Forging War

So. One of my players wants to play a Warforged. I don't own Eberron; no offense to the creators, but I don't use pregen settings, and only buy them if I think I can suck the Crunchy Bits out of them, and, by the time Eberron came out, D&D 3.x had so many books of Pure Crunch that it didn't seem worth the effort. This isn't "Eberron suxx0rz!!!!", just, I don't use it. OTOH, I do like to meet player requests -- nothing kills a game faster than a player who isn't playing the character they most want to play. Warforged were described generically in MM3, which I had, so I went from there. The following is pretty cliche, but it sets up things nicely, and also fills in some background on Arith. Arith began as a vague "generic fantasy" world, and, frankly, it still is and always will be, but at least now it's getting some requisite history. It's all still pretty basic, but that's part of the point -- the "interesting" part of Shattered World is post-Crush. If I made Arith a baroque creation not readily identifiable as a typical D&D world, a)I would have to do a lot of worldbuilding, and, b)It would overshadow the world the campaign is set in.

So, I wrote up the warforged backstory. In so doing, I tossed out the term "Ironsouled Legion", because, you know, it sounded cool. Then I started thinking that it could fit into Shattered World, and that gave me the chance to crack open PH2 and build me an Affiliation. I love "systems for defining things", and I wanted to use a lot of the cool options which 3.x has produced over the years, so there you go. Thus, we present Warforged (as they exist in the Shattered World), and the first Affiliation for same.

(And, frankly, the idea of some Warforged painting himself red and blue and calling himself Optimus Prime is just damn appealing...)

Of course, having conceived of Warforged paladins, I now need some gods. They might be coming next. (Racial deities are another thing I like to create). And so worlds are built cascade style -- from one idea comes the next, and the next, and the next. The hard part is knowing where to stop, to actually focus on play, and not on making a stage no one will ever act upon.

Warforged
The warforged of Arith began millennia ago, shortly after the last Magewar. On the flying island of Skallidane, the scholars of the Pearl Conclave sought to supplement their small numbers (and their many dead soldiers) by finding ways to make smaller, cheaper, golems. To simplify the process, they used a small portion of incarnum -- the raw material of souls -- to power their creations. The miniscule spark used was enough to provide mobility and obedience, but not consciousness. At least, not at first.

After centuries (and this was still at least a thousand years pre-Crush), the populace of Skallidane was at least a fourth warforged. They served more than the Conclave -- the worked in every part of the flying island city, from the fields to the mills to the foundries. Then things began to go wrong. Some of the most ancient of the warforged began to grow rebellious; then it spread. A year after the first incidents, the island was consumed in a virulent war. The magitech for which Skallidane was known and feared was turned against itself, as the Conclave sought to destroy their own creations, unaware of how powerful they had become, and how free willed. The warforged, made with incarnum, had grown true souls, true freedom of thought -- and they were not content to be slaves.

By the time the war was over, Skallidane was no more -- the smoking ruins of the wondrous city had crashed into the sea -- but tens of thousands of warforged survived. They scattered across the world. There, their reception was uneven at best. Masterless golems -- which is how they were seen -- were known as rampaging killers only. While Skallidane was not loved by most of the world, a force which could destroy it was even more terrifying. The warforged were generally driven away. Some gave them shelter -- conquerors who saw them as perfect soldiers and who did not understand their true nature. Some took to banditry, some tried to disguise themselves as humans in thick robes and heavy makeup. A few, though, were determined to prove to the world they were as worthy of respect as any elf, man, or dwarf. They formed the Ironsouled Legion, a band of heroes who took on the greatest and deadliest of foes, asking nothing in payment but to be treated as equals. In time, their deeds became legend, and if folk didn't exactly love warforged after that, they began to accept they could be anything they chose to be.

Most warforged were destroyed in the first century after Skallidane's Fall, and many more died since then, as their natures take them towards dangerous careers. However, while the old rituals of warforged creation have been lost, it was found that a warforged could give up a small portion of their incarnum to animate another. The creation of the body takes 10000 gp and the soul-sacrifice takes 1000 XP, making this a rare process, but common enough that the race can continue -- and that many warforged take up adventuring to pay for the process of having 'children'.

Post-Crush, the warforged find themselves in a world where humanoid machines are sometimes feared, but often admired. The worlds of anime and tales of mecha appealed to them, and some have begun to paint themselves as Gundams or Transformers in the hopes of appearing to the Earthborn as heroes.


Ironsouled Legion
Ironsouled Legion
In the past of Arith, the Ironsouled Legion emerged from the ruins of Skallidane, to prove to the people of the world that beings of steel could be beings of soul. The Legion became legend, and the tales of its deeds have been told and retold by bards for centuries. The legion is not dead, though -- it existed right up to the Crush -- and beyond. Now, in a strange new world built from the mangled corpses of two older worlds, its members -- scattered, isolated, hunted, and feared -- still uphold the ideals of its founders.


The Ironsouled Legion
Symbol: The symbol of the Ironsouled Legion is a bright blue anvil, upon which is superimposed a white heart.

Background, Goals, and Dreams: The Ironsouled Legion exists to provide examples of heroism, honor, and nobility among the Warforged. While not every Warforged is a member of the legion -- or aspires to such nobility -- the Legion believes that if they can proved Warforged can be heroes, the rest of the world will at least give an unproven member of the race the benefit of the doubt.

Missions on behalf of the Legion often involve great risk, impossible odds, and worthy causes. Depending on the skills of the members of the Legion, they may be sent as front-line fighters, scouts, or bodyguards. Hunting down evil Warforged is one of the Legion's primary missions.

Type:Fighting Company

Scale:7

Affiliation Score Criteria:Only Warforged can join the Legion. Further, all must be of Good alignment (and will be tested) and maintain the highest standards of heroism. Cowardice is the worst flaw imaginable; second to that is acting in a way which shames all Warforged. The Legion encourages Warforged to go beyond the stereotypes, and so, Bards, Wizards, and even Druids can be found among their number.

Criterion
Character Level +1/2 PC's Level
BAB 5 or higher +1
BAB 10 or higher +2
Leadership Feat +2
Paladin +2
Completes a mission for the Legion +1
Dies on a mission +2
Acts to increase the reputation of the Warforged +2
Kills an evil Warforged +1
Acts in a cowardly fashion -10
Brings shame to all Warforged -10
Friendly association with evil Warforged -8
Friendly assocation with evil non-Warforged -5
Creates a new Warforged +1

Titles, Benefits & Duties: The Ironsouled Legion are warriors, first and foremost; even those without fighter type levels are expected to enter combat on a regular basis. There are no idle scholars or philosophers among the Ironsouled! As they progress through the ranks, members are expected to take on greater duties and assume the mantle of leadership, often volunteering their services to command armies of other races, if they are willing be so led.

3 or lower Not a member, or a member who has not proved himself.
4-10 Coppersouled: +2 on all Charisma-based skill checks with other Warforged; +1 on attack rolls against evil Warforged
11-15 Bronzesouled +4 on all Charisma-based skill checks with other Warforged; +2 on all Charisma based skill checks with non-evil being; +2 on attack rolls against evil Warforged
16-20 Ironsouled: Gain one Fighter bonus feat; +4 on all saving throws against fear; +3 on all attack rolls against evil Warforged
21-30 Adamantinesouled: +6 on all attempts to influence Good beings and +3 on all attempts to influence non-evil beings; +4 on all attack rolls against evil Warforged; +2 to natural AC bonus
31+ Mithralsouled: Gain two fighter bonus feats.