Dolurrh

### **Time**

**Timeless.** Time passes at the same rate as on the Material Plane, and is consistent across its layers. Creatures can benefit from resting, suffer damage, and die. However, a creature on Dolurrh doesn’t age, and doesn’t need to eat, sleep, or drink.

### **Source**

Eberron Campaign Setting, pg. 95

**Dolurrh the Realm of the Dead** is a hopeless gray waste where mortal souls go after death. It’s not the embodiment of the idea of death or dying, both of which are reflected in Mabar. Rather, Dolurrh is where mortal souls go after their bodies die, where memories fade and lives are forgotten. It is not a reward, nor a punishment, it simply is. Dolurrh is timeless, and people who visit Dolurrh are slowly overcome with apathy and eventually fade, turning into a shade.

Endless caverns stretch throughout Dolurrh, bleak passages of gray stone. Wherever you go, shadowy figures reach toward you, imploring, but you feel only the faintest chill as their insubstantial fingers pass through you. Mist pools around your feet, and as you press forward, you realize this swirling mist is moaning. This is no natural phenomenon; these are the remnants of souls who have forgotten themselves.

## Description

Dolurrh is Eberron's realm of the dead, where most mortals go when they die. For those on the plane of Dolurrh, colors become grayer and less vivid, and visitors experience a feeling of ennui. Those that visit the plane sway under its influence, losing the desire to leave, and eventually forgetting their previous lives. These visitors eventually become shades, and native to Dolurrh. For visitors trapped in Dolurrh, only the most powerful of magics can free them.

When one dies, one's soul travels to Dolurrh. However, it is possible to use powerful resurrection magics to bring the soul back from Dolurrh to the Material Plane. In addition, it is possible to bring a soul back to the Material Plane via plane shifts or fixed portals; though doing so would subject the revivers of the risks of visiting the Realm of the Dead. It must be noted, though, that the maruts actively discourage resurrection in this manner.

The realm of the dead is the home of Severa, the god of the dead from the Sovereign Host. Unlike The Traveler, who was cast out from the realm of the sovereigns, Severa serves as the gatekeeper between the mortal realms and whatever lies beyond. Most people not faithful to the Sovereign Host believe that The Nightmother is not actually a god herself, but simply the planar ruler of Dolurrh. Divine or not, The Nightmother's greatest adversary is The Keeper, who is able to steal wayward souls before their arrival in Dolurrh.

Because the walls between Eberron and Dolurrh are thinner than other planes, it is possible to draw upon their energies. The dragon Arstyvrax draws upon the energies of Dolurrh to power his necromantic research; while the lich queen Lady Illmarrow wishes to destroy these boundaries entirely, and supplant Severa as the new Queen of the Dead.

Though most souls travel to the Realm of the Dead, there are some that do not. Those souls beholden to the Silver Flame will join it upon death. It is said that if the dragon god Chronepsis deems a dragon worthy, he will bring the dragon to the realm of the Sovereigns instead of Dolurrh. The Path of Light promises those amongst the Inspired an afterlife outside of Dolurrh. Some organizations will use undeath to prevent a soul going to Dolurrh, such as the Blood of Vol, the nation of Karrnath, and the Undying Court. And no ones knows where the souls of the warforged go, if anywhere, since no warforged soul has been found in Dolurrh.

## Faith and Final Death

Mortal spirits are drawn to Dolurrh within moments of death, and their memories begin to decay immediately. Within days, most spirits no longer have any desire to leave Dolurrh, and within weeks, most only have the faintest memories of their previous lives. The faiths of Aerenal and the Blood of Vol assert that Dolurrh is the absolute end of existence, the last echoes of a life before it’s completely gone. But when Dorius Alyre ir’Korran drew his classic planar map, he used the Octogram symbol of the Sovereign Host to represent Dolurrh, because he declared it to be the door through which all mortals must pass to join with the Sovereigns. This has come to be a common view: what appears to be memory fading is actually the soul slowly ascending to a higher form of existence, rising to a level of reality no mortal can experience. The Vassals of the Sovereign Host say the faithful finally join the Sovereigns; followers of the Silver Flame say that noble souls strengthen the Flame. What is left is only a husk; the cast-off remnants, like an abandoned snakeskin or the traces of memory that can be read using speak with dead. Thus, while Dolurrh has long been known as the Realm of the Dead, many call it the Gateway. Ultimately, this is a matter of faith - whether the other side of Dolurrh is oblivion or paradise, no one ever returns from it.

All living creatures come to Dolurrh, sooner or later. Those that come here before death are almost always looking for something - a lost soul, a forgotten memory. But living or dead, any who come to Dolurrh can be trapped by its power.

## Universal Properties

Everything about Dolurrh is gray and gloomy. Even the brightest colors seem faded, the most joyful sounds seem dull. The heavy weight of ennui settles on travelers the moment they arrive, making even the simplest tasks feel challenging. And there’s a constant pull, tugging on memory and emotion, a desire to just sit down and let it all go.

* **Ennui.** The heavy weight of ennui settles on travelers the moment they arrive, making even the simplest tasks feel challenging. And there’s a constant pull, tugging on memory and emotion, a desire to just sit down and let it all go. See the page for Dolurrh's Ennui for more details.
* **Impeded Magic.** In order to cast a spell of 1st level or higher, a creature must succeed on a spellcasting ability check with a DC equal to 10 + the level of the spell. On a failed check, the spell is not cast and its spell slot is not expended, but the action is lost.
* **Inevitable Entrapment.** Whenever a creature finishes a short or long rest, it must make a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it gains one level of ennui. Each time it makes this saving throw, the DC increases by 1. Whenever a creature ends a 24-hour period without finishing a long rest, it must make this saving throw as if it had just finished a rest, but its roll is made with disadvantage. Creatures native to Dolurrh are immune to this property’s effects.
* **Timeless.** Time passes at the same rate as on the Material Plane, and is consistent across its layers. Creatures can benefit from resting, suffer damage, and die. However, a creature on Dolurrh doesn’t age, and doesn’t need to eat, sleep, or drink.
* Other
	+ Optional Rule: Shadowfell Despair
	+ All vision becomes limited to 20ft.

## Denizens

### The Quick

The native creatures of Dolurrh are bound to the cycle of transition, and all have some role to serve in this process. All of the Quick are immune to the ennui condition.

* The Crawling Angels and the Nalfeshnee demons both patrol the Catacombs of Dolurrh, dispersing melds and lemures and dealing with mortal intruders.
* Other demons and devils sometimes appear in Dolurrh to steal shades, including the **deathdrinker** and the **lemure**.
* While most Inevitable call the plane of Daanvi home, the **maruts** call Dolurrh home.
* Shadar-kai are servants of the Queen of the Dead, shades granted new life.
* The Queen of the Dead once held in her service flights of black-winged angels that served as her emissaries. These angels were rendered mortal in the Calamity, being transformed into a humanoid species known as Kenku. To this day, the shades of kenku are immune to Dolurrh's ennui.

### The Dead

The spirits of those who have died are omnipresent in Dolurrh, from shades huddled in the shadows to layers of moaning mist. The Dead might be considered manifestations of Dolurrh, but the plane didn’t actually create them - all were once mortals

* Shades are mortal souls that are freshly arrived in Dolurrh.
* Husks are harmless shades that have been overcome by ennui and possess only the vaguest memories of their mortal existence.
* Ghosts are formed when a shade clings to a particular memory with such intensity that even Dolurrh can’t completely eradicate it, desperate to return to Eberron to complete their unfinished buisness.
* Gashadokuro. Massive, semi-corporeal form of ghost known as the "Starving Skeleton", formed when famine or great war causes hundreds of people to be killed without their bodies having been tended to properly.
* Creature inhabitants of Dolurrh include the **ephemeral swarm** and the **plague brush**.
* Other forms of undead are rarely seen in Dolurrh. The entities found in this plane are the spirits of the dead, slowly fading, transitioning - or trapped in that process. Corporeal undead such as ghouls, skeletons, and zombies have no place here, while undead that hunger to consume life belong in Mabar.

### The Lingering

Memories of joy and happiness do no harm in Dolurrh. But memories of pain, of cruelty, of anger... these don’t fade so easily, and they can hurt others. Even if they don’t trap shades as ghosts, this psychic residue can build up in the gears of the spiritual machinery of Dolurrh. It often takes the presence of a mortal to trigger it; when this occurs, the lingering pain and hate coalesces into a solid form. The least of these are lemures, formed from hateful memories or deeds. The emotional residue of hundreds or thousands of people can form deadly sorrowsworn - the Angry, the Hungry, the Lonely, the Lost, and the Wretched. The Lingering are formed in Dolurrh and are immune to ennui, but they’re a waste product, not the plane’s desired result. As such, crawling angels, nalfeshnee, maruts, and other guardians destroy the Lingering whenever they are found.

### The Court of the Dead

Immortal beings that make up the court of The Queen of the Dead.

* The Queen of the Dead, the most powerful being in Dolurrh, dwells in the great spire that rises up above the Vault of Memories. She is counted among the Sovereign Host, but not all vassals agree that Severa and The Queen of the Dead are one and the same.
* Ilmatyr, at least by the account of some vassals of the Sovereign Host, dwells with The Nightmother within the Twilight Spire. His role is to shoulder the pain and experience the death of any creature that is ressurected, so that their soul can return to life.
* The Librarian, a spirit who interviews each shade and makes a record of its life in the Vault of Memories.
* The Smith of Souls, a spirit who refines the essence of faded spirits into husksteel in The Crucible. She wears a mask of black steel and an apron of dragonhide.
* For every soul that The Queen of the Dead judges, a Kolyarut of Daanvi will send two opposing counsels to argue in favor or against the soul in question. One of these advisors is an Angel from the court of Aureon, and the other is a Devil from the court of Asmodeus. Hundreds of these celestials and fiends can be found in the City of Judgement at any given time, waiting for their client's trial to begin.

## Layers

Dolurrh is universally gray and gloomy. The accounts of brave explorers describe the sense of being underground, and no mortal has seen the moon or sky of Dolurrh. Unlike most planes, the layers of Dolurrh don’t embody different ideas; instead, they serve different functions in this grand machine dedicated to processing souls.

The four layers discussed below are the only ones described in the records of mortals who ventured to Dolurrh - and returned. But there could be more, as yet undiscovered, each likely serving a critical purpose. It’s known that the Librarian has recorded the lives of dragons in the Vault of Memories; accordingly, sages theorize there may be a layer dedicated entirely to the spirits of dragonkind, which may linger longer than the spirits of simple humanoids.

### The Catacombs

Endless tunnels of gray stone wind through the Catacombs, the destination of humanoid spirits. Some passages are painfully tight, while others widen into grand halls with ceilings lost in darkness. The Dead are everywhere, shades pleading for release, husks keening in the shadows. The chambers of the Catacombs might contain vast wells filled with moaning mist, or nalfeshnees herding shades into pens and scraping lemures off the walls.

The Catacombs may be larger than Khorvaire, or even Eberron itself. A mortal could wander forever through these winding tunnels... at least until they’re consumed by ennui. However, there are junction points that transcend the logic of distance. If one knows the right symbols to follow, they can cross the vastness of the Catacombs quickly or pass to other layers, perhaps in search of a shade to rescue.

### The Kennel

The Kennel is similar in appearance to the Catacombs, but contains the shades and husks of beasts and monstrosities, along with the nalfeshnee and maruts that tend them. Here, you’ll hear the howls of fading wolf spirits, and see flocks of spectral birds flying through grand halls, along with larger and fiercer creatures. Beast spirits rarely linger long in Dolurrh, as most have fewer memories to erase. But all dogs go to Dolurrh!

The Queen of the Dead might have created special servants that wander these halls, just as she made the shadar-kai. It’s possible adventurers could be questioned by a clever raven with the soul of a poet.

### The Crucible

In this grand foundry, tended by shadar-kai and guarded by newly forged maruts, the immortal spirit known as the Smith of Souls refines the essence of faded spirits into husksteel. From these lingering scraps of memory and emotion, she forges the armor and weapons of the shadar-kai, and creates the maruts from the husks of brave souls. She also creates smaller and stranger items from husksteel.

The Smith wears a mask of black steel and an apron of dragonhide. When forging maruts, she takes the form of a giant, and when crafting tiny trinkets, a gnome. It’s possible that she collects the memories of mortal artisans, and can replicate their works at her forge.

### The City of Judgement

The heart of Dolurrh is the City of Judgement, a tightly packed metropolis located at the deepest depths of Dolurrh. It is a colorless and eerily quiet city, built in a featureless cavern of perpetual darkness. It is enclosed by a wall of husksteel forged in the Crucible, and is surrounded by an endless que of shades awaiting their judgement. Some believe that the first spark of the Silver Flame resides within the city. The city is home to the shadar-kai, and at its center lies the Vault of Memories.

### The Vault of Memories

The heart of Dolurrh is the Vault of Memories. This tower, carved up through gray stone, is larger than any of the great towers of Sharn. The lowest levels hold the Vault’s library; here, the spirit known as the Librarian interviews each shade and makes a record of its life. His power is such that an entire life can be confined to a single large page. Every sigil inscribed holds a crucial memory, and if a creature is proficient in Arcana, they can read the symbol to experience that memory. The many floors of the library hold countless books of preserved lives, carefully tended by shadar-kai scribes. The Librarian himself is a massive hooded figure; his books are likewise enormous. It’s said that he can be many places at once, allowing him to speak to every shade, capturing the story of its life, before it fades.

In the halls above the library, the Queen of the Dead keeps her many treasures. What seem to be obsidian statues are actually shades, crystallized to prevent them from being entrapped and lost in Dolurrh. Paintings and crystals contain memories that the Queen has chosen to isolate. Beyond these are countless trinkets and oddities, items collected by her shadar-kai over the vast scope of history. And higher still, in the Twilight Spire, are the chambers of the Queen herself, where she usually sits in silent contemplation, listening to the whispers of the countless shades in her domain.

## Manifest Zones

Manifest zones tied to Dolurrh rarely possess all of the plane’s properties; travelers generally aren’t entrapped by ennui simply by passing through one. But these zones are still close to the Realm of the Dead and exceptionally haunted, though not blighted, as Mabaran zones typically are. Shadows move in disturbing ways, and travelers may hear whispers they can’t quite make out.

The restless spirits of Dolurrh yearn to return to the Material Plane, and it’s easier for them to do so in manifest zones. They might manifest as ghosts, or animate the corpses of people buried in the zone, causing them to return as revenants or zombies. In some Dolurrhi zones, raising the dead can be dangerous; if spells or abilities that raise the dead are used in such a zone, roll on the Dolurrhi Resurrection Mishaps table to determine the result.

Dolurrhi zones can also have positive effects. In many zones, it’s easier to return people from the dead, halving the cost of any material components. In others, anyone can cast speak with dead as a ritual that takes an hour to perform, as long as they have a personal connection to the deceased whose corpse they’re questioning.

The most dramatic manifest zones are those that serve as gateways to enter the Catacombs of Dolurrh - and hopefully, to return. Opening such a gateway might call for a special ritual or significant sacrifice, perhaps under a particular alignment of the moon Aryth, or when Dolurrh is conterminous. Other gateways, found in manifest zones deep within Khyber, open regularly on their own; these are by far the most dangerous.

### Known Manifest Zones:

* Vast swaths of Khyber are manifest zones of Dolurrh, often containing the most active portal gateways.
* The **Chasm of Forgotten Echoes** in the valley of two mountains in the Shadowcrag Mountains is home to a manifest zone of Dolurrh.
* The **Harvest of Pain**, a blasted wasteland on the continent of Argonnessen, is a manifest zone of Dolurrh.
* In Q'barra, many animals travel to the **Ivory Mountain** to die. Scholars from Morgrave University believe that there is a manifest zone to Dolurrh either near or within the mountain.
* The **Lair of the Keeper** in the Demon Wastes is a powerful manifest zone to Dolurrh.
* Many believe that the ghosts that come out of the pitch black waters of **Lake Dark** in Karrnath do so because of a Dolurrh manifest zone.

## Effects on the Material Plane

Dolurrh has a slow planar cycle. Traditionally, once a century, it becomes coterminous for a full year. Fifty years after that, it’s remote for a full year. It can also have shorter phases, tied to the movements of the moon Aryth.

### Coterminous

When Dolurrh becomes coterminous, the boundaries between the two planes becomes thin. Ghosts and other creates from Dolurrh pass easily into the world of Eberron. Spells designed to resurrect people become more potent, often inadvertently bringing back the wrong soul, other ghosts or shades, or even an demon inhabitant of Dolurrh.

### Remote

While Dolurrh is remote, traditional resurrection magic, such as revivify or reincarnate, can’t pull spirits back from Dolurrh. The only way to raise the dead in these times is by traveling to Dolurrh itself and pulling the shade back to the world, as described earlier in this section. Surprisingly, ghosts are also especially common in this time - but these aren’t ghosts that return from Dolurrh. Rather, if Dolurrh is remote when someone dies in the grip of great emotion or with vital unfinished business, their spirit can more easily resist Dolurrh’s pull, remaining on the Material Plane.

## Behind the Scenes

For fourth edition, Wizards of the Coast combine their core rulebook concept of the Shadowfell with Dolurrh. In this edition, Dolurrh is sometimes known as ***Dolurrh the Shadowfell*** instead of ***Dolurrh the Realm of the Dead***.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 ***Eberron Campaign Setting***.
Keith Baker, Bill Slavicsek, and James Wyatt (2004). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3274-0.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 ***Dragons of Eberron***.
Keith Baker, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, Nicolas Logue, and Amber Scott (2007). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-4154-5.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 ***Eberron Campaign Guide***.
James Wyatt and Keith Baker (2009). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-5099-4.
4. ↑ ***Faiths of Eberron***.
Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Ari Marmell, and C.A. Suleiman (2006). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3934-6.
5. ↑ ***Secrets of Sarlona***.
Keith Baker, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, Glenn McDonald, and Chris Sims (2007). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4037-0.
6. ↑ ***Races of Eberron***.
Jesse Decker, Matthew Sernett, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, and Keith Baker (2005). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3658-4.
7. ↑ "**Dragonmarks: Manifestly Strange**" (March 2007) by Amber E. Scott. *Dragon Magazine* issue 353.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 ***Player's Guide to Eberron***.
James Wyatt, Keith Baker, Luke Johnson, Steven Brown (2006). Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3912-5.

**Fundamental Planes**: The Astral Plane (Siberys) · The Material Plane (Eberron) · Elemental Chaos (Khyber)

**Transitive Planes and Demiplanes**: The Ethereal Plane · The Shadow Plane · Baator