Warforged

Created by the Tinker Gnomes sometime during their exile from Damasia during the Age of Shadow, the Warforged were created as soldiers for the Liberation War to retake the gnomish ancestral homeland on Damasia. They were originally created to be semi-intelligent, able to follow orders, but without self-awareness. In the wake of the Liberation War, many of the warforged, along with other wonders of arcane technology which allowed the gnomes to drive back the Drow, broke down or were lost along with the secrets of creating new Warforged.

Those warforged that survived the war have continued to serve the gnomes as soldiers, guards, and workers. Though most warforged still maintain only minimal intelligence, there are some amongst them who are beginning to wake up and become self-aware. Why this has begun happening, the Tinker Gnomes do not know. Perhaps the elemental forces used to breathe life into them are beginning to reach out from their metal and wood prisons or perhaps this is a naturally intended evolution of the warforged designed into them by their creators as a reward for their service in the war. Either way, the knowledge lies lost in the secrets of their creation; secrets which are now hidden somewhere within the wild lands of the Misty Continent. All that is certain is those warforged who have begun to awaken must search for their place in the world.

Play a warforged if you want...
 * to be strong, tough, and built for battle.
 * to be a creature searching for the meaning of your own existence.
 * to be a member of a race that favors the fighter, barbarian, warden, and paladin classes.

Physical Qualities
Warforged are bulky humanoids covered in plates of metal, stone, and wood. A skeleton of these materials supports woody fiber bundles that comprise a warforged's muscular system. Warforged bodies have an internal network of tubes filled with blood-like fluid that nourishes and lubricates their systems, as well as wires that form a kind of nervous system, delivering arcane power to every part and system of its body. Their powerful arms end in hands that each have two fingers and one thumb, and each of their feet has two broad toes.

Warforged heads have simple humanlike features. They tend to have heavy brows, hinged toothless jaws, and no noses. A warforged's eyes glow with arcane light, usually related to the type of magical or elemental energy which powers them. Some warforged bear runes on their forheads differentiating them from other warforged, but the meanings of these symbols have been lost to history.

Warforged possess an artificial and relatively sexless shape. They don't reproduce like other humanoids, but a warforged can modify its body, adding and removing limbs as necessary; usually in ways that better allow it to fulfill whatever function or job it has been given. This means that many warforged vary in appearance as much as any other humanoids. A warforged feels pain differently from mortal creatures, able to recognize degrees of damage and process that information in order to respond to it by the most effective means possible to avoid further damage.

Playing a Warforged
Warforged were not originally created with emotions, they were created to be unfeeling soldiers bound to follow their masters' commands, though they were also created to be capable of learning from their experiences. As they begin to awaken and become self aware, they are beginning to exibit rudimentary emotions and personalities which develop just like any other sentient beings. This means that those warforged who have begun to form personalities are as many and varied as any other humanoid. Some lack introspection and are dangerously naive or emotionally stunted, while others actively question the purpose of their existence and consider whether or not they have souls.

A warforged often has extremely limited experiences in the world, having spent its existence assigned to one specific task or duty. Warforged were built to serve and to work, and so have an instinct to follow lists of goals and chores. They also tend to dislike idleness and failure more than other races do and tend to be single-mindedly efficient with any task, particularly in combat. War and military conditioning continue to color warforged behavior. Being created for war, warforged intuitively understand duty, conflict, orders, and other elements of war and soldierly life.

Though originally warforged bodies were built to resemble males, just as many warforged identify themselves as female as there are those that identify themselves as male. Most other humanoids continue to refer to warforged as "it" rather than "he" or "she," which may or may not bother a warforged. Most warforged who are given names have names related to their jobs, abilities, or military positions. Warforged often accept the names given to them by their masters or their comrades, although some search long for particular names they think define them. Others simply take names common within other races, particularly those they have the most contact with or experience being around.

D&D 4e
See Eberron Player's Guide pg, 32