Quorien

name = Quorien image = caption = Quorienen and their puppets, from Magic of Eberron aliases = distinctions = height = varies weight = varies lifespan =

language = Quorien 3e_type = Étrangers (Extraplanar, Quorien, Psionic)

The Quorien are evil outsiders from the Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams. Forty thousand years ago they succeeded in opening up the gates between Dal Quor and Eberron and nearly overran the world. It was only through the intervention of Dragons who provided arcane technologies to the Géants of Xen'Drik that the plane of Dal Quor was shunted away from its rotation so that it could never again become Limitrophe with the Plan Matériel.

The quori are no longer completely cut off from Eberron. Starting about 1,800 years ago (-802 AR) a rebel group of 67 quori fled Dal Quor and were able to permanently enter the bodies of willing hosts on Eberron. These Humain/quori mergings became the race known as Kalashtar.

Three centuries later, other members of the quori who had darker plans began to invade the dreams of the people of Les Douzes nations of Sarlona. They manipulated people to bring about wars, instability, and to direct the breeding of certain beings. After another two hundred years they had perfected special vessels that they could enter despite their home-plane's remoteness. Part Elfee, part fiend, and mostly Humain, these so-called “empty vessels” could then be inhabited and controlled at will by quori hosts, becoming the Inspiré. Under this guise they strive to reopen the portals to Dal Quor under the auspices of an organization known as the Rêve Obscur.

While the Inspiré were initially created to provide willing hosts that would temporarily accept the quori spirits, the building of Monolith Quorienen (ovoid monoliths) seems to have allowed quori to occupy any willing host.

There are different types of quori and different Inspiré bred to house them. The known quori types are as

follows:

• Tsucora Quorien - weakest and most numerous quori
• Tsoreva Quorien - mind blades, enforcers of Dal Quor
• Maître des Rêves Quorienen - inquistors and assassins
• Du'ulora Quorien - blackfuries, spirits of rage
• Hashalaq Quorien - dreamstealers; loremasters and judges
• Kalaraq Quorien - eyebinders; the nobility of nightmare

---

Blades of the Quorien
By Keith Baker

The Inspiré assassin faced Silhareth in L'Ombrey Chambre. Her mind blade glittered in the darkness – a focused shaft of pure malevolence. “Surrender, kalashtar,” she said. “You are not to blame for the folly of your ancestors. Surrender, and let your shattered spirit return to the welcoming dark.”

Silhareth brought his blade up into the kal jilash guard. “You underestimate the kalashtar, souleater. My union gives me strength.” He concentrated, reshaping his mind blade and shifting to a two-handed grip.

“An impressive trick from so flawed a vessel. But you have only begun to touch the power of your quori spirit, renegade.” As she spoke, her blade twisted and grew, becoming a gnarled, glittering flail formed from links of razor-sharp chain. In the blink of an eye, the thoughtstealer had wrapped the chain around Silhareth's blade and pulled it from his grasp; the sword vanished as it left his hands. “And it seems you have much to learn.”

War is the legacy of the kalashtar. The Inspiré will not rest until the traitorous spirits have been destroyed, and to accomplish this goal they must kill every last kalashtar. The people of Adar face this struggle every day by fighting a never-ending battle against the vast armies of Riedra. In Khorvaire the power of the Inspiré is limited, and this means that they must use stealth and intrigue to accomplish their goals. A Brelon kalashtar may not need to fear the Riedran army – but anyone could be an agent of the Rêve Obscur.

This struggle has stretched out for over a thousand years, and it has no end in sight. And so those touched by the quori – the kalashtar and the vessels of the Inspiré – are always preparing for the next round of battle.

Most quori consider weapons of steel and wood to be hopelessly crude. When the children of Dal Quor do battle, they fight with deadly thoughts. Most learn the pure arts of the psion, where they shape reality as one might mold a lucid dream. But some focus on physical combat and fight with fist, foot, or solid thought.

The Quorienen Monk: the Path of Ombres

Many kalashtar practice a martial art called sheshan talarash dasyannah –which roughly translates to “dancing with L'Ombres on the path to light,” or more Communly “the path of Ombres.” This serves as a form of exercise, meditation, combat training, and artistic expression. The path of Ombres is a fluid art, full of smooth, sweeping motions that are both beautiful and hypnotic. A character that focuses on the pure movement of the dance is said to be “staying in the light,” while one who trains for battle is “facing L'Ombres.” While many who walk this path begin as monks, anyone who possesses the appropriate skills and feats can be said to be skilled in this art. Balance, Tumble, and Perform (dance) are the key skills of the path of Ombres, while Improved Unarmed Strike, Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility, and Cloak Dance (from the Expanded Psioniques Handbook) are critical feats. Kalashtar monks often take the Monastic Training feat, which allows the character to continue to advance on the path of Ombres while studying other skills.

The Inspiré do not follow the path of Ombres, but they have their own monastic traditions. Different martial arts reflect the nature of each class of quori spirit – the raw power of the du'ulora, the sly cunning of the tsucora – and an empty vessel who trains as a monk will usually follow the path of the spirit he will one day embody.

The Quorienen Soulknife

The quori are spirits of dream and nightmare. Steel, stone, and wood are dull and inert; a quori prefers to work with thought and emotion. As a result, kalashtar and Inspiré who embrace a martial path often take up the mantle of the soulknife.

When creating a kalashtar or Inspiré soulknife, think about the appearance of his mind blade. For many soulknives, a mind blade is simply a shaft of energy. But for a quori-linked character, the weapon is an expression of the spirit within, and it should reflect on the personality and inner nature of the character. A mind blade is not bound by the laws of physics; as a weapon of pure thought it can take the appearance of a stream of razor shards, a blade of black glass, or bolt of brillant white light. These cosmetic changels do not affect the abilities of the mind blade in any way, but they can add color to a character by helping to set the assassin of the Rêve Obscur apart from the bold paladin of the Voie de la Lumière.

Blended Paths

Soldiers of the quori typically draw on three different classes: the monk, the soulknife, and the psychic warrior. While a quori-touched character may devote hersElfee to a single class, three traditions bind these paths together: the jilashtora, ojilashta, and tashalantora. These traditions can be found among both the kalashtar and the Inspiré, and while they are bitter enemies, quori-touched characters who follow the same tradition often show a grudging respect for their foes.

The Jilashtora: “Flowing Blades”

The majority of the quori warriors are jilashtora, “flowing blades.” For one of the jilashtora, thought and fist are as one, and this path combines levels of soulknife and monk. Mobility, Dodge, and Combat Expertise are Commun among the jilashtora, along with the Flowing Blade feat described at the end of this article. Fluid motion is the hallmark of the jilashtora, and Tumble and Perform (dance) are important skills to those who follow this tradition.

The Ojilashta: “Bladeshapers”

The ojilashta combine the disciplines of the soulknife and the psychic warrior. An ojilashta uses her psionic powers to enhance her mind blade, and she reshapes her weapon to suit the needs of the moment. An ojilashta wields a blade of dreams, which performs in ways a sword of steel never could.

While a soulknife is limited in the shape her mindblade can take, a level of psychic warrior will give the character access to the call weaponry power. This allows her to produce whatever weapon suits the needs of the moment – a bow for striking a distant foe, a flail for disarming or tripping the enemy, or even a sap when a victim needs to be subdued. When an ojilashta uses call weaponry, it can be described as a reshaping of her mind blade for purposes of adding color to the scene, but bear in mind that the new weapon is not a mind blade for purposes of feats or class abilities.

Beyond call weaponry, ojilashta typically manifest powers that enhance weaponry or provide psionic armor. Commun powers include dissolving weapon, inertial armor, force screen, metaphysical weapon, prevenom weapon, and vampiric blade.

The Tashalantora: “Fists of Fluid Thought”

The rarest tradition is that of the tashalantora, a path combining the physical art of the monk with the mental power of the psychic warrior. Mechanically, this is identical to the Fist of Zuoken prestige class presented in the Expanded Psioniques Handbook. While the ojilashta typically focus on combat powers, tashalantora often manifest powers that aid in stealth and infiltration, such as burst, chameleon, and conceal thoughts.

The most Commun martial path among the quori is that of the jilashtora, in which the discipline of monk and soulknife are woven together. At the discretion of the DM, the following feat can be used to represent this tradition.

Flowing Blade [General]

Your mind blade is an extension of your body and soul, and you wield it with the same grace as your foot or fist.

Prerequisite: Ability to generate a mind blade, Weapon Focus (mind blade), flurry of blows class feature.

Benefit: You can treat your mind blade as a special monk weapon so that you can perform a flurry of blows with it.

Special: A kalashtar or Inspiré monk can select this as a bonus feat at 2nd or 6th level, in addition to the normal options available at those levels. They must still meet all prerequisites for the feat.

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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 changels the nature of Dal Quor, causing the otherwise immortal Quorienen to die and be reborn into a form more fitting to the new age.

40,000 years prior to the end of La Dernière Guerre, the quori of that age invaded Eberron in an attempt to prevent the dawning of a new age but were repelled by the Géants 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 Rêve Obscur”, 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 Rêve Obscur to Eberron (which led to 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 Humain vessels, capable of being possessed by a Quorienen spirit, that would become the Inspiré .

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

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

The ultimate goal of the Quorienen is to prevent the dawning of another new age and the death of Il'Lastavar by “establishing a static world, in which nothing ever changels 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 Monde d'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 Quorienen are served by two primary organisations on Eberron, namely the government of Riedra and the secret organisation known as the Rêve Obscur.

As the divine rulers of Riedra, the Quorienen act openly, sending their supernaturally charming Inspiré Ambassadors to the courts of Khorvaire and posing as benevolent allies. The Inspiré 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 Khorvaire's political elite. The precise purpose of the Inspiré's political machinations is left deliberately vague, but as tools of the Quorienen 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 La Dernière Guerre resume. The Inspiré also show an open interest in the continent of Xen'Drik, and have established numerous bases there, though likewise the precise goals of the Inspiré there are left to the discretion of the DM.

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

While the Rêve Obscur is assigned to carry out any task advantageous to Il'Lashtavar that would be too impractical or politically damaging for Riedra, the Rêve Obscur's primary tasks are the hunting down of the Kalashtar all over the world (in order to harvest their Quorienen spirits and reincarnate them as servants of the darkness) and the domination of Khorvaire through covert means. The Rêve Obscur 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 Rêve Obscur. 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 Inspiré or a new breed of Quorienen hosts.

All Quorienen have bizarre forms that are a nightmarish cross between a worm, insect, crustacean and Humainoïde. Pincers or blades, and a red and black coloration seem to be among the Commun features. Of the Quorien, 6 subspecies are known. The Tsucora is the most Commun, and is the only one presented in the basic Eberron Campaign Setting sourcebook. The Dream Master and Tsoreva feature in Magic of Eberron, whilst the Du'Lora, Hashalaq and Kalaraq appear in Dragon Magazine.

Snakelike creatures with four-armed Humainoïde torsos. Each arm ends in a pincer. A void of darkness sits where its head should be. The dream masters dedicate themselves to preparing for the return of Quorienen to the material world. To that end they visit many mortal dreams, planting the necessary dream seeds that will usher in a new age of Quorienen rule.

Du'Lora are a whirlwind of eyes, wings, and Ombre wreathed in smoky Ombres. They are spirits of rage, capable of driving mortals mad by their very presence. They act as guardians and sentinels of the Quorien.

Hashalaq serve as loremasters of the Quorien. They spend a great deal of time studying mortal worlds, magic, and psionic powers. They also serve as inquisitors. In its natural form they are composed of hundreds of translucent tendrils that surround a point of blue light.

Kalaraq are the brillant and ruthless princes of nightmare who guide the quori race. They are masters of manipulation, capable of twisting the thoughts of mortals and spirits. They can consume and trap souls, preserving their knowledge in their essence.

Having a segmented, many-legged body which ends in a powerful scaled, headless torso that has two handless arms from which blades of energy erupt, these enforcers of Dal Quor are bred for battle. Like most quori, a tsoreva typically acts through its Humain host rather than by a physical presence of its own, though the tsoreva are very capable warriors in their own right.

Tsucoras are among the weakest and most numerous of the Quorien. In their own world they appear as great red and black worms with two massive pincered arms and lots of smaller, useless arms beneath them, and chitinous armor plates.

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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 Quorienen to die and be reborn into a form more fitting to the new age.

40,000 years prior to the end of the Last War, the quori of that age invaded Eberron in an attempt to prevent the dawning of a new age 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 to 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 Quorienen 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 beneficent 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 Quorien, 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 Quorienen to possess any willing human, as opposed to being restricted to Inspired hosts.

The ultimate goal of the Quorienen 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 Quorienen 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 Quorienen 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 Khorvaire's political elite. The precise purpose of the Inspired's political machinations is left deliberately vague, but as tools of the Quorienen 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 Quorienen 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 Quorienen hosts.

All Quorienen have bizarre forms that are a nightmarish cross between a worm, insect, crustacean and humanoid. Pincers or blades, and a red and black coloration seem to be among the common features. Of the Quorien, 6 subspecies are known. The Tsucora is the most common, and is the only one presented in the basic Eberron Campaign Setting sourcebook. The Dream Master and Tsoreva feature in Magic of Eberron, whilst the Du'Lora, Hashalaq and Kalaraq appear in Dragon Magazine.

Snakelike creatures with four-armed humanoid torsos. Each arm ends in a pincer. A void of darkness sits where its head should be. The dream masters dedicate themselves to preparing for the return of Quorienen to the material world. To that end they visit many mortal dreams, planting the necessary dream seeds that will usher in a new age of Quorienen rule.

Du'Lora are a whirlwind of eyes, wings, and shadow wreathed in smoky shadows. They are spirits of rage, capable of driving mortals mad by their very presence. They act as guardians and sentinels of the Quorien.

Hashalaq serve as loremasters of the Quorien. They spend a great deal of time studying mortal worlds, magic, and psionic powers. They also serve as inquisitors. In its natural form they are composed of hundreds of translucent tendrils that surround a point of blue light.

Kalaraq are the brillant and ruthless princes of nightmare who guide the quori race. They are masters of manipulation, capable of twisting the thoughts of mortals and spirits. They can consume and trap souls, preserving their knowledge in their essence.

Having a segmented, many-legged body which ends in a powerful scaled, headless torso that has two handless arms from which blades of energy erupt, these enforcers of Dal Quor are bred for battle. Like most quori, a tsoreva typically acts through its human host rather than by a physical presence of its own, though the tsoreva are very capable warriors in their own right.

Tsucoras are among the weakest and most numerous of the Quorien. In their own world they appear as great red and black worms with two massive pincered arms and lots of smaller, useless arms beneath them, and chitinous armor plates.

QUO RI Dal Quor is the plane of dreams and is currently dominated by a dark power known as il-Lashtavar, or the Dreaming Dark. 11-Lashtavar is served by a host of aberrations that are the embodiments of dreams and nightmares- the quori. Because it is difficult for anything to physically travel to or from Dal Quor, quori in Eberron are typically encountered while possessing a host body. The Inspired are the most common type of willing host for the quori and are described earlier in this chapter. HASHALAQ UORI Hashalaq quori are loremasters and judges, and are commonly known as dreamstealers. In their natural form, hashalaqs are composed of hundreds of translucent tendrils. They can compress and configure these tendrils to form a wide range of simple shapes. A point of blue light suspended within its tendrils serves as the hashalaq's sensory organ, which can be moved around to suit the creature's current shape. The Power of Pleasure. Hashalaq quori have studied their mortal prey for centuries. Inhabiting human bodies as Inspired has granted the hashalaq a deep understanding of the hedonistic urges of humanity. As a result, they have developed numerous ways to control humanoids through pleasure-even as they have developed a taste for such things themselves. The Learned ofD al Quor. Hashalaq quori are the loremasters of Dal Quor. Even those hashalaqs who don't make use of Inspired vessels dedicate themselves to studying Eberron aml the planes, and they are among the few quori castes whose members understand the ways of magic. In Dal Quor, the hashalaq quori are typically found as advisors to the kalaraq. They also serve as judges, policing the quori and ensuring that the rivalries of the tsucora never threaten the greater plans of the Dreaming Dark.

KALARAQ UORI The most powerful quori are the kalaraqs, also known as eyebinders-entities formed of pure shadow that is outlined by a nimbus of energy. A host of disembodied eyes whirl around a kalaraq, each reflecting a consciousness the creature has consumed. Kalaraq quori guide the quori race, and the Devourer of Dreams-the personal emissary of the Dreaming Dark-is of this order. Although the kalaraqs never fight one another overtly, each has its own agenda, and each hopes to someday seize the throne of the Devourer of Dreams. Because of this internal conflict, it is unusual for a kalaraq to leave Dal Quor to inhabit a mortal vessel and become one of the Inspired.