Quori

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In the Eberron campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the quori are nightmarish beings from the plane of Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams. The quori lifecycle is somehow connected to Eberron, specifically each new Age on Eberron changes the nature of Dal'Quor, causing the otherwise immortal Quori to die and be reborn into a form more fitting to the new age.

[edit] History

40,000 years ago, the quori of that age invaded Eberron in an attempt to prevent the dawning of a new age and but were repelled by the giants of Xen'drik, who managed to sever all connections between Eberron and Dal Quor using immensely powerful magic.

The current quori are servants of a potent evil, called Il'Lashtavar or “the Dreaming Dark”, which dwells within the heart of Dal Quor. Though their power is unchallenged on their home plane, for thousands of years the quori were incapable of reaching beyond the plane of dreams and could only observe the wider world via the dreams of mortals. Possibly motivated by the escape of a rogue group of quori who opposed the Dreaming Dark to Eberron (which led the creation of the Kalashtar); the quori were able to find a way to exert direct influence on Eberron and engineer the breeding of special human vessels, capable of being possessed by a Quori spirit, that would become the Inspired.

During a period of great upheaval several hundred years ago (presumably engineered by quori) the Inspired appeared among the nations of Sarlona, and presented themselves as ambassadors of powerful and beneficient gods. They quickly established order and dominated all of the continent under the nation of Riedra save Adar where the Kalashtar and their human associates resisted their advances from fortified monasteries high in the mountains.

Over the centuries, the Quori, in the guise of the Inspired, have supervised the building of great monoliths all over Sarlona, that somehow tap into the background psionic energy of the human population and use it to slowly draw Dal'Quor closer to Eberron. It is the influence of these monoliths that has recently allowed Quori to possess any willing human, as opposed to being restricted to Inspired hosts.

[edit] Present Day Eberron

The ultimate goal of the Quori is to prevent the dawning of another new age and the death of Il'Lastavar by "establishing a static world, in which nothing ever changes and there is no light to threaten the darkness." (extract taken from "The Shattered Land" by Keith Baker). In other words, to take over the world of Eberron and take control of the dreams of its people, in order to manipulate the dream-world of Dal'Quor.

In order to accomplish this the Quori are served by two primary organisations on Eberron, namely the government of Riedra and the secret organisation known as the Dreaming Dark.

As the divine rulers of Riedra, the Quori act openly, sending their supernaturally charming Inspired Ambassadors to the courts of Khorvaire and posing as benevolent allies. The Inspired offer a portion of their vast resources at generous prices to aid the war-torn continent. They act as impartial observers and mediators in negotiations between the nations, integrating themselves with Khorviare's political elite. The precise purpose of the Inspired's political machinations is left deliberately vague, but as tools of the Quori their ultimate purpose is to subjugate Khorvaire much as they do Riedra either by covertly or through open alliance with one of the warring nations should the Last War resume. The Inspired also show an open interest in the continent of Xen'Drik, and have established numerous bases there, though likewise the precise goals of the Inspired there are left to the discretion of the DM.

Meanwhile the Dreaming Dark serve as the more direct arm of Dal'Quor, whose agents serve the Darkness directly rather than through the Inspired. A highly secretive organisation, kept entirely separate from Riedra (so as not to damage Riedra politically should the Dreaming Dark's numerous crimes be discovered)few people in Eberron other than the Kalashtar and the Inspired are aware of their existence.

While the Dreaming Dark is assigned to carry out any task advantageous to Il'Lashtavar that would be too impractical or politically damaging for Riedra, the Dreaming Dark's primary tasks are the hunting down of the Kalashtar all over the world (in order to harvest their Quori spirits and reincarnate them as servants of the darkness) and the domination of Khorvaire through covert means. The Dreaming Dark makes frequent use of 'Mind Seeds' people who have been subjected to powerful psionic techniques and had their minds wiped and replaced with personalities loyal to the Dreaming Dark. Using this technique they brainwash highly placed nobles, politicians, generals, merchants and other valuable pawns and use their influence to subvert the organisations under their command, in order to prepare for the domination of Khorvaire by either the Inspired or a new breed of Quori hosts.

[edit] The Inspired

The Inspired are the psionically gifted rulers of Sarlona and willing hosts of their quori overlords. They are human-like in appearance, possessed of great physical beauty and were created over hundreds of years through the mixing of human stock with blood of demons and elves by the quori. As the ruling caste of the nations of Sarlona and loved and respected by the overwhelming majority of their subjects. To be selected as a host is a tremendous honor and the sole goal of virtually all Inspired.

Though they have recently acquired the ability to possess willing hosts of any type quori find the Inspired to be their preferred hosts; likewise an Inspired can never resist possession of the quori it was bred to host (in game terms Inspired are never allowed to make Will saves vs. possession attempts by their master). Over the decades that an Inspired is possessed it develops a portion of the quori’s considerable psionic power (represented by gaining levels in psychic classes) even as its personality shifts to completely match that of its master.

While the recent trend in Dungeons & Dragons has been towards allowing players to play any race the Inspired are strongly discouraged as player characters, due to their utter domination by the near universally evil Quori. Players who wish to play a psionic race or focus on the quori/kalashtar conflict are encouraged to play kalashtar.