DnD5 Eberron Angel's Breath
above: Sharn, City of Towers
THE TEN THOUSAND ISLE SETTING
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT EBERRON
The Last War The Last War plunged Khorvaire into civil war more than a century ago, breaking the kingdom of Galifar into it's five constituent nations. The war ended a decade ago with the signing of the Treaty of Thornehold, the recognition of twelve recognized nations, and a fragile peace. Even now, many of the conflicts and pain from the long war remain, and the signatory nations to the Treaty of Thornehold jockey for advantage as they prepare for the next war they all presume is coming.
Dragonmark Houses The great dragonmarked families are the barons of industry and commerce throughout Khorvaire and beyond. Their influence transcends political boundaries, and they remained mostly neutral during the Last War. Not technically citizens of any nation, the matriarchs and patriarchs of each house live in splendor within their enclaves and emporiums located throughout Khorvaire. These dynastic houses of commerce derive their power from dragonmarks: hereditary arcane sigils that manifest on certain individuals within the family, granting them limited but useful magical abilities associated with the trade guilds each family controls.
Intrigue Abounds Ancient threats linger as Khorvaire's nations try to build an age of peace and prosperity. The world needs heroes to help face those threats. The twelve signatory nations compete openly and in the shadows over economic and political power; territory; and magical power. All of them look to improve their status quo by any means necessary short of all-out war. Dragonmarked Houses, churches, cults, crime lords, spies, ancient cabals, secret societies, sinister masterminds, and dragons among others also compete in this shadowy dance for position and power among the ashes of the Last War.
A Continent of Adventure From the jungles of Q’barra to the blasted hills and valleys of the Demon Wastes, from the skyscrapers of Sharn to the dinosaur-filled Talenta Plains, Eberron is a world of adventure. Adventures can draw heroes from one exotic location to another across the continent of Khorvaire. Through the use of magical transportation, heroes can reach a wide range of environments over the course of an adventure, and thus deal with a diverse assortment of monsters and other challenges.
A World of Magic Eberron's technology developed not through the advance of science but through the mastery of magic on an industrial scale. The widespread use of such arcano-tech pervades life throughout the land. Airships and rail transport have enabled rapid transit. A working class of minor wizards called magewrights use spells to provide and power such arcano-tech. Everything from self-propelled farming implements to free-willed sentient beings are becoming ever more common in daily life through the aid of rare crystals called dragonshards. These crystals can enhance a dragonmark's power, control and harness wild elementals, and more easily create and mold magical items of all sorts.
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SHARN
Sharn is the largest city in Khorvaire, with a population of close to a million sentients. This city is a cosmopolitan metropolis, with no species holding a demographic majority. Thriving communities and individuals of all Khorvaire's sentients can be found within its confines. Beyond the permanent population, tens of thousands of people pass through Sharn every day. Refugees still find their way to the city, along with tourists, spies, merchants, and folk hoping to find their fortune in the grandest city in Eberron.
Sharn stands above the Dagger River and its eastern tributary, the Hilt. It’s an important port for anyone dealing with Aerenal, Xen’drik, or Sarlona. Mountains line the shores of the Dagger, and Sharn can’t spread out. So instead it has grown ever upward.
The city is primarily made up of these quarters: Central Plateau; Dura; Menthis Plateau; Northedge; and Tavick’s Landing.
At the hub of each of these quarters is a cluster of enormous core towers. A web of bridges and platforms connects many of these vast spires, and smaller turrets sprout from the edges of the core towers. The district of Skyway floats above the highest towers, while the tunnels of the Cogs stretch out below the lower city.
In between those extremes, each of the quarters is divided into an upper ward, a middle ward, and a lower ward. Each ward is made up of a number of districts, so that the location of a place in Sharn can be expressed with a combination of a ward name and a district name.
