Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 gladiusstormhand Dec 03, 2010 14:15:15	A couple of years ago I was playing a 3.5 adventure called Eberron With Giant Robots and started thinking about it again. I have a different take on it for 4e though. Anyway, here's the premise: The Su'lat Empire reached beyond Xen'drik, and knowledge tablets left behind taught the goblins how to use phlogiston, a fiery substance with a multitude of purpose, most of which are explosive. They've mastered phlogiston like the Zilargo gnomes mastered elemental binding. But that's not all that the goblins got from the fallen fire giants. In modern day Darguun, the goblins discovered a large cache of weapons and armor preserved in a long forgotten Su’lat enclave. The armor and weapons would not magically auto-resize to their small stature, so instead of letting them go to waste, they created and piloted mechanical/magical frames based on stolen warforged artifice to “wear” the armor and wield the weapons. The mechanical/magical frames combined with giant weapons and suits of armor became known as mecha suits. When the goblins first fielded mecha suits in 996 YK, the Darguun Empire suddenly became a very serious threat. It’s only a matter of time before they start throwing their weight around. For the last year, Cannith South has been scrambling to catch up and have retrofitted several warforged titans into directly controllable mounts, but they’re sluggish and woefully inadequate compared to the highly responsive and powerful mecha suit. So think Mecha Suit Darguun, but you’re not on the side with the mecha suits (yet).
#2 aeryk08 Dec 09, 2010 18:17:55	I think the main concern for a new technology like this to surface is protecting it.  Other than keeping enemy agents from stealing it, you also have to worry about someone on the inside selling the secrets to the highest bidder or someone infiltrating to do the same.  The gnomes have the Trust which have eyes everywhere to keep the secrets of elemental binding. So Volaar Draal would probably be the best choice for this since the Kech Volaar hold tightly to the secrets of Dhakaan.  And also since phlogiston was known to the ancient Dhakaani, the Kech Volaar would probably be the ones who kept this knowledge over the centuries.  They'd still need extra protection from the capital which they probably get in exchange for allowing the mecha to be used in combat. I would think these would be for Medium sized creatures since the Giants used elves as slaves, but changes could have been made over the centuries.  Having it so only goblins can pilot them is an interesting shift in power.  I can almost see goblin kamikaze-like pilots in these exploding on impact, but then that would get expensive.