Eberron Lore Questions and Answers!

[Dragolord]

If you go that route, you would have to differentiate between different Kinds of non-canon.

Well... yes, I do. For instance, we have canon, things which are technically canon, but were written by someone who didn't know anything about the setting, and so should be glossed over (see Forge of War), things which are very-definitely-not-canon-in-case-WotC's-lawyers-are-reading-this, such as Keith Baker's blog, and actual official non-canon, like the novels.

The biggest question mark is Xulo's nature. Xulo is found in the ruins of a Giant temple with a Creation Forge and a prototype warforged. All signs seem to indicate (though it is never explicitly stated) that the ancient Giants invented the Warforged (presumably to fight the Quori) and house Cannith plagiarized/appropriated/refined their work. That makes sense in a vacuum, but then Secrets of Xendrik says no, the original Warforged were absolutely created by the Quori, and here is the Quori outpost with the Creation Forge in it that Cannith ripped off their design from.

So is it more plausible that Xulo is a sentient item created by the Giants to create their own Warforged to fight the Quori and their Warforged. Or that Xulo is a Quori spirit/creation and it was found in Giant ruins (with a Creation Forge and prototype Warforged in tow) for no apparent reason...I mean the ruins could have been captured in antiquity or whatever, but since there is no other indication of that and the logistics of moving a Creation Forge or building one in situ seem prohibitive. Moreover, it doesn't make any sense for the prototype to be there, since you wouldn't do the original research to make a prototype from the original forge in a captured enemy base and if it's a secondary forge then you wouldn't be making/researching a prototype.

It isn't as if the Quori had much time to build infrastructure during the invasion. There's no reason to suppose that they couldn't have simply taken over the temple and begun using it.

[fallensavior]

Is there anything in the lore about the Quori intending to use the Warforged as empty vessels?

Is it possible Xulo could be a weapon created by the Giants to give sentience to the enemy Warforged?

[InterstellarPro]

Is there anything in the lore about the Quori intending to use the Warforged as empty vessels?

Is it possible Xulo could be a weapon created by the Giants to give sentience to the enemy Warforged?

I do not recall where I read about it, but I seem to remember something about warforged were not the empty vessels. It was the Docents they would use that would carry the Quori spirit. The Warforged were always meant to be mindless shells, completely controlled by the Quori spirits contained in the Docents. But, again, I do not recall where I read about that.

[Omnificer]

I do not recall where I read about it, but I seem to remember something about warforged were not the empty vessels. It was the Docents they would use that would carry the Quori spirit. The Warforged were always meant to be mindless shells, completely controlled by the Quori spirits contained in the Docents. But, again, I do not recall where I read about that.

So, the whole warforged origin I think is intentionally vague with the intention that what's in the books on it could be an incorrect interpretation by NPCs, lies by other NPCs, or exactly what happened. Like what caused the Day of Mourning.

In Secrets of Xen'drik on page 155 an intelligent Docent named Shira suggests exactly that the docents were meant to hold Quori minds and warforged were to hold the docents. On top of that, the Quori were trying to peacefully escape before the giants started a war. But the section on it has a bunch of open ended questions, like: Is she telling the truth, or playing games of her own?
Shira can speak Quori, can let a warforged dream by opening a way to Dal Quor, and will become inactive as it is then caught up in the plane, so Shira is most likely an actual Quori. Whether the docents and warforged were designed for that (and whether those Quori were good aligned) is the open ended part.

I personally like the idea of it being accurate and I think the non-canon Dreaming Dark novels goes with part of that interpretation.

[Zombimode]

So, the whole warforged origin I think is intentionally vague with the intention that what's in the books on it could be an incorrect interpretation by NPCs, lies by other NPCs, or exactly what happened. Like what caused the Day of Mourning.

In Secrets of Xen'drik on page 155 an intelligent Docent named Shira suggests exactly that the docents were meant to hold Quori minds and warforged were to hold the docents. On top of that, the Quori were trying to peacefully escape before the giants started a war. But the section on it has a bunch of open ended questions, like: Is she telling the truth, or playing games of her own?
Shira can speak Quori, can let a warforged dream by opening a way to Dal Quor, and will become inactive as it is then caught up in the plane, so Shira is most likely an actual Quori. Whether the docents and warforged were designed for that (and whether those Quori were good aligned) is the open ended part.

And aren't the pre-Xendrik-Apocalypse Quori a completely different deal than the "modern" quori?

[Omnificer]

And aren't the pre-Xendrik-Apocalypse Quori a completely different deal than the "modern" quori?

Yes. The goal of the Dreaming Dark is to prevent "the turning of the age" which I think can be considered a large enough shift in the status quo of the material plane that Dal Quor and anything living in it gets completely reformed.

This would effectively kill all of the Quori so that's why they impose such a rigid, but stable, way of life in Riedra, to keep the status quo.

The previous turning of the age wiped out the Quori that fought the giants. If Shira the docent is telling the truth, she's the only survivor because she's the only Quori successfully installed into a docent and if she ever goes back to Dal Quor she's a goner.

So, assuming Shira's telling the truth then there's a lot of possibility for the current Quori to be eager to pick up where the old Quori left off.

[Clistenes]

That seems like a huge design flaw. If your setting is built on having giant magical guilds that control huge swaths of commerce, priority number one should be making sure the mechanics back that up (well, maybe given the weakness of 3e's economics rules priority one should be producing an economy that has commerce to control, but still).



Are those somehow better than just using the rules in the DMG to make items that only work for Wizards with ranks in Perform (Throat Singing) or whatever other gen-ed your Wizard's guild requires? I get that there is fluff that says they are in charge. I just don't see any mechanical backing for any of it. It seems like Wizards' ability to tell their magical knowledge to other Wizards is a much bigger advantage than the things Dragonmarked Houses have going for them, and the Wizard guilds of the world should be correspondingly more powerful than the Dragonmarked Houses.



You can get most of the way to Warforged (and probably better for the stated purpose of "mobile weapons") with animate objects + permanency. If you can get someone with awaken construct (which, admittedly, is a 9th level spell), you can just make your own Warforged except they are the size of houses and can fly.



So they invented a magical key? Again, I just don't see what is inherently Dragonmarked about that. Yes, if you have to pony up the Mark of Making to continue the adventure, obviously being able to do that is important. But why does it have to be the Mark of Making and not the sigil of the Order of the Ebon Hand or the mark of Fangs of the Judging God or the insignia of Thule Society or whatever symbol of other (secret) organization you want to have be important? What is giving the Dragonmarked Houses a mechanical head start on any other semi-organized group of magical folks? Their plan of "breed new people who might get minor magic" seems way worse than the plans that various Necromancers (Spell-Stitch Undead that are guaranteed to get magic), Summoners (summon up angels that are already magic), or Wizard Guilds (train people who have already been born) have for producing more magic to win the economy with.



Okay, but again, "you get totally arbitrary magical powers because the DM wants to give you something to do because of the special character option you took" is not really a stable system for setting up an economic dynasty. Why is the world not dominated by Sorcerers whose Dragon Heritage Feats give them totally arbitrary visions of extra magical powers because dragons? This seems like basically circular logic "the setting says that Dragonmarked people are important, therefore you should do things to make Dragonmarked people important". The mechanics of the setting should promote the desired setting, not leave a giant hole for the DM to fill in after the fact.

I mean, look at the damn Artificer! The same book that asks us to believe the Dragonmarked Houses dominate commerce produces an entire character class dedicated to commerce magic with no inherent association with them! The hell is that about?



Sure, that is a workable paradigm. If Dragonmarks gave Sorcerers a pile of extra spells, and the Dragonmarked Houses produced Sorcerers at way above the base rate, we might have something to work with. Is there anything like that in the flavor or mechanics of the setting?



I guess. But the dragonmarks still kind of blow. Look at the metamagic rods versus the dragonmark rods. The dragonmark ones cost half price. But they're locked into the half-a-dozen (give or take) dragonmark powers you personally have, and those often don't really benefit from them. Extended dimension door is not really a winner.



The point was less speak with dead specifically and more that you can just train people to do magic that seems way more impressive than least (or even lesser) dragonmarks. And they also get all the other magic they would normally get for being a Beguiler or a Cleric. Mentor/Apprentice allowing you to train 5th level characters kind of spanks the pants off of the Dragonmarked House's plan of breeding people who maybe have magical powers (particularly for the long-lived races who have to sit around waiting the better part of a century for new heirs to pop out).

I think the main advantage of Dragonmak items is that they are easier, faster and cheaper to make. You don't need a caster level or just a low caster level, you don't need a lump of gold the size of he moon, and you don't need to expend loads of xp. You just need to gather dragonshards of the right type and size, and follow the intructions...

I don't think they ever released rules for dragonshard crafting, probably because they felt that would make dragonmarked characters just too powerful...

[Cosi]

I don't think they ever released rules for dragonshard crafting, probably because they felt that would make dragonmarked characters just too powerful...

I know no one really wants to start this argument again, but isn't is absolutely goddamn absurd to say "we're not going to do X because it would make the people who are supposed to dominate the setting too good"? If the point is that people with Dragonmarks are better than you, refusing to release rules because they would make people with dragonmarks better than you is probably the most direct possible conflict between setting and rules.

[Falontani]

I think the main advantage of Dragonmak items is that they are easier, faster and cheaper to make. You don't need a caster level or just a low caster level, you don't need a lump of gold the size of he moon, and you don't need to expend loads of xp. You just need to gather dragonshards of the right type and size, and follow the intructions...

I don't think they ever released rules for dragonshard crafting, probably because they felt that would make dragonmarked characters just too powerful...

They did, in the Eberron Campaign Setting; and while the GP cost of some of the items are extravagantly low (Altar of Resurrection, 13k GP) for example, they all require a caster level to create

[Nifft]

Yes. The goal of the Dreaming Dark is to prevent "the turning of the age" which I think can be considered a large enough shift in the status quo of the material plane that Dal Quor and anything living in it gets completely reformed.

This would effectively kill all of the Quori so that's why they impose such a rigid, but stable, way of life in Riedra, to keep the status quo.

The previous turning of the age wiped out the Quori that fought the giants. If Shira the docent is telling the truth, she's the only survivor because she's the only Quori successfully installed into a docent and if she ever goes back to Dal Quor she's a goner.

So, assuming Shira's telling the truth then there's a lot of possibility for the current Quori to be eager to pick up where the old Quori left off.

There's also the case of the Kalashtar, who have a fragment of a few old-school pre-Dark Quori sharing each of their skulls.

IIRC from SoS there's a thing about how if all Kalashtar of a given tradition die out, then that tradition's old-school Quori reincarnates as a new, evil Quori.

I know no one really wants to start this argument again, but isn't is absolutely goddamn absurd to say "we're not going to do X because it would make the people who are supposed to dominate the setting too good"? If the point is that people with Dragonmarks are better than you, refusing to release rules because they would make people with dragonmarks better than you is probably the most direct possible conflict between setting and rules.

The only beings who were supposed to literally dominate the setting were the Overlords, and that ended a while back.

Dragonmarked Houses are supposed to be powerful enough that kings can't tell trivially them what to do, but neither can they trivially control kings.

They're a big deal, but they're not the only deal in town.

[Dragolord]

There's also the case of the Kalashtar, who have a fragment of a few old-school pre-Dark Quori sharing each of their skulls.

Aren't the Kalashtar spirits simply Quori from this age who were good, for some reason?

[Nifft]

Aren't the Kalashtar spirits simply Quori from this age who were good, for some reason?

Yes, that's the reason given in SoS.

The war between the kalashtar and the Inspired has little to do with Eberron. It is a struggle to determine the fate of Dal Quor, the region of dreams. Dal Quor is a mutable plane. When mortals dream, they mold their own pockets of reality along the fringes. The heart of the plane is shaped by a force greater than any mortal soul, a force that can be seen only in the reality that it creates. This is the Quor Tarai, the spirit of the age, and the age it has created is a nightmare. The quori are the children of the Quor Tarai, and they call their creator il-Lashtavar (the Darkness that Dreams, or the Dreaming Dark). The organization known as the Dreaming Dark is composed of the personal agents of il-Lashtavar.

Quori are immortal, yet they don't know their entire history. They have no recollection of events that occurred before the Age of Monsters on Eberron. Studying this, quori sages concluded that Dal Quor itself undergoes cat* aclysmic cycles. When the cycle turns, the plane implodes and explodes. The Quor Tarai is transformed and reborn, as are all the spirits tied to the realm. Dal Quor and the quori will always exist in some form, but the quori of the future might have nothing in common with the quori of the present. In fact, evidence suggested that the next age could be radically different. One of the wisest of the quori was a kalaraq named Taratai, and she claimed that il-Lashtavar would be replaced by il-Yannah—a great light that would banish the nightmare at the heart of the realm.

The raw energy of the quori might survive the turn of the age, but personality and memory—everything that defined them—would be destroyed. For a race of immor* tals, this was truly terrifying, and it galvanized the quori to action. They were determined to find a way to stop the turn of the cycle, to preserve the darkness forever. A few quori disagreed, saying that the cycle must be allowed to run its course; chief among these was Taratai. Those loyal to il-Lashtavar hunted these heretics until the spirits were finally forced to flee Dal Quor, in time becoming the kalashtar.

I don't recall if the idea of Kalashtar being pre-Dark Quori was something that pre-dated SoS, or if it's just one DM's invention.

It was consistent with the SoX docent Shira being pre-Dark thanks to finding a hiding place, and it seems pretty congruent that the current Dark Quori created the Inspired as a last-ditch way to hide from the turning of the age, but that SoS does directly support your memory.

[Kol Korran]

Hey all. Despite my nickname, and being an Eberron fan, I'm far less informed on the actual written material in it than many on this thread seems to be (I quite liked the sound of the name Kol Korran, and so went with it. I ave no idea how to change, and have grown to like it in time). I have read but some of the books, and so this thread makes an excellent place to ask questions!

I have been having an idea for a campaign (I even started writing a campaign planning log for it, but writing that is just not feasible with the free time I have on my hand). The campaign take place in the region now known as Droaam, but a few years before the lycanthropic purge... I'm mostly interested in a few matters:

1- The races of the region:
There is precious little info about them in the ECS, and little elsewhere (So far as I've found). I'm mostly interested if there is anything interesting written about the following in Eberron: Gnolls, ogres, centaurs, harpies. Mostly in terms of past, origins, culture, interactions and so on.

2- The Daelkyr- Dhakkan war:
The info I've found is only in broad strokes. Yet the region of Droaam is dpeicted in several places as a major conflict zone. Is there any info more focused on the war, or the effects of the war in the region?

3- The Great Crag:
Other than it being the court of the hags, and that there are many secrets/ treasures/ thing to be found in it, any more info on it? History? Origin? Any special features?

4- Byeshk, and the Byeshk Mountains:
Is there any explanation of WHY this metal bypasses abberations' DR? Any info on the mountains other than harpy flights in it? In short- except for it's name and direct application, any explanation as to it's history and setting importance?

5- The Empire of Dhakkan:
Again, I found only little info on what it was actually like. I read the "Doom of Kings" trilogy, which added interesting touches. Any info on "the six kings?", or regions? Government? Specific achievements? culture?

Thanks in advance,
Kol.

[Zombimode]

5- The Empire of Dhakkan:[/B]
Again, I found only little info on what it was actually like. I read the "Doom of Kings" trilogy, which added interesting touches. Any info on "the six kings?", or regions? Government? Specific achievements? culture?

Well, the Dhakkani were pretty great at bio-engineering. Remember, Hobgoblins are implied to be the base-stock, while all other gobliniods are derived for specific purposes via bio-engineering.

[fallensavior]

And aren't the pre-Xendrik-Apocalypse Quori a completely different deal than the "modern" quori?

So, the whole warforged origin I think is intentionally vague with the intention that what's in the books on it could be an incorrect interpretation by NPCs, lies by other NPCs, or exactly what happened. Like what caused the Day of Mourning.

In Secrets of Xen'drik on page 155 an intelligent Docent named Shira suggests exactly that the docents were meant to hold Quori minds and warforged were to hold the docents. On top of that, the Quori were trying to peacefully escape before the giants started a war. But the section on it has a bunch of open ended questions, like: Is she telling the truth, or playing games of her own?
Shira can speak Quori, can let a warforged dream by opening a way to Dal Quor, and will become inactive as it is then caught up in the plane, so Shira is most likely an actual Quori. Whether the docents and warforged were designed for that (and whether those Quori were good aligned) is the open ended part.

I personally like the idea of it being accurate and I think the non-canon Dreaming Dark novels goes with part of that interpretation.

Hmm...so Xulo can't be a dark Quori spirit trapped in a pseudo docent, because at the time of the Giant-Quori war, the dark Quori didn't exist yet?

[Dragolord]

Hmm...so Xulo can't be a dark Quori spirit trapped in a pseudo docent, because at the time of the Giant-Quori war, the dark Quori didn't exist yet?

The modern ones didn't. While we don't know a great deal about the circumstances of the Quori invasion, they probably weren't doing it because they were nice people.

[exelsisxax]

The modern ones didn't. While we don't know a great deal about the circumstances of the Quori invasion, they probably weren't doing it because they were nice people.

It is unknown who the aggressors in the conflict were. The quori may have been engaged in a militaristic land-grab, or they might have been trying to escape from a burning building while the giants butchered them. We only know that by the end both sides were all aboard the genocide express.

[Dragolord]

[W]e don't know a great deal about the circumstances [of the Quori-Giant whatever-it-was].

It is unknown who the aggressors in the conflict were. The quori may have been engaged in a militaristic land-grab, or they might have been trying to escape from a burning building while the giants butchered them. We only know that by the end both sides were all aboard the genocide express.

That is essentially what I meant. I was simply using the name the chap above is likely most familiar with. You should note, though, that it's entirely possible that they were attempting to save themselves from some horror by brutally destroying and replacing giant civilisation. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

[Afgncaap5]

One rarely explored possibility for Xulo is that it might actually be something new. While I'm sure the Quori were at some point an inspiration for Xulo's creation, I could also see one of the ancient magicians of the giant empire saying "Say now, what if... and bear with me here... what if magic items could become aware?"

Or alternatively, what if Xulo was an accidental invention? A giant trying to figure out how to bind elementals, so that elemental spirits could more easily "give life" to other magic items by imparting their elemental nature. We know that gnomish elemental binding could have been stolen from the Sulatar, who in turn apparently know it because of giants.

I mean, the giants seem to have had a hand in the development of the technologies that led to modern elemental binding, they're the ones who taught the elves magic (secrets which the elves used to not only engineer their own escape but to create the Undying Court), and their different cultures range from giving "lost atlantean tech" vibes to "holy secrets of fire held by the Drow" vibes to "powers that the Quori feared". Despite their current state, the ancient giants were *amazing* at magic. Xulo could've been about anything; while it's almost certain (in my mind, anyway) that Xulo is tied to the Quori somehow, I also sorta want him to just be something new or unexplained through other bits of lore.

[Clistenes]

They did, in the Eberron Campaign Setting; and while the GP cost of some of the items are extravagantly low (Altar of Resurrection, 13k GP) for example, they all require a caster level to create

That's not what I am speaking about. I think Keith Baker implied that Dragonmarked Houses have ways around that and can create those Dragonmark items without need of high level magic (most of the canon common Dragonmarked items are at least CL 5th, and in Eberron even CL 5th is quite high... the typical Cannith Magewright is level 3, and their job is to create those magic items!).

You mention an Altar of Resurrection, which can be crafted using regular rules if you have caster level 13th... but the freaking Lord of Blades is CR 12 only!

[fallensavior]

One rarely explored possibility for Xulo is that it might actually be something new. While I'm sure the Quori were at some point an inspiration for Xulo's creation, I could also see one of the ancient magicians of the giant empire saying "Say now, what if... and bear with me here... what if magic items could become aware?"

Or alternatively, what if Xulo was an accidental invention? A giant trying to figure out how to bind elementals, so that elemental spirits could more easily "give life" to other magic items by imparting their elemental nature. We know that gnomish elemental binding could have been stolen from the Sulatar, who in turn apparently know it because of giants.

I mean, the giants seem to have had a hand in the development of the technologies that led to modern elemental binding, they're the ones who taught the elves magic (secrets which the elves used to not only engineer their own escape but to create the Undying Court), and their different cultures range from giving "lost atlantean tech" vibes to "holy secrets of fire held by the Drow" vibes to "powers that the Quori feared". Despite their current state, the ancient giants were *amazing* at magic. Xulo could've been about anything; while it's almost certain (in my mind, anyway) that Xulo is tied to the Quori somehow, I also sorta want him to just be something new or unexplained through other bits of lore.

I'm thinking (for my game) I'm going to go with Xulo and Xulo's prototype creation forge as the Giants' unfinished/aborted attempt to reverse engineer what the Quori were doing with their Quorforged+docent tech. It will turn out that Xulo is a (unwillingly) bound Quori spirit forced to work on this project and has simply gone insane in the intervening millennia. This implies that Cannith unknowingly fused the Quorforged and Giantish prototype branches of the tech when they invented the modern Warforged.

[Afgncaap5]

What are the limits of Ghallanda's Legally Protected Hospitality?

I'd just been glancing through the 4e ECG, and specifically looked at the portion on House Ghallanda because I've got some players in an unincorporated village in the eastern part of the blade desert that was more or less founded by Houses Vadalis and Ghallanda (and a number of "camp followers"). The ECG noted that they often build their outposts and taverns beyond the traditional limits of civilization (allegedly led by prophetic inclination about where business will someday be good), and that seemed good to me... but then I noticed a section on Ghallanda Hall in Sharn.

Specifically, it pointed out that Ghallanda Hall allegedly has more outlaws, traitors, scoundrels, mysterious strangers, and persons of interest per square foot than anywhere else in Khorvaire (and that this rumor just might be accurate). Furthmore, it describes all the many, many, many spy, police, and criminal agencies who would like to extricate those people from Ghallanda Hall, but between the legalities of the Treaty of Thronehold protecting them and Ghallanda's surprisingly well-trained veteran guards giving more immediate protection, it's just not possible to remove most of these fugitives from hospitality.

Intrigued, I glanced around and noted at the start of the section on Ghallanda that it says that all of the enclaves of Ghallanda are outside the legal reach of any nation. So, I guess the question is... well, just how far does this go?

I suppose it might be better rephrased as "what constitutes an enclave." I imagine if you're in the biggest bar in Fairhaven or in Ghallanda Hall or in a VIP suite in Gatherhold you're probably immune from any warrants or legally sanctioned arrests. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that a known murderer couldn't just run into the nearest Golden Dragon, grab a flagon of Electric Bluebeer and shout "Sanctuary! Sanctuary! Sanctuary!" to let the police know that he was, in fact, suddenly a client and protected.

Ghallanda itself is a factor, of course; if you and they both know that their newest patron is The Mudstreet Mangler then it might be amazing PR for them to withhold hospitality and give the criminal over as a gift to the Sharn Watch. But still... I'm curious to know if there's anything listed about how ironclad this legal escape is, and how easy it is to attain.

[Falontani]

I do not know any of the RAW or official lore behind this; however this practice seems to have come from a common theme in fantasy. While indeed someone that asks for sanctuary is indeed allowed sanctuary if someone wished to speak to the person then it was up to the tavern keeper whether the other person was allowed to come in. No blood could be shed nor could the person in sanctuary be forced outside, but the patron requesting sanctuary was protected. Usually by either the tavern itself (from brawlers and other miscreants) or from the reputation of the owner of the tavern (in this case Ghallanda.)

The tavern owner always has choice of whether they give sanctuary or not. So while Ghallanda Hall may be a safe haven for all of sharn's thugs, that doesn't mean that the tavern owner is being forced to grant sanctuary.

So House Ghallanda will offer sanctuary and give sanctuary to any that deserve it, however if say a Deneith Warden requests access to someone given sanctuary then house ghallanda will most likely oblige. However if some random police officer from Sharn not at all connected asked for access he'd probably be laughed off.

Finally the person offered sanctuary is still responsible for paying for room/board and must abide by all the rules of the tavern in question else their sanctuary will quickly be revoked.

[exelsisxax]

Can anyone infodump me on Medusa? I know they've basically got an independent city-state within Droaam and a few interesting bits from Baker's blog(petrifying your wounded and elderly as a life-saving measure because it's reversible), but not much else. I don't even know if there are male medusa, or distinctly dimorphic maedar or if there are any males at all. Does cazhaak draal have an economy that makes sense? Does anyone know why that group came out of khyber, or became a group in the first place? What are all the other medusa doing, and what is their society - if they have one - about?

[Omnificer]

Can anyone infodump me on Medusa? I know they've basically got an independent city-state within Droaam and a few interesting bits from Baker's blog(petrifying your wounded and elderly as a life-saving measure because it's reversible), but not much else. I don't even know if there are male medusa, or distinctly dimorphic maedar or if there are any males at all. Does cazhaak draal have an economy that makes sense? Does anyone know why that group came out of khyber, or became a group in the first place? What are all the other medusa doing, and what is their society - if they have one - about?

I assume you've read this info on Medusa, but you didn't mention it, so I'll link it anyways :The Medusas of Droaam Dragonshard

I think the info in the Dragonshard paints a compelling picture of their economy. Cazhaak Draal has a ton of treasure they can use, they provide mercenary forces, and they provide architecture services for the construction of the Droaam capital. Medusa with class levels in the city are often Sorcerers, rogues, or experts, which means they can provide magical and skilled services. The Medusas involved with Daask would also have a cut of the petrification abductions they perform.

As far as male Medusa, I don't think Eberron goes into the ecology of Medusa almost at all which I guess would default it to 3.5 D&D. The maedar you mentioned were in a Dragon Magazine and I think were converted to 3.5. The Dragon Magazine that discusses the Maedar also mentions that most Medusa mate with male humans. Medusa and human make a clutch of 2 to 6 medusa eggs. Maedar and Medusa makes 2 to 6 eggs that hatch into infant humans who usually don't survive meeting their mother, with a negligible amount being born Maedar. Pathfinder expands it a bit to them mating with anything that can mate with a human and the child is full Medusa.

As far as why they left Khyber, why they banded together, and what other Medusa in the world are doing, I don't think that's covered.

[Sir_Chivalry]

In a setting of amazing characters, I'd have to say that the medusa are easily one of the coolest things Keith's contributed to looking at things differently in DnD

[exelsisxax]

I assume you've read this info on Medusa, but you didn't mention it, so I'll link it anyways :The Medusas of Droaam Dragonshard

I think the info in the Dragonshard paints a compelling picture of their economy. Cazhaak Draal has a ton of treasure they can use, they provide mercenary forces, and they provide architecture services for the construction of the Droaam capital. Medusa with class levels in the city are often Sorcerers, rogues, or experts, which means they can provide magical and skilled services. The Medusas involved with Daask would also have a cut of the petrification abductions they perform.

As far as male Medusa, I don't think Eberron goes into the ecology of Medusa almost at all which I guess would default it to 3.5 D&D. The maedar you mentioned were in a Dragon Magazine and I think were converted to 3.5. The Dragon Magazine that discusses the Maedar also mentions that most Medusa mate with male humans. Medusa and human make a clutch of 2 to 6 medusa eggs. Maedar and Medusa makes 2 to 6 eggs that hatch into infant humans who usually don't survive meeting their mother, with a negligible amount being born Maedar. Pathfinder expands it a bit to them mating with anything that can mate with a human and the child is full Medusa.

As far as why they left Khyber, why they banded together, and what other Medusa in the world are doing, I don't think that's covered.

Petrification abductions? Mind elaborating?

There's no way Medusa work like that in Eberron - cazhaak dral doesn't export human babies or maedar, and "need to bang humans" seems like it would be particularly noteworthy somewhere in the lore. How have medusa in khyber getting along all these centuries without humans anyway?

In a setting of amazing characters, I'd have to say that the medusa are easily one of the coolest things Keith's contributed to looking at things differently in DnD

Damn straight.

[InterstellarPro]

In Sharn: City of Towers, I believe there is a male medusa working for the Daask, which seems to imply that male medusas do exist.

[exelsisxax]

In Sharn: City of Towers, I believe there is a male medusa working for the Daask, which seems to imply that male medusas do exist.

I'll check that out. Male medusa seems like they're a single undifferentiated species rather than the weird thing with maedar.

[Omnificer]

Petrification abductions? Mind elaborating?

I thought I had read that Daask will kindap people for ransom and use Medusa enforcers to petrify them. They'd break a piece off and send it along with the ransom demand, but I'm having trouble finding that so now I'm not sure.

Edit: Found it, Dungeon Magazine 194. It's called the Stone Loan. Daask loan sharks take family members as collateral and have Medusa enforcers petrify them. They send a piece back with each missed payment. They auction off unclaimed victims in Droaam.

There's no way Medusa work like that in Eberron - cazhaak dral doesn't export human babies or maedar, and "need to bang humans" seems like it would be particularly noteworthy somewhere in the lore. How have medusa in khyber getting along all these centuries without humans anyway?

My assumption was that Medusas were very long lived and had a very static population, but I checked the Sharn book after seeing InterstellarPro's comment and there are indeed multiple male Medusa NPCs. One is Harash who is the second in command of Daask in Sharn. Another is Gasslak who keeps order in Malleon's Gate.

Looking it up in the ECS book a male medusa named Carash is the ambassador to the Great Crag so their existence is pretty consistent and not the result of a typo.