The Warforged Campaigns
- An excerpt from the history tome __The Warforged Campaigns: How Shaelor claimed its sovereign status (and the shame of what was required)__*
"In the early years of the Shaelor Valley, when the elves first settled the plains, their limited numbers led them to a number of crises. The worst of which was starvation. A population too small to defend their farms from the wilds and monsters that had settled this place before them. Herds of triceratops were capable of destroying an entire small village in one swoop.
Griffons patrolled the skies.
Dragons threatened the southern plains near the mountains. Harpies and giants made their homes there as well.
The well-established human nation of Gratsintomnia reached out. They offered food, and a small contingency of humans were set loose throughout the plains, quelling the dangers of the wilds and its magical beasts.
Eventually, these groups of humans, mingling with the elves of Shaelor, led to many “split heritage” households. During this time, Gratsintomnia reached out to the dwarves to the north of their rivals, asking if there was any way they could assist the new nation in its early days. The gnomes of the area were similarly contacted.
Insular, but respectful, the dwarves allowed volunteers to traverse the frozen wastes at their own risk to find their way to helping. Not many left.
The gnomes were curious. Large contingencies of gnomish tinkerers were interested in being there to help build something from the ground up. To make their mark in a markless place.
Coalitions of these more adventurous immigrants found themselves forced to make peace with the difference in races and try to find some semblance of balance. Guilds began to form.
Decades of slow diplomatic work suddenly ended, when the Gratsintomnian diplomatic mediators were recalled during negotiations between a group of gnomes and dwarves and a human wizard named Cosmo Tobin. Forced to continue negotiations alone, the races of Shaelor found ways to placate the different races. By developing a much more freeform governmental structure than the elves could have ever imagined when they first emigrated to this area.
Then the Badlands began to form in the north. Communications with Gratsintomnia were sparse, but Shaelor was promised there was a plan in place.
The lush forests and land to the north quickly rotted away under the spreading magical contamination.
The spread would not stop. Pushing further and further south, the guilds of Shaelor came together. The gnomes and dwarves developed automatons to travel north and absorb the magical energies. The robots had no discernible effect.
Cosmo Tobin pitched an idea: with the help of the gnomes and dwarves he created an artificial race. *Sentient* metal people. Years of development created the first wave of these work-horse beings.
They were told their purpose was to head north, and *separate* the land of Shaelor from the land of Gratsintomnia. These machines moved the earth, without rest, without fail, before the corrupted people from Gratsintomnia began to find their way south.
The corrupted humans tore apart the machine people that were found. When Cosmo Tobin learned of the deaths of his progeny, that is when the Warforged Campaigns began.
The second wave of sentient machines were more humanoid. Stronger. Faster. Dangerous. They slaughtered the corrupted as they approached by the thousands while other different designs continued the work of the first generation of their brethren dug. And dug. And dug. And dug. Until the northern canyon in the northern edge of Shaelor separated the lands, and stopped the spread of the corruption.
When the task was complete, the warforged were given the choice:
- Deactivate
- Continue as conscripts in the army
- Return to Archmage Tobin
- Memory wipe and enter society as a normal citizen choosing from a list of preset skill sets
With less than five thousand warforged ever produced, plenty of them choosing to deactivate as they “hadn’t chosen to be born,” and even fewer surviving the campaigns, they are a rare sight outside of the Shaelor army’s ranks, and even fewer amongst the citizenry.
Cosmo Tobin was the first human to be put on the Shaelor high council. His creation process was destroyed, and further creation of artificial life was outlawed.”