History TabletopGame / Eberron

** The [[WhenTreesAttack talking tree Oalian]] is the leader of the Druid sect called "The Wardens of The Woods" and is a level 20 Druid, making him the highest level character whose level is explicitly revealed in the campaign guide (Erandis Vol has templates that give her a higher ''effective'' character level, but that only matters for XP). It's notable that he's still a ''tree', not a ''treant'', making him immobile unless he uses a spell to make himself otherwise. Interesting how most of these characters are bound to a specific place...

* NumerologicalMotif: 13-1, what fans have taken to calling "Backer's Dozen":
** Of 13 Draganmarked Houses, one (House Thuranni) split off from another one (House Phiarlan),

** Of 13 moons, one (Cyra) was destroyed, resulting one of 13 planes (Dal Qor) being inaccessible.

* NumerologicalMotif: 13-1, what fans have taken to call "Backer's Dozen":

** Of 13 Dragonmarks one (the Mark of Death) has been eradicated,

* NumerologicalMotif: 13-1, what fan have taken to call "Backer's Dozen". Of 13 Draganmarked Houses, one split off from another one, of 13 Dragonmarks one has been eradicated, one of 13 dwarven clans was lost, one of 13 moons was destroyed, resulting one of 13 planes being inaccesible.

* WitchSpecies: Kalashtar can be seen as this, with psionics replacing magic.

** Made blatant by Cyre 1313: The Mourning Rail. On the Day of Mourning, before Metrol was fully engulfed, thirteen lightning rail trains were loaded up to evacuate as many people as possible. The thirteenth was delayed from leaving by a nameless VIP, which resulted in it being engulfed. Everyone aboard died, and the VIP was transformed into a Darklord of Ravenloft. Even now, the other passengers fear to enter their cabin, and the train hurtles through the Mists with everyone oblivious to the fact that they are already dead.

* HumongousMecha: Warforged titans, which are basically {{golem}}s the size of small skyscrapers.

** An article in ''Dragon Magazine'' had statistics for one of the [[SealedEvilInACan rakshasa rajahs]], the fiends the Lords of Dust hope to free (or siphon power from). In a campaign setting where level 10 is considered masterful and level 15+ legendary, the rajahs ''[[AGodAmI are level 60.]]'' Make note that 20 is the traditional level cap of the system (though the epic level handbook lets you reach any level). This puts them on par with gods in other settings (the gods of Eberron not even having direct evidence for their existence), who ''rarely'' have more than 60 levels, and only a few are even that high (and though gods also have special abilities related to their being divine beings of ridiculous power, ''so do the rajahs''). The fifth edition stats for Sul Khatesh and Rak Tulkhesh are relatively tame; their challenge ratings are ''only'' 28.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Notably averted, especially compared to other ''D&D'' settings. Eberron is very flexible when it comes to alignment--one of the setting's main points is that unless an alignment is part of a creature's subtype (i.e. it is ''composed of the essence of that alignment''), any "always" alignment descriptor in the Monster Manual can be read as "usually". And even then, there is a trustworthy, non-evil ''fiend'' (all fiends having evil as one of their subtypes) in the setting.

** In 4E, the Lord of Blades is now level 21. They also retained the whole "level 11 is legendary status" thing, so that makes him even more awesome.
** An article in ''Dragon Magazine'' had statistics for one of the [[SealedEvilInACan rakshasa rajahs]], the fiends the Lords of Dust hope to free (or siphon power from). In a campaign setting where level 10 is considered masterful and level 15+ legendary, the rajahs ''[[AGodAmI are level 60.]]'' Make note that 20 is the traditional level cap of the system (though the epic level handbook lets you reach any level). This puts them on par with gods in other settings (the gods of Eberron not even having direct evidence for their existence), who ''rarely'' have more than 60 levels, and only a few are even that high (and though gods also have special abilities related to their being divine beings of ridiculous power, ''so do the rajahs'').

* BlackBox: Warforged are based on {{Magitek}} used by quori. On a meta level, Divine magic is a Black Box that works for any Cleric who believes strongly enough in whatever it is that they're praying to, even though nobody in the setting has ever actually seen or talked to a (confirmed) god. Some people claim to have done so, but canonically the veracity of this is left deliberately ambiguous and it's possible they were just delusional. Others have spoken to things claiming or assumed to be gods, but these things range from a flame that may or may not actually be a devil in disguise to an admittedly powerful but nevertheless once-mortal lich with no hint that it's possible for one to ascend to divinity.

** While the Church of the Silver Flame is based on noble ideals and the binding of evil supernatural beings, the powerful rakshasa rajah bound under Flamekeep is said to whisper ideas into the minds of the faithful, misguiding them to do evil in the name of good.
** The setting does not believe in "racial alignments" for monsters (except for demons and other creatures with an alignment subtype, who are the living embodiment of such an alignment). One can't guess a dragon's alignment from their color. A silver dragon--in most settings known to be noble and chivalrous and who have the most respect for non-dragons--might in Eberron be a villain of the worst kind, while the usually tyrannical red dragon might instead selflessly fight for the lesser races.

* ChurchMilitant: The Church of the Silver Flame and orders of Dol Arrah both believe that war in the name of one's faith is a holy calling. The Silver Flame in particular believes it has a holy duty to seek out and destroy supernatural evil.

* CityOfSpies: Zilargo. By the way, it's where the gnomes are from, so if you meet one, bring antivenom.

* {{Mordor}}: The Mournland fits this, being a cursed and tainted land that is shunned as a realm of evil and corruption.

* NonIndicativeName: The "Cults of the Dragon Bellow" do not, in general, worship Khyber. They mostly worship overlords and the Daelkyr.

* TheNothingAfterDeath: Dolurrh. It's a realm where everything fades to gray and the only beings other than the souls of the dead are their keepers. It's ''the'' afterlife, known to many people on Eberron as the only place that the souls of the dead go where they slowly fade into oblivion. The Sovereign Host is the only religion that accepts it as just what is, choosing to emphasize having a good life (although some forms do treat it as a stopover on the way to a better afterlife). Every other religion tries to attract new followers by promising some form of escape, be it union with a transcendent force or simply cheating with undeath.

%%* TheOrder: The Knights Arcane.

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: In Eberron, one of the oldest druidic traditions is orcish.

* ReligionOfEvil: The Dark Six. Though the 4E campaign guide points out that they're really more like the Greek gods (i.e., still epic {{Jerk Ass}}es, but really more the embodiments of destructive nature than truly malicious). Even before then, one of them wasn't really evil, just... mysterious. Terribly mysterious.

** Changelings are the descendants of cross-breeding between humans and doppelgangers. They are now considered distinct from their parent races and have developed their own culture and even religious beliefs.

* UltimateEvil: ''Khyber, the Dragon Below.''

* WarriorMonk: Kalashtar have this as their racial hat. Being literally born into a monastic order that has dedicated itself to battling body-snatching fiends from the realm of nightmares tends to do that to a person.

** Everything important follows the pattern of there being 13 of them with one lost/evil/destroyed. By WordOfGod, the pun on [[IncrediblyLamePun Baker's Dozen]] was [[http://keith-baker.com/dragonmarks-6616-edition-wars/ pure coincidence]] -- they'd just independently set two things in groups of (13-1) and thought it would be cool to run with it. Keith Baker didn't even notice the pun until someone pointed it out. There were thirteen moons/alternate planes, but one had its connection severed. There were thirteen dragonmarked houses, but one was wiped out. There are thirteen regions in the modern Khorvaire, but one is the Mournland. There's even thirteen kinds of halfling tea (called "tal"), and the knowledge of making one of them was lost in the Xoriat incursion.

** Death is no release. In 3.5, it's confirmed that people who die end up wasting away to Oblivion in the afterlife that is Dolurrh. 4E is a bit nicer, leaving a few exit strategies (one of which requires one to side with the Silver Flame, which unwittingly BEARS A LORD OF DUST). So ya see, even if you die, you're still doomed. Creates the idea that the Blood of Vol and the Undying Court are right.

* CrossoverCosmology: Averted until 5th edition. The planar system of Eberron was largely considered entirely sepparate from the Great Wheel, World Tree or World Axis of standard D&D. In 5th edition, it was stated that Eberron and its planes ''is'' on the Great Wheel, but somehow cut of from the rest of the planes.

* OutsideContextProblem: ''Rising from the Last War'' suggests a campaign where whatever has cut Eberron of from the Great Wheel has ended, and now the powers of the Wheel are turning their eyes toward this new playing field.

* WeirdMoon: [[ArcNumber 13 minus 1 moons]].

%%* ArchEnemy: The Eberron books and adventures have a few of these.%%ZCE

** Everything important follows the pattern of there being 13 of them with one lost/evil/destroyed. By WordOfGod, the pun on [[IncrediblyLamePun Baker's Dozen]] was [[http://keith-baker.com/dragonmarks-6616-edition-wars/ pure coincidence]] -- they'd just independently set two things in groups of (13-1) and thought it would be cool to run with it. Keith Baker didn't even notice the pun until someone pointed it out.

** Made blatant by Cyre 1313: The Mourning Rail. On the Day of Mourning, before Metrol was fully engulfed, thirteen lightning rail trains were loaded up to evacuate as many people as possible. The thirteenth was delayed from leaving by a nameless VIP, which resulted in it being engulfed. Everyone aboard died, and the VIP was transformed into a Darklord of Ravenloft. Even now, the other passengers fear to enter his cabin, and the train hurtles through the Mists with everyone oblivious to the fact that they are already dead.