A trilogy of Eberron novels by Rich Wulf about the titular heirs of Ash, one of the greatest artificers of the age. The books follow the heroes searching for the titular airships, which contain Ash's last secrets, before his apprentice can find them. The three books in the series are:
- Voyage of the Mourning Dawn
- Flight of the Dying Sun
- Rise of the Seventh Moon
Contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Seren, and later Erania.
- Always a Bigger Fish: The heroes' airship gets chased out of Zuladan by a dragon and the dragon is devoured by a living storm.
- Anti-Magic: The Legacy destroys arcane magic.
- Archaeological Arms Race: The Legacy is not a new invention, but was developed from the principles used by a superweapon used by the dragons in the distant past to destroy the fiends at the end the Age of Demons, in conjunction with the sacrifice of the Couatls.
- Attempted Rape: In the backstory, Zed left his position as a Paladin because he became disillusioned with the supposed "righteousness" of Thrane when he witnessed two Thrane soldiers attempt to drag a young woman who was a priestess of the Sovereign Host into an alley and was forced to kill them to get her to safety.
- Brought Down to Normal: The Timeless, the extra-planar creature behind the Legacy, curses the bronze dragon Zamiel to be trapped in his human form for the rest of his days.
- Cool Airship: All three.
- Do Androids Dream?: The warforged in the party is very introspective as to whether he's really a sapient being or not. The artificial phantasm of Ash (that the original Ash was at least partly responsible for creating) that's found in the Metrol lightning rail station has many of the same questions.
- Eldritch Location: Zuladan, a temple deep in the Frostfell, shaped like a skull and used by Xoriat cultists due to the weakness in the gap between Eberron and the realm of madness.
- Energy Being: The Legacy operates by channeling the energies of an extra-planar being called the Timeless which was created by the dragons' act of sacrifice during the Age of Demons into Eberron. The Prophet Zamiel summons it fully into the world in the final book, believing that he can use it to his purposes to conquer the world. Thankfully, it comes into the world through possessing the benevolent and inquisitive Warforged Olmec, who's experiences convince the Timeless that Zamiel's goals aren't worth pursuing and that the lives of the people of Eberron have value. The Timeless returns home after cursing Zamiel to remain in his human form for the rest of his life.
- Fallen Hero: Zed is a fallen paladin.
- Fantastic Nuke: Ashrem's Legacy is a magic-devouring superweapon that he hooked up to an airship and covertly used to turn battles in the favor of certain nations during the Last War. It's so powerful that a partially-functional prototype is able to knock every ship in Stormhome out of the sky.
- Grim Up North: Most of the second book takes place in Frostfell. Between the frostbitten weather, a sentient and hungry giant air elemental, an ice dragon and a skull-shaped temple to eldritch abominations, it's not a pleasant place. Technically it's at the southern pole but it fits the trope.
- Heroic Sacrifice: It's revealed that, during the Age of Demons, countless dragons gave their lives to ensure that the weapon that Ashrem's Legacy is based on was used against the demons. The place where they died became the Dragon's Boneyard in the Talenta Plains.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The books are named after Ash's airships.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Erania.
- Lizard Folk: A halfling from the Talenta Plains is one of the main characters, and the party goes there towards the end of the first book.
- Loveable Rogue: Seren
- Man Behind the Man
- Non-Action Guy: Tristam. Most of the time he tries to get out of combat situations by bluffing the enemy into thinking he knows how to use his sword.
- Our Dragons Are Different: The white dragon in the Frostfell in book 2 and the prophet.
- The Captain: Pherris Gerriman, of the Zilargo Gerrimans.
- Neck Snap: The prophet Zamiel breaks the assassin Zorah's neck as she's reaching for her dagger.
- The Rival: Shaimin to Seren.
- Shout-Out: Flight of the Dying Sun centers around Zuladan, a temple with connections to Xoriat whose entrance either created from a giant skull or fashioned to look like one. Given the similar appearance and name, it might be a nod toward Zhaman (Skullcap) in Dragonlance, another skull-shaped building which contained a portal to the Abyss.
- Uncanny Valley: When outed as a changeling in the prologue of Flight of the Dying Sun, the shapeshifter asks how he was caught. His companion notes that his guise is too perfect: he's always clean-shaven despite adverse circumstances that would prevent it and he never stops practicing his personal habits and tics, even when he's alone and thinks no one's watching.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Tristam. Ash states in a flashback that he possesses all of his genius and imagination with the bonus of having a more optimistic outlook on life.
