Dream monolith in Q'barra - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Dream monolith in Q'barra

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
skrapsan
Mar 22, 2009 5:26:18 OK so in my campaign the Dreaming Dark is building a dram monolith. For now it's just a curiosity that runs in the background. But sooner or later my players are going to be interested. So I was thinking, what kind of dreams do you think it would transmit to an "open" minded person? I want it to be something that sees the inspired as some sort of heroes and other bad things coming from the rest of Khorvaire.

In my campaign I see the inspired planning on sowing confusion and despair and hopefully starting up the second war with one hand. And then coming in from over seas and looking like the heroes in shining armour laying entire nations willingly under their rule. So the dreams should have some link to this...

But what I need the most is ideas for concrete (spelling?) dreams.
#2
JohnLynch
Mar 22, 2009 6:43:22 If you don't mind a derail....

What's a dream monolith? Any ideas on how the original Q'uori might have used it in the war against the giants?
#3
Nived
Mar 22, 2009 9:57:09 The monoliths are massive eldritch (psonic) machines that the inspired have built all over Sarlona. Placement of the monoliths doesn't follow any decipherable pattern. There might be one in a city and several standing in a prairie with nothing for hundreds of miles around.

The purpose of these monoliths, like so many things in Eberron, remains largely a mystery. Perhaps the turning of the age in Dal Quor can be halted if enough are built at certain locations across Eberron. Possibly they were built to keep the population of Reidra docile. It could be argued that these monolith serve as anchors and with each one built Dal Quor is drawn ever closer, eventually the walls of reality will be torn asunder unleashing a nightmare orgy of carnage upon the face of Eberron.

No one knows but the inspired and they aren't likely to tell you. We do know that in Keith's trilogy The Dreaming Dark Daine and Co. were able to make a metaphysical pilgrimage (they lucid dreamed, their bodies remained on Eberron) to Dal Quor to throw a monkey wrench into an invasion plot by sleeping at the base of one. One would have to think that was not the main purpose of the monoliths, I mean why built them in remote regions if it was.

As for the monoliths and the Giant Quori War, I can only think of one instance that implies they existed back then. A short story in the anthology Tales of the Last War, wherein a couple of warforged stumble upon one underwater just off the coast of Xen'drik. It was guarded by an insane giant who thought the warforged were tools of the quori (specificially he babbled something about their greatest creative ideas being stolen from the giants as they slept), in the end they escape though its implied the two have been possessed by alien creatures, ancient quori maybe?

BUT I DIGRESS back to the OP's post. (sorry for getting so off track).

I would think that the early dreams shouldn't include the Reidran cavalry. That should be once the dreams have sown dispair paranoia and depression. Once people feel that there is no hope... give them hope.

So lets say that a good number of people have met people from other nations since the end of the last war (no one said they had to like them just have met them). They start having dreams where they're on a field of battle fighting said opposing nation... they fall in battle, and as they look up at the face of their killer its said person they've met from another nation.

For most this just reinforces distrust, for those who've actually managed to form relationships with people from other nations it will plant a seed of paranoia that their new friend 'can't be trusted'.

Dreams of horrible torture being inflicted upon them by the other side in a conflict. Aundairians dream of Thranes torturing them and eventually burning them at the stake, Thranes dream of the Karrns turning them into the living dead and unleashing them upon their families, Reachers dream of Aundarians causing massive inescapable forest fires with their arcane fires. Darguun dream of being walked over and their heritage stolen by the Brels. So on and so forth.

Paranoia and fear, that is the goal of these dreams. Then you move onto more abstract things.

In the dream you walk through a nightmarish hellscape combining the worst aspects of the Demon Wastes and the Mournland... Bodies lay broken, twisted, and torn apart as far as the eye can see. The dreamer walks along this hellscape, seeing the faces of loved ones on the corpses, it begins with those they've lost in the Last War, then moves into those that 'escaped' the Last War. As the dreamer walks on they see faces they don't know, but are none the less familiar, in the ways of dream logic they know that these are their sons, and daughters, grandchildren, great grandchildren, all ravaged by the horrors of war. Eventually the dreamer tops a rise in the hellscape and looks down upon some monument of their home country (Flamekeep, the railstation in Passage, whatever means something to them, this is the Statue of Liberty Planet of the Apes moment) the monument is of course shattered and made a part of the hellscape. The dreamer knows, the way that one does in a dream, that the whole world is like this, that the war is finally over... because there is nothing left, everyone and everything has died.

This dream is meant to sow despair, to prepare them to accept the Inspired as their only hope for continued existence.

The dreamer continues to return to this blighted ruined landscape of despair again and again in their dreams, finally something changes. They see a light on the horizon. The dreamer gives chase, but never seems to get any closer. Night after night they chase this light all across the twisted nothing that Khorvaire has become, coming finally to the sea, they still give chase, swimming night after night in their minds chasing this light... finally they make it, to the shores of Sarlona. Sarlona has been spared the destruction that has shattered Khorvaire, it is vibrant, lush, full of life. The dreamer walks through this paradise to a Riedran city, full of life, and happy people. Finally they find the light, coming from a man, one of the Inspired.

In the dream the Inspired welcome the dreamer and asks for their tale, the dreamer tells the story of the Second War and the destruction of Khorvaire.

"Your have suffered much, and I am sorry. We saw your plight, but could not help," The inspired tells the dreamer.
"Why not?" The dreamer demands.
"Because we were not asked."

After all this there will be people from every nation begging Riedra for help.
#4
skrapsan
Mar 22, 2009 15:56:47 Thanks Nivided, as always you answers are twisted insane and genius. Well maybe not always, but most of the time at least ^.^
#5
JohnLynch
Mar 23, 2009 8:29:50 Hey, thanks for the info. Sorry for the derailment ;)

Although I certainly like your suggestions for the dreams.
#6
Nived
Mar 23, 2009 15:56:37 Well thank you, especially for reading though my rambling thoughts that use six words (most of which are unnecessary adjectives) when one would be sufficient. Brevity is not my strong suit.

Still I'd like to see someone else take a swing at some foreboding dreams leading up to a heavy inspired push into Khorvaire.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 skrapsan Mar 22, 2009 5:26:18	OK so in my campaign the Dreaming Dark is building a dram monolith. For now it's just a curiosity that runs in the background. But sooner or later my players are going to be interested. So I was thinking, what kind of dreams do you think it would transmit to an "open" minded person? I want it to be something that sees the inspired as some sort of heroes and other bad things coming from the rest of Khorvaire. In my campaign I see the inspired planning on sowing confusion and despair and hopefully starting up the second war with one hand. And then coming in from over seas and looking like the heroes in shining armour laying entire nations willingly under their rule. So the dreams should have some link to this... But what I need the most is ideas for concrete (spelling?) dreams.
#2 JohnLynch Mar 22, 2009 6:43:22	If you don't mind a derail.... What's a dream monolith? Any ideas on how the original Q'uori might have used it in the war against the giants?
#3 Nived Mar 22, 2009 9:57:09	The monoliths are massive eldritch (psonic) machines that the inspired have built all over Sarlona. Placement of the monoliths doesn't follow any decipherable pattern. There might be one in a city and several standing in a prairie with nothing for hundreds of miles around. The purpose of these monoliths, like so many things in Eberron, remains largely a mystery. Perhaps the turning of the age in Dal Quor can be halted if enough are built at certain locations across Eberron. Possibly they were built to keep the population of Reidra docile. It could be argued that these monolith serve as anchors and with each one built Dal Quor is drawn ever closer, eventually the walls of reality will be torn asunder unleashing a nightmare orgy of carnage upon the face of Eberron. No one knows but the inspired and they aren't likely to tell you. We do know that in Keith's trilogy The Dreaming Dark Daine and Co. were able to make a metaphysical pilgrimage (they lucid dreamed, their bodies remained on Eberron) to Dal Quor to throw a monkey wrench into an invasion plot by sleeping at the base of one. One would have to think that was not the main purpose of the monoliths, I mean why built them in remote regions if it was. As for the monoliths and the Giant Quori War, I can only think of one instance that implies they existed back then. A short story in the anthology Tales of the Last War, wherein a couple of warforged stumble upon one underwater just off the coast of Xen'drik. It was guarded by an insane giant who thought the warforged were tools of the quori (specificially he babbled something about their greatest creative ideas being stolen from the giants as they slept), in the end they escape though its implied the two have been possessed by alien creatures, ancient quori maybe? BUT I DIGRESS back to the OP's post. (sorry for getting so off track). I would think that the early dreams shouldn't include the Reidran cavalry. That should be once the dreams have sown dispair paranoia and depression. Once people feel that there is no hope... give them hope. So lets say that a good number of people have met people from other nations since the end of the last war (no one said they had to like them just have met them). They start having dreams where they're on a field of battle fighting said opposing nation... they fall in battle, and as they look up at the face of their killer its said person they've met from another nation. For most this just reinforces distrust, for those who've actually managed to form relationships with people from other nations it will plant a seed of paranoia that their new friend 'can't be trusted'. Dreams of horrible torture being inflicted upon them by the other side in a conflict. Aundairians dream of Thranes torturing them and eventually burning them at the stake, Thranes dream of the Karrns turning them into the living dead and unleashing them upon their families, Reachers dream of Aundarians causing massive inescapable forest fires with their arcane fires. Darguun dream of being walked over and their heritage stolen by the Brels. So on and so forth. Paranoia and fear, that is the goal of these dreams. Then you move onto more abstract things. In the dream you walk through a nightmarish hellscape combining the worst aspects of the Demon Wastes and the Mournland... Bodies lay broken, twisted, and torn apart as far as the eye can see. The dreamer walks along this hellscape, seeing the faces of loved ones on the corpses, it begins with those they've lost in the Last War, then moves into those that 'escaped' the Last War. As the dreamer walks on they see faces they don't know, but are none the less familiar, in the ways of dream logic they know that these are their sons, and daughters, grandchildren, great grandchildren, all ravaged by the horrors of war. Eventually the dreamer tops a rise in the hellscape and looks down upon some monument of their home country (Flamekeep, the railstation in Passage, whatever means something to them, this is the Statue of Liberty Planet of the Apes moment) the monument is of course shattered and made a part of the hellscape. The dreamer knows, the way that one does in a dream, that the whole world is like this, that the war is finally over... because there is nothing left, everyone and everything has died. This dream is meant to sow despair, to prepare them to accept the Inspired as their only hope for continued existence. The dreamer continues to return to this blighted ruined landscape of despair again and again in their dreams, finally something changes. They see a light on the horizon. The dreamer gives chase, but never seems to get any closer. Night after night they chase this light all across the twisted nothing that Khorvaire has become, coming finally to the sea, they still give chase, swimming night after night in their minds chasing this light... finally they make it, to the shores of Sarlona. Sarlona has been spared the destruction that has shattered Khorvaire, it is vibrant, lush, full of life. The dreamer walks through this paradise to a Riedran city, full of life, and happy people. Finally they find the light, coming from a man, one of the Inspired. In the dream the Inspired welcome the dreamer and asks for their tale, the dreamer tells the story of the Second War and the destruction of Khorvaire. "Your have suffered much, and I am sorry. We saw your plight, but could not help," The inspired tells the dreamer. "Why not?" The dreamer demands. "Because we were not asked." After all this there will be people from every nation begging Riedra for help.
#4 skrapsan Mar 22, 2009 15:56:47	Thanks Nivided, as always you answers are twisted insane and genius. Well maybe not always, but most of the time at least ^.^
#5 JohnLynch Mar 23, 2009 8:29:50	Hey, thanks for the info. Sorry for the derailment ;) Although I certainly like your suggestions for the dreams.
#6 Nived Mar 23, 2009 15:56:37	Well thank you, especially for reading though my rambling thoughts that use six words (most of which are unnecessary adjectives) when one would be sufficient. Brevity is not my strong suit. Still I'd like to see someone else take a swing at some foreboding dreams leading up to a heavy inspired push into Khorvaire.