Dravago

Dravago, the Herder's Moon

Color: Pale lavender

Associated Dragonmark: Handling

Associated Plane: Risia

Approximate Diameter: 2,000 miles

Approximate Mean Distance from Eberron: 77,500 miles

Large and lavender, Dravago is a striking image in the sky. Its orbit typically keeps it at a distance from other moons, and old legends say that it is herding the rest and keeping them in motion. Children of Dravago are said to be more comfortable with animals and plants than with people -- gifted herders, handlers, and farmers, but often awkward in social situations. Some say that stones from Dravago occasionally fall to Eberron, and alchemists have long claimed that this "purple dust of Dravago" holds remarkable magical properties.

The distinct hue is a product of a landscape of dreamlike purple ice, a jagged landscape of sharp spires mixed with flat plains of snow. The moon is the coldest one in Eberron's orbit, and is a difficult place to survive.

The ones who thrive the most are those that can impose their will and create stability. There are small Aventan colonies who have domesticated and tamed the animals that roam across the surface, but it’s the citadels of frost giants that truly thrive. These giants were descended from the Group of Eleven, who were a network of Empyreans who studied different planes (except for Fernia, which was the domain of the Sul’At League, and the Cul’Sir Dominion, whose concern was Dal Quor.) Some moons were colonized by giants through massive, pyramid-shaped spelljammers, while others were colonized from within the planes. Those who dwell on Dravago established their fortresses at portals to Risia, where their Empress, Il’Ara rules.

The imposition of stability and stasis has an important role. In times of drastic change, such as say, a new fleet of spelljammers arriving, a deadly disease breaks out. This is called Frostfang Fever, which spreads to both animals and beings, turning them into shapeshifting, nightmarish creatures who will devour everything in their area, taking on the form of the creatures they consume, until stasis or equilibrium is reached again. In those times, the frost giants close their fortresses to all visitors and freeze themselves in Risia, to quarantine themselves from the infection. In periods where the Frostfang Fever did not reach equilibrium, the portals to Risia were opened wide, freezing the moon anew. Thus the moon is actually composed of multiple layers of ice; the Aventans and more recent arrivals live on the surface, the fortresses of the Frost Giants are further below, and the lairs of dragons even deeper, including crystal dragons, who mutated from metallic and chromatic dragons who settled here before the Age of Demons. Some say even older, stranger creatures live in the deepest layers, underneath mountains of madness.

Adventure Hooks:

The players is commissioned to hunt for ice elk ivory, which is an important traditional component in spelljamming helms. They are joined by a tribe of werebear hunters who are friendly, welcoming, and generous; but what does it mean that some of them are fasting, and refusing food?

When trying to contact an ice giant fortress, its inhabitants are found to be gruesomely hacked and torn open. Was this a product of Frostfang Fever? Or was this an act of dissection performed by some alien intelligence, from below the ice?

The party is hired to locate a mythallar, an immensely powerful artifact that allowed the ancient city of Ythryn to fly, and eventually fly into Siberspace following the collapse of Aventus. However, a powerful fiend from Risia known as the Frostmaiden has frozen Ythryn underneath an entire glacier of ice. Can the party help the small settlements of Ten Towns, and negotiate the various forces present to finally unlock its secret? Or is it a power too dangerous to possess?