The Daelkyr War Begins

Military action

The war between the mortals of Khorvaire and the Daelkyr

The Daelkyr War decimated the western reaches of Khorvaire when nine thousand years ago the Far Realm of Xoriat, the Realm of Madness, became coterminous with Eberron, the Material Realm and the daelkyr lords and their terrible armies of aberrations—mind flayers, beholder, neogi, foulspawn, dolgrims, and dolgaunts—invaded the world. Determined to refashion Eberron, the Material Realm into another nightmare version of their native Xoriat, the Realm of Madness, the daelkyr and their aberrations passed through a planar portal to arrive in western Khorvaire. Their army was met by the legions of the DhakaaniEmpire and the conflict between the two forces raged for millennia. In the course of the war, the Dhakaani Empire was brought nearly to ruin as the powerful flesh shapers and their hideous minions proved more than a match for the Dhakaani’s finest bugbear warriors and hobgoblin samurai.

The daelkyr would have succeeded in their insane plan to begin reshaping the natural order of Khorvaire into an extension of the Plane of Madness if not for the intervention of the orcish druids of the Gatekeeper sect. The druids, led by the female orc Great Druid Rasha’Torrn, lured the main thrust of the daelkyr invasion into the Shadowdeep Marches of western Khorvaire and unleashed the full, primal fury of the Pheonix upon the foul lords of Xoriat and their aberrations. The six daelkyr lords known to have survived the onslaught were then locked by a ritual led by the mightiest of the Gatekeepers’ Great Druids deep below ground in the Raven with their surviving aberrations. The power of the Gatekeepers’ druidic wards kept the daelkyr from setting foot on the surface of Eberron, the Material Realm again, though their foul servants could still come up from the depths at will to spread fear and death. The daelkyr were not immobilized in the Raven like the fiendish Overlords but could move around at will through the Raven Below. The Gatekeepers’ wards also shifted Xoriat, the Realm of Madness in its orbit around the world so that the Far Realm would not again become coterminous with Eberron, the Material Realm or be able to touch the world until these arcane seals were destroyed.

In time, the daelkyr’s contained but subterranean influence led to the development of the Cults of the Dragon Below, foul religious organizations dedicating to worshipping the Raven and her servants, the daelkyr and the fiendish Lords of Dust, in the hopes of bringing on the end of the world and releasing the Raven from her planetary prison. In contrast, the orcs of the Gatekeeper sect remained ever vigilant for signs that their primal wards on the Raven were weakening or that another planar incursion from Xoriat, the Realm of Madness was imminent. In the orcish druids’ view, the daelkyr and all aberrations presented the greatest threat to the natural order of Eberron, the Material Realm that they were sworn to uphold since they were inherently not part of the workings of the natural world, much like the undead, and sought to destroy the delicate balance between the aviari Progenitors that sustained all life. The daelkyr were the lords of the Far Realm of Xoriat, the Realm of Madness. A daelkyr resembled a perfectly formed athletic human male, possessing unearthly beauty and pupilless white eyes. Despite this outward appearance, daelkyr were actually sexless and did not reproduce, since they were formed from the chaotic fabric of the plane of Xoriat itself. A daelkyr’s horrible touch caused disease and biological corruption, and its very presence could trigger madness and confusion. At least six daelkyr (possibly more) inhabit Eberron, the Material Realm in the present day. The surviving commanders of the daelkyr army that invaded Khorvaire millennia ago, they were sealed deep in the Raven and cut off from their home plane. For thousands of years, the daelkyr have bided their time in the depths of the Raven, waiting for Xoriat, the Realm of Madness to be able to touch Eberron, the Material Realm once more. The daelkyr are immortal and endlessly patient, and their manner of thinking is almost impossible for mortals (or even other planar denizens) to understand. For the daelkyr, destroying worlds appears to be a form of art, and until Xoriat and Eberron are again linked, the daelkyr are indulging their other sordid escapades. Some are poets, musicians, or sculptors, although their works are invariably bizarre and alien to human senses. Their preferred canvas is flesh, for they are the makers of monsters. Dolgrims, dolgaunts, foulspawn, beholders, mind flayers, neogi, tsochar, and other hideous aberrations are the legacy of the daelkyr—living weapons created expressly to destroy life. The subterranean citadel of a daelkyr lord usually supports a garrison of dolgrims, dolgaunt and foulspawn lieutenants, and illithid commanders. Each daelkyr also has its personal biological creations, reflecting its own aesthetic tastes. One might have a preference for oozes. Another breeds psionic vermin, while a third crafts hideous and deadly carnivorous plants. Their experiments— creating new races by twisting existing creatures into new forms—take time. A daelkyr can magically shape change a creature into something else easily enough; however, creating a new species of aberration such as the dolgrim and dolgaunts (created from Dhakaani hobgoblins captured during the Daelkyr War), foulspawn (created from almost any “normal” race infected by the taint of Xoriat), and orneogi (fleshcrafted from the dwarves of the Ironroot Mountains) takes years to accomplish. The ancient seals placed by the Gatekeepers trap the daelkyr beneath Eberron, the Material Realm and keep Xoriat, the Realm of Madness from becoming coterminous with the world again, but the daelkyr have not made a concerted effort to destroy these seals. Their motives are inscrutable—above all things, the daelkyr are the lords of the Plane of Madness. Insanity and corruption are the currency they deal in.