Eberron: What Happens Next?

[joela]

I'm working on an Eberron campaign under the following assumptions:

Approximately 100 years ago, all dwarves and elves, as far as anyone can tell/find/scry/divine, have vanished. And apparently it was deliberate, too: all their major works are heavily trapped/fortified.

Approximately 30 years ago, all warforged converged into the Mournlands and seeminly vanished. Any attempts to investigate have been repelled ferociously.

What would be the social/economic ramifications of both premises? I know, for example, there would be the loss of several major dragonmarks due to the elven and dwarven withdrawals. Trade would be thrown into an uproar since the dwarves controlled so much of the economy. And countries that relied on cheap warforged labor (here's looking at you, Thrane) would be severely affected for a while.

But what would happen to the forests, consider the abode of the elves? Would new guardians take their place? Or would civilization sweep across them in an orgy of tree-cutting? As the saying goes, "Nature abhores a vacuum".

(And yes, I know what happened to all three races.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

But what would happen to the forests, consider the abode of the elves? Would new guardians take their place? Or would civilization sweep across them in an orgy of tree-cutting?

Both would be true. I imagine the well-organized druids of Eberron would step in, as might the dragons and their agents (curious about what happened to their ancient enemies) and would be there, waiting, when the humans finally got up the gumption to begin logging in earnest.

 

[Drowbane]

I'm working on an Eberron campaign under the following assumptions:

Approximately 100 years ago, all dwarves and elves... have vanished....

Approximately 30 years ago... all warforged converged into the Mournlands... vanished...

...the greatest April Fool's joke to ever come out of Zilargo?

 

[TwinBahamut]

But what would happen to the forests, consider the abode of the elves? Would new guardians take their place? Or would civilization sweep across them in an orgy of tree-cutting? As the saying goes, "Nature abhores a vacuum".

(And yes, I know what happened to all three races.)

Elves are only loosely associated with forests in Eberron, so I doubt it would be a major change there. Shifters and Orcs would take over Eldeen, but then again, they and Oalian were always pretty important there. The better questions would be: "What happened to Aerenal?" and "Did the power vacuum in Valenar restart the Last War?" Aerenal would probably become a ghost continent, with new groups slowly (and nervously) expanding onto the free land, sparking all kinds of new conflict. Darguun, Breland, Karrnath and the survivors of Cyre would all race to try to establish control over Valenar with its elven rulers removed. Lots of battle.

I imagine either Karrnath or the Lhazaar princes would claim the Mror Holds and the wealth of those lands. Maybe some kind of horrible new monster kingdom like Darguun or Droam would emerge from the depths beneath and claim that area. Again, lots of battle.

 

[Thaumaturge]

...the greatest April Fool's joke to ever come out of Zilargo?

Oh no, it's a light grenade!

Thaumaturge.

no. really...

 

[Moggthegob]

Well, the disappearance of House Lyrandar(half-elves disappeared too right?) make House Orien and the unorganized gnomes of Zilargo into a positon of economic dominance as the seas now have no master. Therefore, gomes and thier elemental galleons would take center stage in the area of sea travel. Also, Hosue Orien would probably be motivated to rebuild the bridge between aundair and karnnath to take advantage of that situation.

Otherwise, With no reliable banking system, House Sivis would probablhy attempt to usurp the gap left by that power vacuuum. As for information gathering and spying, once again I look to House Orien to attempt step in, as wel las House cannith in thep erson of construct based spying. Also, House Ghallandra could use thier inns and hostels asa front to try and usurp espionage duties.

Mostyly however, the disappearance of 3-5 dragonmarked houses(depending on half-elves) would give tremendous power to the King of Breland(or the parliament if the monarchy finally collapsed there), the Keeper of the flame and her cardinals, and of Course Kaius III and the Aurala of aundair. Also, the displaced King of Cyre would probably attempt to move Cyre to Aerenal, also, the ciizens of Q'Barra would probablyl iek that since I am sure living with those lizardfolk is no picnic.

 

[Klaus]

No elves:

- Dragons from Argonessen take over Aerenal.

- Hobgoblins expand Darguun's border to encompass Valenar and come into conflict with Karrnath (who also moved to absorb Valenar).

- No Houses of Shadow means the criminal guilds, the Caninet of Faces, the Trust and the royal agents become the main spying networks. Also, House Ghallanda assumes the entertaining aspect of the Houses of Shadow.

- If Lady Vol also disappears, the Blood of Vol becomes less of a conspiracy and more of fragmented undead cults.

- Giants become more numerous in Xen'drik, following the disappearance of the drow.

No dwarves:
- The orcs overrun the Mror Holds and turn it into an orc nation, picking fights with Karrnath and the Lhazzaar Principalities. In fact, the Mror Holds become a giant Moria.

- Houses Cannith and Orien work together to keep the economy running. Orien teleports funds from one vault to another, and Cannith works on replicating the warding properties of House Kundarak. Maybe the system becomes slower, but it still goes (since it depends as much on House Sivis as on House Kundarak).

No Warforged:
- More and more monstrous laborers find work in the Cogs of Sharn, replacing the missing warforged.
- More people try to enter the Mournlands, since there's no Lord of Blades.
- Cannith South suffers a major blow when its head, Merrix d'Cannith, goes mad and wanders into the Mournland in search for the warforged. This signals the reunification of House Cannith.

 

[Anti-Sean]

Does this campaign advance the timeline? If it's set in the default 998 YK, the warforged have barely been around for 30 years, and the Mournland has only been in place for four years. This would also mean that the Valaes Tairn never participated in the Last War, and thus never formed Valenar. Since it would still be part of Cyre, did the Mournland spread there as well?

As others have said, the disappearance of the elves won't have any negligible impact on the forests of Khorvaire; I'd agree with Klaus that the dragons of Argonessen would be the ones most likely to take over Aerenal.

Moggthegob raised the question of the fate of the half-elves; I'd be inclined to say that they were not affected, as they've been breeding true for millenia.