Eberron: The Last War

[Vocenoctum]

I think it'd be pretty much impossible for the houses to remain totally neutral. If you don't have the money to get your army transported to the battle, but your enemy does, that's taking sides in the poor folk's eyes.

Any time a House gives a seeming advantage to an enemy, it would be bad. Any simple failure of balancing the kingdoms against each other would result in conflict. Besides, the Houses are indeed located somewhere, and blaming your failings on such a simple reasoning isn't far.

I assume there's some alliance of the Houses, so attacking one would lead to all of the houses cutting off your kingdom, but that doesn't mean economic ruin if the country still has the resources.

 

[~Johnny~]

These are some gerat posts! Here's a relevant quote from Keith:

It's also the case that the war was not one constant battle. Alliances shifted. Concessions were made. Treaties formed and broken. There would be periods of calm on one front that might last for years before they unexpectedly fell apart. Aristocrats that pressured the King of Breland to step back from the war might change their mind after an unexpected attack by Aundair, etc.

So lots of fighting, but not necessarily constant, and mostly on disputed borders. Keith has referenced both the Hundred Years War and World War I when describing it, and I think both are fair comparisons.

As for Kaius...

The ruler of Karrnath is instrumental in the peace. He has a little more perspective on the cost of war than most of his peers, and just plain got tired of it, choosing to call the whole thing off as it were. It no longer had any real possibility of benefiting his people.

Yeah, I think it's safe to say that the Treaty of Thronehold was not a result of Kaius III's love of peace. He probably realized that the time was right for peace talks, and knew he could make himself look virtuous by being the one to start them. Like the other rulers, though, with the possible exception of Boranel, he's still definitely plotting conquest. Kaius has the advantage on that front, since he'll be the only ruler personally capable of following through on long-term plans.

 

[Corinth]

If there is no commitment to economic development between the formerly warring parties then this peace is false and another war is inevitable.

 

[Krellic]

The Last War didn't achieve anything but the destruction of Cyre. So now all the remaining kingdoms are trying to build up there economic base and possibly develop a few uber-weapons for when it all kicks off again...

 

[Corinth]

I perceive then a ready-made premise for adventuring right there.

 

[Kesh]

Actually, it did achieve a few things:

1) Independance for certain regions, to become their own sovereign nations.
2) Push in magical development, ultimately leading to the creation of the Warforged
3) Likely provided a lot more recruits into cults, as people became disillusioned
4) As a combination of 1 & 3, we now have a theocratic state on Khorvaire
5) Whatever caused the Mourning.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Plus wiped out the generation of higher level characters that used to be around - which is the rather neat reason for there being so few high level NPCs around now.

Cheers

 

[megamania]

If you are looking for plot ideas I opted to look at WWI and II for ideas. The Eberron campaign I hope to do will involve the consequences of the war. More specifically- war crimes.
Lord of Blades has already been mentioned, but there are more persons that did acts during the war that were just wrong. Murder, theft etc....
Other thoughts- royal riches that were "lost" or "covered up" using the war.

There are SOOOOOOOOOOOO many many ideas using the war as a backdrop.

 

[Morgenstern]

So lots of fighting, but not necessarily constant, and mostly on disputed borders. Keith has referenced both the Hundred Years War and World War I when describing it, and I think both are fair comparisons.

I think we'll have a more detailed timeline of the conflict fairly soon. All kinds of alliances and sweeping movements of arms. Not all countries born in the war survived to the present day.

As for Kaius...

Yeah, I think it's safe to say that the Treaty of Thronehold was not a result of Kaius III's love of peace. He probably realized that the time was right for peace talks, and knew he could make himself look virtuous by being the one to start them. Like the other rulers, though, with the possible exception of Boranel, he's still definitely plotting conquest. Kaius has the advantage on that front, since he'll be the only ruler personally capable of following through on long-term plans.

Don't underestimate his complexity. he may be inhuman, but he's not entirely inhumane. He does care about the well being of his people, in a sort of distant, paternal manner (if only because it reflects on him as a ruler - lot of ego tied up in that). Not only does he have the patience to carry out long term plots, he has the personal experience of having tried that for decades and failed, costing him his life and a not inconsiderable part of his autonomy. I think the very idea of the Treaty signifies a very serious change in his thought process. Plus, one should consider the influence of his wife...

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Add to that the fact that transportation remains a critical challenge. Cthulhudrew points out that the Dragonmarked Houses owned the skyships and the lightning rails, and such would not have been used in the war much since the houses remained neutral -- a very reasonable assumption, given their independence and power overall. That being said, troops and supplies would still need to be moved overland by beast or by marching. A slow process, given the distances involved on the continent of Khovaire.

I'm reminded suddenly of the scene in Firefly, "The Train Job", when Mal and Zoe stumble onto an Alliance patrol that is unexpectedly being transported via rail across the planetside. I could see the lightning rail providing such a service to anyone willing to pay the price.

Also, such things as the lightning rail would have likely found themselves high targets during wartime- neutrality or not- for just the reasons you mention (utility). The houses must either maintain their own private/mercenary security forces, or else they may have engaged in some trade (such as transport) just for the very purpose of having some military presence to discourage other armies/forces from trying to take them.