The Quori-Giant War and the Draconic Devastation of Xen’drik
Explorers in Xen’drik, Q’barra, or Adar in the present might stumble across a weathered draconic statue or faded image scratched into a cavern wall, but the dragons left few traces of their ancient dominion over the world at the end of the Age of Demons…with one exception. The giants of Xen’drik were the most advanced humanoids of the age after the Dragon-Fiend Wars, and they had learned much in their interactions with the dragons.
Those giants who worked with Ourelonastrix and his students used draconic magic to carve out empires and dominate their continent. The arcane arts spread, and soon the giants began to explore new approaches to this form of magic. As powerful as they were, the dragons were mired in tradition, and certain paths of magical inquiry they simply refused to tread. The giants of certain long-dead empires, such as the Cul’sir Empire, the Sul’at League and the Group of Eleven, had no such qualms—their exploration of blood magic and other dark arts like necromancy, shadow, and part magic diverged wildly from the codified teachings of Ourelonastrix and the other draconic Sovereigns who had first tutored the giants. Nonetheless, the dragons remained uninvolved. The elder wyrms of many flights studied the draconic Prophecy but agreed that it was best not to manipulate its outcome. They simply traced its myriad paths and watched as fate chose its course.
Then the quori came to Xen’drik from the Plane of Dreams. The motivation for this extraplanar incursion remains a mystery, but the giants’ records portray the quori simply as ruthless invaders seeking to capture the power and wealth of the giants’ great civilizations. Other evidence suggests that the quori merely sought refuge from a disaster on their own plane or even retaliation against acts of interplanar aggression instigated by the titan lords of Xen’drik. Some scholars have recently suggested that the quori of this age, who belonged to a different race than the quori who serve the Dreaming Dark of Dal Quor today, were aware that the Quor Tarai, the guiding spirit and collective consciousness of the Plane of Dreams, at this time known as the Dreaming Heart, was soon to change, wiping out their entire species. Much like the quori and Inspired of today, the quori of this period may have initiated the invasion and attempted conquest of the world in the hope of preventing the dreams of the thinking beings of Eberron, the Material Realm from causing the change in the Quor Tarai and the destruction of their species.
Whatever the root of the Quori-Giant War, it was a struggle that lasted for long centuries. Powerful magical and psionic forces were unleashed by both sides, and, in time, nearly all the arcane knowledge the giants possessed was turned to the war effort. In Argonnessen, students of the draconic Prophecy warned that this struggle could shake the planes of existence themselves, but the Conclave insisted that the dragons remain aloof. The outcome is known to any student of history; the militaristic giants of the Sul’at League unleashed the doomsday weapon that was the Moon Breaker on the quori. This eldritch machine, created using the foul sacrificial rites of blood magic that were anathema to the dragons, destroyed Eberron, the Material Realm's fourth moon Crya and tore the entire plane of Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams from its orbit around Eberron, the Material Realm, bringing a sudden and terrible end to the conflict. The Quor Tarai soon turned, the Dreaming Heart became the Dreaming Dark and the race of quori who had fought the war were wiped from existence and replaced by the current foul natives of the Plane of Dreams. The giants’ risky gambit devastated their continent and shook the very foundations of Khorvaire. Their former slaves, the elves and the drow, rose up against their weakened masters. Desperate, the giants began recklessly harnessing their ultimate magical power once more, preparing to unleash the same sacrificial magical forces that had vanquished the quori on the elven rebels. Perhaps they thought victory was possible, but many historians believe it was pure nihilism—if the titans could not rule the world, they would just as soon destroy it.
The dragons saw the giants’ threat to the world traced out in the Prophecy. Shocked and alarmed at the effect the loss of the fourth moon had already had on Eberron, the Material Realm and the rest of the cosmos, this time the dragons chose to act. A scaled army poured forth from Argonnessen, with flights of all colors led by the militant wyrms of the Light of Siberys.
The conflict was brutal, and its outcome never in doubt. The dragons had no interest in inholding territory. They made no effort to avoid civilian casualties; they brought fire, fang, and epic magic to bear in the most destructive ways imaginable. In the end, nothing was left of the proud giant nations of Xen’drik. Giant, elf and all the other cultures of that continent were laid low by the dragons, and powerful eldritch curses enacted on Xen’drik by the great wyrms of the Draconic Conclave of Argonessen ensured that the giants would never again create a civilization advanced enough to threaten the world.
Their mission accomplished, the dragons returned to Argonnessen to brood. All agreed that the people of Xen’drik would never have posed such a threat if the dragons had not shared the secrets of arcane magic with them. The Conclave called the event kurash Ourelonastrix in Draconic— Aureon’s Folly—and forbade any flight from sharing the secrets of Argonnessen with “lesser beings.”
Those giants who worked with Ourelonastrix and his students used draconic magic to carve out empires and dominate their continent. The arcane arts spread, and soon the giants began to explore new approaches to this form of magic. As powerful as they were, the dragons were mired in tradition, and certain paths of magical inquiry they simply refused to tread. The giants of certain long-dead empires, such as the Cul’sir Empire, the Sul’at League and the Group of Eleven, had no such qualms—their exploration of blood magic and other dark arts like necromancy, shadow, and part magic diverged wildly from the codified teachings of Ourelonastrix and the other draconic Sovereigns who had first tutored the giants. Nonetheless, the dragons remained uninvolved. The elder wyrms of many flights studied the draconic Prophecy but agreed that it was best not to manipulate its outcome. They simply traced its myriad paths and watched as fate chose its course.
Then the quori came to Xen’drik from the Plane of Dreams. The motivation for this extraplanar incursion remains a mystery, but the giants’ records portray the quori simply as ruthless invaders seeking to capture the power and wealth of the giants’ great civilizations. Other evidence suggests that the quori merely sought refuge from a disaster on their own plane or even retaliation against acts of interplanar aggression instigated by the titan lords of Xen’drik. Some scholars have recently suggested that the quori of this age, who belonged to a different race than the quori who serve the Dreaming Dark of Dal Quor today, were aware that the Quor Tarai, the guiding spirit and collective consciousness of the Plane of Dreams, at this time known as the Dreaming Heart, was soon to change, wiping out their entire species. Much like the quori and Inspired of today, the quori of this period may have initiated the invasion and attempted conquest of the world in the hope of preventing the dreams of the thinking beings of Eberron, the Material Realm from causing the change in the Quor Tarai and the destruction of their species.
Whatever the root of the Quori-Giant War, it was a struggle that lasted for long centuries. Powerful magical and psionic forces were unleashed by both sides, and, in time, nearly all the arcane knowledge the giants possessed was turned to the war effort. In Argonnessen, students of the draconic Prophecy warned that this struggle could shake the planes of existence themselves, but the Conclave insisted that the dragons remain aloof. The outcome is known to any student of history; the militaristic giants of the Sul’at League unleashed the doomsday weapon that was the Moon Breaker on the quori. This eldritch machine, created using the foul sacrificial rites of blood magic that were anathema to the dragons, destroyed Eberron, the Material Realm's fourth moon Crya and tore the entire plane of Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams from its orbit around Eberron, the Material Realm, bringing a sudden and terrible end to the conflict. The Quor Tarai soon turned, the Dreaming Heart became the Dreaming Dark and the race of quori who had fought the war were wiped from existence and replaced by the current foul natives of the Plane of Dreams. The giants’ risky gambit devastated their continent and shook the very foundations of Khorvaire. Their former slaves, the elves and the drow, rose up against their weakened masters. Desperate, the giants began recklessly harnessing their ultimate magical power once more, preparing to unleash the same sacrificial magical forces that had vanquished the quori on the elven rebels. Perhaps they thought victory was possible, but many historians believe it was pure nihilism—if the titans could not rule the world, they would just as soon destroy it.
The dragons saw the giants’ threat to the world traced out in the Prophecy. Shocked and alarmed at the effect the loss of the fourth moon had already had on Eberron, the Material Realm and the rest of the cosmos, this time the dragons chose to act. A scaled army poured forth from Argonnessen, with flights of all colors led by the militant wyrms of the Light of Siberys.
The conflict was brutal, and its outcome never in doubt. The dragons had no interest in inholding territory. They made no effort to avoid civilian casualties; they brought fire, fang, and epic magic to bear in the most destructive ways imaginable. In the end, nothing was left of the proud giant nations of Xen’drik. Giant, elf and all the other cultures of that continent were laid low by the dragons, and powerful eldritch curses enacted on Xen’drik by the great wyrms of the Draconic Conclave of Argonessen ensured that the giants would never again create a civilization advanced enough to threaten the world.
Their mission accomplished, the dragons returned to Argonnessen to brood. All agreed that the people of Xen’drik would never have posed such a threat if the dragons had not shared the secrets of arcane magic with them. The Conclave called the event kurash Ourelonastrix in Draconic— Aureon’s Folly—and forbade any flight from sharing the secrets of Argonnessen with “lesser beings.”
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