Has anyone thought about a Warforged-dominant would?

[LairdMaon]

Picture it, they've gotten several Creation Forges running. They have a mostly united system of city/training grounds.

Concentration camps and farms for all those silly races that need sleep.
Underground resistance movement.
At least one 'kingdom' of fleshies that supported the Warforged during the conquest.

Warforged leadership is pursuing, among other things, 1) a process in which key racial features (powerful build, spell like abilities...) can be reproduced and mass manufactured as components, and 2) conquest of neighboring Planes.

[NickChaisson]

Im actually working on something like this for my setting. Though it is a little different than what you are describing.

The setting takes place like 1 billion years into the future know Earth (I know it's insane but we are having fun with it). Humanity basically reached a point where they became incredibly powerful beings made of pure energy (angels, demons, God's ect. ).

Anyway, they were super paranoid so set up some mindless warforged on the moon so if some people died their minds would be uploaded to the warforged bodies. This worked in that the minds downloaded. But they've kind of been on the moon living out semi-modern life in robot forms for the past however millions of years kind of forced to go through the same routines over and over again.

I'm still tweaking it and might change it in the future, but it's what I've got at the moment.

[sktarq]

I can think of a bunch of ways a Warforged Dominant world could be set up without the whole Master of Blades or Terminator setup

The warforged still serve flesh masters who over several generations have basically retreated to lives of luxury and let the warforged get on with running their empire. The few masters who get involved tend to start adding living construct parts to their bodies over time. Few of the remaining outsiders have ever seen or even heard of the few remaining masters.

The dark times came. Yes the interdimentional hoards were beaten back. The proud elven nation of xxx was victorious. Their invention of warforged had turned the tide. But the losses had been massive. Most of the world's population had died and most of the farmland had been ruined for a Dwarven generation. The warforged however were able to start rebuilding from the day the Crimson Gate was sealed. As the elves slowly started to repopulate their nation the warforged moved into vast wastelands. They built new Forges and soon could feed them with metal, glass, and stone - they out grew their neighboring population centres in a few decades from nothing. At their peak they were growing at 20% a year. By the time the other survivor nations had recovered even half of their pre-war populations they found that the vast regions were now held in the warforged grip of steel and stone.

The vast deserts of this world are harsh. The nation's that developed warforged did so for their endurance for long overland marches and ability to march without the food or water trains which dominated inter oasis strategy. First only runaways and freed bondsmen and survivors of lost causes a few free warforged started to travel the desert as merchants, scouts, and messengers. Quickly gaining significant fortunes some bought companions of their own kind. Which soon led to small companies and outposts in the hard wilds where none who drink water could long survive. Eventually some of these comunities bought or made their own creation forges. As the warforged moved into the desert travel trades the flesh compeditors couldn't keep up and eventually few non-construct humanoids ever left their verdant isles. Today much of vast desert is the thriving home of hundreds of warforged nations, city states, etc. The fleshborn stay in their riverlands, and verdant plains and war is no more common than it would be between any other neighbors.

The necromancers of Gathor won. But none exist to savor it. The grand nation of Haltan was throwing it's warforged filled army against the animated one of Gathor and knew it was going to win when the Dark Magics of Gathor shaped an released a horrible curse plague of the people of Haltan. It was nearly perfect and no member of Haltan with blood survived the year. But the FINAL ORDER given with dark gasps of one soon to be a corpse still stands and still drives those metal and stone feet of those who remain in Haltor. "Conquer it all"

[LairdMaon]

@NickChaisson
I love the futuristic style there! With such a monotonous life I'd be happy to cause a ruckus there ;)

@sktarq
The desert holds many things to fear... That's my favorite of your contributions.

[sktarq]

Well my issue with the world as you originally described it is that it is not a great world for plot generation.

Also why would they keep/farm and of the flesh humanoids? Yeah a few allied nations bought their freedom but the dominance of the warforged nation is a powerful damper on international drama that drives adventures

The underground resistance? That is THE story. And a good one. But it will draw and dominate.

Within the warforged nation? You have a single polity with a group that inherently pushes down drama. They have few needs, are made for their social roles to a degree nearly unimaginable even in the strictest caste based human societies. They don't have the internal scism of something like Rokugann. Hunters of ancient treasures of the past? Slave hunters?

Any world that has a single dominant force or single dominant conflict is difficult to build an interesting world around. Unless you plan for that conflict being what your players will run and that it will have low replay value (and that your players will want that kind of game)

Rich talks about this early in his ancient posts on worldbuilding.

[Bohandas]

Also why would they keep/farm and of the flesh humanoids?

Perhaps to harvest them for some kind of energy. It makes more sense in an openly high fantasy setting than it did in The Matrix

[LairdMaon]

I was actually thinking of farms for things like leather and food for feeding the prisoners. Remember the experiments to replicate the special features of the living races? Hard to do without living samples.

[Grim Reader]

You know, I am not that familiar with the Warforged. But... living constructs. Does not need to sleep, eat, eliminate waste -or breathe. Thats a big one. And the Warforgeds unique method of reproduction.

This takes away so much of the things that motivate humans.

I see a Warforged civilization thriving in places humans would never consider. With each places creation forge having its own unique aestethic and ablities. A Warforged realm on mountaintops or built through the arctic or antarctic icecaps may be sleek creatures of silver, sapphire and cerulite.

Warforged inhabiting the drop-off zone where the continental shelf ends in great cities hewn from the underwater rocks would be powerful, streamlined creatures.

Those who live in the great cityspires on the moon, the selenites, tall and proud creatures of glass and obsidian. Walking on the surface of the moon unshielded. Warforged would really take to space.

Socially, they won't reproduce very fast, and they can't heal naturally. Thats going to shape a lot of their society. Access to healing and a creation forge. How much of their personalities are based of the human template? They are affected by mind-affecting effects. Are there Warforged lovers? Would a pair want access to a creation forge?

They would not need the fertile lands, the forests or the rivers. The worlds have far more room in places we wouldn't or couldn't live. If they can build creation forges thy could just outexpand the other races slowly and inexorably.

[LairdMaon]

Oh, yes, Grim... I like where you were going with that!

Diplomacy between the different location-based societies of warforged could be a source of adventure...

[Grim Reader]

I am really not sure about how Warforged tick mentally. How closely are they modeled on the template of the human mind?

Do they feel friendship, pack/tribe loyalty and conformity, anger, envy, love, hate, aesthetic appreciation, physical lust? How does a creation forge model a new entity ?

I could see matching the aesthetic of the city-tribe being very important. If you do not match it very well, you would basically be socially hampered like the ugly are elsewhere. But the materials may not be readily available for this generations look. So the arctic mountain Warforged who are pleased by a sliver, sapphire and white look may need to source the materials from somewhere. And what to use for white? Titan? Very rare and probably expensive.

Meanwhile, the less fortunate Warforged, who came out of the forge less than perfect, who were based on less functional imprints, and the poor who cannot afford repair magic may live in overcrowded spaces of little aesthetic potential.

In a Warforged society, reproducing and healing is not something you can necessarily do by yourself (or with the help of a friend) it may require assistance or social resources. I could see societies go in very different directions from that.

Also, there may be Warforged trying to emulate their creators as closely as possible, mimicking the acts and behavior of a long-extinct species on some atrophied religious urge, with little to no understanding of why their creators did these things.

[Grim Reader]

You know, if the Warforged ever discover Defiler magic, its all over.

[Bohandas]

I think they'd have a bee or ant like society, with the local creation forge taking place of the queen insect

[LairdMaon]

I would think that some type of "meritocracy" might be the go-to government.
Warforged built for purpose.
Refit kits for the particularly talented or powerful.
Skills and knowledges would be more valuable than raw physical prowess.

[Grim Reader]

I would think that some type of "meritocracy" might be the go-to government.
Warforged built for purpose.
Refit kits for the particularly talented or powerful.
Skills and knowledges would be more valuable than raw physical prowess.

But for what? What skills and knowedges are valuable? What purpose or talents?

They don't need food, there is no hunger. They don't even need air. They don't reproduce sexually, there is no lust or romantic jealousy. They spring fully formed from the forge, there is no parenting or childhood or raising individuals, or family units. Not with the base unit anyway.

They need healing and materials for the forges, and that is it for their needs. Maybe a setup like ants where every city-state is in constant conflict with the others, but over what?

[LairdMaon]

Motivations become a serious issue, I see that now.

They were built for war, perhaps an underlying drive to fight? Once all opposition in one plane is defeated, conquest of another plane is added to their collective to-do list..

Personal enlightenment could be a thing as well.

Better materials for constructing the next generation of warforged could be reason to fight each other.

What about a ruling caste of artificers interested in gaining enlightenment through studying fleshies and their struggles to survive. After all, their race was designed by the fleshies. Give them challenges and the illusion of freedom, see how they handle it. Defeated warforged can always be fully repaired, so there is no loss.

[Bohandas]

But for what? What skills and knowedges are valuable? What purpose or talents?

They don't need food, there is no hunger. They don't even need air. They don't reproduce sexually, there is no lust or romantic jealousy. They spring fully formed from the forge, there is no parenting or childhood or raising individuals, or family units. Not with the base unit anyway.

They need healing and materials for the forges, and that is it for their needs. Maybe a setup like ants where every city-state is in constant conflict with the others, but over what?

Steel and iron

[Klaatu B. Nikto]

Maybe they need fleshies for creating new forged? Kinda like an ink cartridge. Sure they could use other warforged but after awhile its like making a copy of a copy.

Perhaps its the soul of a fleshy that's the "ink" and remnants of the ink provide motivation as a tie to a past life / ink cartridge.

[lt_murgen]

Phyrexia as inspiration.

[noob]

Basically it would be like total annihilation but in fantasy(unlike TA kingdoms which is not at all like total annihilation in fantasy)

[Vogie]

Maybe less of Phyrexia, but more of "the Borg meets the Cylons". Since Warforged don't have any material needs, nor sustain off of consumables, wouldn't their main inspirations to wander away from the "hive" be the acquisition of the new? Homebrew some way that existing Warforged could be upgraded/reprogrammed post-creation with new information and techniques. I bring up the Cylons, especially from Caprica (although it's certainly touched on in the BSG reimagining), as they are a scifi analogue to the WF, but leaned monotheistic in a largely Polythestic culture. Something similar for WarForged, creating some sort of mythos surrounding the original Creation engine, and then clashing with the various DnD pantheons on a metaphysical level.

Phyrexia, or their scifi counterparts the Cybermen, have a desire to compleat or complete (respectively) all life in their vicinity, in some sort of bizarre desire for perfection.

The Borg, on the other hand, simply ignore things that it doesn't deem as a threat... and then assimilate those that do. I would expect a WF-dominant world to act in a similar manner, ignoring non-WF entirely until they stir things up. On a similar level, the Cylons throughout the series are only going after the humans because they were attacked first, and felt that they would never be safe with humans around - we see that near the end of the series, where even Cylons themselves were wanting to stop the hunt, which caused a civil war within the Cylon community.

[Lleban]

Humanoids traveling in war forged territory would have to live off the land for food in water since the warforged probably would leave most non mining land fallow. As they aren't really part of the biosphere they may not care as much about pollution, so that could be an issue as well. Warforged cities are actually alot like deserts if they aren't supporting a humanoid population.

[lunaticfringe]

Metal people thinking like metal is kinda tropey. Warforged are sentient individuals with personalities. There is no biological need to grow flowers or other non edibles but humans do the **** out of it. Because it is pretty. Desolation is depressing.

I think if they are created by humans they would have even more human quirks. Make them as varied as humans. The Collective types would be Religious Crazies just like on Earth. Racist Groups, Pro Human Advocates, Criminals, Scholars, Soldiers, Workers etc, etc, etc.

They are Alive, that gets fairly chaotic & confusing.

[Ravian]

I see a society of warforged (or any robotic civilization with individual minds.) to behave rather closely to what we would imagine a post-scarcity society would behave.

They don't have much need for a constant flow of resources to sustain themselves, and as such there's more to devote towards individual causes. Arts and Sciences devoted to understanding themselves and the world around them, exploration to satiate curiosity, possibly drifting into hedonism (though not the type that many would picture given that they're an asexual race that can't consume food, drink or drugs, more along the lines of intellectual hedonism.

Granted there are some key differences. Warforged aren't entirely without needs, as they need materials for their forges in order to heal and reproduce. Reproduction in particular is a potential issue. How many Warforged should there be? Death isn't likely except by conflict or accident, so would one set a limit on the number of Warforged produced?
So they may still compete for these types of resources. And then of course you have to consider space involved. How much space does a warforged need to live comfortably? Logically they don't require much space at all (no need for food or sleep, so all you need is basic shelter from the elements.) but given the presence of minds with ideas, they'd likely want more space to pursue their own ambitions. A scholar wants space for a lab and library, an artist room for his studio. If the numbers aren't limited, eventually space would become an issue. So it's easy to imagine Warforged becoming expansionist, not just for resources, but also for simply space.

[noob]

Alternatively they get space and resources by casting genesis over and over and nobody ever hears about warforged again while 99.9999999999999999999999999999% of the intelligent beings are warforged.

[Solaris]

As constructs, I don't think warforged would necessarily have instincts like we do - but that doesn't mean they'd be without needs. They require materials for repairs, after all, even if they don't care to reproduce. Given their creation as war-machines, I think they'd at least be highly territorial and repulse invaders pretty aggressively. The ant analogy mentioned upthread is pretty apt, especially if you keep in mind that the queen doesn't actually command the ants like a human monarch does.

So essentially, a warforged society would be like modern society with ants instead of apes. Their needs are minimal and fairly easily taken care of, giving them ample leisure time. They may or may not lack the human's instinct for a tribalistic society, and military units might form the basis of their social groupings rather than the monkeysphere. How hostile they are towards the meatbags is entirely dependent on setting, but I don't see much particular reason for them to start wars. That said, their activities may well get meatbags invading to put a stop to them for a number of reasons, including pollution from 'forged industry and mining damaging crops and (for elves) wilderness.

Metal people thinking like metal is kinda tropey. Warforged are sentient individuals with personalities. There is no biological need to grow flowers or other non edibles but humans do the **** out of it. Because it is pretty. Desolation is depressing.

Humans not having a biological need for greenery is only partially true. We're hardwired to recognize certain types of terrain as good and bad, whether or not they actually are good for us. Thus, humans are happiest in greenery, and unhappiest in - as you put it - desolation. Because our urban areas are desolate without effort, we put effort into greening them up in order to sate the instinctive need for greenery in our surroundings.

We did, after all, evolve from savanna-dwelling scavengers that were pretty far from the top of the food chain. To our ancestors, places without plants were bad for a lot of reasons.