Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Runepriest 05-20-07, 09:27 AM	So, what do people use for what caused the morning? This is what I use: Aaren d'Cannith was tinkering around the creation on ways to truly become a warforged. He tripped and fell into the creation forge, and warforged and human fused. His dragonmark was warped and became a spellwarped dragonmark (Check the thread for stuff on spellwarped dragonmarks). The intense arcane energy was too much for the creation forge, and it burst out, creating the mournland. Aaren d'Cannith woke many days later, half warforged, half human. He was awoken without any previous memories, and he awoke with a hatred of flesh.
hiryuu 05-20-07, 09:50 AM	Well, it's either a living genesis spell, or it's the obvious answer. The Lord of the Dust responsible for all the catastrophies of Eberron in ages past manipulated House Cannith and the Cyran government into new teaching programs in order to eventually "slide" the kingdom into a pocket Dolurrh where she could retrieve those memories and experiences (read: XP reserve) in order to make a badass magic item, and the symbols on the warforged heads fit into a diagram of how to make that item (now, there's "fake diagrams" everywhere, both made by the demon lord in order to make people go looking for more pieces to construct it and by the original creators to lead people away from it; after all, it's the original magic item, the magic item of legend). Of course, it's not enough craft reserve, and she's currently manipulating the Brelish to do the same. The Brelish and Cannith south have taken their newfound knowledge to magically enhance people, some of what was done in clandestine areas around the country during the war. They're currently collecting or eliminating all the magewrights and artificers involved in the project. At the same time, the living spell research has borne fruit in artificial aberrant marks (read: Warlocks, more sorcerers, and anything needed for plot purposes). They know that Dolurrh serves as a magical reservoir for which all Eberron gets its magic (spells cost XP, but the wizard doesn't lose it. Artificers get a craft pool..... souls in Dolurrh slowly lose their memories until they fade forever. Dolurrh provides the "XP" for spellcasting). The demon wants to know why her boyfriend broke up with her, and how she can get him back, and the mega-artifact can tell her anything. Sure, she's asked other wise beings before, but "he was a very good person, and you're chaotic evil" was something she couldn't possibly believe, so she's going to destroy the world if it would get her an answer. What?
Dragonflame 05-20-07, 11:02 PM	It is part of the Draconic Phrophecy... When the Dragon Below manifests for a time after being summoned. The summoner of course, could not control the summoning. This was foretold in the Draconic Phrophecies...
Shady314 05-21-07, 04:16 AM	A ruthless chromatic dragon on a path to ascension. The godhood kind of ascension.
Warforged Goblin 05-21-07, 07:45 AM	My take on it is that House Cannith, going against the edicts of non-national favoritism that the Houses have, was working on a weapon to end the last for in favor for Cyre; an eldritch machine that could turn the very planes themselves into ammunition. In an underground testing facility in the middle of Cyre (which had relay-portals to Metrol), Artex d'Cannith unleashed his "weapon" on a group of Brelish prisioners. However, Artex perhaps bit off more than he could chew when he chose which plane to attempt to harness: Xoriat. In a maelstrom of arcane and planar energies, what was once Cyre became the Mournland. They say that Artex d'Cannith some how survived the ordeal, though he's certainly no longer human at this point, and he hungers for revenge against not only the other 4 of the Five Nations, but also against the "conniving and plotting saboteurs" within his own House who wanted to watch him fail.
bad_phil 05-21-07, 11:34 AM	I don't have an official take, maybe they talk about it in the Forge of war. But my preference is about an underground organization tested a new weapon, as told in the aboves, but a greater power discovered it and destroyed it to prevent their downfall. This greater power could be the dragons, Sarlonans or simply a lesser organization like the Aurum or a Dragonmarked house. Your ideas are very good!!
retillin 05-21-07, 12:18 PM	In my games it's something close to what Dragonfire said. However, it was agents of the Chamber who caused the explosion. Acourding to the Phrophecy, had the weapon or item that was being created by house Cannith been allowed to come to compleation it would have not only destoryed Cyre but all of the Eberron. So a select group of adventuers traveled to Cyre and set off a chain reaction to save the body by cutting off the leg. Word to the wise, never trust a dragon you cant fit in your pocket.
Nived 05-21-07, 01:23 PM	Not going to give an answer just going to wax philosophical for a bit. Seeing many 'explainations' over the years on these boards I see them fall into two catagories. Mortal cause or cosmic cause. In the former the humanoids screwed up somehow. Misused an artifact somehow (argueably that still falls in the latter), Cannith tried to make a superweapon and it done blew up. Someone tried to summon something and it went wrong, someone tried to break open some kinda seal set down in Kyber.... On the other hand you have the more cosmic explaination, that a Rajah tried to break loose, or a Daelkyr, some weird alignment of the planes caused all hell to break loose, it was 'The Dragons,' it was 'The Dreaming Dark', it was the 'The Lords of Xoriat', it was 'The Lords of Dust', etc. The reason I bring this up is a matter of thematics. I'm not saying one is right or one is wrong, just that they fundimentally, even if you don't realize it, change the scope of the game. On the one hand you have the ultimate extention of the Last War, man's (er humanoid's) own folly (whichever way you go about it) caused the destruction of a vast portion of Khorvaire. It was certainly someone's fault, but in a larger sense it was everyone's fault for fighting this escalating war for so long. "Look at what man has wrought", ultimatly its people who are at fault, took (what continually is called) the jewel of Khorvaire and smashed it. The magical equivalent of a nuclear disaster. Conversely with a more cosmic explaination the blame is taken off the people of Khorvaire. The Last War had little to do with it. Sure maybe the war gave the Xoriat cultists enough cover and diverted resources to try to bust open the gates, but ultimately this was something bigger, outside, removed from the Last War that caused the destruction. This type of choice for the destruction of Cyre is going to ultimately show that by and large the humanoids are small (exceptions, the PCs not withstanding), there are forces at work in this plane that are so powerful, they can smash an entire country, they can halt a war that lasted century with a stroke. Whether it be the Dragons, the machinations of the Dreaming Dark, the Lovecraftian Old One esque things from Xoriat, or the fiends of the Age of Demons, the theme is going to be "There are things bigger than you!" Forces at work that dwarf the combined power of Khorvaire and it's going to take an intreped and powerful group of exceptional people to keep it from ever happening again, (the PCs). Neither is right, neither is wrong, both are wonderful themes that beg to be explored. Ultimately its a matter of taste and what kind of story you have to tell. *Edit I suppose I should add 'my take'. I never actually came up with an explaination, perhaps this falls into a hitherto unnamed third hand (guess we're working with an Attatch here), of "There's just something that the PCs are never going to know." One of the results was it cracked one of the demonic prisons in Kyber, deep in the depths of the glowing chasm.... but the fiends weren't behind it, they just happened to benifit from it.
hiryuu 05-21-07, 09:27 PM	I was trying to go for a joint cause: it's everyone's fault. It's Cannith's fault for experimenting on people, it's Cyre's fault for their intelligence department not being up to par and becoming decadent and corrupt, it's the demon's fault for starting the manipulation in the first place for a stupid reason (in the end, it's a creature trying to break its nature, but failing), it's Breland's fault for continuing. In the end, the symbiotic relationship between corrupter and corrupted is what I was going for. And really, there's only two ways for it to go: either people did it, or they didn't.
Lord_Madrigan 05-22-07, 02:34 PM	It was in the Script. :P
Salathiel 05-22-07, 04:10 PM	I've become fond of the theory that the Mourning had originally been intended as some form of defensive perimeter to protect the borders of Cyre. Something went horribly, horribly wrong (i.e. a spanner fell into the gears, or a fly got into the teleporter, or THOSE MEDDLING KIDS!!!, etc.), and the magic went tragically out of control. It explains why the Dead Grey Mists just happened to stop right at the approximate political boundaries of Cyre at the time of the Mourning -- those were the borders that the original magic was supposed to protect. No one could have predicted, however, that the spell would become so devestating once cast. -Sal.
Warforged Goblin 05-22-07, 04:22 PM	I've become fond of the theory that the Mourning had originally been intended as some form of defensive perimeter to protect the borders of Cyre. Something went horribly, horribly wrong (i.e. a spanner fell into the gears, or a fly got into the teleporter, or THOSE MEDDLING KIDS!!!, etc.), and the magic went tragically out of control. It explains why the Dead Grey Mists just happened to stop right at the approximate political boundaries of Cyre at the time of the Mourning -- those were the borders that the original magic was supposed to protect. No one could have predicted, however, that the spell would become so devestating once cast. -Sal. Holy crap, Forgotten Realms caused the Mourning! Damn you faulty mithal!
Zombomaniac 05-22-07, 04:22 PM	I've become fond of the theory that the Mourning had originally been intended as some form of defensive perimeter to protect the borders of Cyre. Something went horribly, horribly wrong (i.e. a spanner fell into the gears, or a fly got into the teleporter, or THOSE MEDDLING KIDS!!!, etc.), and the magic went tragically out of control. It explains why the Dead Grey Mists just happened to stop right at the approximate political boundaries of Cyre at the time of the Mourning -- those were the borders that the original magic was supposed to protect. No one could have predicted, however, that the spell would become so devestating once cast. -Sal. DragonLance had something similar. Basicly a country of Elves raises a huge shield over their homeland. The shield is unbreakable and it is impossible for anyone to enter (which is what the Elves wanted), but (unknown to the Elves inside) it draws its power strait from their life force. So the longer they are in there the more of them that die.:eek:
OgreBane99 05-22-07, 04:54 PM	Funny this should come up. I'm currently writing my Cyre campaign right now and it's going to have a lot to do with the Mourning. After reading the "Heirs of Ash" trilogy (the first two books anyways), I became inspired to do my own Cyre campaign along the lines of those novels, so you may find some similarities in the books and my campaign. If you plan to read the novels, don't read my explanation as it has some spoilers. My explanation is this: House Cannith had a well known and well loved arcanist/mage/artificer named Ashrem d'Cannith. He was a master of creating weapons of war. One such project he referred to only as his "Legacy." Later on the PCs will find that the "Legacy" is in fact a powerful weapon that has the ability to negate magic in an extremely large range (city-size), similar to an anti-magic field (or an EMP blast in modern times). This could be a very powerful weapon to use in the Last War and since many spies were after it, Ashrem decided to try and hide. Looking for a fast way to end the war, King Borannel (of Breland) used his spies to hijack the Legacy in an attempt to use it in Cyre and end the war with them. Once the other nations saw this powerful weapon used in a terrorist-like attack (no one would know Breland was responsible), they would find ways to end the war as well. Unknown to Borannel (I don't think I'm spelling his name right) though, there was a powerful demon-rajah sealed beneath the city of Making, whispering evils into the mind of Ashrem. The demon wanted the item used since it would use its power to corrupt the Legacy and twist it in an effort to free the demon-rajah. King Borannel's spies used the Legacy in the city of Making. Unfortunately, the demon did manage to twist the power of the Legacy... but too much. Instead of freeing the demon, it instead warped all the lands of Cyre into a twisted-image of the demon's "prison", thus forming the Mournland. The PCs start the campaign by trying to piece together what exactly the Legacy was, and in the end they manage to find a way to build their own Legacy. They now have a choice: they can used it against Breland, who is ultimately responsible for the destruction the Mourning caused, or they can use it to wipe away the taint of the Mournland, creating Cyre as it should be. Of course, if they do use it in the Mournland, they end up finally freeing the rajah....
Lord_Madrigan 05-22-07, 11:13 PM	DragonLance had something similar. Basicly a country of Elves raises a huge shield over their homeland. The shield is unbreakable and it is impossible for anyone to enter (which is what the Elves wanted), but (unknown to the Elves inside) it draws its power strait from their life force. So the longer they are in there the more of them that die.:eek: Holy crap, Forgotten Realms caused the Mourning! Damn you faulty mithal! There is of course also The Ravenloft option. :)
Runepriest 05-23-07, 06:01 PM	There is of course also The Ravenloft option. :) And what might that be?
gelalshawr 05-23-07, 06:24 PM	My take on the matter is that the PC's should never know, so I'm not going to devise a reason. Oh they'll find clues and whatnot that point to this or that, but they'll never discover the true reason, because even the DM doesn't know.
Logos7 05-23-07, 07:41 PM	well it was that or kenders would be in eberron D'Cannith opens a mysterious portal threw the plane of shadows to somewhere else A gully dwarf and a kender walk threw BLOW IT BLOW IT NOW FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY Lgo
Lord_Madrigan 05-23-07, 11:15 PM	And what might that be? The Mists took Cyre to the Demiplane of Dread Basic info on Ravenloft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravenloft)
LordNobbs 05-24-07, 12:28 AM	Let’s say that house Cannith created the firs living spell, a living obscuring mist, they meant to sell it, as a living ambush terrain, but it went all wrong and it found a gate to Xoriat, that turned it into the BIGGEST LIVING SPELL EVER, (BUAHAHAHA) since it was commissioned to guard Cyre, it cant exit its borders, and it didn’t want to kill everyone inside Cyre, it was one of the side effects of consuming Xoriat based mater (BUAHAHAHA), and by consuming Xoriat mater it gives everything it engulfs the sow called Mourland Traits… maybe it is starting to relies Cyre doesn’t exist, or maybe it thinks New Cyre, is part of Cyre… Maybe you cant cast healing spells you actually heal the Mournland(BUAHAHAHA) Or maybe it was a gully dwarf and a kender (BUHAHAHAHA) Go Orc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They sure didn’t create The Mourning
gensuke626 05-26-07, 07:30 PM	Three words: Total Protonic Reversal... They Crossed the Streams... But in all seriousness, I figured it was something akin to a spell going terribly terribly awry...I haven't thought it through entirely...though I'm certain it has to do with the glowing chasm and the emergence of the mist.
Edymnion 05-26-07, 08:46 PM	My current theory? "Dragon magic" is actually Truenaming, the language of creation spoken by Eberron, Siberys, and Khyber. This is the magic they taught to the Giants to defend against the Quori, and the magic they used to destroy the giants when they wouldn't stop using it (the dangers of rewriting the universe should be pretty clear). House Cannith found ancient texts in Xen'Drik that described the basics of Truenaming, and were researching it in Cyre. The dragons were then forced to scour that knowledge off the face of khovaire, and essentially unnamed Cyre, which is why the destruction stopped on the exact boarders of the country. I also make this the underlying source of the conflict between the Undying Court and the Dragons, and how the Undying Court has such power. They are the result of a few elves in the initial exodus that had learned Truenaming from their Giant masters. The dragons want to wipe the court out the same way they did Cyre, but the court has learned enough truenaming to be able to protect themselves (possibly by changing and then obscuring their own truenames). The dragons destroyed Cyre, to prevent the holy language of creation from being sullied and abused by "the lesser races".
OgreBane99 05-26-07, 11:03 PM	My current theory? "Dragon magic" is actually Truenaming, the language of creation spoken by Eberron, Siberys, and Khyber. This is the magic they taught to the Giants to defend against the Quori, and the magic they used to destroy the giants when they wouldn't stop using it (the dangers of rewriting the universe should be pretty clear). House Cannith found ancient texts in Xen'Drik that described the basics of Truenaming, and were researching it in Cyre. The dragons were then forced to scour that knowledge off the face of khovaire, and essentially unnamed Cyre, which is why the destruction stopped on the exact boarders of the country. I also make this the underlying source of the conflict between the Undying Court and the Dragons, and how the Undying Court has such power. They are the result of a few elves in the initial exodus that had learned Truenaming from their Giant masters. The dragons want to wipe the court out the same way they did Cyre, but the court has learned enough truenaming to be able to protect themselves (possibly by changing and then obscuring their own truenames). The dragons destroyed Cyre, to prevent the holy language of creation from being sullied and abused by "the lesser races". Well done. I like this version.
Runepriest 05-27-07, 10:25 AM	Well done. I like this version. I second the motion. Great job Edymion.
gensuke626 05-27-07, 04:12 PM	Wow...That was very well thought out... Think I can get a spot as an edyminion?
Edymnion 05-28-07, 01:37 PM	Think I can get a spot as an edyminion?http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0446.html
Lord_Madrigan 05-28-07, 03:04 PM	My current theory? "Dragon magic" is actually Truenaming, the language of creation spoken by Eberron, Siberys, and Khyber. This is the magic they taught to the Giants to defend against the Quori, and the magic they used to destroy the giants when they wouldn't stop using it (the dangers of rewriting the universe should be pretty clear). House Cannith found ancient texts in Xen'Drik that described the basics of Truenaming, and were researching it in Cyre. The dragons were then forced to scour that knowledge off the face of khovaire, and essentially unnamed Cyre, which is why the destruction stopped on the exact boarders of the country. I also make this the underlying source of the conflict between the Undying Court and the Dragons, and how the Undying Court has such power. They are the result of a few elves in the initial exodus that had learned Truenaming from their Giant masters. The dragons want to wipe the court out the same way they did Cyre, but the court has learned enough truenaming to be able to protect themselves (possibly by changing and then obscuring their own truenames). The dragons destroyed Cyre, to prevent the holy language of creation from being sullied and abused by "the lesser races". Thats a good and well thiught out theory. There is also the other Danger of Truenaming Klaatu Barata nic(cough cough) When thou misspoke the words you....
Edymnion 05-28-07, 05:46 PM	Thats a good and well thiught out theory. There is also the other Danger of Truenaming Klaatu Barata nic(cough cough) When thou misspoke the words you....Heh, thats what you get for getting a commoner from the future to try and cast your "Make Cyre totally invincible!" spell. Fouls up the last word and turns it into "Make Cyre totally destroyed!" So, remember folks, never trust commoners with your spells, no matter how much the prophesy says they are there to help you. Espcially not commoners with boomsticks and a battlefist.
gelalshawr 05-28-07, 05:48 PM	Heh, thats what you get for getting a commoner from the future to try and cast your "Make Cyre totally invincible!" spell. Fouls up the last word and turns it into "Make Cyre totally destroyed!" So, remember folks, never trust commoners with your spells, no matter how much the prophesy says they are there to help you. Espcially not commoners with boomsticks and a battlefist. A gas-powered, chain-driven, bladed battlefist no less
Shadowkire 05-28-07, 07:09 PM	I made an adventure that combined the cause of the Mourning with the Psiforged and the sixteenth goblin god. Basically the goblin god is actually a lesser reincarnation of Khyber that is mostly dormant and can only be awakened once a certain number of people know of it's existence. When the humans were spreading across Khorvaire they found out the true nature of the god and that it was almost awakened when the humans wiped out all of Khyber's worshippers and erased any trace of it from records. The Mourning was caused when a rich noble put on a display of some relics from Dhakaani ruins that pre-dated the Xoriat invasion, many of these relics held depictions of the reincarnated Khyber on them and after a few hundred people saw the relics Khyber began to wake up and yawned. the yawn caused the devastation of Cyre. And I think I know what you may be saying to yourself right know: "The mournland was created by a yawn?" Well this is the argument I used against my friends: If something's blood can spawn near deific beings that couldn't be killed by dragons wouldn't it's yawn carry some sort of overpowered curse?
mhacdebhandia 05-28-07, 07:42 PM	So, what do people use for what caused the morning? I officially don't have an answer to the question. I'm happy to decide what caused the Mourning if and when the characters in my game want or need to know. Whatever answer I decide upon for one game might not be the answer I use next time, either.
Rauric 05-30-07, 09:59 PM	I think they were trying to create some kind of mystical defense field around Cyre, then it all went to hell. That is why the disaster only effected the one Kingdom. It was designed to surround certain coordinates. I also like to believe that the Dragons helped sabotage the device since they forsaw Cyre's destruction would end the War. With the War over the people of Khorvaire could rebuild and become stronger for the greater tragedy that will befall them as it says in the Prophecies.
Raziel_Brokodar 05-30-07, 10:44 PM	My cause of the Mourning idea has something to do with a creation forge messing up, intentionally or unintentionally... :cool:
MageWeasel 05-30-07, 11:19 PM	The Mad Wizard Faradith Ausperyll had constructed a machine on the top floor of his tower, which was in a remote location in the heart of Cyre. It incorporated an Eberron dragonshard of unsurpassed purity and was intended to allow the casting of spells from immense distances (anywhere in Cyre). Combined with scrying magic, the machine could be used a powerful weapon. Faradith had planned on selling the tower to the kingdom, or one of it's enemies, but he greatly under estimated the power of the shard itself. When he first attempted to activate it, it went horribly wry. For some reason, every single spell in the tower became "awakened", be it in a scroll, staff, wand, or even a spellbook- many of them were quite powerful. The Living spells blasted across the country side at break neck speed obliterating everything in their path. To this day, the land remains saturated with arcane energy. Cure spells can't function within it, and living spells still roam the countryside... Never send a wizard to do an artificers job.
OgreBane99 05-30-07, 11:57 PM	The Mad Wizard Faradith Ausperyll had constructed a machine on the top floor of his tower, which was located in a remote location in the heart of Cyre. It incorporated an Eberron dragonshard of unsurpassed purity and was intended to allow the casting of spells from immense distances (anywhere in Cyre). Combined with scrying magic, the machine could be used a powerful weapon . Faradith had planned on selling the tower to the kingdom, or one of it's enemies, but he greatly under estimated the power of the shard itself. When he first attempted to activate it, it went horribly wry. For some reason, every single spell in the tower became "awakened", be it in a scroll, staff, wand, or even a spellbook- many of them were quite powerful. The Living spells blasted across the country side at break neck speed obliterating everything in their path. To this day, the land remains saturated with arcane energy. Cure spells can't function within it, and living spells still roam the countryside... Never send a wizard to do an artificers job. I like this one too. Good work. :thumbsup:
andrewknaut 05-31-07, 12:42 AM	My group is playing a high espinoge game, and two of them care about the day of Mourning, and this is what I thought would be the reason. I just created it tonight, so I’ll be working on it still. I think the Day of Morning was crated by those who signed the Treaty of Thronehold and the 12 Dragonmarked families. The war had been lasting far to long and their was far to much destruction. They thought that the only true way to end the war was to have something so atrocious happen that no one would have the will to fight anymore. Finally after long conversations and debates they chose Cyre, They knew that their would be large losses on all sides, including royalty and Dragonmarked, but this would be needed for the world to unite again. House Phiarlan could not bare the loss of all its people so they ran away, creating a rift and suspicion against its house. Now the leading members hide what they did as their closest secret and each signed a pact that non would speak of it ever again, and all were just as responsible so no leader could use this as leverage against an other.
Lutscher 05-31-07, 02:38 AM	On the Day of Mourning a ruthless Artificer opened a rift to earth to grab some of our modern weapons. Chuck Norris sensed him, roundhouse kicked him into oblivion and the sheer force and awesomeness killed Emperor Pun-Pun as well and destroyed Cyre. Pretty clear imo.
Edymnion 05-31-07, 08:24 AM	Of course, if you really want to freak the players out, have *THEM* be the cause of the Mourning. Start shifting the game over towards a mad wizard that wants to go back in time to save his wife from dying in the Mourning. So, he's been researching chronomancy. Have a big buildup about why time travel is bad, m'kay, have the PCs go in, big epic battle, and at the end the time spell goes off anyway. Thing is, it was damaged in the fight somehow, and jumps back 3 years before detonating. The PCs caused the Mourning by interfering with the timestream.
MageWeasel 05-31-07, 08:34 AM	Sorry Edy, but I've already done this one. The first time it ****** the players off so bad that if I did it again they'd probably riot...
Runepriest 06-01-07, 09:09 PM	Sorry Edy, but I've already done this one. The first time it ****** the players off so bad that if I did it again they'd probably riot... Poor you, here have a :cookie:.
Edymnion 06-01-07, 10:10 PM	Sorry Edy, but I've already done this one. The first time it ****** the players off so bad that if I did it again they'd probably riot...Ah come on, if Kirk couldn't figure it out, what makes you think your players will? :D
MageWeasel 06-01-07, 10:51 PM	I'm not as smart as Gene Roddenberry...
Edymnion 06-02-07, 12:01 AM	I'm not as smart as Gene Roddenberry...Remember kiddies, if Star Trek taught us anything, its that you don't :censored: with the timeline! ;)
Satori 06-02-07, 01:06 AM	Someone in Cyre crossed the streams. Never... Ever... Cross the Streams! http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/images/issue/420/ghostbusters_420.jpg
Need_A_Life 06-02-07, 07:58 AM	My take on it is simple... The PCs will never know.
TheKeyofE 06-05-07, 10:37 AM	My take on it is simple... The PCs will never know. This is what makes Eberron so great. There are so many things that have happened in the world's history or are currently happening (assuming 998 YK) that are completely left open to interpretation. The Day of Mourning, the Lord of Blades, the Dragon Prophecy, they're all left up to the DM and players. You could have one campaign where the LoB was a twisted and evil demon of a construct, bent on world destruction and the PCs' arch rival, then turn around and have another campaign where he was just a misunderstood warforged who ends up being the PCs' best friend. Basically, what I'm saying is that the ECS gives you a lush world and some starting points for adventures, but doesn't solve all the juicy mysteries for you. It lets the DM and players decide what's going to happen in their version of the story. And I like reading threads like this one to see what other people have decided in their campaigns, both because it's intriguing to ponder and gives me a few ideas for my own campaigns.
BoBzeMoose 06-21-07, 06:56 PM	The current theories held by the most advance3d minds at morgrave university are right on the cause of the mourning, namely that it was a defensive spell, it involved the genesis spell, and that it is based offo of the magic used by the giants so long ago, and combines aspects of the 3 lexicons into one utterance, however, they are all wrong in one opinion, namely that something went wrong. The facts are, however, quite to the contrary...the spell is working right. The mourning is both a defensive measure and an offensive measure. Initially, it was designed as a panic button alternative, namely that it shut down all life in the surrounding area, and what intruders came in were twisted became its guardians. However, as the war was drawning near to a close, and the thrane-breland pact appeared to start to become the deciding facotr in who would win the war (namely thrane and breland) cyre came up with a brilliant solution: remove itself from the field until its enemies were too exhausted fighting each other to be able to resist its power. Under the cover of utmost secrecy, Queen Dannel approved the order to use PRoject: Mist(the codename of the final defense at thew time) and simultaneously lured the largest force (namely that of Breland and thrnae) into the land, along with returning most of its forces to Cyre. While an effort to lure several legions of karrnathi undead made up of fallen cyran soldiers was undertaken, it was, for the most part, unsuccesful. After that, the Queen gave the order, and all life within the borders of Cyre...perished. Even the lord of Blades, considered to be a rogue element, is but merely another portion of project mist. Knowing that the warforged stationed in Cyre would survive the blast, a subfunction was built into the mourning, an intelligence that could take over the minds of any warforged in the area of cyre. The Lord of blades is merely the onboard A.I.(so to speak) that helps order the units affected by this eldrich machine. the creed of Hate and Destruction is but merely a point of subterfuge used to hde his position of protector, though Bulwark (the A.I. responsible for the maintenance of Cyre and a former double agent situated in Breland) truly believes in the liberation of his people. Origionally, Bulwark was meant to lead the charge against Cyre, but he was retained from the expedition at the last minute when an attempt was made on the King's life. Still, he was able to return to Cyre to aid in its defenses. Unfortunately, Not all occured as Cyre predicted. the Initial approximations of the amount of Thrane and Brelands forces present in the mournlands was far higher than the actual amount and, instead of cutting off its forces and dealing a mortal blow to the Thrane and Breland causes (as was calculated) it instead motivated the whole of Khorvaire to sign a peace treaty. Currently, those few that know of Project mist are Currently trying to destabilize the continent once more anmd trigger a War that will put Cyre in a position to finally awaken and sweep over the continent and finally establish Queen Dannal as the heir apparent to the throne of Galifar.
Bartimaeus 06-21-07, 08:40 PM	I recently got an old backissue of Dragon, and in it were the rules for Defiler magic, and that took me back to my Darksun days, so I was thinking, was it an epic level Defiler? I mean we all know there are ancient forbidden magics just lying around Eberron, maybe one was found. It could've been an artifact spell that used defiler magic to power it, but the caster wasn't aware of the price to be paid when using it.
Edymnion 06-23-07, 02:23 PM	Remember kiddies, if Star Trek taught us anything, its that you don't :censored: with the timeline! ;)Heh, I find it amusing that Forges of War actually covered time travel campaigns. :D
DwarfPcfan 06-23-07, 06:24 PM	Over the course of campaigns I used several explanations for the Mourning. The latest (wich I used in campaign focusing on the planes) being: Cannith arcanists had finally made the definite decision of siding with Cyre (defying the rules of the dragonmarked houses). Basically they were researching an epic spell meant to cage a portion of a planar realm in effect providing limitless armies of outsiders (since outsiders are born of the plane sponteneously) to ensure victory. Their intention was to capture a portion of Savarath hopping to field armies of fiends, effreet, etc. However in context with divinity in Eberron, basically the gods are the conscious living fabric of the plane. in effect, the plane is a God and the God is a planes ( I attributed each god to a plane, Aureon and the Shadow for Dal quor, Dol Arrah for Syrannia, etc). When the arcanists activated the weapon, Savarath (attributed to the Mockery and the Devorer) reacted by ripping itself from alignement and bleeding into Dolurrh. This resulted into the arcanist effectively pulling Dolurrh into Cyre and everything died to be absorbed back into the planes, Cyre was a wasteland and the souls of millions of Cyrans now lie in Entropy accross Dolurrh while the Arcanists responsible are being dealt by the Keeper himself...
Yakman 06-28-07, 11:15 AM	The Aurum (in unknowing conjunction with a Rajah) attempted to slide Cyre into Dolurrh but also managed to wake a Rajah -- because didn't want to go absolutely bankrupt. 100 years of warfare is a lot of war debt. If any nation were to win, they would write off the debt of the other four nations--and ruin the lenders of Khorvaire. On the other hand, the 5 nations were going bankrupt on their own, and had the war continued, would have been unable to pay their creditors anyway. The Aurum, owning the bulk of this debt, were not keen to be thrown into the Lower Wards with the scum of society when they lost everything with a universal repudiation of war debt. The war had to end, or the most powerful of Khorvaire's elite would be ruined. The Aurum determined that Cyre would be least able to repay its loans, being both the most in the hole, and the most ravaged by war.
tomcollins 06-28-07, 01:59 PM	I blame the gnomes
TiwazTyrsfist 06-28-07, 05:59 PM	Actually, It's my bad. I... I kinda, you know, spilled coffee on the control board for the creation forge. Sorry.
Belkar 06-29-07, 02:29 PM	I explain it using several of the above ideas. The fact that the mists and the mourning occured along Cyre's political borders is pretty suspect, and there is an explanation - which ultimately is the fault of both the Cyrans, House Cannith, and the Chamber. Cyre knew things were going badly , and that the "jewel of Galifar" could be ravaged. They spent an astronomical sum of money to hire the best and brightest in House Cannith to devise for them the ultimate form of protection. Something that could prevent any intrusion from outside national borders. Since the best and brightest of the Cannith Artificers were already in Cyre... it was simple for them to keep it to themselves (even from the rest of their house). Cannith was anxious to do it, simply because developing such a technique and marketing it to others would make Cannith the greatest power on Khorvaire. What they developed (successfully, mind you...) was the use of extra-dimensional space magic and a modified version of the genesis spell to effectively put all of Cyre into a pocket dimension. Complete with Eberron-like atmosphere, climate, suns, moons... everthing. From the outside, it would simply seem as if the country had dissapeared, existing in kind of a tesseract. Travel to the border from outside and keep going... you suddenly appear on another random edge. But those inside the "pocket" could easily monitor the outside borders and control access. The ultimate defense. The trouble came when the Chamber decided to interfere. Sufficed to say, the Dragons weren't too pleased about hundreds of dragonmarks and prophecy-specific people and events dissapearing from the material plane. So their agents (exising even in the upper echelon of Cannith and Cyran nobility) who became aware of the plan enacted some ancient draconic magic that set the outer planes in ever so slight of a motion. This same magic was the basis of how the giants threw Dal Quor away from the material plane and how the Gatekeepers keep Xoriat from being co-terminous. For a brief moment, the Draconic magic caused the Plane of Doluurh (simply, the closest plane to Eberron at that time) to be co-terminous with Cyre when the Cannith's dimensional magic was activated. This unplanned hiccup in the extensive planar cosmology calculations done by Cannith was supposed to throw an extra-planar "monkey-wrench" into the mix, and cause the calculations and the Cannith magic to fail. The Dragons had never used their planar magic for this specific use before, but the principal was sound. If all went well... no one would ever know why it had even failed. Another failed invention that could never get off the Cannith artifice drawing-board. What the Chamber didn't plan for was the effect the particular plane that was co-terminous would have when Cannith activated their plan. Their magic actually suceeded, but inadvertantly caused the "pocket dimension" to bring a portion of Doluurh onto the material plane. This caused the instant death of most every living creature, and the nexus of life energy brought "artificial life" to the arcane energies in use during the transformation... thus, we see living spells and such, as well as other wierd effects native to the mournland. Some natives of Doluurh also found themselves on the material plane for the first time. The mists are simply what an resident of Doluurh sees on the edge of their vision... (Doluurh extends on forever into mists...), and of course... healing spells don't work in the plane of the Dead.
OgreBane99 06-29-07, 05:10 PM	On a quick side note, there's no "official" date that's ever been given for the Day of Mourning, right? All we know is that it was in 994YK and I think I remember reading someplace it was in the morning.... What date would you guys use and why?
grifo 06-29-07, 05:58 PM	On a quick side note, there's no "official" date that's ever been given for the Day of Mourning, right? All we know is that it was in 994YK and I think I remember reading someplace it was in the morning.... Actually, the official date is 20 Olarune 994 YK, it sais so in S:CoT.
OgreBane99 06-30-07, 03:16 AM	Actually, the official date is 20 Olarune 994 YK, it sais so in S:CoT. Sweet... thanks! Couldn't find it for the life of me....
crashbangboom 06-30-07, 09:41 AM	In a campaign I'm planning now for use probably next year; the mourning was caused by a mage/art that was manipulated ever so slowly over the years by a rajah. I plan to use the undermountain module as a template for a massive research facility located underground in cyre. there they were developing new proffitable weapons of war. He while creating a massive spell matrix noticed for the first time mid-casting the glaring flaw in the matrix and realizing that he would be allowing a rajah another chance at freedom sent the energies up, out, and away from the rajah's prison instead of down to it setting it free. as a last effort he sacrificed himself creating a massive globe of force to capture what mist he could before it spread across all khorvaire.
Shruiken 06-30-07, 08:29 PM	I'm not really in an Eberron campaign right now, but I hope to find some local players soon. I just love to read the new Eberron books even if I don't play. anyway, here is something I thougt up and I may or may not use it. It has everything to do with the Traveler. The Traveler is the most powerful entity in the entire multiverse. He even originated out of a different material plane and found a way to escape his own cosmology. He acheived the ultimate power, something which no other god he had met could do. He could Time-Travel. Nothing in the past could jump to the future, so whne he saw that because of Cyre the Dragon Below had broken loose and started a war on demon lords from another cosmology...ther was nothing else to be done. S
Rekko 07-01-07, 12:08 AM	A new kind of Inevitables whose task is to manage warfare so it respects a number of established rules punished the nation of Cyre because it cheated the rules and did not took the warnings of the Inevitables seriously.
GrimAlchemist 07-01-07, 05:47 PM	These are some really great ideas thrown around here, and have sparked numerous ideas for myself. I take an approach similair to Nived's, not giving an exact answer myself and consider instead in terms of how it will affect the game and the themes of Eberron. I would combine Nived's two ideas, in that the answer should be both an error on the part of the humans ('mortal cause'), and something larger than the mortal races ('cosmic cause'). As the players unravel the answer, they'll find that it was equal parts human error, showing them just how potentially bad the peoples of Khorvaire could mess up, and something larger than the mortal nations, showing them that there are things more powerful than they. Give the player's and their characters some perspective into the game world, and maybe even the real world. (I'm sappy that way when I DM, I can't help it. ;) ) Another important consideration is that the cause for the Day of Mourning should also be a threat that can, and probably will, come about again, so as the player's begin piecing an explanation together, there become an element of urgency to their investigation. I see it as anticlimactic when the PC's discover the truth behind the Mourlands as something like, "Oh, it was the dragons", or "Oh, it was House Cannith", and then close the book and wander off. When it's a race against the clock to keep the Day of Mourning from happening to all of the races, or all of the world, be it from the eldritch machine that caused the original disaster, or the existing effect spreading to envelope the world, it fits well with the adventure setting for Eberron, IMO. Finally, similar to Edymnion's second idea, you can mess with the PCs and make them the cause. In my game, I might (MIGHT!) go with the Forge of War time travel idea, send the PCs back to stop the Day of Mourning, only to be the ones who cause it to prevent some even greater catastrophe from occurring. Good old lesser of two evils. P.S. Considering that the Day of Mourning occured on Olarune 20, I wiki'd up February 20th, which apparently was: "1969 - The date that Michel Collin had predicted as the coming of a world wide catastrophe." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_20) Don't know if that means anything, but it's sort of interesting.
Rifken 07-03-07, 11:48 PM	What i am personally gonna use 40000 years ago Giants used dragon magic (ie an artifact) to stop the invasion of the quori Shortly after this the dragons started a war with the giants the elves left Xendrik for Aernal taking the artifact Shortly after there was a dragon elf war The dragons and elves destroy the house of Vol (Who in my story atre the guardians of the artifact along with the house of shadows) (The dragons used the "abomination" of Lady Vol as the excuse to wipe them out) When the dragons could find no more clues about the artifact they relented on the war and the artifact was taken to khorvaire The day of Mourning
Lelander_the_L 07-04-07, 01:05 AM	So, what do people use for what caused the morning? This is what I use: Aaren d'Cannith was tinkering around the creation on ways to truly become a warforged. He tripped and fell into the creation forge, and warforged and human fused. His dragonmark was warped and became a spellwarped dragonmark (Check the thread for stuff on spellwarped dragonmarks). The intense arcane energy was too much for the creation forge, and it burst out, creating the mournland. Aaren d'Cannith woke many days later, half warforged, half human. He was awoken without any previous memories, and he awoke with a hatred of flesh. very interesting take on the subject
Rekko 07-04-07, 10:42 AM	What i am personally gonna use 40000 years ago Giants used dragon magic (ie an artifact) to stop the invasion of the quori Shortly after this the dragons started a war with the giants the elves left Xendrik for Aernal taking the artifact Shortly after there was a dragon elf war The dragons and elves destroy the house of Vol (Who in my story atre the guardians of the artifact along with the house of shadows) (The dragons used the "abomination" of Lady Vol as the excuse to wipe them out) When the dragons could find no more clues about the artifact they relented on the war and the artifact was taken to khorvaire The day of Mourning And what have become of the artifact?
Warforged_Pierce 07-28-07, 04:38 PM	okay my take on the mourning is based more or less on several of the books both novels and supplements. the paticular novels are the heirs of ash trilogy and the dreaming dark trilogy for they are both tied. all that we know is that their was a huge cataclysmic surge of arcane energies that wiped out cyre to its exact borders those that escaped all point to metrol as the point of orgin of the blast. Ashrem d' cannith was supposedly working on a artifact known as the legacy that was supposed to stop the war on all fronts but ashrem d' cannith was a man of peace not of war. He was a man of peace whatever he was working on was not supposed to be a death weapon. Talin d' cannith and aleisa d' cannith also had a hand in the mourning. they had studied the giant civilizations of xen'drik and were surprised when they learned the arcane energies were not reacting the way they were supposed to. they were killed in the mourning and ashrem disappeared his airship was last seen flying into metrol just moments before the mourning took place. so therefore what was the mourning? ashrem's supposed legacy was theorized to dispel all magic in a area. giants of xen'drik used a device to break the planar gate between eberron and dal quor which were probably most of talin and alesia's research therefore the combination of trying to perhaps create a artifact to end the war in cyre they miscalculated and destroyed cyre however arcane accidents are usually unpredictable the likely hood that the cataclysm only reached cyre's borders is strange and pretty much deliberate. there was also no record of why ashrem went back to metrol on the day of mourning and why he went alone so perhaps he was trying to stop it but arrived to late. as it is this is all speculation... a long long long ... speculation ****GASPS for breath ****
Warforged_Pierce 07-28-07, 04:41 PM	very interesting take on the subject I still think this is unlikely mostly because while yes magic is powerful in creating warforged a backlash of dragonmark and creation energies would probably do no more than blow up the forge... not smear the entire nation to its borders in the process.
Snipers_Promise 08-12-07, 04:27 PM	Mine involes a parasite, chemical weapons, a homage to resident evil 4, and a secert underground biolical weapons lab. You figure it out.
DBlizzard 08-13-07, 11:36 PM	Turns out the final issue of Dragon has an article by Keith listing various possible causes of the Mourning, and other things based on it (including at least one feat).
Hopeless 08-16-07, 08:04 AM	My idea is that it actually dates back to the giants of Xendrik. There was a short story about one of the defences on Xendrik being taken back to Cyre by a group of warforged who were altered by some unspecified means. The way I intend to explain it is that back at the very end of the Quori-Giant wars the giants tried to invade Khorvaire with the intention of using it as a catspaw to end their war with the quori. The intention was to send a devastating attack from Xendrik and use Khorvaire's destruction to destroy the quori by means of an artefact shipped for that purpose with the help of the dragons of Argonessen who saw it as a way to permanently remove all of the bound rajah's in the process. So what if a few million insignificant humanoids would be wiped out as a result? What the dragons weren't expecting was the presence of an ancient shadow dragon who intervened and sent the blast straight back at Xendrik causing its destruction... However not all of the giants died out and a few of the more nastier types have secretly resurfaced and the first step of restoring their empire was to wipe out Khorvaire in a spiteful attempt to avenge themselves... They failed. Unknown to them that dragon willingly bound himself to the coatul's remaining forces and was being reborn again and again ever since the end of the demon wars serving as khorvaire's champion and he sacrificed himself to bind the blast to Cyre's borders but his sacrifice is unknown to all but one person who doesn't even realise what she witnessed or the fact she alone can restore Cyre... Epic quest anyone?