Warforged

Warforged possess humanoid frames composed of interlocking plates of steel and stone that shield a lattice of fibrous plant-strands: a living musculature sometimes called sap-cord. Beneath their metallic exterior, a viscous coolant circulates through narrow conduits much like blood through veins, and when wounded, this fluid leaks away with alarming rapidity. Their eyes, faceted like gemstones, emit a faint inner glow, while a unique life-mark known as the ghulra is etched upon each Warforged’s brow, serving as both identity and soul-signature.   Their design grants them two-fingered hands with an opposable thumb and two-toed feet built for sure-footed stability. Though their smooth, noseless visages suggest sensory limitation, internal olfactory and auditory arrays allow them to smell, hear, and speak as fluidly as any living being. Their voices carry a resonant clarity, capable of whisper, chant, or song, while their stillness can be unsettling: when unmoving, they are statues of steel and silence, betraying no life until motion stirs their whispering cables and faint piston-hums.   Warforged are not born with gender, yet their dwarven creators, bound by their own traditions, imprinted upon them masculine and feminine archetypes. Many have since adopted these conventions, referring to themselves as “he” or “she,” a habit that lingers long after their makers have passed into legend.

The origin of the Warforged lies in the Soul Forge of Zaradk-Dum, a triune dwarven engine built to bind spirit to vessel. Early volunteers entered the Forge freely, and when their service ended, their husks were melted down into Ferrousoul, a sacred alloy buried beside their names in stone.   Over time, necessity bred hubris. Under the rule of the Utjorn Molbrut clan, the Soul Forge became a weapon of tyranny. Criminals and captives were forced through its chambers.   Centuries later, the Soul Forge’s principles were distorted once more. The Birth Forge, a derivative creation born from the Dragonborn artificer Thyatis, abandoned the use of pre-existing souls entirely. Instead, it fabricated new Soul, producing Warforged wholesale, a triumph of craft shadowed by moral decay - though, they still use those techniques of taking souls to provide already 'programmed' warforged.