Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 xi_mao Jun 13, 2009 20:03:25	I'm planning on starting an Eberron Campaign, and I need some input on the story hook I have in mind. The game itself is going to be closer to an Noir Investigative /Cold War Techno Thriller style game. The party is approached by Kemble ir'Tannim, a minor Audarian Noble who's prized "Dancing Golem" has gone missing. He assumes that it has been stolen but a device that unique could not be fenced easily and no one has demanded a ransom for the Golem's safe return. The golem is described as "Very much like a lithe warforged in appearance, with parts made of Soarwood, Mithril and Gold. It has a very feminine figure, and was last seen wearing an emerald and azure colored dress made of light, nearly transparent silk. You can recognize it by it's face. It was constructed of ceramic and platinum, crafted to look as if it was always in a state of sublime pleasure, it's eyes glowing with a calming blue light. It also has long cinnamon colored hair, made of silk. It answers to the name 'Arabesque.' Please find it, Arabesque is the only thing that brings me joy in the world and will reward you handsomely upon it's safe return." The PCs would have no problem finding Arabesque, but it would be quickly revealed that Arabesque is no mere golem, but possesses the sentience and intelligence of a Warforged, despite the fact that she is clearly not built for combat. She tells the party that she ran from her master because she is sick of dancing for her master's pleasure, and being treated as an unthinking object. Soon after this discovery, the party is attacked by the Order of the Emerald Claw, who demand that the dancer be turned over to them. I know where I want to go with the story, but I want other's opinions on the hook so I can work out details that I may have missed. Thanks in advance for your time.
#2 Nived Jun 13, 2009 20:18:03	Its interesting, but I would imagine that there will be some snide comments that the warforged purposes were more than just 'dancing' ifyaknowwhatimean.
#3 oldmastersaru Jun 13, 2009 20:59:27	agreed with the above poster maybe you should give her a defense system that she does not know about....maybe on the lines of a magical shield that blocks any in coming attack.....call it angel wall and maybe throw and a weapon that causes a stun effect...lets call it gravity bomber..... ya never mind this is already sounding lame..... but really give her some special function!
#4 skrapsan Jun 14, 2009 0:51:42	Have you seen the metropolis movie? Or for that matter the metropolis anime? Both are movies about a Girl that a boy think is human but in reality is a robot designed to controll some giant machine that will enable her to controll the world. And since she is a machine she will do so without being clouded by emotions etc. So maybe the dancing golem is the "key" to an acient Quori/Giant eldritch machine? PS: the metropolis anime is a great inspiration on how warforged are treated.
#5 xi_mao Jun 14, 2009 7:21:51	Currently the 2 main things that prevent her from being used as a *ahem* pleasure unit are the following: 1. Lack of anything that could really give pleasure. Oh sure...if you're into hands and feet...but the mask features an unmoving mouth and the equipment isn't there. winkwinknudgenudgesaynomore! 2. Currently the exact reasons as to why she's being hounded by the Emerald Claw are still very mutable, but current theory is that she's part of a project that Merrix d'Cannith is working on. To give Arabesque the sort of protection she needs to sruvive, she's been implanted with the basic techniques of a Rogue. She and her owner don't know it, but she's basically a sleeper agent and when threatened in such a way that she must fight, she enters a fugue like state and displays the combat prowess of a rogue (Ie, she's a Warforged NPC with the rogue NPC class, but she can't use 99% of her abilities most of the time). Because of this she may be on loan to the Royal Eyes or even the Dark Lanterns. Kemble has been to Karranath recently, but didn't notice his prized toy was ever missing. The other possibility I was toying with in regards to Arabesque is that she was designed by Merrix to be a Prototype for the warforged he's working on now, a Warforged who can "commune" with another Warforged and produce a sort of offspring. How and why she is no longer directly in Merrix's control is, as always, a mystery.
#6 skrapsan Jun 14, 2009 16:59:34	OK now I just thought of the bar fight sceene in the Serenity movie... were a semingly demented kid turns into a killing machine because of a code transmitted to her by a telivison. Needless to say, she was an gouverment experiment gone bad of some sort.
#7 Omnirahk_half-Rahkshi Jun 14, 2009 18:48:15	OK now I just thought of the bar fight scene in the Serenity movie... were a semingly demented kid turns into a killing machine because of a code transmitted to her by a telivison. Needless to say, she was an gouverment experiment gone bad of some sort. *sings* fruity oatey bars* Yeah, I'm liking that idea. Maybe consider one or two other triggers that set her off.
#8 xi_mao Jun 15, 2009 20:19:48	Heh...I completely forgot about River Tam when I wrote up Arabesque...I could go into that further I suppose...Add in specified "kill Words" perhaps. It may change the nature of what she is supposed to be, but I'm sure I can make it work. Right now, I think she's part of Merrix d'Cannith's "Grand Experiment", something that's been an underlying meta-plot point in my personal Eberron games so far. Show The grand Experiment is Merrix's way of studying the Warforged and the evolution of Warforged Behavior and culture. To this end he created a line of Warforged who all have special scrying stones built into them so that he can monitor them at all times. The warforged in question are: 1. "Control" - Currently goes by the name "Tower". Warforged Fighter built at the end of the last war. Literally the "control group" of the experiment. 2. "Forge" - Currently goes by the name "Spanner". Blank Warforged activated and assigned to a House Cannith manufacturing facility. Currently employed as a Magewright. 3. "Urban" - Currently goes by the name "Cloak". Blank Warforged activated and abandoned in the streets of Sharn. Was found by a local gang of thieves and currently is being employed as their muscle. 4. "Mourning" - Currently goes by the name "Architect 4". Blank Warforged activated and abandoned in the Mournland. Was found by Godforged Architect "Greatsword". Has since been trained as a cleric of the Becoming God. 5. "Forest" - Currently goes by the name "Bronzewood". Blank Warforged activated and abandoned in the Eldeen Reaches. Was found and raised by Gatekeeper Druids. 6. "Hothouse" - Currently deceased. Warforged created and imprinted with the abilities of a lvl 2 fighter. Pre-existing memories conflicted with current existence. #6 took his own life by throwing himself into a vat of molten iron due to inability to cope with conflicting thoughts. 7. "Sleeper" - Currently goes by the name "Vigil." Warforged created and imprinted with the abilities of a lvl 2 fighter. Abilities were locked with a key word, given to Vigil's owner. Owner was instructed to only use the keywords when absolutely necessary. Slow introduction to abilities allowed #7 to grow into his imprinted abilities. Currently suffers from slight delusions of grandeur as he believes he learns faster than anyone else around him. 8. "Breeder" - Currently goes by the name "Arabesque." Female form Warforged created and imprinted with the abilities of a lvl 2 rogue. Abilities locked to situation "Existence in Danger." #8 has prototype "Micro-Creation Forge" installed in her torso, allowing her to create new warforged from the corpses of dead warforged. #8 was stolen from Laboratories and sold to Kemble ir' Tannim of Aundaire before monitoring crystal could be activated. Current whereabouts unknown. 9. "Mother" - Currently in planning stages. Female form Warforged with "Life Forge" installed in torso. Life Forge is to be Upgraded form of "Micro Creation Forge" installed in #8. Life Forge would allow #9 and another Warforged to donate some measure of their life forces to create a wholly new Warforged.
#9 AvonRekaes Jun 16, 2009 11:48:27	That is really cool. I'd love to have something like that pulled on me by a DM if I were playing a Warforged PC. (Like, have it revealed that the PC is actually GE-01 Control) And I think the knee-jerk reaction to "female" warforged is only cause usually it makes no sense. But you've obviously put a lot of thought behind it, and tying it into Merrix's almost creepy obsession with advancing the warforged "species" makes absolutely 100% perfect sense in the context of the setting.
#10 xi_mao Jun 16, 2009 15:41:47	Funny you should say that. Last night, in preparing for game I'm going to start, I had one of my players show interest in becoming a Warforged Artificer working for House Cannith and described his character as "Kind of Evil, but only because he's naive and does not understand why morality should control the rate and direction that magical technology advances". I pulled him on the side and offered him the position of GE-02. Still very glad to hear that there isn't a huge outcry against the idea of a Female Form Warforged. Thank you all for your time and once the campaign is underway I'll post a link to a Chronicle Blog for any interested.
#11 m4kitsu Jun 18, 2009 15:48:21	Still very glad to hear that there isn't a huge outcry against the idea of a Female Form Warforged. I'm fairly sure anybody's right to complain about that was revoked after Keith included one in the DD Trilogy.
#12 xi_mao Jun 18, 2009 16:41:55	I'm fairly sure anybody's right to complain about that was revoked after Keith included one in the DD Trilogy. hmm...That just means I need to pick up the DD trilogy. I've never been able to get my hands on that particular one...