Q for blog – How would you think Eberron would continue if all cast-magic and enchantments just one day stopped? Would the world just explode in chaos or would it be more likely to end in peace? Which houses would be in a better position with mundane services?Are you suggesting that existing magic items stop working? Or simply that people can no longer make new things or cast new spells?
— Keith Baker (@HellcowKeith) December 28, 2017
Existing magic items stopping. Far more dramatic. Or would that be a “Back to the stone age” catastrophe? I realise Sharn and Arcanix are fucked. – Or if magic items stay, do they become a limited commodity?Just magic items, or spellcasters as well? A lot of magical services are driven more by magewrights than by items. If spellcasters are affected, all types or just arcane? A complete loss of divine magic might have serious social repercussions.
— Keith Baker (@HellcowKeith) December 29, 2017
I was thinking divine wouldn’t disappear but all spellcasters would stop being able to cast. Including rituals. Is Jorasco’s healing divine or more akin to an arcane source? I consider Jorasco arcane. So you wouldn't drop to the stone age, but you'd drop to the middle ages. Long-distance communication, mass and swift transit, modern medicine, engines of industry, major weapons of war would be lost. But the basic structure of civilization remains.
— Keith Baker (@HellcowKeith) December 29, 2017
Karrnath would likely be the worst off of the 5 nations imo, with the famine really swinging up without magic supplement. I feel like Aundair would benefit most from it; that’s who I’d immediately suspect had a hand it it (it’s always Aundair!) I agree that Karrnath would have problems, but why do you think Aundair would be best off? Given that their military is strongly based on arcane superiority and they have more widespread use of magic items, I’d think loss of magic would be very disruptive.
— Keith Baker (@HellcowKeith) December 29, 2017
I’d see Breland as best off – despite the loss of Sharn. They have the population and their military strategy doesn’t rely as heavily on magic as Aundair. Thrane is also strong – peasant militias don’t need magic – but loss of divine magic might cause chaos.
— Keith Baker (@HellcowKeith) December 29, 2017
Though again: the typical priest in Eberron isn’t a spellcaster. So for the common Thrane I don’t see a loss of divine spellcasters as necessarily affecting their faith; that faith never required magic as proof.
— Keith Baker (@HellcowKeith) December 29, 2017
But yes, just because civilization wouldn’t COLLAPSE doesn’t mean you wouldn’t see chaos and upheaval. New cults or sects tied to the loss. Famines and plagues that normally would be contained by magic or swift transport of supplies.
— Keith Baker (@HellcowKeith) December 29, 2017
Droaam would suddenly be more of a force to be reckoned with… as would the Dhakaani goblins, who never had a strong reliance on magic.
— Keith Baker (@HellcowKeith) December 29, 2017
Another wacky question is how primal magic is affected. I could easily see something that blocks arcane and divine magic leaving primal magic unaffected – which would definitely have an interesting shift in the balance of power and belief.
— Keith Baker (@HellcowKeith) December 29, 2017
I wrote an article about the Children of Winter for Dragon a while back that talked about what happens when "Winter" finally comes. I suggested a loss of divine and arcane magic – but I included widespread natural disasters to jumpstart an apocalypse, not JUST loss of magic.
— Keith Baker (@HellcowKeith) December 29, 2017
