Dragonmarks: Forge of War and War Crimes (Patreon)

As I’m preparing for my Deep Dive into scars of the Last War, I’ve run into a number of topics I’ve discussed in previous articles: War Crimes and Old Borders. I’ve incorporated these below, but first of all I wanted to take a moment to talk about the 3.5 sourcebook The Forge of War and what I’ve changed in my personal version of Eberron. 

The Forge of War is the most detailed exploration of the Last War that we have. It has a lot of useful information and I do refer to it myself as a broad guide to the shape of the Last War. However, I didn’t work or consult on the book. There’s a few things I find disappointing about it and a few things I strongly disagree with and run differently in my campaign. 

One of my major issues with The Forge of War is that we have very little sense of how the everyday, scientific magic of Eberron is incorporated into the regular battles of the Last War. There’s no discussion of the weapons of war. In Exploring Eberron I introduce blast disks, long rods, siege staffs and variant designs for Warforged Titans, because all of these things are a critical part of what you would face on a battlefield in the Last War. Beyond that, we don’t see ritual magic designed for large-scale battles. In the past I’ve discussed the fact that the spells used by player characters are designed for squad level combat with powerful opponents. A Fireball is like a grenade: an intense blast of damage in a relatively small area. It’s great if you’re fighting a bunch of trolls. If you’re fighting an army of a thousand commoners, a Fireball is both overkill—dealing way more damage than you need to take down a commoner—and won’t take down as many as you need. We need the equivalent of mortars and howitzers… hence, siege staffs. But I also want to see the rituals used by military spellcasters, most of whom were not player character classed Wizards or Sorcerers. And actually, this is where I like the rules for Circle Magic introduced recently—I’d just only apply them to a specific set of rituals. The idea is that armies of the Last War had arcane artillerists who required considerable time and group effort to produce their spells — but who could unleash arcane attacks that could drop a hundred people with a blast. 

This is especially relevant with Aundair. The whole idea of Aundair is that it believed it could win the Last War and reunited Galifar because of its arcane superiority. In the Stormreach sourcebook I wrote about Elira Dawn and the Seven Stones, a group of Aundairian war mages who developed battle magic so horrifying that Breland demanded they be executed as part of the terms of an alliance—and Queen Aurala was so disturbed by their creations that she agreed to it. What were those horrifying spells they created? While Aundair is the nation where I feel this absence is most felt, the same thing is true across the entire war. What arcane magic was developed specifically for the war? Yes, Karrnath had armies of undead, but what else did they do with necromancy? Primarily, this is a missed opportunity. The Forge of War doesn’t specifically say that interesting magic wasn’t used, but it vaguely says things like “Spells rained down on the army” and I want a deeper exploration of the role of arcane science. 

So: I don’t like the depiction of Aundair in The Forge of War. I feel that we don’t see enough of the Aundairian spirit—Aundair dares! It doesn’t showcase their arcane superiority and how that manifested on the battlefield. And in the history presented in the Last War, Aundair doesn’t really DO much. They don’t have direct personal ambition… while by all other canon, Aurala is the monarch who is still most determined to reunite and rule Galifar and believes she can do it. So in MY Eberron Aundair had bitter, ongoing clashes with Thrane throughout the second half of the Last War, and occasionally launched statement attacks against the other nations, as well as supporting Droaam, Darguun, and the other nations that were thorns in the sides of their rivals. MY Aurala has always believed she is the only one who can truly reunite Galifar, and she has used the cunning of the Royal Eyes and the brilliance of the Arcane Congress to pursue this goal. A few specific notes…

In my Eberron, Aundair has its own floating fortresses. These are nothing like Argonth; they are floating towers like Arcanix… and specifically, the towers of Arcanix were MOVED to their current location after that space was seized from Thrane. In My Eberron, Tower Valiant and Tower Vigilant are FLOATING TOWERS that were advanced forward to hold the line. A key point is that these are mobile but essentially have to be tugged; they don’t move under their own power like Argonth, and moving them is slooow. 

Page 11 of Forge of War says that Wrogar struck with a force of “Wardens of the Wood” a thousand strong, who teleported into Cyre, and were made up of “elves, centaurs, and druids.” In my opinion, this may in fact be what the HISTORY BOOKS SAY, but it is entirely wrong. The Wardens of the Wood would never commit a massive force to engage in a war between distant royals, and the Wardens are primarily human. So what happened in MY Eberron? Simple: Wrogar forged a pact with Shae Loralyndar, the feyspire City of Rose and Thorns. The Queen of the Spire sent her army, who emerged from a Thelanian manifest zone close to the target area. The soldiers of the army were primarily eladrin, but most people can’t tell the difference; and likewise, as the force used primal magic and the only druids most people knew of were Wardens of the Wood, the observers THOUGHT this was a force of Wardens. But in fact, it was an army of Roses and Thorns whose service was bought with a fey pact—one that Aurala may still be bound by! 

A second major issue is the depiction of THRANE. I’ve made my feelings on this clear in the past, but let’s hit the big ones again. I disagree with the depiction of the pre-war borders of Thrane. This is discussed in more detail later in this article. I accept the idea that Shadukar was part of Breland, but in general I draw the old border along the Aundair river and then down the trade road, meaning Lathleer and Galt were border towns. Beyond this: the author fundamentally didn’t understand the beliefs of the Church of the Silver Flame. The Church is presented as wild, crazed mobs determined to enforce their beliefs on others and willing to turn on one another on a hint of “impious” behavior. They infamously state that Thrane’s forces were deeply undisciplined and had no effective archers. In my Eberron and in prior canon the following things have been established. 

The goal of the Silver Flame is to protect the innocent from supernatural evil. It doesn’t seek to impose its beliefs on others and it’s not concerned with “impious behavior.” Consider that countless Thranes laid down their lives during the Silver Crusade to protect Aundairians who didn’t share their beliefs. 

Archery is a devotional practice of the Silver Flame. Furthermore, every Thrane village maintains a disciplined militia, because they are always ready for the next demonic apocalypse. In prior canon Thrane is highlighted as being only second to Karrnath in its degree of martial training and discipline, and its peasant archers are supposed to have been one of its greatest strengths during the war. 

Templars of the Flame saw a distinction between their religious duty to protect the innocent from supernatural evil and their temporal duty to fight for their nation. There were followers of the Silver Flame in most of the Five Nations, and they had no issue fighting the nation of Thrane on behalf of their own nation, despite Thrane becoming a theocracy. Because again, the mission of the Church isn’t tied to mortal politics! Templars on opposing sides of the armies would join forces if, say, a bunch of Dolgrims boiled up from Khyber in the middle of a battle, and once the aberrations were defeated they’d go back to serving their nations. 

Beyond this, in general we don’t see a lot of how divine magic was weaponized, just as we don’t see a lot of Aundair’s arcane superiority. In particular, FoW says that at one point Thrane had armies led by “celestial generals” — four Archons, with no clear explanation of where those Archons came from (Shavarath? Irian? Syrania?) or why they participated in the battle. In MY Eberron, these Messengers weren’t incarnate celestials: they were mortal champions who were using divine channeling. The next question is whether they were channeling couatl spirits or the blended essence of prior champions of the Flame, and I’d love to explore that more deeply at some point.

Ultimately, that’s the issue. Like so many things, I’d love to explore my vision of the Last War in more depth at some point. I want to see more of the unique aspects of each nation, of Brelish industry, Karrnathi necromancy, Aundairian fey pacts as well as arcane science. I want to explore more ways in which manifest zones and coterminous periods impacted major battles. But I’ve already got to finish the Houses and then I want to write about the Five Nations, so it’s going to be a minute before I can think about any of that. But I encourage YOU to think about it. As you create your own pieces of history, keep in mind all of the things that make Eberron unique—arcane science, the planar cosmology, the role of the Houses—and work them into your stories. 

Meanwhile, here’s a few more details from previous articles! 

WHAT COUNTED AS A WAR CRIME DURING THE LAST WAR? 

Looking to the definition of war crimes in our world is a good place to start. One of the key points is that in principle, the Last War was being fought with the intent of reuniting Galifar. As a result, causing unnecessary harm to civilians or civilian infrastructure was definitely an issue - consider the Geneva Convention's censure of "taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly." NOT JUSTIFIED BY MILITARY NECESSITY is the key point there. It's understood that there will be a certain amount of collateral damage in military operations—but are we talking about justified destruction or about wanton, extreme actions that inflict avoidable harm on the civilian population?

Likewise, the development or deployment or weapons of war that would cause unnecessary suffering or collateral damage was also censured. Again, the key is MILITARY NECESSITY: is the use of this weapon justified, or is it a weapon that will clearly cause grievous and unnecessary harm to civilians or irreparable damage to what we one day hope will be a reunited Galifar?

The crucial underlying point is that the civilians were ultimately seen as the innocent people of a united Galifar. The monarchs were fighting over the succession, but they were fighting for the right to rule all of the people of Galifar—so don't butcher civilians. Likewise, there was a general rule that you don't target noncombatant members of dragonmarked houses (IE Jorasco healers)—though this only applies to NONCOMBATANTS, so a Deneith mercenary or a Jorasco healer who takes up arms would be valid targets.

A highly contentious point was the treatment of corpses. Four of the nations supported laws forbidding the desecration of corpses and gravesites. As a result, under the code of war Karrnathi necromancers could only animate the corpses of Karrnathi citizens. This is a rule that many frontline necromancers violated during the war, and there are active cases based on this—with Karrnathi counselors arguing the point of "military necessity."

When would war crimes actually have been defined? Were they already on the books when the Last War began? Were they only defined with the Treaty of Thronehold?

The basic principle of the Last War is that the five heirs of King Jarot challenged the traditional succession... But that all sought to reunite Galifar under a particular leader. None of the Five Nations were trying to secede; it was a war about who should rule the united whole. So there was reasonable open communication between the warring powers from the very beginning, and I think the general terms of warfare were established early on; again, the war was fought over the question of who was worthy to rule Galifar, not to destroy any of the Five Nations. So I think basic agreements on the treatment of civilians and prisoners would have been established by the leaders of the Five Nations early in the war. Beyond this, the war lasted for a century and wasn't going at a breakneck pace the whole time; there were certainly previous attempts at mediation and temporary ceasefires during which the rules of war could be renegotiated, prisoners exchanged, etc. There surely were additional clauses established in the Treaty of Thronehold—such as forbidding the creation of warforged—but the basic laws likely date back to the start of the war.

Would Cloudkill be outlawed under the rules of war? If not, why not?

There are banned weapons of war. And it's easy to draw casual comparisons to our world: Cloudkill is a form of poison gas, we banned poison gas, therefore wouldn't they ban Cloudkill? But with any comparison to our world, it's important to look at the reasons we made the decisions we made and to see if they actually apply to D&D. Poison gas was banned because it horrified the public. Mustard gas was seen as a slow and agonizing way to die—slowly suffocating while your skin and lungs blister—and notably, had horrific long-term effects on the people who survived gas attacks. It also wasn't especially EFFECTIVE; heck, if the wind changed it could threaten your own people. Essentially, it was a very traumatizing weapon, causing unnecessary suffering when considering its actual effectiveness.

Cloudkill, on the other hand, is none of these things. It inflicts 5d8 poison damage—even the half damage inflicted with a successful saving throw is sufficient to kill a typical commoner, so it kills just as quickly as a fireball. There's no risk of wind blowing it out of your control. It has no effect OTHER than damage—no long-term side effects, nothing that indicates that it particularly causes pain; it doesn't even inflict the Poisoned condition, which would be an easy way to represent debilitating pain. There's nothing that makes cloudkill any more inhumane than a fireball; one could argue that swift death by gas might be MORE humane than death by Fireball, and fireballs are a standard part of war in the Five Nations.

If I was to create an equivalent to mustard gas, I'd make it slow-acting—either 1d6/round or simply to say that it kills through suffocation—while adding additional effects to reflect the agonizing pain and long-term after-effects. Let's say that it inflicts the Poisoned condition the first time a victim fails their saving throw and makes them Incapacitated on their second saving throw, as well as reducing Constitution by 1 every time they fail a saving throw (incidentally reducing their ability to resist suffocation). This Constitution damage would be permanent unless magically cured. You could also add a risk of blindness, which was another long-term side effect of mustard gas. The essential point is that a weapon like Fireball—or, in my opinion, Cloudkill—is seen as a valid, effective weapon of war. Weapons that will be banned are those seen as causing unnecessary suffering or which are specifically designed to cause mass civilian casualties.

What were the borders of Thrane before the war in your Eberron?

The Forge of War presents a map of Galifar before the war, and it draws a traveling west from the Face of Tira to the Duskwood, saying everything south of this line—including Passage, Lathleer, Ghalt, and Arcanix—were all part of Thrane. I have many issues with this map. First of all, it's very arbitrary, lacking any natural or manmade obstacle that would help people recognize that border. Second, it places Daskaran in Aundair; it's been previously established that before Galifar, Thrane was called Daskara, with the assumption that Daskaran a vital part of the old nation. But beyond that, we've made a BIG DEAL about the fact that Thrane holds Thaliost. The idea that Aundair seized three major cities and Arcanix during the war and that nobody really cares much about them is hard to fathom. Beyond that, to me Passage is very well established as a traditional Aundairian city, home to the Guild of Endless Doors and the Passage Institute. I've accepted the idea that Arcanix was in Thrane territory based on the idea that the floating towers were moved to the current location after the territory was seized during the war. But that simply doesn't fit my vision of Passage, and I see no reason to accept the Forge of War borders.

So, what were the pre-war borders in MY campaign? I'd start by using the Aundair River. Daskaran's on the southern shore, Thaliost is to the north, and it's a major natural obstacle. So I'd start with the river. When you reach Fairhaven, I'd use the TRADE ROAD as the border—running down from Fairhaven to Lathleer and then from Lathleer to Ghalt. At that point, I'd draw a line from Ghalt to Lake Galifar—so the Eldritch Groves were technically in Thrane, but no one LIVED in them. A critical point of this is that Lathleer and Ghalt were on the border. Throughout the history of Galifar, these cities lay between Aundair and Thrane; they blended the customs of both nations and had inhabitants from both sides. During the war, Aundair gains ground and establishes a series of fortresses—including Wrogar Keep, Tower Valiant, and Tower Vigiliant—to maintain that border. The reason the loss of Lathleer and Ghalt isn't as significant as Thrane's occupation of Thaliost is that both cities already had strong ties to Aundair and deep-rooted Aundairian traditions—while in the case of Thaliost, the city was a proud and ancient Aundairian city with no ties to Thrane. The people of Lathleer are largely happy to be Aundairian, while Thaliost is an unstable occupation.

I've already discussed Arcanix—that it was a small village that took on its current importance when Aundair moved the floating towers there. But beyond that, I feel that when you go beyond the Eldritch Groves you're dealing with territory that was technically Thrane on the map but that had a very weak cultural connection to the nation. The Year of Blood and Fire is a foundational element of modern Thrane culture and a critical part to the deeply engrained cultural devotion to the Silver Flame. I think it's reasonable to say that Bel Shalor's influence never spread beyond the Eldritch Groves—that the people of that region didn't suffer in the Year of Blood and Fire and largely maintained their Vassal faith through to the present, making many of them quite happy to shift their loyalties to Aundair or Breland. In particular, I think it's logical to assume that the Eldritch Groves have strong ties to Thelanis, and that the people in that region had fey-related customs more typically associated with Aundair. Meanwhile, Xandrar is so far from Flamekeep—separated by mountains and water—that I feel it was effectively an independent culture that just happened to be assigned to Thrane on the map, much as Droaam was technically Breland but the residents of the region didn't consider themselves to be Brelish.

So I feel that Lathleer and Ghalt were significant acquisitions by Aundair during the war, and that this acquisition was safeguarded by the establishment of the border towers—but that from a cultural perspective these were fairly easy acquisitions compared to the bitter, contested occupation of Thranes. There is still surely a minority in both Lathleer and Ghalt who consider themselves Thranes and who despise the Aundairian tyrants, and this could create intrigue for adventurers, but they aren't powerful forces. I'd also assert that both Lathleer and Ghalt had an influx of Aundairians resettled from the west when the Eldeen Reaches seceded, further bolstering Aundair's hold on both cities.

That's all for now. Thanks to all of you who are patrons, as it's only your support that makes these articles possible. I don't have time to answer questions directly here; if you're a patron, ask your questions on this month's questions thread!