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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nyeshet" data-source="post: 3965938" data-attributes="member: 18363">The changes to the timeline are the least of the changes they had planned for faerun. Whether moved forward ten years or a hundred years - that is of little import compared to the death (&/or personality rearrangement) of 80+% of the deities and major NPCs, disruption &/or destruction of multiple organizations and kingdoms, (third) re-arrangement of the cosmology and nature of magic, and so forth. Even without moving forward so far in the timeline, Faerun as is currently planned (based upon the 'History of the Realms' book and various blog and message board posts) is so different as to be a new setting that happens to use the same (physical) map of an older setting - as well as some of the same place names and minor NPC names. But I'll admit that I cannot see Eberron treated in such a manner. As I pointed out in my prior post, Eberron could become a points of light setting easily enough without such apocalyptic destruction. Just remove the rails and air ships, destroy or devastate the few major centers of civilization (city of towers, for example), and set off a few major wars to further devastate those areas that are recovered or mostly recovered from the prior great war. I'm guessing that dragonborn will be added in retroactively - as a race that had been minor but is becoming more numerous recently - for potentially unknown reasons. They'll be explained as the changlings and shifters were - descendants of those that had mated with dopplegangers / werecreatures (albeit dragons in the case of dragonborn), whose children retained some of the characteristics of their non-human parent. Eventually enough such descendants found and mated with each other to form a viable separate race. As for other matters, a sudden shift in magic - perhaps caused by the qarl (spelling?) or those chaotic beings now permanently apart from the world - has caused a sudden disasterous change to the world. Perhaps it was intended to weaken magic in favor of psionics, but whatever the reason, not everything worked as planned. The city of towers collapses under its own weight now that the connection to the plane of air is weakened / lost, the elemental based air ships and railways work haphazardly or not at all, further isolating the various pockets of civilization. The various countries on the edge of war go to war, each blaming the other for what has happened - further weakening civilization as their forces are severely reduced, the winner (if any one could be considered such) gaining only a pyrric victory. Due to the change in magic warlocks and such are enhanced and more common, sorcerers are less stable and more evocative, and wizards find that many of their spells and items no longer work. Even psions are strongly affected, gaining enhanced power in enchantment but losing power in most other fields (save, perhaps, for the soul knives, who are so focused in one area they manage to retain their ability to manifest a soul knife). So, only a few years are actually needed. The change in magic occurs, setting off the collapse of the city of towers and several short but vicious wars. We return to the setting after the last of those wars has ended - perhaps with a victor, perhaps due to lack of funds / food / transport of replacements / reinforcements. It is a darker, less civilized setting. Introducing a new race is easy in such a situation - even if one does not assume retroactive inclusion. Everyone is a bit wary of magic, feeling out what does and does not work, as former non-magical persons suddenly display (warlock based) powers, as sorcerers seek to control power no longer fully in control, as wizards begin testing out new spells and abilities, re-learning their favorite object of study. At least, that is how I presume it will be.</blockquote>

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