Post/Author/DateTime	Post
sh0 07-27-04, 12:10 PM	I've been giving some thought lately as to what exactly happened to Cyre at the end of the Last War to create the Mournland and I was wondering if anyone else had some interesting theories as to what happened. Eldritch machine gone haywire? Divine might unleashed? Anyone care to share their theories on the Mournland's beginnings? -sh0
Hanuman47 07-27-04, 12:25 PM	My personal theory is that it was a one-time-in-a-million coming together of several world domination/divine wrath/arcane experimentation schemes. In other words, all the master plans of numerous power groups happened to reach fruition at the same time, the synergy of which had surprising and devastating results.
Docrailgun 07-27-04, 12:38 PM	Personally, I think someone was trying to put a Quori or daelkyr spirit into a Warforged body with a Creation Forge... and since the forges were created by the giants specifically to fight the daelkyr and later modified by the Gatekeepers to fight the Quori, clearly the evil spirit and the Gatekeepers' magic was not compatible. So... *boom*! (a sort of self-destruct?) The fiend's spirit was distributed into the fabric of Cyre... a daelkyr spirit would explain the terrible mutations of the creatures and the very land itself of the Mournlands. Originally posted by sh0 I've been giving some thought lately as to what exactly happened to Cyre at the end of the Last War to create the Mournland and I was wondering if anyone else had some interesting theories as to what happened. Eldritch machine gone haywire? Divine might unleashed? Anyone care to share their theories on the Mournland's beginnings? -sh0
ENHenry 07-27-04, 01:02 PM	The Map of the Mournland leads me to believe there were TWO effects going on at the same time - One at approximately the spot of the Glowing Chasm, and another at the center of the Glass Plateau. Perhaps House Cannith was attempting to create the equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction, and succeeded?
Jaremy Rykker 07-27-04, 01:50 PM	I think I personally wouldn't want to know just how to blow up an entire nation. Sure, it's a cool story and all, but I don't want my players getting ideas about how to blow up Sharn.
Steven Snyder 07-27-04, 01:54 PM	I personally believe that the Lord of Blades is responsible. House Cannith created the Warforged (well stole the secret to their creation first). But the would-be gods of House Cannith did not love their creations, instead they sent their children off to die in a war that was not of their making. And the warforged obediently marched to their own destruction in order to please their makers, their gods. But eventually the warforged took notice and came to the conclusion that their god did not love it's children, and so that god must be destroyed. And so in an instant the majority of the leadership of House Cannith was destroyed, and the foundation of a Warforged Nation was laid upon the ruins of Cyre.
MarkB 07-27-04, 02:58 PM	My theory is that some immense Eldritch Machine was being built in Cyre to try and affect the planar alignments and give the Cyrans an edge. The intention was to be able to create customised Manifest Zones of Irian, the Eternal Day, in order to promote health and vitality for their troops, but instead the machine bridged the gap to not one, but two incorrect planes, creating a single massive, intermingled manifest zone to both Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead, and Mabar, the Endless Night. The connection with Dolurrh is the reason why death and decay no longer function in the Mournland - the dead spirits have no journey to make - whilst Mabar's influence creates the Mists and prevents natural and magical healing. Together, the two zones reinforce each other in odd ways, causing unpredictable results. Whether this state is permanent is a difficult question. Perhaps simply finding and destroying the Eldritch Machine will remedy matters - or perhaps, only by repairing it and manipulating it properly can the damage be undone.
Harmon 07-27-04, 04:05 PM	I believe the Mournlands are the result of the actions of the 13th Dragonmarked House. The house that carries the Mark of Death, which vanished many many years ago. They have been in hiding deep in the jungles of Xendrik watching over the lands of their kin. The powers of their dragonmarks have gifted the more powerfull of the house with eternal life through the means of clone(as per spell). As such these member have developed a deep understanding of the prophecies. They were able to see the future that lay ahead for their kin and were concerned. They caused the destruction of Cyre with the hope of putting an end to the war. Their secret is now in danger and must protect themselves to prevent the world from misinterpreting their actions(not that they were necessarily appropriate).
Crazy_Scaper 07-27-04, 04:17 PM	Recently there has been a lot of discussion about the lack of healing in the Mournlands and every so often someone suggests that psionics are the answer. Given that this theoretically gives psi's (or a race of psi's) a big, big advantage over the local population then I can't help but wonder who inspired the creation of this little piece of Khorvaire.
StinkyNutz 07-27-04, 04:20 PM	Originally posted by MarkB My theory is that some immense Eldritch Machine was being built in Cyre to try and affect the planar alignments and give the Cyrans an edge. The intention was to be able to create customised Manifest Zones of Irian, the Eternal Day, in order to promote health and vitality for their troops, but instead the machine bridged the gap to not one, but two incorrect planes, creating a single massive, intermingled manifest zone to both Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead, and Mabar, the Endless Night. The connection with Dolurrh is the reason why death and decay no longer function in the Mournland - the dead spirits have no journey to make - whilst Mabar's influence creates the Mists and prevents natural and magical healing. Together, the two zones reinforce each other in odd ways, causing unpredictable results. Whether this state is permanent is a difficult question. Perhaps simply finding and destroying the ldritch Machine will remedy matters - or perhaps, only by repairing it and manipulating it properly can the damage be undone. I like this one.....swipe... I blame the mournlands on greenhouse gasses and global warming...you know...all that industry. Actually I say its a combo of messing around with magics from Xen and trying to play god. Perhaps something was unleashed. Also, does anyone see any (though small so far) simularities between what happened in Xen to what happened in Cyre? Might end up being related, at least I'll think that until more is written about Xen.
Aurum 07-27-04, 05:42 PM	Whatever happened, 1) The Cyrans appear to have had little, if any warning, since the number of people that survived the event is probably 5% or less of their total population. So, whatever it was, it happened so fast most people never had time to run, and the few who lived were already close to the borders. 2) None of the royal family in the nation survived. It must have happened in or near a city, since its safe to say that a massive calamity would see people fleeing the land in any means affordable. You would think, if the Cyrans were messing about with something that big, the possibility of a major disaster would be a contingency. 3) No one who actually saw the disaster survived it. 4) Whatever did it, it stopped at the nation's borders, or close to the borders. This implies not only an intelligence to the method of destruction, but the act of destruction itself was sculpted. 5) The disaster left bodies, and while some of the landscape is deformed, lots of it is intact. So while their might have been a 'ground zero', whatever did its damage was so chaotic even the means of death was not standard. 6) The disaster destroyed the land and the people, so it probably wasn't a military attack from one of the other nations. Obliterating a kingdom means you can't use it either. Even Karrnath would have a vested interest in leaving a neighboring kingdom intact, as a shattered chaotic wasteland filled with uncontrollable beasts is worthless even to Vol. In all this, the lack of a clear line of logic IS logical. This makes me think Xoriat, since the means of destruction is inhumanly evil, chaotic in nature but controlled in form, and inexplicably explainable. I mean, its hard for the Daelkyr to have a better fortress then the Mournland. A realm patrolled by dangerous creatures of pure magic where no invading force can survive or find rest and no guerilla war could be waged, far from the only people who beat them back and unapproachable as well.
MarkB 07-27-04, 06:26 PM	Originally posted by StinkyNutz Also, does anyone see any (though small so far) simularities between what happened in Xen to what happened in Cyre? Might end up being related, at least I'll think that until more is written about Xen. Yeah, one of the factions in the campaign I'm (slowly) putting together consists of Warforged who believe that the downfall of the giants in Xen'drik and the Day of Mourning are both echoes of the cataclysm of the breaking of the Prophecy, which caused the world to take its current form - and just as the Progenitor Dragons gave way to demons and lesser dragons after that event, and the giants fell into savagery to make way for the elves, so the Mourning heralds the end of the age of men, and they are doomed eventually to move aside in favour of their creations, the Warforged.
Gladius_Lucix 07-27-04, 07:48 PM	Originally posted by Crazy_Scaper Recently there has been a lot of discussion about the lack of healing in the Mournlands and every so often someone suggests that psionics are the answer. Given that this theoretically gives psi's (or a race of psi's) a big, big advantage over the local population then I can't help but wonder who inspired the creation of this little piece of Khorvaire. Along those lines, the Anti-Genesis version of the Genesis powere seemed similar to what happened in the Mournlands. Maybe a modified version of that power is what happened. Channeled through an Eldritch Machine of some sort, perhaps.
aelryinth 07-27-04, 08:01 PM	I like the idea that one of the powerful forces (probably VOL) was consumating some great Eldritch machine to make a lot of undead and some OTHER Big Power, probably the demons or Daelkyr, started to consumate one of their big plans at the other location. Both plans went off without interference, and unfortunately at the exact same time. The Daelkyr or fiendish spirit into the Creation Forge is a great idea, combined with the Vol attempt to raise mass undead and prevent healing, turning Cyre into an open grave. The energies of both things intersected, fed back, went out of control, and went BOOM. And the Day of Mourning comes and really mucks up a LOT of long laid plans. I think it best if it was totally unplanned...even long lived ubergeniuses should be suprised when some stuff happens. ==Aelryinth
Boin 07-28-04, 10:38 AM	I feel left out here, what is an Eldritch Machine? Also What does it do?
Gladius_Lucix 07-28-04, 10:43 AM	Originally posted by Boin I feel left out here, what is an Eldritch Machine? Also What does it do? In the ECS, it's described as a harnessed wish spell. It is also refered to as a plot device. Basically, it does whatever is needed to advance the story. Usually the target of a long running campaign.
Darkadder 07-29-04, 03:06 AM	Perhaps someone in Cyre tried to delve a little too deeply into the Prophesy and it defended itself? Also, did any survivors report hearing someone say the magic word 'oops' before the cataclysm?
Dex The King 07-29-04, 03:43 AM	Personally, it sounds like somebody used the same kind of cataclysmic magic used by the Xen'Drik giants about 39,000 years ago. The cataclysmic kind used to cut Dal Quor off. This occured to me when I was reading about Xen'Drik. It said that that kind of power, the kind used to cut off Dal Quor, hasn't been seen since. I thought, "well, maybe" and was immediately reminded of the Mourning. Not exactly continent shattering this time, but cataclysmic none the less. There, enjoy my 2 cp.
Terrasque-Man 07-29-04, 05:25 PM	my whole campaign revolves around this topic... stay tuned as I will be adding tons to this page! www.blocrecords.com/eberron.htm
Halflingspy 07-29-04, 11:41 PM	Originally posted by Aurum Whatever happened, 1) The Cyrans appear to have had little, if any warning, since the number of people that survived the event is probably 5% or less of their total population. So, whatever it was, it happened so fast most people never had time to run, and the few who lived were already close to the borders. 2) None of the royal family in the nation survived. It must have happened in or near a city, since its safe to say that a massive calamity would see people fleeing the land in any means affordable. You would think, if the Cyrans were messing about with something that big, the possibility of a major disaster would be a contingency. 3) No one who actually saw the disaster survived it. 4) Whatever did it, it stopped at the nation's borders, or close to the borders. This implies not only an intelligence to the method of destruction, but the act of destruction itself was sculpted. 5) The disaster left bodies, and while some of the landscape is deformed, lots of it is intact. So while their might have been a 'ground zero', whatever did its damage was so chaotic even the means of death was not standard. 6) The disaster destroyed the land and the people, so it probably wasn't a military attack from one of the other nations. Obliterating a kingdom means you can't use it either. Even Karrnath would have a vested interest in leaving a neighboring kingdom intact, as a shattered chaotic wasteland filled with uncontrollable beasts is worthless even to Vol. In all this, the lack of a clear line of logic IS logical. This makes me think Xoriat, since the means of destruction is inhumanly evil, chaotic in nature but controlled in form, and inexplicably explainable. I mean, its hard for the Daelkyr to have a better fortress then the Mournland. A realm patrolled by dangerous creatures of pure magic where no invading force can survive or find rest and no guerilla war could be waged, far from the only people who beat them back and unapproachable as well. I like this look at it. However..... number 3..... heh. I'm currently trying to send a book idea into to Wizards about a person who DOES survive (circumstance)..... so don't rule that out just yet, ok?