Warforged Creation Shopping List

[Jürgen Hubert]

In the next adventure, the PCs will stumble across a long-abandoned Creation Forge - one that House Cannith, thanks to the confusion of the Last War, does not know anymore. Hoever, there are some notes left behind that will conveniently explain how to create new warforged, as well as what you need for the process.

But of course, getting the Creation Forge up and running won't be quite easy. So, any amusing suggestions for components that are required for the process - both for the Forge itself as well as for the components that make up the warforged?

(They will also need two people bearing the Mark of Making, which none of the PCs has... it will be interesting to see if they can find any renegades. )

The general idea here is that the PCs will have to go through a lot of trouble, pay lots of money, and travel to many different places if they want to get the Forge running again. And then they have to deal with the political consequences of doing so.

 

[Rel]

This is not exactly what you're asking, but are you sure that the PC's will want to try and get it running again? You said they will "stumble across" the forge so it sounds like they're not actively looking for one. And you cite the difficulties in getting it running so maybe the PC's will decide it isn't worth the hassle.

If that is likely to be the case then I wouldn't take a lot of time trying to come up with a list of ingredients. Instead I would have the instructions written in a code that House Cannith holds the key to. Then, if they decide to try and recruit some renegade house members to help them get the forge going again you can have another adventure where they have to steal the code key.

 

[The_Fan]

The outer shell is made of iron, laced with other metals. Copper, silver, gold, lead, even cobolt could possibly be used depending on what your intentions are. The "skeleton" is made of granite or other hard stone. Fibrous bundles made of livewood connect the skeleton and exoskeleton and serve as a muscular structure. Tubes made from glass with reservoirs of obsidian hold an alchemical ichor, made from such esoteric materials as Khyber's black blood (oil), certain shellfish extracts, and troll's blood (might seem cruel, but you can take it without killing them). The ichor doesn't need to be pumped, simple movement is enough to get it going to where it needs to go. Chips of semiprecious stones are also used, in areas such as the eyes. Other materials, such as kyber shards are consumed in the construction but not actually part of the warforged.

I'm sure there's more. Basically, any sort of special material you can think of could have some possible role in warforged creation. There's a reason why it takes the resources of an entire nation or dragonmarked house to build them.

 

[Andor]

Well, it might take a lot to get the forge going again, but it actually shouldn't be terribly expensive to build a warforged. A typical warforged is only 2 to 3 times as effective as a normal soldier and most of that advantage is strategic rather than tactical. (IE: They can run for days and thus have a strategic movment advantage.) If they cost too much more than Joe Recruit off of the farm no one would have used them, particularly Karnath who already had cheap and effective undead troops. But they did, so we know that the purchase cost of a Warforged was not outrageous.

 

[Glyfair]

I wouldn't worry too much about the details. Just list things that would be difficult to acquire.

Actually, I think this would be more interesting if this dealt with the players realizing that someone had a working Creation Forge by the items someone is gather in bulk "Why does Merrick Cannith need 3 wagon's full of Darkwood?"

Known materials in a warforged: obsidian, iron, stone, darkwood, silver, "organic material." Possible materials (depending on the warforged's makeup): adamantine, mithril.

I think the note that organic material could be the most interesting to play with. It could be difficult things to gather (rhino hide) or something the players wouldn't necessarily want to include (kitten's sinews).

Of course, that's just the makeup of a warforged. For the material of the forge gives more options. We know that the Mark of Making is required to use one, in some way, in all known forges. That means Siberys shards are almost certainly part of the makeup. Given the forges seem to have originated from information found in Xen'drik, perhaps something unique to that area is required, too.

I'd imagine that workman's tools are likely important, too. I've seen some suggestions that warforged are actually put together, initially. Woodworking tools are a must, since it seems wood might be the largest single ingrediant in their makeup (all those joints are fibrous materials).

 

[I'm A Banana]

The price in terms of gold isn't much.

A little quicksilver in the viens, a body mostly of wood, some plating....

But the activation...

I'm reminded of the Philosopher's Stone from Fullmetal Alchemist. SPOILER:

Spoiler

To create an Philosopher's Stone, the sacrifice of a life is required.

I think the Warforged creation should have a similar secret and ultimately unpleasant component.

I'm thinking the living aspect of these constructs doesn't come from the construct, but from the spirits bound to it. Most golems use elemental spirits....the warforged use human (or elven or gnomish or whatever) spirits.

Think about how cheaply available released mortal souls are during a great war. As casualties mount, as Joe Farmers die, rather than going to their last rest, these souls are trapped using something like a trap the soul spell, only the recepticle isn't a gem -- it's the Warforged. And the process beinds the spirit to the mechanism, making a living soldier that is more effective than the previous, and because they must use a mechanical mind to think, they are unaware of their previous life -- the things that would let them think of it are closed off.

Think if you collected the bodies of the fallen from the battlefield...and you took them back to your workshop...encased them in wood and metal...stripped most of their body, but built a new one...one that you then could resurrect but who would retain no knowledge of their previous existence.

The perfect use for an abundant rescource....dead people become automotons.

 

[Glyfair]

I'm thinking the living aspect of these constructs doesn't come from the construct, but from the spirits bound to it. Most golems use elemental spirits....the warforged use human (or elven or gnomish or whatever) spirits.

I do think, while this might be true, it certainly shouldn't be obvious from the materials. Where warforged souls come from is one of the mysteries of the setting. For example, the kalashtar want to know because they don't seem to come from existing spirits, but being able to create a spirit has some repercussions they are concerned with.

While you can certainly decide to solve this mystery in your campaign, I think if it was obvious for those building the warforged, it really wouldn't be a mystery.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Well, yeah, it's a deep dark hidden secret, but one that the PC's may uncover in the looking for ingredients for the warforged....

Like in FMA, no one really knows how, they just know it happens and the result is miraculous. Those who know how are closely watched and trailed by agents of the House -- if they mention it, they die, and so does everyone who has been told. It's a war secret, after all...

That's only one possible interpretation, of course, and you could even go without revealing the secret, but if the PC's are building a Creation Forge, there's probably a fair chance that they'll be creating some Warforged, and figuring out for your campaign how to do that (and what dark secrets it entails) might help you deal with that potential outcome (and make it suitably dramatic and difficult to handle for the PC's).

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

The perfect use for an abundant rescource....dead people become automotons.

Cool idea, KM!

 

[Wycen]

Kamikaze Midget finally hit on the subject that seems most interesting to me about the warforged.

Where do their spirits/souls/life force/sentience/essence come from?

I have two theories. The first is that some spark of elemental nature is what brings them to life. They are in essence material bound elementals.

Or, they are the quori or other dreamscape/psionic related essences bound into material form.