So, Eberron is one of my favorite campaign settings. I discovered it via James Wyatts' Draconic Prophecies trilogy and have since read The Dreaming Dark, Thorn of Breland, The Inquisitors, and the Blade of the Flame series. Since WOTC isn't doing much with the setting, I decided to take some of the stuff from the campaigns and use it to homebrew some races.
The caveat is that a couple of these are non-playable, and added for the sake of the world.
Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard
The Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard traverse the world of Zu in tunnels of their own creation. At junctions in these tunnels, one may find a monarch node aglow with Ahrikurzu’s Fire. The Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard Tzhel capture sorceries, creatures, even interesting bits of the land, and bring them to the monarch node. Reptilian mouths on the monarch node bind the Tzhel’s capture and use its chemical and biological composition to influence the development of the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard larvae. The first Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard emerged from the veins beneath the world during the era known as the Inflammation.
The Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard is born from the ashes of Ahrikurzu’s Fire. Areas rich in dragonfire-irradiated monstrosities—Nephilim as they beings are called--are frequently attacked by the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard. The reptiles emerge from the veins and the Tzhel wipe out the threat or gain information about the threat and carry it back to the monarch node. The Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard Bzhel warp the terrain to create the veins, working to make them impervious to the dragonfire-irradiated beings.
Vashadra come to see them as a means of defying the weaknesses placed on them by the Elder Dragons. Whereas the Vashadra are bound to the Chain of Fire by their dependence on the area’s climate and fireflow, the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard are free to roam. The pheromones of the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard have a taste similar to that of the Elder Dragons mixed with that of Ahrikurzu and the nebulalights. The Vashadra process this as meaning that the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard carries the secret to adapting to a variety of climates. The Vashadra seek the differentiation that comes from the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard in order to overcome the threat of extinction through inbreeding and at the hands of the mana-irradiated beings.
Taurhanu see them as cold-blooded demons with a genocidal bent towards beings seeking pleasure through the enlightenment. A Reckoning on behalf of the dragonfire-irradiated monstrosities pits the Taurhanu against the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard. They believe that the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard are the embodiment of ignorance and evil.
Simians that split from the underground communities stumbled across the veins and monarch nodes. Believing these to be pieces of the nebulalight—lightning storms that play across the nebulas dotting the night skies of Zu—the Simians attempt to harness the fires of the monarch nodes and come to call the magical fuel “dragonfire” The Simians found the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard to be godlike and thus began building religions around them. The Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard sensed the Simians’ passion for sorcery and survival; they gifted the Simians with fireglands from the Bzhel and left them to their own devices. What the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard observed: Simians using the fireglands as repositories of dragonfire or as weapons within the metaphysical realm of sorcery space. Those with the fireglands found ways to weaponized them both magical and mundane with projectile weaponry. In the Simians the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard had activated a purpose and function: defense against the Taurgikyo and Vashadra. The Simians’ discovery of the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard and dragonfire came with a price.
Voradai
The Simians paid a price for their worship of the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard. Upon dying, the Simian is taken to a nearby monarch node and broken down by the node’s chemicals. The fragments of the Simian’s body and consciousness are then used in the production of the Voradai. While the Tzhel and Bzhel are specialized for defense against dragonfire-irradiated beings, the Voradai are needed to deal with the chemically unstable terrains of the Chain of Fire and Mesas of Burning Ice. The Voradai are stripped of emotions that would compromise the purpose and function given by the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard and the monarch nodes. They are driven by the belief that, upon accomplishing their directives, they will be given the emotional cortices stolen by the Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard.
Ifrit
The Ifrit first emerged on the continent of Vurakkedi and are believed to be the Ashrathi Tribes that managed to escape the activation process that creates the Voradai. Ifrit-hood was given by Flamahri the Bringer of the Red, whose use of fireblood fundamentally altered the Ashrathi genetic code, granting them the fiery skin and pyrokinesis. Robbed of their ability to experience the pleasures humans take for granted, the Ifrit instead find their pleasure and passion in mining and welding. Ifrit were among the first Ashrathi to devise the drakes and fireshells. Fireshells made from voidiron can contain a bit of fire, or mana, that will assume the form of a spell when triggered by the drake.
Vanryl Metandi is a legend among the Ifrit renowned for his acquisition of Scavli’Jakaul Venjzard nodes and use of firefungi and fireacid.
Vashadra
Three species of Vashadra exist on Zu in light of the meteor storm, each one’s physiology dependent upon a combination of dragonfire and the environment: the Krovak, Molokenko, and Zilahri. In order to survive, each species of Vashadra seeks dominance over the sentient lifeforms of their habitat: the tyrannosaurs, styrakoderms, pterodactyls, and vaqrays. Harvesting the kindling from these reptiles gives the Vashadra control over the lesser reptiles. This decision is driven by a sense of urgency. The Vashadra depend on these greater reptiles as a food source. Without them, the Vashadra are threatened by the self-destruction of their race through cannibalism.
Taurhanu
Taurhanu are a race living in Raizoro, the continent known as the Mesas of Burning Ice. Their inhumanity gives the Taurhanu a single-minded bent toward vengeance. They place a high value on the concept of Reckoning, and thus seek out situations that culminate in a Reckoning. As a result, it is common to find the Taurhanu throughout Zu, offering their services as battlemages for hire. The Taurhanu despise formal law and will work to tear down any institution that they believe to have stagnated. It is not uncommon for a Taurhanu to lash out against whichever cause has begged for its help. The anger seemingly inherent in the Taurhanu is rooted in the days of yore, when the Simians betrayed the Nephilim to the Ahrikurzu in order to survive the Fire Rain that wiped out the Nephilim and their spawn. The Taurhanu defense against the Fire Rain was a vain one, for they are the last of their folk. Anger is tempered with a desire for the justice of a thunderstorm. Justice that is unflinching in the face of logic twisted to save the unjust.
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"...the historians will write of our suffering, and they will speak of it as the suffering of those who served the Crippled God. As something … fitting. And for our seeming fanaticism they will dismiss all that we were, and think only of what we achieved. Or failed to achieve.
And in so doing, they will miss the whole **** point.”
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