D&D: Monster Spotlight – Belashyrra The Daelkyr
The Daelkyr are one of the biggest threats to life on Eberron. Only six remain in the world, sculpting and creating monsters.
The Daelkyr are beings of nightmare. Hailing from Xoriat, the plane of Madness, these twisted abominations exist on multiple levels of reality. These monstrous beings invaded Eberron once, over nine thousand years in the past when the plane aligned with Eberron. As a real brief aside, cosmology in Eberron works differently, the various planes of D&D sort of “orbit” the world of Eberron, and are occasionally coterminous with it, which means that their magic floods Eberron, and creatures from the plane can bleed into the world, and vice versa.
Xoriat was coterminous with Eberron more than nine thousand years ago, and it was a disastrous event from the planet. The flesh sculpting beings are known as the Daelkyr, the Lords of Madness, invaded the world. They destroyed the ancient Dhakaani empire and scattered and broke the strength of goblins. Only the orcs–who learned druidic magic from an ancient dragon–were able to defeat them and seal them away. Since then there are a series of dimensional anchors that hold at bay the plane of Xoriat, fixing its orbit so that it can never become coterminous with Eberron.
Although the magic that prevents it from doing so weakens little by little every day. And the secrets of creating the gates that keep Xoriat at bay are all but forgotten. As the magic fades, the strength of the Daelkyr rises. When the Orcs and goblins banished the Daelkyr trapped on Eberron into the depths of Khyber (the Underdark and also a Dragon, Eberron is rad that way), only six remained at large in the world: Belashyrra, Lord of Eyes, Dyrrn the Corruptor, Avassh the Twister of Roots, Kyrzin, Prince of Slime, Orlassk the Master of Stone, and Valaara the Crawling Queen. Of these six, two are shown in the recent book, Eberron: Rising from the Last War, Dyrrn and Belashyrra.
And today we’re going to talk about the history of Belashyrra. In Eberron, the monsters all come from somewhere. And Belashyrra, the All-Seer, is responsible for creating Beholders and their kin. Belashyrra is rumored to be able to see every evil deed a person commits. It is said to be able to look through the eyes of its servants and can gift living creatures with maddening visions, images that can’t be unseen, the fear of blindness, or hallucinations that appear so real you no longer know what is true and what isn’t.
The Eye theme continues with Belashyrra’s lair: the Citadel of Lidless Eyes. This aberrant place exists deep in the darkness of Khyber. It is a site molded from molten stone, chitin, and flesh. Across its warped and liquid expanses, thousands of eyes of every size and shape peer into the endless darkness. It is said that whoever sits upon the throne at the heart of the Citadel of Lidless eyes can see through the eyes of any sentient creature on Eberron or Khyber.
Belashyrra is a creature of sight and vision. Unlike most of its brethren, Belashyrra most often appears wearing a human face. However its disguise is not perfect: people looking at its face can see it is devoid of emotions, To look into Belashyrra’s eyes is to see their own reflected back in them.
And Belashyrra’s stats reflect the stature of a unique monster hewn of eyes and madness.
Alien Mind means the creature is truly unfathomable–and Eye Thief, which lets Belashyrra act through another creature’s eyes is horrifying to think about. With multiple attacks and the ability to use powerful eye rays, it is a threat to even well-prepared parties. Though the true strength in Belashyrra’s stats is to turn foes against themselves using their own eyes against them.
Facing Belashyrra in its lair invites even more difficulty, as Belashyrra is the true master of the Citadel of Lidless Eyes, and can command the eyes that line the halls to fire eye rays at targets, charm foes into attacking one of their allies, or alter the perception of foes it deems threatening, so they no longer see what is truly there.
Belashyrra’s corruption can be felt near its lair, leaving creatures nearby feeling like they’re being watched, or causing those touched by its power to grow extra eyes.
The Daelkyr are some of the best threats you can use in Eberron, so consider Belashyrra when next looking for an alien being to threaten your world.
Happy Adventuring!
