I'm just curious as to if there is anything online that people have handy that I could read.
* An "unkillable" squad of Karrnathi undead spec ops that were never 'activated.'
* Same sitch as the first, but with warforged.
* Or you could pull a Nero - some Cyran soldiers were "frozen alive" due to a magic incident (again, maybe the Mourning) and now just want to destroy everything.
If you want some good, in-depth info for the Last War, I recommend 'The Forge of War' 3e supplement. Check out the 3e archives for Eberron articles.
I would love something that combines well with an abberant threat.
Karrnath was a recognised region of Galifar, and when civil war broke out the people sided with Kiaus, now King Kiaus the First of Karrnath. Who if you want to get technical was not the next in line for the throne of Galifar but darn it he was the most qualified to rule. Karrnath was also the region (now its own country) with the strongest military culture. Karrnath was home to Galifar's greatest military academies and produced its best soldiers, however conventional warfare was swept away in the face of Cyre and Aundair's arcane onslaughts.
Combined with a lack of natural resources, Karrnath is a northern country prone to long winters, a few bad years lead to mass starvation amongst the populous. The early years of the war did not go well for Karrnath, so Kiaus I turned to the Blood of Vol who had many rituals involving undeath. Through necromatic and alchemical means the Blood of Vol in conjunction with a new governmental agency the Ministry of the Dead were able to produce skeletons and zombies that are much tougher and also smarter than normal skeletons and zombies.
These Karrnathi undead as they're known curiously were required to be elite Karrnathi soldiers who died in battle for the process to work. Some people believe that it is the fighting spirit of Karrnath itself that animates them and allows them to retain their military training. So while they are better than standard soldiers, one tended to need to be better than a standard soldier in the first place (which is why they don't just start killing their own soldiers to 'make them better').
Culturally many Karrnathi are proud of the thought that if they fall against the enemy that their body will not go to waste. That being said few actively look forward to it, its like 'organ donation' or donating one's body to medical research that way. Many soldiers don't like to actually have to fight alongside the undead, so living and dead units remain largely segregated (except for the commanders).
This turned the tide of the war, allowing Karrnath to stand against Aundair's wizardry, Cyre's artificers, and Thrane's religious zealotry.
That was probably way more than you needed.
But thinking about the kind of campaign, theme and story I want to run while it's excellent stuff; it doesn't fit what I want to do. But it is interesting and something I'm going to bear in mind.
Daelkyr (CR20 aberrant monster that just like to see the world burn)
Cults of the Dragon Below (evil religious groups that revere/work for aberrations, devils, demons, rakshasas or rajah overlords)
Symbionts (living item-creatures that attaches itself to the body, related to the Daelkyr) (maybe this is why an npc survived the Mourning, however, he surrendered his will to the symbionts)
Mordain the Fleshweaver (a powerful mad wizard that creates aberration of his own and other things, lives in Droaam)
Rust Monster (:P) the Rust Monster could have eaten before your eyes the relic your PCs seeked and fled, now you have to chase the rust monster for the residuum, but it leads you into the lair of its master [insert stronger aberration of your choice]
Rekko
But I don't see it fitting well with what I want to do without some major gymnastics. On the other hand, I've been getting some good ideas to start writing new antagonists into the game anyway from reading the last war. So not all is lost.
Although it might turn into a "lol horrible thing comes out of the mournland" type plot, which I was admittedly trying to avoid. But I'm just not familiar enough with Eberron to really write something more interesting in if I want to run a game when the EPG comes out.
My enthusiasm for a certain other setting has horribly waned over the past year and I am going to be moving to Eberron games with the release of this book. Everything I've been reading about it is getting me very keen to run it, especially with how many of 4Es concepts I feel will fit in well with Eberron in particular. I'm keen to find a place online I could learn about the last war, I'm intending on running a campaign where the antagonists are "Relics" lost from the last war. They get more or less dug up (I haven't thought this through 100%, I don't have the books yet) and then resume where they left off (incapable of realising the war has long since ended).
I'm just curious as to if there is anything online that people have handy that I could read.
I think there will be a new villain in the Campaign Book. He will be a magebred human which means he was magically enchanced by a Dragonmarked House. Think of Khan from the Star Trek shows. He (and hopefully others like him) were probably created to compete with House Cannith's warforged.
I am at a loss at want you want though. Perhaps that is because I am dealing with the flu.
. Anyway here is an idea. Foulspawn from the Mournlands are working with a batch of warforged that were never "started up". They found them in an old abandoned Cannith facility. The foulspawn are people and or soldiers from Cyre who survived the Day of Mourning by living in an underground bunker of some sort. This bunker was severely close to a Sealed Portal that held Xoriat (Far Realm/Plane of Madness) at bay. They got warped and now want to use the warforged to start up the war again. They now have access to all forms of warforged and some new "doomsday device".I know that there will be other organizations in the ECG which hits the shelves in two months, maybe one of them could be your missing link.
Well, obviously, if you are looking to start your campaign on some relic of the Last War, you either have a political or economical (dragonmarked houses) plot going on. An easy link between political/dragonmarked houses and aberration is House Vadalis.
House Vadalis is a Dragonmarked House with the Mark of Handling that makes its business in breeding the best animals in all Khorvaire. With specific mixing, they successfully created the magebred animals which are faster, stronger, more inteligent than normal animals. (magebred was a template back in 3.5 that created magical beast)
However, with the Last War going on, House Vadalis secretly schemed at creating a Magebred Human, the legendary super soldier. Based in the Eldeen Reaches and Aundair, where manifest zones to Thelanis (Feywild-like plane where time flows faster) are abundant, they send a group of people with selected characteristics to the plane with their magebred breeders.
However, breeding humans isn't the same as breeding animals, and there are others in the world that already tried, Mordain and the Daelkyr. So maybe, House Vadalis stole some researches from Mordain, or maybe they made a pact with the Daelkyr. Either way, the super soldiers came back from Thelanis and fought in the Last War. But they were born to fight, and now that the war is over, they cause a fair amount of trouble and people are coming suspicious of House Vadalis. So maybe they sent the Magebred Humans to the Karrnath/Valenar fronts where the war continues, maybe they sent them in Droaam in Gladiator rings, maybe they sent them in the Mournland hoping they'll get killed, maybe they sent them back to Thelanis, or even Shavaraat (plane of ongoing war).
So your PC could cross one of these super-soldier, notice that they aren't truely human, and start an investigation that leads them to House Vadalis making a pact with the Daelkyr, a colony of magebred humans causing troubles in Thelanis and some fey start to pour onto Khorvaire and cause troubles of their own, etc, etc.
Rekko
[EDIT] ...ninja'd
Is your warforged antagonist the Lord of Blades?
Bearing in mind that means absolutely nothing to me as I haven't a clue who he is.
I know that there will be other organizations in the ECG which hits the shelves in two months, maybe one of them could be your missing link.
Which somewhat annoys me, because the ECG coming out second means I'll have lots of people wanting to play but no way of really writing an effective campaign until I get it!
But I am hoping for such a thing.
However, with the Last War going on, House Vadalis secretly schemed at creating a Magebred Human, the legendary super soldier. Based in the Eldeen Reaches and Aundair, where manifest zones to Thelanis (Feywild-like plane where time flows faster) are abundant, they send a group of people with selected characteristics to the plane with their magebred breeders.
Rauric mentioned this idea above and it is interesting, but it's not so much what I am going for. On the other hand, this idea sustains a campaign by itself actually and so I'll probably start playing around with the concept.
I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to really fit in things I want with the Last War at the moment. Warforged were introduced rather late in the war and they didn't really have the ability to make sentient golems or similar early enough in the war for my plot to even work. So I'm probably going to completely abandon it at this rate and work on another idea (of which I have several).
I am at a loss at want you want though. Perhaps that is because I am dealing with the flu. . Anyway here is an idea. Foulspawn from the Mournlands are working with a batch of warforged that were never "started up". They found them in an old abandoned Cannith facility. The foulspawn are people and or soldiers from Cyre who survived the Day of Mourning by living in an underground bunker of some sort. This bunker was severely close to a Sealed Portal that held Xoriat (Far Realm/Plane of Madness) at bay. They got warped and now want to use the warforged to start up the war again. They now have access to all forms of warforged and some new "doomsday device".
What about the portal becoming unsealed and something horrific snaking its way through? Could it theoretically corrupt a group of warforged giving them somewhat unusual abilities (specifically, the ability to turn a persons blood into mercury and their flesh warped into a form of flesh like steel?). I'm asking this as I have zero idea how malleable warforged are to being corrupted by far realm influences.
This does though sort of go back to the "gibbering thing escaping from the mournlands plot". But then again, who cares if it isn't exactly the most imaginative thing I could make if the players have fun? :P
So, yes, Xoriat could twist some warforged in the way you want. Xoriat is sort of the Far Realm of Eberron)
The Lord of Blades is a Warforged that hates the fleshbag humans. He is the leader of the growing warforged colony found in the Mournland.
As for warforged history, the warforged were given sentience 33 years ago. However, the project of creating a perfect machine soldier was much more older than that. I recall that Warforged Titans were used quite early in the war. Warforged Titans aren't living constructs, they are pure no sentience constructs. You can find them in MM2. There is even a trace of Warforged existence dating back to the Age of Giant and the Quori invasion. Some say that House Cannith (warforged inventors) stole the designs from the ruins of Xen'drik.
Maybe you could hint us more of your idea so we could help better.
Rekko
The idea of course is to provide a threat that leads back to a Cthulhu-esque Eldar God type creature. The Warforged itself is still in a sense fighting the Last-war, believing it to have had a divine revelation from its God (the creature that made it this way from its time in Xoriat) to cleanse all life from the world (or more appropriately, spread its abberant taint). Anyone who stands in its way it brutally murders and the willing or stupid are "Metallicized*".
It builds up from interacting with cults that have sprung up around the creatures various rampages (as they can spread the taint like a disease as well, though not as efficiently) to full on engagements with the creature. I'm just unsure as to where to start such a campaign and again, I'm really keen on quite deliberately avoiding the Mournlands.
*Noting of course the original term is in reference to circuits and not literally turning a persons body into metal.
What about the portal becoming unsealed and something horrific snaking its way through? Could it theoretically corrupt a group of warforged giving them somewhat unusual abilities (specifically, the ability to turn a persons blood into mercury and their flesh warped into a form of flesh like steel?). I'm asking this as I have zero idea how malleable warforged are to being corrupted by far realm influences.
This does though sort of go back to the "gibbering thing escaping from the mournlands plot". But then again, who cares if it isn't exactly the most imaginative thing I could make if the players have fun? :P
"Original" campaigns do not exist, every story and idea has been done to death already. So go with fun. Always go with fun.
So I would make the nasty thing in the seal a daelkyr (nasty godlike invader from Xoriat). If the things we are telling you make no sense go check out the stickied info on the EB forums. Google daelkyr, The Lord of Baldes and you will get some info on them. You can easily run a game set in EB before the campaign book arrive. Have the pcs do some quick mini adventures that send them against some aberration like enemies. EB can fit a "traditional fanatasy" setting if you wish it, it can be about politics, chuthulu-stuff, and pirate adventures pirate adventures as well.
The daelkyr were the leaders of the invasion from Xoriat into Eberron. They live to invade planets in the "Prime" and destroying them. The daelkyr should not be released (IMO) until the end of the campaign. It it the BBEG and if it is loose then the game takes a different twist. It is like chuthulu, you cannot kill it but have to stop the cultists (or whoever) before they release the thing. Restarting a War may be just what the thing needs to escape.
Just remember that a War that lasted 100 years just ended and people need papers to cross most borders on the Khorvaire continent. Plus look up some info on the net about the setting. You will be able to run a game until July comes I am sure of it.
There are a couple approaches you could take with that concept.
* An "unkillable" squad of Karrnathi undead spec ops that were never 'activated.'
* Same sitch as the first, but with warforged.
* Or you could pull a Nero - some Cyran soldiers were "frozen alive" due to a magic incident (again, maybe the Mourning) and now just want to destroy everything.
If you want some good, in-depth info for the Last War, I recommend 'The Forge of War' 3e supplement. Check out the 3e archives for Eberron articles.
It's mentioned in the 3.5 ECS that while King Kaius has publicly downplayed the use of undead troops and tried to move them from the spotlight, he secretly maintains hordes of them while covertly adding to their numbers. It's also suggested that many of his underlings believe him to be weak and some in charge of the undead stockpiles are getting a little overzealous in their "recruitment efforts".
If anyone has a massive Warforged Army, it'd be the Lord of Blades.
I really like the last one.