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Dragonmarks and Houses

 Dragonmarks & Houses

      Magic is the lifeblood of Eberron, encircling it like the Ring of Siberys and seeping up through the earth from the bones of Khyber. Perhaps the clearest manifestation of this pervasive magic is the appearance of dragonmarks among seven of Khorvaire's common races (human, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, half-elf, half-orc). Dragonmarks are elaborate skin patterns – more intricate than birthmarks and more distinctive than any tattoo – that grant their bearers innate spell-like abilities. There are 12 families of dragonmarks, each one associated with a number of closely related manifestations.

      The dragonmarked houses have existed for thousands of years. Each dragonmark appears among the members of one large extended family (or, in the case of the Mark of Shadow, two elf families). By no means does every member of a dragonmarked family possess a dragonmark, but it is extremely rare for a person who is not a recognized member of one of these families to develop a dragonmark. Each house specializes in a trade or service for which its mark gives it a competitive advantage, and it controls guilds that regulate commerce in its area of specialization.

Keeping Track of Time

Keeping Time

      The people of Khorvaire mark the passage of time according to the standards developed by the dragonmarked houses (partially based on draconic measures) and sanctioned by the rulers of Galifar almost a thousand years ago.

      Days are 24 hours long, divided into day and night. Seven days make up a week, four weeks a month, and 12 months a year. The months correspond to the 12 moons of Eberron and share their names, and the prominent moon carries the name of the month in which its orbit brings it closest to the planet. The moons and months are tied to the dragonmarks by tradition and legend. A 13^th mark and moon once existed. It was a dark mark devoted to abilities concerned with death and the undead. Most consider the 13^th mark to be nothing more than legend, but there are those that know better.

      While a particular culture may count the years dating from some significant event in its past, the common calendar of Khorvaire is the Galifar calendar. This reckoning of years was developed during the reign of Galifar the Dark, 3^rd ruler to sit upon the throne of Galifar. It counts from the founding of the kingdom to the present day. The dragonmarked houses adopted and use this calendar, as do the governments and people of Khorvaire's nations.

Days of the Week: Sul---Mol---Zol---Wir---Zor---Far---Sar

Months of the Year:

Zarantyr           Mid-winter           Storm Dragonmark

Olarune            Late winter           Sentinel

Therendor        Early spring          Healing

Eyre                 Mid-spring            Making

Dravago           Late spring           Handling

Nymm              Early summer      Hospitality

Lharvion          Mid-summer        Detection

Barrakas           Late summer        Finding

Rhaan               Early autumn        Scribing

Sypheros          Mid-autumn          Shadow

Aryth                Late autumn         Passage

Vult                  Early winter         Warding

Sharn

Sharn

(think New York City or Hong Kong)

- Population: 211,850. The largest city in Breland and in all of Khorvaire. 33% human, 17% dwarf, 9% halfling, 9% goblinoid, 8% gnome, 7% elf, 5% half-elf, 4% shifter, 3% changeling, 2% orc & half-orc, 1% warforged, 1% kalashtar, 1% other.

- Known as The City of Towers, and by many other names including The City of Knives, The City of Lost Souls, The City of a Thousand Eyes, The Gateway to Xen'drik, and The Gateway to Perdition.
- Weather: Located close to the equator, Sharn enjoys a tropical climate. Most days range from hot & humid to hot & rainy, and it is rare to have a day without a little precipitation. The Skyway and Upper-City of Sharn enjoy cool, gentle breezes that offer some relief from this muggy weather for the city's more wealthy citizens. The Middle-City and below feel the brunt of the hot, humid conditions.

     There has been a major settlement on the Hilt of the Dagger River since before recorded history. The current metropolis, Sharn, has existed since the formation of the original Five Nations, about 700 years after humans rose to prominence on the continent. For more than two millennia, the towers of Sharn have grown, rising thousands of feet into the sky. This vertical expansion has given the metropolis its title: The City of Towers.

     A riot of architectural styles and designs play through the city's impressive skyline. From its deepest foundations to its highest spires, Sharn displays the history of the continent for all to see. Heavy, oppressive goblinoid architecture provides the base for much of the city, its stonework reaching back to a time when humans did not exist on this continent. Atop this ancient foundation, the periods of human civilization stack one on top of the other as the city reaches for the clouds.

     The City of Towers can be as impressive as it can be oppressive. The same skyscrapers of stone can make one person laugh with excitement and another weep from the size and weight and impossible heights. Whatever emotion the city inspires, the place remains a bustle of activity at all hours of the day and night. With a tremendous array of cultural, culinary, and commercial delights to sample, and its position as the gateway to Xen'drik, Sharn attracts visitors and adventurers from around the world. It is a hotbed of activity, known in equal measures for its wonders, its crime rate, its amazing amount of corruption, and its genuinely exciting atmosphere.

     Sharn rises from the cliffs overlooking the Hilt, a wide bay at the mouth of the Dagger River. This inhospitable outcropping of rock allowed the city to grow in only one direction – up. The ports at the base of the cliffs load and unload cargo and passengers from seafaring vessels, raising and lowering goods and travelers alike on massive lifts operated by ropes and pulleys that travel through the neighborhood of Cliffside. This working -class region is built into and upon the steep cliffs overlooking the river and bay. At the top of the cliffs, the rock walls seamlessly blend into the earliest stonework laid in ancient times. Here, the city and its amazing towers really begin.

     The City of Towers is rumoured to sit atop a massive lake of molten lava. Those who work in the bowels of the city, a subterranean region known as the Cogs, claim to feel the heat rising off the lava streams, but few have ever gone below the great furnaces and foundries of the Cogs to seek for the fiery lake itself. In the Cogs, heat and magic cooperate to allow workers to process ores and other raw materials needed to sustain Sharn's industrial machine.

     Also within the depths, ancient ruins, labyrinthine sewers, vertical shafts, and forgotten chambers pile level upon level, climbing higher and higher until the inhabited regions are reached. These higher levels, made up of towers growing like trees in a forest of stone and brick, contain most of the city's residents and visitors. Poorer members of society live in the deeper portions of the towers, while those above gain wealth and status the higher up they live. The uppermost levels feature open-arched towers, balconies, bridges, and platforms that form a strange lacework of “solid” ground high in the air. Above it all floats the neighborhood known as Skyway, where the most affluent citizens live and play.

     Sky coaches move slowly from tower to tower, transporting people. Otherways to get around include walking (almost every tower can be reached by multiple bridges that connect the platforms and walkways at different levels), lifts that ride up & down and side to side along magical strands of light, and magebred animals trained to carry passengers within the city's limits.

     There's a popular saying on the elevated streets of Sharn: “If it can be bought, it can be bought here.” Shops and trading stalls abound, usually gathered in trade districts, open-air markets (“exchanges”), or merchant halls (called “tower markets”, often multileveled) found within many tower and building complexes. Some shops jut from the sides of walls and bridges, ramshackle structures of wood hastily thrown together or built around a crack in the stone. The tower markets present the most elaborate market exchanges, where shops selling different wares sit side by side and one atop the other inside the open cavity of a tower or multistory blockhouse.Beyond these more or less legitimate business ventures, Sharn boasts a thriving black market where everything from exotic fruits and animals to illegal spell components can be traded. Sharn's authorities do their best to curtail this activity, but supply & demand make it next to impossible to really control.

     The City Watch enforces the Galifar Code of Justice throughout Sharn, but in practice, residents are more likely to encounter a law officer among the higher spires than in the lower bowels of the city. Constables conduct regular patrols along the higher bridges, platforms, and walkways, venturing lower only when necessity or prudence warrants. Watch towers can be found in every ward, though there really aren't enough Constables to adequately serve & protect all of Sharn's populace.The Watch, reluctantly, calls on agents of the King's Citadel (who maintain a presence in the city) when it needs additional manpower.

Quick Facts

Quick Facts

• The year is 998 YK (Year of the Kingdom, named after the founding of the Kingdom of Galifar on Khorvaire, not Year of Our Lord Andrew Y.K.).
• When King Jarot died, his 5 heirs fought for the crown, dragging their Five Nations into a devastating war that lasted for 102 years.
• The Last War has just ended in Khorvaire, with the signing of the Treaty of Thronehold in 996 YK.
• This peace treaty established 12 kingdoms in place of the original Five Nations.
• Magic is pervasive throughout Khorvaire, often serving in place of technology to offer many conveniences to daily life.
• The Artificier, a new class, embodies this spin on traditional magic.
• Different houses offer various magical services including goods (House Cannith; also warfored repair), communication (House Sivis), healing (House Jorasco), hospitality (House Ghallanda), transportation including the lightning rail (House Orien) and airships (House Lyrandar) as befitting their representative Dragonmarks.

The Creation of Eberron

In the mythic past, the world was one and the progenitor wyrms, the first and greatest of dragonkind, ruled all. The three most powerful – Siberys, Eberron, and Khyber – discovered (or created) the Prophecy. A world-shattering struggle ensued, splitting the world into three parts and scattering the Prophecy across the width and breadth of existence. In the end, Siberys became the glowing ring that surrounds the world (ed. I imagine that this approximates Saturn's rings), Khyber was bound in the darkest depths, and Eberron healed the world between by becoming one with it. Siberys called forth the next generation of dragons, Eberron created all manner of living things, and Khyber spat out the fiends.

Some things that have happened within your lifetime (or a little before):
845 YK: King Jarot begins a public works project to connect all of central Khorvaire via lightning rail. Within 20 years, lines connect the Five Nations, Zilargo, the Mror Holds, and the Talenta Plains.
965 YK: House Cannith perfects the modern-era warforged, living constructs designed to fight the Last War.
990 YK: The first elemental airships go into service for House Lyrander.
994 YK: Cyre is destroyed; the Mournland is created.
996 YK: The Treaty of Thronehold.

Breland

Breland

Capital: Wroat

King: Boranel was crowned in 961 YK

Population: 3,700,000 (44% humans, 14% gnomes, 10% half-elves, 8% elves, 7% dwarves, 4% halflings, 4% changelings, 4% goblinoids, 3% orcs, 2% other)

Exports: Weapons, armour, tools, processed ore, metalwork, manufactured goods, heavy industry

Languages: Common, gnome, Elven, Dwarven, Halfling, Orc, Goblin, Sahuagin.

Religion: Breland's citizens mainly belong to the Church of the Silver Flame or the Sovereign Host, though as a wholethe nation isn't strongly religious – the Brelish have more faith in themselves and their king than in gods who never walk the land. Nevertheless, Sharn's eclectic cosmopolitanism extends to faiths as well; representatives and followers of almost every religion and faith can be found. A few of the more violent and dangerous cults have forged hiding places within the nation. A Blood of Vol temple has been established, quietly and in secret, somewhere deep within the towers of Sharn. A number of separate groups devoted to the Dragon Below have long held positions of power and influence within the nation, though they rarely reveal their true nature or intentions.

Adventuring in Breland: Farms, ranches, and great estates dot the Brelish countryside, covering the open land in the North and rising up alongside rivers in the South. While about half of Breland's population lives as farmers, ranchers, and peasants devoted to the estates of the Brelish aristocracy, the other half lives and works in and around the nation's growing centers of trade and industry – the towns and cities that have grown up in diverse parts of the domain. The nation contains two metropolises, Wroat and Sharn, as well as numerous towns, villages, and cities.

     Breland enjoys a safe and relatively peaceful existence. Trade roads, caravan routes, and the king's roads crisscross the countryside, promoting travel. Ships navigate the rivers and connect the Brelish ports to those throughout Khorvaire. An extensive system of lightning ril conductor stones connects the nation to Aundair, Thrane, and Zilargo, and from these locations to more distant realms. Airship docks can be found in most of Breland's major metropolitan centers, including Wroat and Sharn.

      While the farms and cities are safe and secure, for the most part, there are places where life and limb are at risk. The environs around the Blackcaps, for instance, often attract monsters and evil bands that hide within the mountains and strike when the opportunity presents itself. Monstrous warbands can appear out of Droaam without warning – if the Last War still continues anywhere, it does so along the Droaam-Breland border. The Mournland occasionally spits some horror or another out of its dead-grey mists, and pirates regularly strike from the Southern seas.

      Many adventurers get their start in Sharn, the City of Towers. The place is rife with danger, opportunities, and adventure potential, making it a natural magnet for those seeking to make a living by the sword, the spell, or their skills. While the upper portions of the city have the same troubles plaguing them as any major metropolis, the lower portions of the city quickly transform from crime-ridden tenements to monster-filled dungeons. For this reason, some adventurers never need leave the City of Towers to enjoy busy careers and fill their coffers. Sharn also presents a number of gateways to the rest of the world. From its ports and airship docks and lightning rail stations, all of Khorvaire and beyond can be reached. Indeed, if there is a clear path to the mysterious continent of Xen'drik, it starts in Sharn.

      The people of Breland love liberty and freedom. They are a tolerant, accepting people, with a tendency to be friendly and helpful. They are disposed to liking those of Aundarian and Zil descent, and they feel an obligation towards the refugees of Cyre. Mostly ambivalent toward the people of Thrane, many Brelish still harbour feelings of anger and fear where the Karrns are concerned. If it comes from Droaam, the Brelish have a tendency to strike first and ask questions later. Even then, a lone, monstrous humanoid can find acceptance in Sharn, as long as it doesn't cause any trouble.

Map of Khorvaire

The continent of Khorvaire

Khorvaire

• Humans traveling West from Sarlona expanded into Khorvaire roughly 3,000 years ago, pressing into lands previously occupied by various goblin and monster tribes.
• They established the Kingdom of Galifar, composed of 5 nations: Aundair, Breland, Cyre, Karrnath, and Thrane.
• When King Jarot died, his 5 heirs fought for the crown, dragging their Five Nations into a devastating war that lasted for 102 years.
• The nation of Cyre was obliterated in 994 YK, to become the Mournland.
• The Last War has just ended in Khorvaire, with the signing of the Treaty of Thronehold in 996 YK.