tempests of the First Storm are forces of apocalyptic power.
The Zil gnomes commonly summon and bind the elementals of Lamannia, using them to propel lightning rails and airships. While intelligent, these elementals are utterly alien. They have little concept of time and perceive the world purely through the balance of elements. The sole desire of most elementals is to express their element: to burn, to flow, to fly. Many have an antagonistic attitude toward spirits of other elements, which drives the deadly conflict between them in the Broken Land—this poses an obstacle in dealing with elementals, as they tend to perceive humanoids as globs of water. While it's possible for a character that speaks Primordial to talk with a Lamannian elemental, it’s usually difficult to establish any sort of common basis for negotiation. Still, there are legends of wandering druids who 'befriended earth and air,' so anything is possible!
Humanoids
There are merfolk in Eberron—such as the Kalamer of the Thunder Sea—but their people began in the Endless Ocean of Lamannia, and are still found there. These primordial merfolk remain close to their elemental roots and instincts. They wield druidic magic, but don't craft tools or structures. Other humanoid natives of Lamannia are much the same; any race with a strong primal connection could be tied to Lamannia, but they’re driven by instinct and avoid the trappings of civilization. There could be tabaxi dwelling in the branches of the Twilight Forest, but if so, they’ll seem wild.
Over a century ago, during the Silver Crusade, there were many lycanthropes who fled to Lamannia. As long as they remain on this plane, a lycanthrope can't spread the curse to anyone other than their offspring, and the unnatural impulses of the curse—the drive to prey on innocents, the bloodlust that can cause a victim of lycanthropy to lose control of their actions—are suspended. Meanwhile, primal instincts are amplified; Lamannian werewolves remain predators and take joy in the hunt, but they aren’t driven to evil, and remain in full control. Packs and communities of lycanthropes are scattered across the layers. Most are descended from lycanthropes who fled Eberron to escape both the templars and the dark power whose corrupting influence led to the crusade; these shapeshifters embrace their primal nature and rarely assume humanoid forms. But there are also packs descended from afflicted templars who chose exile over death, and who strive to preserve the beliefs and traditions of their ancestors.
A handful of druids and rangers have crossed into Lamannia and chosen to remain in this primal paradise. Many run with lycanthrope packs, embracing their feral instincts and spending their days in wild shape. Others act as planar shepherds, seeking to minimize the impact of dangerous manifest zones and help unwary travelers.
Greater Powers
There are no celestials or fiends in Lamannia. Yet explorers often report a feeling that they are being watched, and there are times when random events seem to be guided by an unseen hand. When outsiders have sought to establish industries in Lamannia, they've been attacked by megafauna or elder elementals, or struck by especially vicious turns of weather. It’s possible that this is the work of the totems, and that they have great influence over their layers. Or there could be a greater power that watches over the entire plane. Some scholars assert that the moon Olarune is the consciousness that governs the plane, and Eldeen shifter traditions that predate the practices of the Wardens of the Wood also reflect this belief. Shifter druids suggest that Olarune created the shifters, and the first lycanthropes were her champions.
Lamnian Layers
Each of Lamannia's layers highlights a particular aspect of primal nature. One layer in Lamannia might contain a single colossal mountain peak; on the other hand, the Twilight Forest could be as large as Khorvaire (or even Eberron itself). The edge of a layer could be an impassable physical barrier, or it could wrap around onto itself—if you sail far enough in the Endless Ocean, you’ll find yourself back where you began. Most layers of Lamannia follow a traditional day-night cycle, though they aren’t synchronized across layers, and when the moon Olarune is visible, it’s always full.
The portals that connect the layers of Lamannia often only allow travel in one direction. Any deep pool of water may connect a layer to the Endless Ocean; but while you can get to the Ocean by diving into a pond in the Twilight Forest, there's no gate back to the forest on the other side. The Endless Ocean contains small islands, and if you explore one, you’ll find you’ve moved to a new layer.
The following are just a handful of Lamannia’s many layers.
The Twilight Forest
The sky is hidden by the dense canopy of this vast rainforest, leaving the forest floor in an endless twilight. The trees are over a hundred feet in height—impressive, certainly, though not as tall as the greatpines of the Towering Wood in the Eldeen Reaches. But as people further explore the Twilight Forest, the namesake of the plane, they come upon strange ridges and walls of wood, some forming twisted wooden canyons. Following these, explorers discover they're the roots of unimaginably colossal trees, vast titans wider and taller than the towers of Sharn. The Twilight Forest as mortals experience it lies in the shadow of the grander canopy that rises far above it, and these enormous trees are home to megafauna and mightier beings.
Though the Twilight Forest is wild and untamed, explorers can find wide cleared paths through the lower forest. Survival experts may recognize that these aren't trails created by humanoid hands; rather, they’re the paths of totems, who have crushed the lesser forest beneath their colossal feet. The forest is filled with beasts—mundane and dire creatures in the lower forests, megafauna in the grand canopy above it, and the occasional passage of totems. There are multiple communities of lycanthropes scattered throughout the lower forest. A clan of wererats have carved out a warren in the roots of a colossal tree, while a pack of wild wereboars feuds with werewolves descended from exiled templars. An ancient elf druid named Haral, who spends most of her time in the form of an owl, does her best to maintain order; she is assisted in this by a megafauna owl she calls Ruark.
The forest has many other inhabitants, and a few minor elementals can be found in this layer. A gust of wind, a pool of water, a rolling stone—in Lamannia, any of these things could be alive.
The Broken Land
The Broken Land is a volcanic region filled with high mountains and lava plains. There are constant eruptions, and the layer is home to many fire and earth elementals that engage in an ongoing environmental conflict. Fire elementals flow out with the lava as volcanoes erupt; earth elementals work to contain the eruptions and to rebuild the shattered peaks, only to have them erupt again. Few beasts manage to thrive in this layer, but some tough dinosaurs have clawed out a niche. While this region has fewer connections to Eberron than the Twilight Forest, it's also possible to find remnants of other travelers here; it’s a harsh and deadly landscape for stranded adventurers or for those who seek a lost relic from this place.
The Endless Ocean
This layer reflects the majesty of the ocean depths. It's home to a vast array of fish and aquatic beasts, along with merfolk tribes and a wide range of water elementals, from simple sentient currents and weirds to massive leviathans and battling megafauna. The Endless Ocean is where the gnome Tasker encountered an island that turned out to be a totem turtle. True islands are few and far between, and most are actually portals to other layers of Lamannia. There are many points in the Endless Ocean tied to manifest zones (most located in ocean depths) in the Material Plane.
The First Storm
A layer of plains and low hills, this region is permanently lashed by hurricane winds and endless storms. Beasts huddle in caves and the limited shelter, while all manner of elementals clash in the storm-lashed plains. A massive elder tempest drives the heart of the storm. Some say there are apocalyptic cults that seek to bring this elemental to Eberron, believing it would destroy the world.
The Rot
Decay is part of nature, and this is reflected in the swamp-like Rot, a relatively small layer filled with fallen, rotting trees. Corpses of megafauna beasts lie scattered around the layer, and giant insects and other massive scavengers prey on their remains. There's a community of wererats thriving in the Rot, and there could be a small outpost of the Children of Winter who found their way here. While the Rot is a symbol of death and decay, it’s entirely natural, and undead have no place here. It’s possible a necromancer could arrive here, hoping to animate the massive corpses; however, this would violate the theme of the plane, and if there’s any higher power at work in Lamannia, it would certainly direct forces to counter this. While most layers of Lamannia are free from disease, disease itself is part of nature; a manifest zone tied to the Rot could spread plagues into the surrounding region.
Titan's Folly
Lamannia is filled with precious natural resources; it's hardly surprising that an advanced civilization would try to harvest them. During the Age of Giants, the Group of Eleven set up a research station and mining camp in a layer of Lamannia. After a decade struggling against megafauna attacks and elemental-enhanced weather, the outpost was finally overwhelmed and abandoned. It’s a testament to the arcane engineering of the giants that anything remains of this structure...although it may be that it remains because the ruin itself has become a symbol of nature reclaiming civilization. Vines and moss cover shattered walls, and the bones of giants are scattered throughout the remnants of this garrison. Valuable and powerful treasures may well be hidden in the Folly, but explorers will have to contend with aggressive elementals, dangerous beasts, and traps left by the long-dead giants themselves.
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