But who is the Lord of Blades? History tells of the warforged Bulwark, an outstanding servant
of King Boranel of Breland, who was thought to have influenced that king’s thinking in the matter of
providing freedom to the warforged after the Last War. Once the Treaty of Thronehold was signed,
Bulwark headed east and was never seen again. Not long afterward, stories of the Lord of Blades
began to circulate. Many warforged (and others) believe that the two are one and the same. This is
but one of the many origin stories told about the Lord of Blades, however.
The theory of Bulwark as the Lord of Blades is supported by little more than rumor. Indeed,
Bulwark has been the origin of several cults. Some warforged revere Bulwark as the liberator of their
people, giving him the sort of respect normally reserved for gods, and they pledge their lives to his
service. As he departed soon after they were freed, these loyalists were left to choose between
remaining in their old lands and following their savior into the east. Those who stayed behind have
cultivated small areas of worship and ready the warforged populace for his return. They call
themselves the Preparers of the Way, and peacefully integrate themselves into whatever larger
society exists around them. Others, known as the Converts, abandoned their former homes and try to
retrace Bulwark’s steps to join him in whatever great destiny awaits. Both such groups claim to be
followers of Bulwark the Liberator, and have no truck with the Lord of Blades, who they view as an
insane tyrant who will only lead many warforged to their doom.
Perhaps Bulwark went into the mournlands and prayed to Aureon for the knowledge, was lead to a lost creation forge out there. He tried to repair it through feavered visons,and he got it to work... once. The Lord of Blades was what stepped out, seeming to be a dark reflection of Balwark. Maybe he genuinely is, perhaps the memories they share is a result of a warforged being the one to activate the forge, perhaps the mourland tainted the creation forge with a dark force... or maybe he is Bulwark's Shadow.
Present all posibilities to your players let them discover their own truth. In my experience players tend to jump to (sometimes awesome) conclusions you never intended.
I would be interested in investigating that myself if you were my DM.
I'm DMing a pre-Mourning campaign in which the PCs are actually helping out a worforged who IS the Lord of Blades (altought neither them or himself know this yet). For now he is just a first series warforged looking out for his creator: Arren d'Cannith.
I would like to create a connection between him and the PCs, so that after the Mourning they'll be able to understand his motivations rather than just judge him as a revolutionary maniac: after all the treaty will rule the shutting down of all forges, practically condemning his 'race' to extinction...
Bulwark could have been a radical flesh-hating militant that the Lord of Blades is commonly portrayed as. Or he could have been a pacifist champion of Warforged rights, whose messages of self determination were twisted by some into a belief in Warforged superiority and violence as a means to Warforged liberation. Or possibly something in between.
Personally, I wouldn't get the Gods involved or go with the shadow aspect. The Warforged faiths are a perfect opportunity to explore Eberron's concepts of faith that don't revolve around any powerful or seemingly supernatural beings or phenomena at all. It's pure faith in a cause and trust in a mortal individual and their message.
I could see the Lord of Blades as a "doppleganger" of Bulwark, as in being one of his more militant peers who agreed with Bulwark's intentions, but not his methods. The Malcom X to his Martin Luther King.
Perhaps Bulwark went into the mournlands and prayed to Aureon for the knowledge, was lead to a lost creation forge out there. He tried to repair it through feavered visons,and he got it to work... once. The Lord of Blades was what stepped out, seeming to be a dark reflection of Balwark. Maybe he genuinely is, perhaps the memories they share is a result of a warforged being the one to activate the forge, perhaps the mourland tainted the creation forge with a dark force... or maybe he is Bulwark's Shadow.
Thanks a lot Nived! Thats great advise.
Salty1:
A common trick I use for generating the solutions to mysterious plot points (such as the LoB's origin) is to point the group in a very vague direction, and listen to them discuss it. Don't give them many clues, and let them pursue any theory they have on this. Let a few theories be deadends, but then the third or fourth time, they are right. In my experience, player's really like it when them are dead-on about a plot point.
Thanks, once I get my campaign going, I'll try do that.
Gilo:
LoBster can use the Cannith creation forge in the Mournland as a stage for a religious ceremony: new recruits - warforged pilgrims that have survived the perilous journey through the Mournland step in turn into the forge where Bulwark administer a reforging (somewhat like baptism) where the warforged follows Aureon in casting away his shadow-part, but by LoBster interpretation the shadow is all-things of living heritage, misguidance of the “weak-fleshed” races which have no part in a true warforged that follows his construct heritage.
I like your whole take, with the baptism, and casting away the shadow part. But are you suggesting that Bulwark is allied with LoBster?
Uskglass:
Interesting stuff indeed.
I'm DMing a pre-Mourning campaign in which the PCs are actually helping out a worforged who IS the Lord of Blades (altought neither them or himself know this yet). For now he is just a first series warforged looking out for his creator: Arren d'Cannith.
I would like to create a connection between him and the PCs, so that after the Mourning they'll be able to understand his motivations rather than just judge him as a revolutionary maniac: after all the treaty will rule the shutting down of all forges, practically condemning his 'race' to extinction...
That sounds interesting, I'd like to hear how your campaign developes.
Alex:
Bulwark could have been a radical flesh-hating militant that the Lord of Blades is commonly portrayed as. Or he could have been a pacifist champion of Warforged rights, whose messages of self determination were twisted by some into a belief in Warforged superiority and violence as a means to Warforged liberation. Or possibly something in between.
Personally, I wouldn't get the Gods involved or go with the shadow aspect. The Warforged faiths are a perfect opportunity to explore Eberron's concepts of faith that don't revolve around any powerful or seemingly supernatural beings or phenomena at all. It's pure faith in a cause and trust in a mortal individual and their message.
I like your idea of not getting the gods involved. But I like my take. Any ideas on how I can incorperate the two?
But are you suggesting that Bulwark is allied with LoBster?
Bulwark could be LoBster's ally given some religious aspect to a LobSter's secular movement as a way to attract outside recruits or establish stronger legitimacy for the cause, more like the Indiana Jones Nazis dabbing with pagan/occult themes then a true attempt at creating a religion (did I just failed by Godwin's Law by mentioning Nazis?).
It could be that Bulwark is pre-reforging version and LoBster is post-reforging version of the some warforged.
Another possibility is that Bulwark has become a warforged-component in LoBster (think Kuato from Total Recall)
If to spoof, the Princess Bride:
"He took me to his cabin and he told me his secret. 'I am not the Dread Lord of Blades', he said. 'My name is Bulwark ; I inherited the title from the previous Lord of Blades, just as you will inherit it from me. The warforged I inherited it from is not the real Lord of Blades either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Lord of Blades has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Q'Barra."
Anyway Bulwark could be "working" for the LOB but secretly he is spying on him to learn what his true plans are. Maybe he still serves the King but as a secret agent?
I had a warforged PC that felt to keep the world safe he would have to take it over. He was sort of a DR Doom type PC and was generally helpful and did not dislike humans or humanoids. He just knew that after the Mourning they could not be trusted. Then he read up on history and learned about what the giants did to their civilization and knew it was just something about breathing humanoids that made them self-destructive. So he was going to become a her and legend just so he could take it all over and save everyone from themselves.
Fascinating. I'm curious:
1) Did he find the Quori connection? If so, what happened?
2) Was there a Richards to your Doom (I couldn't resist it :P )?
Bulwark is the lord of blades, but his reputation doesn't actually fit. The real Lord of Blades isn't a mean, nasty, fleshling-hating construct. He's a kind, benevolent ruler that defends his warforged kingdom from those that would pillage it further.
The rumors and stories of him being some kind of monster come from those that seek to cart off anything of value within the borders of his kingdom. Since his followers and subjects are still few in number and the dangers of the Mournlands are still great, many of them prefer to drive off what they see as graverobbers or looters instead of trying to declare openly that they are trespassers in Bulwark's Realm.
Bulwark could be LoBster's ally given some religious aspect to a LobSter's secular movement as a way to attract outside recruits or establish stronger legitimacy for the cause, more like the Indiana Jones Nazis dabbing with pagan/occult themes then a true attempt at creating a religion (did I just failed by Godwin's Law by mentioning Nazis?).
It could be that Bulwark is pre-reforging version and LoBster is post-reforging version of the some warforged.
Another possibility is that Bulwark has become a warforged-component in LoBster (think Kuato from Total Recall)
If to spoof, the Princess Bride:
"He took me to his cabin and he told me his secret. 'I am not the Dread Lord of Blades', he said. 'My name is Bulwark ; I inherited the title from the previous Lord of Blades, just as you will inherit it from me. The warforged I inherited it from is not the real Lord of Blades either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Lord of Blades has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Q'Barra."
Ah, I see. The Princess Bride spoof is funny. If you have any other comments, please do go on.
Rauric:
Anyway Bulwark could be "working" for the LOB but secretly he is spying on him to learn what his true plans are. Maybe he still serves the King but as a secret agent?
Ah, yes, the old double agent. Interesting advice.
goblin pride:
You forget the obvious possibility.
Bulwark is the lord of blades, but his reputation doesn't actually fit. The real Lord of Blades isn't a mean, nasty, fleshling-hating construct. He's a kind, benevolent ruler that defends his warforged kingdom from those that would pillage it further.
The rumors and stories of him being some kind of monster come from those that seek to cart off anything of value within the borders of his kingdom. Since his followers and subjects are still few in number and the dangers of the Mournlands are still great, many of them prefer to drive off what they see as graverobbers or looters instead of trying to declare openly that they are trespassers in Bulwark's Realm.
Of course! *Facepalm* Any advice on how I can incorperate the obvious possibility, and my idea.
Fascinating. I'm curious:
1) Did he find the Quori connection? If so, what happened?
2) Was there a Richards to your Doom (I couldn't resist it :P )?
He just figured the giants (humanoids) could not use self control when using their magic. He actually was reading up on current day Sarlona and liked what he read about their way of life. :P
You forget the obvious possibility.
Bulwark is the lord of blades, but his reputation doesn't actually fit. The real Lord of Blades isn't a mean, nasty, fleshling-hating construct. He's a kind, benevolent ruler that defends his warforged kingdom from those that would pillage it further.
The rumors and stories of him being some kind of monster come from those that seek to cart off anything of value within the borders of his kingdom. Since his followers and subjects are still few in number and the dangers of the Mournlands are still great, many of them prefer to drive off what they see as graverobbers or looters instead of trying to declare openly that they are trespassers in Bulwark's Realm.
Yup. He just lacks a good PR team :P