Risia, the Plane of Ice

According to the Book:

Risia is known as the Plane of Ice, for that’s the vast majority of what’s found within it. Risia is defined by endless arctic wastes, and what appear to be mountains are just peaks of solid ice. But like Fernia, Risia’s appearance can be deceiving. Because it’s filled with glaciers and snow, many sages assume that this is its defining principle. But in Lamannia, there are also endless blizzards and majestic glaciers— ice in its natural state. By comparison, the core ideas that define Risia are isolation, stagnation, and preservation. The endless frozen plane isn’t about snow, it’s about the utter stillness, the empty and unchanging landscape. Risia is sparsely populated, because that’s the point of it; it’s bleak and lonely, a realm in which you could walk for days and never see another creature. Where a desert of sand can at least shift in the breeze, the frozen landscape of Risia is unchanging. Yet, unlike a stone plateau, it reflects a substance that could change at one point—but is now caught, frozen, stagnant.
Though this isolated and unchanging plane might not seem appealing to adventurers, it’s important to remember that the plane represents preservation—and ancient secrets forgotten for ages could be frozen within the ice. And while the realm itself is barren, it’s not completely deserted; over millennia, hardy creatures have come to Risia and settled in this desolate realm.
Risia’s few natives are rarely seen. The concept of the plane is bleak isolation, and an active population would defeat this purpose. A few layers hold creatures that have crossed into Risia from Eberron, ones that can thrive in arctic conditions; there are remorhazes hunting in the Frozen Sea and yetis in the Frostmantle. But these things come and go. The two primary forces in Risia are the native spirits of the plane and the frost giants that have carved out a home in the ice.
At first glance, Risia appears to be barren and empty. But some travelers have described a presence, a sense of being watched, and most feel this presence is malign. On the surface, the concept of Risia seems entirely neutral; there’s nothing inherently evil about ice. But there’s a hunger to Risia—an innate desire to consume warmth and to bury living things in ice. In the Planar Codex, Dorius Alyre ir’Korran calls this force the Killing Cold. This greatest power of the plane of isolation is uninterested in being known, and has never interacted directly with outsiders, but its presence can be felt through its manifestations. These include bheur hags, frost salamanders, ice devils, chain devils, and the Lonely (sorrowsworn). The appearance and nature of manifestations reflect the themes of Risia—a chain devil might be shrouded by frost-mist and can bind its enemies with chains of ice. Regardless of their form, these spirits don’t speak with outsiders. Their intelligence reflects the cunning with which they stalk their prey, but they are spirits of the Killing Cold, of bitter isolation, and of the ice that entombs and preserves.
When these manifestations aren’t active, they’re absorbed into their layer; they manifest when they’re needed, in the form that’s needed. And in the meantime, as spirits of stagnation and isolation, they’re perfectly content to sit in silence for centuries before something compels them back into physical form.
The Group of Eleven was an alliance of empyreans of tremendous skill and power. Each studied a different plane (leaving Fernia to the Sulat League and Dal Quor to the Cul’sir). The archarcanist Il’Ara was devoted to Risia, and she magebred her own lineage of frost giants over millennia. When the forces of Argonnessen began to lay waste to Xen’drik, Il’Ara gathered her faithful children and passed through to Risia, certain that they could find sanctuary in the isolation of the Plain of Ice. Il’Ara’s children have since established themselves across the layers of Risia. There are a few citadels where multiple giants live together, while others have established their own solitary outposts. Each has found a different path to surviving the endless tedium of immortality in the icy wastes. Some have become artists, writing poetry or sculpting massive works of art that take centuries to complete. Others pursue physical diversions such as wrestling, hunting fiends, or crafting ornate games. These denizens always take great interest in outsiders as a source of diversion. The crueler giants take joy in hunting newcomers, but others can be excellent hosts. Many artists yearn for an audience—though a genteel giant artist can be deadly if guests don’t show proper appreciation for their work. As these Risian frost giants are remnants of the grand civilization of Xen'drik, they have little resemblence to their feebleminded kin from the material plane.
Il’Ara continues her arcane studies in her fortress, Winter. She may have found ways to wield vast power over Risia and to protect her children from the fiends . . . or she could be bored of her immortal existence, considering entering the ice and embracing stasis.
The frost giants of Risia have dwarf servants. Their origin is a mystery: the giants know that Il’Ara produced these first dwarves, but they don’t know—or at least remember—if she created them herself or pulled them through from Eberron. These dwarves know no other existence than their servitude to their giant masters, and Risia holds few other options for them. Mysteriously, these dwarves—and all dwarves—are immune to the Stillness of Flesh property of Risia. They age just as they would on Eberron, and unlike other mortals on this plane, they can give birth to children who grow and mature. So every giant in Risia came from Xen’drik, and as they die, no new giants replace them; but the dwarves that dwell in Risia were born there, and know nothing of the ancient past.

Layers of Risia:

See below for more details on the many layers of Risia. Frostmantle consists of an unnaturally cold river winding between a seemingly endless mountainrange. The Boundless Blizzard has earned its name several times over as a perpetual storm limits visibility and is bitterly cold- even for the denizens of the plane. The Frozen Sea is a flash-frozen body of water containing ships from throughout the ages.

Planar Manifestations:

Here are a few of the ways Risia can affect the Material Plane.
Manifest zones to Risia are often found in cold or arctic regions, where their impact isn’t immediately obvious. In warmer climes, most manifest zones tied to Risia create regions of unnatural cold, often taking on the plane’s Lethal Cold and Empowered Ice properties of the plane, regardless of the regional climate.
In a few Risian zones, the effects of Stillness of Flesh can be felt, slowing or completely stopping the aging, growth, and reproduction of all creatures—except for dwarves, that is. While a manifest zone that prevents aging could be otherwise considered quite a boon, these zones can be quite small, and often tied to deadly cold that makes it difficult to live there.
While Risia is coterminous, temperatures drop sharply, and areas that would normally be chilly but otherwise safe can take on the Lethal Cold, Empowered Ice, and Stillness of Flesh universal properties. During these times, on rare occasions, creatures caught in an area of exceptionally intense cold can be unexpectedly transported to Risia. When Risia is remote, intense cold loses some of its bite. Creatures have advantage on saving throws made against the effects of extreme cold and on saving throws against spells that deal cold damage.
Traditionally, Risia becomes coterminous once every five years for the full month of Zarantyr. Once every five years, exactly two and a half years after it is coterminous, it’s remote during the month of Lharvion. However, this isn’t always the case. Historians have recorded times when the cycle has extended far longer; in 657 YK, Risia entered a coterminous phase that lasted for three years.

Universal Properties:

Risia is bitterly cold, and unprotected creatures quickly succumb to the deadly temperatures. Here are a few of the consistent properties of the plane:
Lethal Cold. A creature exposed to the cold of Risia must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw every 10 minutes or gain one level of exhaustion. A creature with resistance or immunity to cold damage automatically succeeds on this saving throw, as does a creature naturally adapted to cold climates or one wearing appropriate protective gear. In addition, all creatures have resistance to fire damage, and a creature that’s usually resistant to fire damage becomes immune to it.
Empowered Ice. When a creature casts a spell of 1st level or higher, if it deals cold damage, it does so as if cast at a level one higher than the spell slot that was expended.
Preservation. A creature with 0 hit points becomes stable at the end of its turn, entering a state of suspended animation. If an unconscious creature remains in contact with the ground for more than 1 minute, it’s drawn below the surface and encased in an ice-encrusted stasis. While encased in this way, time ceases to flow for the creature and it doesn’t grow older.
Stagnation. When a creature finishes a long rest, it doesn’t regain hit points or reduce its exhaustion level. However, it does recover Hit Dice normally and can spend them to regain hit points.
Stillness of Flesh. Time passes at the same pace as on the Material Plane, and is consistent across its layers. However, the passage of time has no effect on a mortal creature’s body, and creatures don’t age or grow while in Risia. Exhaustion, starvation, and disease merely reduce a creature to 0 hit points, and don’t immediately kill it. Dwarves are immune to this property’s effects, and in Risia they can grow, age, and die, just as they would on the Material Plane.

In Our Story:

Rare Mavari has been pulled into the Plane of Ice, unknowingly, on several occasions. While in Risia, she can feel her patron's presence and has heard Dral Khatuur speak to her through the wind. Additionally, on previous ventures into this domain, she has been drawn to a blue light of unknown origin. Though resistant to the cold in any other situation, the chill of this realm cuts to her core. Her familiar, Glacias, is from this plane, and returns to Risia if he is banished or is removed from the material plane by any other means.
After fleeing Xoriat, the remaining Sharn Dragons fled to the first realm that the Black Flame Lantern would send them to. They jumped through the portal to find themselves landing headfirst into a snowbank as exhaustion took them. Though Glittergem Boondiggles and Erisna may not know where they are, Rare Mavari has realized with a bitter dread that the only place she feels cold is when she is near her patron.

Type

Dimensional plane