On the origin of species: Warforged

[Asmor]

Disclaimer: I know you don't like Warforged. That's totally cool. This thread isn't for debating the merits or flaws of Warforged, though, so please don't.

Okay, that out of the way... Warforged are unlike most other races in that they're not quite so easy to just drag and drop into a homebrew setting. They couldn't just evolve into their current form, and since they can't breed it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to say that they were created by a god when the world was still new... because then every warforged would know the entire history of the world.

So this thread is a place to put ideas on how to integrate the Warforged into your setting! Here are two of my own ideas, one I used before and one I plan on using in the future.

Built by an ancient empire: The warforged of the Tainted Lands were built by an ancient, and advanced, empire known as the Alakari. The Alakari programmed all the Warforged to have a 30-year revolving memory, to prevent them from becoming too powerful and overthrowing their masters. Thus, even though every Warforged is thousands of years old, none can remember anything beyond 30 years ago.

The warforged in this setting are also based on an ontological paradox; one of them traveled back in time to stop a disaster, went too far, was discovered inert by the Alakari, and they used it to design the warforged.

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Mad inspiration: In the far realms beyond the stars, there is an entity known as Unicron. Unicron devours entire planes of reality, and its MO is to visit the dreams of artificers on a plane and teach them to create Warforged. The warforged then work in secret to summon Unicron.

On this particular plane, one of the artificers managed to retain some semblance of sanity and figured out what Unicron was plotting; he created good warforged to fight against the evil, and the first of these warforged was known as Primus.

The good warforged worshipped Bahamut as their patron and led the battle against their evil brethren. In their darkest hour, Bahamut empowered Primus as his personal avatar, and Primus fought against Unicron, barely managing to banish the elemental evil back to the far realms. Primus was then elevated to the status of a god.

Now, most warforged worship Primus, but there are still some who work to bring Unicron. It is the duty of the paladins of Primus to hunt these heretics down and destroy them.

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So there's my two stories... How about yours?

 

[The Ubbergeek]

techmagic or a tech cult of sort - like Gond of FR?

 

[shilsen]

I'm running an Eberron game and will be continuing to run in that setting, so incorporating them is not going to be an issue for me. But here's one way you can use them (I'm utilizing the existing mechanics for the race here) with the 'forged for war' motif:

In its fading years, the empire of Nerath was plagued by the vampire necromancer Strahd. His undead legions battered the empire's defences from without, utilizing their unnatural abilities to attack Nerath's armies wherever and whenever they were weakest. And his saboteurs attacked Nerath from within, creating scores of vampire spawn and swarms of ghouls wherever they could, sending them rampaging through the empire, undeterred by the legions fighting far away on the border.

In a last desperate attempt, the greatest magical craftsmen and artificers created a new race to combat this threat - a race of living and intelligent constructs who were tireless and required no sleep, like the undead, and who were immune to the vampire's energy drain and the paralysis of the ghouls. The addition to the warforged to Nerath's forces turned the tide of battle and pushed back Strahd's forces till he was no longer a threat.

Unfortunately, Nerath was too weak to survive and other forces brought the empire to destruction. With their unusual strengths and resistances, many of the warforged survived. Now, with no way to increase their numbers and no great war to serve in, they wander the land individually or in small bands, turning their hands to whatever cause they can.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

Mad inspiration: In the far realms beyond the stars, there is an entity known as Unicron. Unicron devours entire planes of reality, and its MO is to visit the dreams of artificers on a plane and teach them to create Warforged. The warforged then work in secret to summon Unicron.

On this particular plane, one of the artificers managed to retain some semblance of sanity and figured out what Unicron was plotting; he created good warforged to fight against the evil, and the first of these warforged was known as Primus.

The good warforged worshipped Bahamut as their patron and led the battle against their evil brethren. In their darkest hour, Bahamut empowered Primus as his personal avatar, and Primus fought against Unicron, barely managing to banish the elemental evil back to the far realms. Primus was then elevated to the status of a god.

Now, most warforged worship Primus, but there are still some who work to bring Unicron. It is the duty of the paladins of Primus to hunt these heretics down and destroy them.

So, do the followers of Primus have "'Til all are One" as their mantra? Or the leader of the church bearing an ancient talisman said to hold the power of their god, able to light their darkest hour?

Then there's inevitiable cross-over with the army of specially chosen warriors that battle against the depredations of the yuan-ti

Sorry, just couldn't help myself.

Not much on world-building in regards to D&D (more of a Star Wars/sci-fi guy myself when it comes to GMing), so not a whole lot I can add to the discussion.

As far as origin stories, who's to say that the Eberron approach of the Warforged being a fairly recent creation can't hold weight? If using a "Points of Light" approach, perhaps part of the reason for the last big empire going down the tubes was one faction found a means to create sentient constructs (Warforged) to serve in their armies. During the final battles, the creation forge/factory used to pump out the Warforged forces was the target of a sabotoge mission. Only the sabotuers didn't quite grasp the implications of what they were messing with, causing the equivalent of a mystical holocaust that set civilization back to the 'dark ages.' Could be a few decades to a few centuries after said holocaust, and the Warforged are walking, talking reminders of the Big War That Ended Civilization As We Knew It. Some keep to their old patterns of attacking "threats" while others try to make amends and get the world back on track.

 

[Obrysii]

Ha! In my campaign, the AllSpark is the progenitor of the Creation Forges.

 

[Asmor]

So, do the followers of Primus have "'Til all are One" as their mantra? Or the leader of the church bearing an ancient talisman said to hold the power of their god, able to light their darkest hour?

But of course! The Matrix of Leadership is an excellent McGuffin/Artifact!

Then there's inevitiable cross-over with the army of specially chosen warriors that battle against the depredations of the yuan-ti

Ha, now there's an idea!

Surprised you didn't mention anything about a prince-turned-barbarian with a magical sword who fights a liche.

 

[jdrakeh]

I've always been tempted to liken the Warforged to the clay warriors of Qin, supposing their shells to retain the spirits of mighty warriors who served their creator in life (and intended to further that service after his death).

 

[I'm A Banana]

Gnomes.

Gnomes make golems. Gnomes make warforged. Gnomes are the industrial revolution!

 

[Asmor]

I've always been tempted to liken the Warforged to the clay warriors of Qin, supposing their shells to retain the spirits of mighty warriors who served their creator in life (and intended to further that service after his death).

Ooh, that'd be a cool idea, especially if you gave your warforged an oriental or egyptian feel!

 

[jdrakeh]

Ooh, that'd be a cool idea, especially if you gave your warforged an oriental or egyptian feel!

I've owned Legends of the Samurai from RPG Objects for almost a year now and that idea has been kicking about in the back of my head almost the entire time I've been enamoured of Golem-like PC races since first encountering the old Weatherlight M:TG expansion.