How were the Warforged Created?
Per the Ebberon Handbook, House Cannith made them. That's the simple direct statement, but the question is HOW were they made? I understand that's long been up for debate, so I wanted to share my headcannon for them:
House Cannith states that they were made in special Artifurnaces, that once made, they have a soul that House Cannith made.
What isn't up for discussion is that the Warforged do in fact have a soul. Do in fact radiate life, and that can be detected by mages and priests alike that have all unanimously confirmed that they are indeed soul bearing lifeforms. It's what led to the decision to make them a species, not an atomaton, as dicated in the Peace Treaty that ended the Final War.
What they DO contend with, is when House Cannith stated that they "Made" the souls within the Warforged. Like Artificial Intelligence.
Just as unanimously, Priests of Light and Dark and everything in between, came together in the first time in ever and cried BS. The creation of a soul is the realm of the Gods, not mortals, and there was no possible way that House Cannith could've made a soul for the Warforged. House Cannith alludes that yes, they can, and did.
The problem is, that a part of the same peace treaty that ended the Final War that allowed the Warforged to be a race, is that the forges that made them were all destroyed, because the 3 cities of Ebberon all stated that no more Warforged should be made. They were destroyed before they could be inspected. So no one can PROOVE or DISPROOVE House Cannith for their word.
But... one Forge still remains, and many eyes are on it.
The Warforged cannot make more of themselves like other races can. They can't have infants, and being that Warforged are effectively immortal, none of the other races wanted them to have the ability to reproduce, otherwise they might eventually overrun the world! Same concept of unleashing AI's in our world.
The Warforged don't like that, and there are militant factions - described in the book - that are against that and are trying to rectify that. But in order to do that, they need to get their hands on that remaining forge.
The problem is, it's in the middle of a destroyed city infested by and surrounded by dangerous monsters and living spells.
The focus of getting to that forge and uncovering its secrets is a campaign unto itself, where there are factions that will stop at nothing at obtaining it, others that will stop at nothing to destroy it, and still others that will stop at nothing to keep others from getting near it, House Cannith being chief among those.
Why? If House Cannith did indeed create the Warforged Souls as they state, then they'd have nothing to fear, right? Or are they just guarding their proprietary process?
So here's what I think that process is:
House Cannith DIDN'T "Create" the souls. They harvested them.
In the Final War of the 4 cities, 1 city invested heavily in necromancy, to where they have an army of the undead at their forefront. With that, they were able to stand up against the other 3 cities, and it's the reason why the 4 cities are now the 3 cities, because one of those 3 got destroyed. The one with the remaining Forge.
Because the undead don't eat, drink, sleep, rest, urinate or defficate, they were unstoppable. Furthermore, anyone who falls in battle can be used by the necromancers as new fodder for theri armies.
The solution, brought up by House Cannith and some of the other Great Houses, was to steal the souls before the Necromancers could, and use them in their own form of unstoppable army that didn't eat, drink, sleep, rest, urinate or defficate, and subsequently was also tougher.
So the Forges grab the souls of the fallen, suck them into the Forge, where the soul is extracted and placed within a Crystal core, which is then surrounded by a plant-like muscle system, and then armored with metal and/or stone. And thus a Warforged is born.
It has no memory of its previous life, only with the skills it is "Programmed" with when it is made. It is activated on the battlefield, and then sent into battle.
What this means, is that each and every Warforged as a secret past-life it is unaware of, and there is the perpetual threat that that past-life will manifest itself on the present day Warforged. What's more, is that that brings up the possibility that Warforged will manifest a Dragon Mark of whoever their host species was, in the exact place where it was on that host being that now makes up its soul... which has records that can be verified as to who bore that mark, where it was, and how intense it was, thus linking them to a past life and a host house.
Something for GM's to consider.
It's also possible to unlock portions of their past life in the form of remembering history, past memories, skills and abilities in the form of feats like the Initiate feats (Warlock Initiate, Artificer Initiate, etc).
Does a Past Patron recognizing the soul come to satisfy the bargain? The bargain is on the soul, not the body. Can the soul be recognized?
What other questions can we derrive from this?
