Universal Sovereignty

In the Eberron Campaign Setting, religion is a point of view. The gods are distant from the world and all religions around the world have equal claim to their legitimacy proved by the miracles their clergy perform. With this uncertainty, though, there is even greater spread of faiths than represented in the Eberron Player's Guide, variations on the more broadly accepted religions of found throughout Eberron. Some disorganized faiths, such as the druidic practices of the Eldeen Reaches or the dragon cults of Argonessen, have an unsurprisingly large number of different practices, but even established churches such as the Sovereign Host or the Church of the Silver Flame have variations within and without. This page seeks to expand these options for players and DMs, addressing both the game world implications of the practices and game mechanics that can be used to explore these topics.

Blood of Vol

The necromantic practitioners of the Blood of Vol have claimed Karrnath as their own, but other parts of Khorvaire have also fallen under their sway. Most who are familiar with the harsh and selfish church in Karrnath are sometimes shocked to discover the directions that the faith can grow in when outside of the machinations of the undead leadership.

  • Hornblade Clan: This band of orc and goblin worshipers in the east of Khorvaire combine traditional practices with theology passed to them by priests of the Blood from Karrnath to produce a unique religion.
  • Keepers of Blood: Ostracized by two religions, the Keepers of Blood worship the Divinity Within along with the Keeper in order to claim ownership over death.
  • Cult of Life: This subset of the Blood of Vol believes that undeath is not the only path to immortality and actively "steal" life from others to prolong their own.

Dark Six

The shadow pantheon opposite the Sovereign Host claims a large number of worshipers, some secret and some open. While some Vassals offer pleas to the Dark Six in a panic and heretical cults within the church of the Host exist that worship both the Sovereigns and the Six, variant cults exist to worship one or more of the Dark Six on the fringes of civilization.

  • Cabal of Shadows: Convinced that there is a conspiracy to keep the greatest mysteries of the world from the hands of mortals, these cultists follow the Shadow to reach for the lost shards of knowledge hidden in time and space.
  • Creation's Muse: These worshipers of the Traveler credit him with the creation, directly or indirectly, of all other deities, making this enigmatic figure the ultimate godhead.
  • Cult of Baphomet: Minotaur tribes who fall under the sway of the Mockery know him by a different name, and worship him as the divine means of their reprisal.
  • The Sacred Spark: This outcast cult from the Sovereign Host worships Onatar as the divine smith and the Fury as the ubiquitous inspiration of artists.
  • Shargon: The aquatic raiders of the Thunder Sea worship the Devourer under the name of Shargon, seeing him not as part of a pantheon but as the Lord of the Divine.
  • Storm Front: Not all heirs of Lyrandar follow the ancestral worship of their dragonmarked progenitors, cultists of the Storm Front worship the Devourer in his ancient guise as the Ultimate Storm.
  • Vulkoor: The drow of Xen'drik worship the scorpion god Vulkoor, which other worshipers of the Dark Six say is an aspect of the Fury.

Dragon Cults

The barbarian tribes of Seren practice a form of worship that venerates the dragons of Argonessen, but they are not the only ones to worship these creatures. Dragon cults exist surrounding a number of different beigns, from mundane dragons, to ascendant ones, and even to the primordial wyrms themselves.

  • Cults of the Dragon Below: The infamous cults of dark worship focus on worship of daelkyr, demon lords, and other inhabitants of the subterranean corpse of Khyber.
  • Siberyne Cult: This cult in Fairhaven worships the Dragon Above as a purifying force that protects and heals.

Druid Faiths

There are a number of druidic traditions practicing in modern Khorvaire, though the actual number of worshipers is hard to estimate because of their unorthodox organization. Some are well-known in the Five Nations and others are more secretive.

  • The Ashbound: These extremist druids see arcane magic as a wound on the natural world, responsible for many disasters that have scarred the Dragon Between forever, including the Day of Mourning. They attack targets who could lead to more of these incidents.
  • Children of Winter: This fatalistic group of druids believes that the world is in the final stages of its cosmic cycle. Many seek to hasten the freezing death of Eberron to enable the spring-like rebirth beyond.
  • Gatekeepers: The ancient order of orcs was taught druidic magic by the dragon Vvaraak.
  • Greensingers: Tied to the fey lords of Thelanis, these druids can be as capricious and fickle as their patrons.
  • The Kurmaac: These goblin druids trace their origins to the fallen Dhakaani Empire and practice a blend of Gatekeeper rituals and bloody sacrifice.
  • Bha Talenta: The "Way of the Plains" is a druidic practice that still survives in halfling communities across the Talentan plains. It has often been integrated with Galifaran worship of the Sovereign Host but it predates human occupation of Khorvaire by several millenia.

Elven Ancestor Worship

The elves of Aerenal have worshiped the dead for generations, since before their escape from slaery under the giants of Xen'drik. This worship takes many forms, however, and continues to change even today.

  • Bond of Hosts: An older gnomish tradition influenced by the elves holds that the ancient pacts the gnomes used to escape from the Feydark in Thelanis left them with primal spirits bound to bloodlines and individuals.
  • Sela's Path: House Lyrandar holds a special reverence for its house founders that has grown into a religion over generations. The worship of Sela and Lyran is centered in the temples of Stormhome, the worshipers can be found wherever the house's airships travel.
  • Tairnadal Atavism: The horse-riding Tairnadal elves go farther than worshiping their ancestors, believing that past heroes can inhabit and guide worthy decendents.
  • Undying Court: The traditional worship of Aerenal focuses on the counselors of the Undying Court which rule the island nation.

Path of Light

The traditional kalashtar practices of meditation and personal discipline, common translated as the Path of Light, are foreign to most parts of Khorvaire, but its presence can be felt in some areas.

The Silver Flame

The faith of the Silver Flame is young and vibrant, held together by the explicit doctrines of the theocracy in Thrane and the severe discipline of its followers. There are ancient religions which parallel the faith, however, and even some newer cults which challenge the traditional teachings of the Flame.

  • Khaleshite Church: The ancient theocracy of Khalesh in modern Riedra worshiped the couatl with practices that mirror the modern Silver Flame church.
  • Ghaash'kala: The "Ghost Guardians" of the Demon Wastes practice a harsh religion of justice and purity that many Flame worshipers bristle at having their faith compared to.

The Sovereign Host

The clergy of the Sovereign Host are notorious for incorporating local practices of all sorts into the greater worship of the Host, but sometimes they are not completely successful in creating orthodox worship. Other times missionaries find local worships that are too close to the Host as known in the Five Nations to draw worshipers away from.

  • Dragon Sovereigns: Using practices brought with them from Argonessen, the dragonborn often follow a draconic pantheon which they believe other races have devolved into the Sovereign Host and Dark Six.
  • Faiths of Rushemé: Many in Khorvaire know the ancient faith of the Xen'drik giants by the tent city outside of Stormreach, but it is an ancient and proud religion that predates any human kingdoms.
  • Merlaac Taer: This goblin religion was subjugated under the emperors of Dhakaan in favor of their ancestral worship, but in the modern age it has resurfaced and spread to goblin populations such as those in Fairhaven or Korth.
  • Mrorian Faith: The religion of the dwarves of the Mror Holds worship the Host in their own way, with different names and legends but similar roles. A similar faith is also found among the duergar and dwarves of the Akiak tribes in the Tashana Tundra, though the legends stray even farther from orthodoxy.
  • Pyrinean Host: Long before there were even humans in Khorvaire, let alone human churches to the Host, the humans Pyrine in Sarlona worshiped these gods under names which are alien to citizens of the Five Nations.
  • Restful Watch: A death-centered cult with a different interpretation of the standard Vassal view of the afterlife.
  • The Three: A secret religious organization within the walls of Rekkenmark Academy.
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