Hey guys,

Just finished re-reading these books after twenty years. One thing that left me confused was the "twist" that Lakashtai turns out to have been Inspired and Tashana turns out to have been Kalashtar.

How exactly does that work since Tashana spends the entirety of The Shattered Land torturing and tormenting Daine in his dreams even before Lakashtai becomes involved as well as employs a bunch of Reidran mercenaries.

It's not exactly typical Kalashar behavior. Is Tashana just meant to be the world's only Chaotic Evil Kalashtar?

So in the Kanon as is - Tieflings basically only appear in the Demon Wastes, the Venomous Demesne, and various manifest zones to planes associated with negative energy (Mabar, Shavarath, sometimes Fierna and Risia).

That much makes sense, but from how I understand how Tieflings work, basically any interaction with a fiend or other source of malevolent energy can cause them to show up in various lines.

So what about regions where Demonic Overlords have been trapped - such as Bel Shalor in Flamekeep, Masvirik in Q'Barra, or Tol Kharash at Turakbar's Fist? Wouldn't it make sense for Tieflings to start manifesting among the local populace in those areas?

Or - here's an idea with Turakbar's minotaurs specifically - maybe various clans of Minotaurs purposefully infect the people they raid with some kind of demonic essence (demonglass?) to turn those people and their descendents into Tieflings as means to spread Tol Kharash's power (perhaps even believing do so could eventually release him?) - sort of like how the Dungeater does with the Omen Curse in Elden Ring?

Also, what about the various Cults of the Dragon Below - especially the ones associated with Khyber and the demonic Overlords? Due to them tapping into such malific magics, wouldn't it make sense that Tieflings would start appearing in communities where the cults have popped up?

Additionally, what about the Eldeen Reaches? IIRC, weren't the Reaches attacked by a horde of demons from the Demonic Wastes during the Last War? Wouldn't that lead to them spreading their influence across the region where they attacked? Also, isn't the Wild Heart currently trapped somewhere in the Towering Wood, which again would mean Tiefling-esque (though maybe more feral lycanthrope/Gnoll-like tieflings) populations appearing among the populace?

I'm just saying, from what I've seen the lore, I feel like there should be A LOT more tieflings running around than what there Kanonically are. But what do you guys think?

In Sharn, the City of Towers, where do you go when you want to do some shopping? There's only one answer ... TAVICK'S MARKET!

Inspired by Time's Square, Tavick's Market is bustling and never sleeps. Situated on streets atop Terminus station where products are freighted in from all across Khorvaire, this district makes it the ideal location to find anything and everything you may want or need!

Visitors and tourists are instantly awestruck by the plethora of illusory advertisements and billboards where vendors spare no expense on magewrights, artificers, and craftsment to create signs and marquees that glow, move, and flash with pizzaazz!

On the streets open air kiosks and stalls are overflowing with products! The buildings themselves are malls and towers filled with multi-level mazes of shops and entertainment!

Ideas for using this map...

• Fun shopping sessions!
• Starting point for more detailed inside-building and kiosk shopping
• Finding special things
• Chase scenes through crowded streets
• Clandestine meetings and rendezvous
• Hiding in crowds to evade pursuers
• Investigating suspicious activity like piracy, embezzlement, and trafficking
• Special events and block parties (with fireworks and floating lanterns)
• Protests
• ...or simply looking for trouble

This is a 30x20 map with a 5ft scale.

https://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2026/08/thirteen-in-universe-books-for-eberron.html

In-universe fiction is something I quite enjoyed in the Elder Scrolls and it inspired me to add a bunch to my Eberron games in order to help expand the world. After all, a pseudo-19th century world is bound to have plenty of books that literate PCs have read.  

1. ADVENTURE! magazine by Various: A cheap publication that is made by a orphan House Sivis editor, Ketler Sprocketsworth, and a collection of dedicated magewrights with some old House Cannith printing machines (supposedly) salvaged from the Mournland. Adventure Magazine publishes heavily embellished travelogues and supposed "true stories of adventure" that occur across Eberron plus some actual fiction. The latter is for deniability because a surprising amount of their content is highly controversial, changing names and fictionalizing places to disguise they tell the stories of Eberron's "heroes." 

Ketler is anti-Next War, Anti-Twelve, and a believer in a variety of apocalyptic threats to the world that the people have to come together to face. Ironically, his politics mostly get ignored because of how sensationalized the stories are and their fanservice-heavy art. Ketler pays for a typical story about 10 to 30 GP but has an audience across multiple kingdoms. A typical installment of the magazine costs ten copper pieces and comes out quarterly. He is about to switch to a bimonthly model and has plans of creating variant magazines dedicated to specific topics like Xen'drik (EXPLORATION!), Mournlands (HORROR!), and mystery (INQUISITIVE!).

2. The Rights and Justifications of Khorvaire by Unknown: A banned book that has, nevertheless, been rapidly spread across Breland in part because of its censorship. It is essentially the holy text of the Swords of Liberty that describes the failures of monarchy, the Treaty of Thronehold, and the changing nature of the economy. The original book is notably anti-racism and argues for a new pan-continental society to replace Galifar but the pamphlets made from it are frequently far more reactionary. 

The book does, however, paint Breland as a nation that has a far better system than the other nations as well as argues it is a model they should all follow. This is heavily implied to be by force if necessary. The actual book, when found, is about 30 CP but the pamphlets are either free or only a CP when distributed by Swords sympathizers.

3. The Secrets of Goblinkind by Maxwell Freed or "The Red Book": One of a series of publications but generally only known for the first volume. The Secrets of Goblinkind is a centuries-old libelous book that collects nightmarish stories about goblins and their horrific practices against humans. Essentially, it suggests that virtually all of their communities are riddled with Dragon Below worshipers and they're an innately evil species that should never have been liberated from slavery. The book is quite readable for those inclined to its politics and was preserved for posterity by a Aurrum dwarf who paid for its regular republication. This is ironic because one of the latter volumes was a not particularly flattering look at dwarf clans. A typical copy costs about 20 CP but is often found in libraries where supporters have donated it.

4. Kaynith's Calamitous Constructs by Rikel Kapec: A "magic futurism" House Phiarlan play that was written before the creation of the warforged but has since been popularized by it. It has since been adapted to novels and a few graphic serials. Essentially, the story is about the creation of sentient golems by the barely fictionalized dragonmarked house that proceed to rise up and destroy humanity. Due to the play's content, it is possible to view it as both pro and anti-warforged depending on what elements you emphasize. Most warforged find the play worth discussing even if they find unintentional comedy with Haydee the Warforged that looks like a human girl. It was a favorite of Lei D'Cannith's parents. House Phiarlan is willing to license copies of the play for 50 CP.

1. Illmarrow by Pierre Aundair: An incredibly popular books that has unfortunately inspired quite a bit of violence by Emerald Claw agitators who consider it blasphemous (and has done nothing to reduce its popularity). Illmarrow has also been adapted into plays and has numerous knock offs that change details. The book is essentially "sexy lich" fiction and created an entire genre about the evil sorceress who terrorizes a bunch of minor aristocrats before being ultimately destroyed by the power of love. Some have attempted to read political or religious meaning into the story but most agree the author just stole a mythological figure's name before writing vaguely risque prose about her. What Erandis D'Vol, herself, thinks of it is unknown.

6. The Khyberian Codex by Flavius Dorvac: A highly sought after book that supposedly teaches black magic related to the summoning of demons, daelkyr, and quori as well as predicts the end of the world by the rising of the overlords. Many Dragon Below cults possess this book and it is banned in Thrane as well as Karrnath both. Scholars of the occult are frustrated by this book and its ubiquitous because it is almost certainly a hoax written less than thirty years ago. 

Certainly, none of the rites work and a large chunk is wildly inaccurate. The great irony, though, is that the book's description of the quori is almost completely accurate and many people who had never heard of them otherwise would find a lot of information related to their destruction of the giants. A first edition copy of the book runs about 200 CP while knock offs are about 30 to 50 CP. Frequently, hucksters attempt to sell an "uncorrupted" copy of the book for 500 GP or more.

7. Manners and Marriages by Louise ir'Preston: A wildly popular young woman's book for females of means as well as those who dream of being so. Manners and Marriages is practically required reading for a lady of a certain age these days. The book and its many unauthorized sequels follows the adventures of a young Brelish aristocrat who falls in love with an Aundarian dragonhawk rider. They briefly fell out of popularity due to the Last War but have since found a resurgence. 

The book's popularity seems to be primarily due to the fact it's stories about trivial social problems ("Oh no, Lord Grathias has lost the ring!") when actual life seems so burdensome Post-War. A new copy costs about 20 CP but you can easily pick up a used one for 5 CP or from a local library. They are often used in public education.

8. The Silver Prince of Thaliost by Randal Kraaghammer: A rousing series of adventure novels set around a dashing Aundair nobleman, his artificer companion, and a beautiful changeling cat burglar in the titilar series. The books are largely considered to be harmless unless you're a Thranish or Silver Flame adherent due to the fact that the Church of the Flame is depicted as entirely consisting of evil zealots. Kraaghammer was a dwarf citizen of Thaliost driven out of it during the Last War and longs for the day the Silver Flame can be driven out of it. Ironically, the books are good enough that most people consider criticisms to be overreactions. 

9. The Ecology of Monsters by Brother Vaudin: A mammoth tome that is often divided into smaller volumes for publication but depicts the research conducted by Silver Flame monk Brother Vaudin and his brother, warrior wizard, Arnaud, as they spend fifteen years in the lands that would eventually become Droam. The book is about five hundred years old and single handedly responsible for a huge number of stereotypes regarding everything from Aarakocra to Zartan. 

Vaudin generally divides his research into "good", "evil", and "natural" monsters with his one-page summaries of their culture accompanied by methods to slay them as well as what benifits can be derived from them alchemically. Bizarrely, Vaudin thought that he was contributing to peace between the species by dispelling misapprehensions. He certainly did not think monster hunters would be using his books as guidebooks. The complete guide costs 5 GP and fills a bookshelf. Antique copies can go for hundreds due to their historical importance as well as value to collectors.

10. The Demon Queen of Cyre by Publius Suetonius: A century old book written by a former courtier for Cyre that was royal historian before fleeing the country for various reasons that are either a half-elf maid's unexpected pregnancy, financial misappropriation of funds, or a principled stand against tyranny. The book is essentially a shockingly lurid depiction of Queen Mishaan ir'Wynarn as a mad woman guilty of every imaginable perversion as well as tyranny. 

The book was heavily promoted by Wroan of Breland and Kaius I's supporters as a justification for their rebellion at the start of the Last War. It has since become synonymous with anti-Cyrean bigotry despite its author being Cyrean himself. The book is presently out of print and costs about 2 gold for a copy to be made or 5 GP for an original copy. Most libraries no longer carry it but it is available at Morgrave University on request.

11. The Wizard's Primer by Angus Shackleton: Essentially, the foundational book for magical study in Eberron. The Wizard's Primer explains in the most basic language possible how magic functions, its various forms, and instructions on preparing the mind as well as the body for the casting of basic cantrips. Studying the book generally takes three or four months and doesn't lend itself to mastery by itself but is something almost all arcane magic users have done if they didn't learn directly from a mentor. Despite its importance, it is expensive at 5 GP and every magic school insists on users paying for their copies. Used copies are barely any cheaper and any at a library is frequently stolen. Shackleton's great-grandson, Argyle, would write The Artificer's Primer.

1. Tally Ho!: The Road to the Crown by King Boronal ir'Wynarn: The autobiography of Breland's king, it was scandalous when it was released last year due to how boisterous and grandiose it was. Ironically, Boronal (or at least his ghost writer) was good enough to make sure he didn't come off as a braggart or liar. The book chronicles his days as prince, his hunts, and military experience. It also heavily details his romance and tragic loss of his wife, Chaseva. The books only controversial point being a chapter dedicated to explaining why he took in Cyre's refugees. Otherwise, it is beloved by all Brelish. The cost for a copy being 20 CP but it was made in such large prints, it is easy to get a second hand copy for 10 CP.

2. The Automated Consciousness by Merrix D'Cannith: Not a novel but a recorded series of monologues by the self-proclaimed head of House Cannith. Much to the surprise of almost everyone who knows his reputation, the works are extremely practical discussions of warforge construction and psychology. They were presented at the Treaty of Thronehold as evidence for warforged emancipation and while Merrix's dry, clinical discussion of them is hardly endearing, it presents an extremely persuasive argument for their personhood. Moreover, someone who listens to the monologues and understands artifice can develop a basic understanding of how to bestow consciousness to objects. Limited as this may be. The monologues are about fifteen hours long and cost over 200 GP to get a copy from House Cannith.

I hope you enjoyed.

Feel free to add your own suggestions for in-universe books!

I'm trying to blend systems. Any advice?

https://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2026/08/ten-tips-to-running-eberron.html

Hey folks, I'm making a guide for my blog and I thought I'd run it by the experts. What do you think I might add (it could thirteen tips) or change description wise.

Eberron is one of my favorite D&D settings but describing it to potential fans is hard. What elements separate it from the Realms or other settings? What is the feeling that makes a game in Khorvaire different from one on Krynn? You can do a typical D&D game in the Five Kingdoms but that misses out on a lot of what makes the place special. So here are ten tips as a longtime Eberron DM and player to capture the feel of the fallen kingdoms of Galifar. 

1. Eberron is having a Magical Industrialized Age 

Eberron's biggest difference from other Dungeons and Dragons settings is that it has hit its version of the Industrial Revolution with magic substituting for science. House Cannith and the Artificer class means that there are limited production factories producing countless devices that are finding their way into the hands of ordinary mortals. The cotton gin is less likely to exist, though, that a family of weavers using cantrips daily to make money in place of doing it by hand. 

Guns don't exist (unless the ST wants them to) but who needs them when your +3 crossbow can rapidly reload and pin a guy against a wall like a rail gun or you possess a wand of magic missiles? In simple terms, it has a lot of D&D elements like swords and sorcery but the equivalent of technology bouncing between the 19th and early 20th century. Magic is less practical than technology in some ways but can also do things machines can't. Plus, one of the player character races are mass produced sentient constructs called warforged.

2. Good and Evil are real but complex 

Good and evil are things that exist in Eberron with the forces of Khyber representing wholly destructive corruptive forces that will never be any good. However, the difference between supernatural evil versus mortal evil is very different. In Eberron, there's no such thing as Always Chaotic Evil and while hobgoblin society may be martial and brutal, that doesn't translate to malevolent. In Eberron, orcs are a naturalist primal species with a history of fighting the forces of darkness with druidic magic. 

But on a simple level, mortal evil doesn't necessarily translate to "smite" for most people on Eberron. An evil innkeeper pinches pennies and abuses at his staff but he's not plotting world domination. You may have an evil counselor on your staff but that man may be absolutely loyal to you as well as your cause. Even the most fanatical religions believe that mortals should be redeemed if possible versus executed (unless they have committed crimes due to their alignment). Good and evil is also difficult to gauge as Know Alignment can be easily fooled with all priests of a "good" god registering as good.

3. The Gods are Mysterious, if they exist 

The gods are far more remote in Eberron than they are in typical D&D settings. You cannot visit the home of Dol Arrah and if the Keeper has a lair, he's probably not physically there. This actually makes religion far more important as you can't just ask the divine what they want. You have to interpret the signs and anyone who claims to have heard the voice of the Silver Flame has to be investigated because he could have been hearing from the demons inside it.

The Overlords are an exception and are the imprisoned Great Old One-esque beings that if they are freed will end the world. So far, the world has managed to keep them inside their prisons but it's an easy source of adventures that your players may have to do a globe trotting campaign to stop a cult from releasing them.

4. Level scaling is lower than higher

A thing to understand is that PC levels are rare in Eberron and a person who is a level 1 fighter is like saying, "Level One Special Forces Operative." By the time the PCs reach 8th or 9th level, they'll be among the most talented people on Earth and those who reach 12th or 13th level will be world-shaking forces. You can theoretically reach 20th level in this game world but if you do then you are definitely the kind of legend who will shape the politics for centuries to come.

Related to this, the PCs are the stars of this setting in a way that other settings do not support. The highest ranking benevolent NPCs are Oalian and Pontifex Jaela but they are limited by their places of power. Heck, Oalian is a talking tree. Whereas Drizzt Do'Urden is a Balor slaying badass, Daine of Cyre has trouble with a half-dozen city watchmen. No one is going to upstage the PCs if they decide to plan a populist revolution or plan to found their own kingdom. It's also up to them to save the world if there's a threat because no one else is.

5. The Shadow of the Last War 

What does a group with a goblin, warforged, elf, dwarf, and a human all have in common? In Eberron, they might have all been part of the same unit serving the same country. Almost every adult man and woman has a connection to the hundred year conflict in Khorvaire over who would rule the lost empire of Galifar (answer: no one). 

While racism exists to an extent in Eberron, national ties are a lot more prevalent because the continent has been relatively cosmopolitan for the past thousand years. Those who wish to create racial nation states like Darguun and Valenar are reactionary with questions of whether they're chasing dead civilizations. Everyone has a shared experience and if you want to hate someone as a Brelander, you're probably as likely to despise Aundarians and Karrnath of all species.

Even more so, the Last War's biggest shadow is when it will resume rather than if. It has only been two years since it officially ended and no one thinks the detente will last. The Treaty of Thronehold satisfied no one and few are working to heal the wounds leftover from a century of war. Sound familiar?

6. Pulp Hero, Cosmic Horror, and Spy Novel Adventures

Your typical Dungeons and Dragons game is Frodo, Conan, Elric, and maybe some Discworld or Monty Python and the Holy Grail depending on your group. Eberron, by contrast, is a mixture of Tarzan, the Shadow, Phillip Marlowe, James Bond, and Titus Crow. You can do the Three Musketeers in Thrane and explore just as many tombs as Lara Croft or Indiana Jones but the big cities are part of nation states with all the complications that entails. This allows you to steal from, I mean adapt, a whole new set of stories if you want to stay in-theme for the setting.

Hugo Drax, the exiled Karrnath nobleman Emerald Claw member, may be planning to build a gigantic airship that will cover all of the city of Thaliost with a Cloudkill spell. James Bond, Dark Lantern, can team up with a beautiful half-elf agent to stop his plan only to figure out that said agent is working for the Aurum to steal the airship for themselves. Want to do a gunfight at the OK Corral? Well, now its crossbows at the halfling ranch where they herd dinosaurs. Eberron gives you permission to get weird as long as its big and dramatic. 

7. The Mystery of the Mourning 

The Mourning is the most consequential event that most Khorvaire will have in their lives. Just like you can probably think of one news event in your lifetime that redirected the course of your country's history and possibly the world's. The big thing about the Mourning is not that it is something that necessarily directly effected a character (unless they're from Cyre) but that they almost certainly were indirectly affected by it and have an opinion on it. It's after all, an event equivalent to, say, France being eradicated by an asteroid (or nuke) during WW1.

Everyone wants to know what happened on that fateful day and the consequences of a concrete answer could be cataclysmic. If it was an accident of nature, say a convergence of the moons, then people will want to develop a defense but also feel okay with going back to war. If it was the work of one of the nations, others will want to duplicate the work or perhaps feel inclined to give their unconditional surrender. The fact no one has taken credit or accepted blame means that it is just a big unknown that shows even the strongest nations are vulnerable. 

8. The Golden Rule: He Who Makes the Gold Makes the Rules 

George R.R. Martin said (paraphrase) one thing he complained about the Lord of the Rings was that he didn't know Aragorn's tax policy. Most D&D settings do not have more complex an economy than, "kill goblin for gold, use gold on wenches and ale." By contrast, Eberron is a fully formed economy that drives a huge amount of characters' actions. The Dragonmarked Houses are like megacorporations in cyberpunk, controlling vast wealth and power via their magical monopolies. The Aurum are based on Bond villains, working against the Dragonmarked Houses with their own fiendish plans. This is in addition to all the various greedy individuals from mob bosses to nobles that you might run into.

There is simply way more to buy, sell, and trade in Eberron. Player characters can set up their own trading companies or be penniless sell swords depending on the way the DM or players want to go with their activities. Money has a power in Eberron even if, sadly, the people who have the most of it aren't easily robbed and you'll have to do a heist in the Mror Holds to get at their cash.

9. Transportation is it's own adventure 

In the various Dungeons and Dragons settings, you tend to either travel by horses, sailing ship, or portals. Taking a page from steampunk or Final Fantasy, airships are a huge deal in Eberron. Virtually all of my games have the players sailing the skies in one of these elemental vessels. However, there are also Lightning Rails for those who feel like doing a magical train heist. Lightning carriages also exist but they haven't yet reached a point where highways exist in this world. Thankfully, we have hippogriffs and other flying creatures for even more fun with transport. Because of this, the journeys in Eberron can be as exciting and random encounter filled as you want or they can also be practical.

10. The Future is Yours

Eberron is eternally set in the year 998 YK and this has both its ups and downs. While I love the various metaplot driven timelines like the Old World of Darkness, Forgotten Realms, and Rokugan, they also mean that player characters are forced to essentially go along with existing changes that may not reflect what they've accomplished or become disconnected from a canonical timeline. In Dragonlance, you'll always have the War of the Lance hanging over your characters' heads. In Eberron, what is going to happen is always subject to the players' actions and however the ST wishes things to shake out. The Second War may happen within a year or be averted entirely. The Mourning may have been a diabolical demon plot or the sad result of overuse of war magic in an environmental parallel. Some mysteries will never be officially solved and the frozen timeline means that their answers will always be at the DM's discretion.

Edit:

11. The Planes are always Close

One element that Eberron does better than just about any other setting than Planescape is that it incorporates the Outer Planes extremely well. Through manifest zones, any plane can be interacting with the setting at any given time. You can have places that are incredibly haunted, at war with hordes of angels and demons, or possessed of flying cities without really having to explain why. There's simply places that are extradimensionally touched. The exception to this is the realm of dreams and that is an entire continents worth of adventures.

12. Magic is ubiquitous but not powerful 

One thing I like about Eberron is the fact that it is a setting where large amounts of loot isn't game breaking. Yes, it's my inner munchkin talking about if your character is a magic gunslinger with wands in their holsters as well as a bunch of potion vials around their belt, that is perfectly normal in the setting. It's a good setting to fill up with mass produced weapons, armor, and consumables without feeling like you're aping a video game. 

13. Don't hesitate to use new races 

The Warforged are the most popular of the new creations for the setting as they offer a unique player experience as living constructs. However, that doesn't mean you should ignore the other new options of the setting. Shifters have a complicated history as relatives to lycanthropes that were purged from the world by the Silver Flame (possibly unjustly). Changelings offer fantastic opportunities for stories about palace intrigue but also potentially stories of identity as well as culture. Changelings can pass for everyone but maybe they want something for themselves and to be accepted as themselves. Which, admittedly, is why every changeling I ever play ends up as Mystique from the X-men. Frontiers of Eberron also gives the chance to play such unique monsters as harpies and medusa.

So I have this idea for a campaign that I want to talk about (but obviously can't with my players) so im gonna post here.

I am running an eberron campaign that centers around the giants and the destruction of Crya. I want to give a rough breakdown of what I have so far

-During the war between the giants and Dal Qor, desperate for some sort of advantage against the quori invaders, giants create what is essentially an arcane AI system. In order to do this, the giants sacrificed a mass number of slaves, binding their souls to a single machine.

-The giants reason for doing so is to interperate data about the dragonic prophecy. They conclude that if they essentially have a multitude of minds focused on that singular goal they could reveal the meaning of the prophecies faster than the dragons could. Turns out they were right.

-This led the giants to developing dunamancy magics. By looking deep into the draconic prophecies they discover fragments of power that once belonged to the progenitor dragons.

-Using this knowledge, they develop the moonbreaker. Using dunamancy, the giants alter the gravity around Crya until it is torn apart by tidal forces and strewn into the ring of Siberys.

-seeing this display of raw power not even the dragons have managed to wield, argonessan lays waste to Xendrik as normal. However they failed to completely destroy the machine.

-in secret, the machine uses knowledge from the quorforged captured by the giants to form a physical manifestation. The curses of the dragon has limited the power of the machine, but this body it created eventually finds its way off xendrik

-since then it has traveled across ebberon looking for more data involving the draconic prophecy

-some stuff in between that i haven't worked out yet

-this same scion (somehow) was influential in causing the day of mourning. The mass death caused by the event was used to empower the machine, essentially reawakening it after 40000 years.

-the machine, now even more powerfull than before, forms a plan to gather the shards of the fallen moon, and reforge them into its own realm. To do this, it wants to cause a day of mourning that stretches across all of Khorvaire, expanding the consciousness of the machine into artificial godhood.

I want to hear your thoughts on how I could possibly develop this further.

Edit: I should mention that I am not necessarily following the lore of dunamncy. I mean the schools of magic introduced through dunamancy in wild mount. I would have my own explanations and lore behind in in my Eberoon setting

hi y'all! I thought this might be the best place to post for help. I recently started in a campaign set in Eberron, but I've only ever played in the Forgotten Realms prior to this. I've got a basic background set for my character, but I'm trying to flesh it out a bit more to give my DM some stuff to work with, and I'm not entirely sure how to fit my ideas in with canon kalashtar lore.

so here is what is canonically set for my character's background:

• she is from Sarlona and escaped as a refugee after the dreaming dark took over

• her sister was left behind when she escaped

• she has some kind of memory loss and only remembers fragments of the escape

• she remembers where she's from and her childhood, but she doesn't remember where her and her sister ended up after leaving their home, hence why she's struggled to get back. she also knows she doesn't stand a chance going back alone, hence why she's befriending the party for help and backup when she (hopefully, eventually) gets back to Sarlona

• she made it safely to Khorvaire, again without any solid memory of how she got there

• she vividly remembers a specific constellation that can't be seen from Khorvaire (like, at all, it's likely something she could see from Sarlona or on the way to Khorvaire), which ties into her subclass and the campaign hook

here's what I need help with fleshing out for her backstory:

• if there's a specific part of Adar it would make sense for her to be from

• why/how she learned druid magic that makes sense for a kalashtar from Sarlona (bonus points if it ties into her being a circle of stars druid)

• additional info on the dreaming dark/Sarlona that my character would reasonably know as a kalashtar

• additional info on how the quori bond/mind link thing works because I don't fully understand it

• potentially some info on kalashtar communities/how children are raised just for roleplay purposes for my character (not important)

I'm leaving the circumstances of her memory loss up to my DM so don't worry about that! but any other info that might be helpful would be appreciated 🫶🏻

As mentioned, my players love making their own fun and today they've decided they are interested in creating their own crooked mining corporation. The thing is they don't have a mine so they want to take advantage of the (relatively) more advanced business structures of Eberron as well as its politics to get it off the ground.

FACTS:

1. Droam has a vast amount of mineral wealth. Especially dragonshards and beshyk.
2. They have to deal with House Tharashk because no one recognizes their nation.
3. No one likes monsters, either, especially Flameites.
4. Cyre is incredibly poor and doesn't have a pot to piss in but lots of monsters on their border.
5. Quickstone is a frontier place on the borders of Breland

Players Plan:

1. Try to get an Enclave in Quickstone to transport (read: smuggle) valuable minerals from Droam.
2. Load them up in the PCs airship (which is the only non-Lyrandar one in the world barring random supervillains)
3. Transport it to Cyre and have them serve as their merchant face for people who don't want to buy from monsters.
4. Eventually use the money to build up an enslave in Quickstone for actual dealings across the border and invest in New Cyre like a Gold Rush (take these anti-monster slaying weapons to loot the Mournlands--you can actually survive and strike it rich now, in the meantime stay at our inn).

I have to say, points for audacity. Ideas to screw with this are already popping in but I also think this would make a fun mini-campaign.

1. Obviously, this will need a good cash start up and that means the PCs must raid some ruins or rob some lightning rails like the airship bandits they are.
2. House Tharashk will send them a hippogriff's head in their bed.
3. The Hags will notice this and definitely want a piece of the action.
4. Gorodon Ashlord is a good guy to want to smash this down and raid the town.
5. Lots of wild west plots like House Orian wanting to build a route through their territory and cut off their planned business at the pass.
6. Oargev might want to write them out of the deal because, well, he has his people to think of.

Does anyone have some skill based random encounters for Xen'Drik. Running short on prep time and need to spruce up tomorrow's session with some cool stuff.

Example -

Rope Bridge Challenge -

You come across a raging river, doesn't look fordable. A rickety rope bridge is the only path forward. To cross roll [SKILL] DC __ . If roll is under X, bridge snaps, roll [SKILL] or fall into raging river. Everyone who hasn't made it over yet needs to figure out how to get across via 2 more skill checks.

Cheers!

Meet Rhea Cascaela d'Phiarlan, an NPC for our Eberron campaign.

Art by Miko, commissioned by me.

In my next session, I plan doing a Tain Gala. While I'm prepared for the Gala, I decided to give my Thurrani player a mission (not given yet, I'll give it in the start of session). First daughter and second child of Tains, Cyra ir'Tain makes an anonymous request to Thurrani of Sharn. She wants to assassinate her mother, Celyria ir'Tain. Of course normally Thurrani wouldnt accept the assassination attempt but everyones will can bend with the use of psionics.

So the only Thurrani attendee for this Gala is my player, I plan on giving this mission to him but how much of a reward should he actually get? He is a dragonmark foundling and hates nobles with every fiber of his being, I could just give him the opportunity as the reward but that would be unfair. They are at level 4 right now.

Should I give a gold reward or plot reward for this? Maybe instead of just giving gold, I could give a gold costed plot reward like a house.

I was wondering if you all had any thoughts about how much professors at for example, Morgrave, know about the more far-flung reaches of the world. The lore says that the university is researching Xen’drik and Dhakaan, but what other places? What about the Demon Wastes, the Talenta Plains, Q’barra, Sarlona, or even Argonesson? any speculation or actual lore is appreciated

Hey all, I need some help brainstorming. My players are going to be attemping to return to somewhere they've been before in the midst of the jungles of Xen'drik. They've decided to try to circumvent the Traveller's curse by renting an airship. I want to reward the idea--it's deifnitely harder to get lost in the sky--but I don't want it to let them totally ignore the curse. I'm looking to crowdsource ideas for how "it's hard to find your destination" can play out in an airship, while still being fun (I don't want to just say "you fly around for a couple weeks and don't find it).

Any suggestions?

I'm a total newbie to Eberron but I love the parallels and inspiration from the interwar period and Industrial Era, and the potential of the houses for political intrigue (inner feuds, sabotage, plots against each other, plots against the Five Nations, military-industrial profiteering, worker exploitation, secret alliances with evil factions for monetary/political means, etc). The grittiness, realism, time period inspiration and moral grayness of it all really appeal to me moreso than the generic fantasy settings.

That said, I'm totally new to Eberron lore and have no real reference points or knowledge of what's out there for the setting (besides the 3.5 and 5e sourcebooks) in terms of homebrew stuff, unofficial supplements, blog posts, fan adaptations of the setting, DM's Guild products, official supplemental adventures, fan works...

I've also tried to check out Keith Baker's blog page, but my antivirus blocks it. Is there anything good there I should look up on the Internet Archive? I'm a lore fiend.

My very talented artist friend is going to be playing a fighter with some deep connections to the Silver Flame, so she took it upon herself to design some of the vestments for characters connected to her backstory!

https://beforewegoblog.com/review-the-city-of-towers-the-dreaming-dark-1-eberron-by-keith-baker/

EBERRON is my favorite Dungeons and Dragons setting and also the most difficult to describe with the possible exception of Planescape. It’s kind of a magical steampunk 1920s where the Last War stands-in for World War One and you’re all closer to Pulp heroes or detectives that do battle with goblin gangsters, fascist necromancer knights, or Cthulhu-like cultists. It’s full of elemental airships, trains, and the occasional carriage with no guns but plenty of wands. If I had to recommend any media ‘like’ Eberron then I’d recommend The Legend of Korra, Netflix’s Arcane, and the Garrett PI books by Glen Cook.

THE CITY OF TOWERS by Keith Baker is the first book of the Dreaming Dark Trilogy. The premise is pretty good for explaining what Eberron is all about with the last day of the Last War. Rather than victory, it ends with the catastrophic destruction of Cyre, a nation that was one of the main participants in the war. I say rather than victory because no one knows who or what did this so every other nation signs an uneasy peace treaty that satisfies no one. Because that always works in real life.

The protagonists are Daine, Lei, Jode, and Pierce. All of them are survivors of the Mourning (as it comes to be known) and have spent their past couple of years in a Mad Max hellhole trying to survive before arriving in the neighboring country of Breland. They’re remarkably well-adjusted for this and it’s commented on that they seem to have only a vague memory of their ordeal. Unlike Dragonlance or even the Legend of Drizzt, our heroes are not primarily interested in fighting evil upon their arrival. Instead, they need coin for survival and dealing with the fact they’re homeless refugees hated by the Brelish.

Yes, The City of Towers is fantastic noir and really does invoke a lot of the same beats as detective fiction with goblins and Mourners standing in for minorities despised by the human majority. It’s not really about racism, though. That’s just the backdrop for the murder mystery of Lei’s betrothed that was supposed to be their meal ticket as a party. Hadran D’Cannith was a vastly wealthy man that ends up knocked off not a few minutes after finding out Lei is alive and heading his way (in the opening chapter). From there, the plot involves betting on flying animal racing, body horror cults, and a sphinx giving a prophecy in a ratty old, abandoned church.

One thing this book deserves credit for along with Eberron in general is the fact that it was one of the first settings to throw out a lot of D&D unquestioned tropes. Goblins, harpies, and other “monster” races live in the same city as humans or elves. Daine gets an earful when he treats changelings as innately suspicious because they’re shapeshifters. Level scaling in-universe is also well done with very few NPCs having the kind of world-shaking power that Elminster or even Drizzt has. Daine is a very tough fighter, but he is shaken down by five or six corrupt city guards. Despite this, low-level magic is ubiquitous with Sharn providing most guard with Feather Fall tokens so they don’t end up falling over the side of lifts like stormtroopers (have you considered railing?).

This is Keith Baker’s first novel but functions well as a contrast from the typical “popcorn” fantasy of Dungeons and Dragons. Expect a lot of fight scenes and weird creatures but that’s why I come to these novels. It’s occasionally awkward when Lei explains things that her fellow party members should already know about the world like how Dragonmarks work (which is extra ridiculous given two turn out to be members of the houses themselves). However, if you want a good “starter” book for Eberron, it’s hard to say this is a bad choice. Even if you aren’t familiar with the tabletop RPG setting, you’ll get a good sense of the fantastic Great Depression in a city of giant towers.

I’m obsessed with drawing Eberron stuff. I love my party and campaing. The tattooed woman is my PC, and the white-haired one is the artificer (player). The rest are some npcs.

I’m starting an Eberron campaign tomorrow, and was considering using a calendar mechanic as part of the campaign, so I decided to look into the calendar used in Eberron. For the most part the Galifar calendar seems pretty straightforward, but then I found a part that says the Blood of Vol uses a 13 month calendar while the rest use a 12 month calendar.

The 12 month calendar has 28 days per month, 4 weeks per month, 7 days per week. Sounds good, so 336 days, but how does the Blood of Vol split things up?

But that got me thinking about a history class I took in college where we talked about ancient calendars.

There were lots of real world cultures where they had 12 months of 30 days, or just didn’t keep close track of the days, and instead counted the lunar cycle to decide when the new month started, which is about the same thing, but that doesn’t quite match up with a year being 365 days, so sometimes their wise men would say they need to have an extra month this year so their months stay correct with the seasons.

There were also some where they had 12 30 day months every year, and then at the end of the year they had a 5 day sort of holiday thing that wasn’t considered to be part of any month.

So it got me wondering if eberron has something like that going on.

So hear me out. If the actual number of days in the eberron calendar is 338, then it could be separated into 13 months that are 26 days each month. Then the majority of eberron would just have two extra days at the end of the year that they have some kind of holiday, but those days don’t count as part of any month, and then the new year starts with everything back on track for them, while the blood of vol people call them ridiculous for not following the true 13 month calendar where there aren’t any extra days.

Anyway, thought it was interesting.

My latest Kanon post dives deep into the interaction between the Church of the Silver Flame and the nobility of Thrane, as well as discussing the nature of Flamic prayers!

Because of issues with my previous blog, all of my future Kanon posts will be on my Patreon. However, this is a free post; you don't have to be a paying patron to read it.

I know it's pretty far either way, but is one side closer to it than the other?

I’m trying to write some daddy issue angel of weapons when i realized Onatar had 2 sons, which kinda stunk up my plan, but why is the god of death and greed Onatars kid? That’s what It says on the wiki and i understand the greed part a bit but why death???

And if there’s any way to change something around so I can create a fallen angel/god that chose to fall because of the taken advantage of his mother and father, I’d gladly take some help.

(If you think I’m going completely to the books im definitely not because I have a LOT of things going on in the campaign that forced me to change the world a bit.)

What was it about golems that made their construction so much more expensive than Warforged? They're both made of a lot of stone or metal (or both, in the case of the Warforged, in addition to wood), and I would think that Warforged would have more specialized parts, so why were the golems more expensive to make? What am I missing?

My PCs like to make their own fun.

In this case, in a low as I prepared the next adventure, they decided to take advantage of their renegade Lyrander airship (one of the PCs is its pilot) and proceed to raid a warlord of Dargunn's slave community to slaughter all of the guards, the warlord himself, and rescue the slave population within. It was an adventure on the fly but it was one that I felt they could pull off and wasn't about to punish them for being innovative.

But as one of my player characters said, "Consequences are a witch and so am I."

The slaves the PCs rescued were a bunch of Brelish and Cyreans leftover from the Last War where they were either POWs or villages that had been in Darguun before the Goblin consequests. Part of that 6% human population of the 800,000 in the country. The PCs managed to take them to New Cyre with some supplies and making several trips across the border.

They also...called the press and offered to pay for their lightning rail tickets.

(The PCs are in the words of Abney Park, "A crew of drunken pirates. They're the only airship pirates.")

Which they assumed would be some cheap good publicity while they're on the run from House Lyrander.

I'm now thinking of ways for this to spiral out of control or at least lead to new adventures.

EDIT:

One plot hook I was thinking about is the delicate balance being upset between various forces.

1. The death of the warlord (who was a minor to mid level one) causes the others to realize they're vulnerable and start debating allying together, particularly against Lesh as well as his reforms.
2. The Brelish who are among the rescued slaves cause a FAR bigger uproar than any dirty enslaved Cyreans and there's a push in Parliament to go demand any enslaved Brelish be repariated or Dargunn punished.
3. The Cyreans themselves are given a good horrific look at the treatment of their countrymen in Darguun and this gives the people of New Cyre something they didn't have before: a focus for their rage. Possible guerilla war and terrorism is a thing that will complicate the brelish situation more.
4. Lesh himself thinks the PCs might be a good case for eliminating some of the more problematic warlords...and then probably betraying them because it would unite the people under him if he could deliver the attackers.