Alternate timelines in Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Alternate timelines in Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
JulesCARV
10-20-07, 11:51 PM The idea of alternate timelines in Eberron seems like it could work in Eberron, with its pulpy storylines, and the like. I'm wondering, though, what alternative timelines you can think of. Some ideas of mine:

1. The Return of the Demon Age

This timeline diverged from the standard Eberron timeline around 295 Y.K., with Tira Miron being killed by an assassin of the Lords of Dust. The warriors who sought to rebind the demon, lead by a powerful gnome cleric of the Sovereign Host, Kermil Matlise, failed, and the demon escaped to aid the Lords of Dust. The Lords of Dust subtly introduced ideas of democracy, equality, and liberty into Galifarian society, leading to riots, rebellions, and civil wars.

By 400 Y.K., the Kingdom of Galifar was no more, and by 800 Y.K., Khorvaire's humanoid populace had declined 80% from its 299 Y.K. levels, all authority beyond the town level had disappeared, and demons roamed the land openly, killing or sparing who they pleased for their own inscrutable reasons. The Lords of Dust, with the aid of their new demonic ally, increasingly broke the seals holding their lords in Khyber, and by 998, although demons are common and mostly free to do as they please, a few of the most powerful ones still remain bound in Khyber, although the seals holding them are weakening every day with the help of the Lords of Dust.

In Argonessen, the dragons have so far held off the demonic onslaught and kept their own continent safe, but have been unable to drive demons out of any other part of Eberron. In Aerenal, a wasteland is all that remains, with most Aereni being crushed by the demons, and the survivors abandoning their continent and fleeing to Irian. In Sarlona, meanwhile, Riedra and Adar signed a peace treaty putting aside their differences to combat the demonic threat in 638 Y.K., and they are continuing to fight the demons, but they have gradually been losing ground, with 1/3rd of Sarlona now being demon territory as of 998.

2. The Enduring Dhakaani and Awakening of the Sleeping Giants

This timeline diverged from the standard Eberron timeline around 17,000 years ago. Some of the goblins of Dhakaan gained increasing interest in the Draconic Prophecy, and although their understanding was limited, they managed to predict the coming of the Daelkyr. They were well prepared for the war when it came, and understood how to seal Xoriat. The war was a bloody and costly one, in spite of their preperations, but it did not thoroughly decimate the Dhakaani empire as it did in the standard Eberron timeline. Khorvaire is still ruled to this day by the Dhakaani Empire, albeit one grown increasingly stagnant and hidebound by traditions and ancient customs.

However, the Dhakaani empire is threatened by the growing undead forces of Aerenal, where the dominant Qabalrin vampire-priests of the Blood of Vol are growing increasingly antagonistic toward Dhakaan, claiming that the Dhakaani harbor heretical positive-energy worshipping cultists, and that they are in league with the Sovereigns who seek to keep humanoids shackled by fear, death, and subservience.

Meanwhile, in Xen'drik, a messianic movement arosen among the giant tribes about a thousand years ago, calling upon the giants to put aside their difference and rebuild their great civilization, this time not built upon slavery, but upon just and holy principles. This new religious movement tells stories of an ancient battle between demons and couatls, and holds that the remnants of the life force of these coautls, who sacrificed themselves to seal in the demons, are to be revered and worshipped. These warriors of the Chains of Flame (as they know the binding force that remains of Coautl life force) have so far united 1/3rd of Xen'drik in a new empire, where any drow or others willing to tolerate this new order are granted freedom to continue with their lives so long as they do not interfere with the giants, and are encouraged to join in worship of the Chains of Flame if they are willing. The giants in this new theocratic empire are also conducting extensive arcane research in the hopes of recovering some fraction of their former arcane knowledge, and the Xen'drik giants of this new theocratic empire are once again the most magically advanced society in Eberron other than the dragons, albeit more due to Dhakaani and Qabalrin stagnation than anything else, and still far behind their ancient glory.

Update: The Inspired and Kalashtar do not exist in this timeline, and the quori are content in Dal Quor. Sarlona is a human continent dominated by a confederation of kingdoms ruled by a psionic aristocracy which holds the vast majority of the populace in psionic thralldom, with telepathic abilities, psionic eldritch machines, and thrallherds.
Papermonday
10-25-07, 02:26 PM Pretty good ones! I especially liked the first one. The thought of demons roaming freely in some post acopalyptic Khorvaire just struck me as really awesome.

One question though...What effect would the demonic onslaught have on the nature in general? Would everything looks serene and pleasant (until you meet a demon), or would we have fallout-escue nature with massive deserts, ruins and bare rocks?
JulesCARV
10-26-07, 06:28 PM I'm not really sure. My guess is that the demons haven't broadly changed nature at a fundamental level. However, fiendish cities might be built (like Ashtakala, but real not illusory), and they might cause local environmental effects. In general, the reduction in humanoid population means that some areas that are farmlands in the standard Eberron timeline might have reverted to forest or grasslands, while others -- if they're heavily dependent on irrigation -- might be desert.
JulesCARV
10-28-07, 06:52 PM 3. Aundair -- Land of Lycanthropes

This timeline diverged from the standard Eberron timeline around 840 Y.K. The attempt by the Galifarian state and the Church of the Silver Flame to defeat the lycanthropes in Aundair failed. An elven weretiger, Iralan ir'Hassin, united many lycanthropes into an organized force known as the Knights of the Crimson Orchid, which vowed to protect lycanthrope-kind from the depredations of the Church of the Silver Flame and the forces of Aundair and Galifar. These lycanthropes waged war against the forces of the church and state, with Iralan eventually seizing the throne of Aundair and capturing the king of Aundair, Wrogar, forcing the king to name him the Chancellor of Aundair in exchange for allowing Wrogar's life and continued nominal position as king.

He declared Aundair's independence from Galifar in 882 Y.K., and proclaimed it a haven for lycanthropes. Meanwhile, the Knights of the Crimson Orchid instituted a purge of their own, which wiped out the Church of the Silver Flame, dissident lycanthropes and uninfected humanoids alike, and many aristocrats whose lands members of the Knights of the Crimson Orchid decided to appropriate to themselves.

Although Jarot sent his most ruthless, militarily experienced, and valiant son, Kaius, to crush the revolt, Kaius was betrayed and lured into an ambush by one of his own officers, who was secretly a werewolf and a sympathizer with the Knights of the Crimson Orchid, and lycanthropes soon gleefully feasted on the King of Karrnath's body.

Driven mad by his son's death, Jarot committed suicide, leaving Mishann the Queen of Galifar. Although Mishann attempted to find a way to incorporate Aundair back into the Five Nations, negotiating with Iralan even as she commissioned House Cannith to create the warforged, Iralan was hardly content to rest on his laurels, and secretly negotiated with goblins who sought a restoration of the Dhakaani empire to provide support if they would rebel in southern Cyre and open up a second front against Galifar and making contacts with Tairnadal mercenaries in Aerenal, while recruiting more humanoid volunteers to be infected with lycanthropy in exchange for a position in Aundair's new lycanthropic aristocracy.

Meanwhile, with the efforts of Mishann to bring Aundair back into the fold failing, Erandis d'Vol sent emissaries offering Mishann a dark bargain -- undead warriors who could face the mighty lycanthopes of Aundair on equal grounds, in exchange for the co-equal establishment of the Blood of Vol as Galifar's state religion, along with the Sovereign Host.

Now, in the year 998 Y.K., Galifar survives under King Oargev, but Aundair continues its independence under the brutal Chancellor Iralan, bolstered by an army of lycanthropes that now constitute 5% of Aundair's populace, and a new Dhakaani state has been established under the self-styled Lhesh Mukaar, reinforced by Tairnadal mercenaries bought with Aundairan gold (and supported by the Aereni, which was disgusted by Galifar's resort to employing the Blood of Vol). Galifar fights back with armies, conventional, warforged, and undead. Occassionally, uneasy cease fires are made between the warring powers, but they rarely last.
JulesCARV
10-29-07, 07:31 PM BTW, I don't know if anyone was under the misapprehension that I regarded this as my personal project. Regardless, it isn't; anyone else who wants to contribute should feel free to do so.
Edymnion
10-29-07, 10:36 PM Perhaps make it a bit more interactive?
Pick a single event, change it, and then see how history would have turned out differently. This is generally how most of the alternate history guys do it. These could also serve as plot hooks for time travel games.

Original Timeline: A demon breaks free from the Silver Flame. A coutal battles it, realizes it needs help, and calls out for essentially the nearest person that could get the job done. Tira Miron hears the call, responds, and merges with the Silver Flame, giving it a voice to speak to the mortals with.

Crux Point: Tira Miron, a Paladin, answers the call.

Alternate Timeline: Tira Miron is not the closest one to answer the call. Instead of a martial Paladin, the call is answered by a Sorcerer.

How does this affect the founding of the Church of the Silver Flame, and hence Thrane, and the outcome of the last war?
Edymnion
11-05-07, 06:59 PM :bump:
WarlockDa
11-05-07, 08:51 PM Edymnion's got a great point. Just like the Star Wars: Infinities series, change one key point in the typical timeline and then plot where that leads.

In my groups old SW game we did this once, during ANH we changed the scene where R2 finds the info about Leia being held captive on the Death Star, which results of course in her never being saved, and made some major changes to the rest of history.
Yakman
11-05-07, 08:57 PM unfortunately, he chose a pretty hard point...
Identitystolen
11-06-07, 12:24 AM Ah, JulesCARV! Nice to see you in this neck of the woods again.

My only problem with the Giants one is that the curse on the land would prevent such a re-organization again. Even if they were all goody goody now, I was under the impression nothing like a wide scale civilization could occur again. Hmmm, but I like the Dhakaani one. Just think of what would happen to poor 'ol Lhazaar if the Empire still stood. The Gobo's wouldn't of been the ones ending up as target practice and slaves!

The Lycan one doesn't bode to terribly well with me either. From everything I read on the Purge the fuzzies were going berserk for whatever reason ad were tearing into about everything that move. Only towards the end when the CotSF had moped up the worst and most visible did the lycans band together to form a defense. Also, with that in mind, I don't think popular culture would be on the side of the lycans and even if they did infect others to swell their ranks the non-natural lycans are hard to keep under control.

Ok, here is mine for you to tear into!

Lhazaar's Failure
So, roughly 2,000 years before Galifar is created, Lhazaar gets a fleet together to leave Sarlona. But the time line here diverges with the ECS somewhere in the Sea of Rage where a freak storm wipes out the fleet and the first wave of humans never reach the shores of Khorvaire. Without the human raiders harassing them for sometime yet, the fractioned Dhakaani make it through their civil war with various kingdoms being established. When the next wave arrives sometime later, those who were lucky enough to land in the Shadow Marshes instead on the Demon waste are captured by a Goblinoid kingdom and put into slavery. Thus humans never truly came into power and the effects on things like the development of Dragonmarks are yet to be seen.
Burch
11-06-07, 08:12 AM unfortunately, he chose a pretty hard point...

Actually, I think he picked a pretty easy one. Couatls cast as 9th level sorcerers and the Silver Flame is based in part off the life force of the couatls, so I could see a reverence for Sorcerers in an alternate timeline.
Rauric
11-06-07, 11:35 AM I wanted to do an adventure wherein the pcs needed something very important to help them defeat something very bad. That item/information can only be found in a famous artificers lab. The big problem is that the lab was at the edge of Cyre and Dargunn, it is now totally destroyed. I need to hammer out alot more details but I want the PCs to go back in time to a time where the goblins tried sacking the town the lab is in. A group of heros stopped the goblins from taking over the town. If the goblins took over the town it would fall into Dargunns borders, thus saving it and the important thingie from the Mourning. The PCs must go back in time and help the town get taken over so they can return and stop a greater catastrophe from happening.

There are a ton of holes I need to work out though.
Yakman
11-06-07, 12:42 PM Actually, I think he picked a pretty easy one. Couatls cast as 9th level sorcerers and the Silver Flame is based in part off the life force of the couatls, so I could see a reverence for Sorcerers in an alternate timeline.
okay, i see where we are going here...

Flamekeep, rather than a center for clerics, rather than the birthplace of a church, becomes the home of a clan of pureblood sorcerors, seeking perfection in bloodlines. Much like the Dragon-Marked Houses, with detailed genealogies, but with religious pretensions--eventually, once the right combination is reached, a messiah will come. We can call this organization... something...
eehamburg
11-06-07, 12:53 PM Flamekeep, rather than a center for clerics, rather than the birthplace of a church, becomes the home of a clan of pureblood sorcerors, seeking perfection in bloodlines. Much like the Dragon-Marked Houses, with detailed genealogies, but with religious pretensions--eventually, once the right combination is reached, a messiah will come. We can call this organization... something...
He shall be called the Kwisatz Tsarderach and be known as Paul Muad'Deeb (sorry for any mispellings)
Yakman
11-06-07, 02:38 PM He shall be called the Kwisatz Tsarderach and be known as Paul Muad'Deeb (sorry for any mispellings)

well, i was thinking more along the lines of other things, but that's a good comparison.
eehamburg
11-06-07, 04:08 PM well, i was thinking more along the lines of other things, but that's a good comparison.

What were you thinking about?
Lord_Tirian
11-07-07, 04:00 PM Alternate Timeline: Tira Miron is not the closest one to answer the call. Instead of a martial Paladin, the call is answered by a Sorcerer.

How does this affect the founding of the Church of the Silver Flame, and hence Thrane, and the outcome of the last war?
Hmmm... other idea for resolving this:

Wizards, who are also using arcane magic, are drawn to the Silver Flame to study the arcane workings of the silver flame and try (up to the present day) to learn the secrets of spontaneous magic from Miron's essence.

Large institutes of arcane knowledge formed in the area of Thrane and they made them the de facto rulers of the country.

During the Last War, ambitious wizards tried to harness the power of the Silver Flame, while other wizards argued, that the Silver Flame was of crucial importance for the world, not a mere tool, which resulted in a schism in Thrane.

Cheers, LT.
Edymnion
11-08-07, 12:30 PM Okay, how about one a little more recent, and hence has less permutations to consider.

Original Timeline: Karnnath was the most militarily powerful nation at the start of the Last War, and always had been. It was Karnn the Conquerer that started organizing the conquest of Khovaire, with one of his decendants (Galifer) that finally succeeded. However, at the beginning of the war, the nation was wracked by famine and disease, nearly crippling it. To survive in the war, Karnnath turned to animated it's dead to bolster it's lines. Even so, they barely managed to stay even with everyone else.

Crux Point: A particularly harsh winter caused nation wide food shortages at the onset of the war, when they couldn't be supplied by Breland.

Alternate Timeline: The winter of that year is instead normal, leaving the nation at full military readiness and capability at the beginning of the War.

How does Karnnath being at full strength affect the course of the Last War, the strength of the Blood of Vol, and the overall shape of the world?

(Forge of War is a helpful book for this one, but not required.)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
JulesCARV 10-20-07, 11:51 PM	The idea of alternate timelines in Eberron seems like it could work in Eberron, with its pulpy storylines, and the like. I'm wondering, though, what alternative timelines you can think of. Some ideas of mine: 1. The Return of the Demon Age This timeline diverged from the standard Eberron timeline around 295 Y.K., with Tira Miron being killed by an assassin of the Lords of Dust. The warriors who sought to rebind the demon, lead by a powerful gnome cleric of the Sovereign Host, Kermil Matlise, failed, and the demon escaped to aid the Lords of Dust. The Lords of Dust subtly introduced ideas of democracy, equality, and liberty into Galifarian society, leading to riots, rebellions, and civil wars. By 400 Y.K., the Kingdom of Galifar was no more, and by 800 Y.K., Khorvaire's humanoid populace had declined 80% from its 299 Y.K. levels, all authority beyond the town level had disappeared, and demons roamed the land openly, killing or sparing who they pleased for their own inscrutable reasons. The Lords of Dust, with the aid of their new demonic ally, increasingly broke the seals holding their lords in Khyber, and by 998, although demons are common and mostly free to do as they please, a few of the most powerful ones still remain bound in Khyber, although the seals holding them are weakening every day with the help of the Lords of Dust. In Argonessen, the dragons have so far held off the demonic onslaught and kept their own continent safe, but have been unable to drive demons out of any other part of Eberron. In Aerenal, a wasteland is all that remains, with most Aereni being crushed by the demons, and the survivors abandoning their continent and fleeing to Irian. In Sarlona, meanwhile, Riedra and Adar signed a peace treaty putting aside their differences to combat the demonic threat in 638 Y.K., and they are continuing to fight the demons, but they have gradually been losing ground, with 1/3rd of Sarlona now being demon territory as of 998. 2. The Enduring Dhakaani and Awakening of the Sleeping Giants This timeline diverged from the standard Eberron timeline around 17,000 years ago. Some of the goblins of Dhakaan gained increasing interest in the Draconic Prophecy, and although their understanding was limited, they managed to predict the coming of the Daelkyr. They were well prepared for the war when it came, and understood how to seal Xoriat. The war was a bloody and costly one, in spite of their preperations, but it did not thoroughly decimate the Dhakaani empire as it did in the standard Eberron timeline. Khorvaire is still ruled to this day by the Dhakaani Empire, albeit one grown increasingly stagnant and hidebound by traditions and ancient customs. However, the Dhakaani empire is threatened by the growing undead forces of Aerenal, where the dominant Qabalrin vampire-priests of the Blood of Vol are growing increasingly antagonistic toward Dhakaan, claiming that the Dhakaani harbor heretical positive-energy worshipping cultists, and that they are in league with the Sovereigns who seek to keep humanoids shackled by fear, death, and subservience. Meanwhile, in Xen'drik, a messianic movement arosen among the giant tribes about a thousand years ago, calling upon the giants to put aside their difference and rebuild their great civilization, this time not built upon slavery, but upon just and holy principles. This new religious movement tells stories of an ancient battle between demons and couatls, and holds that the remnants of the life force of these coautls, who sacrificed themselves to seal in the demons, are to be revered and worshipped. These warriors of the Chains of Flame (as they know the binding force that remains of Coautl life force) have so far united 1/3rd of Xen'drik in a new empire, where any drow or others willing to tolerate this new order are granted freedom to continue with their lives so long as they do not interfere with the giants, and are encouraged to join in worship of the Chains of Flame if they are willing. The giants in this new theocratic empire are also conducting extensive arcane research in the hopes of recovering some fraction of their former arcane knowledge, and the Xen'drik giants of this new theocratic empire are once again the most magically advanced society in Eberron other than the dragons, albeit more due to Dhakaani and Qabalrin stagnation than anything else, and still far behind their ancient glory. Update: The Inspired and Kalashtar do not exist in this timeline, and the quori are content in Dal Quor. Sarlona is a human continent dominated by a confederation of kingdoms ruled by a psionic aristocracy which holds the vast majority of the populace in psionic thralldom, with telepathic abilities, psionic eldritch machines, and thrallherds.
Papermonday 10-25-07, 02:26 PM	Pretty good ones! I especially liked the first one. The thought of demons roaming freely in some post acopalyptic Khorvaire just struck me as really awesome. One question though...What effect would the demonic onslaught have on the nature in general? Would everything looks serene and pleasant (until you meet a demon), or would we have fallout-escue nature with massive deserts, ruins and bare rocks?
JulesCARV 10-26-07, 06:28 PM	I'm not really sure. My guess is that the demons haven't broadly changed nature at a fundamental level. However, fiendish cities might be built (like Ashtakala, but real not illusory), and they might cause local environmental effects. In general, the reduction in humanoid population means that some areas that are farmlands in the standard Eberron timeline might have reverted to forest or grasslands, while others -- if they're heavily dependent on irrigation -- might be desert.
JulesCARV 10-28-07, 06:52 PM	3. Aundair -- Land of Lycanthropes This timeline diverged from the standard Eberron timeline around 840 Y.K. The attempt by the Galifarian state and the Church of the Silver Flame to defeat the lycanthropes in Aundair failed. An elven weretiger, Iralan ir'Hassin, united many lycanthropes into an organized force known as the Knights of the Crimson Orchid, which vowed to protect lycanthrope-kind from the depredations of the Church of the Silver Flame and the forces of Aundair and Galifar. These lycanthropes waged war against the forces of the church and state, with Iralan eventually seizing the throne of Aundair and capturing the king of Aundair, Wrogar, forcing the king to name him the Chancellor of Aundair in exchange for allowing Wrogar's life and continued nominal position as king. He declared Aundair's independence from Galifar in 882 Y.K., and proclaimed it a haven for lycanthropes. Meanwhile, the Knights of the Crimson Orchid instituted a purge of their own, which wiped out the Church of the Silver Flame, dissident lycanthropes and uninfected humanoids alike, and many aristocrats whose lands members of the Knights of the Crimson Orchid decided to appropriate to themselves. Although Jarot sent his most ruthless, militarily experienced, and valiant son, Kaius, to crush the revolt, Kaius was betrayed and lured into an ambush by one of his own officers, who was secretly a werewolf and a sympathizer with the Knights of the Crimson Orchid, and lycanthropes soon gleefully feasted on the King of Karrnath's body. Driven mad by his son's death, Jarot committed suicide, leaving Mishann the Queen of Galifar. Although Mishann attempted to find a way to incorporate Aundair back into the Five Nations, negotiating with Iralan even as she commissioned House Cannith to create the warforged, Iralan was hardly content to rest on his laurels, and secretly negotiated with goblins who sought a restoration of the Dhakaani empire to provide support if they would rebel in southern Cyre and open up a second front against Galifar and making contacts with Tairnadal mercenaries in Aerenal, while recruiting more humanoid volunteers to be infected with lycanthropy in exchange for a position in Aundair's new lycanthropic aristocracy. Meanwhile, with the efforts of Mishann to bring Aundair back into the fold failing, Erandis d'Vol sent emissaries offering Mishann a dark bargain -- undead warriors who could face the mighty lycanthopes of Aundair on equal grounds, in exchange for the co-equal establishment of the Blood of Vol as Galifar's state religion, along with the Sovereign Host. Now, in the year 998 Y.K., Galifar survives under King Oargev, but Aundair continues its independence under the brutal Chancellor Iralan, bolstered by an army of lycanthropes that now constitute 5% of Aundair's populace, and a new Dhakaani state has been established under the self-styled Lhesh Mukaar, reinforced by Tairnadal mercenaries bought with Aundairan gold (and supported by the Aereni, which was disgusted by Galifar's resort to employing the Blood of Vol). Galifar fights back with armies, conventional, warforged, and undead. Occassionally, uneasy cease fires are made between the warring powers, but they rarely last.
JulesCARV 10-29-07, 07:31 PM	BTW, I don't know if anyone was under the misapprehension that I regarded this as my personal project. Regardless, it isn't; anyone else who wants to contribute should feel free to do so.
Edymnion 10-29-07, 10:36 PM	Perhaps make it a bit more interactive? Pick a single event, change it, and then see how history would have turned out differently. This is generally how most of the alternate history guys do it. These could also serve as plot hooks for time travel games. Original Timeline: A demon breaks free from the Silver Flame. A coutal battles it, realizes it needs help, and calls out for essentially the nearest person that could get the job done. Tira Miron hears the call, responds, and merges with the Silver Flame, giving it a voice to speak to the mortals with. Crux Point: Tira Miron, a Paladin, answers the call. Alternate Timeline: Tira Miron is not the closest one to answer the call. Instead of a martial Paladin, the call is answered by a Sorcerer. How does this affect the founding of the Church of the Silver Flame, and hence Thrane, and the outcome of the last war?
Edymnion 11-05-07, 06:59 PM	:bump:
WarlockDa 11-05-07, 08:51 PM	Edymnion's got a great point. Just like the Star Wars: Infinities series, change one key point in the typical timeline and then plot where that leads. In my groups old SW game we did this once, during ANH we changed the scene where R2 finds the info about Leia being held captive on the Death Star, which results of course in her never being saved, and made some major changes to the rest of history.
Yakman 11-05-07, 08:57 PM	unfortunately, he chose a pretty hard point...
Identitystolen 11-06-07, 12:24 AM	Ah, JulesCARV! Nice to see you in this neck of the woods again. My only problem with the Giants one is that the curse on the land would prevent such a re-organization again. Even if they were all goody goody now, I was under the impression nothing like a wide scale civilization could occur again. Hmmm, but I like the Dhakaani one. Just think of what would happen to poor 'ol Lhazaar if the Empire still stood. The Gobo's wouldn't of been the ones ending up as target practice and slaves! The Lycan one doesn't bode to terribly well with me either. From everything I read on the Purge the fuzzies were going berserk for whatever reason ad were tearing into about everything that move. Only towards the end when the CotSF had moped up the worst and most visible did the lycans band together to form a defense. Also, with that in mind, I don't think popular culture would be on the side of the lycans and even if they did infect others to swell their ranks the non-natural lycans are hard to keep under control. Ok, here is mine for you to tear into! Lhazaar's Failure So, roughly 2,000 years before Galifar is created, Lhazaar gets a fleet together to leave Sarlona. But the time line here diverges with the ECS somewhere in the Sea of Rage where a freak storm wipes out the fleet and the first wave of humans never reach the shores of Khorvaire. Without the human raiders harassing them for sometime yet, the fractioned Dhakaani make it through their civil war with various kingdoms being established. When the next wave arrives sometime later, those who were lucky enough to land in the Shadow Marshes instead on the Demon waste are captured by a Goblinoid kingdom and put into slavery. Thus humans never truly came into power and the effects on things like the development of Dragonmarks are yet to be seen.
Burch 11-06-07, 08:12 AM	unfortunately, he chose a pretty hard point... Actually, I think he picked a pretty easy one. Couatls cast as 9th level sorcerers and the Silver Flame is based in part off the life force of the couatls, so I could see a reverence for Sorcerers in an alternate timeline.
Rauric 11-06-07, 11:35 AM	I wanted to do an adventure wherein the pcs needed something very important to help them defeat something very bad. That item/information can only be found in a famous artificers lab. The big problem is that the lab was at the edge of Cyre and Dargunn, it is now totally destroyed. I need to hammer out alot more details but I want the PCs to go back in time to a time where the goblins tried sacking the town the lab is in. A group of heros stopped the goblins from taking over the town. If the goblins took over the town it would fall into Dargunns borders, thus saving it and the important thingie from the Mourning. The PCs must go back in time and help the town get taken over so they can return and stop a greater catastrophe from happening. There are a ton of holes I need to work out though.
Yakman 11-06-07, 12:42 PM	Actually, I think he picked a pretty easy one. Couatls cast as 9th level sorcerers and the Silver Flame is based in part off the life force of the couatls, so I could see a reverence for Sorcerers in an alternate timeline. okay, i see where we are going here... Flamekeep, rather than a center for clerics, rather than the birthplace of a church, becomes the home of a clan of pureblood sorcerors, seeking perfection in bloodlines. Much like the Dragon-Marked Houses, with detailed genealogies, but with religious pretensions--eventually, once the right combination is reached, a messiah will come. We can call this organization... something...
eehamburg 11-06-07, 12:53 PM	Flamekeep, rather than a center for clerics, rather than the birthplace of a church, becomes the home of a clan of pureblood sorcerors, seeking perfection in bloodlines. Much like the Dragon-Marked Houses, with detailed genealogies, but with religious pretensions--eventually, once the right combination is reached, a messiah will come. We can call this organization... something... He shall be called the Kwisatz Tsarderach and be known as Paul Muad'Deeb (sorry for any mispellings)
Yakman 11-06-07, 02:38 PM	He shall be called the Kwisatz Tsarderach and be known as Paul Muad'Deeb (sorry for any mispellings) well, i was thinking more along the lines of other things, but that's a good comparison.
eehamburg 11-06-07, 04:08 PM	well, i was thinking more along the lines of other things, but that's a good comparison. What were you thinking about?
Lord_Tirian 11-07-07, 04:00 PM	Alternate Timeline: Tira Miron is not the closest one to answer the call. Instead of a martial Paladin, the call is answered by a Sorcerer. How does this affect the founding of the Church of the Silver Flame, and hence Thrane, and the outcome of the last war? Hmmm... other idea for resolving this: Wizards, who are also using arcane magic, are drawn to the Silver Flame to study the arcane workings of the silver flame and try (up to the present day) to learn the secrets of spontaneous magic from Miron's essence. Large institutes of arcane knowledge formed in the area of Thrane and they made them the de facto rulers of the country. During the Last War, ambitious wizards tried to harness the power of the Silver Flame, while other wizards argued, that the Silver Flame was of crucial importance for the world, not a mere tool, which resulted in a schism in Thrane. Cheers, LT.
Edymnion 11-08-07, 12:30 PM	Okay, how about one a little more recent, and hence has less permutations to consider. Original Timeline: Karnnath was the most militarily powerful nation at the start of the Last War, and always had been. It was Karnn the Conquerer that started organizing the conquest of Khovaire, with one of his decendants (Galifer) that finally succeeded. However, at the beginning of the war, the nation was wracked by famine and disease, nearly crippling it. To survive in the war, Karnnath turned to animated it's dead to bolster it's lines. Even so, they barely managed to stay even with everyone else. Crux Point: A particularly harsh winter caused nation wide food shortages at the onset of the war, when they couldn't be supplied by Breland. Alternate Timeline: The winter of that year is instead normal, leaving the nation at full military readiness and capability at the beginning of the War. How does Karnnath being at full strength affect the course of the Last War, the strength of the Blood of Vol, and the overall shape of the world? (Forge of War is a helpful book for this one, but not required.)