<strong>World</strong><br/>The Eberron setting primarily takes place in Khorvaire, a continent that was ruled by goblinoids of Dhakaan in ancient times. Humans are now the most populous race in Khorvaire, living primarily in the area known as the Five Nations. Southeast is the small continent of Aerenal, ruled by elves. Due south is the jungle continent of Xen'drik, once ruled by an empire of giants that collapsed, now under the dominion of the drow. Frostfell is an unexplored land of ice in the north. The other two main continents are Sarlona (a continent ruled by quori, creatures from the Region of Dreams) and Argonnessen (a continent inhabited by dragons). The world of Eberron has twelve moons; some sages believe there is a thirteenth moon that has vanished or is invisible to the naked eye.<br/><br/>"Eberron" is also the name for the land of the world, and is also referred to as the Dragon Between. Siberys, the Dragon Above, is the name given to the planetary rings which surround the planet. Khyber, the Dragon Below, is the name given to the underworld, and is similar to the Underdark in many other settings. According to the creation story, the world was formed when the progenitor wyrms changed their form into what they are now. Siberys created the dragons, Eberron created humanoids and other "lower races", and Khyber created the "demons" of the world.<br/><br/><br/><strong>Sharn</strong><br/>Sharn, often called The City of Towers, is the iconic metropolis. Sharn is the largest city in the kingdom of Breland and indeed, the continent of Khorvaire. It is a melting pot of all races, with the human population being the largest but still only a third of Sharn's some 212,000 souls.<br/><br/>A vertical city, Sharn is linked with the plane of Syrania, granting enhanced power to flight and levitation magic, a feature that the city's residents have used to build towers that rise higher into the sky than any other place on Khorvaire and possibly the world of Eberron. Due to the myriad of cultures that live and have lived in Sharn, examples of architecture from all over Khorvaire can be found. Most of Sharn's wealthiest inhabitants live in the upper regions of the city, enjoying the freshest air and least claustrophobic views.<br/><br/>Sharn has a long and rich history starting with its foundation in ancient times by hobgoblin warlords. It was called Ja'shaarat ("Bright Blade") and even then it was one of the greatest cities of the Dhakaani empire. In contrast to modern Sharn's soaring towers, Ja'shaarat was built mostly underground with only its tallest buildings inevitably becoming the foundation of Sharn.<br/><br/>When the Dhakaani empire was decimated by the daelkyr, the city was ruined and never recovered. Goblin tribes who took refuge in the city's bowels renamed it Duur'shaarat ("Blade of Sorrows").<br/><br/>Years later, when a wave of human explorers flooded the coasts of Khorvaire, Malleon the Reaver discovered the fallen city. He would enslave the remaining goblin tribes and rename the city Shaarat. In time, Shaarat grew into a wealthy and powerful city only to once again be destroyed when Malleon's descendants refused to bow down to Breggor, the man who would become the first king of the nation of Breland.<br/><br/>After a long siege, Breggor's wizards finally rained destruction down on the city. Breggor would rename the city Sharn. During the next 800 years the towers of Sharn would rise and the city flourished. When all of Khorvaire was changed with the War of the Mark, Sharn was once again ruined and abandoned for 500 years. When Galifar I became king of the Five Nations he ordered the rebuilding of Sharn. With the funding of noble houses and the help of House Cannith and Dwarven architects from the Mror Holds, Sharn's great towers were returned to their former splendor.<br/><br/><br/><strong>The Last War</strong><br/>The most recent significant event in the Eberron Campaign Setting is an event called the Last War, so-called because the people of Khorvaire believed that after the war was over everybody would grow tired of war (much as World War I was known as "the war to end all wars"). Coincidentally, the Last War ended on the 11th Day of Aryth (the equivalent to November 11, the day Germany signed the Armistice officially ending World War I). It refers to a series of conflicts in Khorvaire over 102 years that began with a dispute over the throne of the Kingdom of Galifar and the ruling of the Five Nations.<br/><br/>Two years prior to the end of the Last War, the nation of Cyre was destroyed in an incident known as the Day of Mourning. This event helped expedite the end of the Last War. Now, the region that was once Cyre is referred to as the Mournland and is the home of living spells, preserved dead bodies, and a militant sect of warforged (see Races) led by one called the Lord of Blades whose avowed goal is the total domination of the continent by the warforged at the expense of all "flesh and blood" humanoids. Those in the Mournland do not heal naturally, and magical healing has no effect. For all these reasons, few people enter the region.<br/><br/>The Last War officially ended two years prior to the start of the campaign, with the Treaty of Thronehold, as each of the Five Nations and most of the nations that broke off during the war officially became independent.<br/><br/><br/><strong>Races and monsters</strong><br/>The Eberron Campaign Setting introduced four new player races: the warforged, the shifters, the changelings and the kalashtar. Two other playable races were later added in the Magic of Eberron supplement: The Psiforged, and the Daelkyr Half-Blood.<br/><br/><em>Warforged</em>are sentient "living constructs" similar to golems but capable of independent thought. Warforged were first invented thirty years ago during the Last War by House Cannith. They are constructed primarily of Livewood, timber from Aerenal that remains alive after being felled. Warforged were produced in Creation Forges in House Cannith strongholds. Under the treaty of Thronehold, the truce ending the Last War, the construction of new Warforged was banned and the existing members of the race were given their freedom. However, in the lands of Thrane and Karnath, Warforged are forced into "indentured servitude." They are the newest intelligent race of Eberron and don't yet have a well-defined place in the various civilizations of the world. With the loss of their regimented and well-regulated military lifestyle individual Warforged have had to develop their own goals in life.<br/><br/><em>Psiforged</em>are a new breed of Warforged that can focus and channel psionic energy. Psionic crystals are imbedded within their bodies and can be seen beneath their exoskeletons. These crystals help focus the psionic energy that can be found in all living things. Although they are the same race as the Warforged, they have come to be set apart by being referred to as the "Psiforged."<br/><br/><em>Shifters</em>, or "weretouched", are a true race that developed through the breeding of humans and lycanthropes resulting in a superficially human form with somewhat "animalistic" features. They have the ability to temporarily gain an increase in speed, a natural weapon (bite or claw), greater climbing ability, or other abilities as appropriate to their individual heritage. Shifters can only do this for short periods a limited number of times per day, however. Shifters suffered persecution from the church of the Silver Flame during their crusade against lycanthropes 160 years ago. The church of the Silver Flame initially considered shifters as dangerous and unnatural as lycanthropes, but later recognized this error and reclassified them as a distinct and natural race.<br/><br/><em>Changelings</em>developed through the breeding of humans and doppelgangers. While they do not have the full shapechanging and telepathic abilities of doppelgangers, they still have a minor change shape ability that allows them to take on other appearances at will. Changelings lack a distinct culture and history of their own, instead using their abilities to blend in to the societies they live in, in many cases keeping their true race a secret to all.<br/><br/>Finally, Eberron introduced the<em>kalashtar</em>— humans bound with a spiritual psychic connection to a quori, a creature originally from Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams. This bonding first happened thousands of years ago and resulted in a new and distinct race with minor physical differences from humans and significant mental ones; Kalashtar have psionic abilities and some degree of shared memory due to the common spirit they share with their ancestors.<br/><br/>As for traditional races,<em>elves</em>are relative newcomers to the continent of Khorvaire. Originally the elves were slaves to a race of giants on the continent of Xen'drik. They escaped to and founded a nation on the smaller continent of Aerenal. Aerenal elves in Eberron practice a form of ancestor worship. On Aerenal, those elves deemed to be particularly beneficial to the race are magically revived as Undying. The lich-like beings are enchanted with positive energy instead of the negative energy that animates undead. The Undying act as counselors to the Aerenal elves. Elves have occupied parts of Khorvaire sporadically, only recently forming their own nation there known as Valenar. Valenar elves hold different traditions from Aerenal elves, and stress bringing glory to their Xen'drik ancestors through combat.<br/><br/><em>Dwarves</em>, by legend, originated from the Arctic subcontinent of Frostfell and now live in a region called the Mror Holds. In addition to their traditional role as elite warriors, they also put much importance on wealth, and their dragonmarked house -- House Kundarak -- is used throughout Khorvaire for banking. Halflings usually live in nomadic tribes in the Talenta Plains where they train dinosaurs as mounts.<br/><br/>In the Eberron campaign setting, unlike other campaign settings,<em>orcs</em>are given to spirituality and nature-worship. They established successful societies, learning druidic secrets from the green dragon Vvaraak while the goblinoid races built a mighty empire, some 16,000 years ago. The orc societies took a massive blow during the daelkyr invasion 9,000 years ago, though it was the orcs now known as the Gatekeepers who were able to stop the invasion by sealing the daelkyr beneath Eberron and severing the link between Eberron and the daelkyr home plane of Xoriat. The Gatekeeper druidic sect remains a presence in Eberron, albeit one largely concerned with defending the world from outsiders, aberrations and other unnatural foes rather than politics.<br/><br/><em>Gnomes</em>commonly live in their own country of Zilargo and are considered excellent shipwrights, the masters of elemental binding, information seekers, and social manipulators.[10] Because of widespread immigration though, any race can be found anywhere on Khorvaire.<br/><br/>Other significant races and monsters to Eberron include<em>goblinoids</em>(goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears) who had an empire which once dominated Khorvaire, but powerful magics unleashed during the daelkyr invasion led to a period of decline. The remnants of their empire were largely wiped by the humans when they immigrated from Sarlona; however the Last War weakened the Five Nations to a degree that the goblinoids were able to form a new nation in part of what was once Cyre.<em>Drow</em>, unlike the elves, remained in Xen'drik. They use scorpion imagery but they do not venerate scorpions as drow in Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms do for spiders. Rather than being a subrace of elves, Keith Baker considers drow their own distinctive race. A special warped race of drow called the<em>Umbragen</em>or the shadow elves also exists, with information on them revealed in Dragon magazine and the computer game Dragonshard.<br/><br/><em>Couatl</em>— good creatures of positive energy — are responsible (with the aid of the dragons) for bringing an end to the Age of Demons 100,000 years before the campaign begins. Some believe that most couatl have bound themselves to the force known as the Silver Flame, which now has a church devoted to it.<br/><br/><em>Rakshasas </em>are part of an evil organization called the Lords of Dust who scheme in Khorvaire to release their godlike masters from Khyber. These evil spirits are the undisputed masters of illusion, treachery, and subversion, and they have a hand in the politics of practically every nation of Khorvaire.<br/><br/><em>Daelkyr</em>are extremely powerful, evil creatures from Xoriat hiding within Khyber who seek to eventually break the seals on the portals to their home plane and bring madness to Eberron.<br/><br/><br/><strong>The Dragonmarked Houses</strong><br/>The Dragonmarked Houses are thirteen extended families which control most business throughout Khorvaire. Within the houses, only a small percentage of every generation manifest dragonmarks, which are marks on the body that grant spell-like abilities to those born with them. These dragonmarks are designated by taking the Least, Lesser or Greater Dragonmark feat or taking levels in the Dragonmark Heir prestige class. There used to be thirteen dragonmarks but only twelve remain. Each family possesses only one type of mark, and only one or two races can manifest a particular type of mark. Additionally, only races listed in the Player's Handbook can manifest a dragonmark at all. With the exception of House Phiarlan and House Thuranni (which both possess the Mark of Shadow), each house exclusively has one type of dragonmark.<br/><br/>Dragonmarks come in five forms: aberrant, least, lesser, greater, and Siberys. Aberrant dragonmarks are deviations from normal marks and are not recognized by the dragonmarked houses. People who have aberrant dragonmarks are commonly believed to have been warped by Khyber, the Dragon Below. Least, lesser, and greater dragonmarks can be gained by taking the appropriate feats or taking levels in the Dragonmark Heir prestige class. These types of marks must be taken in order. The Siberys mark is the greatest mark, but someone cannot have both a least, lesser, or greater mark along with a Siberys mark. A Siberys mark is gained by taking the Heir of Siberys prestige class.<br/><br/>Another family line known as Vol possessed an additional dragonmark known as the Mark of Death, but that line was mostly destroyed in a conflict between dragons and other elves. Only one heir remains today (named Erandis d'Vol), but because she is a lich she cannot use her dragonmark. However, she tries to gather information to restore the mark through the Order of the Emerald Claw and the religion known as the Blood of Vol.<br/><br/>The worst punishment for a member of a dragonmarked house is called excoriation. It is similar to excommunication in that the other members of the house are not allowed to have any contact with the excoriate under threat of severe punishment themselves. Excoriates may not even avail themselves of the publicly-available services their house provides. Excoriation is the punishment for only the worst offenses that dishonor the house. In prior times, the house would actually flay the dragonmark from the person's body. If the person survived excoriation, the missing dragonmark would regrow on a different part of the body and continue to function, but its use caused severe pain to the person.