Question for eberron specialist

[Quickleaf]

Anyone who know Eberron well, I'm trying to write up a sidebar for an adventure in a Persian (think mythical Iran, a la the Shahnameh) setting. I wanted to include notes about how to integrate the adventure into various settings, including Eberron. Thing is, I know nothing about Eberron. Could you help me? Where in Eberron could a Persian kingdom be located?

Here's what I have so far...

Conan: In Hyboria, Persia could be integrated into Afgulistan or even Vendhya, perhaps becoming its own nation entirely...one bordering Turan of course.

Dragonlance: The Khanate of Khur is modeled after Central Asian Mongols & Scythians, and could easily take the place of Turan.

Forgotten Realms: Persia could fit in a variety of kingdoms, including Calimshan, Durpar, Unther, or even Zakhara (Al-Qadim).

Historical (Biblical eras): If you are running a biblical setting, such as Green Ronin’s Testament, this adventure could feasibly be set in any era after 600 BCE. During Biblical times, Persia dominated many nations, including most of Mesopotamia. In 539 BCE the Babylon empire fell to Persian conquest. Egypt was dominated by Persia from 525 BCE until 404 BCE. Eventually the mighty Persian empire was conquered by Alexander the Great from 332 BCE until his death in 323 BCE.

Historical (Roman era): If you are running a game set during Roman times, such as Green Ronin’s Trojan War, this adventure takes place in a Roman-occupied Persia. Much of the Persian culture is still intact, and Roman soldiers even adopt the beliefs of the Persian cult of Mithra, calling him “sol invictus” – the unconquered son.

 

[fafhrd]

I don't believe there's a really ideal location in Eberron. The Valenar have a lot of the characteristics of mongols, so that may be your best option. Replace persian human elements with a group of the Valaes Tairn elves near the blade desert. Barring that, I think you're going back in time to the Dhakaani empire or maybe one of the old kingdoms of ancient Sarlona.

 

[FireLance]

Possibly in Valenar. The Valenar elves are scimitar-wielding, horse-riding, desert-dwelling elves. Their culture is probably closer to Arabian, but I guess Persian wouldn't look too out of place.

 

[Morgenstern]

The psionic continent (*momentary brainlock on the name - hangs head in shame*) is practically begging for a Persian influence. If you adjust for them to be non-human but persian in culture, the Sand Giants of Xendrik could be easily adapted to be a grand, giant-sized persian nation. The main continent is fairly well covered (I know, I did part of it ) but the monsterous nation just west of Breland could easily be given a strong persian influence and make a lot of sense that way.

 

[Quickleaf]

Thanks! Your suggestions help alot!

I have a question about a Persian culture in Sarlona. If Riedra was used as the base, this is essentially a tyranny, right? The rulers aren't human and psionicists are hunted, to my understanding. Could a new nation be added in Sarlona, or is the continent mapped out/described fully?

What nations border the Valenar elves? The elves seem more Mongol-like (Turan in Persian myth), so I'm trying to think of a neighboring nation that could be given Persian characteristics.

 

[Glyfair]

IMO, adding a country into Eberron isn't particularly practical. While there is one huge blank slate (Xen'drik), it's an "uncivilized" blank slate. It's not someplace where a kingdom would likely exist, unless it's a secret kingdom"(the Lost City of Gold sort of thing).

While it certainly can be done, I think it would be the "shoehorn" principle. Any place you add it would significantly change the area and the character of the area.

You could just add an island somewhere and figure out how it would interact with the nearby areas. That's probably the simpliest way.

You could put it in Xen'drik, but that changes the character of the "mystery continent." You could put it in Sarlona, but that changes the character of an area that's supposed to be dominated the Inspired except for the sole rebel area of Adar. You could put in in Argonnessen, but how are they surviving close to the dragons (and any explanation will likely take away from the Seren).

 

[Klaus]

The thing about Eberron is that no part of it tries to mimick real-world cultures, in the way FR does.

Valenar has a stretch of desert, grasslands and rainforest. It is coastal and is bordered, at the northeast, by the mountains that separate it from the seafaring Lhazaar Principalities. To the north you have mountains separating it from the dwarven Mror Holds. The desert stretches to the east into the Talenta Plains, where nomadic halflings tame, ride and hunt big lizards. And, iirc, the goblinoid nation of Darguun borders Valenar to the west.

 

[Staffan]

Could a new nation be added in Sarlona, or is the continent mapped out/described fully?

It's not detailed or mapped out (beyond the shape of the continent), but it's described as completely under the rule of the Inspired and their nation Riedra, except for a small mountain nation called Adar.

 

[Morgenstern]

Sarlona (thanks !) is susceptible to two approaches. It is probably the easiest of all areas in the Eberron setting to apply a shoehorn - being a huge landmass with only 2 naitons described - "totally under the control of the Inspired" is easily written off as raw hyperbole or even propaganda to try and encourage those do-gooding adventureres to come help out. The second approach is to allow the larger-than-all-of-Russia domains of the Inspired to have some internal variation (and those guys certainly come off as potential candidates for severe infighting) and make one or more regions within their domains Persian-influenced. You could run a hell of a campaign on that contient where you are ina seemingly "normal" Persian style land and the PCs don't initially know its all dominated by icky psioinic outsiders .

On Xendrik, it's easy to go counterclockwise about a 1/4 to 1/3 of the way around the continent from Stormreachand put dang near anything you want overthere with out disturbing the canon particularly. And going to a bejeweled land built to twice human scale will sound pretty exotic to most players .

My brain is still locked on the name of monster kingdom just west of Breland, but seriously, you could turn that Persian and no one would blink. The fallen hobgoblin empire could seed all kinds of cultural goodness in the region.

Hope this helps,

 

[Klaus]

Droaam is the "monster nation" ruled by the Daughters of Sora Kell.