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SoulGamit 01-22-06, 03:28 PM

Well, the following is a backstory I made for a warforged artificer in an eberron campaign. I'm not entirely sure it's compatable with everything that's in there... I have a hard time remembering every group from every faction and stuff. Atect was one of the first Warforged created. Aarron d’Cannith had just recently succeeded in his project to create sentient constructs, and business was booming. With productivity up, Aarron turned his attention to expanding the sentience that he had created within the warforged to expand their uses. His proposal was simple, to create a warforged created from cheaper parts that was not designed for battle and could perform other, mundane tasks as well as hold its own socially. Aarron took his new creation into his own home as a servant, taking pleasure in hosting parties and lunches for various people, especially those that funded his research so that he could point out how well his new warforged could handle itself and how fast it was maturing. It was during his time with Aarron that Atect received his most unique feature, his human-like face. It started out as a conversation on emotion and expression. Atect was curious about these topics, as well as why a humanoid's face constantly changed depending on the subject. He came to understand that facial expressions were merely a subtle way for humans to communicate, and he then wanted that ability for himself. Within a few months, Aarron granted his wish and had constructed a new head for his servant that had a smooth, malleable face, though it retained Atect's opal plating and obviously wasn't human. Although his new upgrade restored his novelty for a while, Aarron's supporters required advancements. Aarron inevitably gave Atect away to a man name Murdering. Murdering was a kind, if secretive master. He had plenty of servants, so Atect took on the role of an aid and secretary. It was Murdering who installed the hidden compartments within Atect's back, his paranoia compelling him to frequently hide documents in there. Atect's service would be short live, for not a year later he overheard Murdering talking about getting a more advanced model and getting rid of Atect. Atect had been ordered to dispose of old, out of date, and broken things before. He had always thrown them in the trash, and when he asked were that lead he learned that they were usually disintegrated or broken down and recycled. Although Atect's only brushes with death was when he was disabled so that he could be upgraded or repaired, the thought of oblivion terrified him. When a man came to pick Atect up, he panicked. The closest thing that was next to the poor warforged was, unfortunately, a large mace from his owner's more "rowdy days." That mace found a new sheath inside the would-be murderer's skull. Although he only did to defend himself, his master was horrified. Atect approached, bloody mace in hand to his master. He tried to explain, tried to tell his master that he only had to defend himself and that he didn't want to die. His master just backed up towards the balcony, horrified. As Atect approached Murdering, he continued back and fell off of the balcony. Atect was horrified at what he had just done. He tried to run, but he didn't get far. People outside heard the commotion and saw Murdering fall. The guards quickly caught up to Atect, who found himself in solitary confinement. If Murdering was a member of the House of Cannith, things would have been easy. Atect would have been destroyed and no one would have known the better. Alas, the incident was made public and Atect was to be put on trial, and the House of Cannith knew its head was on the chopping block by proxy. In the trial, Atect argued for his right to live, but when the prosecution said that Atect was never in any danger, and that the man that was supposed to be coming to destroy him was really a prospective buyer, Atect's case fell apart, especially since the court didn't want to "chance a possession from turning upon its master." In order to save face, the House of Cannith claimed that Atect was a failed experiment, that Murdering was a horrible loss but that his death would not be in vain. Atect and all of his kind were brought to the junk yards. It was there that they were torn apart, no warforged would ever be made "human-like" again, and they would never be made for anything other then war-like tasks. Perhaps it was irony, or perhaps fate, but Atect did not die that day. He was critically wounded and broken into pieces, but enough of him survived so that he didn't lose his sentience. Still, his fate seemed almost as bad as oblivion itself. He spent years in that junk heap, not able to interact, or see anything. It was there that seeds of decent took root. Who was to say that, just because he was of flesh and bone that he didn't deserve a fair trial, which he didn't feel that he got. Who was to say that he was any more or less a machine, a possession then a humanoid? Who was to say that he should have anyone be his master? Still, perhaps it was just how the House of Cannith built him, or perhaps it was something else entirely, but he couldn't help but think of humans as his masters. He couldn't help but think of them with respect. So he decided in his own mind that he would treat humans with the respect he thought they deserved, that he'd act in the way that he knew as the norm, but he would work towards his own goals. He vowed that day to make Warforged the exalted ones, to make a nation that could rival, if not surpass any humanoid nation ever built. It was around that time that Atect was pooled out of the trash by a wandering, self-proclaimed inventor. Atect moved, although he couldn't speak, so this would-be savior decided that it was a rare find and took Atect into his workshop to be rebuilt. Although Atect was now crude looking, but he was functional, and he was grateful. With nothing better to do, no direction or any idea where or when he was, Atect served the junkman for a while. In contrast to his previous masters, Jack the Junkman treated Atect like almost like an equal or a colleague more then he did a servant. Under him Atect learned many basic skills, especially how to craft things. It was satisfying work, but there was a grave problem, Atect's current state of disrepair. Although Jack rebuilt much of general body, it was still far from what Atect was used to. The most important thing missing was his face, which was all but completely smashed in and replaced with the vague featureless face of a normal warforged. In an attempt to solve this, Jack took Atect to an old friend at Sharn's Morgrave University named Seymour Torril. Professor Torril is an Artificer who taught the fundamental principles of magic. He was a respected member of the university, but he generally kept to his own research. Jack signed Atect up to be an aid for Professor Torril after explaining that he'd help rebuild Atect. It took a while, but Atect eventually reached his previous glory, although Professor Torril made many modifications of his own, such as giving Atect armor plating for the first time. In return for these services, Atect was required to perform many mundane tasks such as organization and housework. Even in this situation, Atect found a way to learn. He studied the Professor’s notes carefully, helped to organize them. Eventually, Atect began practicing his own magic under the guise of "better understanding his master's work so that he could better serve,." and Professor Torril didn't have a problem. It was coming home from picking up a fresh batch of spell components; he came home to a bloody room. The entire contents were in disarray, and most of Professor Torril's notes were missing, the body was simply gone. Atect didn't wait to be blamed, this time he gathered his things and ran. It didn't take long for the watch to catch up with him, calling him a murderer. He was outnumbered and out powered in every way, had help not arrived, he'd of died that day. Out of the allies, several warforged came to his rescue. The battle was small, and Atect helped the warforged that had saved him by repairing them. After the battle was done, the warforged lead Atect into a secluded area. They explained that they worked for someone called "The Lord of Blades" and that they worked towards freeing all warforged. When Atect asked how they planned to do this, the reply was simple: destroy and/or oppress the humanoids. While Atect believed in such a goal, he didn't believe in their methods. Even so, he did not want to make an enemy of the people who saved him, so he told them that he believed in the same thing, but that he would like to do things his own way. Normally the warforged would not have allowed such a thing, but many of them were alive during Atect's trials and knew that "human-like warforged" were to have been destroyed; they thought his very existence to be defiance to their enemies. They gave Atect a new paint job and fixed him up to make him look at least look like he was combat ready. In addition, they knew his face had to be concealed if Atect was to live among humanoids, so they constructed a helmet to fit over his head, giving him the appearance of a normal warforged. They gave him the name Atect, which was a short way of saying "Architect." They even gave him some equipment and some gold, and let him go on his own.