In a Cannith enclave, a team of artificers maintain a creation forge that produces warforged. In the Shadow Marches, druids guard the seals that hold the daelkyr at bay. In the sewers below Sharn, a mad necromancer puts the final touches on a device that will turn the city’s residents into undead. Such contraptions are categorized as eldritch machines — magical devices of immense power that are too large to be moved easily. Eldritch machines are marvels of magic and engineering that require special components and conditions to function. For example, a particular eldritch machine might function only in a manifest zone where two or more planes are coterminous.
Ultimately, eldritch machines are plot devices that can represent the culmination of a villain’s master plan or a last defense against evil.
Creation Forge
A creation forge is a spherical chamber that contains a floating obelisk. This obelisk creates warforged souls and places them in newly constructed warforged bodies. Only dragonmarked members of House Cannith can create and maintain such devices, and though the Treaty of Thronehold mandated the destruction of all creation forges in Khorvaire after the Last War, at least one creation forge is rumored to exist in the bowels of Sharn.
Dimensional Seal
A dimensional seal is a massive stone slab covered with a complex pattern of runes and sigils. The seal projects an invisible field in a 2-mile radius. This field blocks all forms of conjuration magic and any other effect that involves teleportation or planar travel. Dimensional seals are usually found in the Eldeen Reaches and the Shadow Marches — reminders of the conflict between the Gatekeepers and the daelkyr. The techniques used to create these seals have been long lost. It’s said that as a whole, the dimensional seals keep the daelkyr bound in Khyber and prevent Xoriat from becoming coterminous with Eberron. If enough of these seals are destroyed, there could be dire consequences for the world.
Mabaran Resonator
This dread device draws on the power of Mabar, infusing the dead with the malign energy of the Endless Night. While it is active, any humanoid that dies within 2 miles of the resonator reanimates 1 minute later as a zombie under the control of the creature controlling the device.
Master’s Call
While this looks like a scrap heap assembled from shattered constructs, this eldritch machine possesses great power. A creature in control of it can sense the presence and location of all warforged within 10 miles of the device and can, as an action, send a telepathic message to them laced with enchantment magic. Such a message can be sent no more than once every 24 hours. A warforged who receives the message is compelled to follow one command contained within it, unless the warforged succeeds on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw. The affected warforged breaks free of the command after 24 hours.
Spell Sink
This device emanates an antimagic field (same effects as the antimagic field spell) in a radius of 1 to 3 miles. The field can be activated or deactivated as an action with a touch by its controller.
The form that the device takes depends on the nature of its creator. The Ashbound druids despise unnatural magic, so a spell sink created by them might be a living artifact, such as a twisted tree that consumes the magical energy around it. Conversely, a spell sink created by a mad artificer might be a massive vessel composed of dragonshards and exotic metals.
A variant device called the spell siphon not only neutralizes magic but also absorbs all magical energy in the area, storing that power for a cataclysmic effect.
Storm Spire
This eldritch machine can only be controlled by creatures that bear the Mark of Storm. Storm spires allow House Lyrandar to influence the weather, which can be a boon for the local population or a curse if a Lyrandar baron chooses to demand payment for ideal weather.