Rhaan
Rhaan, the Book
Color: Pale blue
Associated Dragonmark: Scribing
Associated Plane: Thelanis
Approximate Diameter: 800 miles
Approximate Mean Distance from Eberron: 168,000 miles
Day Length: 27 hours
The smallest of Eberron's moons, Rhaan looks more like a bright star. When viewed with a spyglass, one may see a series of ridges that vaguely resemble scribblings on a page. The druids say that Rhaan empowers creative thought, and they believe that dancers, musicians, poets, and artists of all stripes draw inspiration from the Book.
Rhaan is an arid, desert-like moon, albeit with alien, pale-blue sand and rocks. The wind twists and carves the rocks into formations that almost look like sigils or letters, but not in any known language, arcing across the landscape and leaping into the air.
Rhaan’s native people are primarily the reigar, who along with the other travelers and settlers of the past live in two separate societies. One society lives in the desert, as nomads using spears and arrows, surviving amongst dangerous beasts. The other lives in complex cities of metal and iron, utilizing magic that would stretch the imagination of Cannith’s magewrights to the limit to create art and weapons.
The reigar and other people live in a cycle defined by history and narrative. This is partially due to the influence of a native archfey known as the Dread Visor who found his way to this moon uncounted eons ago. The cycle revolves around this archfey taking a guise on himself as a dictatorial tyrant, propelling one faction of reigar into a magocratic society and the other into a disadvantaged one. Over time, a hero will arise amongst the disenfranchised, organize a rebellion, and defeat the current incarnation of the Dread Visor, ushering in a golden era of peace and prosperity- until the Dread Visor rises again.
Every cycle comes back to that point. To some degree, the reigar are aware of this pattern, and recognize it as a sort of cosmic game. Their craving for art as well as violence results in impressive monuments and epic books and novels to the “heroes” of the past, and even view the progression of the cycle as an art form of itself, studying it and coming up with artistic terms to describe recurring tropes. As of YK 998, they would call this iteration “Stone Man Rising.”
However, other people also live on Rhaan, and they often suffer the consequences when oppression rears its head. Sometimes long centuries can pass before the Rebellion kicks off in earnest, and the tyrannical forces of Dread Visor can cause a lot of damage to the knowledge and development of the disadvantaged society. The reigar view the other peoples on Rhaan more as supporting players, and usually offer little assistance until the revolution is truly ready to strike. In the interim times of peace, the reigar love freedom and democracy, but are distrustful of each other and split into factions, always accusing the others of being the one to allow the next tyrant to rise. Only when a proposed despot or dictator actually dons a ferocious, black mask or helmet is the Dread Visor truly revealed, but by then the seeds of totalitarianism have already been sown, and the cycle begins anew.
Adventure hooks:
The narrative powers of Thelanis are weaker on Rhaan than on the plane itself, but are still present to some degree through the presence of the archfey Dread Visor. As such, stories emulating the pulp science fiction of our world are plentiful here. If one wanted to steal a cheesy plot from Flash Gordon, 1970’s B movies, Star Trek, or other media, I’ve designed Rhaan to be a place where such a story could take place. This version is most well-suited to themes similar to Conan the Barbarian, Krull, the Beastmaster, Yor: Hunter from the Future, or yes, even Battlefield Earth.
In his current iteration, the Dread Visor is known as Emperor Noonien. This is one of the few cycles in which his domination of Rhaan is so complete, that he wishes to expand his conquest across Siberspace. He has a few powerful spelljammers, but wishes to capture an Eberron spelljammer to learn about the newest developments. When the players cross paths with a reigar esthetic, will they be able to evade its clutches?
Life on the surface outside of the steel cities can be brutal, and only the strong, oily, and muscly can survive. In order to prove themselves to a potential ally, the players are sent to do battle in a gladiatorial pit, to survive battle against a hideous, reptilian beast. However, said beast is a copper dragon, who promises if they help her escape that she knows a way to defeat Dread Visor and break the cycle for good. Will they help her chart a new course for the people of Rhaan? or is this world too dependent on the narrative tide the archfey provides?
Color: Pale blue
Associated Dragonmark: Scribing
Associated Plane: Thelanis
Approximate Diameter: 800 miles
Approximate Mean Distance from Eberron: 168,000 miles
Day Length: 27 hours
The smallest of Eberron's moons, Rhaan looks more like a bright star. When viewed with a spyglass, one may see a series of ridges that vaguely resemble scribblings on a page. The druids say that Rhaan empowers creative thought, and they believe that dancers, musicians, poets, and artists of all stripes draw inspiration from the Book.
Rhaan is an arid, desert-like moon, albeit with alien, pale-blue sand and rocks. The wind twists and carves the rocks into formations that almost look like sigils or letters, but not in any known language, arcing across the landscape and leaping into the air.
Rhaan’s native people are primarily the reigar, who along with the other travelers and settlers of the past live in two separate societies. One society lives in the desert, as nomads using spears and arrows, surviving amongst dangerous beasts. The other lives in complex cities of metal and iron, utilizing magic that would stretch the imagination of Cannith’s magewrights to the limit to create art and weapons.
The reigar and other people live in a cycle defined by history and narrative. This is partially due to the influence of a native archfey known as the Dread Visor who found his way to this moon uncounted eons ago. The cycle revolves around this archfey taking a guise on himself as a dictatorial tyrant, propelling one faction of reigar into a magocratic society and the other into a disadvantaged one. Over time, a hero will arise amongst the disenfranchised, organize a rebellion, and defeat the current incarnation of the Dread Visor, ushering in a golden era of peace and prosperity- until the Dread Visor rises again.
Every cycle comes back to that point. To some degree, the reigar are aware of this pattern, and recognize it as a sort of cosmic game. Their craving for art as well as violence results in impressive monuments and epic books and novels to the “heroes” of the past, and even view the progression of the cycle as an art form of itself, studying it and coming up with artistic terms to describe recurring tropes. As of YK 998, they would call this iteration “Stone Man Rising.”
However, other people also live on Rhaan, and they often suffer the consequences when oppression rears its head. Sometimes long centuries can pass before the Rebellion kicks off in earnest, and the tyrannical forces of Dread Visor can cause a lot of damage to the knowledge and development of the disadvantaged society. The reigar view the other peoples on Rhaan more as supporting players, and usually offer little assistance until the revolution is truly ready to strike. In the interim times of peace, the reigar love freedom and democracy, but are distrustful of each other and split into factions, always accusing the others of being the one to allow the next tyrant to rise. Only when a proposed despot or dictator actually dons a ferocious, black mask or helmet is the Dread Visor truly revealed, but by then the seeds of totalitarianism have already been sown, and the cycle begins anew.
Adventure hooks:
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