How would you fine people build a deathless version of a lich?

One of my players was pointing out that Morgrave University is supposed to have a shady reputation due to corruption, relic hunting, and stuff ending up on the black market, but that implies other institutions to be compared to which there is kind of a lack. There's Arcanix and The Tower of the Twelve but they're pretty focused on magic, and Rekkenmark which is obviously a military officer's academy. The only general studies school that I know of is the University of Wynarn in Aundair. I assume that there must be others that just haven't been interesting enough to get their own entry in a book, although given that UoW has nothing actually written about it I'm surprised that it qualified under that criteria.

Are there any other institutes of higher learning and research in canon, or have you included any others in your games?

My party is now Level 3 and ready for their first shopping trip. I intend to send them to the Bazaar of Dura but my initial Google searches haven't found any solid shop listings with inventory stock options. Does anyone know if there are existing resources for this?

I quite the enjoy the lore and magic punk aesthetic. This setting is cool. But I realized I was slipping into normal fantasy tropes more than I wanted. In my campaign the party as so far traveled from Sharn to Wroat to Galethspyre and are now in Ardev. In the first few cities Magic punk was easier to portray since there are ligntning rails and such around. But now that I am in less populated towns I realized the town of Galethspyre as I ran out could have been dropped into any generic fantasy story and would have fit without a hitch and I don't like that. Similarly I struggle portraying the "scars" of the Last War

so how do you make your towns and feel like eberron? I am a newer DM so any tips would be awesome.

I know there are threads where people ask about shopping and the answer is a variation on “you can find anything.” I’m a fan of the very flavorful shops like the ones in Critical Role (Eg Pumot Sol’s). Had anyone made or found shops that have that kind of depth?

I read Keith Baker's article on the Tago, and it says that the daggers touch each other, but which parts of the daggers? The pommels? The hilts? The blades? If it's the blades, how are they arranged? Are they crossed? Is it tip to tip? Is it parallel vertically? Parallel horizontally? Something else? Does Keith say anything about the details? If not, how do you guys think they're held?

Are there any canonical pictures, and if not, would anyone be interested in drawing some?

Is there any information our there about her, or is she a complete mystery/blank slate that I can do absolutely whatever with, as long as she's a human?

I’m running a a/l campaign (the 1-10 one) in Eberron. My thought process is basically the Last War is what if the American Civil War never ended but morphed into to WW1 with airships being bi-planes and Warforged being tanks. My players love that thought. The more I think about it Breland doesnt seem to make sense if Sharn is supposed to be analogous to 1890s-1920s New York. My proposal for the world in the Wild West Eberron campaign I want to run next is what of during the last war there was a separatist movement in Breland and southern Breland split off and became the nation of South Breland a/la West Virginia splitting from Virginia during the Civil War. I would be interested in hearing your guys’ thoughts on this idea. I’m happy to be corrected

I woke up this morning with what seemed like a brilliant idea for an Eberron campaign: In Eberron's future, The Last War isn't called The Last War. It is called The First War because 20 years later, The Second War broke out. The Second War is so horrific that the BBEG has traveled back in time to 998 YK armed with knowledge from the future and plans to prevent The Second War from ever occurring.

The problem is, this idea is inherently sprawling and complex. I realized this when I spent the day filling in the nitty gritty details. And somehow, almost all the nations and dragonmarked houses on Khovaire plays a role in the leadup to The Second War. Now I am second guessing myself, wondering if all this is too complicated. Also, I have no idea who this BBEG should be. It certainly cannot be John Smith, some unknown commoner. The party would easily walk over John in the finale. Any ideas, guys?

To be clear, no judgement is intended from this. My first Eberron campaign, and the one I'm working on right now, both have the Lord of Blades as their overarching villain. I just wonder, why do we see him more often in this sub compared to other villains? We could have Lady Illmarrow, Mordain the Fleshweaver, the daughters of Sora Kell, Quori, or a slew of others. It's not that we don't see these villains, but I feel like I see a lot more discussion, and a lot more minis of the Lord of Blades compared to these other characters

Again, no shade, I like the Lord of Blades myself for a lot of reasons. I just wonder why we don't see as many discussions about the other villains? Or is this just my own little Mandela effect?

I was given this free adventure and i wanted to present it to new players. Does anyone know where i can find some pre generated 3rd level characters for the people to attend the event? I dont want to loose time making characters just have many for them to choose and begin so that it can be finished in one morning or so...

In the book, instead of least, lesser, greater, and Siberys marks, there are Dragonmarks (depicted with their least designs) Greater Dragonmarks (depicted with the old lesser mark designs) and Siberys Dragonmarks (depicted with the old greater mark designs)

Nice to see they brought back the size categories, but it seems an odd choice for all the designs to be shifted a space like this. What are your thoughts on this?

TLDR: a forged PC from before they were warforged that protected princess Cyre was disillusioned and left. They ended up losing their memory and were taken in by the Druids and the Fey. Now the Lord of Blades wants them to remember in hopes of rekindling that loss of faith.

——

My camping I just started has a warforged PC and we came up with this back story riffing off of Anthony Hopkins’s character in Rebel Moon:

“You are as old as the kingdom. Two years after the military genius King Galifar united the nations of Khorvaire under his rule he appointed his children as governors of the provinces of the new kingdom. To his eldest daughter Cyre, he gave the kingdom of Metrol which was renamed to Cyre and as a coronation gift he had his royal artificers forge you out of golden hued adamantine, wood, and leather. Cyre's vision was grand: the previously warring nations working together as a single family: Karrnathi might, Daskari faith, and the wisdom of Thaliost working together for the greater good. Cyre's motto was “What our dreams imagine, our hands create.” With this vision, Cyre became the jewel in the kingdom of Galifar's crown.
You loved Cyre for her vision, her fairness, and her beauty and you vowed to protect her and her heirs as they governed from the Vermishard Palace in the former city of Metrol, the "City of Making". After King Galifar stepped down, Cyre ascended to the throne setting the precedent that whoever ruled Cyre was next in the line of succession, and you formed and captained the Queensguard which was a small group of 'Forged meant to serve and protect.
For hundreds of years you served the royal family in this capacity while tensions among the nations of Galifar slowly grew. Seeing a war on the horizon, the artificers of House Cannith began to produce the "warforged." They had your likeness but were clearly created for war. You were not OK with this. Your kind was not meant to create violence you were made to prevent it, and one night you slipped away into the dark leaving your legacy behind.
Your plan was to travel to the Demon Wastes to fight alongside the Ghaash'kala Orcs preventing evil from leaving the cursed lands and making its way into Khorvaire. Shortly before your destination you passed through the forests of the Eldeen Reaches and entered the manifest zone for the Fey plane of Thelanis reaching Shae Loralyndar, also known as the City of Rose and Thorn. Struck by the beauty of Thelanis and its isolation from the tensions between the peoples of Khorvaire, you remained there for many years eventually serving as an advisor to the Queen of Rose and Thorn in the Feyspire of Shan Loralyndar. You became her liaison to the Greensinger Druids who had a close relation with the Fey.
One day, something happened (The day of Mourning) and you were cut off from Thelanis. Because time is different in Thelanis, you instantly aged almost a hundred years. The shock to your organic components was too great, the wood and leather deteriorating instantly and you fell into a deep catatonic state until you were found a few years later by the Greenspire Druids.
Because of your service to them, the druids brought you back using their magics to grow new wood and organic fibers to give you life. Unlike your previous body, this one had living components and it was not uncommon for leaves, etc to sprout from your body. You were a creature of both construction and nature. You began to study with the Druids”.

Now the PC has lost their memory and is in Morgrave U in Sharn trying to find a way to remember. I am thinking two significant plot arcs here:

1. the PC has a docent they are unaware of. They will first get a clue when someone brings them to a Kalashtar to try to do a mind meld type deal like the one done in Keith Baker’s City of Towers.

2. In thinking that the person that is helping the PC is believed by the university to be a warforged staff member but is actually serving the lord of blades. They want the PC to remember their disillusionment so they can turn them against the biologicals.

Thoughts?

Link to PDF on google drive

Hey y'all, sharing a cheat sheet I made for my players for the cost of goods and services in "my Sharn". A few things I added that aren't totally up to lore snuff but whatever. I'm using a few other cheat sheets from this sub also, but didn't find a COGS chart ore-made. Maybe this is useful to someone in the future sweet! If not, I'm out the time it took me to post this. No sweat off my back

I’m playing a warforged (flavored as a golem) that was built just 2 years ago. I’m curious what other young warforged players have done to balance their inexperience with the fact that they’re basically adults at creation. Where do your characters fall on the naive-mature spectrum?