Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Makseb 11-21-06, 08:53 PM	I'm a new DM running a solo campaign with my GF. She came up with a pretty flashy backstory that has her waking up from a deep sleep in a devastated land. She's been asleep for ~100 years and doesn't remember what happened to her, or why the land has been destroyed (and no memory of the Last War). She remembers growing up in a royal court, possibly a princess. Her character is a gestalt paladin sorceress, and her main goal is to figure out what happened to her, to her country, and how she can make things right. So there is absolutely loads for me to go on with this. She doesn't know much about Eberron, and it'll be fun introducing her bit by bit to the themes, as her character begins to 'remember.' Her backstory fits right in with Cyre/Mournland so that's where the adventure will start---with her waking up from a deep sleep somewhere near Metrol. I'm trying to come up with a ~plausible reason for why she has been asleep for the last hundred years, and why she woke up. Since this will be one of her main questions, I wanted to flesh it out as much as possible and let her unravel the mystery over a series of adventures. I have a bunch of ideas about what could have happened to her, but I keep poking holes in them... the main problem I run into is if someone did this to her on purpose, why would they take the trouble to put her to sleep rather than kill her outright? Anyone have a suggestion? All ideas welcome--thanks!
Kensan_Oni 11-22-06, 02:23 AM	Well, here is the way that I see it. One hundred and one years from your starting date, the King Kaias faces of against the Liche Vol, and becomes a vampire. What if Kaias feels that something horrible might happen to him? He sends one of his trusted knights away to live in Cyre, so that if something happens to him, that knight can come back and finsih the job. However, the Cyrians decide that having an enermy knight stay with them is bad politically when the war breaks out next year. So they imprision her in a time stop spell. This spell lasts for years, even after Cyre becomes the Mornlands, until a living Dispel Magic comes by and destroys the spell holding her captive. Now, she has awakened and it is as if a hundred years all passed by in a blink of an eye. She doesn't know how the world became devistated, but she knows she has a job to do. She might even blame the whole entire thing on Vol until she leaves the Mornlands. It could be very interesting.
Lujayne34 11-22-06, 10:05 AM	I'm a new DM running a solo campaign with my GF. She came up with a pretty flashy backstory that has her waking up from a deep sleep in a devastated land. She's been asleep for ~100 years and doesn't remember what happened to her, or why the land has been destroyed (and no memory of the Last War). She remembers growing up in a royal court, possibly a princess. Her character is a gestalt paladin sorceress, and her main goal is to figure out what happened to her, to her country, and how she can make things right. So there is absolutely loads for me to go on with this. She doesn't know much about Eberron, and it'll be fun introducing her bit by bit to the themes, as her character begins to 'remember.' Her backstory fits right in with Cyre/Mournland so that's where the adventure will start---with her waking up from a deep sleep somewhere near Metrol. I'm trying to come up with a ~plausible reason for why she has been asleep for the last hundred years, and why she woke up. Since this will be one of her main questions, I wanted to flesh it out as much as possible and let her unravel the mystery over a series of adventures. I have a bunch of ideas about what could have happened to her, but I keep poking holes in them... the main problem I run into is if someone did this to her on purpose, why would they take the trouble to put her to sleep rather than kill her outright? Anyone have a suggestion? All ideas welcome--thanks! I know this might seem cliche but a mortal princess cursed by a fey to sleep for a hundred years sounds like to me a good way to go. Maybe someone in the Cyre court had promised something to a fey from the plane of Thelanis. And they did not hold up their end of the bargain and so the fey noble cursed the daughter to sleep for a hundred years as revenge.
King Donkey 11-22-06, 02:46 PM	Or, some kind of Cannith device. Maybe she was delivering a pizza and accidentally fell in and then was put in stasis for 100 years. When she wakes up she can meet a WF named Bender...
ChaoticGood 11-23-06, 03:14 AM	What if... she is the daughter of Mishann? When the War broke out, one of two things happened. Either she was shunted into a Cannith lab's time-freezer to wait it out, so that there would be a ruler in the event that Mishann was killed in the war, or... quite by accident, a rebel group captured her and - not wanting to commit regicide - put her under a permanent sleep spell* which was, a century later, dispelled by the afore-mentioned living dispel magic. * Yes, technically not possible, but these were desperate times filled with amazing men and women who could not only bend the laws of physics, but the laws of meta-physics as well! :mage:
ressurrector 11-23-06, 04:01 AM	There's a spell in Complete Mage that does the whole sleep forever bit. Just wondering, is she Human or Elven, or what? If she's of a race that can live for 100 years+ you can just give her amnesia of the missing years, and say that something happened during the day of mourning that caused both memory loss and the sleep.
Kensan_Oni 11-23-06, 11:11 AM	... put her under a permanent sleep spell* which was, a century later, dispelled by the afore-mentioned living dispel magic. Awww, couldn't a warforged have kissed her to break the spell? :D
goblin_pride 11-23-06, 06:51 PM	Awww, couldn't a warforged have kissed her to break the spell? :D I've said it before and I'll say it again, the warforged are not French. being not French as they are, they can't be the frog that kisses the princess and becomes a handsome pri.... wait, that's the wrong fairy tale, ennit?
lordalm 11-23-06, 06:57 PM	I'm a new DM running a solo campaign with my GF. She came up with a pretty flashy backstory that has her waking up from a deep sleep in a devastated land. She's been asleep for ~100 years and doesn't remember what happened to her, or why the land has been destroyed (and no memory of the Last War). She remembers growing up in a royal court, possibly a princess. Her character is a gestalt paladin sorceress, and her main goal is to figure out what happened to her, to her country, and how she can make things right. So there is absolutely loads for me to go on with this. She doesn't know much about Eberron, and it'll be fun introducing her bit by bit to the themes, as her character begins to 'remember.' Her backstory fits right in with Cyre/Mournland so that's where the adventure will start---with her waking up from a deep sleep somewhere near Metrol. I'm trying to come up with a ~plausible reason for why she has been asleep for the last hundred years, and why she woke up. Since this will be one of her main questions, I wanted to flesh it out as much as possible and let her unravel the mystery over a series of adventures. I have a bunch of ideas about what could have happened to her, but I keep poking holes in them... the main problem I run into is if someone did this to her on purpose, why would they take the trouble to put her to sleep rather than kill her outright? Anyone have a suggestion? All ideas welcome--thanks! She put herself to sleep. End of problem. New Problem: How in the hell did she survive waking up in the Mournland let alone not being changed by whatever happened to Cyre? You do know that Metrol is like in the middle of the Mournland right?
goblin_pride 11-23-06, 07:05 PM	How in the hell did she survive waking up in the Mournland let alone not being changed by whatever happened to Cyre? You do know that Metrol is like in the middle of the Mournland right? Bah, you have no imagination. My gods man, how can you DM without clearly seeing that she......... That's a good point, how in Hades did they overlook the snoozing Pallydingaling for over a century? And more importantly, how did her sleeping area avoid the big WHAMMO that flattened Metrol and turned most of it into a blasted wasteland?
lordalm 11-23-06, 07:10 PM	Bah, you have no imagination. My gods man, how can you DM without clearly seeing that she......... That's a good point, how in Hades did they overlook the snoozing Pallydingaling for over a century? And more importantly, how did her sleeping area avoid the big WHAMMO that flattened Metrol and turned most of it into a blasted wasteland? Or walk out? From some of the novels out, there are things that like to use you as chew toy in Metrol....
goblin_pride 11-23-06, 07:43 PM	Or walk out? From some of the novels out, there are things that like to use you as chew toy in Metrol.... Don't mention chew toys, Lawdog prowls these boards sometimes, wouldn't want to cause flashbacks.
Edymnion 11-23-06, 10:28 PM	I think I've got it. The key items for it all slide into place perfectly too. Okay, first up, how do you get someone to sleep through a hundred years without aging or anything else? Quintessence. The psionic power that manifests a bit of goo that, when put onto something, completely takes it outside of time, putting it into perfect stasis. Who would be the most likely group to have enough manifesters of high enough level to produce enough Quintessence to engulf a full sized adult human? The Kalashtar. What are the Kalashtar primarily doing, fighting the Dreaming Dark, and trying to turn the age. What do the Kalashtar have a large number of? Seers, psionic characters that could potentially see into the future. So, a group of Kalashtar Seers looked into the future, and saw a time of great need when a single person would make the differance between, if not success, survival and utter destruction. So, they pick their champion, the PC, and encase her in Quintessence. Now, the question is, did the Mourning somehow damage her stasis, making the Quintessence slowly evaporate back into the ether until she awoke, or was this the time the Kalashtar saw, meaning this is when she was supposed to wake up?
Makseb 11-23-06, 10:33 PM	What if... she is the daughter of Mishann? When the War broke out, one of two things happened. Either she was shunted into a Cannith lab's time-freezer to wait it out, so that there would be a ruler in the event that Mishann was killed in the war, or... quite by accident, a rebel group captured her and - not wanting to commit regicide - put her under a permanent sleep spell* which was, a century later, dispelled by the afore-mentioned living dispel magic. * Yes, technically not possible, but these were desperate times filled with amazing men and women who could not only bend the laws of physics, but the laws of meta-physics as well! I like this idea a lot.. especially using the take that someone did this to her for her own good...to protect her. Maybe this was done in secret, and only a few high ranking members of the court knew where she was. Unfortunately for the PC, all of those people were killed... and then a new heir was declared... She put herself to sleep. End of problem. New Problem: How in the hell did she survive waking up in the Mournland let alone not being changed by whatever happened to Cyre? You do know that Metrol is like in the middle of the Mournland right? I seem to remember reading that the effects of the Mournland only extended to 100 meters above land? Given the overall impact that can't be right... but I don't have books on hand to check. I wonder if she could have been far enough underground to have avoided the effects. I dunno...sounds a little iffy to me too.. Or maybe she was effected by the Mourning, though not killed, and those effects will play out over the campaign. Or maybe some effect of the Mourning actually protected her from greater harm.. What if she was entombed underground and put into some kind of stasis, and then when the big Bang happened, the entire place flooded. The water shielded her from the otherwise deadly effects of the Mourning... While in 'stasis' she didn't need to breathe and did not age. When she wakes and opens her eyes for the first time however... that would be a heck of a way to wake---underwater and swimming for your life! As for Metrol itself, it looks to be on the eastern border of the Mournland..no? Or was this meant figuratively..as in the devestation was so extensive? Anyways, thanks for all the interest/input. As you can see, I don't mind streching the rules a bit if it'll make a good story, but I don't want to go too far so that the story no longer makes sense.
Makseb 11-23-06, 10:40 PM	I think I've got it. The key items for it all slide into place perfectly too. Okay, first up, how do you get someone to sleep through a hundred years without aging or anything else? Quintessence. The psionic power that manifests a bit of goo that, when put onto something, completely takes it outside of time, putting it into perfect stasis. Who would be the most likely group to have enough manifesters of high enough level to produce enough Quintessence to engulf a full sized adult human? The Kalashtar. What are the Kalashtar primarily doing, fighting the Dreaming Dark, and trying to turn the age. What do the Kalashtar have a large number of? Seers, psionic characters that could potentially see into the future. So, a group of Kalashtar Seers looked into the future, and saw a time of great need when a single person would make the differance between, if not success, survival and utter destruction. So, they pick their champion, the PC, and encase her in Quintessence. Now, the question is, did the Mourning somehow damage her stasis, making the Quintessence slowly evaporate back into the ether until she awoke, or was this the time the Kalashtar saw, meaning this is when she was supposed to wake up? Wow this is very good. It matches the epic theme that my GF wanted perfectly too. Thank you!
Edymnion 11-23-06, 10:53 PM	It also explains why no one found her and woke her up earlier, the Kalashtar in the area intentionally kept her hidden, to the point of mind wiping anyone that stumbled across her. No worries about trying to figure out why nobody found her in one of the most populated areas in Khovaire, because she was intentionally hidden and protected through that century.
ChaoticGood 11-23-06, 11:27 PM	It also explains why no one found her and woke her up earlier, the Kalashtar in the area intentionally kept her hidden, to the point of mind wiping anyone that stumbled across her. No worries about trying to figure out why nobody found her in one of the most populated areas in Khovaire, because she was intentionally hidden and protected through that century. And even though all of those people protecting her were probably killed in the Mourning, there haven't been enough people poking around in Metrol since then to have uncovered her. (Really good thinking here, Edy!) Now the question of DM cruelty comes into play... Do you assume that she becomes conscious outside the Mournland, or do you stick it to her and have her awaken smack in the middle of shattered Metrol? :evillaugh
Edymnion 11-23-06, 11:55 PM	Now the question of DM cruelty comes into play... Do you assume that she becomes conscious outside the Mournland, or do you stick it to her and have her awaken smack in the middle of shattered Metrol? :evillaughHave her stagger out of the mists with sword in hand, battered armor, and covered in blood (none of which is hers), with no memories of anything before stepping out of the mists. Once she remembers who she is and why she was put into stasis, you can replay the whole "escape from Metrol" scenario as a flashback. Say that her loss of memory includes effectively being sent back to level 1 when she came out of stasis as a lvl 10 or something. Her leveling up quickly (since adventurers tend to level with astonishing speed) is actually her memories coming back as she remembers how to do more and more of her stuff. Then, when its the right spot in the story, you simply do the flashback and let her play through escaping Metrol as a lvl X character, with it ending at the mists. Get some non-linear play in there.
Makseb 11-24-06, 12:58 AM	The brilliant thing is, my GF as a player has no idea what the Mournland is. She is somewhat familiar with the tone and concepts of Eberron, but not in any detail. That said, the introduction of this setting will be as new for her as it is to her character. She gets really into her character, has a fantastic imagination, and the experience of being in the Mournland will be absolutely terrifying, apart from any actual combat/physical dangers. I'll start her off just outside of Metrol. She will initially not know what has happened to her, where she is, or even that any time has passed. Utterly disoriented, her first task will be to find food and water, poisoned or not, and this will take her to the nearest city/town---which will be Metrol. Should be quite an awakening.... Lots of role-play and skill-based encounters... No place is safe..and for all she knows, the rest of the Khorvaire is no better off..
Hannibal 11-24-06, 10:36 PM	Instead of having her sleep the whole 100 years, why not have her turned to stone via Flesh to Stone, only to be revived years later by a living spell. This way, you don't have to worry where she had been kept those 100 years. She could have been a statue in someone's living room.
kaionon 11-25-06, 01:25 PM	Except the part where the living spell would likely eat her/ bludgen her to death with it's slam attacks?
lordalm 11-26-06, 07:16 PM	Except the part where the living spell would likely eat her/ bludgen her to death with it's slam attacks? It might be a nice living spell you know. Sensed she was really alive once and turned her back to flesh and blood. Of course I would give the flesh to stone spell ability to it as well. It would certainly keep her alive in Metrol long enough to escape the Mournland. And hey she could then have a pet living spell. Betcha that would go over well in the rest of Khorvaire.....
ressurrector 11-26-06, 09:17 PM	Pet living spells are so fun though! I've got a player with a living sleep/fireball in a bottle.
lordalm 11-27-06, 02:23 PM	Pet living spells are so fun though! I've got a player with a living sleep/fireball in a bottle. So it puts them to sleep and then flames them? That's EVIL! :evillaugh
ressurrector 11-27-06, 04:26 PM	So it puts them to sleep and then flames them? That's EVIL! :evillaugh For double fun, I've been using a custom random magic chart for the Mournlands, and the ooze now has narcolepsy.