I'm fleshing out some ideas for a character in Eberron with influence over the planes and planar creatures and I've got a handful of questions if you guys don't mind humoring me 
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1. I was introduced to Eberron in 3rd edition, so the whole time I've been fleshing out this character's story, I've been imagining the planes as whole other worlds. I haven't purchased the 4th edition Campaign sourcebook because the 3rd edition one has been suiting me just fine. But now that I've glanced at the 4th edition book, it seems that the "planes" have been reduced to mere cities floating around in Siberys. Is this the case? I'm more curious about this than anything because I probably will not stick to this particular part of the canon, but did I read it correctly and is this how most of you use the planes in Eberron?
2. How familiar are the common folk of Khorvaire with the other planes? I just read Son of Khyber and there was a part in the book that gave me the impression that people were not too educated on the planes. Daine states that Xu'sasar and Thorn "know very little of the danger" and the Drego goes on to explain that there are "... worlds beyond the one we know, higher planes of existence and dark realms that lie beyond the shadows." Is it safe to say that the common person knows little about the planes other than some folklore?
3. Is it possible for manifest zones to exist in planes other than Eberron? Could there be a manifest zone between Kythri and Fernia for instance? Or Syrania and Lamannia? (I'm sticking to planes in the same "dragon" for the examples but maybe that doesn't matter?)
4. Did the Daelkyr invade other planes of existence or only Eberron? Likewise, was the war between demons and dragons interplanar, or did it only take place on Eberron? Mostly I'm curious about ruins or outposts found far out in some distant planar location.
I think that's it for now. I'll probably think of more questions tomorrow. Thanks in advance for any help!
Khan_the_Destroyer wrote:
Khan_the_Destroyer wrote:
Touching on Baator, I'll note that by my article on the subject, Baator ISN'T a plane in the sense I've described above. It's not the embodiment of a concept that touches all of reality, as vast or vaster than the reality that we know. It's a demiplane - essentially it IS a city floating around the astral.
If you're looking for interplanar war or ruins, I'd personally use Baator as the example. Fernia can't every conquer Risia because Risia IS ice; fire can't ever find permanent purchase there. But forces of Risia and Fernia could clash on the fringes of reality, and that clash could create a demiplane - a weird little world formed by the interaction of those particular planes. This would also be what I'd do instead of having a manifest zone in a plane - having a demiplane formed where the two overlap.
Thanks for responding guys!
Regarding question 1, I'm surprised that they turned the planes into cities. It just seems strange. The planar influences on Eberron are a pretty big deal to the setting, and I just don't get that same feel when the planes are reduced to a city embodying their unique principle. Hopefully things change in Next but in the meantime I will stick closely to 3rd edition.
Thank you for the information regarding planar knowledge. The analogy to astronomy is particularly helpful. Syltorian, I've read the trilogy but unfortunately I retain very little of what I read 
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Is it possible for manifest zones to exist in planes other than Eberron? Could there be a manifest zone between Kythri and Fernia for instance? Or Syrania and Lamannia?
I have always treated the difference between 3e and 4e as merely different ways of trying to model the same phenomenon - sort of like trying t decide if light is a particle or a wave. The 3e model, for instance, is a good way of modelling planar cyles of waxing/coterminous/waning/remote, as though the planes behaved like satellites, but they only behave like satellites for certain purposes, they are not actually satellites, and the analogy breaks down when you try to model Kythri, for example. The 4e model is perhaps a better way of modelling travel between planes, and why it is easier or harder to reach a given plane depending up your starting point.
I take Hellcow's point about planes having static populations and essentially unlimited resources, and therefore having no ordinary reason to invade each other (or Eberron, for that matter), but I think the Quori are an example of why wars might occur that have nothing to do with resources. Which leads me to Khan's point:
Khan_the_Destroyer wrote:
I think I wasn't clear in my last question. I meant, did the Daelkyr try invading Eberron from any of the other planes? As an example, perhaps when they realized the Gatekeepers were using dimensional seals to keep Xoriat remote, the Daelkyr or their forces tried to establish bastions in other planes to avoid imprisonment and continue their assault or bide their time without direct interference from the druids or their dragon.
Thanks again guys, I like the idea of demiplanes and planar resistance to other planar forces.
I think for this particular character, it would be interesting to find outposts attempted by either the Daelkyr or Quori in various planar regions that were completely subsumed and converted by that plane's influence. So as an example, a Daelkyr stronghold erected in Fernia is now an everburning keep filled with fire elemental creatures. These creatures of fire have the form of the invaders of Xoriat that they were thousands of years ago, but aside from their shape, they no longer possess any of the qualities that defined them as natives of Xoriat. They are simply now fire elementals, totally assimilated by the power of Fernia. A fire elemental in the shape of the beholder would have no powers or abilities of a beholder, but may be able to shoot rays of fire out of each fire stalk. Or a Quori outpost in Risia long frozen over by the plane's cold. Someone traveling there may find Entombed lumbering through the fortress, strange quori shapes barely visible through the creature's ice body. The quori body inside is long "dead", frozen completely solid and then layered in ice.
I think it'd be an interesting way to glean more information about those particular wars and eras in Eberron's history, and gain a little bit of insight into the planes themselves.
As for the demiplanes, I love that idea as well. A Daelkyr lord retreating from Fernia's overwhelming power may find a repulsive force from Xoriat itself, which is trying to stop what may be a possible Fernian incursion. The result of this planar clash is the Daelkyr lord trapped in a demiplane where fire and madness mesh together. The creatures that spring up there may look like creatures of madness, but they will be charred, or partially melted.
Fernia and Risia seem the easiest to imagine but I'm interested in the possibilities with the other planes. Thanks again for the ideas! (Also, Keith, it seems from your answers that the planar creatures would already know or have an idea that they could not invade another plane besides Eberron. Is that the case in your opinion?)
Regarding the elementals, it didn't occur to me until reading your guys' answers that fire elementals don't really burn anything on their home plane. The big thing about Fernia (or the elemental plane of fire outside of Eberron) is that it is always burning and doesn't need fuel. Anything that would burn on Fernia is already burning because of the atmosphere, so elementals there really have little opportunity to burn stuff. An interesting thought. That makes the prospect of burning stuff all the more enticing to a fire elemental if he likes to burn stuff (and why wouldn't he?).
Thinking on Beoric's suggestion, maybe there are ways to construct the rings of an airship in such a way as to please the elemental. Perhaps a water elemental wants to flow, like water, and fill in its surroundings. So while the ring it is contained in is stable on the outside, within it is constantly morphing, allowing the water elemental to constantly flow into new shapes and patterns. A ring for an air elemental could provide a looping action that allows the air elemental bound within to achieve flight speeds it could never reach while on its home plane. I know this probably seems unnecessary to think on, but I thought the Inmost were interesting and I was having trouble realizing how they'd actually exist. So thanks again for the ideas.
Khan_the_Destroyer wrote: