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Eston was a small city in Cyre standing beside Lake Arul on the northwestern border, once one of its major cities and now a ruin on the edge of the Mournland. It was once home to the base of operations of House Cannith.[2][3][4][5][6] Nicknamed the Throne of Cannith,[1] it was renowned as a "place of wonders", said to be where "magic comes to life".[6]

Magic is the foundation of modern civilization, and Eston is where that foundation stands. From the everbright lanterns that light your streets to the lightning rail that carries you home, Eston is the place where magic comes to life.
— Starrin d'Cannith, Patriarch of House Cannith[1]

History[]

The city started as a successful mining town.[6]

Fueled by its mineral resources, Eston was the birthplace of House Cannith, and thanks to the dragonmarked house it became famous for mechanical marvels.[1][6] It was historically a center of the making of constructs.[1] Finally, decades of research on artificial creatures by Cannith artificers here led to the invention of the warforged, with a miraculous early breakthrough made in the Steel Gardens of Eston.[6] Everbright lanterns and lightning rails were also first developed here.[1]

The city was where Queen Mishann ir'Wynarn set sail for Thronehold in an attempt to claim her throne in late 894 YK, and it was where she returned, before fighting the Battle of the Galifar Heirs.[7]

Early in the Last War, the first extended campaign saw the siege of Eston in 895 YK.[8]

On the Day of Mourning in 994 YK, it was as if the soil turned to smoke. The hills outside Eston sank into the ground with no more than a sigh, but underground, the shafts collapsed and miners were buried alive. The shifting land triggered earthquakes and Eston was devastated by the catastrophe,[2][3][4][5][1] the worst of any city in Cyre.[9] A few folk escaped with magic, but the rest were lost.[3][1] Many of House Cannith's most prominent members, including its patriarch, were lost there.[2]

Not even a week had passed when looting and salvaging started, as treasure hunters of all stripes scrambled to claim what they could. These included Ikar's Salvage.[1]

On Vult 3rd of 998 YK, misshapen giants from out of the Mournland assaulted Angwar Keep in Thrane. They were over 20 feet (6.1 meters) tall, described as "twisted" or "melted" in appearance, and numbered over twenty members. They hurled boulders, wrecked fortifications still under construction, and killed at least twenty Thrane soldiers before being repelled. At dusk, the remaining giants retreated and swam across Lake Arul, and at last sighting were heading toward Eston.[10]

Geography[]

Eston lies around 70 miles (110 kilometers) east of Lake Arul and the Brey River, making it the only major Cyran settlement that wasn't located on a waterway. Instead, the village of Totens linked Eston to the Brey. It once lay near a cluster of hills rising from the plains, but these hills descended into the plains on the Day of Mourning. The Brey moved 30 miles (48 kilometers) closer to Eston, while Lake Arul's basin widened and flooded to twice its size. Tremors continue to be felt to the present day.[3]

By lightning rail, on the Western Line from Breland, Eston is 2,164 miles (3,483 kilometers) or 3 days and 15 minutes from Sharn, and 630 miles (1,014 kilometers) or 21 hours from Vathirond. On the Karrnath Line, Eston is 1,976 miles (3,180 kilometers) or 2 days and 18 hours from Korth, and 780 miles (1,255 kilometers) or 1 day and 2 hours from Metrol, Cyre's capital.[11]

Description[]

Eston is more heavily ruined than Metrol, the capital. Collapsed buildings lie on every street corner and entire neighborhoods are buried in mud, rubble, and wreckage.[2][5][1] The lowest parts are flooded by the Brey River, with the dead-gray mist suspended above the water. Some parts remain intact but are interred deep in the earth or else are perched atop high buttes. The city was heavily fortified, and the old ramparts and buttressed towers still stand more-or-less intact.[1] The city was protected from storms and strong winds by a huge iridescent dome.[1][6] It also has a lightning rail station.[11]

Before the Mourning, Eston was the center of operations for House Cannith. An impressive three creation forges were sited here[3][4][5][6][12]—their fates are unknown, but there are many possibilities[12]—accompanied by proving grounds for the training of cadres of newborn warforged. Said to be where "magic comes to life", Eston was renowned as a city of marvels.[1][6]

One is the Clockwork Menagerie, a showcase of constructs (including alchemical and living constructs), golems, and homunculi created by artificers looking to test their skills. Over Cannith's ten centuries of development,[1][6] it included countless constructs of all kinds, both decorative and combat-capable, from artificial songbirds[note 1] to walking suits of armor, to carousels with ride-on griffons, and even Alaran's gorgon, a symbol of House Cannith and the guardian of its vaults.[1]

Another is the Steel Gardens, one of the earliest breakthroughs in the development of living constructs. Much like modern warforged, these comprise "trees" of leather-like fibers clad in steel bark and sprouting silver leaves. Clockwork birds perched in the boughs of these silvery trees and sang their tunes.[1][6] Starrin d'Cannith still had big plans for the Steel Gardens, dreaming the trees might one day be used to extract and refine metals, even adamantine. However, after the Mourning, it has grown wild across the ruins, with metallic vines tangling the broken buildings and barring entrance to the mines. According to one Cannith expert, the garden's roots could have tapped one of the creation forges for magical power and even been transformed into a single, unified intelligence.[1]

Industry[]

It was a prosperous mining city.[5][6] From the hillside mines, from veins as rich as any outside the Mror Holds, Eston produced much iron and rare ores such as adamantine, which were essential materials in the production of warforged.[3][1][6] The city's forges also manufactured mundane weaponry and basic magics like wands.[1] Skycoaches transported smiths and magewrights between their forges.[1][6]

Inhabitants[]

All around the ruins of Eston, roaming living spells and all kinds of mutant monsters prey on whatever they can find. They also lurk in Lake Arul and hunt the shores. They make it very difficult to reach Eston via land or water.[2] Appearing in both oozy and elemental forms, these living spells include not only damaging spells like living fireballs and walls of ice, but also living continual flames seen crawling through the streets, climbing lampposts, and fleeing visitors, and living scrying spells that shift, shimmer, and show images of faraway places upon them. Others are stationary, such as glyphs of warding twisted beyond recognition. Hence, Eston is a weird and dangerous place—still a place where magic comes to life, now quite literally.[1][6]

Eston constructs

The corrupted Alaran's gorgon and a mechanical crab.

Moreover, the constructs originating in the Clockwork Menagerie are also twisted and transformed, with reports of Alaran's huge golem gorgon being warped and breathing corrupting gas, and flocks of razor-winged mechanical songbirds. A swarm of metal beetles that devour armor has been reported by Ikar the Black, despite no record of such a thing ever being invented. By all accounts, the constructs of the Clockwork Menagerie are somehow evolving, though whether out of a basic drive for survival or to some grand design remains to be seen.[1][6] Even ordinary weapons and tools have animated, giving rise to swirling swarms of blades not unlike the razor storms of Shavarath while potent magical weapons have acquired sentience and wills of their own.[1]

Daring these hazards nonetheless, scavengers and treasure hunters try to get to Eston to loot it of whatever Cannith marvels they can find in the ruins and rubble. The lost wealth, untapped ores, and Cannith vaults and creation forges make Eston an enticing prize, but the tremors and monsters prevent them from getting anything more than the most mundane loot.[2][3][5][6] Many areas likely haven't been visited since the Mourning.[1] The old Cannith warehouses are a particular target for all groups, as they're thought to hold stores of precious metals, including adamantine.[4][5][10] Baron Merrix d'Cannith seeks adventurers to retrieve items from the Cannith enclave.[13] Similarly, the wands made in Eston might have produced living spells and be spent, or else have warped and produce unexpected, extreme effects; though dangerous, their study may lead to wholly new spells.[1]

The warforged devotees of the Lord of Blades also come here for metal supplies, and it's even been claimed they've reopened the mines. They are just as much a threat to the treasure hunters as the monsters.[5] Eston is one proposed site for their base of operations.[14]

The Kulan noble family was based in Eston and had estates here.[15]

Rumors[]

Among many proposed origins, some believe the Lord of Blades to have been the last warforged to emerge from Eston's creation forges, right before the Mourning.[14][16]

The war profiteer Dharvek is rumored to possess a cache of experimental weapons stolen from Eston, some time prior to the Day of Mourning.[17]

Notable Inhabitants[]

  • Hana Aurora d'Cannith, a founder of Stillwater Station[18]

Appendix[]

Notes[]

  1. These could be spellsong nightingales.

See Also[]

Further Reading[]

References[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 Keith Baker (May 2012). “Eye on Eberron: Eston” (PDF). In Ray Vallese ed. Dragon #411 (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 1–2.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Keith Baker, Bill Slavicsek, & James Wyatt (2004). Eberron Campaign Setting. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 189, 190. ISBN 0-7869-3274-0.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Bill Slavicsek, David Noonan, and Christopher Perkins (2005). Five Nations. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 78, 79, 83–84. ISBN 0-7869-3690-8.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 David Noonan, Ari Marmell, and Robert J. Schwalb (2009). Eberron Player's Guide. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 130. ISBN 0-7869-5100-1.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 James Wyatt and Keith Baker (2009). Eberron Campaign Guide. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 90, 91–92. ISBN 0-7869-5099-4.
  6. 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 Keith Baker, Jeremy Crawford, & James Wyatt (2019). Eberron: Rising from the Last War. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 110, 221. ISBN 0786966890.
  7. James Wyatt, Wolfgang Baur, Ari Marmell (2007). The Forge of War. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 10–11. ISBN 0-7869-4153-7.
  8. Keith Baker, Jeremy Crawford, & James Wyatt (2019). Eberron: Rising from the Last War. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 220. ISBN 0786966890.
  9. Keith Baker, Ari Marmell, Michelle Lyons and C.A. Suleiman (2006). Dragonmarked. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 17. ISBN 0-7869-3933-8.
  10. 10.0 10.1 David Noonan (2006/12/18). Misshapen Giants Emerge From Mournland. Sharn Inquisitive. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2016/11/01. Retrieved on 2021/08/01.
  11. 11.0 11.1 David Noonan, Rich Burlew, & Frank Brunner (2005). Explorer's Handbook. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-7869-3691-6.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Keith Baker (May 2012). “Eye on Eberron: Eston” (PDF). In Ray Vallese ed. Dragon #411 (Wizards of the Coast), p. 3.
  13. Keith Baker, Bill Slavicsek, & James Wyatt (2004). Eberron Campaign Setting. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 191. ISBN 0-7869-3274-0.
  14. 14.0 14.1 James Wyatt and Keith Baker (2009). Eberron Campaign Guide. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 99. ISBN 0-7869-5099-4.
  15. Bill Slavicsek, David Noonan, and Christopher Perkins (2005). Five Nations. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 88. ISBN 0-7869-3690-8.
  16. Keith Baker, Jeremy Crawford, & James Wyatt (2019). Eberron: Rising from the Last War. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 211. ISBN 0786966890.
  17. Chris Sims (February 2010). “Explore Fairhaven: Villains and Vagabonds” (PDF). Dungeon #175 (Wizards of the Coast) (175)., p. 70.
  18. Glenn McDonald (October 2008). “Expeditionary Dispatches: Refuge in the Mournland: Stillwater Station” (PDF). In Chris Youngs ed. Dragon #368 (Wizards of the Coast), p. 85.

Connections[]

Cities of the Mournland
Eston · Making · Metrol · Seaside
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