Order of The Bloodforge
Races: Warforge
Race Description:
Warforged appear as massive humanoids molded from a composite of materials—obsidian, iron, stone, darkwood, silver, and organic material—though they move with a surprising grace and flexibility. Flexible plates connected by fibrous bundles make up the body of a warforged, topped by a mostly featureless head. Warforged have no physical distinction of gender; all of them have a basically muscular, sexless body shape. In personality, some warforged seem more masculine or feminine, but different people might judge the same warforged in different ways. The warforged themselves seem unconcerned with matters of gender. They do not age naturally, though their bodies do decay slowly even as their minds improve through learning and experience. Unique among constructs, warforged have learned to modify their bodies through magic and training. Many warforged are adorned with heavier metal plates than those their creator originally endowed them with. This customized armor, built-in weaponry, and other enhancements to their physical form help to differentiate one warforged from another.
Population Scale: 400,000
Type of government: Monarchy
People of Importance:
The Lord of Blades
Tigon
Mordor
Nation Size: Medium
Capital:
WIP
Settlements:
Few permanent warforged settlements exist. Warforged require protection from great heat and cold due to their vulnerability to nonlethal damage, but in most instances shade or a fire provides what is needed without a permanent structure. Similarly, since warforged do not need food and do not procreate, interpersonal contact is unnecessary. Even so, as warforged attempt to find their places in the world after the Last War, they often remain in the squads, units, and battalions they were members of before. Larger groups of warforged have taken up residence near some cities, having built their own boroughs after their units were officially disbanded. Immediately after the war, warforged often lived outside settlements in large tent cities, built in the orderly and clean fashion the warforged were accustomed to. Some of these tent cities still exist, but in other places warforged have replaced them with more permanent structures, usually utilitarian, single-room dwellings large enough for a few people and a fire. Such warforged boroughs have grown considerably smaller since the first few months after the war, and it seems likely that in a few years they’ll disappear entirely. As warforged find jobs in other nations, they’re often offered shelter where they work, which has the benefit of providing their employers with guards at night. Also, some warforged leave in search of adventure or a purpose.
Nation History:
Nearly 300 years ago, Maximilian Khan created the first sentient warforged. Other creatures similar to warforged had been created before, but the warforged that emerged from the creation forge, or Bloodforge, on that day marked the successful end to a long series of experiments with the goal of creating living, thinking constructs. House Khan had been creating constructs built for labor, exploration, and defense for some time before King Jarot, growing ever more paranoid about threats to Galifar, urged Arlan Khan, Maximilian’s father, to build constructs designed for war. For armies of constructs to march on the fields of battle, the constructs needed to be able to think for themselves, and up to that point, even the most intelligent constructs to emerge from the creation forges required minders to give them commands and control their actions. The new intelligent constructs also needed to be inexpensive to build; although an army of intelligent golems would be unstoppable, Arlan Khan realized the kingdom of Galifar lacked the resources to pay his house to build such an army.
After the kingdom split, Arlan devoted all his energy to the concept of sentient construct soldiers, but his son made the first breakthrough, using documents dating back to Kedran Khan that some say originated in ancient Xen’drik. When the secret of warforged creation was shared, the bloodforges of House Khan began selling warforged to whomever could afford them. Breland, Cyre, and Thrane had the largest forces of warforged, but most of the various factions in the war boasted at least a small contingent of the soldier constructs. Warforged participated in all the important battles of the Last War, on the side of at least one of the various parties in the conflict. Warforged distinguished themselves in the Last War due to their speed traveling long distances, their tirelessness, and their fearlessness in the face of overwhelming foes. They also surprised many with their rather mutable loyalty. Although warforged were unquestionably loyal to their owners, it was found that a captured warforged’s concept of who owned it was often easy to change. Many battles during the Last War were fought for the sole purpose of capturing an enemy’s warforged. Such battles imperiled the capturing force, since the need to use nonlethal tactics against constructs that were under no such constraints made combat doubly deadly.
As the war progressed, new types of warforged emerged from the Bloodforges. Most were made by request in limited production runs, but some were experiments driven by House Khan. Of these, the warforged scouts and warforged chargers were the most successful products, but they still paled in comparison to the success and the numbers of normal warforged that were built to fight the Last War. Early in their employment in the Last War, certain warforged distinguished themselves greatly in battle after battle, and their growing skill in the tactics and strategies of warfare couldn't be ignored. Ancient Aundair was the first nation to promote a warforged to a true command position. Previously, warforged had been given only temporary field commands, usually only until a human commander could reach the battlefield. (Human commanders often lagged behind warforged forces due to their need for rest.)
The decision to put warforged in permanent command roles was made by General Argus after the human commander, Lord Major Derge ir’Lain, sent to marshal the warforged battalions consistently managed battles more incompetently than the warforged that had been given temporary command. The ousted lord major complained to Queen Aurala, and both General Argus and the warforged, named Chase, were demoted. A year later, Argus had the opportunity to appeal to the queen, showing as his evidence the performance record of the lord major compared to the record of every warforged given temporary command of the same forces. Lord Derge ir’Lain left the army in disgrace, and both Argus and Chase were restored to their former command positions. Soon other warforged were given permanent command positions. Without the need for human commanders, Aundair’s armies seemed to race across Khorvaire. Other nations saw the benefit of warforged commanders, and in a few months every army had promoted warforged to permanent command roles. Of course, due to the protests of the other soldiers, warforged were given command only of other warforged.
During the Last War, some warforged acted as bodyguards and personal attendants to captains and higher-ranking members of the various armies involved in the conflict. In Ancient Breland, warforged particularly suited to such roles were often given by their owners as gifts to superior officers. One such warforged, named Bulwark, distinguished himself so well that he was eventually gifted to King Boranel. Although few but those in the king’s inner circle know the exact reasons, it’s generally accepted knowledge that King Boranel campaigned for the freedom of warforged at Thronehold due to the influence of Bulwark. The freedom of warforged and the destruction of the Bloodforges were major sticking points in the negations at Thronehold, with Thrane offering the most resistance. After two weeks of argument and bargaining, it was agreed that warforged should be free. When the announcement was made, Bulwark left the king’s service. King Boranel would have ordered him to remain, not as property but as a subject of his kingdom; however, after arguing for warforged freedom for so long, he felt he could not keep Bulwark in service to him if the warforged wanted to leave. Bulwark vanished from history at this point, although the events that led to his freedom happened but two years ago. The construct largely responsible for warforged freedom left Ancient Thronehold on foot, walking east, and has not been seen since.
As time passed the numbers of warforged declined since the end of the Last war. it was believed all the Bloodforges had been destroyed, some 150 years after the Last war however, a leader rose up among the warforge, known by only by the title 'Lord of Blades'. He soon assembled a brotherhood of his kin and traveled from from the lands of men into the mountains of Azawrath. Here the Order of the Bloodforge was made. Their goal simple, a realm that protected and porvided a safe haven for all freed warforged.
Nation's Trade Resources: Gold, Tin, Iron, Silver, Adamantine, and Mithral
Military: TBD
Regular troops: TBD
Navy: TBD
Technology and Magic:
Warforged are constructs, but they are not machines. Warforged have bodies composed of inorganic materials but also of living magic. In this way, warforged combine technology and magic in an unparalleled manner. During the Last War, most warforged were discouraged from taking any interest in magic or their own construction. The only practice of magic taught in the House Cannith training halls was that of the artificer, and House Cannith strictly controlled the training of the few warforged selected for that duty. Thus, most warforged think very little about magic and attach no emotion to it.
Magic and how it interacts with a warforged body hold no interest for most warforged beyond pure practicality. A warforged values magic that aids him, particularly magic that repairs his body. Warforged enjoy the ability to accept magic into their composite plating and to graft particular magic items to their bodies, but few warforged are curious about how or why either process works. Still, some warforged, mainly those who have taken up spellcasting classes, are beginning to investigate their pasts and the rumored links between warforged and the ancient magic of Xen’drik. These few seekers of knowledge see the discovery of the means to create warforged and docent components as a strategic goal.
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Originally Posted by The Captain
