Eberron Psionic Githyanki Campaign (long)

[Ozmar]

Campaign Outline: Eberron Psionic Githyanki Campaign (long)

Hello,

Here is the backstory and outline of a campaign arc that I am planning to run. It is a bit long, but if you're willing, please critique it. I am especially interested in any plot holes and in any ideas you may have for motivating the PCs and tying together the adventures.

I'm going to assume that you, the reader, has some familiarity with Eberron and the nature of the kalashtar. If that's not the case, I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

The following is the backstory that I have created to explain the origins of githyanki in my Eberron campaign. It is somewhat similar to the "standard" githyanki backstory, with a twist.


Eberron Origins of the Githyanki/Githzerai

As you know, the kalashtar were created when good quori spirits, fleeing evil quori oppression, found willing human hosts in Eberron to bond with. The evil quori discovered this and wanted to recreate this bond in order to continue their extermination of the kalashtar. Long before they achieved success with specially-bred humans (known as Inspired), they tried to bond with elves.

Long ago, the elves were enslaved by the giantish empires of Xen'Drik. Some of those elves were sold to servants of the daelkyr who lived in the underground realm of Khyber. These elves were controlled by daelkyr servants, most notably the mind flayers. Illithid experimentation mutated the elven slaves over generations, turning them into twisted mockeries of their original forms.

The quori wanted to recreate the kalashtar "event" by infusing their spirits with mortal hosts. They worked with the illithid masters to experiment on their elven slaves. Thousands of quori spirits participated in the experiment, but only a few hundred succeeded, and the experiments were not as successful as they had hoped. The hybrid beings did gain psionic power, and shared a dual spiritual nature reminiscent of the kalashtar, but the quori consciousness was subsumed, and they lost control over their hosts. The quori were trapped in their mortal hosts. These new beings were called gith. When the gith reproduced, the quori spirits split, each giving birth to twins with unique spiritual qualities. These gave rise to the separate races of githyanki and githzerai - spiritually linked, but physically separate. The two halves immediately hated each other, and the illithids had to keep them separated.

(Of note is the internal struggle between the gith's quori spirit and their mortal soul. The semi-sentient quori memories long for a return to Dal Quor, and hate all living mortal beings of Eberron. They particularly hate themselves, and this hatred is manifest in the deep enmity between the githyanki and githzerai.)

The gith used their new powers and ambition to rise up against their masters and escaped. Their children tore apart their society. Each sought to return to an imperfectly-remembered other realm (Dol Quor) but failed to find it. They emigrated from Eberron to the Astral Plane and the Plane of Chaos (whichever is the Eberron equivalent... Xoriat?)

Millenia passed. Over time, the githyanki and githzerai have built separate societies on their respective planes. Each quori's spiritual line is passed down through their children (in the same was as the kalashtar - see Races of Eberron for details), further dividing the original spirit.

The Lich Queen of the githyanki, Vlaakith, is the undisputed undead ruler of their people. For hundreds of years, she has been slowly gathering the pieces of her spirit (a quori named Kith) back into herself. She has an eldritch machine that enables her to collect the quori splinter from a host (killing the host in the process) and incorporate it into her own spirit. She believes that once she has collected all the splinters of her soul, she will be able to break free of her physical body and return to immortality on Dol Quor. When githyanki become powerful, she summons them to her palace in the capital Tu'narath, and tests them to see if they have the Kith spirit. If they do, she consumes them, and if not, then she simply destroys them and transforms them into undead servitors.

Vlaakith is close to completing her goal.

About fifty years ago, a group of adventurers worked to stop Vlaakith's evil plot. They stole into her palace, and captured a splinter of her spirit in a dragonshard. They then fled and hid the shard in Eberron to prevent her from gaining immortality. This adventuring group consisted of three kalashtar: Tarmelk, Hanamelk, and Lashimelk; a human artificer, Thallia d'Cannith; and four githyanki knights: Karluth, Rha-zhul, Zetch'r'r, and Gythra-Kyharz.

Zetch'r'r helped the adventurers in secret. He is a githyanki general with a fortress in Tu'narath (the githyanki capital and home of the Lich Queen). The Lich Queen does not suspect his treachery, and he continues to serve her today.

Rha-zhul (known as The Necromancer) lived in the githyanki city of Kamyn-Dhun, which is noted for its silver smiths and an eldritch forge which is used to create the famous githyanki Silver Swords. Vlaakith discovered his location and attacked him, but he was prepared and triggered a necromantic ritual to protect himself. He used the life force of the city's populace to transport the city through time and space to Eberron, but the city appeared at the bottom of the sea, and all those who he had not already killed were drowned. The city became a haunted underwater ruin, but the Lich Queen could not find him and he (by now a lich) had escaped her vengence.

Karluth was the lord of a githyanki fortress known as Ruun-Khazai. Vlaakith next set her sights on him, and he used the fortress's defenses to conjure a mind storm that raged out of his control. It became impossible to enter or leave the fortress, and all inside were assumed destroyed, but Karluth survived, although he was now a prisoner of his own defenses.

Gythra-Kyharz continued to serve in the githyanki army. The Lich Queen did not identify her.

The three kalashtar and Thallia d'Cannith returned to Eberron, to the city of Sharn. They had a few more adventures, but mostly retired in the city. Thallia focused on her family, and the Melk brothers focused on their community. Tarmelk became involved in local politics, Hanamelk gained respect in the kalashtar community as a member of the Council of Seers, and Lashimelk (also a Council member) opened an inn. But Lashimelk had a secret: he was a necromancer protege of Rha-Zhul, and he practiced his dark arts beneath his inn. When he was discovered trading with githyanki slavers for unwilling humanoid subjects in his dark experiments, the Council was outraged. They exiled him and he left Sharn to settle in an island laboratory near the underwater resting place of Kamyn-Dhun, which he was investigating.


Now for the PCs:

1. Parmelk is a kalashtar erudite*. Son of Tarmelk and a changeling named Qal. He has a twin sister, an unusual changeling named Saramelk. Qal was a political spy who sought to use Tarmelk's children against him, but Tarmelk found out and confronted her at childbirth. There was a fight, and Tarmelk and Qal were both killed. During the fight, the dragonshard containing the Splinter of Kith was broken and the spirit escaped and entered Qal's children. Both Parmelk and Saramelk gained the spirit of Kith, which is a powerful spirit that gave them unique psionic abilities (including the ability to advance in the erudite class.)

*[An erudite is an alternate psion class from a Dragon magazine. It is essentially just like a psion, except it is unlimited in the powers that it can know. It can only use a few unique powers per day, but it can learn new powers like a wizard, with unlimited potential. In my campaign, the class represents unusual psionic potential associated with the quori spirit of Kith, but the characters do not yet know this. Parmelk only knows that he has "special powers", but doesn't know why.]

2. Penrod d'Cannith is a human wizard/cannith wand adept. Son of Thallia d'Cannith and Karluth the githyanki lord. He does not know the nature of his father, and appears to be a full-blooded human.

3. Brute is a warforged artificer. Friend of Penrod and servant of the d'Cannith house.

4. Nok is a changeling ninja. Son of Saramelk. Saramelk has a complex history, which involves three trips through a time-traveling artifact known as the Door of Eternity. As a changeling, she has adopted six major identities through her life, including that of the githyanki warlord, Zetch'r'r. Nok knows her as his mother Sal, a changeling who lives in Sharn under the guise of a human ninja named Serrela. Nok shares a splinter of Kith's spirit, although it has not manifested as any unique psionic powers.

5. Mortimer is a human wizard/cleric/true necromancer. Raised in poverty in Karrnath. He studied at the Bleak Academy of necromancy, and has contacts within the necromancers' subculture.

6. Frenzy is a shifter ranger/barbarian/extreme explorer/weretouched master. General adventurer and thrill-seeker.


Projected Campaign Outline:

Campaign begins at level 13.

1. Adventure: The Death of Lashimelk (adapted from the Death of Lashimire, Dragon #116)
PCs will seek out Parmelk's "brother", Lashimelk on his secluded island. There they will encounter Gythra-Kyharz who is seeking a silver sword that Lashimelk has stolen. They will discover clues about their background that will lead them to the next adventure.

2. Adventure: Interlopers of Ruun-Khazai (Dragon #92)
PCs will journey to the Astral Plane to investigate this fortress and confront Karluth. Penrod will discover the truth of his past, and inherit the ownership of this fortress. PCs will discover clues that will lead them to the location of Kamyn-Dhun.

3. Adventure: Seekers of the Silver Forge (Dragon #125)
PCs will travel to the bottom of the sea and confront Rha-Zhul, the lich necromancer. They will learn the last details of the plot behind the Lich Queen's plans, and gain access to the Silver Forge. They will gain clues about their background that will lead them to the final adventure.

4. Adventure: The Lich-Queen's Beloved (Dragon #100)
PCs will team up with Zetch'r'r and sneak into the Lich Queen's fortress to put an end to her evil reign. All adventure hooks and plot loose ends will be tied up, and campaign will finish in utter defeat or heroic victory.

So that's that. Comments? Questions? Criticism? All are welcome.

(I'm also looking for a 1-2 sentence campaign summary to pitch the idea to my players.)

Thanks in advance!
-Ozmar the Plotting DM

 

[Ozmar]

What? No takers?

Am I in the wrong forum?

Ozmar the Confused

 

[johnnype]

Very Nice. I like the way you tie up the various Githyanki related Dungeon adventures. It will also be cool to see the PC's reaction when they find out about their heritage. What happens to Saramelk, Parmelks twin sister? Are you going to writeup the PC's beforehand? If so I'd like to see them if you have the time. Writing up PC's is always a chore and having someone else do it for you is always a plus.

My only criticism (and it's a small one) is the use of elves as a predecesor race to gith. I know it makes sense in light of the Age of Giants and Xen'Drik but I don't know that it's necessary. Of course I have rather twisted vies of races in fantasy RPG's (I'd eliminate gnomes and halflings and make room for other races I like better), so don't listen to me in that regard.

I wonder if Keith Baker will ever address the existance of Githyanki in Eberron. His new articles on the WotC website are supposed to incorporate extended material from other sources into Eberron. It'd be nice to have him fill out the psionics angle a bit more.

 

[Ozmar]

Thanks!

I agree the "elves" origin is largely irrelevant. I just wanted to put the gith into some context as having come from Eberron. To me, elves and gith look kinda similar (thin), and as elves were once enslaved by other races, it seemed to make sense.

The PCs are actually already created. They are a combination: some players created their characters recently, and others have played them since level one. We never really got much into their backgrounds, though, so I've recently tried to work with the players to create backgrounds for them, and ended up creating more than the player's realize (yet).

I think I have Saramelk's story somewhere... I had to write the whole thing out to keep it straight. Let me see if I can find it and post it.

 

[Ozmar]

Sarakith

This is the long and strange story of a time-traveling changeling who hopefully will have destroyed the Lich Queen of the githyanki. She has many names and many identities, and many times and places in which she lives. The name she has chosen for herself as her most true is Sarakith.

Sarakith was born as the twin sister of a kalashtar named Parmelk. Her father, Tarmelk, was a kalashtar of the Melk line, who had struggled against the Lich Queen during his adventuring career. He had tried to settle down in Sharn to a life of local politics, and had become involved with her mother, a changeling known as Qal. Qal was a dark-hearted deceiver, and she plotted to use Tarmelk's illicit children against him, but he discovered her secret plotting, and confronted her during childbirth. He tried to rescue the children, and there was a battle between Tarmelk's adventuring allies, and the criminal gang that was protecting Qal. In the struggle, both Qal and Tarmelk were killed, and the life force within a dragonshard escaped. This life force was called the Splinter of Kith, for it had been stolen from the Lich Queen, Vlaakith, and it was all she needed to complete her apotheosis. The life force entered Parmelk and Sarakith, giving them both access to the quori spirit, Kith, and psionic abilities beyond those of other beings.

Parmelk appeared dead, so he was left alone. [Edit: one of his unique abilities is to enter a death-like trance.] The other kalashtar present, Hanamelk and Lashimelk, perceived a quori spirit in the changeling baby, and took her in, believing that Tarmelk's spirit had somehow been passed to her. They named her Saramelk, thinking that the Melk spirit was in her. They brought her to their clan and raised her.

When she was five, she had dreams and visions that led her to seek out and find her missing brother, Parmelk. The connection they shared by their Kith spirit allowed them to find each other. He had survived, and was taken into the brotherhood.

Both Saramelk and Parmelk shared unique psionic potential, and the Council of Seers (on which both Hanamelk and Lashimelk sat) could not divine their powers, nor how to properly train them. (This potential was the potential of the Erudite, which only the Kith spirit provides.)

Saramelk and Parmelk grew up together. Both were a mystery to their elders. When they were still young, the kalashtar were visited by an oracle who prophesied that Saramelk would be the salvation of the gith race. The Council of Seers met with this prophet, a woman named Serrela, and spoke at length about her visions of the future. She in turn asked them much about their history. Tarmelk, Hanamelk, and Lashimelk had been part of an adventuring group that included the human artificer Thallia d'Cannith, and three githyanki knights: Karluth, Rha-zhul the Necromancer, Zetch'r'r and their squire, Gythra-Kyharz. Together they formed the leadership of the Sha-sol Khou, an organization dedicated to overthrowing the Lich Queen and reuniting the githyanki and githzerai people in peace. Serrela was very interested in all the details of this organization, and told them many secrets of the Lich Queen's organization and plans. Why did they trust her? Because many years ago, Zetch'r'r had predicted her coming, and asked them to give her all the aid they could.

But Saramelk was still a child at that time. She grew. When she was 16, she was traveling through northern Breland and her caravan was attacked by Droaam raiders. Many were killed, but she was rescued/kidnapped by a githyanki named Zetch'r'r. He took her to the astral plane, to the very fortress of the Lich Queen herself. There he took her in as his apprentice, and taught her to imitate githyanki form, and also trained her in how to use her erudite powers. At first she was very frightened, but he tried to win her over by explaining that she had a destiny, and that he would teach her how to use her powers. He did not harm her, other than to keep her prisoner, and she began to believe his sincerity. She learned what she could, but always yearned for escape.

Two years later she found it. Zetch'r'r knew she would. He allowed her to find access to an eldritch artifact (the Eternity Door) that he had discovered. He had already set it up so it would take her where she needed to go. She entered the portal and vanished.

The portal took her back to Eberron, but it took her back in time. She arrived four years before she had been born, near a changeling village. She spied on the other changelings for a while (they were the first she had met) and observed two of them, a brother (Tam) and sister (Sal), talking and laughing in a field. They seemed so happy and at peace. She envied them and wanted to join them, but she was afraid. Then a big monster entered the clearing and chased them into the woods. Sarakith followed them to try to help. The two changelings split up, and the monster chased and caught Sal and killed her. Sarakith discovered this too late, as the monster was dragging away her body. Then she heard Tam calling for his sister, so Sarakith assumed Sal's appearance, and, using her mental powers to read Tam's mind, she returned to him and inserted herself into the changeling's life. She thought she was doing him a favor, to not have to suffer his sister's death, and she was also satisfying her need to belong.

She was accepted into the community, none knew what had happened (although Tam eventually began to suspect, he never accused her of anything). Sal (as she was now known) fell in love with another changeling, Don, and they were married and had four children: a boy Nok, another boy Tal, and then twin girls, Vaz and Suz. The kith spirit was spread out to these children.

The changeling village believed in the Reality Seeker's ethos, and taught that they should be true to themselves, and never live a lie, especially against other changelings. For four years, Sal tried to keep up the facade, but eventually her beloved husband was killed by a wild beast, and she couldn't handle the stress. She abandoned her four children to her brother's care, and went to create a new life.

She arrived in Sharn in the same year that she had been born. She joined a criminal guild of changelings and dopplegangers, but as soon as she did, she was a participant in the terrible battle of her own birth, where her mother and father were killed. She was horrified at the realization that she had traveled in time, and hid during the battle. After everyone had left, she crept out and recovered the dragonshard that had held her kith spirit.

She then created the identity of a human woman named Serrela. She worked in a halfling criminal organization as a spy, learning ninja-like skills, and practicing her powers. She earned enough money to buy a nice apartment, and made it into a strong safehouse for her criminal activities. She hid the dragonshard in this apartment. Later she discovered a haunting spirit in the apartment, that told her it was the spirit of her future self, and that she needed to prepare for the battles of her future.

She spent many years honing her skills. All of her children eventually looked her up and she got them into various roles and positions in Sharn society. After seeing that they were cared for, she faked the death of her human identity, left the apartment to her eldest son, and traveled to the astral plane. Disguised as a gith, she infiltrated the stronghold of Zetch'r'r, and once again used the Eternity Door to travel back in time.

Once in the past, she assumed the identity of Zetch'r'r, and began gathering allies. She built and founded the Sha'sol Khou, and found like-minded gith to help her fill out its organization. She worked her way into githyanki politics, and gained the attention of the Lich Queen. She became a close confidant of the queen, and Vlaakith trained and expanded her erudite skills. All the while, Zetch'r'r learned more of the Lich Queen's plans, and how to stop them.

Eventually, she leaked this information to her more powerful allies, including a band of kalashtar brothers: Tarmelk, Hanamelk, and Lashimelk the Necromancer. They joined with the artificer Thallia d'Cannith, and met with the githyanki lords Karluth, of Ruun-Karzai, and Rha-Zhul, of Kamyn Dhun. With her aid, they were able to break into the Lich Queen's palace, and steal a Splinter of Kith, imprisoning it within a dragonshard.

They fled and went their separate ways, confident that the Lich Queen could not complete her ritual without the Splinter of Kith. Enraged, Vlaakith eventually tracked down Rha-Zhul in Kamyn Dhun. The Necromancer used a magical ritual to protect the city from her wrath, but the city was banished from the astral plane, appearing on Eberron deep beneath the ocean. Almost all of the city's inhabitants were killed.

Vlaakith also found out about Karluth, and besieged his fortress. The fortress was engulfed in a magical mind storm, and all within were assumed slain, but the fortress remains, and Karluth yet lives within his prison.

Through it all, Zetch'r'r remained at the Lich Queen's side, and she has not detected "his" treachery.

After things had quieted down, Zetch'r'r went to the material plane and kidnapped Saramelk from the Droaam ambush. He took her back to his fortress in Tu'narath, and began training her in the ways of the erudite. Eventually, she escaped by using the Eternity Door to go back in time.

Zetch'r'r continued to bide his time. At last, when the time was right, he again went to Eberron. Disguised as an ogre mage slave trader, he purchased Parmelk in a Droaam market [edit: Parmelk had been captured during the war and sold into slavery], and took him up into the mountains. There he trained Parmelk in his erudite skills, and finally set him free to return to his life, and to his destiny. Then he returned to the astral plane to wait.

[edit: the following describes events that have not yet played out in the game. I anticipate things will go this way during the last adventure.]
Eventually, his time had come. He contacted Parmelk and his allies, and invited them to Tu'narath, to strike against the Lich Queen once and for all. He helped them fight in the final battle against her, but he was overcome. He had prepared for this eventuality, though, and through his death, he provided a final distraction that may (or may not) have enabled Parmelk and his allies to be victorious. His spirit freed, he fled back to the Eternity Door. He used it one last time to go into the past, destroying the portal in the process, in order to put his Kith spirit out of the reach of Vlaakith.

In the past, he found his spirit drawn to the dragonshard that had imprisoned him before. He was thus imprisoned in Serrela's apartment, and could only manifest an image to haunt the building. He met Serrela, and told her much of her future, but there was much that he could not remember, or dared not say. Eventually, she left the apartment to her son, Nok, but by then Sarakith's spirit had diminished, and although she tried to communicate with Nok, there was little clear that she could say. [edit: in Nok's background, he has a haunted apartment, and I'll use Sarakith's spirit to plant clues to guide the adventures...]

That's it.

 

[Ozmar]

*bump*

Seriously, would this be better in the Story Hour forum or somewhere else? How do I move it?

Ozmar the Author of a Misplaced Topic

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

Are you looking for players, for commentary, just for a place to air your ideas, or a combination? Probably General isn't the best place for this, narrow down what you are looking for and we can figure out where it probably should be.

Once that's figured out, you just need to ask a Mod to move it (usually by posting in the Meta forum)

 

[Piratecat]

So you know, no matter how good campaign background is, a long post like this one is going to get relatively fewer folks reading it. The initial size of the posts, and the lack of a specific question, tends to scare some folks away.

For maximum responses, try posting only the short relevant bits at one time, and make sure you ask for a particular goal with the feedback. I know that when I post this sort of thing, I try to make it as easy as possible for people to help me.

 

[Ozmar]

Commentary and general discussion on the ideas. I was mostly interested in seeing if there were any plot holes that needed to be filled.

Thanks!

 

[Ozmar]

So you know, no matter how good campaign background is, a long post like this one is going to get relatively fewer folks reading it. The initial size of the posts, and the lack of a specific question, tends to scare some folks.

For maximum responses, try posting only the short relevant bits at one time, and make sure you ask for a particular goal with the feedback. I know that when I post this sort of thing, I try to make it as easy as possible for people to help me.

Oh, OK. Thanks! I'll keep that in mind for next time.

Ozmar the Learning