Elan [Archive] - Wizards Community - Pages Merged by Solauren

Elan [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
JDubTrafficGod
10-06-04, 06:13 PM Hey guys, just a thought, and this may have already been addressed.

One of my guys wanted to play a Psychic Warrior with Elan as their race. I couldn't think of a way to tie the Elan to Eberron with their background information as stated EPHB, so I went my own way. In my campeign Elan are much like Warforged in that they were being used purely as weapons, though only a few hundred (if not only a hundred), ever existed. It has been an excellent concept so far, and I thought I'd share it with you guys.

Later
Dracoulis The Phyrexian
10-06-04, 07:02 PM A fairly popular idea going around is that Elan are humans with a Quori spirit bound into them via a Khyber shard. They get to use some of the powers of the Quori (that being, all the Elan mumbo-jumbo), and the Quori can do nothing, as it's bound. Could really be done by either the major group of Quori, or the Kalashtar, or something else...

Your idea is nice enough, too. Just the question as to who made them and why, but that could be done all sorts of wonderful ways...
Ph33r_the_Wheelchair
10-06-04, 08:51 PM Ah ha! I will link you to Johnny's site before he even has a chance to do it himself! I personally think this is a very good Elan-Eberron description, and will use it myself if I ever play an Eberron Elan.

Go! Jhonen Olain's Eberron Journal XPH Races! (http://www.coveworld.net/eberron/conversions-xph.html)
BlaineTog
10-06-04, 11:00 PM Here's what we use IMC to explain the Elan in (please note that I wrote it before I knew we were going to be playing in Eberron, so some of it may perhaps be more general than it could be. Its also unfinished, as this was really all I needed for the character).

HAVEN

Haven is a Demiplane in the Astral Plane in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. As the astral plane is an integral requirement for all D&D settings (without significant changes to a number of important spells, it cannot be left out), and is potentially unlimited in space, Haven can be easily integrated into whatever setting you desire.

First and foremost is the basic idea upon which I, the author, have built this place: a Utopian place created and maintained by 12 Elan Psions (2, a male and female, of each discipline) meant to be a bastion of learning, knowledge, harmony, and (of course) psychic prowess. Drawing primarily from Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, Johnathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, and my own observations, I will attempt to create a perfectly viable Socialist/Communist state in which (to quote Chapter VII, Part IV of Mr. Swift’s aforementioned novel) “reason alone is sufficient to govern…”

Let’s start with the basics: Geography.
The society of Haven is situated in a demiplane of some great size in the Astral plane. The City (as the main demiplane is called) is shaped like a squat cylinder with rounded edges, being exactly two miles in height and currently approximately 6 miles in radius. It is surrounded by several dozen satellite demiplanes, into which further explanation shall be hereafter made. The City is strictly build on only one of the two flat planes inside, and the rounded areas are not touched at all by habitation. It is gridded into rectangular blocks by numbered roads. Roads that pass traffic from the North End of The City to the South End (the North-South-East-West directions are determined inside The City) are called Avenues, and those which run from the East Side to the West Side are called Streets. These are numbered as in a graph; with positive Avenues being to the East of the City Center, negative Avenues to the West; and positive Streets to the North of the City Center, negative to the South. Locations of specific buildings are recorded roughly by the number of the Avenue followed by the number of the Street (so a building would be expressed as “-4, 5” to mean “near the intersection of negative 4th Avenue and 5th Street”).
The City Center is primarily a small complex of buildings about six blocks long and six blocks wide. It is by far the tallest structure in the demiplane, reaching 3,546 feet up into the air. Its bottom four stories consist entirely of the Auditorium, a gargantuan building the seats approximately 100,000 humans. Due to telepathic devices located all along the stage, everyone in the building can easily hear the speaker; similar devices can be made to direct the information out into the City for announcements. The building above the Auditorium consist mostly of a complex system of teleporters and portals. Independent teleportation from place to place in Haven is impossible (for both security and aesthetic reasons, to be explained below); the only way to move quickly from place to place in the city is from the Center. Similarly, interplanar travel is only possible from the Center, which employs a great number of one-way Portals to perform this task. Of the many thousands of Out portals, there are only Six Portals which bring people and things In to Haven; all six send travelers to the same room some three thousand feet above the surface. Because of the relative obscurity of Haven, these Portals are seldom used except by returning Haven citizens. The room, called the Hall, is theoretically impenetrateable. Leaving it requires a three day quarantine (thus, the room is spacious and well-stocked with food, sleeping material, and entertainment) and numerous mundane and Psionic tests.
In addition to the Auditorium and the transportation system housed by the City Center, Haven’s Department of Defense is also housed here, taking up approximately half of the complex.
The roof of The City creates the elaborate solar cycle. The Sun rises at approximately 6 AM and passes overhead at a steady pace until 8 PM, when it sets. Dawn and Dusk are works of art; the Two Kineticists take great joy in trying to top themselves in solar beauty.
Gravity works exactly as it does on the Material Plane for The City (although some of the Demiplanes have less or more). Time passes as usual in Haven, unlike the rest of the Astral Plane.

Next: History and Government.
Government is very simple: The Twelve run the place. The Twelve are twelve Elan Psions (a Male and Female for each Discipline) of vary age and discipline. All are LG (as is most of the populace), but 5 of them (the male Seer and Telepath, and the female Nomad, Shaper, and Egoist) are Exalted as well. They are all basically 2,300 years old. The male Seer (who was human at the time, as the Elan race did not yet exist) saw a vision of a perfect society where equality, knowledge, hard work, and the power of the mind were valued above all else. He labored with his wife (the female Nomad) to gather together ten other powerful Psions to assist them in the creation of this perfect world. After a decade of searching, they had found their 10 protégés. All of them shared the same rampant idealism, and all of them held immense power.
After another ten years of work, they had finished carving Haven’s primary demiplane out of Astral space. By this time, their age was starting to show and they were afraid that they shouldn’t be able to finish their work, and worse still: that it would become corrupted once they were gone. Fortunately, the two Egoists had been developing techniques to transmute the human body into a more purely psychic form, and by this time had almost perfected it. They tested it amongst themselves, and it works (although it was massively inefficient and time-consuming). They become the first of the Elan (and, unlike the modern Elan, did not lose any of their abilities, personality, or memory). They shared their findings with the others, and they all decided to take the plunge (as the youngest among them was in her early 50s, they didn’t really have much to lose). This is why they are still alive today, quietly running Haven. Little is known about them; most of the populace doesn’t even know their names. This is how they like it; they aren’t royalty, after all.
They are all very epic (none under 40th character level, although some have taken levels in various Prestige Classes). Attacks on the city are thus ill advised (as all six taken together are a force that even most gods would fear to face), especially since the city’s defense systems are extremely powerful, even disregarding the Twelve. The City has a very well-trained contingent of high level Psychic Warriors (most of them in active service are near, or at, level 20). As a full 28.4% of Haven are Psions, they also compose a large part of the Army. These two main forces, along with numerous other specialty squads of varying sizes (from Psychic Rogues to Soulknives to Monks with Wild Talent, the Army has many choices available to it for any and all defensive measures. The largest of these specialist squads are the Constructors, a full 10,000 men and women strong. Haven uses Astral Constructs, instead of human bodies, as shock troops). Please note that Haven has never initiated war; it has been forced to defense against hostile Githyanki several times a long time ago (whose attacks were never at all successful. [Note that "Githyanki" can be swapped with "Quori" fairly easily] As the only way for anyone with less than Divine Rank 10 to actually enter The City is through one of the six portals on the Meterial Plane, they attempted to directly attack the integrity of the demiplanes from the outside. The entire army is housed in the City Center, and thus was deployed within minutes of the proximity alarm. The Githyanki were routed and Haven lost a mere handful of citizens. Since then, the Githyanki have held an embassy in The City and the two cultures have not come to war.
Anyway, The Twelve still run Haven to this day. Individually, they work on the areas of the city that are most similar to their disciplines. The two Nomads deal with transportation of men and materials all over Haven; they also service the Portals. The two Telepaths keep the populace happy and healthy, and run the school system (which is of the utmost important to the workings of Haven). The two Shapers maintain the Demiplanes themselves, create new ones, and make sure that there are enough materials to go around. The two Egoists keep the populace in good health and control everyone’s diets. The two Kineticists keep the sky pretty, maintain the Department of Defense, and supply power to those devices that should require it. And finally, the Seers keep everything together and coherent, making sure the whole society flows well. They also gather information about the multiverse. Each also does a number of other, smaller jobs (of course) of less importance.
Haven has no laws, only regulations and its Constitution (which has 6 edicts). The regulations are simple, in common language, and are rarely disputed (as everyone wishes only the best or his or her neighbors, a product of the education system, the regulations are recognized as useful for everyone). Citizens are encouraged to offer written suggestions as often as possible, these regulations generally follow the will of the populace (and they are all read and taken into consideration by The Twelve on Psiday).
Stealing is impossible, as no one owns anything. Goods are distributed via stalls in a market, but you need but take something in order to have it. Taking goods from the home of another (for homes are distributed by the state) isn’t against regulations, but is generally considered rude to do so without asking (refusing the request is also considered rude).
Citizens will occasionally feel the urge to travel, to see more than just Haven. They are freely allowed to go, but they must notify the government two weeks in advance (to allow them time to restructure the work load as necessary).
There are 7 days in a week: Seeday, Noday, Shaday (pronounced “shey-day”), Telday, Kinday, Egday, and Psiday. Work is continued as normal from 8 AM to 5 PM every day (with an hour at noon for lunch), but Psiday is reserved for discussion between citizens. The Twelve meet on Psiday to consolidate their work and to go over suggestions, among other things.

And Finally: Education.
Easily the single most important part of Haven, its education (coupled with the unchanging Twelve) are what keeps the society from crumbling. From before birth (via telepathy), Children are treated to be kind, generous, nonviolent when possible, and to do everything in moderation. Because of this education system, citizens of Haven cannot lie; it is simply impossible for them to conceive of saying something other than how it happened (they do know how to use figures of speech, however, and the art of fiction is well known among them). They also respect authority (and are rarely anything but LG, and even then only differ a small bit. Children are lightly Ego Whipped for Chaotic or Evil tendencies, and Lawful and Good ones are heartily rewarded.
The course curriculum is varied, and everything from history to science and math to literature is taught. Everyone is taught at least one craft or profession. Everyone gets the same excellent education, at least until the age of 12. Children are watched for signs of exceptional psionic power from an early age, and at 12, those children are taken to a special school for Psions. It is at this time that, from time to time, the decision shall be made to change one of these budding Psions into Elan (the process has by now been made significantly more efficient). After the age of 12, the curriculum narrows per student to be more applicable to their eventual role.

Well, that’s it for now. I’d write more, but I’m too lazy. :-D
JDubTrafficGod
10-07-04, 06:44 AM Your idea is nice enough, too. Just the question as to who made them and why, but that could be done all sorts of wonderful ways...

The whole 'who made me?', 'why am I here?', 'who was I before?' concept is exactly what I was going for. My guy's Elan is aptly named 'Lost' and believes he is one of a kind, and as there are only around 500 Elan in the game, this works very well. It has added a lot to the game. On his arm he has a runic tattoo that he doesn't understand (its giant script that translates into 00001, and in my game I consider giant to be a lost language that only a few Kholvairians (SP?) know).

Something that has helped as a plot device for Lost is the use of interactive dreams that can affect the real world, and have slowly let him retain some of his memory (but only a teeny tiny sliver: he knows he was part of a plot to build perfect assassins, and he knows he wasn't always as he is.) I.E.: Psionic items are decently rare in my game, and psionic weapons are nearly impossible to find, so a couple weeks back when my player played his character in particularly good character (yes I know, same word twice in a line) I rewarded him by changing his +3 magical greatsword into a +1 psionic greatsword with some psionic properties.

Well thats my whole deal on it, rack me.
Zedium
10-07-04, 07:01 AM Heh, well my idea of the Elans is pretty basic,

They are the elites of the Inspired army on Eberron, although they aren't truely bound to a Quori, they at least posses a tiny bit of Quori essence, granting them strange powers. Most Elans work for the Quori, serving as elite guards for the Inspired.
Most Elans are not aware of the Quori's plans to take over Eberron and thus can be of almost any alignment. In some cases though, Elans discover the true nature of their masters and will join the Kalashtar in the resistance against the Dreaming Dark while some others flee to Khorvaire to evade the truth, that their entire belief was all just a lie.
greatfrito
10-07-04, 11:40 AM Actually, I favor the "created for war" approach more than Johnny's site's approach.

In my eyes, the Elan are the result of Sarlonian research and development that occured while the last war was still raging. They are the Inspired answer to warforged or undead - a reused host, given several abilities that, in the end, make them powerful soldiers and troops. They'll probably see some light as bodyguards or the like first in Khorvaire, though some, either through the interference of the Kalashtar, or simply through fate, will find out the evil of their masters, and then decide on their own whether or not they still want to serve them.
Aaramis
10-07-04, 11:47 AM Mmmm...redheads.

Err...sorry.
Yes, that Coveworld site offers some excellent XPH backgrounds for the Eberron world.

It sort of muddies up the waters a bit, and makes the Quori situation *much* more complicated, but at least it offers viable means of introducing those races.

Lots of excellent information there.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
JDubTrafficGod 10-06-04, 06:13 PM	Hey guys, just a thought, and this may have already been addressed. One of my guys wanted to play a Psychic Warrior with Elan as their race. I couldn't think of a way to tie the Elan to Eberron with their background information as stated EPHB, so I went my own way. In my campeign Elan are much like Warforged in that they were being used purely as weapons, though only a few hundred (if not only a hundred), ever existed. It has been an excellent concept so far, and I thought I'd share it with you guys. Later
Dracoulis The Phyrexian 10-06-04, 07:02 PM	A fairly popular idea going around is that Elan are humans with a Quori spirit bound into them via a Khyber shard. They get to use some of the powers of the Quori (that being, all the Elan mumbo-jumbo), and the Quori can do nothing, as it's bound. Could really be done by either the major group of Quori, or the Kalashtar, or something else... Your idea is nice enough, too. Just the question as to who made them and why, but that could be done all sorts of wonderful ways...
Ph33r_the_Wheelchair 10-06-04, 08:51 PM	Ah ha! I will link you to Johnny's site before he even has a chance to do it himself! I personally think this is a very good Elan-Eberron description, and will use it myself if I ever play an Eberron Elan. Go! Jhonen Olain's Eberron Journal XPH Races! (http://www.coveworld.net/eberron/conversions-xph.html)
BlaineTog 10-06-04, 11:00 PM	Here's what we use IMC to explain the Elan in (please note that I wrote it before I knew we were going to be playing in Eberron, so some of it may perhaps be more general than it could be. Its also unfinished, as this was really all I needed for the character). HAVEN Haven is a Demiplane in the Astral Plane in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. As the astral plane is an integral requirement for all D&D settings (without significant changes to a number of important spells, it cannot be left out), and is potentially unlimited in space, Haven can be easily integrated into whatever setting you desire. First and foremost is the basic idea upon which I, the author, have built this place: a Utopian place created and maintained by 12 Elan Psions (2, a male and female, of each discipline) meant to be a bastion of learning, knowledge, harmony, and (of course) psychic prowess. Drawing primarily from Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, Johnathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, and my own observations, I will attempt to create a perfectly viable Socialist/Communist state in which (to quote Chapter VII, Part IV of Mr. Swift’s aforementioned novel) “reason alone is sufficient to govern…” Let’s start with the basics: Geography. The society of Haven is situated in a demiplane of some great size in the Astral plane. The City (as the main demiplane is called) is shaped like a squat cylinder with rounded edges, being exactly two miles in height and currently approximately 6 miles in radius. It is surrounded by several dozen satellite demiplanes, into which further explanation shall be hereafter made. The City is strictly build on only one of the two flat planes inside, and the rounded areas are not touched at all by habitation. It is gridded into rectangular blocks by numbered roads. Roads that pass traffic from the North End of The City to the South End (the North-South-East-West directions are determined inside The City) are called Avenues, and those which run from the East Side to the West Side are called Streets. These are numbered as in a graph; with positive Avenues being to the East of the City Center, negative Avenues to the West; and positive Streets to the North of the City Center, negative to the South. Locations of specific buildings are recorded roughly by the number of the Avenue followed by the number of the Street (so a building would be expressed as “-4, 5” to mean “near the intersection of negative 4th Avenue and 5th Street”). The City Center is primarily a small complex of buildings about six blocks long and six blocks wide. It is by far the tallest structure in the demiplane, reaching 3,546 feet up into the air. Its bottom four stories consist entirely of the Auditorium, a gargantuan building the seats approximately 100,000 humans. Due to telepathic devices located all along the stage, everyone in the building can easily hear the speaker; similar devices can be made to direct the information out into the City for announcements. The building above the Auditorium consist mostly of a complex system of teleporters and portals. Independent teleportation from place to place in Haven is impossible (for both security and aesthetic reasons, to be explained below); the only way to move quickly from place to place in the city is from the Center. Similarly, interplanar travel is only possible from the Center, which employs a great number of one-way Portals to perform this task. Of the many thousands of Out portals, there are only Six Portals which bring people and things In to Haven; all six send travelers to the same room some three thousand feet above the surface. Because of the relative obscurity of Haven, these Portals are seldom used except by returning Haven citizens. The room, called the Hall, is theoretically impenetrateable. Leaving it requires a three day quarantine (thus, the room is spacious and well-stocked with food, sleeping material, and entertainment) and numerous mundane and Psionic tests. In addition to the Auditorium and the transportation system housed by the City Center, Haven’s Department of Defense is also housed here, taking up approximately half of the complex. The roof of The City creates the elaborate solar cycle. The Sun rises at approximately 6 AM and passes overhead at a steady pace until 8 PM, when it sets. Dawn and Dusk are works of art; the Two Kineticists take great joy in trying to top themselves in solar beauty. Gravity works exactly as it does on the Material Plane for The City (although some of the Demiplanes have less or more). Time passes as usual in Haven, unlike the rest of the Astral Plane. Next: History and Government. Government is very simple: The Twelve run the place. The Twelve are twelve Elan Psions (a Male and Female for each Discipline) of vary age and discipline. All are LG (as is most of the populace), but 5 of them (the male Seer and Telepath, and the female Nomad, Shaper, and Egoist) are Exalted as well. They are all basically 2,300 years old. The male Seer (who was human at the time, as the Elan race did not yet exist) saw a vision of a perfect society where equality, knowledge, hard work, and the power of the mind were valued above all else. He labored with his wife (the female Nomad) to gather together ten other powerful Psions to assist them in the creation of this perfect world. After a decade of searching, they had found their 10 protégés. All of them shared the same rampant idealism, and all of them held immense power. After another ten years of work, they had finished carving Haven’s primary demiplane out of Astral space. By this time, their age was starting to show and they were afraid that they shouldn’t be able to finish their work, and worse still: that it would become corrupted once they were gone. Fortunately, the two Egoists had been developing techniques to transmute the human body into a more purely psychic form, and by this time had almost perfected it. They tested it amongst themselves, and it works (although it was massively inefficient and time-consuming). They become the first of the Elan (and, unlike the modern Elan, did not lose any of their abilities, personality, or memory). They shared their findings with the others, and they all decided to take the plunge (as the youngest among them was in her early 50s, they didn’t really have much to lose). This is why they are still alive today, quietly running Haven. Little is known about them; most of the populace doesn’t even know their names. This is how they like it; they aren’t royalty, after all. They are all very epic (none under 40th character level, although some have taken levels in various Prestige Classes). Attacks on the city are thus ill advised (as all six taken together are a force that even most gods would fear to face), especially since the city’s defense systems are extremely powerful, even disregarding the Twelve. The City has a very well-trained contingent of high level Psychic Warriors (most of them in active service are near, or at, level 20). As a full 28.4% of Haven are Psions, they also compose a large part of the Army. These two main forces, along with numerous other specialty squads of varying sizes (from Psychic Rogues to Soulknives to Monks with Wild Talent, the Army has many choices available to it for any and all defensive measures. The largest of these specialist squads are the Constructors, a full 10,000 men and women strong. Haven uses Astral Constructs, instead of human bodies, as shock troops). Please note that Haven has never initiated war; it has been forced to defense against hostile Githyanki several times a long time ago (whose attacks were never at all successful. [Note that "Githyanki" can be swapped with "Quori" fairly easily] As the only way for anyone with less than Divine Rank 10 to actually enter The City is through one of the six portals on the Meterial Plane, they attempted to directly attack the integrity of the demiplanes from the outside. The entire army is housed in the City Center, and thus was deployed within minutes of the proximity alarm. The Githyanki were routed and Haven lost a mere handful of citizens. Since then, the Githyanki have held an embassy in The City and the two cultures have not come to war. Anyway, The Twelve still run Haven to this day. Individually, they work on the areas of the city that are most similar to their disciplines. The two Nomads deal with transportation of men and materials all over Haven; they also service the Portals. The two Telepaths keep the populace happy and healthy, and run the school system (which is of the utmost important to the workings of Haven). The two Shapers maintain the Demiplanes themselves, create new ones, and make sure that there are enough materials to go around. The two Egoists keep the populace in good health and control everyone’s diets. The two Kineticists keep the sky pretty, maintain the Department of Defense, and supply power to those devices that should require it. And finally, the Seers keep everything together and coherent, making sure the whole society flows well. They also gather information about the multiverse. Each also does a number of other, smaller jobs (of course) of less importance. Haven has no laws, only regulations and its Constitution (which has 6 edicts). The regulations are simple, in common language, and are rarely disputed (as everyone wishes only the best or his or her neighbors, a product of the education system, the regulations are recognized as useful for everyone). Citizens are encouraged to offer written suggestions as often as possible, these regulations generally follow the will of the populace (and they are all read and taken into consideration by The Twelve on Psiday). Stealing is impossible, as no one owns anything. Goods are distributed via stalls in a market, but you need but take something in order to have it. Taking goods from the home of another (for homes are distributed by the state) isn’t against regulations, but is generally considered rude to do so without asking (refusing the request is also considered rude). Citizens will occasionally feel the urge to travel, to see more than just Haven. They are freely allowed to go, but they must notify the government two weeks in advance (to allow them time to restructure the work load as necessary). There are 7 days in a week: Seeday, Noday, Shaday (pronounced “shey-day”), Telday, Kinday, Egday, and Psiday. Work is continued as normal from 8 AM to 5 PM every day (with an hour at noon for lunch), but Psiday is reserved for discussion between citizens. The Twelve meet on Psiday to consolidate their work and to go over suggestions, among other things. And Finally: Education. Easily the single most important part of Haven, its education (coupled with the unchanging Twelve) are what keeps the society from crumbling. From before birth (via telepathy), Children are treated to be kind, generous, nonviolent when possible, and to do everything in moderation. Because of this education system, citizens of Haven cannot lie; it is simply impossible for them to conceive of saying something other than how it happened (they do know how to use figures of speech, however, and the art of fiction is well known among them). They also respect authority (and are rarely anything but LG, and even then only differ a small bit. Children are lightly Ego Whipped for Chaotic or Evil tendencies, and Lawful and Good ones are heartily rewarded. The course curriculum is varied, and everything from history to science and math to literature is taught. Everyone is taught at least one craft or profession. Everyone gets the same excellent education, at least until the age of 12. Children are watched for signs of exceptional psionic power from an early age, and at 12, those children are taken to a special school for Psions. It is at this time that, from time to time, the decision shall be made to change one of these budding Psions into Elan (the process has by now been made significantly more efficient). After the age of 12, the curriculum narrows per student to be more applicable to their eventual role. Well, that’s it for now. I’d write more, but I’m too lazy. :-D
JDubTrafficGod 10-07-04, 06:44 AM	Your idea is nice enough, too. Just the question as to who made them and why, but that could be done all sorts of wonderful ways... The whole 'who made me?', 'why am I here?', 'who was I before?' concept is exactly what I was going for. My guy's Elan is aptly named 'Lost' and believes he is one of a kind, and as there are only around 500 Elan in the game, this works very well. It has added a lot to the game. On his arm he has a runic tattoo that he doesn't understand (its giant script that translates into 00001, and in my game I consider giant to be a lost language that only a few Kholvairians (SP?) know). Something that has helped as a plot device for Lost is the use of interactive dreams that can affect the real world, and have slowly let him retain some of his memory (but only a teeny tiny sliver: he knows he was part of a plot to build perfect assassins, and he knows he wasn't always as he is.) I.E.: Psionic items are decently rare in my game, and psionic weapons are nearly impossible to find, so a couple weeks back when my player played his character in particularly good character (yes I know, same word twice in a line) I rewarded him by changing his +3 magical greatsword into a +1 psionic greatsword with some psionic properties. Well thats my whole deal on it, rack me.
Zedium 10-07-04, 07:01 AM	Heh, well my idea of the Elans is pretty basic, They are the elites of the Inspired army on Eberron, although they aren't truely bound to a Quori, they at least posses a tiny bit of Quori essence, granting them strange powers. Most Elans work for the Quori, serving as elite guards for the Inspired. Most Elans are not aware of the Quori's plans to take over Eberron and thus can be of almost any alignment. In some cases though, Elans discover the true nature of their masters and will join the Kalashtar in the resistance against the Dreaming Dark while some others flee to Khorvaire to evade the truth, that their entire belief was all just a lie.
greatfrito 10-07-04, 11:40 AM	Actually, I favor the "created for war" approach more than Johnny's site's approach. In my eyes, the Elan are the result of Sarlonian research and development that occured while the last war was still raging. They are the Inspired answer to warforged or undead - a reused host, given several abilities that, in the end, make them powerful soldiers and troops. They'll probably see some light as bodyguards or the like first in Khorvaire, though some, either through the interference of the Kalashtar, or simply through fate, will find out the evil of their masters, and then decide on their own whether or not they still want to serve them.
Aaramis 10-07-04, 11:47 AM	Mmmm...redheads. Err...sorry. Yes, that Coveworld site offers some excellent XPH backgrounds for the Eberron world. It sort of muddies up the waters a bit, and makes the Quori situation much more complicated, but at least it offers viable means of introducing those races. Lots of excellent information there.