Eberron

What is Eberron? It’s a world bound by a golden ring and surrounded by twelve moons. It’s the intersection of thirteen planes of existence, which shift in and out of alignment. It’s a place where magic has been harnessed as a tool — used to build cities, to sail ships through the skies, to create both wonders and weapons.   Eberron embraces swashbuckling action and pulp adventure and adds a layer of neo-noir intrigue. Stories don’t always end well and there isn’t a perfect answer to every problem. The Last War turned old allies into bitter enemies and destroyed an entire nation, leaving terrible scars behind. Crime and corruption lurk in the great cities of Khorvaire. Hidden dragons shape the course of history. Sinister fiends influence the dreams of the unwary. Human greed and ambition may prove more dangerous than any devil or demon. But through this darkness, there are opportunities for a group of bold adventurers to make a difference… for better or for worse.   Magic as a Tool. In Eberron, arcane magic is a form of science. The spells and rituals of wizards and artificers have been developed and honed over centuries, and those principles have been incorporated into daily life. Magic is used for entertainment, transportation, communication, warfare, and much more. While magic is widespread, there are limits to is power. You can book passage on an airship or get an illness cured by lesser restoration, but resurrection, teleportation, and similar effects are hard to come by. True wizards are rare and remarkable; most common magic is performed by a working class of magewrights, professional spellcasters who master a small handful of rituals or cantrips.   Dragonmarked Dynasties. The magical economy is dominated by a handful of powerful families and the guilds they maintain. These are the dragonmarked houses, barons of industry whose influence rivals that of kings and queens. These dynastic houses derive their power from their dragonmarks: arcane sigils that are passed down through their bloodlines. A dragonmark grants limited but useful magical abilities, and over the course of centuries the houses have used these powers to establish powerful monopolies. House Jorasco dominates the medical trade with its Mark of Healing, while only someone with House Lyrandar’s Mark of Storms can pilot an airship.     Shades of Gray. In Eberron, it’s not always easy to separate the heroes from the villains. Good people can do terrible things, while cruel or heartless people may be serving the greater good. An inquisitor may torture innocents in a quest to root out a cult of the Dragon Below; but if she’s stopped, the cult will survive and flourish. A group of orcs are raiding a human settlement; but the settlers have built their village on land sacred to the orcs and may be disrupting wards that hold evil at bay. The heroes find a powerful magic weapon in an ancient tomb; but this artifact is the sword of an ancient hobgoblin general, and his descendants want it back. There are ways to resolve these problems, but the answers aren’t always simple or obvious.