Eberron: Shadows of Breland (Fantasy Noir)
mood music here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=149d5AK0tF0
This campaign can be described as a mixture of ES: Morrowind, Blade Runner, A Princess of Mars, Gor, Neil Gaiman's Stardust, and several noir films packed together in a 12th to mid-19th Century Fantasy context.
-- You have the Lightning Rail, which represents Victorian Steam Fantasy.
-- You have Sharn, which should evoke the landscape of the Cyberpunk/Future dystopian films of Bladerunner and Brazil.
-- The areas north of Wroat -- including Hatheril and territories close to the borders of Aundair, Thrane, and Cyre (the Mournland) regress back to the Middle Ages. And what is worse, there is a territorial dispute with Thrane along the northern shore of Lake Brey.
Some places in Breland have become unrecognizable. Thanks to the Last War, these areas have become so economically depressed that young mothers will sell themselves to make sure their kids are fed. Others are taking advantage of the situation, hoping to jump start the economy with strange new fashions: including clothes that have not been seen for over a thousand years; and some that are provocative. Like leather harnesses (E.R.B. Mars -- not bondage harnesses), silk camisks, kirtles, tunics, and diaphanous wraps. But people beg for food in the larger towns. Black, brown, grey are common colors of the poor classes in northern Breland. Although colors are coming back in the way of the middle classes. Elegance in fashion and design, however, is creeping back into Breland from Aundair, Karrnath, and Sharn. Many men buy elegant clothes for their new slaves, and harnesses -- which are skimpy -- are becoming incredibly fashionable in Breland's desert areas.
Plus, there is a spirit of adventure that is being fired into the hearts of most veterans as they wish to leave Khorvaire behind to explore the unexplored and dangerous territory of Xen'Drik. Then there are the Inspired.
The year is 998 Y.K.
The player characters themselves are Prisoners of War, captured during the Last War. According to the Treaty of Thronehold -- every soldier that is a prisoner of the war must be returned to the country and family of origin. Breland did this gradually over the last two years because the Crown had to devote more resources to rebuilding than to releasing prisoners. But the PCs are the last of the prisoners to be released from the Leaning Tower.
They are going to be released in war torn Hatheril, to be processed and to receive their papers of Repatriation, 50 gold with which to restart their lives, and a Letter of Transport Immunity to the country of their origin.
However, not all is well in Breland. The player characters might be asked not to return to Breland but, as non-entities, asked to do something which will require them to delve into a world of danger, excitement, and adventure of their own.
They will be asked to solve the burning question: Why did Breland lose the Last War?!
Now for some visuals.
Noir:
www.cross-cult.de/tl_files/projecttheme0... -novel/steam_noir/band_01/pic/Leseprobe_SteamNoir1_06.jpg
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Lightning Rail:
www.seacats.net/parlor/src/134965910738....
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browse.deviantart.com/art/Eberron-Rail-S...
Eberron in General:
browse.deviantart.com/art/Artificer-of-E...
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browse.deviantart.com/art/D-and-D-Eberro...
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fc01.deviantart.net/fs49/f/2009/236/1/9/... Wootten.jpg
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DEVIANT ART is currently one of the best places to go for Eberron themed fan art and Original Character art. Elfwood is probably the next place to go.
Is the burning question actually Why didn't Breland win the Last War - IE, why didn't it win the war before the Mourning forced the Treaty, and why did it suffer as much as it did? Or in your Eberron, are you casting Breland as having lost the war in a way Aundair, Thrane, or Karrnath didn't?
Just out of curiousity, you state the burning question as why did Breland lose the Last War, and focus on the impact the war has had on Breland. By core canon, Breland didn't LOSE the Last War; it simply didn't win it. The only nation that truly LOST was Cyre; the other nations settled with a negotiated truce. But it's not like Aundair won and Breland lost.
Is the burning question actually Why didn't Breland win the Last War - IE, why didn't it win the war before the Mourning forced the Treaty, and why did it suffer as much as it did? Or in your Eberron, are you casting Breland as having lost the war in a way Aundair, Thrane, or Karrnath didn't?
It's a campaign exploring the possibility that Breland went bankrupt over the course of the War, and the Aurum walked in and took control of Parliament because the Royal Brelish Exchequer was unable to pay it's war debts. The main enemy here happens to be the Aurum. The PCs get to find this out and decide if Breland stays in Bankruptcy, or they can save Breland by taking the Aurum out. Which is almost the entire leadership of House Kundarak, if I'm not mistaken; and several other wealthy Khorvaire families. It won't save Khorvaire from the Inspired, just an the Aurum. While the Lords of Dust and the Inspired still pull their strings, the Aurum can be taken out.
This doesn't mean that another secret society controling the Wealth of Khorvaire can't be reorganized, it just means that the PCs can choose to take out the Aurum. Although each player probably take away from this campaign what he believes about people controling the wealth of nations, I stated explicitly that the campaign deals with Sovereignty. Both personal and national. Is King Boranel ir'Wynarn the rightful Sovereign of the Land of Breland? Should he be ousted and a prime minister put in his place? Aren't every individual Brelish sovereign under the King?
"King Boranel doesn't like to talk about politics," 5 nations said. If a King doesn't like to talk about politics, then something happened. the Campaign is about that particular SOMETHING. Between you and me, the Aurum walked in to collect and Parliament couldn't pay so Breland's government was declared to be in Bankruptcy. After all, there's a noble in parliament trying to get rid of the monarchy and to replace it with a full democracy. That particular noble is in league with the Aurum, and the Aurum is the immediate threat in this campaign.
Going against an Illuminated group allows me to cast the campaign in obscurité. Besides, if the PCs fail when they find out, the Aurum might be able to put a man on the Throne in Thronehold when the time is right. Galifar will be ruled by the Dwarves in time if the PCs fail.
"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes her laws" Mayer Amschel Rothschild. A comparable Aurum quote would go something like this: "Give us control of a nation's money, and we do not care who makes the Law."
or they can save Breland by taking the Aurum out. Which is almost the entire leadership of House Kundarak, if I'm not mistaken...
Actually, by core canon, the Aurum was founded by other Mror clans who sought to counter the influence of Kundarak; the current leader of the Aurum is a member of the Soldorak clan, and in the Eye on Eberron piece on the Aurum, one of the hooks involves his attempt to humiliate Kundarak.
It doesn't particularly make much difference in this circumstance, but essentially Kundarak already has a long-established power base as part of the status quo; the Aurum is largely a "new money" alliance which seeks to rival and destabilize the power of the established nobility and houses alike.
Do you have a link to that Eye on Eberron piece? Do you have a link to that Eye on Eberron piece?
I meant to link to it in the post - added the link now (and here it is again). Not that there's anything wrong with merging Kundarak and the Aurum, if it strikes your fancy.
Do you have a link to that Eye on Eberron piece?
I meant to link to it in the post - added the link now (and here it is again). Not that there's anything wrong with merging Kundarak and the Aurum, if it strikes your fancy.
No, not really. I don't see House Kundarak trying to get rid of Boranel, Aurala, Kaius (good luck on the last one -- the Vampire King just fought for his divine right to rule one nation, he's not about to give it away), and the queen of Thrane. At the least, they are supporting the nobility of all nations so I don't see them making any grandiose plans to take over Khoravaire as of yet.
The Aurum is the group most likely trying to destabilize the nation and to establish a real parliamentary democracy. Not to say that the 12 houses are all full of godly saints, but . . .
The Aurum is the group most likely trying to destabilize the nation and to establish a real parliamentary democracy.
With a census-based understanding of democracy, of course. I wonder, has it even been said whether the Prime Minister, who is plotting his own Cromwellian career (minus the religious element), is a member of, or has connections in the Aurum? Exploring that would certainly be interesting. If not, the Aurum could still support him, then try to either control or get rid of him to replace him with a more suitable candidate.
As for the Houses, you could still use some of them as destabilising forces. Many of them would benefit from the War flaring up again. A faction in Deneith seeks to replace the nobility; the Paelion line of Phiarlan was eliminated for such an attempt (and the survivors may still follow that plan).
For the original idea, I believe it was stated somewhere in the canon sources that the nations mostly are bankrupt, having incurred heavy debts with House Kundarak in particular. If Kundarak decides to call in those loans, a crisis would break out, based on the years after the Treaty of Versailles in Germany (with Kundarak eventually moving in to take over Brelish businesses, factories, and so forth).
I like your idea that the Aurum could provide a way out - at the price you stated.
So you would be back to the idea that the PCs are placed before the dilemma of either causing a financial crisis or surrendering Breland to the Aurum, with the added possibility of finding a way to get Kundarak to back down or extend the grace period, or to find a way for Breland to make good on its debts, which might mean stealing the wealth from somewhere else.
Lastly: Unfortunately, the links in your visual thread don't work for me. The hyperlinks don't include the whole link, and copy-paste to the URL bar doesn't work either, because the forum software has abbreviated them and included "..." in the middle...
Basically, though, one of the best things about Fantasy is the amazing outfits people dream up (geeze, I know that sounds very shallow). Fantasy isn't just trees and swords, there's often the outfits that set the tone. When I saw the picture in Sharn:CoT where there was a diverse number of people in diverse outfits, I was a bit confused about what to do with Eberron. Everything seemed too exotic, it was like looking at a scene out of ST: DS9 -- a picture of a typical downtown in Sarlona emphasized the feeling (is this Eberron or is it Star Trek?). I needed a median which to state how people dressed in Breland, so I picked the Wheel of Time's fashions as the medium. They are recognizably fantastic with a touch of modernity.
The rest: the "Fetish" clothing, the 16th Century outfits, grew around that. I wanted the PCs to look great, but I also wanted something that didn't give the feeling of Star Trekkies with Swords. I decided that Sharn lived in a Fashion world of its own, keeping the Star Trek microcosm; and most of the Common Brelish followed Cyran fashion trends up until 997 Y.K. when Aundair stepped in to fill the void.
Now back to the theme of the Campaign:
"So you would be back to the idea that the PCs are placed before the dilemma of either causing a financial crisis or surrendering Breland to the Aurum, with the added possibility of finding a way to get Kundarak to back down or extend the grace period, or to find a way for Breland to make good on its debts, which might mean stealing the wealth from somewhere else."
The problem with the PCs taking out House Kundarak its like a group of people trying to take out the U.S. Banking Industry today (Politics: there's a strong feeling amongst Libertarians and Republicans that they blame the bankers for all the economic woes the U.S. is having -- and while some of it is deserved, a lot of emotional poison is being poured on the Banking Industry. Most real Libs think the problem would be solved by small government, but most conservatives I talk to want the Banking industry to, uhm, burn. I just want some justice on the banking industry until I saw how many lives would be affected, then I started to cry -- End Politics). If the PCs take down House Kundarak, the Aurum's dreams will be fulfilled and they would step in to fill the void.
I picked the Aurum as the group incuring all of Breland's debts, because the only other entity would be House Kundarak with the Mark of Warding. Eberron is probably the one published world in all of D&D-dom where a Player Character group can change the world for good or ill by simply just moving. While dms can throw the Emerald Claw at the PCs, others -- like myself -- figure that everything the PCs will do can be noticed by someone.
But stealing wealth from somewhere else -- there's room in Eberron for Daikaani Treasures undiscovered.
Probably enough to pay off debts to both Banking groups. 