Eberron
As the campaign begins, Eberron emerges from a long and devastating war. The nations of the continent of Khorvaire were once part of a great kingdom of legend, the mighty kingdom of Galifar. When King Jarot died, his five heirs, each in command of one of the Five Nations that comprised the kingdom, refused to bow to tradition. Instead of allowing the eldest son to take the crown, the siblings rallied their vassals and each vied to take control of the kingdom. Over time, this decades-long conflict became known as the Last War, for everyone imagined that when it finally ended the taste for bloodshed and battle would be wiped from the face of Khorvaire. The Last War continued for more than a century, with each of the Five Nations alternately fighting against or alongside one or more of the others as alliances and animosities shifted as fast as the wind in the Shargon Straits. In time, other nations formed as deals were made and opportunities presented themselves. After 102 years of fighting, the leaders of the recognized nations of Khorvaire (which now numbered twelve) met at the ancient capital of Galifar to draft a peace. With the signing of the Treaty of Thronehold, the Last War came to an end. Today, the nations of Khorvaire seek to rebuild and prosper as the new peace spreads across the land. While technically at peace, the nations continue to vie for economic and political supremacy. Minor skirmishes break out every so often, especially in the more remote sections of the continent and on the most hotly contested borders. Espionage and sabotage are the preferred method of diplomacy, as the nations engage in trade and discussion in public while working intrigues and double-crosses in the shadows.
History
The oldest myths say that our world was born in war, born of the struggle between the first dragons. The Seren Tablets describe this battle, how the dark wyrm Khyber tore his sister Siberys into pieces before being bound within the coils of his sister Eberron. In these enlightened times, we can see this as a metaphor. Looking to the sky, it is easy to understand how the ancients could see the Ring of Siberys as a great gold dragon stretching across the horizon. Eberron is the world on which we walk, the mother of all that is natural. Khyber is the darkness that lies beneath the surface of the soil, giving birth to horrors that haunt the night and things that should not be. Today, we may consider ourselves too wise to believe in such tales, but the ancients believed that Eberron was formed from magic and from war— and these forces have certainly shaped the world in which we live in today. Magical energy is all around us, invisible and unknown. It is a force we are slowly learning to control. The wizard can draw on this power to reshape reality with a gesture and an incantation. The priestess calls on gods to work magic on her behalf. The artificer crafts tools that can produce the same effects as either. And then there are the dragonmarked, who carry mystic power in their very blood. As we have learned to control the powers of magic, we have created many wonders that have changed the world in which we live. There was a time when a journey from one edge of Khorvaire to the other would take months. Today the lightning rail and the airship allow the wealthy to traverse the continent in comfort and safety. The sending stones of House Sivis send words across the world with the speed of the wind. Communication, entertainment, the healing arts … magic touches them all. Over the course of the last century, we have created horrors far worse than any monster of legend. We have harnessed the power of fire and storm and turned them against our enemies. We have given birth to an army of living weapons. And in so doing we have destroyed the heart of our realm. Chroniclers are calling the recent conflict “The Last War,” claiming— or at the very least hoping— that no one who has seen the destruction could thirst for war ever again. Perhaps they are correct. Surely, if we continue to toy with powers that we do not understand, with forces that can destroy an entire nation, our next war will be our last.
Though much of this world remains shrouded in mystery, scholars have kept records for thousands of years and many other secrets have been unlocked through exploration. The continent of Sarlona gave birth to humanity, but for the last millennium the people of Riedra, that continent’s largest nation, have restricted contact with the outside world. Tales say that Xen’drik was once home to a civilization of giants who possessed mystical secrets far beyond anything known in the modern age, but this society vanished tens of thousands of years ago. The dragons reputed to live in Argonnessen, if they exist at all, hide their secrets. To date no one has penetrated the interior of this dark continent and returned to tell the tale.
Only one continent is known to us— Khorvaire. Human and elf, dwarf and gnome, we all have our homes here. According to the legends, many of these races traveled to this land— human settlers from Sarlona, dwarves from the frozen north, elves from Xen’drik by way of the isle of Aerenal. Though they were last to arrive, it was humanity that reshaped Khorvaire in its own image. Those who opposed the humans were conquered or driven from their lands. In time, one man managed to unite the budding human nations with sword and word— King Galifar I, founder of a kingdom that would last almost nine hundred years.
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