11-chapter-4-building-eberron-adventures-the-last-war

Chapter 4: Building Eberron Adventures - The Last War

Source: Eberron: Rising from the Last War, p. 206

The Last War

Khorvaire is still rising from the ashes of the Last War. The consequences of a century of conflict can’t be offset with a single treaty. The Last War didn’t end because people resolved their differences, and it didn’t end with a victor. It ended when the Mourning destroyed Cyre, because people were afraid that the war itself was the cause of that cataclysm, and that continuing the struggle could doom them all. Many are sick of the endless conflict and embrace the peace. But just as many yearn to finish what their ancestors started, and others see potential profit for themselves in war. Some leaders focus on healing the lingering wounds of the conflict, while others work to ensure that their people will have an edge when fighting begins anew.

The Last War is one of the primary themes of Eberron. When developing an adventure in Khorvaire, consider how the lingering impact of the war could affect the story. Some element of the war could drive the entire adventure; the heroes could be tasked with recovering a relic lost in the war, or capturing a fugitive war criminal. But it can also be a background note that simply adds flavor to a story. If the adventure features a group of bandits, perhaps they’re deserters, which can be all the more interesting if they once served in the army of the same nation as one of the player characters.

This section looks at the different ways that the Last War can influence an adventure.

Personal Impact

As players develop characters in an Eberron campaign, you can work with them to determine the role that the war played in their background. Here are a few topics for conversation:

Military Service. Did the character fight in the war? If so, which nation did they serve and what role did they fill? If more than one of the characters fought in the war, did they serve together (or as allies) or fight on opposing sides? Military service can be the basis of a strong connection for two or more characters.

Civilian Life. If the character is from one of the Five Nations and didn’t fight in the war, how and why did they remain on the sidelines? Did they oppose the war? Did they do something to avoid conscription, or was there a reason they were considered unsuitable for service?

Personal Loss. What did the characters lose during the war? Did members of their family die, and if so, how? Was the village they grew up in destroyed, and if so, who was responsible? If the characters are from Cyre, they have lost their nation. Do they have any loved ones left? Did they spend time in a refugee camp or in the outpost of New Cyre in Breland? Do they support Prince Oargev as the leader of Cyre, or do they have other ideas for the nation’s future?

For example, when an Aundairan player character meets a group of Eldeen druids, it’s an opportunity to exploit the bad blood between Aundair and the Eldeen Reaches and to determine if this interaction has any personal relevance to the character. If a player character has the soldier background, you can introduce an NPC as a former comrade and work out the details with the player on the spot. The Personal Impact table provides ideas for plot hooks that could directly involve a player character in a scenario.

Bitter Grievances

Alliances shifted during the war, and almost every nation has grievances with every other one. Some of these postwar feuds rage more fiercely than others. One of these sources of tension could play a role in a character’s back story, the plot of an adventure, or the reactions of an NPC. Although the nations are afraid to return to all-out war, any of these feuds could escalate.

Aundair and the Eldeen Reaches

Forty years ago, the farmers of western Aundair joined with the druids of the Towering Woods in seceding from the kingdom and founding the Eldeen Reaches. Most Aundairians consider this an unforgivable act of treason committed at a time of national weakness. The Reachers say their actions were precipitated by the neglect and corruption of the Aundairian nobles. Now that the war is over, many Aundairians believe Queen Aurala should reclaim the Eldeen Reaches, whether through diplomacy or force.

Breland and Droaam

Monstrous raiders from the western wilderness have plagued Breland for centuries. A decade ago, the Daughters of Sora Kell united the scattered warlords of the region under the flag of Droaam. Furious clashes erupted between Breland and Droaam, centering on the fortress of Orcbone and Brelish settlers in the west. Breland led the opposition to recognizing Droaam as a nation under the Treaty of Thronehold, and some Brelish believe King Boranel should take dramatic action to end this threat.

Cyre and the World

Cyrans maintain that they alone were in the right during the Last War, which began when the other nations refused to acknowledge the Cyran queen’s rightful claim to the throne of Galifar. Proud until the end, Cyre clashed with all the other nations. Now Cyre is destroyed, and Cyran refugees everywhere are dependent on the kindness of their former enemies. But many of those people believe that Cyre deserves no mercy, and that the refugees should be treated as enemy combatants rather than offered charity and compassion.

Karrnath and Thrane

The enmity between these two nations runs far deeper and longer than what was wrought by the Last War. Thrane is the bastion of the Church of the Silver Flame, while Karrnath resorted to necromancy in the course of the war. Thranes accuse Karrns of being morally bankrupt; Karrns say that the Thranes are arrogant and naive. This long-standing rivalry led to intense conflict in the early days of the war, and it only grew worse. When Thrane became a theocracy, Karrns seized on this act as proof that the nation had abandoned the traditions of Galifar. When Karrnath integrated undead into its armies, Thrane swore it would never be at peace with those who would use such foul magic. Both nations have accepted the terms of the Treaty of Thronehold, and the Karrnathi king has forsworn the creation of new undead soldiers, but the treaty has done nothing to ease the enmity between the two.

Thaliost

The ancient city of Thaliost was once part of Aundair, and it has many proud ties to the history of that nation. It was seized by Thrane during the Last War, and the Treaty of Thronehold ratified its occupation of the place. Thrane placed an Aundairian archbishop, Solgar Dariznu, in charge of the city, and it has become a haven for Aundairian followers of the Silver Flame. But many of its citizens consider themselves to be Aundairians, and many prominent citizens of Aundair are putting great pressure on Queen Aurala to retake the city. The tension has been exacerbated by Archbishop Dariznu, who has taken brutal action to suppress Aundairian opposition to Thrane’s occupation of the city.

Valenar

The elves of Valenar have broken the terms of the Treaty of Thronehold on several occasions. They regularly antagonize their neighbors, raiding and provoking everyone in reach of their war bands; some independent war bands have even crossed the Talenta Plains to raid across the borders of Karrnath and Q’barra. High King Vadallia insists that these are the actions of individual soldiers, but he refuses to take action against the perpetrators. Some scholars believe Vadallia and the Valenar are trying to provoke a full-scale conflict—by the strictures of their religion they don’t want to be conquerors, but they want a powerful enemy to attack their nation. If this hypothesis is true, they might continue to escalate their activity until Karrnath or another powerful nation is forced to react.

Though the Valenar regularly raid their neighbors, these attacks rarely target civilians. The elves aren’t interested in wealth or territory; they are looking for challenging battles. They might attack military outposts, patrols, adventurers, or other brigands—any force that seems like it could put up a good fight.

Everyday Impact

There’s no place in Khorvaire that escaped the Last War unscathed. Even villages that were never attacked lost their children to conscription or suffered from shortages. Some towns far from the front lines suffered damage from long-distance magic weapons or terror attacks. Any time you are setting a scene, you could add some element that speaks to the ongoing impact of the Last War. The Everyday Impact table offers some suggestions for these elements.

The Cold War

No one knows what caused the Mourning, and the fear of repeating this cataclysm—not the Treaty of Thronehold—is what keeps potential combatants at bay. No one is happy with the outcome of the war, but no one dares to continue fighting, since all believe that renewed full-scale conflict could result in utter destruction. That said, the general belief is that the mystery of the Mourning will eventually be solved. Either someone will learn how to control the power that caused the Mournland, or the precise cause will be determined and people will be able to tell if it still poses a threat.

Many people truly hope that the Last War will live up to its name forever. But others prepare for more war even as they pursue peace. First and foremost, every nation wants to unravel the mystery of the Mourning; a nation that could learn how to use this power would be unstoppable. Other forces are searching for weapons or forgotten powers that could turn the tide if another war breaks out. Adventurers could find themselves racing through ruins in Xen’drik, trying to destroy a weapon of the ancient giants before the Emerald Claw can claim it for Karrnath and Lady Illmarrow.

The characters can stumble into a web of intrigue without seeing the sticky strands. Perhaps a patron hires the adventurers to transport what seems to be an ordinary backpack full of goods, and they don’t realize that it has a secret magical compartment until enemy spies come looking for whatever is inside it. Or a dying spy presses an amulet into the hand of one of the adventurers, saying, “The fate of Breland depends on you getting this to Boranel. Don’t trust anyone!” Assuming the adventurers care about the fate of Breland, they’re pressed into an urgent adventure that has implications they might not see or understand.

Playing During the Last War

In your campaign, you might want to take a look back at the war as it unfolds. Setting an adventure during the Last War puts the characters in a tumultuous time of political intrigue, tenuous alliances, and brutal conflicts. Consider these ways to make the Last War a present reality in your campaign:

• The players create new characters who live during a specific phase of the war. These characters could be figures of legend whose great deeds are known to the present-day characters, or they could be unknowns caught up in events much larger than themselves. In either case, the adventure they undertake can set the stage for events in the “present day” of your campaign.
• You might run an introductory session or flashback set during the waning years of the war, bringing the characters’ backgrounds to life. Maybe the characters are all part of the same unit in the war, or they might be enemies forced to cooperate when disaster strikes. Are the characters participants in a memorable battle? Do they take actions they’ll later regret? Do they make a bitter enemy who comes back to haunt them years later, when the campaign continues in the present day?
• A magical phenomenon might send the characters back in time, putting them in the middle of the conflict. Are they transported there to learn something? To alter the course of history? Or are they just stranded in a twisted time stream? How will they escape the horrors of the war and get back to their own time?

Villains of the Last War

Just as adventurers are shaped by their experiences in the Last War, villains often carry the physical and mental scars of the conflict. When developing the details of a villain’s background, consider the following options.

War Criminal

What horrific actions did the villain take during the Last War? Did they massacre civilians? Betray their comrades or their nation? A brilliant artificer might have designed arcane weapons that violated the rules of engagement. A Karrnathi bone knight (see “chapter 6”) could have overseen a camp where prisoners of war were used as subjects in necromantic experiments. Is the villain infamous for their crimes, or yet to be exposed for what they did? Do they believe that their crimes were justified? Is the criminal protected by powerful people in their nation, or reviled by the people they served?

Grim Inspiration

Something the villain saw or experienced during the war made a lasting impression that still drives them today. Perhaps their family was killed in a senseless attack, and everything they are doing is motivated by a desire to avenge this loss. Maybe they think that they were betrayed by their own nation. Perhaps they were caught in the Mourning, and even though they somehow survived it, what they lived through drove them insane.

Former Comrade

A former comrade-in-arms can be a useful hook to draw adventurers into a story—or a compelling villain. Which one of the characters served alongside the villain? Were they equals, or was one of higher rank? Did the villain abandon or betray the adventurer, or was it the adventurer who betrayed the villain? This option can be especially interesting for a warforged villain; while searching for their own identity following the war, they have embraced a dark path. If you use this motif, it’s important to develop the story in conjunction with the players whose characters are connected to the villain—either establishing crucial details ahead of time, or developing them together by way of a flashback.

War-Torn Survivor

At first meeting, the villain of an adventure might seem to be a person of honor, or at the least a hardscrabble survivor doing what they think is right after surviving the war. The villain might have experienced some of the same things in the war that the characters did, making it easy for the characters to understand the villain’s point of view—or at least to harbor a sliver of doubt that makes them think twice before rushing to condemn the villain. The War-Torn Villains table suggests twists you can add to villains mentioned elsewhere in this chapter to give them and their schemes a tie to the Last War.

Fortified Outpost

Military outposts across Khorvaire serve a variety of purposes during and after the war: rest stops for platoons on the move, garrisons for inactive troops, armories where weapons are stored, staging points for scouts and rangers who keep an eye on nearby enemy movements, and defensive fortifications meant to protect passes, bridges, or other key strategic locations. In an adventure, virtually anything can happen in or around it.

Fortified Outpost Features

This outpost, as shown on map 4.5, is a simple building holding barracks, officers’ quarters, and storage areas encased within multiple rings of fortification. A normal approach to the inner compound involves passing through one of two gate houses (protected by arrow slits and murder holes), crossing an open courtyard (with more arrow slits and defenders on the rooftop above), passing through another small gate area, and traversing the training yard before finally reaching the lone entrance.

An enormous magic weapon akin to a ballista is mounted atop the outpost and supported by a massive stone column. Depending on the outpost, this weapon might launch ballista bolts with tremendous force and speed, expel surges of lightning, hurl fireballs, or otherwise send devastating munitions at approaching enemies.

A basement area is dedicated to storage, including holding cells to contain prisoners of war while they wait to be transported to dedicated prison camps.

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Fortified Outpost Adventures

The Fortified Outpost Adventures table provides some possibilities for adventures set in such a location.

Lord of Blades

Stalking the Mournland like a spectral juggernaut, the Lord of Blades has emerged from the turmoil of the Last War as a symbol that calls to all the warforged of Khorvaire. Regardless of what they have become, the warforged were created to fight and die on the orders of their creators. Some warforged accept their history for what it is and look toward the future, but others hold a grudge because of how they were exploited by their creators. Those warforged make up the followers of the Lord of Blades.

The Lord of Blades preaches of an apocalyptic future in which the warforged will destroy or enslave the nations of flesh and blood. “We were made as weapons,” the Lord of Blades has declared over and over. “Let us be weapons! Let the nations of the land reap what they have sown!”

Today, warforged roam the Mournland in service to the Lord of Blades, patrolling the devastated terrain and salvaging resources from the ashes of Cyre. Most of these dissidents despise creatures of flesh, and any meeting with outsiders usually ends in blood being spilled. Other disciples of the Lord of Blades launch attacks on targets across Khorvaire: destroying Cannith workshops, killing nobles known for their abuse of warforged, and seizing shipments of weapons or arcane research to further deplete their enemy.

To the flesh-and-blood citizens of Khorvaire, the Lord of Blades is a figure of terror and pain. But the warforged under his sway (and some objective observers of other races) believe that his rage is fueled by the injustice heaped upon the warforged after their creation. The warforged were treated as disposable soldiers, almost slaves, during the war, and the postwar arguments over what rights the warforged should be granted—as if fundamental rights were meant to be bestowed or withheld by political authorities—gave the warforged themselves no voice, as if they were still the property of their creators. The Lord of Blades’ call to action is appealing to many warforged because it is grounded in legitimate grievances, even if the proposed action is abhorrent.

Compared to the total number of warforged created and deployed in combat during the Last War, the followers of the Lord of Blades are not especially numerous. His existence and message are well-known in the countries bordering the Mournland (especially Breland), but less familiar in the rest of Khorvaire. Hoping to swell the ranks of his followers, the Lord of Blades has agents spreading his apocalyptic message in every city with significant warforged populations.

The Lord of Blades in the War

The Lord of Blades didn’t appear in the world until after the Day of Mourning. Only he knows what his identity was before then, but many suppositions have been put forth. Some scholars say that he was originally a warforged named Bulwark, the personal bodyguard of King Boranel of Breland. Others believe that he was the last warforged to emerge from the creation forges at Eston, completed in the last moments before the Mourning.

Perhaps the most outlandish idea is that the Lord of Blades is not a true warforged at all. The first warforged were created by an artificer named Aaren d’Cannith, who became furious when the house used his invention to create weapons of war. Based on that knowledge, some believe Aaren transferred his consciousness into a warforged body so that he could personally seek vengeance for the wrongs done to his children.

In the years following the war, the Lord of Blades is a force to be reckoned with. The warforged are some of the few beings able to thrive in the desolation of the Mournland, so the followers of the Lord of Blades are building a nation of their own amid the devastation. They search out and scour sites that were devastated in the Mourning to gather lost weapons and magic, all part of their preparations for full-scale war against the creatures of flesh.

Warforged Ossuary

A warforged ossuary is a former temple, crypt, or warehouse deep in the Mournland that now houses the remains of slain warforged. It is a place of honor and reflection for the Lord of Blades and his followers.

Warforged Ossuary Features

The ossuary depicted in map 4.6 was once a temple, which has been refitted into a resting place for the Lord of Blades’ followers. Equal parts crypt, monument, vault, and workshop, the ossuary serves many functions for the warforged who maintain it. Other ossuaries exist in a variety of locations. The basic functions of these places remain the same, regardless of the original purpose of the structure. The Lord of Blades’ warforged troops defend these sites with their lives.

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Warforged Ossuary Adventures

The Warforged Ossuary Adventures table offers some reasons why characters might seek out such a place.

Lord of Blades NPCs

The Lord of Blades highlights the issues surrounding the creation of the warforged. He and his followers are ready antagonists, employing deadly methods in pursuit of their aims, but their ire isn’t born from evil. The Lord of Blades’ greatest desire is to ensure that his people have a future, but his methods are colored by his anger at the injustices the warforged have suffered, and in some cases are still being subjected to. Examples of villains linked to the Lord of Blades appear in the Lord of Blades NPCs table.

Lord of Blades Campaign Themes

The Voice of Thrane—Do They Know the War Is Over?

Against all logic and reason, people in Breland continue to argue that the warforged—creations of House Cannith, lest we forget—are living people with souls, deserving of the same rights as the rest of us. And yet, while philosophical debates rage and street protests grow heated, warforged who inhabit the dead land of Cyre continue to fight as if the war had not ended, launching raids out of the “dead-gray mist” to the neighboring lands—including, of course, Thrane. Proclaiming allegiance to something called the “Lord of Blades,” these warforged don’t seem to recognize the people of Thrane as living people with souls, so it’s hard to appreciate why we should treat them that way.

The Lord of Blades is a charismatic leader seeking to incite the warforged to violence and thereby to take vengeance against their former oppressors. Although low-level characters might not be prepared to face the Lord of Blades himself, they can easily encounter a squad of his followers anywhere on Khorvaire.

While the Lord of Blades and his minions can be a straightforward foe, it’s also possible to add more depth to the conflict. Perhaps a squad of warforged attacks a foundry in Sharn. After repelling the attack, the adventurers realize that the owners are mistreating the warforged who work the forges. What do they do?

Another way to explore the facets of this issue is to introduce a warforged supporter of the Lord of Blades who doesn’t engage in violence personally, such as a bard who moves among the warforged of a major city while speaking about the many abuses leveled against warforged. Especially if one of them is a warforged, how would the characters react to this individual?

The Lord of Blades can serve as a long-term opponent, as he continue to escalate his attacks over the course of the campaign. While he builds up his stronghold in the Mournland, he is also gathering the components to construct eldritch machines and other weapons. What would happen if the Lord of Blades were to discover the power that caused the Mourning and unleashed that power across Khorvaire?

Lord of Blades Adventure Hooks

The Lord of Blades Adventure Hooks table sets out some reasons how the characters could come in contact with the Lord of Blades.

The Lords of Dust

Evil entities spawned at the dawn of time still haunt Eberron. The cities raised by those ancient overlords are now only ashes, but the Lords of Dust still dream of restoring their primordial dominion. These fiends bide their time in an inconceivably long game, sparring with the dragons of Argonnessen as they manipulate events in order to fulfill the words of the Draconic Prophecy in a way that will bring them victory.

Though the Lords of Dust are mighty enough on their own, they serve greater masters known as the overlords (see “chapter 6”). Unfathomably powerful fiends, the overlords were bound at the end of the Age of Demons by the power of the Silver Flame, and an overlord can be released from this binding only if doing so can be made to fulfill the Draconic Prophecy. Every fiend spawned from Khyber owes fealty to one of these overlords.

In many ways the Lords of Dust are a reflection of the Chamber. Each group is trying to steer the fulfillment of the Prophecy to serve its own ends. The goal of the Lords of Dust is to release the overlords from their bindings and loose them upon Eberron in a new age of darkness. Despite this unified goal, the Lords of Dust operate as an alliance of like-minded cabals rather than a single monolithic organization. Each cabal serves its particular overlord above all others, and the conditions that release one overlord could actually contradict those that would free another.

Accomplished shapeshifters, the Lords of Dust have agents spread across Khorvaire. Some might wonder why, with all their talents, they haven’t tried to conquer the world already. The reason is that they have no interest in ruling this world; they want to return it to the state of unnatural glory that existed before. Their only interest in humanoids races is in directing them and their affairs down the paths necessary to release their overlords; aside from that, dealing with mortals is a tedious chore.

The Lords of Dust and the War

The Lords of Dust took part in the events of the Last War whenever they saw opportunities to further their dark version of the Prophecy. It remains difficult to identify what events might have been manipulated by one of these fiends, because their schemes take so long to play out. Far in the future, it might become apparent that a seeming victory for the forces of good, or a battle averted that spared hundreds from death was ultimately the first step in an overlord’s release. (For instance, a soldier who was otherwise fated to die in the battle that was avoided goes on to tempt a good-hearted priest into becoming corrupted.)

In the years since the Thronehold Accords, the Lords of Dust continue on as they ever have, advancing one small step at a time.

Demon Ruin

The Lords of Dust maintain a variety of safe houses and sanctums across Eberron, but their most tightly bound locations are the ruins left behind from the Age of Demons, scattered across the Demon Wastes.

Demon Ruin Features

Map 4.7 what a demon ruin might look like. A demon ruin is an echo of grandeur swathed in flame and ravaged by time. Despite the rich appointments and impeccable construction evident even in the broken remains of the building, the place carries the unmistakable air of anguish and torment.

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Demon Ruin Adventures

The Demon Ruin Adventures table offers some reasons why characters might risk death in the Demon Wastes.

Lords of Dust NPCs

Most of the Lords of Dust are rakshasas, but any sort of fiend—devil, demon, or otherwise—could be part of this organization. Such fiends are spawned in Khyber and aren’t actually from the Outer Planes. These fiends generally work through a wide network of duped pawns and indebted servitors.

Each overlord has a chief servant, and these leaders meet in the ruins of Ashtakala in the Demon Wastes. “Chapter 6” contains statistics for the overlord Rak Tulkhesh and his speaker, Mordakhesh the Shadowsword. The overlord Sul Khatesh is served by the rakshasa Hektula, also known as the First Scribe. Durastoran the Wyrmbreaker is the speaker of Bel Shalor, the overlord said to be bound in Flamekeep.

The Lords of Dust NPCs table describes some possible antagonists who might cross paths with adventurers.

Lords of Dust Campaign Themes

The Lords of Dust have two basic goals. The first is to encourage activities that strengthen the influence of their overlords. Rak Tulkhesh embodies war and conflict, and his minions are always eager to cause strife. The servants of Sul Khatesh entice cruel and selfish people to become warlocks, drawing mystical powers from their mistress. These activities won’t release an overlord, but they help to sustain it.

To release an overlord, the Lords of Dust must ensure that the Prophecy unfolds along a specific path. Often, following this path requires specific mortals to do specific deeds. For example, one shred of the Prophecy could stipulate that King Boranel has to be killed by one of the characters. The Lords of Dust could easily kill Boranel themselves, but that wouldn’t be sufficient to bring about the desired end; somehow, they’ll have to trick the adventurer into doing it.

Because the Lords of Dust so often work through pawns and minions, it might take a while for adventurers to realize that an apparently unconnected series of encounters early in a campaign are actually all part of the complex schemes of the Lords of Dust. These fiends are so devious that it is often impossible to discern a pattern to their actions until their plans have come to fruition and the connections have finally been made clear. (You could retroactively decide that what you intended as unconnected encounters were all part of the plan from the beginning!)

Lords of Dust Adventure Hooks

The Lords of Dust Adventure Hooks table presents some ways to get the characters into a fiendish adventure.

The Mournland

Once, Cyre shone more brightly than any of its sibling nations in the kingdom of Galifar. It was the center of the kingdom’s wealth, a monument to its artistic and arcane achievements, and the site of great centers of learning where preeminent masters of magic, architecture, and artifice taught at the forefront of their craft. It was also the home of House Cannith and its massive foundries: some of them built on mountains or in mountains, some gracefully spanning canyons, and others erected in vast labyrinths deep underground.

Today, this region is a festering wound across Khorvaire. A wall of mist surrounds a land twisted into strange and terrible shapes. Cyre was once called the Jewel of Galifar. Now it is the Mournland.

The Mourning

No one knows the reason for what happened on 20 Olarune 994 YK. Though it had been battered, Cyre stood defiant; Cyran soldiers had recently driven deep into Karrnathi territory and were holding their lines against the combined forces of Breland and Thrane.

And then it all came to an end.

Some say that the dead-gray mist began in Metrol, initially flowing out of the royal palaces of Vermishard. Others swear that the disaster began in the Cannith stronghold of Making. All that is known is that the mist swiftly spread across the kingdom, transforming the lands and creatures caught within it. Over a million people died in the Mourning, including nearly all of the inhabitants of central Cyre. The mist slowed its advance as it spread, and some of those in the borderlands heard of the disaster in time to flee. Others survived because they were already beyond the borders of Cyre; the mist stopped mere feet away from the camps of Cyran soldiers holding sections of the Brelish front. And though the vast majority of people caught in the Mourning died, thousands did survive. Most have no clear memory of the event, and there’s no explanation for why they were spared. The superstitious say that these people are cursed, that anyone touched by the Mourning is now an agent of darkness. (See the book’s “introduction” for further details on how the Mourning might have affected characters.)

In the days immediately following the Mourning, many assumed that the mist would continue to spread. Intense panic slowly turned to curiosity as it became clear that the border had stabilized. Over the last four years, people have ventured into the mist for many reasons. Some sought to plunder the abandoned treasures of the richest nation in Galifar. Others hoped to find lost loved ones, or some explanation for the disaster. Few of these explorers have returned, and those survivors all tell tales of a land twisted in unpredictable and inexplicable ways.

Mournland Environment

The arcane energies that caused the Day of Mourning and that linger in the remains of Cyre are mysterious and unpredictable, so they can be the cause of any bizarre magical effect you want to bring to bear in your game.

The Korranberg Chronicle—Cataclysm in Cyre!

A magical catastrophe of unknown origin engulfed the nation of Cyre yesterday, bringing a century of war to an explosive climax. Surely when the children of King Jarot began their squabbles over succession a hundred years ago, they could not have foreseen the horror that would engulf the home of Queen Mishann. Our reporters are still sifting through accounts of what has happened, but it is clear at this point that beautiful Cyre, the jewel of Galifar’s vast holdings, has disappeared behind a churning cloud of dead-gray mist.

Maps of Cyre from before the Day of Mourning are of limited use nowadays. The land beyond the gray mist has been twisted and warped, and distances seem to expand and shrink even as one treks across the wastes. As a result, any Wisdom (Survival) check or any check using navigator’s tools made to negotiate the Mournland is made with disadvantage.

As if the difficulties of navigation weren’t bad enough, explorers must bring their own provisions into the Mournland, unless they want to risk the danger of ingesting tainted food and water.

Terrain Features

The Day of Mourning redefined the geography of Cyre. The cataclysm raised land, swallowed lakes, and moved whole cities. In some areas, the earth has been torn and gouged as if by some colossal beast. In others, it has become iridescent glass or semiliquid sludge. Trees in one place turned to crystalline onyx; the flowers in another place begin eerily buzzing when touched by a breeze. Nothing in the Mournland is as it was; the entire land is a scar left by the catastrophe of the Mourning.

Mist Wall

The borders of the Mournland are defined by a wall of thick, gray mist that rises thousands of feet into the air and forms a canopy that hides the ruined realm even from above.

The area covered by the mist is a shadowy, muffled region devoid of life, sunlight, and sound. The wall of mist ranges in thickness from a few hundred feet to as much as five miles. Travelers who linger in the mist suffer a growing sense of claustrophobia and despair. It’s easy to get lost in the impenetrable fog, and some travelers have wandered in circles, unable to find their way either through the mist or back outside it, until their food or water ran out or they blundered into the path of some mutated terror. The DC for Wisdom (Survival) checks to avoid getting lost in the mists is 15. (See ""Becoming Lost"" in chapter 5 of the “Dungeon Master’s Guide”.)

Patches of mist and less oppressive fog dot the interior of the Mournland, but the worst effects of the mist are confined to the border region.

Glowing Chasm

The northern part of the Mournland is dominated by a great crack in the ground that emits a cold purple light. This supernatural glow emanates from deep within the Glowing Chasm, so far beneath the surface that its source hasn’t been identified. The mutated monsters that roam the Mournland seem drawn to this location, and those that spend any significant time near the Glowing Chasm mutate further, becoming more twisted and misshapen than before.

Crimson Water

Before the Mourning, a spring in the eastern part of Cyre fed the Rushing River as it traced a short but fertile path south to Kraken Bay. The bed of the Rushing River is now as dry and barren as the rest of the Mournland, and the location of the spring is marked by the Crimson Water, a stagnant lake of blood-colored liquid.

The shores of the Crimson Water are littered with the remains of animals and travelers that have strayed into the Mournland and sought to slake their thirst with a drink from the lake. At the lake bottom is the ruined town of Eastwood Springs, which once served as a resort for the leisure classes of Cyre. As yet, no one has been brave or foolish enough to search for lost treasures in the depths of the Crimson Water.

Unusual Locations

At places smaller in scale than the major features described above, explorers in the Mournland might encounter any kind of terrain feature with bizarre magical properties. The Unusual Locations table offers some ideas.

Creatures of the Mournland

Many creatures were slain outright by the Mourning. Others were mutated as the land was transformed. Sometimes the result was an entirely new life form; any previously unseen monster could appear as a spawn of the Mourning. Other creatures retained a semblance of their original physiology while taking on some sort of alteration. The Monstrous Mutations table has options for altering existing monsters to reflect this phenomenon.

Most warforged were unaffected by the Mourning, and the race as a whole seems immune to many of the lingering effects that plague the Mournland. As such, the warforged who follow the Lord of Blades constitute the closest thing to a humanoid society that can be found in the Mournland. Similarly, golems and other constructs were largely unaffected by the Mourning.

The Mourning had no effect on existing undead, and a large number of new undead came into being when the cataclysm occurred. Various spirits (such as ghosts and specters) linger near the places where they died, and the corpses that litter an abandoned battlefield might rise up to continue fighting whenever a living creature comes near. Some of these entities are similar to undead that might be encountered outside the Mournland, but others have alterations that are tied to the unusual manner of their deaths. You can use the “Monstrous Mutations table” to generate some details. Many of the mutations on this table might increase a creature’s challenge rating by 1 or 2. Use the guidelines in “chapter 9” of the “Dungeon Master’s Guide” to determine whether its challenge rating should increase and by how much, or you can simply increase it by 1 or 2 as you see fit.

Many Mournland creatures have mutations that are purely cosmetic and don’t change their stat blocks. For example, one might have eyes that look like gemstones or might display glowing patterns on its skin or fur.

Magical Effects

The catastrophe of the Mourning altered more than the landscape and living creatures. The devastation caused localized alterations in the way magic functions. In some places, magic barely functions, or certain magical functions are warped. In other places, spells persist past the instant of their casting and start behaving as if they were independent, living creatures.

A common misunderstanding about the Mournland is that healing spells refuse to work. The fact is that healing spells are impeded within the dead-gray mist, and occasionally in other areas, making it harder for someone to cast them effectively. Because so few expeditions make it far past the mist, the inability to heal is widely assumed to be a property of the Mournland as a whole.

The Environmental Effects table provides suggestions for weird magic that might pervade a small or large area of the Mournland. Effects might shift from day to day or even hour to hour.

Sites and Ruins

Of all the bizarre and horrific spectacles of the Mournland, perhaps the greatest tragedy is represented by the ruins of the once-glittering cities of Cyre. Some have been reduced to rubble, while others are eerily preserved, devoid of life but otherwise unharmed. In some of them, treasures left behind by the former inhabitants await discovery, and many people across Khorvaire are eager to get their hands on such spoils for a wide variety of reasons.

Battlefields and the Field of Ruins

Cyre was the site of incessant battles during the Last War, from the first extended campaign—the siege of Eston in 895 YK—to the running battle on the Saerun Road that was cut short when the Mourning occurred. Battlefields across the Mournland, both ancient and recent, stand like open graves as evidence of the horrors of the war. In some places, armies that were fighting on the Day of Mourning became stone statues anchored in position. Others were crystallized or reduced to ash.

On the Field of Ruins—around the Saerun Road in the southwest part of the Mournland, where allied forces of Thrane and Breland battled an outnumbered Cyran army on the Day of Mourning—the fallen soldiers are preserved just as they fell, with no sign of rot or decay. Thousands upon thousands of corpses lie scattered across the field, facedown in the dirt or staring lifelessly at the gray sky. Even seasoned bands of treasure hunters are loath to enter the Field of Ruins.

Eston

House Cannith was born in Eston, and the house’s labors transformed the city into a place of wonders. Clockwork birds perched and sang in silvery trees covered in steel bark. Skycoaches carried smiths and magewrights from forge to forge, and an iridescent dome protected the city from storms and harsh winds. On the proving grounds of the Cannith creation forges, cadres of newborn warforged learned the combat skills that would prepare them for active duty.

Eston began as a successful mining settlement, extracting iron and rare ores from the nearby hills. Drawing on these resources, the Cannith artificers in Eston spent decades researching all sorts of artificial creatures, which eventually gave rise to the warforged.

Because of these wonders, Eston is an irresistible attraction for treasure hunters hoping to access the vaults of House Cannith. Reports suggest, however, that it has become a strange and deadly place. It’s said that the city is overrun by living spells. In addition to the remnants of damaging spells (see ""Living Spells"" in “chapter 6”), there are stranger phenomena: living continual flames that crawl along the streets, cling to lampposts, and flee from strangers, and living scrying spells that shift and shimmer, displaying distant scenes on their amorphous skin.

Eston was renowned for its clockwork menagerie and its steel gardens, a showcase that chronicles House Cannith’s centuries of work developing constructs and homunculi. These creatures have been twisted by the Mourning and have become deadly monsters. Stories tell of an enormous gorgon golem, of razor-winged swarms of silver songbirds, and many other equally strange things.

Making and the Glass Plateau

Many people believe that the city of Making was at the epicenter of whatever caused the Mourning. The cataclysm reshaped the terrain around the city, creating the great highland formation known as the Glass Plateau.

The Glass Plateau is mostly smooth and flat, though jagged spikes and spires jut up from the ground in seemingly random places. The central portion of the highland plain is obsidian, and bursts of fiery light can sometimes be seen in its dark depths. Toward the edges of the plateau, the glass becomes lighter in color and more transparent, appearing almost pale white along the jagged cliffs at the edge. Nothing grows on the plain of glass, and few creatures haunt its jagged peaks and flat expanse.

The ruins of Making still peek through the obsidian flats of the Glass Plateau. Those who believe that the Mourning started here also expect that Making is where the mystery of its origin will be unraveled. A secret Cannith facility is supposed to lie in the city’s subterranean depths.

Metrol

This city was once the capital of Cyre. Now it lies empty, seemingly waiting along the Cyre River for its people to return. Parts of Metrol have been shattered, their buildings crushed and tumbled by whatever force destroyed the nation. Other portions of the city escaped with superficial damage; aside from the absence of people and the shroud of mist that hangs over the area, it looks much as it did before Cyre fell. The days in Metrol are quiet, but the nights bring a cacophony of chaos and violence to the streets—at night, misshapen monsters emerge from their lairs to prowl and wail as they hunt each other for food.

Mournland Villains

Few people have reason to spend time anywhere near the Mournland. Among the exceptions are those who seek to plunder the riches of lost Cyre, such as Ikar’s Salvage (described below). These treasure hunters are also the kind of people who make interesting villains, teaming up with adventurers one day and betraying them the next.

In addition to these salvagers, the Lord of Blades (described in more detail earlier in this chapter and in “chapter 6”) is a major force in the Mournland. The Mournland Villains table suggests other possible evil schemes and influences that might arise in connection with the Mournland.

Adventures and Encounters

In contrast to the salvagers and treasure hunters who undertake most of the expeditions to the Mournland, some individuals enter the churning mist with good intentions in mind. Most of these adventurers are displaced Cyrans or are hired by such people, ranging from common folk hoping to retrieve family heirlooms to servants of Prince Oargev, who hopes to recover the lost regalia of the Cyran crown.

Two of the dragonmarked houses, Orien and Cannith, also have vested interests in investigating the Mournland’s ruins and often hire adventurers to pursue those interests. House Orien wants to restore the lightning rail line that crosses the Mournland, which would reconnect the western and eastern halves of Khorvaire. House Cannith wants to recover trade secrets, experimental artifacts, and magic items from the creation forges, foundries, and secret laboratories it lost on the Day of Mourning.

The Mournland Adventure Hooks table includes a range of potential opportunities that could lead a group of adventurers into the Mournland.

Encounters and Trinkets

The Mournland is a dangerous place full of bizarre, inexplicable, and often localized magical effects—literally anything can happen in this place. The Mournland Encounters table and the Mournland Trinkets table offer just a glimpse of the weirdness that adventurers might come across in their travels into the ruins of Cyre.

Mournland Trinket

Warforged Colossus

Mere weeks before the Day of Mourning, House Cannith unleashed its mightiest creations: the warforged colossi. Hundreds of feet tall, these gargantuan warriors thundered across Cyre, crushing everything in their path and leaving ruin in their wake. Meant to end the war decisively, these arcane war machines could pulverize soldiers beneath their feet and incinerate entire legions with beams of red light radiating from their mouths. But as the colossi were beginning to turn to the lands outside Cyre, the Mourning came, and the colossi perished. Now their remains lie, like mountains, in the Mournland, filled with secrets and waiting to be explored.

History of the Colossi

House Cannith spent much of the war working on various kinds of constructs that could serve as soldiers, siege engines, or other weapons of war. Their earliest efforts, which lumbered onto Cyran battlefields in the late 930s YK, were barely more than golems with limited sentience, difficult to command in the field. The warforged titans were developed over the next twenty years, and the modern warforged—often perceived as the pinnacle of Cannith engineering—first saw battle in 965.

Successful as the warforged were, though, House Cannith never lost interest in building a better titan. Cyre didn’t lose its desire for deadly weapons that could give it an edge over its enemies, and tremendous amounts of gold flowed from Cyre’s coffers into the vaults of House Cannith as research and development continued, working toward a new kind of warforged that would bring an end to the war once and for all, and establish Cyre’s martial supremacy for centuries to come.

With Cyre’s immense wealth fueling its effort, House Cannith called upon the ingenuity of its best artificers and magewrights. Construction began on enormous new creation foundries, hundreds of feet tall, carved into the sides of mountains or secretly nestled within remote canyons.

The project succeeded beyond Cyre’s wildest dreams. When the original warforged colossus took its first thunderous footsteps, it was met with a reaction of equal parts awe and horror—and it was almost immediately sent north toward Metrol, where armies from Karrnath were menacing the Cyran capital.

Operating a Colossus

A warforged colossus is part warforged and part vehicle. It stands between 200 and 300 feet tall. For optimal performance, a colossus required an active crew including a captain with the Mark of Making, a weapons officer with the Mark of Storm, and a helmsman with the Mark of Passage. When absolutely necessary, though, the colossus could direct itself but at diminished power. A colossus also carried a sizable contingent of elite troops, who could ride in safety within the colossus while it crushed through enemy lines or smashed through a wall, then pour out through hatches once the colossus was in position.

Docent Network

Controlling a construct of such size proved to be a great challenge for the Cannith artificers. The solution entailed creating a large number of docent nodes and joining them together in a single network distributed throughout the body of the colossus. Docent nodes are modeled after the ancient docents found in Xen’drik (described in “chapter 5”), and though they lack the full sentience or functionality of a true docent, collectively they can guide and control a colossus. The network converged at one place, where the captain could stand and control the colossus’s every movement through the use of a mithral helmet with hundreds of semi-organic tendril-wires attached. By way of the central master docent—a true docent recovered from Xen’drik—the whole network fed information back to the operator. Several smaller “hubs” of the network gave other operators access to the relevant parts of that information and enabled them to control parts of the colossus as well. The techniques and tools used to create docent nodes were lost in the Mourning. The various branches of House Cannith are sending adventurers into the Mournland in hopes of salvaging some or all of the network inside a fallen colossus.

Colossus Power Core

The power source of a colossus is a Khyber dragonshard of unusually large size, cut into a specific pattern that allows the dragonshard to contain raw magical energy without exploding. A single power core is about the size of a wine barrel, hooked up to an elaborate harness that distributes power throughout the colossus.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Warforged colossi were physically powerful, but their principal weaponry involved the use of bound elementals. Some expelled blasts of elemental fire from their hands or mouths; others wielded adamantine swords they could wreathe in flame. Some colossi also used bound elementals for defense: manifesting shields of elemental rock, blasting out elemental air to deflect ranged attacks, and so on. The captain of the colossus could control all this weaponry through the docent network, but for optimal performance the captain relied on a weapons officer with the Mark of Storm to employ this elemental weaponry.

Finding a Colossus

When adventurers discover a colossus, it might be in any state. Some have fallen or collapsed and become overgrown with vegetation to the point where one could be mistaken for a small hill. One was engulfed when the rock under its feet turned to liquid and swallowed it up, encasing it in a stone prison when the rock hardened. Some are buried—except for the head, perhaps, or a hand, which serves as a clear indicator that something lies underneath.

Adventurers might even stumble upon a reality the world isn’t ready to face: an operational colossus (see the stat block in “chapter 6”).

Entering a Colossus

Map 4.8 shows a fallen colossus. The mostly hollow interior of a colossus is large enough for the crew and soldiers to travel in safety. The area features tunnels, ladders, hallways and crawlways, control rooms, storage rooms, arbalest turrets, and observation decks. With comfort a low priority, only minimal crew quarters are provided, and the inside has no kitchen or dining areas. Normal operating procedure called for the crew to exit the colossus at night and camp outside it.

A colossus usually has multiple hatches to allow entrance and egress: on the legs, on the back, in the chest, in the mouth or on the back of the head, and so on. But entering the remains of a warforged colossus is not a task to be taken lightly, since the Mournland can have bizarre effects on the colossus’s docent network, power core, and weaponry, as well as its mind.

Elemental Life

Even though a colossus has fallen, its docent nodes and elemental defenses might still be active. The dragonshards that once bound the elemental that powered the colossus’s main weapon might have been broken, allowing the elemental to escape from its bondage and roam the body of the colossus, which has become its lair. Or perhaps it has come under the control of the master docent and now does its twisted will, defending the interior of the colossus and giving voice and form to the docent’s otherwise disembodied intelligence.

A Deadly Dungeon

House Cannith’s artisans lined the interior of each colossus with magic wards and traps in case enemy soldiers breached its defenses. As long as the primary operator remained connected to the master docent and in control, the traps were inactive, but if the operator gave an alert (or simply left their station, or died), the master docent would send a signal through the network to seal the doors, activate the arcane wards, and arm the traps in any area that was under attack.

A Grisly Tomb

Most colossi are tombs, filled with the bodies of the crews that perished in the cataclysm. But the Mourning affected everything in bizarre ways, so a venture inside a colossus is often terrifying. A horrific monster might have made its lair in a colossus’s interior in the years since the Mourning. The master docent in another one might speak through the brass horns that the crews used to communicate, growing increasingly incoherent and/or sinister. The crew of a colossus might be undead—zombies lumbering through the colossus’s interior, or spirits doomed to haunt it until they can find blessed release.

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Order of the Emerald Claw

What arose as an order of militant knights within the nation of Karrnath fell into disgrace and became a shattered remnant. The Order of the Emerald Claw now operates as a collection of cells of fanatical warriors, necromancers, and spies. On the surface, its members seem to be driven by Karrnathi patriotism, and they purport to be adherents of the Blood of Vol. The most cursory investigation reveals that claim to be a facade.

The truth behind the Emerald Claw is that they serve the lich Lady Illmarrow, and in her name they carry out acts of destruction, murder, and necromantic terrorism. They have been linked to the theft of powerful items imbued with necromancy magic, and they often employ vicious undead minions that make even other Karrns uncomfortable. Most worshipers of the Blood of Vol are quick to point out that they don’t accept the order’s claim to membership in their faith, and those true worshipers vehemently reject the Emerald Claw’s violent fanaticism.

The Emerald Claw and the War

During the Last War, Karrnath was forced to embrace the practice of necromancy to bolster the ranks of its army. At the same time, a number of chivalric orders were founded by devoted worshipers of the Blood of Vol. These groups included necromancers and bone knights that were trained to raise and command the undead troops used during the war. The Order of the Emerald Claw was one of the most infamous of these groups, renowned for its fighting skills but often sanctioned for its brutal treatment of enemy soldiers. The Emerald Claw were also accused of slaughtering civilians so they could be raised as skeletons or zombies—behavior that was strictly forbidden by the Karrnath commanders.

When King Kaius III came to power near the end of the war, he turned against the Blood of Vol. The orders were disbanded, and many members of the Emerald Claw were condemned as war criminals. While the other orders complied with the king’s edict, many knights of the Emerald Claw refused to surrender. The order fragmented as its original members scattered, but a number of those rebellious knights started their own cells, rallying all who wanted to see Karrnath achieve its rightful glory. The order experienced a surge in membership following the Treaty of Thronehold because many Karrns thought that Kaius III had betrayed their nation by embracing peace.

Six years ago, shortly after Kaius’s accession, a figure known as Lady Illmarrow emerged as the leader of the Order of the Emerald Claw. Few of her followers know anything about her, other than her great skill as a necromancer; many members of the Order refer to her as Queen of the Dead. Some members of the order believe she will ultimately raise Karrnath above all other nations. Others simply trust that she will grant them personal power. They believe that she is poised to become a god of death, and that when she ascends to divinity, they will be granted immortality or at least the eternal life of undeath.

Library Vault

Map 4.9 shows a library vault maintained by the Order of the Emerald Claw. The order collects dark materials and forbidden magic and holds them for safekeeping in these heavily defended locations. Each vault also functions as a chapter house or a sanctuary for a local cell.

Library Vault Features

Library vaults can be found in a variety of locations. Some of them are crypts or dungeons secreted away underground, while others are hidden in plain sight inside a home or a business. Whatever its specific location, a vault is always equipped with defensive features, some of which remain active even after the outer door is breached.

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Library Vault Adventures

The Library Vault Adventures table outlines some possibilities for adventure involving one of these locations.

Order of the Emerald Claw NPCs

Given the undeniable nature of the order, villains associated with the Emerald Claw present an opportunity to provide characters with adversaries that are memorably evil, and that revel in their villainy.

Emerald Claw Campaign Themes

At low levels, adventurers can clash with Emerald Claw skeletons and zombies. As the characters grow more capable, the threats escalate. They might have to protect a village from a necromancer who is sucking the life out of the land, or race through a dungeon to acquire a necromantic relic before the Claw can claim it. The Emerald Claw is ideally suited to pulp action; it’s a force that is blatant in its villainy and has hordes of evil minions to do its bidding. Defeating the schemes of the Emerald Claw should always feel like the right thing to do.

Although many members of the Emerald Claw believe that they are fighting for Karrnath, they are truly serving the lich Lady Illmarrow (see “chapter 6”). The greatest necromancer of the age, she seeks to unlock the secrets of her inactive dragonmark, the Mark of Death. If she succeeds, she could come to possess unimaginable power. This makes her a formidable villain to drive the action of an entire campaign.

Emerald Claw Adventure Hooks

The Emerald Claw Adventure Hooks table offers some options to kick off adventures featuring the Emerald Claw that take place outside their sanctuaries.

Planes of Existence

Eberron is part of the Great Wheel of the multiverse, as described in the “Player’s Handbook” and the “Dungeon Master’s Guide”. At the same time, it is fundamentally apart from the rest of the Great Wheel, sealed off from the other planes even while it’s encircled by its own wheeling cosmology. Eberron’s unique station in the multiverse is an important aspect of the world: its planes have profound and shifting influences on the Material Plane, and it is sheltered from the influences and machinations of gods and other powers elsewhere on the Great Wheel.

The planet of Eberron is the heart of its own Material Plane. It is surrounded by the Ring of Siberys. Beyond this band of dragonshards, twelve moons orbit the world. To date, no creature from Eberron has explored the moons, and none can say whether they are lifeless rocks or thriving worlds. Some sages believe that the moons are connected to the planes, or that they might even be physical extensions of the planes, but the truth of these assertions remains unknown.

No other planets have been discovered within Eberron’s Material Plane. The underworld of Khyber, however, contains a host of demiplanes, tiny pockets of altered reality. As such, venturing beneath the surface of Eberron can lead you to a network of caverns and passages, and if you find the right passage, it can take you to fantastic and deadly places inhabited by fiends, aberrations, and other children of Khyber.

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Planes of Eberron

The Material Plane is enfolded by thirteen planes of existence. Many of these have aspects of both Outer Planes and Inner Planes. All of them overlap with Eberron in some way, and they influence and are influenced by the Material Plane. The intensity of this influence waxes and wanes; scholars often depict the planes as orbiting Eberron—sometimes coming close, other times far away—though this manner of expression is merely a metaphor for their shifting influence. When another plane’s influence on the Material Plane is especially strong, the plane is said to be coterminous. When its influence is weak, a plane is remote. The state of a plane can be important for performing epic rituals, creating of eldritch machines, or interacting with extraplanar entities. Whether or not a plane is remote or coterminous at a given time depends entirely on the needs of your story.

Manifest Zones

At certain places in the Material Plane, the barriers between worlds are thin, and some characteristics of another plane can bleed through into the material world. These places are called manifest zones, and the nature of each one is strongly shaped by the plane it connects to. The city of Sharn is located in a manifest zone linked to Syrania that keeps its towers reaching toward the sky and aids flight. Ghosts might linger in a manifest zone associated with Dolurrh, while a manifest zone tied to Lamannia might have wild vegetation and enhance druidic magic. A manifest zone might include a portal that allows free passage from either plane to the other. The descriptions of other planes in this section offer some other possible effects. Most manifest zones have reliable, persistent effects. Some have only weak connections to their planes, and their properties influence the world only when the plane is coterminous.

Tour of the Planes

Each of the thirteen planes in Eberron’s cosmology is briefly described below, both in general terms as well as by the effects that occur or appear on the Material Plane in manifest zones linked to that plane.

Daanvi, the Perfect Order

Daanvi embodies absolute order, along with the ideals of law and discipline and their impact on civilization. The perfectly ordered, immaculate districts of the plane represent different aspects of law: precisely maintained fields, legalistic tribunals, and hordes of modrons compiling archives of every rule or regulation ever created. Some districts are governed by a justice system based in goodness, where laws help to maintain harmony. In more oppressive locations, harsh laws are imposed on the suffering populace by tyrannical devils.

Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams

Mortal creatures come into contact with Dal Quor when they dream (except for elves, kalashtar, and warforged, which don’t dream). The outer fringes of the plane are shaped by the memories and experiences of dreamers. The dark core at the heart of the plane is shaped by the nightmare force known as the Dreaming Dark. The primary inhabitants of Dal Quor are the quori, enigmatic master manipulators that can inhabit the dreams of others.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the quori fought a bitter war with the giants of Xen’drik. The giants ended the war by severing the connection between Dal Quor and Eberron and disrupting the cycle of the planes. As a result, Dal Quor is always remote in relation to the Material Plane, and no manifest zones are tied to Dal Quor. The only way to reach Dal Quor from the Material Plane is through the psychic projection of dreaming, and the quori are forced to possess mortal hosts to work their will on Eberron.

Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead

When a mortal soul dies, it is drawn to Dolurrh, a place defined by despair and apathy. Over time, memories are leached out of these trapped spirits until only husks remain. Although this seems a bleak fate, most religions maintain that Dolurrh isn’t the end of a soul’s journey; it is a gateway to whatever lies beyond. They assert that what appears to be dissolution is the natural process of the soul moving to a higher plane of existence that mortals can never realize: joining with the Sovereigns, merging with the Silver Flame, or simply rejoining the cycle of life in a new form. That claim notwithstanding, Dolurrh is a gloomy plane filled with the lingering traces of the dead.

Fernia, the Sea of Fire

This plane encompasses both the raw elemental power of fire and its versatility: flame used as a weapon, as a force that holds darkness at bay, or as a destroyer and a force for change. Fernia is home to all manner of fire elementals and to celestials and fiends that embrace the same ideals. Efreeti pashas and fiendish satraps rule city-islands of obsidian that drift atop seas of magma, their minions producing metalcraft of surpassing beauty and quality.

Irian, the Eternal Dawn

Irian is the plane of light and hope, the wellspring of positive energy which is the foundation of light, life, and love. The regions of Irian reflect the idea of beginnings and of resurgent life: fertile lands untouched by any tool, glittering crystal forests, and thriving homesteads and communities. Angels dwell in a grand city reflecting the first days of a glorious empire. The sun never sets here.

Positive energy flows into Eberron from Irian, and the denizens of Irian believe that the simple fact of their existence helps the mortals of the Material Plane. The celestials of Irian are also those most likely to respond to planar ally and similar spells.

Kythri, the Churning Chaos

The plane of chaos and change, Kythri is a realm in constant flux. The elements collide in fantastic explosions of unbridled power, motes of earth careen erratically through space as gravity constantly shifts, and a riot of colors blazes through the ever-shifting sky. Still, stoic githzerai monks exert their will over the elements, crafting monasteries on islands of earth amid the chaos. Several varieties of slaadi dwell here as well, exulting in the endless turmoil.

Lamannia, the Twilight Forest

Though it is referred to as a forest, Lamannia contains every possible natural environment. It is home to great beasts, lycanthropes, and other beings that reflect the power of nature. The splendor of nature in this place is intoxicating to druids. Animals born here are paragons of their species, infused with primal power that put even the finest specimens of House Vadalis to shame.

Mabar, the Endless Night

Mabar is the darkness that promises to swallow even the brightest day, the hungry shadow that yearns to consume light and life. It is the plane of entropy, hunger, and loss, slowly sucking the life from the multiverse. It is the source of negative energy in Eberron. Most undead are animated by the power of Mabar, and the life they drain from mortals flows into the Endless Night.

Mabar is made up of many fragments, each one representing a different vision of desolation. The fiends of Mabar scheme to steal fragments of other planes and draw them down into their eternal darkness, creating a jumble of broken worlds in varying states of decay.

Risia, the Plain of Ice

The counterpoint to Fernia, Risia embodies winter’s chill and the stoic constancy of the glacier. Across Risia’s icy expanse, blizzards ceaselessly howl over floes of thick, blue ice, and frost giants carve great fortresses from glaciated mountains. Unprotected visitors perish quickly, but those who adapt to the cold or protect themselves from it can plumb the plane’s frigid depths for ancient secrets.

Shavarath, the Battleground

Shavarath is the plane of war, ravaged by a conflict that will never end. Since the dawn of time, armies of fiends and celestials have fought one another in Shavarath, their eternal battles a microcosm of the struggle between good and evil that rages across all of reality. New arrivals are subject to forced conscription when encountered (whether by angel, demon, or devil), if they aren’t summarily dispatched. Amid the constant strife, windstorms of blades scour the landscape, capable of cutting the unprepared to ribbons. For all its danger, Shavarath holds weapons of legend and a wealth of knowledge on the art of war.

Syrania, the Azure Sky

Crystal spires float in a perfect blue sky. Farms and serene communities stretch across clouds. Syrania is the plane of peace and all that flourishes in times of peace. This includes commerce; the Immeasurable Market of Syrania draws merchants and travelers from across reality.

Syrania is home to a host of angels that devote their immortal lives to serene contemplation. Each angel seeks to achieve mastery of one pure concept, such as holding all the knowledge on a subject or ceaselessly abiding by the tenets of a virtue. An angel of dreams isn’t a quori, but it understands dreams, it can explain and interpret them, and it can shape them if it chooses. Likewise, an angel of war isn’t constantly embroiled in battle as the celestials of Shavarath are; instead, it seeks perfection in the art and theories of war. Angels of Syrania can be useful sources of information for adventurers, and sometimes travel to Eberron to observe mortals.

Thelanis, the Faerie Court

Thelanis is the home of the fey and a realm where narrative and metaphor shape the nature of reality. Its many dominions are governed by the archfey, and the denizens of each realm reflect the nature and the story of their lord. For instance, the realm of the Prince of Frost is trapped in endless winter, and pale eladrin lead packs of winter wolves in their hunts. It’s not the same environment as on Risia, because the prince’s realm isn’t an embodiment of the idea of cold—rather, it’s a domain frozen by its prince’s broken heart. If the prince’s story were changed, the realm would change with it.

Time and space are both malleable in the Faerie Court, and a mortal who wanders into Thelanis might never return—or might leave after a few days to discover that weeks, months, or years have passed back home.

Xoriat, the Realm of Madness

Xoriat’s bizarre geometry and unspeakable inhabitants seem like the product of an insane person’s nightmare. In this utterly alien environment, beings whose appearance can shatter a person’s sanity live in cities crafted from gargantuan, fleshy tumors. Seas of protoplasm, in a shade of purple that hurts the eyes, lap against shores of chitin. Some can look upon Xoriat and see it as a place of revelations, but most mortals who come too close to Xoriat fall prey to madness. Xoriat is the source of many aberrations, including the terrifying daelkyr.

Eberron and the Multiverse

It is theoretically possible to travel between Eberron and other worlds in the multiverse by means of the Deep Ethereal or various spells designed for planar travel, but the cosmology of Eberron is specifically designed to prevent such travel, to keep the world hidden away from the meddling of gods, celestials, and fiends from beyond.

The three progenitor wyrms worked together to form Eberron and its planes as a new cosmic system in the depths of the Ethereal Plane. They recreated the elves, orcs, dragons, and other races found throughout the multiverse and placed them in their new world, but allowed them to develop beyond the reach of Gruumsh, Corellon, Lolth, and other influences for good and ill.

In your campaign, you might decide that the barrier formed by the Ring of Siberys is intact, and contact between Eberron and the worlds and planes beyond its cosmology is impossible. This is the default assumption of this book. On the other hand, you might want to incorporate elements from other realms. Perhaps you want to use a published adventure that involves Tiamat or the forces of the Abyss meddling in the affairs of the world. In such a case, it could be that the protection offered by the Ring of Siberys has begun to fail. You might link the weakening of Siberys to the Mourning—perhaps whatever magical catastrophe caused the Mourning also disrupted the Ring of Siberys, or perhaps a disruption of the Ring of Siberys actually caused the Mourning!

If contact between Eberron and the wider multiverse is recent and limited, consider the implications for everyone involved. In the Great Wheel, Asmodeus is an ancient threat, with well-established cults, lines of tieflings, and a long history of meddling that sages might uncover in dusty old tomes hidden in remote libraries. But if Asmodeus has only just discovered Eberron and begun to influence it for the first time, there is no lore about him to be discovered on Eberron. He has no power base and needs to recruit new followers. Unusual alliances might form against him, as celestials and fiends join forces to expel this hostile outsider.

Gods, Celestials, and Fiends

The people of Eberron believe their gods are omnipresent—not bound to a single coherent form, but present in all places. If you revere the Silver Flame, its power is always with you. The Sovereign Onatar guides the hand of every smith who knows how to listen for his voice, and Dol Arrah and Dol Dorn are active on every battlefield, guiding every soldier. This outlook means that religion is driven by faith, as opposed to the concrete actions of deities. The faithful believe that their triumphs reflect the assistance of a divine influence. They don’t expect a god to physically show up and solve their problems.

Fiends and celestials certainly do have physical form, however. Fortunately for the folk of the Material Plane, these extraplanar creatures are deeply invested in their own affairs and have little interest in Eberron. Demons and angels battle one another in Shavarath, but they’ve been doing this since before humanity existed, and they dare not leave their posts to fool around elsewhere. Exceptions do exist, such as the daelkyr and the Dreaming Dark, but by and large these natives of other planes are exclusively concerned with where they live. As such, player characters are more likely to encounter celestials and fiends that are native to Eberron, spawned by Khyber or Siberys, rather than extraplanar entities.

Couatls

Couatls are a celestial race born from Siberys at the dawn of time. Along with the dragons, they battled the fiendish overlords of Khorvaire and Sarlona. Ultimately, the couatls sacrificed most of their number and combined their souls to form a prison to hold the overlords. Scholars have theorized that their combined souls eventually became the force that is worshiped by the Church of the Silver Flame. The church is ambivalent on the topic, preaching that regardless of how the Flame was first kindled, there is a place within the Flame for all noble souls.

The few couatls that remain on Eberron are devoted servants of the light. They are most often found guarding the prison of the ancient fiendish overlords, and individuals sometimes act directly to aid adventurers who fight the forces of darkness.

Fiends

The mightiest of the fiends born from Khyber are creatures of immense power known as the overlords. Dozens of overlords were imprisoned by the Silver Flame at the dawn of time; two of them, Rak Tulkhesh and Sul Khatesh, are detailed in “chapter 6”. Another—Bel Shalor, the Shadow in the Flame—is bound within the Silver Flame itself in the great cathedral in Flamekeep in Thrane. You can adapt other evil gods or archfiends for an Eberron campaign (assuming you don’t want Eberron to be connected to the wider multiverse) by recasting them as overlords. For example, Tiamat could be an overlord embodying the pride and potential for evil within dragons, Lolth could be an overlord who preys on the elves, and Asmodeus the insidious maker of profane bargains.

Any fiend—whether devil, demon, yugoloth, or something else—could be spawned by Khyber if it suits your story. Such fiends might be bound to an overlord, or they might be independent incarnations of evil unleashed on the world. Two other races of fiends, though, play important roles in its history.

Night Hags

Night hags have been around since the Age of Demons, when they often served as ambassadors and carried messages between the fiends and the dragons. Today, they remain impartial mediators, and adventurers who are about to deal with outsiders or other planes of existence might want to seek the advice of a night hag—although one can be quite difficult to find.

Rakshasas

As the primary agents of the fiendish overlords, rakshasas once dominated Khorvaire and Sarlona. When the overlords were defeated in the first age of the world by the combined might of the dragons and the couatls, the rakshasas largely disappeared into Khyber as well. The Lords of Dust are made up largely of rakshasas, scheming in the shadows—many trying to free their imprisoned overlords, others looking for a way to claim their masters’ power for their own.

Travel

Thanks to the industrious innovation of multiple dragonmarked houses and workshops full of magewrights, the people of Khorvaire can cross the continent in a week or less using magical means. The lightning rail and vessels powered by bound elementals and operated by the dragonmarked houses, can carry passengers as far in an hour as a horse can walk in a day. This section discusses issues related to travel in an Eberron campaign and presents the Gold Dragon Inns, a chain of hotels that offer consistent accommodation for travelers anywhere in Khorvaire.

As described in “chapter 5” of the “Dungeon Master’s Guide”, it’s up to you whether you gloss over travel in your campaign or narrate it in more detail. If the point is to get the characters to their destination so they can get the adventure underway, it’s fine to assume that their journey (whether it’s by lightning rail, airship, or more mundane means) passes without incident. After all, the people of Khorvaire make such trips every day, and most of them reach their destinations safely.

The alternative is to make the journey an important part of the adventure. Travel can play a crucial role in a story, and when it does, you should give it as much time at the game table as it needs.

Elemental Vessels

Long ago, gnome artificers and specialists from House Cannith discovered and developed a means of magical travel. The heart of the process is a set of techniques for binding elementals that uses Khyber dragonshards. This closely guarded procedure requires delicate engineering, arcane skill, and rare materials from around the world, and different workshops employ varying esoteric techniques. Building a new vehicle can occupy a workshop for months while magical energy is painstakingly inlaid into the vessel’s hull. Such work is a complicated task requiring the labor of many; it is not something that can be undertaken by a lone wizard for any amount of compensation.

The construction of elemental vessels requires the use of two kinds of dragonshards. A Khyber dragonshard of the largest size and finest quality is required to bind the elemental to the vessel, and a Siberys dragonshard is needed to craft the vehicle’s helm. Production of new vessels grinds to a halt without a steady supply of both kinds of dragonshards, and a workshop with an order to fill will pay a handsome fee to adventurers who can find them.

Elemental Matrix

Every elemental vessel is imbued with an invisible, arcane matrix. This magical essence extends from the containment chamber at the core of the vehicle to the binding struts, then through the rest of the vehicle’s hull. When a Khyber dragonshard holding a bound elemental is placed in the containment chamber, the matrix comes alive. The unsuppressed elemental emerges from the shard and flows along the matrix in the way that blood moves through the arteries and veins of a living creature.

The binding struts force the elemental into a ring shape and give every elemental vessel its distinctive appearance. From there, the elemental continues to flow along the matrix through the hull, appearing as jagged, snaking lines of living energy that pulse and shift. These conduits of elemental energy take on an appearance associated with the type of elemental bound into the vessel. A fire elemental, for example, sends tendrils of flame along the hull of its ship.

At the command of the vehicle’s dragonmarked pilot, the bound elemental can be suppressed, causing its essence to flow back into the containment chamber and the matrix to disappear from view. A vehicle whose elemental is suppressed ceases to be propelled.

Controlling the Elemental

Piloting an elemental vessel requires effective communication between the pilot and the bound elemental. The elemental controls the vehicle’s movement, and everything from basic propulsion to delicate maneuvering is dependent on the ability of the pilot to control the elemental. If the elemental is uncontrolled and not suppressed, the vehicle moves according to the elemental’s whim until a pilot asserts control again.

A dragonmarked heir at the helm of a vessel can command the elemental easily. Without such a pilot, it’s very difficult to control the vessel. A character who is touching either the Khyber dragonshard where the bound elemental is housed or the magic item at the vessel’s helm can try to communicate with the elemental, but with no guarantee of success.

A character can make a DC 20 Charisma (Persuasion or Intimidation) check to persuade the elemental to cooperate or demand its obedience. On a successful check, the elemental obeys the character for 1 minute.

The dominate monster spell can also enable a character without a dragonmark to control an elemental vessel, even wresting control away from a dragonmarked pilot. The charm monster spell (found in “Xanathar’s Guide to Everything”) also makes the elemental compliant to the caster’s wishes, but the elemental remains obedient to the commands of a dragonmarked pilot at the helm.

Freeing the Elemental

Shattering the Khyber dragonshard that binds it can free an elemental, preventing the vehicle from moving. On most elemental vessels, the shard is sealed in a protective metal chest with dice:3d6|noform|noparens|avg|text(10) (3d6) hit points, usually made of iron (AC 19) but sometimes of mithral (AC 21) or adamantine (AC 23). The chest is often guarded with a glyph of warding and housed in a room behind locked and possibly trapped doors. The shard itself has AC 17 and dice:3d6|noform|noparens|avg|text(10) (3d6) hit points.

Lyrandar Airship

The airship is the most advanced elemental-powered vehicle on Eberron, the pride of House Lyrandar and the forerunner of the magical advances that many hope will become commonplace in the aftermath of the Last War. The first airships emerged from the Cannith and Zilargo workshops and appeared in House Lyrandar’s service just eight years ago (in 990 YK). For now, though, they remain rare, because the soarwood required for their construction is exceedingly scarce and tightly controlled.

Soarwood is a form of buoyant timber found only on the island of Aerenal, and the elves who live there limit their annual harvest of the precious wood. As a result, production of new airships proceeds at a snail’s pace, unable to satisfy the fervent demand for new vessels. The discovery of a new supply of soarwood could literally change the world, and even convincing the elves of Aerenal to part with more of it would be an achievement worth a handsome reward from House Lyrandar.

How It Works

A standard airship (at least as far as standards have been defined for this relatively new creation) looks similar to an oceangoing ship but is rigged with control fins and rudders rather than sails. An air or fire elemental is bound into a ring around the hull, which is suspended on four struts jutting outward. Most airships are outfitted with the finest amenities, including many decorative flourishes and creature comforts.

Operation

A dragonmarked heir of House Lyrandar must pilot a Lyrandar airship, channeling the power of the Mark of Storm through the wheel of wind and water that controls the vessel. The helm is typically situated near the rear of the ship, inside the shelter of a wheelhouse. Controlling the vessel (without the benefit of something like the conductor stones that dictate a lightning rail route) requires constant attention, so at least two pilots typically travel on every journey.

Only a dragonmark heir with the Mark of Storm can use the wheel and command the bound elemental. House Lyrandar pilots train for months to gain a deep understanding of the ship’s powers and limitations. Because of this training, a skilled pilot can execute acrobatic maneuvers in the sky.

Airships can move in all three dimensions, with or without the aid of the wind. Unlike most flying creatures, they don’t rely on wings for lift thanks to their soarwood hulls. They are able to fly equally well on their sides or even upside down (notwithstanding the risks that such maneuvers present to passengers and crew).

Airships cannot actually land, because the struts that hold the elemental ring in place protrude 10 feet from the bottom of the vessel. Thus, passengers and cargo are lifted in elevators and loaded at towers in major cities. Each ship carries rope ladders for use at smaller stations, in open terrain, or in cases of dire emergency.

A typical airship can reach a speed of 20 miles per hour in clear skies carrying up to 30 tons of cargo. Airships are most often employed by explorers and by wealthy travelers who demand luxury—clients who have a need to move quickly to places that might not be served by the lightning rail.

Suppression

Although the elemental bound to the airship is essential for propulsion, the vessel’s soarwood hull provides its lighter-than-air buoyancy. When the elemental is suppressed, the ship remains aloft but can’t move. The pilot always suppresses the elemental before docking, then uses ropes to maneuver the vessel into position.

Lyrandar Galleons

A House Lyrandar galleon, also called an elemental galleon, resembles a Lyrandar airship except that it has a water elemental ring that propels it across oceans and seas instead of through the air. This vessel has a speed of 10 miles per hour but otherwise is similar to a Lyrandar airship.

Orien Lightning Rail

The wondrous lightning rail system once linked the far reaches of the Kingdom of Galifar, prior to the Last War. Now the system is divided, split into eastern and western circuits. Reestablishing the conductor stone paths across Scions Sound and the Mournland is often discussed in the halls of power in the Five Nations, but formidable challenges are involved.

How It Works

A lightning rail train is made up of an elemental vessel linked to a series of connected carts, all of which float about 5 feet off the ground. Each cart, similar in form to a large wagon with no wheels, has a conductor stone embedded in its underside. A corresponding set of conductor stones laid out in a line on the ground interacts with the stones in the carts to form a rail for the train to follow. Lightning arcs between the two sets of stones, accounting for the system’s name.

The elemental vessel at the front of the train, called a crew cart, holds a bound air elemental that propels the train along its route at a speed of about 30 miles per hour. The elemental appears as a ring of lightning encircling the crew cart while the train is in motion. A bound air elemental can move a train of up to ten carts without obvious strain, and most trains are configured accordingly.

The other carts that make up the train have various purposes. A typical train has a crew cart at each end, with two cargo carts, four passenger carts, and two lounge carts in between. Doors at both ends of each cart enable crew and passengers to walk from one to the next, even while the train is in motion. Both crew carts are identical, except that the bound elemental in one is suppressed. On the return trip, the roles of the carts and the states of their elementals are reversed.

Specialized carts of other sorts vary in configuration depending on their purpose and the degree of luxury afforded to them. Some have solid sides and roofs, while others are covered only with canvas.

Map 4.10 shows the different carts that comprise most lightning rail trains.

Operation

The vessel’s pilot, a House Orien dragonmarked heir, stands at the helm, high atop the crew cart, beneath the elemental binding struts. The pilot controls the elemental and communicates with it during the trip, watching the path ahead through broad windows that encircle the helm platform.

The placement of conductor stone lines dictates where a lightning rail train can travel, but the pilot still must make operational decisions as the coach moves from one city to the next. The pilot controls the vessel’s speed based on conditions around the train. When conductor stone lines split, as they do at various hubs along the way, the pilot selects the intended route and directs the elemental down the correct line.

The crew of a train includes handful of chief stewards overseeing a number of lesser stewards who are charged with seeing to the needs of passengers and keeping cargo secured.

Gallery

Lightning Rail Stations

Lightning rail stations, where passengers and cargo can be disembarked or loaded, are located in or just outside villages, towns, and cities along the conductor stone paths. There are no stations in the expanses between these settlements, and House Orien rules prohibit lightning rail pilots from stopping anywhere but at a station.

Stations throughout Khorvaire have a similar look and feel, to ensure that each one lives up to the high expectations of House Orien’s patrons. White and gold everbright lanterns continually illuminate each station. When a train pulls into the station, loading ramps are moved into position beside each cargo cart, and stairs by each passenger cart. The cargo is unloaded from one side of the train and the passengers from the other.

Individual stations do have distinct touches that reflect local features. For example, the station in Gatherhold, in the Talenta Plains, is decorated with traditional halfling motifs and offers specialized stables for travelers leaving their dinosaurs behind. On a larger scale, the station at Passage, which is the seat of power for House Orien, is a multistoried structure designed as a monument to the majesty and storied history of the house.

Mysterious Passengers

Lightning rails and airships are good places to encounter a broad sample of Khorvaire’s diverse population. You can use the Mysterious Passengers table to bring curious characters in contact with an adventuring party on any kind of journey. Each of these characters might spark an entire new adventure, or might be little more than a momentary diversion. Determine details about these travelers are, and the stories behind them, as you see fit.

Gold Dragon Inns

Travelers and explorers making their way across Khorvaire, especially in out-of-the-way areas, often find themselves in need of a safe place to spend the night. Thanks to the efforts of House Ghallanda, there’s no better place to take a rest than at one of the hundreds of Gold Dragon Inns that the house operates.

Every city, most towns, and even some villages have a Gold Dragon Inn, and a large city might boast several. Every major road through the countryside has Gold Dragon Inns along much of its length, spaced roughly a day’s travel apart. Sometimes an inn is the nucleus of a small community whose industry is focused on providing for the needs of travelers. A few Gold Dragon Inns are found in locations that offer no other comforts for the weary traveler—for example, high in a pass through the Byeshk Mountains, deep in the Karrnwood, or beneath the surface of the Mror Holds.

Inn Features and Amenities

Every Gold Dragon Inn provides a standard menu of reliable services at reasonable rates. Prices are fixed (equal to those given in “chapter 5” of the “Player’s Handbook”), and the quality of services is reliably modest, with some comfortable upgrades available. Every inn uses one of a small number of possible floor plans, and every inn’s restaurant offers the same menu.

The size and number of guest rooms can vary from inn to inn: a small roadside inn has four rooms and a moderately sized common room, while a thriving inn in a large city has forty rooms, a restaurant, and a separate common room, with two stages for entertainment. Because the inns are owned by House Ghallanda, the buildings all include accommodations for halfling-sized guests as well as taller folk.

Because travelers often carry valuables with them, each inn has a heavy strongbox secured with an arcane lock spell. To make a traveler’s stay more enjoyable, perhaps even memorable, House Ghallanda has arranged with House Thuranni and House Phiarlan to employ guild-licensed entertainers at almost every Gold Dragon Inn.

To populate an inn with some distinctive individuals, you can use the “Mysterious Passengers table”.

Inn Attractions

The Inn Attractions table offers some ideas for unique twists on an inn’s character or atmosphere.