The Expansion of Stormreach
Discovery, Exploration
The end of the Last War proved to be good for Stormreach, the small city in northern Xen'drik that was Khorvaire's gateway to the secrets of that mysterious continent. According to a Library of Korranberg census, the city had about nine thousand residents in 996 YK. Estimates suggest that more than two thousand immigrants had joined them by 998 YK, swelling the city's population to more than 11,600 residents. More arrived every day. With the Last War at an end, there was a groundswell of interest in the city. Refugees who lost their homes in Khorvaire came in search of a fresh start. Academics from the Five Nations' universities sought answers to Xen'drik's myriad mysteries. The dragonmarked houses saw untapped potential in the wild lands beyond the city's walls. And so the population grew and the city expanded. Moreover, transients steadily flowed through—hundreds of merchants, sailors, explorers, and others who remain for a few days before passing on to the next port of call. Following the gaping hole in military service created by the national demobilizations that followed the Treaty of Thronehold, a small company formed to take advantage of the military expertise and discipline now lying fallow. Mackinnon “Mace” Maceck, a dwarf entrepreneur and former Cyran battlefield commander, created a transportation and security firm to contract out his services to the highest bidder. Under his charismatic influence, soldiers, adventurers, and support personnel from every corner of Khorvaire found gainful employment at the end of the war. This firm, the Blackwheel Company, began by taking the jobs that no other organization, including the dragonmarked houses, would touch. Clandestine smuggling missions into areas deemed too dangerous to risk valuable house or national resources became the company's calling card. As the company grew in reputation and prowess, the dragonmarked houses elected to commandeer this rising military power. A special meeting of the Committee of Twelve was convened, and the dragonmarked houses pooled their resources to essentially buy out the Blackwheel Company. By retaining their services indefinitely and exclusively, the Twelve created for itself a military force that could be deployed anywhere in the world to pursue the aims of the dragonmarked houses' magical academy's council. As the first order of business, the Twelve dispatched the company to the continent of Xen'drik, where Mace, having appointed himself the Field Marshal of the Company, established operations under a new flag—a thirteen-spoked wheel surrounding the motto “United Aim,” symbolizing the shared interests of the Twelve. The group's current base of operations, a massive airship, provides the company with the mobility and firepower needed to operate in the most inhospitable regions of Xen'drik. This airship, the Glory Road, is rumored to be a House Lyrandar special project funded by the combined resources 178 of the dragonmarked houses, and is a sight to behold. This leviathan of an airship provides a mobile base of operations that keeps the Blackwheel Company's nerve center from being tied down to any one location. The current focus of the company appears to be furthering the arcane research agenda of the Twelve—securing dragonshard deposits, exploring ancient ruins, and protecting vital artifacts in and around Stormreach. The Blackwheel Company was one of four adventurer societies—along with the Cabal of Shadows, the Covenant of Light, and the Crimson Codex—that sought to unlock portions of the draconic Prophecy in Xen'drik. These factions are relatively small and operate primarily within the continent of Xen'drik, although they may have interests elsewhere in Eberron. Dedicated to discovering—and manipulating—the pieces of the draconic Prophecy known as the Caldyn Fragments (see below), these organizations often found themselves in direct competition. Their conflicts become bloody as the factions mount rival expeditions, racing into the heart of Xen'drik in pursuit of the Prophecy's mysteries. These four divergent power groups—the Blackwheel Company, the Cabal of Shadows, the Covenant of Light, and the Crimson Codex—are motivated by one event: the discovery, collection, and translation of various pieces of the draconic Prophecy into a single document. This work was accomplished by a human Library of Korranberg scholar originally from the Brelish aristocracy named Lord Ohnal Caldyn. Even as a child, Ohnal could talk to a dragonmarked individual, or see a dragonshard, or study the skies, and he would make a prediction that at first seemed to go unfulfilled—only to be confirmed later in a different context. Taking to the life of an adventurer, Ohnal made it his mission to gather knowledge and insight into the draconic Prophecy. He began to understand that his ability to see the shifting patterns of reality tapped into a force that flowed through dragons, going back to the very first great Progenitor dragons whose forms created the world. The notes that Ohnal Caldyn recorded in his red dragonhide-covered tome became known as the Caldyn Fragments. The most frequent mistake made by students of the Prophecy is to use “draconic Prophecy” and “Caldyn Fragments'” interchangeably. They are not the same. The draconic Prophecy is an ever-changing and ephemeral force that, as far as anyone can tell, moves like a shadow behind reality, both reflecting and predicting the ebb and flow of all things living on, above, and beneath Eberron. The Caldyn Fragments are the result of Ohnal Caldyn's efforts to capture a small part of the Prophecy in a written form that could be easily understood by humans and manipulated to produce desired outcomes. Caldyn founded the organization known as the Crimson Codex (named after the red dragonskin journal in which he recorded his prophetic fragments) to use his insights to promote peace 179 and stability throughout Eberron and possibly support the reunification of Galifar. But as people outside the organization learned about the existence of the Caldyn Fragments, others scrambled to obtain copies of the work that could supposedly predict the future. Now, each of the four groups focused on the Caldyn Fragments tries to shape and manipulate the predictions to its own ends. The secret society founded by Ohnal Caldyn and known as the Crimson Codex has a two-fold purpose—to study and manipulate the draconic Prophecy. The organization’s ultimate goal is to avoid another confrontation on the scale of the Last War, reunite Galifar, and return to a golden age of peace and enlightenment. The Codex believes that knowledge is by far the most powerful weapon, and that the Prophecy is the ultimate knowledge. To that end, the Crimson Codex has a network of spies and informants within all the major civilized governments of Khorvaire. This network ensures that treaties are upheld and peace remains a priority. Of the four factions pursuing the Caldyn Fragments, the Codex has the strongest connection to the dragons and their kin. Like the great wyrms, the Codex is capable of waiting many years for plans to come to fruition. Although the Codex is a global operation with interests on each of Eberron’s continents, it continues to focus considerable resources in Xen’drik in pursuit of the ultimate prize: the potent knowledge contained in the Caldyn Fragments. A compassionate and charismatic woman named Lirashana founded the organization known as the Covenant of Light. Although she appears to be a kalashtar, the rumor persists that she is actually a divine spirit—an angel of justice unable to ignore the pain and suffering she saw on Eberron. To the Covenant, the search to unlock the mysteries of the Caldyn Fragments is nothing less than a crusade for the powers of Light. It is said that when Lady Lirashana first endeavored to establish the Covenant, she was visited by overpowering celestial music, a force that she would later call the Song. The Song compelled her to create the Covenant in Xen’drik, and to include in its noble mission the pursuit of the draconic Prophecy. Followers of the Covenant also hear and follow the Song and believe that an era of enlightenment and peace can be brought forth by the collective power of virtue in action. Members are expected to behave in a virtuous manner in all aspects of their lives. Mystics of many different religions have been drawn to the Covenant, and all have their own explanation for the Song. Worshipers of the Sovereign Host claim that it is the voice of Dol Arrah, calling the virtuous to battle. Followers of the Silver Flame attribute it to the Voice of the Flame itself. The kalashtar say that it is an external manifestation of the noble impulses that exist within all mortal minds—the harbinger of il-Yannah, the glorious light of the next age of Dal Quor. Regardless of its source, all Covenant members initially experience the Song directly as music in their minds—a bright and irresistible summons that draws them individually to serve in Xen'drik. Radiant Hold is the primary headquarters for the Covenant of Light and its chief military outpost and it lies several miles beyond the walls of Stormreach. The faction's greatest leaders and most prized treasures all rest within its grey stone walls, well-shielded against the plots and weapons of those who would extinguish Xen'drik's best hope for a bright future. From the outside, Radiant Hold is something of an enigma. It appears to be a fortified citadel of classic Thrane architectural design, built entirely within the shell of a massive Xen'drik giant ruin. Eight ancient walls radiate from a central keep of crumbling rock, each one pointing in a cardinal direction. Though the outer husk of giantish construction looks as if it could fall apart at any moment, there is also a timelessness about the ruin suggesting that long after Radiant Hold itself is dust, the aged shale of its outer walls will still be standing. Cast out from their homes, touched by darkness, or consumed by madness and rage, the members of the Cabal of Shadows are a diverse group of troubled souls. Not all of them can be called evil, but none of the Cabal's goals could be considered virtuous. The Caldyn Fragments speak of a time of shadow and change when a dark prince will rule. The Cabal believes that the Traveler, or some agent of his, will bring this prince forth in this era and that its members will rule under him. The Cabalists intend to help bring this time of change about and see the Caldyn Fragments as their guide to the Traveler's will. The Cabal is made up of various cults, sects, and affiliations known as Obscura. Sects within the Cabal of Shadows can be quite different indeed—a sect of unaligned changelings can work together with a cult of evil tieflings, or even form an uneasy alliance with a pack of mad daelkyr halfbloods. But the Calling unites them all in fear and dread and hope for glory. For the most part the Cabal is scattered throughout Xen'drik, but as with any organization on the continent, the Cabal has interests in and around Stormreach. As the name suggests, the Cabal of Shadows prefers to remain concealed in layers of darkness. Of all the societies in the city, the Cabal is the most underground, literally and otherwise. Cabalists move in the deepest catacombs and ruins beneath Stormreach, the darkest places where even the Bilge Rats, the city's infamous wererat-lead thieves' guild, fear to tread. There are four main Obscura in the Cabal, called the Mourners of Yore, the Defiance, the Instruments of Change and the Children of Xoriat. Each sect has its own organizational details, goals and character, but all follow the mystical force known as the Calling and the four largest sects govern the entire Cabal through the Council of the Obscured. The council, it is said, performs certain dark rituals below Stormreach and elsewhere in Xen'drik to channel the true voice of the Calling and direct the actions of the Cabal as a whole. Without these regular rituals, it is likely that the sects would turn to savage infighting, collapsing the Cabal from within. The Calling binds the various sects of the Cabal together and calls the members to Xen'drik. The few courageous scholars who have studied the phenomenon suspect that the Calling is a magical aspect of the Traveler that manifests in the dreams and unconscious minds of mortals. All Cabal members initially experience the Calling as a voice in their minds—an irresistible summons that draws them to Xen'drik. It is not lost on the members of the Cabal—or the Covenant of Light's members for that matter—that the forces of the Calling and the Song seem to be suspiciously familiar. More than one member of both factions has been disturbed by the possibility that though both forces are probably opposed, they might actually be manifestations of the same power. As if all this potential conflict were not enough, the area around Stormreach has recently seen an influx of the strange drow who call themselves the Umbragen or the “shadow elves” in the drow dialect of Elven. As noted above, following the disastrous Quori-Giant War in which the ancient giants of Xen'drik won victory over the denizens of Dal Quor only through the use of tainted blood magics that shattered the jungle continent, the elves and drow took advantage of the chaos afflicting the beleagured giant civilizations to rebel against their huge masters. To put down the rebellion of their slaves, the giants prepared to make use of their world-shattering magics once again, but to prevent this potential disaster, the dragons of Argonessen intervened and waged war against the giants. In the resulting clash, a group of drow fled underground into Khyber after the destruction of their city of Qalatesh by a storm of massive dragonshards (including the largest dragonshard in existence called the Heart of Siberys) that rained down from the golden Ring of Siberys. The underworld of the Dragon Below was filled with its own terrors, but nothing as deadly as the conflict between the god-like giants and dragons. After a long and dangerous journey, these drow refugees settled in a new city-state they established deep below the mountainous region of Xen'drik known as the Ring of Storms, the legendary home of the powerful elven necromancers called the Qabalrin who had once inhabited Qalatesh alongside these drow and other elves. In their struggle for survival, the dark elves uncovered the ancient lore of the Qabalrin and used this knowledge to tap a dark well of magical energy, what some believed to be the arcane powers of the god called the Shadow, which the drow named the Umbra. Over the course of generations, to enhance their own survival in the underworld of the Dragon Below, these drow, now calling themselves the Umbragen or “shadow elves,” performed terrible arcane rituals that bound their body and souls to the Umbra, blending this shadowy force with their own flesh and souls. For thousands of years the Umbragen held their own in the depths of Khyber, defending the realm they had carved out against all manner of monsters. Then in 997 YK, the balance of power in the region of Khyber beneath Xen'drik changed. A daelkyr known as Belashyrra, the Lord of Eyes, the creator of the race of beholders, awakened and stirred in the primordial dark and an army of beholders, mind flayers and other aberrations arose from the shadows at the fleshshaper's command. The doom of the Umbragen was at hand. Slowly, the dark elves began losing the battle to the fleshshaper's forces and their outlying citadels fell one by one to the aberrations as the daelkyr's horde closed in on their home. In desperation, the Umbragen dispatched agents to the surface of Xen'drik to search for anything or anyone that could be used as a weapon against the aberrations of Khyber. Some of these agents even now are secretly abroad in Stormreach seeking for something, anything, that could be used to save their imperiled civilization. Finally, deep beneath Stormreach sleeps the fiendish Overlord known as Sakinnirot, the Scar That Abides. This rakshasa rajah has lain dormant for long millennia, but the growth of Stormreach's population since the end of the Last War and the extensive excavations beneath the city being conducted by House Kundarak's dwarves have begun to weaken the ancient arcane prison that contains this incredibly powerful being. Should the Scar That Abides awaken once more, all the world's attention may be focused on Stormreach and Xen'drik.