Simply put, it's "What if the warforged revolted and slaughter humanity, except for the remnant that escaped on airships that could travel between planes?"
AKA: Fantasy Battlestar Galactica.
Some Assumptions I was working off of (but feel free to disregard)
One, all Five Nations and Dragonmarked Houses are represented on the Korvarian Remnant Fleet.
Two, only the House Cannith bigwigs got away.
Third, some numbers:
The way I’m seeing the population breakdown is something like
Each of the Five Nations: 13%.
That gives us 65%
Zil Gnomes 5%
House Cannith 7%
All other Houses: 2% each
BSG can be one of Breland's mobile fortress: Argonth or Dejarn along with civilian airships that form the fleet.
They are governed by military law (they may revert to be a Galiferian flagged army composed of remnants of all the five nations armies).
with The (new) Twelve as the civilian advisory/government composed of the heads of the dragonmarked houses.
The Cabinet of Faces (the changelings believed it was a way to facilitate change, Traveler style) stole a secret Cannith code from Merrix d’Cannith and gave it to the Lord of Blades. The code allowed LoBster to control all the warforged on the continent. That surprise attack along with a Mourning-like doomsday weapon unleashed on city centers devastated the nations in a matter of hours.
Ironically Merrix is the only Cannith survivor in the fleet and the biggest expert on Warforged matters. The Cabinet of Faces keep undermining the fleet from within while LoBster's forces hunt them across Khorvaire.
The admiral leading the fleet believes the fleet should seek to rebuild itself in a new far away land, rumored to be the original home of humanity called... Sarlona.
You just laid out the plans for what I'm going to do next, when my players are done with the current campaign
Now I just have to go get all of Battlestar Galactica and watch it. I know my players - geeks as they may be - haven't seen it.
Not quite as smart, but more fearsome in battle - these new Centaurians were sent-out on Voidjammers to find and eradicate the last of human-kind.
Oh... and a Centaurian looks like a Warforged Centaur. ;)
I'm biased...but I'd just HAVE to play a kalashtar inside the fleet.
but what about the rest of Khorvaire? I mean, you've got the gnomes
Gnomes which are not dead or in the fleet will move underground and co-exists with the Irvhir Kobolds (or war with them), Some will move to Aerenal and stay under the protection of the Undying Court.
but what about other races?
Talenta halflings will mount Soarwhales and join the fleet
Mror Holds dwarfs will closed up like NORAD/Cheyenne Mountain in TV series Jeremiah.
......
I'm biased...but I'd just HAVE to play a kalashtar inside the fleet.
You know... this fleet is heading to Sarlona?
Will they handout the Kalashtar in the fleet to the Inspired for some Riedra real-estate or maybe join Adar?
You know... this fleet is heading to Sarlona?
Will they handout the Kalashtar in the fleet to the Inspired for some Riedra real-estate or maybe join Adar?
Either option is possible. They might even instead send up a beacon to get the 'forged to come after them...then bail as the 'forged arrive at Sarlona to discover a thriving "human" empire awaiting its richly deserved mechanical eradication.
No matter the case...that would be part of the fun of playing a Kalashtar in the fleet. :D
To carry on the BSG parallel, perhaps the humanoid races will have to leave Eberron in order to avoid extinction, so they fly into Syberis, looking for a place to live across the 12 moons (as opposite to the 12 colonies in BSG
). Eventually their final destination might be the hidden 13th moon.
The warforged will be chasing them all the time of course, but perhaps as things happen there may be forced or spontanous alliances to face external threats.
Just need to be careful not to turn this too much into a Spelljammer campaign.
But yeah, the way I saw it was that it would allow me to experiment with some plane hopping, something I've never done before.
And the Idea is kickass.
Anyway, to actually contribute:
I'm thinking of running it in 4E, so I think I might work the mounts like this:
Give the players additional At-Wills, Encounters, and Dailies for their mounts.
Since I'm seeing this working in some manner where the PCs are riding on Dragonhawks, Gryphons, or Wyverns, you could have the Wyverns have an encounter Dragon's breath, or something.
You get the idea.
Yeah, it will require some tweaking, but I honestly think it'll be the simplest way to go.
Anyway, I think I decided that the Brelish armed forces just absorbed all the other nations forces. Which could lead to some interesting scenes where a Karnn is bossing around a Thrane and so forth.
The Civilian Goverment is a Council of each of the Five Nations.
The Noble houses are now the Much smaller Twelve.
Mix and let simmer for all kinds of Adventure Hooks.
What part would the Mark of Death have in this? ;)
Well, in BSG there is a certain 'harbinger of death' character, isn't it?
Maybe there is one in this fleet as well, someone who is manifesting the mark of death, and is going to be the one leading humanity to their final destination (the 13th moon - as he/she bears the 13th mark after all), which could mean salvation as well as doom... or a bit of both.
I'm liking more and more this idea of turning an Eberron campaign into a Syberis campaign. Perhaps I'll consider it myself for paragon or epic tier.
An important part of Eberron is the religions, so how would they operate in the Remnant fleet?
Soverign Host:
As is the world, so are the gods. As are the gods, so is the world.
But the world is gone. The planes are outside the world. Does this mean that the gods have forsaken them? What did they do wrong? Is their exile from the gods' embrace a punishment for the raging fires of war?
I'd say that most of the fleet would have their faith shaken by their flight from Eberron. Heck, can the gods even hear them out here in the void?
Dark Six:
As is the world, so are the gods. As are the gods, so is the world.
They might see a good number of converts, but really, they're in the same boat as the Soverign Host here.
Silver Flame:
Burn the corruption and taint of evil from all Eberron. Other gods have begun the creation, but it is the Silver Flame, by searing wickedness and darkness fom their imperfect world, that must complete it.
Well, I'm operating under the idea that no bigwigs got away. That means no pope. And no Cathedral of the Silver Flame.
They ain't in the greatest shape. I'd say that they Thranish are pretty ****** about all this. This might be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back. It might push them into paranoid inquisition, ruthlessly hunting through the fleet to find who caused the warforged rebellion.
Then, the most powerful of the inquisition seizes control of the fleet, purging the xeno, mutant, and heretical elements from the fleet, leading the pure humanity into a future of grim darkness. Then, after constructing a golden throne...
Um... where was I?
Anyway, the new election/search for the pope has verrrry interesting implications.
Blood of Vol:
Look not to the skies, nor the depths below, nor even the distant past or future. Seek the divine within, for the blood is the life, and in its call can be heard the promise of eternal life. One has but to listen.
The warforged were born without the curse of death. They should have been our allies against the sadistic gods. But they turned on us. Almost all of our brethren have been lost to Death's domain.
Actually, since they're all able to VISIT Death's domain, it might be interesting to see how they act when they see the
Of course, since BoV is a sham, the higher ups might still be in communicaion with Vol. While not pleased with the current developments, she probably would be one of the few non-warforged powers left in Eberron. Hell, Blood of Vol is could be one of the most powerful factions on the boat, period.
Druidism:
Not too many druids woulda made the boat. But, for those who did:
Ashbound:
Least likely to be on the magic boat shunting through the planes, but their attitude could be summed up in one sentence:
"I told you so."
Children of Winter
They would be interesting. It might be that this is the winter that has come to whittle away the weak. Hell, they might actually be a bit more cheerful and attempt to aid other suvivors, so that they'll be at their best to take back Eberron for the glorious summer.
Gatekeepers
I don't think that the gatekeepers would be thrilled with the idea of taking a joyride through the planes. OTHO, they have a large volume of Planar Lore that would need some sharing.
As long as they don't take a visit to Xoriat...
Greensingers
An average day in the life of the Greensingers has more planar hopping than most of the Five Nations combined. Easily most comfortable with the change.
Wardens of the Wood
They helped the people live with nature before, and the planes are part of nature. Easy.
Or not quite. Sure, you can tell yourself that, but it doesn't change the fact that fire as far as the eye can see doesn't make much sense to most people. And you can't really farm there. And helping with Fire Cow husbandry isn't something that the Wardens probably know too well. So, they're probably suffering from being used to helping people, but they're now completely out of their depth.
Anyway, my thoughts.
I like the idea of planar traveling, but I also think they should inhabit the twelve moons and the ring of Siberys.
Hell, warforged don't even dream. The Dreaming Dark is going to be feeling a little antsy with a whole continent of dreamless, immortal, fanatical killers in where the Five Nations (read: chumps) used to be. In fact, the Dreaming Dark might actuall be feeling a little niggling of fear worm its way into their planning. No giant egg monuments are going to be going up in LoB-tania anytime soon. Which means that the Kalthasar might actually be releved to get the news that the Five Nations are now ruled by a xenophobic military despot. They would be horrified when they heard of the slaughter, of course. They wouldn't plan anything like this... but, it does mean that they just have to chill in Adar and pratice the Path of Light and, sooner or later, the wheel of the age would turn and bring in a glorious Age of Light.
So, what is the DD going to do about it? Straight up war isn't the DD's style. It's too simple minded and crude. (Also, they're kinda scared they'd lose) But most of their tricks won't work on the Warforged. Straight up Mind Seeding would work, but dream possesion is a no-no. Tempting with promises of comfort and wealth would garner funny looks form the 'forged in question. No poltical plays, because there are no politics to play. It's a straight up military line of command. You listen to the people above you, and order the people below you.
Hm. That might be a bit too simple. Sure, everyone hates the meatbags and follows the LoB without question. However, there has to be some 'forged who think they're more capapible than the 'forged above them. It's not disloyalty; it's serving the LoB better!
Anyway, here's where my train of thought stops. I'm going to come back a bit later with other ideas probably.
And yeah, Hellcow, I'd really be thankful if you dropped your 2 cents in. I'm planning on running this when the next school year rolls around, so help would be apprecated.