A new campaign managed to sneak up on me. As of saturday I will be starting a game set in Eberron. The problem is I own none of the books and don't really know what to expect. Most of the games I have played have taken place in a homebrew, I made it but it has become the default world for some other people I know, so I'm kind of worried about not understansing things as well as I'm used to.
I need a crash course on Eberron
- Thread starter Simm
- Start date
Doug McCrae
Legend
It's D&D meets Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Maltese Falcon. Not much different from standard D&D but duplicitous NPCs and investigation are a bit more common. And action scenes where you have a fight on a train (lightning rail) or airship.
The default adventure would be something like this:
PCs start off in Sharn, the biggest, most bustling city in the world, an analog of New York. They investigate a murder. The clues lead to a dungeon in Xendrik (Africa analog). On the way to Xendrik the PCs are ambushed by assassins and have a fight on board an airship. The dungeon is a typical D&D dungeon with traps and a rival party chasing the same MacGuffin. At some point a hitherto trusted NPC will betray the PCs.
But you can run perfectly standard D&D scenarios too, which is mostly what I did, with the odd albino criminal mastermind thrown in for more of a pulp feel.
The default adventure would be something like this:
PCs start off in Sharn, the biggest, most bustling city in the world, an analog of New York. They investigate a murder. The clues lead to a dungeon in Xendrik (Africa analog). On the way to Xendrik the PCs are ambushed by assassins and have a fight on board an airship. The dungeon is a typical D&D dungeon with traps and a rival party chasing the same MacGuffin. At some point a hitherto trusted NPC will betray the PCs.
But you can run perfectly standard D&D scenarios too, which is mostly what I did, with the odd albino criminal mastermind thrown in for more of a pulp feel.
WayneLigon
Adventurer
If I were you, I'd put off the game for two weeks and be getting that campaign book and probably the Sharn book as well. I'd also suggest Races of Eberron and Dragonmarked; they are not nessesary but contain a ton of great info. But get the main book. Your players will expect several things you can not pull off at all without it: classes (at least one major new one, the Artificer), new PC races (Kalashtar, Shifter, Changeling, Warforged), the new feats for Dragonmarked Houses, and such. Also, the attitude towards alignment and monster races is very different from almost any other D&D setting.
The primer that Pawndream links to will give you a tiny taste of what you'll need to prepare for. I've run in that setting for a year now and I'll be coming back to it. We've barely scratched the surface and they have travelled more in this campaign than any other I've ever run.
The primer that Pawndream links to will give you a tiny taste of what you'll need to prepare for. I've run in that setting for a year now and I'll be coming back to it. We've barely scratched the surface and they have travelled more in this campaign than any other I've ever run.
Kesh
First Post
Take D&D's assumptions on how common magic is, and make it sensible. Torches of continuous flame light the streets of major cities at night.
Elementals are bound to vehicles to create flying skiffs and airships, owned & controlled by a house of powerful individuals who control trade throughout the lands.
A nation whose army is mostly comprised of the undead, with a society that considers it an honor for your body to be raised to service.
The aftermath of a 100-year long war, having just ended, with nations still recovering while plotting their enemy's downfall. And one nation that is now a blighted, magically twisted landscape due to mysterious circumstances during the war.
A race of intelligent golems, created to serve as war machines, now suddenly given freedom after the war's end. What do they do now?
Elementals are bound to vehicles to create flying skiffs and airships, owned & controlled by a house of powerful individuals who control trade throughout the lands.
A nation whose army is mostly comprised of the undead, with a society that considers it an honor for your body to be raised to service.
The aftermath of a 100-year long war, having just ended, with nations still recovering while plotting their enemy's downfall. And one nation that is now a blighted, magically twisted landscape due to mysterious circumstances during the war.
A race of intelligent golems, created to serve as war machines, now suddenly given freedom after the war's end. What do they do now?
Wik
First Post
You want the simple way to do it?
First, yeah, pick up the main book when you get the chance. Everything else is optional, but the main book is pretty important.
But, the really simple way to get into an Eberron feel is to watch any Indiana Jones movie, or better yet, watch the original Star Wars. That's pretty much Eberron, with a little bit of noir horror added in.
First, yeah, pick up the main book when you get the chance. Everything else is optional, but the main book is pretty important.
But, the really simple way to get into an Eberron feel is to watch any Indiana Jones movie, or better yet, watch the original Star Wars. That's pretty much Eberron, with a little bit of noir horror added in.
Arkhandus
First Post
I'll second WayneLigon's suggestion.
No point trying to run an 'Eberron' adventure when you have no idea how to make it 'Eberron'-ish rather than just coming off as generic-D&D-ish-and-nominally-taking-place-in-Eberron-mostly-just-in-name.
Lessee, a rundown on the basics:
Like others said, it's basically D&D meets Indiana Jones meets The Maltese Falcon meets Sherlock Holmes meets The Shadow meets The Godfather.....or something like that!
Ya got the material plane, which is Eberron, said to be the body of the primordial dragon of the same name, who has either been dead or in deep hibernation for ages. Then ya got Khyber, which is the deep, deep, subterranean bowels of the world, in other words similar to the Underdark in other D&D settings. But Khyber is said to be the corpse of Eberron's sibling, an evil dragon that was slain in battle with its siblings, and so anything that comes up from the depths of Khyber's cavernous depths tends to be corrupt, insane, or just plain malevolent.
Furthermore, the creatures that once invaded from Xoriat, the Plane of Madness (analogue to the Far Realm, or to the realm of Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones in Lovecraft's writings), were bound deep beneath Eberron, maybe even in parts of Khyber, and as such they tend to have some limited, maddening influence on denizens of Khyber (though their own power is mostly sealed away, from their battle with the Gatekeeper Druids). Gatekeepers continue to monitor and guard the places where those Xoriat monsters were bound, but their numbers are smaller than they used to be, so not all the sites are well-guarded anymore, and problems still arise sometimes. Xoriat was disconnected from planar travel by some act of the Gatekeepers and the dragons, or something like that, so for now it hasn't yet been able to invade again.
Anyway, then there's Siberys, the other sibling of Eberron and Khyber, who was destroyed in their primordial conflict. Shards of Siberys still float around in space, at the edges of Eberron's atmosphere or somesuch. I think I recall that they form a ring around the planet. And sometimes a few shards rain down, falling from orbit and landing as meteorites.
Eberron has numerous moons orbiting it, each of which seems to be one of the Outer Planes or similar; or rather, they're each linked to an Outer Plane, at least. Xoriat was one of them, but is missing from the sky for as long as the seals beneath Eberron remain intact. There are still a dozen moons I think, each named after and representative of a particular plane. If I recall correctly, they correspond to each of the months in the Eberron calendar, with a different moon being prominant in the sky at that time of year.....but I may be misremembering this.
Eberron has different Outer Planes from normal D&D, and there are some areas on Eberron that are strongly linked to particular Outer Planes; these are called 'manifest zones', as a particular Outer Plane overlaps partially (mildly, for the most part) with each of those zones. Sharn, the City of Towers, situated in the nation of Breland, was built in a manifest zone of the plane of air (which I forget the Eberron-ish name for), which is why the towers of Sharn can reach so high and not collapse, because of the strange air-magics in the vicinity.
There are a few continents on Eberron that I'm aware of, and probably one or two I'm forgetting. The main continent is Khorvaire, home to a bunch of different races, monsters, and nations, but much of it is dominated by the Five Nations, which used to be a single, vast kingdom (Galifar). But a massive war began, which is now known as the Last War, in which the kingdom was splintered and weakened. It lasted quite a long time, and has only been over for a few years or so (maybe a decade at most?). A huge chunk of the populace died in that war, so the continent is a lot sparser in population than it used to be, and a lot of old towns and such are empty now, all their inhabitants long since dead. Galifar, and the Five Nations that remain of it now, was largely a human kingdom but with significant numbers of other humanoids in it as well (the PHB races are assumed to be the most common ones in the Five Nations).
The Five Nations are Breland, Thrane, Karrnath, Aundair, and Riedra. Riedra's become wierder and more mysterious though, as it's had some (maybe too much) influence from the Inspired of Sarlona; the Inspired are actually a bunch of humans that have become possessed by hostile spirits from Dal Quor, the Plane of Dreams/Nightmares, but the Quori keep that secret well-guarded from most folks. Kalashtar tend to stay away from Riedra, if I recall correctly, as a result of its dealings with the Inspired.
Sarlona is another continent, where humanity first originated (and mostly immigrated from, long ago), and is now largely controlled by the Inspired, while the Kalashtar rebels try to free their homeland in Sarlona. Kalashtar are humans who have willingly accepted a more-or-less benevolent Quori spirit into their bodies, serving as a symbiotic host, rather than a dominated one; Kalashtar retain their free will and work with their Quori spirits to try and oppose the Inspired. Kalashtar and the Inspired each possess psionic powers, awakened and taught by the Quori spirits, and Kalashtar tend to come off sort of like Eastern mystics, meditating and exercising to train their minds properly for battling the Inspired and their Quori masters.
Breland is notable for being the country in which Sharn, one of the most prosperous cities in the world, resides, as well as being the nation who has taken in the largest number of refugees from Cyre, the sixth nation that had formed from the broken kingdom of Galifar. Cyre was completely destroyed on the Day of Mourning, in which a strange, thick mist spread across the land and everyone within was either killed or transformed into horrible, dangerous aberrations. Cyre was destroyed, and the Mournland replaced it, a region filled even up to the height of clouds, or nearly so, with a thick, ugly mist that has various negative effects on anyone inside (it's unsafe to venture very long through the Mournland, especially with all the aberrations running amok in there). The source of the Mourning, and its continued presence as the Mournland, is still a mystery. Only small numbers of Cyrans were outside the radius of the Mourning's effect at the time it occured, so there are only a few hundred (or is it more like a few thousand or so?) Cyran refugees scattered across Khorvaire now.
Karrnath is one of the more martial nations, basically a military state, and the grimmest. Karrnath is known for its necromancers and its use of undead forces to supplement its army. Karrnathi structures are much more utilitarian and fortified than those of the other nations, looking more distinctly built to withstand sieges and intimidate invaders, rather than built to look nice. The Blood of Vol religion/cult has a strong following in Karrnath, and of course Karrnath has some of the best military academies around.
Aundair is known for its great academy of magic (which I can't remember the name of right now), and being home to the main branch of the churches of the Sovereign Host, if I recall correctly. The Sovereign Host is the primary religion of Khorvaire, and is a pantheon of several deities who represent different ideals, professions, and such. There is something like a dozen or so deities in the pantheon. There is a handful of evil deities that are also sort of associated with the Sovereign Host, but only as dark reflections, perversions, or splintered parts of the Host; those half-dozen or so evil deities are known only by vague descriptors, such as the Traveler, the Stranger, and such. Few people in the Five Nations venerate the darker deities that are so loosely associated with the Sovereign Host, mostly just evil humanoids like Sahuagin and such. I can't remember anything else especially important about Aundair off the top of my head, though.
Thrane is home to the main branch of the Church of the Silver Flame, if I recall correctly. A religion based on the ideals of a bunch of Coutls and other righteous creatures who sacrificed themselves long, long ago to defeat an evil force (I think it was in the war against the Xoriat invaders, maybe). Their souls formed the Silver Flame, a mystical, holy force that grants power to numerous clerics and paladins of the Church, and that Church is based mainly in Thrane (though it has lesser Churches in other lands as well). However, there is a stain on the reputation of the Church of the Silver Flame, in that it once held a terrible Inquisition against all lycanthropes, sending out slayers to destroy the werewolves and others of their ilk, annihilating most true lycanthropes in the world. So the Church of the Silver Flame is rather disliked by what few shapeshifters and such still remain.
Something worth noting is that religion in Eberron is less....solid, for lack of a better word, than in standard D&D settings. The gods are distant and might not truly exist as far as anyone on Eberron knows, though there is certainly a lot of belief in them. Priests get their divine magic from strength of faith or similar, for the most part, rather than necessarily receiving it directly from their patron deity. As a result, there are some non-deific religions as well, such as the Silver Flame, since no one in Eberron can undeniably prove that the gods exist for certain. So there are some evil priests in the Church of the Silver Flame, and in other faiths as well, and just the same, there are probably (but maybe not) some good priests in the Blood of Vol and other faiths that are frowned upon by most folk.
Besides the Sovereign Host and the Silver Flame, there are a few other notable religions in Eberron. The Blood of Vol is looked down on by most folk, but respected in Karrnath and some other places. I can't remember exactly what it's about, but many followers of the Blood are friends, minions, or worshippers of undead creatures, such as vampires or liches, and some seek to become undead creatures themselves. The Emerald Claw is a cult that is derived from the Blood of Vol to some extent, or linked to it, and much more sinister (whereas the Blood of Vol is, in some sects, a nonevil religion, just kind of unpleasant). Some elves venerate their own ancestors, who have used some means to make themselves Deathless, a sort of positive-energy undead-who-aren't-actually-undead. This is mainly off on the elven island/continent, which I can't remember the name of right now. There are several druidic faiths across Eberron, such as the Gatekeepers, but also others whose names I just can't remember right now.
Other continents include Argonnessen (or something like that), the homeland of dragons, which is mostly left alone by humans with good reason, and Xen'drik, a wild continent that has recently been colonized a bit by folk from Khorvaire, building the colony-port of Stormreach. Xen'drik was the homeland of giants, but their empire or whatever was destroyed during their ancient wars with the dragons and with the Quori invaders. Most of what giants remained had regressed into a more savage state due to the nightmare-invaders from Dal Quor. Dark elves, called umbragen or somesuch, also live on Xen'drik and were once a servant race to the giants. Now they're just savage tribes who venerate insect or beast spirits. Xen'drik is largely unexplored by humanoids, and most (but not all) dark elves are hostile or wary towards foreigners. There are also, in other seas, the lands of the Lhazaar Principalities and some other rarely-described nations.
Also, on Khorvaire, there are a few other nations and regions. I think the Mror Holds are somewhere on Khorvaire, home to most dwarves (while some live in the Five Nations). The Talenta Plains are found in Khorvaire and are home to the halflings (though many live in the Five Nations as well). Halflings of the Talenta Plains are much more tribal than those of the Five Nations, and ride around on dinosaurs. The Shadow Marches, the Eldeen Reach, and the Demon Wastes are other regions in Khorvaire, inhabited by tribal folk, small towns, independant city-states, or the like. Orcs are particularly prominant in some parts of those regions, and have a more naturalistic vibe in Eberron (as opposed to the warmongering, genocidal savages that orcs tend to be in standard D&D). Orcs are the originators of the druidic tradition, seemingly, in Eberron.
Gnomes have a nation somewhere on Khorvaire, which I can't remember the name of right now, largely controlled by a huge organization of information brokers, spies, and such; the gnomes of Eberron are much more sinister than in standard D&D, but not hostile, just very secretive and nosy in other peoples' business. The monstrous nation of Droaam lies in one corner of Khorvaire, near the Shadow Marches if I recall correctly, and is controlled by a group of powerful hags known as the Daughters of Sora Kell. Nobody sane goes to Droaam, unless they're an ogre, gnoll, or other monstrous race and one who can take care of themselves. Darguun is a goblinoid nation that formed during the Last War, as goblinoid mercenaries turned against their employers and stole a chunk of land for themselves. There was also a similar nation that existed long, long ago, called Dhakaan, which the goblinoids have little remaining lore on, but it once dominated most of Khorvaire. I believe there's also a small elven nation that formed the same way, from elven mercenaries, but I can't remember it's name.
Hmm..... Other races that are notable in Eberron, as being specific to it, are warforged, shifters, and changelings. Warforged are humanoid constructs built from wood, stone, metal, and plant fibers, built to fight in the Last War. Those that weren't destroyed in the war now try to find their place in the world. Some even go out into the Mournland and join the forces of the Lord of Blades, a warforged commander who is trying to carve a bloody path through humanoid lands to make a warforged nation or somesuch thing, and actively engenders hatred of the fleshies. Shifters are the folk descended from lycanthropes, looking human but possessing very minor, animalistic shapeshifting (such as forming claws, fangs, or leathery skin) from their lycanthropic heritage. Shifters are mostly human, and have only a distant lycanthrope ancestor. True lycanthropes are more or less extinct, or at least supposedly so, due to the old Thranish Inquisition by the Church of the Silver Flame. Changelings are descended from doppelgangers and humans, and are similarly rare (maybe moreso) like shifters. Changelings have only minor shapeshifting as well, more of the cosmetic, mimicking-other-people sort.
Besides the nations, there are several Dragonmarked Houses that hold a lot of power in Khorvaire. House Lyrandar, House Cannith, House Deneith, House Sivis, and others. Each Dragonmarked House is essentially a huge, extended family (and sort of a profiteering guild), as a particular Dragonmark is inherited by some members of each Dragonmarked bloodline. For example, House Cannith is composed of humans, some of whom manifest the Mark of Making, giving them a magical affinity for artifice. Cannith is the House that produced the Warforged (....as far as anybody outside the most secretive parts of the House knows, at least). House Lyrandar is the one that operates the lightning rails (aka magic, elemental-powered trains), airships (powered by fire or air elementals), and other such things, using the powers of their Dragonmark. House Deneith is known for their Sentinel Marshals and other guards, mercenaries, and such. House Sivis is a gnomish House with the Mark of Sending, handling communications dispatches and such. There are several others that I just won't go into right now. Dragonmarks are sort of like magic tattoos/birthmarks, but only appear naturally, on people who've inherited the Mark and have done something to draw out its power.
Lessee....last thing I can think of that really needs mentioning is Dragonshards. Dragonshards are magic crystals that from from either Eberron, Siberys, or Khyber, sort of like the crystallized essence of their power. They're used in crafting magic items and such, and dragonshards are exceedingly valuable due to their magical power (Siberys shards the most, I think, because of their relative rarity on the planet; considering that Siberys is a floating ring of debris out in space). Oh, and Siberys is sometimes called the Dragon Above, while Khyber is sometimes called the Dragon Below. I forget what Eberron is sometimes called (the Dragon Between?).
No point trying to run an 'Eberron' adventure when you have no idea how to make it 'Eberron'-ish rather than just coming off as generic-D&D-ish-and-nominally-taking-place-in-Eberron-mostly-just-in-name.
Lessee, a rundown on the basics:
Like others said, it's basically D&D meets Indiana Jones meets The Maltese Falcon meets Sherlock Holmes meets The Shadow meets The Godfather.....or something like that!
Ya got the material plane, which is Eberron, said to be the body of the primordial dragon of the same name, who has either been dead or in deep hibernation for ages. Then ya got Khyber, which is the deep, deep, subterranean bowels of the world, in other words similar to the Underdark in other D&D settings. But Khyber is said to be the corpse of Eberron's sibling, an evil dragon that was slain in battle with its siblings, and so anything that comes up from the depths of Khyber's cavernous depths tends to be corrupt, insane, or just plain malevolent.
Furthermore, the creatures that once invaded from Xoriat, the Plane of Madness (analogue to the Far Realm, or to the realm of Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones in Lovecraft's writings), were bound deep beneath Eberron, maybe even in parts of Khyber, and as such they tend to have some limited, maddening influence on denizens of Khyber (though their own power is mostly sealed away, from their battle with the Gatekeeper Druids). Gatekeepers continue to monitor and guard the places where those Xoriat monsters were bound, but their numbers are smaller than they used to be, so not all the sites are well-guarded anymore, and problems still arise sometimes. Xoriat was disconnected from planar travel by some act of the Gatekeepers and the dragons, or something like that, so for now it hasn't yet been able to invade again.
Anyway, then there's Siberys, the other sibling of Eberron and Khyber, who was destroyed in their primordial conflict. Shards of Siberys still float around in space, at the edges of Eberron's atmosphere or somesuch. I think I recall that they form a ring around the planet. And sometimes a few shards rain down, falling from orbit and landing as meteorites.
Eberron has numerous moons orbiting it, each of which seems to be one of the Outer Planes or similar; or rather, they're each linked to an Outer Plane, at least. Xoriat was one of them, but is missing from the sky for as long as the seals beneath Eberron remain intact. There are still a dozen moons I think, each named after and representative of a particular plane. If I recall correctly, they correspond to each of the months in the Eberron calendar, with a different moon being prominant in the sky at that time of year.....but I may be misremembering this.
Eberron has different Outer Planes from normal D&D, and there are some areas on Eberron that are strongly linked to particular Outer Planes; these are called 'manifest zones', as a particular Outer Plane overlaps partially (mildly, for the most part) with each of those zones. Sharn, the City of Towers, situated in the nation of Breland, was built in a manifest zone of the plane of air (which I forget the Eberron-ish name for), which is why the towers of Sharn can reach so high and not collapse, because of the strange air-magics in the vicinity.
There are a few continents on Eberron that I'm aware of, and probably one or two I'm forgetting. The main continent is Khorvaire, home to a bunch of different races, monsters, and nations, but much of it is dominated by the Five Nations, which used to be a single, vast kingdom (Galifar). But a massive war began, which is now known as the Last War, in which the kingdom was splintered and weakened. It lasted quite a long time, and has only been over for a few years or so (maybe a decade at most?). A huge chunk of the populace died in that war, so the continent is a lot sparser in population than it used to be, and a lot of old towns and such are empty now, all their inhabitants long since dead. Galifar, and the Five Nations that remain of it now, was largely a human kingdom but with significant numbers of other humanoids in it as well (the PHB races are assumed to be the most common ones in the Five Nations).
The Five Nations are Breland, Thrane, Karrnath, Aundair, and Riedra. Riedra's become wierder and more mysterious though, as it's had some (maybe too much) influence from the Inspired of Sarlona; the Inspired are actually a bunch of humans that have become possessed by hostile spirits from Dal Quor, the Plane of Dreams/Nightmares, but the Quori keep that secret well-guarded from most folks. Kalashtar tend to stay away from Riedra, if I recall correctly, as a result of its dealings with the Inspired.
Sarlona is another continent, where humanity first originated (and mostly immigrated from, long ago), and is now largely controlled by the Inspired, while the Kalashtar rebels try to free their homeland in Sarlona. Kalashtar are humans who have willingly accepted a more-or-less benevolent Quori spirit into their bodies, serving as a symbiotic host, rather than a dominated one; Kalashtar retain their free will and work with their Quori spirits to try and oppose the Inspired. Kalashtar and the Inspired each possess psionic powers, awakened and taught by the Quori spirits, and Kalashtar tend to come off sort of like Eastern mystics, meditating and exercising to train their minds properly for battling the Inspired and their Quori masters.
Breland is notable for being the country in which Sharn, one of the most prosperous cities in the world, resides, as well as being the nation who has taken in the largest number of refugees from Cyre, the sixth nation that had formed from the broken kingdom of Galifar. Cyre was completely destroyed on the Day of Mourning, in which a strange, thick mist spread across the land and everyone within was either killed or transformed into horrible, dangerous aberrations. Cyre was destroyed, and the Mournland replaced it, a region filled even up to the height of clouds, or nearly so, with a thick, ugly mist that has various negative effects on anyone inside (it's unsafe to venture very long through the Mournland, especially with all the aberrations running amok in there). The source of the Mourning, and its continued presence as the Mournland, is still a mystery. Only small numbers of Cyrans were outside the radius of the Mourning's effect at the time it occured, so there are only a few hundred (or is it more like a few thousand or so?) Cyran refugees scattered across Khorvaire now.
Karrnath is one of the more martial nations, basically a military state, and the grimmest. Karrnath is known for its necromancers and its use of undead forces to supplement its army. Karrnathi structures are much more utilitarian and fortified than those of the other nations, looking more distinctly built to withstand sieges and intimidate invaders, rather than built to look nice. The Blood of Vol religion/cult has a strong following in Karrnath, and of course Karrnath has some of the best military academies around.
Aundair is known for its great academy of magic (which I can't remember the name of right now), and being home to the main branch of the churches of the Sovereign Host, if I recall correctly. The Sovereign Host is the primary religion of Khorvaire, and is a pantheon of several deities who represent different ideals, professions, and such. There is something like a dozen or so deities in the pantheon. There is a handful of evil deities that are also sort of associated with the Sovereign Host, but only as dark reflections, perversions, or splintered parts of the Host; those half-dozen or so evil deities are known only by vague descriptors, such as the Traveler, the Stranger, and such. Few people in the Five Nations venerate the darker deities that are so loosely associated with the Sovereign Host, mostly just evil humanoids like Sahuagin and such. I can't remember anything else especially important about Aundair off the top of my head, though.
Thrane is home to the main branch of the Church of the Silver Flame, if I recall correctly. A religion based on the ideals of a bunch of Coutls and other righteous creatures who sacrificed themselves long, long ago to defeat an evil force (I think it was in the war against the Xoriat invaders, maybe). Their souls formed the Silver Flame, a mystical, holy force that grants power to numerous clerics and paladins of the Church, and that Church is based mainly in Thrane (though it has lesser Churches in other lands as well). However, there is a stain on the reputation of the Church of the Silver Flame, in that it once held a terrible Inquisition against all lycanthropes, sending out slayers to destroy the werewolves and others of their ilk, annihilating most true lycanthropes in the world. So the Church of the Silver Flame is rather disliked by what few shapeshifters and such still remain.
Something worth noting is that religion in Eberron is less....solid, for lack of a better word, than in standard D&D settings. The gods are distant and might not truly exist as far as anyone on Eberron knows, though there is certainly a lot of belief in them. Priests get their divine magic from strength of faith or similar, for the most part, rather than necessarily receiving it directly from their patron deity. As a result, there are some non-deific religions as well, such as the Silver Flame, since no one in Eberron can undeniably prove that the gods exist for certain. So there are some evil priests in the Church of the Silver Flame, and in other faiths as well, and just the same, there are probably (but maybe not) some good priests in the Blood of Vol and other faiths that are frowned upon by most folk.
Besides the Sovereign Host and the Silver Flame, there are a few other notable religions in Eberron. The Blood of Vol is looked down on by most folk, but respected in Karrnath and some other places. I can't remember exactly what it's about, but many followers of the Blood are friends, minions, or worshippers of undead creatures, such as vampires or liches, and some seek to become undead creatures themselves. The Emerald Claw is a cult that is derived from the Blood of Vol to some extent, or linked to it, and much more sinister (whereas the Blood of Vol is, in some sects, a nonevil religion, just kind of unpleasant). Some elves venerate their own ancestors, who have used some means to make themselves Deathless, a sort of positive-energy undead-who-aren't-actually-undead. This is mainly off on the elven island/continent, which I can't remember the name of right now. There are several druidic faiths across Eberron, such as the Gatekeepers, but also others whose names I just can't remember right now.
Other continents include Argonnessen (or something like that), the homeland of dragons, which is mostly left alone by humans with good reason, and Xen'drik, a wild continent that has recently been colonized a bit by folk from Khorvaire, building the colony-port of Stormreach. Xen'drik was the homeland of giants, but their empire or whatever was destroyed during their ancient wars with the dragons and with the Quori invaders. Most of what giants remained had regressed into a more savage state due to the nightmare-invaders from Dal Quor. Dark elves, called umbragen or somesuch, also live on Xen'drik and were once a servant race to the giants. Now they're just savage tribes who venerate insect or beast spirits. Xen'drik is largely unexplored by humanoids, and most (but not all) dark elves are hostile or wary towards foreigners. There are also, in other seas, the lands of the Lhazaar Principalities and some other rarely-described nations.
Also, on Khorvaire, there are a few other nations and regions. I think the Mror Holds are somewhere on Khorvaire, home to most dwarves (while some live in the Five Nations). The Talenta Plains are found in Khorvaire and are home to the halflings (though many live in the Five Nations as well). Halflings of the Talenta Plains are much more tribal than those of the Five Nations, and ride around on dinosaurs. The Shadow Marches, the Eldeen Reach, and the Demon Wastes are other regions in Khorvaire, inhabited by tribal folk, small towns, independant city-states, or the like. Orcs are particularly prominant in some parts of those regions, and have a more naturalistic vibe in Eberron (as opposed to the warmongering, genocidal savages that orcs tend to be in standard D&D). Orcs are the originators of the druidic tradition, seemingly, in Eberron.
Gnomes have a nation somewhere on Khorvaire, which I can't remember the name of right now, largely controlled by a huge organization of information brokers, spies, and such; the gnomes of Eberron are much more sinister than in standard D&D, but not hostile, just very secretive and nosy in other peoples' business. The monstrous nation of Droaam lies in one corner of Khorvaire, near the Shadow Marches if I recall correctly, and is controlled by a group of powerful hags known as the Daughters of Sora Kell. Nobody sane goes to Droaam, unless they're an ogre, gnoll, or other monstrous race and one who can take care of themselves. Darguun is a goblinoid nation that formed during the Last War, as goblinoid mercenaries turned against their employers and stole a chunk of land for themselves. There was also a similar nation that existed long, long ago, called Dhakaan, which the goblinoids have little remaining lore on, but it once dominated most of Khorvaire. I believe there's also a small elven nation that formed the same way, from elven mercenaries, but I can't remember it's name.
Hmm..... Other races that are notable in Eberron, as being specific to it, are warforged, shifters, and changelings. Warforged are humanoid constructs built from wood, stone, metal, and plant fibers, built to fight in the Last War. Those that weren't destroyed in the war now try to find their place in the world. Some even go out into the Mournland and join the forces of the Lord of Blades, a warforged commander who is trying to carve a bloody path through humanoid lands to make a warforged nation or somesuch thing, and actively engenders hatred of the fleshies. Shifters are the folk descended from lycanthropes, looking human but possessing very minor, animalistic shapeshifting (such as forming claws, fangs, or leathery skin) from their lycanthropic heritage. Shifters are mostly human, and have only a distant lycanthrope ancestor. True lycanthropes are more or less extinct, or at least supposedly so, due to the old Thranish Inquisition by the Church of the Silver Flame. Changelings are descended from doppelgangers and humans, and are similarly rare (maybe moreso) like shifters. Changelings have only minor shapeshifting as well, more of the cosmetic, mimicking-other-people sort.
Besides the nations, there are several Dragonmarked Houses that hold a lot of power in Khorvaire. House Lyrandar, House Cannith, House Deneith, House Sivis, and others. Each Dragonmarked House is essentially a huge, extended family (and sort of a profiteering guild), as a particular Dragonmark is inherited by some members of each Dragonmarked bloodline. For example, House Cannith is composed of humans, some of whom manifest the Mark of Making, giving them a magical affinity for artifice. Cannith is the House that produced the Warforged (....as far as anybody outside the most secretive parts of the House knows, at least). House Lyrandar is the one that operates the lightning rails (aka magic, elemental-powered trains), airships (powered by fire or air elementals), and other such things, using the powers of their Dragonmark. House Deneith is known for their Sentinel Marshals and other guards, mercenaries, and such. House Sivis is a gnomish House with the Mark of Sending, handling communications dispatches and such. There are several others that I just won't go into right now. Dragonmarks are sort of like magic tattoos/birthmarks, but only appear naturally, on people who've inherited the Mark and have done something to draw out its power.
Lessee....last thing I can think of that really needs mentioning is Dragonshards. Dragonshards are magic crystals that from from either Eberron, Siberys, or Khyber, sort of like the crystallized essence of their power. They're used in crafting magic items and such, and dragonshards are exceedingly valuable due to their magical power (Siberys shards the most, I think, because of their relative rarity on the planet; considering that Siberys is a floating ring of debris out in space). Oh, and Siberys is sometimes called the Dragon Above, while Khyber is sometimes called the Dragon Below. I forget what Eberron is sometimes called (the Dragon Between?).
Asmor
First Post
I'm going to suggest one other book: the Player's Guide to Eberron.
It's set up like an encyclopedia, with alphabetized articles on all the major nations and other things of importance.
Running an adventure in Xen'drik? Flip to Xen'drik. Need a quick primer on the Dragonmarked houses? Flip to Dragonmarks. Want to throw some Blood of Vol cultists at the PCs, but don't know what the heck the Blood of Vol is? Flip to Blood of Vol.
There are some annoying bits, though. For example, IIRC (not at home) there is no article on Argonnesson; instead, Argonesson is detailed in the Dragons article, since Argonnesson is basically the dragon continent.
It's set up like an encyclopedia, with alphabetized articles on all the major nations and other things of importance.
Running an adventure in Xen'drik? Flip to Xen'drik. Need a quick primer on the Dragonmarked houses? Flip to Dragonmarks. Want to throw some Blood of Vol cultists at the PCs, but don't know what the heck the Blood of Vol is? Flip to Blood of Vol.
There are some annoying bits, though. For example, IIRC (not at home) there is no article on Argonnesson; instead, Argonesson is detailed in the Dragons article, since Argonnesson is basically the dragon continent.
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