Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 leliel Sep 09, 2009 22:33:11	Well, for an upcoming game-basically, a mecha anime in Eberron-the PCs will be using a lot of technology-and, if I have enough inspiration, will be creating-culled from the relics of the Ruestli a pre-Riedra Sarlonan empire that existed from around the Age of Giants to the height of the Dhakaani empire (Yes. They lived that long). The interesting thing about their technology is that it was actually alive-everything in their nation was built on the backs of specialized beasts that served as machines and livestock, created by the science of life-shaping. Essentially, a reverse-engineered form of daelkyr flesh-warping. Despite what the phrase "daelkyr flesh-warping" implies, they weren't an evil or insane culture at all, and in fact came pretty close to utopia in their prime. The way they learned the basics of the Xoriat...art...was that they sprang a trap on a daelkyr during a failed planar invasion and forced him to tell them before chucking him unceremoniously back to the Far Realm. It wasn't even aberrations that led to their demise: The power to play god went to their heads, and led to the creation of an actual deity during a civil war. You can guess how that went. The bizarre half-planar nature of Sarlona is due to the fallout of the weapon they had to use to defeat him. The thing is, I want the PCs to explore the remaining remnants of the Ruestli civilization (most of them were destroyed by the survivors, so as to prevent the repetition of their mistakes-although the BBEG differed on that point, which is why the PCs even know the Ruestli existed), and I want to show just what kind of a society they were. How they fought, how they lived...you know, their daily lives from an archeologist's perspective. So, ideas? And no, they didn't evolve into Deep Ones. Stop thinking of that writer and his attitudes towards mixed races and fish.
#2 angelus_obscura Sep 09, 2009 23:24:08	IMHO, I think going about the daelkyrish pseudo-fleshwarping ancient civilization is a bit too forced. Instead of having these pre-Riedrans capture and study a daelkyr, just have them use magics that grow and shape organic matter itself. Like the Yuzhan Vong from Star Wars or the Wraith from Stargate Atlantis. The idea of Sarlona is that it is a completely exotic place, including their relationships with other planes. Khorvaire had Xoriat, Xen'drik had Dal Qor, Argonessen has dragons. Maybe before the sorcerer-kings carved out city-states and empires, there were pseudo-psionic mystics who used organic crystal tech. Almost like coral. They were completely abhorrent towards arcane magic, which led to forgetting about it and the eventual rise of the fiendish sorcerer-kings. Just my thoughts on the matter.
#3 Veritatis Sep 10, 2009 14:34:30	(I couldn´t help it, that sounded so Phyrexian/Thran... or Simic Combine... sorry, I love MtG storyline) Establishing that lost empire in Xen´drik would help explain the warforged components ocasionally found in that continent. Daelkyr influence or "inspiration" could come from the invasion the giants repelled once.
#4 renteria Sep 10, 2009 15:43:14	If you can find it, the old Dark Sun supplement Wind Riders of the Jagged Cliffs might give you oodles of good ideas, the society can be reflavoured however you want naturally, but it has a lot of cool stuff in terms of organic engineering
#5 leliel Sep 11, 2009 21:50:51	(I couldn´t help it, that sounded so Phyrexian/Thran... or Simic Combine... sorry, I love MtG storyline) Establishing that lost empire in Xen´drik would help explain the warforged components ocasionally found in that continent. Daelkyr influence or "inspiration" could come from the invasion the giants repelled once. Which makes sense, given that was where the aforementioned BBEG stuffed most of the relics under his control-he wanted it to be secluded from Sarlona, and there was never much of a Ruestli presence there. I don't know the lore about "daelkyr inspiration of warforged components" though-could you explain it?
#6 Veritatis Sep 15, 2009 11:11:26	I don't know the lore about "daelkyr inspiration of warforged components" though-could you explain it? I just wanted to mean that facing the daelkyr and its bizarre symbionts could have inspired the construction of warforged and its components.
#7 rekko Sep 16, 2009 8:01:06	House Vadalis could trace their lineage all the way back to those humans that once had the talent over nature. They might want to retrieve some old secrets along with daelkyr magic. Also, maybe the Lycanthrope 'Curse' somehow comes from one of their transmutation gone wrong. And the Werepeople fled to the Tundra where planar chaos toss them in the Eldeen Reaches, thus explaining Lycanthropes and Shifters on Khorvaire. Do you have examples of such organic technology? Rekko
#8 leliel Sep 17, 2009 16:19:34	Do you have examples of such organic technology? Rekko Why...yes.   Remember what I said about "mecha anime in Eberron"? Well, the particular mecha in that campaign-Spirit Knights-are their invention. While they're more usually defined as "living suits of armor", they resemble armored praying mantises more than anything else, and posses Super Robot traits-aerial capabilities, growing with their pilots, and sapience. That last bit is what's going to trouble the PCs-the Knights are practically required to be intelligent due to the complexity of their systems, and to be frank, it's a very alien and independent mind that they have. While they love their pilots as masters and friends, they also wish a return to the Ruestli empire. Since they can't and won't take over the world, they slowly inundate their pilots with life-shaping compounds to give them the Ruestli general appearance and genetic phenotype. That wouldn't be so bad, except the Ruestli had a pretty otherworldly idea of fashion-they habitually life-shaped their own bodies to give themselves a ghostly appearance, and shaped tattooed runes of raised skin detailing their virtues and past-the belief was that this made them closer to the gods as they began to look like them. If you want a picture for comparison, go look up an Ori Prior from Stargate. Yeah...it wasn't ugly by today's standards, but it certainly didn't look normal either. Other than that, they regularly used bacterial colonies in the construction of inorganic items-usually buildings or armor for softer creatures (organic material is not the strongest in the cosmos, and it cost resources to make it harder while still remaining viable for a life-form)-as well as vats for experimentation. While most of the docile food creatures are gone now, eaten by the bigger construction creatures and defender hives, those are still around. The construction creatures-usually giant turtles with various tools on their backs and giant wasps) exist in symbiosis with the defender hives (not always bugs, but certainly the majority-including spiders), the former building various bases for the hives and the latter defending the constructors from the various monsters of Khyber (the Ruestli lost interest in the surface world when they discovered that Khyber dragonshards had extremely benefical effects on their technology-not to mention it wasn't as dangerous, given that the daelkyr had yet to mount the invasion of Dhakaan and were sealed down there). They also have a natural resistance to corruption by the Lords of Dust and daelkyr, due to their already aberrant biology. EDIT: And before you ask: No, the process of creating a Ruestli look-alike doesn't change the race of the pilot, and no, they really don't have any idea what to do with warforged.
#9 sydonai Sep 18, 2009 21:02:24	THIS!SOUNDS!AWESOME! Could you be a bit more descriptive about the "Living Amour".  It's appearance, if there are any differances between individual examples, how they "grow", ect.
#10 leliel Sep 20, 2009 22:54:59	THIS!SOUNDS!AWESOME! Could you be a bit more descriptive about the "Living Amour".  It's appearance, if there are any differances between individual examples, how they "grow", ect. Like I said, armored praying mantis. On a more detailed note, they use metallic and stone plates to defend themselves, if the force field (read here: Reflex save) doesn't stop the attack. They a more humanoid version of mantises, with a definite musculature and hands. They still can't be mistook for actually humanoid bio-robots (and that term is correct) from a mile away, given that they still have the thorax, head, and body structure of mantodeiods.  They sync with their pilots by initially life-shaping a biological implant that resembles wiring in the top of their particular pilot's spine, resulting in a distinctive look that the Ruestli called the "chains of freedom", because it vaguely resembles chains weaving in and out of the neck, but it also means the pilots get to fly-not much more free than that. Once inside the cockpit-or more properly, the "navigator's amnion"-the Knight floods the pilot in a hyper-oxygenated clear fluid, allowing their egos to partially merge with the pilots' in a low-level hive mind (and yes, I know where I stole that idea from). This also enables communication between pilots and ground control. They communicate their memories and battle experience to their pilots, allowing both to gain experience-the character levels, basically. As both grow together, the Knight mutates itself to be ideal to it's pilot-a Knight with a Fighter pilot will develop natural weapons, for example, and one with a Wizard pilot will grow organs that replicate the effects of magical implements. This doesn't preclude the PCs from customizing their mecha-indeed, the "big thing" I plan for this system is weapon customization-but the Knights, as noted, are independent and intelligent. Personality-wise, the Knights are initially quiet and non-intrusive (to disguise their sapience), but as they learn to trust their companions, they gradually reveal a strong and proud personality that doesn't communicate in words, but general emotions. A pilot with an upset Knight will feel depressed, a pilot with an angry one will feel heated and paranoid, and one with a happy Knight will feel a profound sense of contentment. Over time, it becomes obvious where these emotions are from, and the Knights understand language, so it's possible to tell them to turn it down (just not for long-Spirit Knights hate being silent for more than short periods at a time).
#11 sydonai Sep 23, 2009 12:09:58	Sounds like a mix of Evangelion and Guyver.
#12 leliel Sep 28, 2009 11:10:18	Sounds like a mix of Evangelion and Guyver. How did you guess? Well, actually I stole it from CthulhuTech's Engels, but those are Evangelion ripoffs, so meh.
#13 sydonai Sep 29, 2009 16:05:24	Don't forget that the Tagers are basicaly toned down Guyver units. (and plus:Dohanoids=Zoanoids    They even sound similar)
#14 sydonai Sep 29, 2009 16:07:55	And now that I think about it, the Quoa'ri "Inspired" sound similar to them to, maybe you could make them related somehow.
#15 leliel Sep 29, 2009 23:39:32	Well, actually I had already imagined they were.   Not directly, mind you, but after the quori began the Sundering, they remembered the knowledge they gleamed from the Ruestli and basically said "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and used Ruestlian genetics to create a blueprint for the Inspired and Riedran culture.