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TerasMagx 12-14-06, 03:02 AM

Ok, here is the basic outline of what I have in mind. It centers around what I believe to be one of the major features of the setting that set it apart from other settings, and which seem to get lots of back-story updates where least expected, the war-forged. I would advice, anyone not wanting plot ruined for them to stop reading here, some of what I am going to say is cannon meta-plot in so much as its been supported in the various supplements. The war-forged originated In Xendrix, with the quori of 40k years ago, that or with the giants who fought them and was then appropriated by them, depending on your view, I go with the former. I imagine that they were created for the same reason that the inspired and the empty vessels exist for today, to house the sprits and essences of the quori in the material plane of Ebberon. I would further speculate that the quori-craft war-forged are a 1st generation model, and that the schemas and such found in Xendrix, including the one that lead to the creation of the first modern creation forge were of giant origin. Extending too their extensive knowledge of magic at the height of the age the giants were likely about to perfect the war-forged design. Here is where I depart a bit from canon to create a bit of my own conclusions and plot. I would have it that the creation of the war-forged does not, in fact, create new life, but instead pulls souls and essence from other places, in this case the other realms of Ebberon. This isn’t so far fetched and I imagine a number of people have used the idea that war-forged are the souls of the dead reborn. I would go further then this however, if the original quori-craft war-forged were designed to house quori spirits, then we have a basic design, war-forged meant to house outsider souls or minds. It would have been easy for the giants to take the quori-specific application and it expand it to other planes of existence. This is an important point to make for reasons that will follow. It is thus that the design which Cannith found and copied was one such attempt by giants, mayhaps the best, mayhaps a mad-giant wizards idea of perfect. I would further speculate however that Cannith did not, and likely still does not, fully understand how it is the creation forges work, they just do. The problem with this is that the creation of war-forged in the modern time has become unrefined, something that is very dangerous. Of all of the outsiders who could gain to benefit from a way to transfer mind and essence to the material plane, two pop to mind. The first is obvious the quori themselves. However I would postulate one of two reasons why they do not bother. The first is that they have already perfected the empty vessels to a point where creating constructs for their purpose is no longer needed. I also believe that the quori of 40k years ago, the ones that fought the giants, are not the same incarnation that exists now. If the dreaming dark does indeed flow in cycles that means that at some point in the past, it was good yes, but that it was also evil. I would postulate that the quori of 40k years ago were the last incarnation of ‘evil quori’ before it shifted to go, only to shift back to evil as it is now. Thus, the quori of this age may not be compatible with war-forged. The other, and this is the more insidious, are the mad from Xoriat. This then is the main plot-line I am looking at. The war-forged are a tool for Xoriat, waiting to be exploited, and which already are as it were. The process by which war-forged acquire a soul circumvents the disconnected nature of the plane, leaving them an open if slow egress back into Ebberon. This leads, obviously, to say that the day of mourning was a direct result of this. Two major factors lead too it, either the ascension of a very powerful spirit from Xoriat into a war-forged, or the escape of one trapped in Khyber that was located underneath the creation forge there, or close by. The mourning was created because it is A-inhospitable to much that isn’t war-forged, and B-a place easily avoided by most. The point in this is that the minions of Xoriat are still for the most part trapped and unable to flood into the world. Creating war-forged is not a simple process, useful those it is, so they needed time to grow in strength, perfect this new form of invasion, and so forth. Obviously then, the lord of blades is a very likely candidate to be either a spirit of Xoriat, or a pawn, willing or unwilling. Given the construct nature of war-forged, one could envision the world that those from the place wish to turn Ebberon too to not be so hostile to constructs, madness might easily be avoided. Thus a world meant for war-forged could easily be the exact same world the madness of xoriat wishes to create for itself. That is the major conspiracy behind things, the truth behind war-forged of the past and today. The great thing as far as I can tell about it, is that it allows a DM to pick and choose his villains from every proposed source. The Quori could get involved because they don’t want knowledge of their past creation to leak out, as it might lead too discovering they are doing much the same thing as they created the original quori-forged for with human hosts. The hosts of xoriat are and obvious villain, as are the lords of dust as If I recall right many of the demons and raksasha serve the leaders of xoriat as it is. And of course, Demons and devils might find what the chaotic minds of xoriat want to turn Ebberon into to be perfectly fine with them, after all they are immortal and can take millennia to turn it to their whim. Likewise, the conspiracy of the war-forged and their ability to take on souls can engender other groups. The elves of Arrenal might find the idea either awful, or appealing. After all it could be used to create a non-undead form of immortality. Likewise the Emerald claw and the church of Vol could easily be hooked by this, the revelation that they can funnel the souls of the dead into constructs would give rise to any number of awful ideas, imagine someone trying to perfect undead constructs! From here we get to the other churches, most of which would oppose things if they knew about it. Of course they are as easily corrupted as the countries, which I will get too in a minute. Even the silver-flame has the demon trapped within it which may have its own agenda. Imagine that it thinks to get free with the technology and whispers to the silver-flame that it is sacrilegious except in the pure hands of the silver-flames devotees, then leading them to try and draw part of the silver-flame itself into a new silver-forged, only to create a new body for the demon to inhabit (and anyone else in the flame at dm discretion blah blah blah) Further most of the major countries in the world are either already tied with the listed groups, or easily could be. The lords of dust have spies and shape-shifting deep plants in some of the highest levels of government all over the world. Likewise a number of people, royalty included could be quori mind-seeds. What all of this means, basically, is using this one basic plot, I or any dm can run a myriad of campaigns. It provides for easy insertion of just about any group, adversary or ally that the DM wants to use, imagine working with the quori because of their knowledge of things, and so forth! I’ve been trying to come up with an over-arching meta-plot that could encompass this and, now that I have I figured I would share it. Your ideas or comments are encouraged. Oh and obviously A LOT of this is my own ideas and ect. That’s the great thing about the setting, its got enough cannon material to work with, and plenty of room to expand! I love this setting :P