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Feature length articles about major topics in Eberron

Excerpt: House Kundarak and the Mark of Warding

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A crowned manticore with one foot resting on a chest.
The seal of the Banking Guild, by Matthew Johnson

You’re right, Lord Ruken. We’re talking about a great deal of gold. But there are a few things that only you know. Only you know the fervor of your enemies and how far they would go. Is there anyone who might scry upon you, seeking to pry your secrets from your private conversations? Is there anything in your home you truly can’t afford to have stolen? Is it possible that someone hates you so much that they might seek to kill you… or to harm you by harming those you love? Only you know these things, my lord… and only you know what peace of mind is worth to you. 

The heirs of House Kundarak are often maligned as being paranoid, always suspecting the people around them of coveting their fine possessions. This is a foolish fabrication. But there are two factors that play into this stereotype. The first is Kundarak’s great wealth. Most of the houses became wealthy because of their success. But the Kundarak lords were wealthy long before they became a House, possessing riches greater than any western king. There have always been those who have sought to steal Kundarak gold, whether through force or guile. So if Kundarak heirs look at the world around them with a little suspicion, it’s because history has given them good reason to be cautious. Beyond that, those who carry the Mark of Warding feel an inherent urge to protect the things that matter to them. Heirs of House Sivis love words. Those who carry the Mark of Making are often tinkering with something. And the dwarves who bear the Mark of Warding are always ready to protect the things they love. The Mark of Warding seals and shields, but it also allows its bearer to create deadly traps that will punish those who trespass against them. Kundarak won’t just keep you from touching their things; they’ll leave you with a bloody stump for daring to make the attempt. These threads run through the psyche of every Kundarak heir: pride in what they possess and what they have accomplished, and a fierce instinct to protect what they love and to punish those who would try and take it. 

While some might expect Kundarak heirs to be avaricious, the truth is often the opposite. Some of the greatest philanthropists in the history of the Five Nations have been Kundarak viceroys, and heirs of the house are often generous with their friends. Kundarak teaches its heirs to be sharp in matters of business, to cut to the heart of a situation and identify its risks. But the House also teaches its children that a life driven solely by the pursuit of wealth is as cold as a copper coin. A Kundarak heir always considers the costs of things, and anyone who knows a Kundarak dwarf has probably had a moment when their friend has stepped in to haggle on their behalf or to warn them of a possible scam. But this is because what the heir values most is friendship. Kundarak heirs won’t waste gold, but they aren’t afraid to spend it on things that truly matter, including helping their friends and creating fine memories. Likewise, Kundarak dwarves usually have treasures, whether those are heirlooms passed down to them or things they’ve worked to acquire. Some of these things would be seen as treasures by anyone; many heirs appreciate art, jewelry, and goods of the highest quality. But others have more of a personal value. A copper tankard that’s the last surviving mug made by a distant ancestor. A rare book of poetry by a poet who’s still unappreciated long after their death, but which the dwarf loves. A silver coin they struck as a child, when their mother took the mint. Beyond this, every Kundarak heir has something they dream of acquiring. This is a game that starts among children, as heirs declare what wonders they will one day possess, and these desires are refined as they grow. This could be a title, a family, an estate… but most heirs have something very concrete in mind, whether it’s an artifact or a piece of art. So in making a Kundarak heir, consider: What treasures do you possess, and what do you yearn to obtain? What do you value above all else, and what would you do to protect the things that you love? 

Note: The version of the Mark of Warding presented here differs from what is presented in Forge of the Artificer. This is the version I am using in my campaign, but it is not official! My reasons for these changes are described later in this article. 

When an heir of House Kundarak first manifests the Mark of Warding, they are placed in isolation while they master its first two gifts. The first of these is a peaceful source of comfort: the ability to set an Alarm. As a ritual spell, this can be cast at any time. The heir studies the space or the portal they wish to ward, and imagines energy flowing from their dragonmark to fill that space. While there is no actual sentience to an Alarm spell, most Kundarak heirs imagine a guardian—crafting the story of the spirit that serves and protects them. The heir traces the patterns of the Mark of Warding in the air and murmurs instructions to their guardian (the somatic and verbal components of the spell), thanking the spirit for its service and telling it whether to respond to intrusion by warning the heir directly or making a noise. For most Kundarak heirs, this is a comfortable experience; it makes them feel protected and secure. Heirs with a newly manifested Mark are encouraged to cast Alarm over and over, warding everything in sight. This power poses no danger to anyone. But the second gift of the Mark of Warding is another matter entirely, and this is the reason new heirs must be isolated. Every heir can feel the power of the Mark promising protection. If they let instinct guide them and trace the pattern of the Mark, power flows through the Mark and into that seal, burning with the determination to protect and to punish. This is the Kundarak Seal, the first step toward a Glyph of Warding. It can be placed on anything that can be opened or closed—a door, a window, a chest—or on the heir’s own skin. With time and training, an heir can weave safeguards into the seal, setting a word of safe passage or choosing when to trigger the seal on their skin. But in those first days these traps pose a danger to everyone; a playful shove is enough to trigger a Sigil of Vengeance and injure or kill a friend. Foundlings with the Mark of Warding are rare, and often have tragic tales of loved ones harmed by an Elemental Trap before the heir mastered their powers. This isn’t  a danger for long. Once an heir understands this gift, they can contain a Sigil of Vengeance until they choose to unleash its power; most heirs start each morning by tracing the mark on their skin and setting that ward against enemies. This is something everyone knows about Kundarak heirs—You strike a blow against them, and they’ll blast you with vengeance. It’s something that gives Kundarak bankers and negotiators confidence when dealing with strangers: you harm me at your peril. 

Further gifts of the Mark of Warding offer both sides of a coin, as heirs learn both how to protect the things they love and how to bypass protections. An experienced heir can seal anything that can be opened, weaving an Arcane Lock; but they also possess the power to Knock, opening any door. They have an intuitive knack for using Thieves’ Tools to create traps and locks as well as to remove them; they can set deadly wards, but they also have a talent for Investigation and for mystically finding traps. Warding-marked heirs often have a fondness for puzzles; there is an intuitive satisfaction that comes from opening a look or unraveling a mystery. 

Player characters and remarkable NPCs can master both powers of the Least Mark of Warding, but most heirs only learn one of its two paths. Those drawn to the path of Wards gain the ability to cast Nondetection and Private Sanctum. These allow the heir to shield objects, people, or places from divination magic, and also to prevent teleportation into or out of a particular space. Private Sanctum can be made permanent, and most long-established prisons have Kundarak wards that prevent teleportation. Those who follow the path of Seals gain access to Glyph of Warding and Secret Chest. These heirs are the trapsmiths of the House, weaving Glyphs into security systems for valued clients. 

The final gift of the Greater Mark is one that even player characters have to choose between. The rarer of the two options is the ability to cast Antilife Shell, keeping all living things from approaching the Warding heir. Those with this gift often worked with House Deneith during the last war; a Warding heir could shield a Siege Staff crew and keep them from being overrun. Heirs with this power are rare and as the war went on, the use of Warforged constructs and Karrnathi undead reduced its value, but there were still times when these wars played a key role in a battle. The more common gift of the Greater Mark is Kundarak’s Ward—a power that weaves Private Sanctum, Arcane Lock, and Glyph of Warding together to protect a stronghold. Many noble estates have Housewards that maintain Kundarak’s Wards. With that said, when an heir casts Kundarak’s Ward they choose which effects to implement. Most nobles don’t want to have their hallways filled with fog!

Durbannek’s Secret Chest and Ghedim’s Private Sanctum are identical to Leomund’s Secret Chest and Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum, just using the names of the Kundarak families who specialized in these spells in the early history of the House. 

Kanon vs Canon. Most of the time I prefer to hold to current canon, but I’ve made a significant number of changes here. The core abilities remain the same; what I’ve swapped are the spells. My goal here is to work with the original idea of the Mark, the services Kundarak provides, and what feels logical and cohesive to me. Specifically…

  • Forge of the Artificer assigns Mage Armor to the base mark and Armor of Agathys as a spell of the Mark. Mage Armor is fine, but it’s useless for adventurers who use medium or heavy armor, so I shifted that to be the Spell of the Mark and replaced Armor of Agathys with Kundarak Seal. Kundarak Seal draws on Fire Trap (which was part of the 3.5 Mark) but adds the idea that you can use it to trap YOURSELF. This is similar in concept to Armor of Agathys and Hellish Rebuke—you hurt someone who hits you—but you have to cast it in advance. It keeps the idea of Elemental Trap as a service Kundarak heirs can provide, but Sigil of Vengeance is likely to be more useful for the typical adventurer.  
  • The typical adventurer has more use for Knock than Arcane Lock, and both are useful for the House businesses, so I made Knock the spell provided by the base feat and Arcane Lock the Spell of the Mark. 
  • I swapped Nystul’s Magic Aura with Find Traps because to me, Magic Aura is more about deception than protection, and that’s not something that is reflected in the other spells of the mark. Meanwhile, Find Traps establishes that the Mark of Warding gives its bearers a broad affinity for traps, which is reflected by the Intuition with Thieves’ Tools and is one of their main fields of business. Just as the Mark allows you to lock and unlock things, it makes sense to me that it can help you find traps as well as to set them. 
  • I replaced Magic Circle with Nondetection because Nondetection was an original spell of the mark in 3.5 and because it’s consistent with Private Sanctum—establishing that the Mark can ward against divination—while there’s no other Mark effects that feel aligned to Magic Circle (such as Hallow or Protection From Good And Evil). 
  • I swapped Faithful Hound with Private Sanctum because I previously assigned Faithful Hound to Ghallanda. While Faithful Hound isn’t a bad option for Warding, Private Sanctum is consistent with Nondetection and it fit to me that Ghallanda could set a spectral blink dog to guard your door while Kundarak would ward a wider area.
  • Guards & Wards was a key feature of the Mark of Warding in its original incarnation. Aside from being a 6th level spell, the standard Guards & Wards goes kind of over the top (There’s spiderwebs in every staircase! There’s confusion spells at every intersection!), and I wanted to tone that down a little — and since the Mark now includes Private Sanctum, it made sense to weave that in. So Kundarak’s Ward is a watered down Guards & Wards with added functionality from Private Sanctum. Notably, it doesn’t have the “Cast every day for a year to make permanent” clause; it’s maintained by Housewards, but you can’t make it permanent. 

FOCUS ITEMS

The ability to cast Glyph of Warding or Knock once per day is a useful trick, but if you’re going to make a living as a locksmith or selling security systems, you need to be able to produce these effects more frequently and to provide services that will last. Someone poor and in a hurry can pay a Kundarak Warden to cast Glyph of Warding on their door, but once the spell is triggered it will disperse. If you want to create a Glyph that will last—an ongoing security system for a noble or a prison—you need to use focus items. 

The two most common Kundarak focus items are Warden’s Wares and Sealing Pigments. Warden’s Wares are a specialized form of Thieves’ Tools; they are treated as Thieves’ Tools for purposes of tool proficiency, but Kundarak heirs can use them to construct magical traps as well as to disarm them. Sealing Pigments are infused with powdered siberys dragonshards. When an heir creates a long-term security system they trace its patterns with Sealing Pigments. The Pigments become invisible after the work is complete, but the power remains in place. Long term Kundarak traps often have some sort of focal point as well. Rather than being a glyph, a trap that dispels magic could be a metal plate engraved with the image of a beholder that opens its central eye when the trap is triggered. Sealing Pigments are still used in the creation of this trap, but it’s not just a pattern of paint. 

Traps and security systems are the primary products of House Kundarak, and these are discussed in greater detail in the sidebar that follows this section. Here’s a few other Kundarak focus items.  

Adamant Chest

Wondrous Item, Uncommon 

The Adamant Chest is a Tiny model of chest forged from adamantine and set with a sliver of siberys shard. If someone uses the Adamant Chest as a material component when casting Durbannek’s Secret Chest with the Mark of Warding, they can summon a 3’ x 2’ x 2’ chest from the Ethereal Plane. This chest has the durability of adamantine and is sealed with an Arcane Lock; the Adamant Chest serves the key. Casting the spell allows the bearer of the Mark of Warding to summon this chest or to send it back to the Ethereal Plane, but the chest is bound to the Adamant Chest, not to a specific caster; anyone with the Mark of Warding who gains possession of the Adamant Chest can use it to access the associated chest. There is no risk of the spell expiring and the chest being lost in the Ethereal Plane, and an heir can cast the spell with a different material component to summon their own personal chest. 

Keycharm

Wondrous Item, Common 

A Keycharm is a simple amulet, typically worn around the neck or kept in a pocket. When someone with the Mark of Warding casts Alarm, Arcane Lock, Glyph of Warding, Kundarak’s Ward or the Elemental Trap function of Kundarak Seal, they can choose to link the spell to a Keycharm in their possession. If they do this, whoever carries the Keycharm is considered to be the caster of the spell. They are aware of the location of the spell effect and can choose to end the spell or bypass its effects. Most of these spells give the caster an option to set a password or to create objects that serve as keys; the Keycharm just takes that a step further, allowing the caster to give full ownership of the spell to the bearer of the Keycharm. 

Houseward

Wondrous Item, Rare 

A Houseward is a heavy block of lead and stone engraved with arcane sigils. An heir with the Mark of Warding can sense the presence of any Houseward within 20 feet and can target the ward with any of the following spells: Alarm, Ghedin’s Private Sanctum, or Kundarak’s Ward. When cast in this way, the spell doesn’t require concentration and the duration is increased by a factor of 28—allowing a spell that would normally persist for a single day to last for an entire month. If a Houseward is destroyed, the spells it is maintaining dissipate. For this reason, Housewards are typically buried beneath the floor of the location they are protecting, or embedded in the base of a statue. 

Locksmith’s Ring

Wondrous Item, Uncommon (Requires attunement by a creature with the Mark of Warding)

The Locksmith’s Ring is a large iron ring with a single embedded siberys dragonshard; it’s often used as a keyring, but there is no actual need for it to carry other keys. While attuned to the Locksmith’s Ring, a creature with the Mark of Warding can cast Arcane Lock or Knock as a ritual; however, doing so requires 100 gp worth of refined eberron dragonshards, which are consumed by the ritual. 

THE HISTORY OF HOUSE KUNDARAK

The ancient history of the dwarves of the Ironroot Mountains is preserved solely in stories—tales passed down and embellished over the course of generations, stories that vary depending which clan is telling them. According to the talespinners of Clan Mroranon, King Mror sent twelve heroes to the surface world so they could prove themselves worthy of inheriting his kingdom. He also sent the master mason Kundarak to help build their halls and to protect them from harm. The bards of Clan Soldorak tell a different story. They say King Mror was a tyrant who banished the twelve heroes, fearing that they would overthrow him… and that Kundarak was the warden who sealed the gates to the Realm Below and made sure the heroes would never return. Every clan has its own twist on the tales, but in every one of them Kundarak stands apart. In most tales Kundarak is a protector who helps the heroes build their mountain fortresses. But some clans say those keeps were first made as prisons, and that Kundarak only relented because the clans became too strong to be held under lock and key. Narathun ‘spinners say that when Mror sent the heroes to the surface, he gave their greatest treasures to Kundarak with instructions that they should be restored to the clan leaders when they proved their worth. But, say the Narathun, greedy Kundarak refused to return these treasures. According to these stories, House Kundarak is still holding onto legendary artifacts tied to each clan founder—awesome treasures hidden in its deepest vaults. 

The truth of these tales is buried in the past. But a few things are certain. The early Ironroot clans weren’t exceptional miners, and they were divided by bitter feuds; they spent most of their energy and resources fighting one another, as well as the Jhorash’tar Orcs. Clan Kundarak remained neutral in these conflicts, helping every clan build fortifications—and the Kundarak dwarves were expert miners. While the other clans largely didn’t tap their natural resources until the period known as Korran Hal, Kundarak dwarves always spent as much time below the earth as they did above it. Early in their history, Kundarak had two important subterranean holdings. The first is Aur-Hal, the “Blessing of Gold”—a gold mine beneath Korunda Gate that was the original source of the clan’s wealth. Aur-Hal remains in operation to this day, but it is shrouded in mystery. Kundarak has never allowed outsiders into its oldest mine. Some believe that the original mine was tapped out long ago—but that the Aur-Hal tunnels contain an entrance to a demiplane that is the actual source of Kundarak’s gold. Others claim that there is a dragon in the depths—that the gold of Aur-Hal all comes from this Greatwyrm’s hoard, and that this creature is the true master of House Kundarak. The truth is hidden beneath a maze of tunnels and centuries worth of wards. But one thing is certain; the house still draws gold up from the depths. A second deep holding of note is Bal Ulok, the “Great Pit.” This is the oldest continually operating prison on Khorvaire. The prisoners held in Bal Ulok generally weren’t criminals; instead, they were members of the ruling clans who ran afoul of more powerful members of their clan, or hostages whose sentence was part of the terms of a temporary truce between feuding rivals. Occasionally, dwarves targeted by a relentless enemy voluntarily chose to dwell in Bal Ulok; there was no safer place in the Ironroot Mountains. While Dreadhold is now considered to be Kundarak’s most secure prison, Bal Ulok is still in operation and offers luxurious confinement for noble prisoners. 

While the scholars of the Twelve believe that the Mark of Warding first appeared around the same time as the Mark of Making, there’s no way to be certain. The dwarves remained isolated in their mountain holds as new civilizations spread across the lands below. This changed with the rise of the Kingdom of Galifar. Prince Karrn subdued the Ironroot Mountains in the name of his father, and it was the flow of tribute that opened the floodgates to trade and communication with the clans. House Sivis was quick to investigate this new territory, and they were thrilled to discover a new mark within the mountains. House Sivis and House Kundarak formed a quick bond that remains one of the strongest alliances among the Twelve, and it was from this union that the Banking Guild was born. Kundarak’s vast wealth provided the capital, but it was Sivis that understood the markets and the math, and Sivis scribes who maintained the ledgers and drew up letters of credit and loans. Sivis helped Kundarak establish the Korunda Mint and convinced Galifar to accept its coins throughout the kingdom. Over the next century, the Banking Guild spread across Galifar. While the Twelve worked to suppress unpleasant details, Kundarak and its allies took aggressive action to undermine or assimilate rivals. 

While the Banking Guild was the driving force of House Kundarak, the Warding Guild played a noteworthy role in the early history of the House. Centuries before the rise of Galifar, Karrn the Conqueror established a prison colony in the Lhazaar Principalities on a barren island he called Blackrock. King Galifar I saw the value of a distant, secure prison—a place to hold hostages and rivals too valuable to kill but too dangerous to be kept close at hand. Prince Karrn’s battles in the Ironroot Mountains demonstrated Kundarak’s talent for constructing fortifications and defensive magic. Working through House Sivis, Galifar I arranged for Kundarak dwarves to build a proper prison on Blackrock—a prison that would eventually be rechristened as Dreadhold. This comes to another interesting aspect of House Kundarak: its land. The Korth Edicts were put in place before Kundarak joined the Twelve. While Kundarak was willing to respect the edicts in regard to its holdings in the Five Nations, the dwarves had no intention of surrendering Kundarakhold or their precious mines. After long negotiations they were allowed to “purchase” Kundarakhold from Galifar for a lump payment. After the death of Galifar I and King Cyre, Kundarak also negotiated an agreement that gave the House dominion over the island of Dreadhold, as long as they continued to serve Galifar and secure its prisoners. 

For the last eight centuries, House Kundarak has been a vital part of the economic foundation of Galifar. Along with House Sivis, it’s one of the most trusted and reliable houses. Kundarak investments have funded countless projects and expeditions. While its services have largely remained consistent, Kundarak continues to work with the Twelve in pursuit of new advances in security. The most dramatic development occurred in the last century. Like the other Mror Clans, House Kundarak began exploring the realms below the Mror Holds over the last century. They have kept their discoveries hidden, but in 960 YK Lord Morrikan declared that he was withdrawing his forces from the depths and fortifying all gates to Sol Udar, saying that the dangers of further exploration outweighed the risks involved. Four years later, the Twelve unveiled the Kundarak Vault Network. This leaves a few critical questions in the hands of the DM: What did House Kundarak find in Sol Udar? Did they ACTUALLY seal the gates, or is that a public lie to conceal continued operations in the depths? Does the demiplane tied to the Vault Network have ties to Daelkyr or an Overlord? Most of all… Is it safe? 

The Last War had relatively little impact on House Kundarak. All nations made use of Kundarak services and sought Kundarak investments and loans during the war. The one twist that has shaken the House is the rise of the Aurum. Before the rise of Galifar, Kundarak alone carried out extensive mining in the Ironroot Mountains. But Prince Karrn’s victory over the dwarves actually led them to dig deeper, setting in motion the age known as Korran Hal, Korran’s Blessing. All of the clans found wealth beneath their feet. And over the last century, with the Mror claiming full independence from fallen Galifar, many Mror nobles have become more active in engaging with the rest of the world. Kundarak is still the most trusted name in banking, but Mror investors are taking opportunities that would once have surely fallen to Kundarak. Antus ir’Soldorak has established his own mint producing coins of Soldorak gold. While these actions have yet to have a serious impact on Kundarak profits, it’s a concerning development for the House. 

What Happens Next?  

House Kundarak seeks stability. It strives to protect an image of absolute security and reliability. As such, it’s not a House that takes dramatic actions—or at least, when it does, it seeks to keep them quiet. Here’s a few seeds to work with. 

  • The Heist. There’s countless opportunities for adventurers to be pitted against Kundarak. This could be driven by simple greed, seeking to plunder a Kundarak bank purely for the gold it holds. But villains bank with Kundarak, and there’s many reasons adventurers could need to plan a heist. Perhaps someone is unjustly imprisoned in Dreadhold and the adventurers need to get them out—or perhaps they just need to deliver a message to a prisoner. Maybe the adventurer’s arch rival has a crucial item in a Kundarak demiplane vault—can the adventurers get the key and the password and get it on the surface, or do they actually need to find a way to enter the vault demiplane itself?  
  • Inheritance. One of the player characters discovered that they’ve inherited the contents of an Adamant Chest stored in a distant bank. How quickly can the adventurers get to the bank? What is in the Chest? Is it just a useful item or gold or could it be dangerous secrets? If the adventurer is an Artificer, this inheritance could be an arcane prototype created by a rival, with the note that they believe House Cannith is going to have them killed to prevent them from completing this paradigm-shifting invention—will the adventuring Artificer finish what they started? 
  • What Lurks Beyond The Vault? The Kundarak Vault Network is located in a demiplane, and the House needs to know more about it. The adventurers are hired to enter a portal below Korunda Gate and explore the realm beyond… what will they find? And if given the opportunity, will they plunder any of the vaults? 
  • Your Mission, If You Choose To Accept It… A dying spy thrusts a crumpled paper into the hands of an adventurer—the key and password to a Kundarak vault. This contains information about a dangerous plot and an artifact that must be kept out of enemy hands. But it’s unclear who the spy was working for and who exactly the adventurers are going up against. Will they dive into this shadow war or leave it alone? 
  • Storage Wars. Perhaps, if a Kundarak demiplane vault is left unpaid for over a decade, the House will hold an auction for a select group of bidders. The adventurers have a chance to obtain the contents of one or more vaults. Perhaps they only hold junk. Maybe they hold valuable treasures. Or perhaps they hold dangerous secrets, the answers to unsolved crimes, or things that were buried and never meant to see the light of day. How much are you willing to spend to find out? 

Would you like to know more? This is just a third of what I’ve written about House Kundarak. The full article includes the structure and customs of the House, details about its nine major families, and an extensive look at the Kundarak Vault Network and the sorts of traps, seals, and other services Kundarak provides. The full article is available to people who support me on Patreon, along with access to monthly Q&As (and the opportunity to ask questions!).

Excerpt: House Sivis and the Mark of Scribing

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An elderly gnome writes in a floating book while a floating teapot pours her a cup of tea.
Stonespeaker “Sora” Sahra Sorralyn d’Sivis, art by Matthew Johnson!

Members of the jury, the case before you is clear. This is no simple accident, no story of a merchant unwittingly purchasing faulty goods and passing them on. Benn Grennel performed the ritual that charged his tokens with an aura that could deceive simple divination, making the coins appear to be properly enchanted. But this isn’t a simple case of fraud, no. If Grennel’s tokens were supposed to protect the bearer from evil spirits or bad luck, we might just urge the buyer to beware. But Grennel was selling feather tokens, and now five people are dead. The defense may argue that ‘Sharn Chicken’ is a dangerous pastime, that those who participate inherently accept risks. But this argument falls flat when it reaches those innocents killed and injured when the Telrin brothers fell from the sky. The Telrins may have been fools. But it was Benn Grennel who set these tragic events in motion when he chose to sell false feather tokens. The dead cry out for justice, members of the jury, and only you can see it done. 

For those who carry the Mark of Scribing, language is a dance. Whether spoken aloud or written on the page, there is a beauty to the way that words fit together. Every conversation is delightful, and there is joy to be found simply in writing a sentence. Consider the paths typically chosen by Sivis heirs. The barrister delights in crafting an argument, in finding the words that will see justice done. The translator takes the words that are keeping people apart and builds a bridge to bring them together. The stonekeeper sends words whistling across the world, carrying knowledge to people in distant cities. 

All Sivis heirs love language, but most have an innate affinity for either written or spoken words. Those who prefer speech love to be around other people, to have a chance to engage in conversation. There’s a popular stereotype of the Sivis heir who never stops talking, who feels a need to fill every moment of silence with new words, and this has some basis in reality. But there are also Sivis heirs who love to listen as well as speak; such an heir will happily sit in a crowded room and never say a word, enjoying the conversations of those around them. On the other hand, heirs who prefer the written word are often solitary, preferring the company of books and scrolls to people. Among these heirs, some love to read and delight in the endless knowledge waiting to be discovered. Others prefer to write, bringing new words into the world—whether creating stories to entertain, recording facts to enlighten, or working with numbers and balancing books. When making a Sivis character, consider where you fall on this spectrum. Are you a gnome who likes to talk to a gnome who likes to talk? Are you working on the great Khorvairian novel, or recording facts for the benefit of future generations? 

House Sivis is best known for facilitating communication. Speaking Stones are a crucial part of everyday life, playing a vital role in commerce, politics, and civilian life. But Sivis heirs do far more than just operate Speaking Stones. The arcane mark of a Sivis Notary is the standard for assuring the authenticity of a document. Sivis accountants count coins across Khorvaire. Sivis mediators and barristers settle disputes, whether through conversation or in court. And as bearers of the Mark of Scribing, House Sivis has long driven the publishing industry. If a business deals with words, there’s likely a Sivis heir tied to it somewhere. 

House Sivis helped establish the structure that most of the Dragonmarked Houses have adopted, the system of baron, viceroys, seneschals, and enclaves. For Sivis heirs, bureaucracy is a delightful puzzle to play with. Because of this, the structure of House Sivis is more complex than any other House. The Sivis guilds, families, and enclaves all have countless small positions and honors that can be easily gained or lost; competition over these titles is a delightful game. The exact rules of this game are hard for outsiders to follow, and it’s up to the DM and players to decide exactly what titles a Sivis adventurer is eligible for and what they must do to maintain them. Just keep in mind that every Sivis heir is part of a greater game, and know that the stonekeeper taking your message isn’t just a stonekeeper; that’s Lord Canto Corralyn d’Sivis, Second Stonekeeper of Ardev, Gilded Listener and Keeper of the Month for five months running. Lord Canto isn’t a Wordsmith yet, but he’s really trying to make fetch happen! 

As a House that regularly handles the secrets of others, it is vital for House Sivis to maintain its reputation for neutrality, integrity, and security. House Sivis doesn’t share the contents of the messages it sends. For a little extra gold, you can work with a stonekeeper trained to forget your message as soon as it’s been sent. Of course there’s conspiracy theories—House Sivis preserves every message ever sent! They can even spy on messages YOU send when you cast your own Sending spells! They’re just a front for the Trust—or, it’s the Trust that’s a front of House Sivis! But over a thousand years of service, House Sivis has managed to maintain the public’s confidence in the confidentiality of its services. There’s no proof that Sivis is tied to the Trust, but the house arm known as Oversight fills much the same role within the House itself. Oversight protects Sivis secrets from all threats, protecting the House from prying eyes and swiftly dealing with any Sivis heir who threatens the reputation of the House! 

Note: The version of the Mark of Scribing presented here differs from what’s presented in Forge of the Artificer. This is the version I am using in my campaign, but it is not official! My reasons for these changes are described later in this article. 

While this Dragonmark is called the Mark of Scribing, a more accurate term would be communication. Comprehend Languages is the most basic gift of the Dragonmark, and the one that is typically used during the Test of Siberys. Any bearer of the Mark of Scribing can cast Comprehend Languages as a ritual; given time, any word will surrender its meaning to a Sivis heir. 

Scribing is a key element of the Dragonmark. Everyone who carries the Mark of Scribing has the ability to inscribe a mystical sigil on any surface. This arcane mark is as unique as a fingerprint. The heir doesn’t choose the design of their arcane mark; they touch the surface and draw on the power of the Dragonmark, and their arcane sigil appears. House Sivis keeps a record of the arcane mark of every known heir, so documents can be tracked. After mastering their arcane mark, Sivis heirs learn who to imbue writing with arcane energy. The simplest trick is the explosive rune, an unstable glyph that immediately explodes in a burst of energy. By working more carefully, an heir can weave stable, safe illusions onto a page, creating Illusory Script. Those with a talent for this work become scroll scribes, crafting permanent Spell Scrolls. However, even those who can’t produce permanent scrolls can learn to temporarily bind magic to ink. Known as Santor’s Swift Scribing, this gift allows a Sivis heir to jot down exactly the spell needed for a difficult situation. 

Beyond scribing, the Mark grants a range of powers associated with the spoken word. All those who carry the Mark of Scribing have the ability to cast their words onto the wind, sending a message to any location within ten miles. This is the fundamental principle harnessed by the Speaking Stone. The Stone allows messages to be sent much faster and farther, but it draws on that key power of Whispering Wind. This power played a crucial role in the Last War; while Speaking Stones aren’t extremely mobile, scouts accompanied by a Sivis heir could use Whispering Wind to report back to their commanders. Heirs with the Lesser Dragonmark gain the gift of Tongues; not only can they understand any language, they can speak to any creature. Silence reverses this, allowing a Sivis heir to prevent communication within their sphere of influence. And then there is the remarkable power of Command. When using this, a Sivis heir draws on their Dragonmark and speaks a single word—a word in a language that no one knows, yet everyone understands. Sivis scholars believe Command allows the caster to momentarily speak the language of the Progenitors themselves; it resonates on such a primal level that the creature targeted by the word is compelled to obey. 

The most dramatic powers of the Mark of Scribing go beyond mere words. Sending allows the caster to instantly transmit a message over any distance, while Telepathic Bond lets an heir forge a mental link between a group of individuals. Both of these gifts bypass language, allowing the recipients to directly understand meaning. Some Sivis heirs are able to reverse this, scrambling a creature’s internal communication and blocking their ability to understand their own thoughts; this manifests as Confusion. While Telepathic Bond is the power most often associated with the Greater Mark of Scribing, there have been a handful of individuals throughout the history of House Sivis who have instead learned how to communicate with others through the medium of dreams. Because of the rarity of this gift, it has never been incorporated into the services offered by the house, but Tasker’s Dream is always searching for heirs with this ability.  

Kanon vs Canon. In general I prefer to work with existing canon, but it’s important to me that the Dragonmarks feel consistent and support the role of the House within the world. House Sivis was built on two spells that don’t exist in Fifth Edition. Arcane Mark drove the idea of Sivis notaries, while Whispering Wind was the foundation for the Speaking Stones—with the idea that the Speaking Stone carries the message faster and farther, but it’s still working off the basic effect of Whispering Wind. Beyond this, the canon Mark of Scribing feat feels significantly more limited than many others. Compare Scribing to Sentinel. Sentinel gets bonuses to Insight and Perception, two consistently useful skills; Scribing gets History and Calligraphy. Sentinel gets Shield, a spell that’s useful in almost every adventure; Scribing gets Comprehend Languages and Magic Mouth, again both very situational. So, looking at key changes…

  • I’ve expanded Gifted Scribe to include Cartography and Forgery, and added Tool Proficiency with one of these. They’re all situational, and compared to Making having a bonus with ALL Artisan’s tools, it feels reasonable to me. 
  • I replaced Message with Sivis Sigil. While I like Message, I feel that Arcane Mark is an iconic part of Sivis; and I added the Explosive Rune element to give it a little practical punch. 
  • In the base feat, I replaced Magic Mouth with Whispering Wind, and replaced Animal Messenger with Magic Mouth on the Spells of the Mark list. Animal Messenger is something that makes sense for the Mark of HANDLING. Whispering Wind has specific elements that mirror its expansion by the Speaking Stone: a short message delivered to a particular location. This further means that with the base feat, any Sivis Heir can notarize (Sivis Sigil), translate (Comprehend Languages), or send a message over a distance (Whispering Wind). 
  • In the Spells of the Mark, I replaced Arcane Eye with Santor’s Swift Scribing. I don’t see what Arcane Eye has to do with words. Swift Scribing gives a Sivis heir a fun, versatile effect that is driven by the act of SCRIBING. It’s inspired by Tasha’s Bubbling Cauldron and Rary’s Mnemonic Enhancer. 
  • Finally, I added the option of Telepathic Bond at 5th level, with the idea that it’s the standard gift of the Mark. Dream is interesting, but assigning it as the sole power of the Greater Mark is problematic on many levels. If Sivis had access to Dream as a standard ability of the Mark and had it for thousands of years, I’d expect it to play a major role in the House and in history, and we’d need to sort out how Sivis dreamshapers had interacted with the quori. I like it as a rare gift and interesting new development, but Telepathic Bond is a simpler spell that fits well with the other gifts of the Mark. 

FOCUS ITEMS

The Speaking Stone is to House Sivis what the Lightning Rail is to House Orien—a vital tool that drives the core business of the House. But Sivis has developed a number of tools associated with communication. A few examples…

  • A Listening Stone appears to be a standard spellshard. However, when activated by a creature with the Mark of Scribing, it records conversations as words on the shard. When activating the shard, the user decides whether it will record all speech that originates within 10 feet of the stone, or just the speech of the creature holding the stone. 
  • A Sivis Slate is a sheet of metal. If a creature uses a Lyrriman Quill or a Scribes Pen to write on the Slate and then places the Slate on a sheet of paper or similar material, they can take a magic action to duplicate the contents of the slate on the page below. They can also use a magic action to clear the current contents of the Slate. 
  • A Wordbinder is a pillar of metal and engraved wood. When a Sivis Slate is placed on the Wordbinder, it can be used to transfer the contents to multiple pages simultaneously; this is the basis of Sivis printing.
  • The Sharn enclave has been experimenting with Echoers. A central Singer works off the premise of Whispering Wind, but rather than directing sound to a single location, the Singer produces multiple gusts that deliver the sound to nearby Echoers, which serve as repeaters transmitting the sound to additional Echoers. In addition to drawing on the Mark of Scribing, the Singer relies on the manifest zone of Sharn to amplify the winds; currently the system is limited to the City of Towers.  

Here’s a few additional items. 

Calculating Lenses

Wondrous Item, Common 

These spectacles allow a Sivis heir to apply the principles of Comprehend Languages to numbers as well as words. While wearing these glasses, a creature with the Mark of Scribing can take a Magic item to perfectly perform basic mathematical operations involving numbers they can see. The Lenses can hold a small range of numbers on the surface of the crystal lenses, allowing the wearer to retain the results of calculations until they can be transferred to another surface. 

Lyrriman Quill

Wondrous Item, Uncommon 

If you possess the Mark of Scribing, you can use this pen to write on any surface; it draws vivid, purple-blue lines reminiscent of a Dragonmark. You decide whether the writing is visible or invisible, but any creature with the Mark of Scribing can always see the writing. Any creature with the Mark of Scribing can use a magic action to touch invisible writing created with a Lyrriman Quill and render it visible. If you use the quill to write on a living creature, the writing fades after 7 days. 

If you use a Lyrriman Quill while creating a Spell Scroll, the time required to create the Scroll is cut in half. 

The seal of the Notaries Guild, depicted by Matthew Johnson.

THE HISTORY OF HOUSE SIVIS

During the golden age of the Empire of Dhakaan, the region south of the Howling Peaks and west of the Seawall Mountains was a seat of knowledge. The city that preceded Korranberg was the site of the Imperial archives and the greatest college of the Duur’kala. This area was hit especially hard during the final days of the Daelkyr incursion. While Dyrrn the Corruptor prepared the ritual that would destroy the Dar bond to the Uul Dhakaan, two other Daelkyr unleashed devastating linguistic assaults on this area. Belashyra released a curse that caused written words to evolve, every document twisting into its own unique cypher. And the Crawling Queen, Valaara, released wasp-like creatures the Dhakaani named volaaganti, “word eaters.” The venom of the Volaaganti infects the victim with a new language that replaces all previous languages known by the victim. Every Volaaganti queen possesses a unique language—unique to each queen, not just to her lineage—so as the word-wasps spread across the region they broke down the common language of the Empire and created countless lesser tongues. Even as the Kapaa’vola broke the bond that united the Dhakaani, the word eaters destroyed the shared language of the Seawall Dar and the shifting script severed them from their records. Amid this chaos, the forces of Xoriat butchered the bulk of the Dar population of the region. When the Gatekeeper seals bound the Daelkyr in Khyber, most of their creations retreated into the depths with them. But all that remained of the Dar were ruined cities and vaults full of twisted words. 

This is what the gnomes inherited—the foundation of what is now Zilargo. During the Age of Dhakaan the gnomes hid in the depths of the Shimmerwood Forest and dark corners of the Seawall Mountains. In the centuries following the downfall of Dhakaan, the gnomes emerged and laid claims to the Dar ruins. Three distinct city-states rose in the region, each one an alliance of powerful houses. In Korranberg, House Sivis held Raat Tohesh, the subterranean facility that had once been the college of the Duur’kala. The vaults of the Raat Tohesh held countless precious secrets, but all were warped by the shifting script of Belashyrra. The wordsmiths of House Sivis had three specialities. On one side, Sivis translators picked apart the endless ciphers of the shifting script so scribes of the House could duplicate anything of value. And on the other side, Sivis interpreters and mediators worked together to facilitate communication in a region scarred by the word eaters. While the gnomes managed to exterminate the Volaaganti, the struggle left every house and many families speaking languages with no common roots—languages shaped by Xoriat rather than natural evolution. Skilled translators and interpreters were in high demand, and the gnomes of House Sivis had a remarkable gift for linguistics. 

House Korran was the greatest power within Korranberg; they had claimed the ruins of the Imperial Archives, which Dorius Alyre used as the foundations of his legendary library. Sivis and Korran had long been involved in a linguistic arms race, each digging deeper into their Dhakaani vaults in search of valuable secrets. When Loran Lyrriman Sivis developed the Mark of Scribing, it was thought to be a singular wonder—the influence of Syrania or a blessing from one of the Thousand Gods. Then Sahra Syrralan Sivis manifested the Mark of Scribing, soon followed by Magys Magan. As soon as it was confirmed that the Mark could be passed on, House Korran desperately sought to make matches with House Sivis in order to inherit this blessing, but they were too late. House Sivis recognized the treasure that had fallen into its lap, and had no intention of sharing. Sivis was happy to sell the services of its scribes to the great houses of Korranberg, but they jealously guarded their remarkable gift. Sivis interpreters had long been considered to be the best in service; now they were invaluable. It was a dangerous road, to be certain. The other houses of Korranberg were jealous, and more than once an alliance of families contemplated the destruction of House Sivis. The leaders of House Sivis were able to deflect this by emphasizing their own absolute neutrality and lack of ambition—declaring that they wished to be useful to all, while holding dominion over none. With that said, many scholars believe that Sivis interpreters may have used their positions to carefully exacerbate conflicts among the other Houses, ensuring that they’d focus hostility on these perceived enemies rather than the neutral Sivis. It’s a hard thing to prove, however, as most historical documents from that time were recorded by Sivis scribes…

So House Sivis flourished, but there was always the lingering fear that the jealousy of their peers would boil over into deadly action. It was at this time that the news of other Dragonmarked families began to trickle in. Gnome merchants brought news from Aerenal of the rise and fall of the Line of Vol, and soon after that the Phiarlan elves came to Khorvaire. Tarlian sages were fascinated by the mystery of the Dragonmarks, while the Lyrrimans saw a value in allying with other Dragonmarked before they too suffered the fate of the Line of Vol. Sivis envoys traveled across Khorvaire, seeking out other Marks. They quickly formed an alliance with Cannith and Deneith. The Twelve wouldn’t be formally recognized until after the War of the Mark, but the Lyrrimans established the blueprint for the alliance—as well as convincing the leaders of Deneith and Cannith to follow their example and restructure themselves as Houses. Sivis continued its aggressive outreach program, drawing in Orien, Jorasco, Lyrandar, and Ghallanda. It was also in this period that Sivis enacted its most ambitious project yet: the development and dissemination of the Common tongue. Blending elements of the trade language of the Sarlonan immigrants with a handful of the House languages of the gnomes and some entirely artificial structures, House Sivis created a language that was remarkably easy to learn and spread. Sivis heirs taught Common across Khorvaire. With the aid of Deneith, Canith, and Ghallanda, Common spread quickly—first as a trade language, but steadily taking root and edging countless regional languages which are now all but forgotten. Today, almost everyone in the Five Nations speaks Common; few have any idea that it was a Sivis invention.  

The next chapter in the history of House Sivis has been expunged from the annals of history. Accounts of the period 600 to 700 years before the rise of Galifar go into great detail about the leadership of Vown and Denieth, the families that rallied the Houses to fight the War of the Mark. But these chronicles—copied and spread by Sivis scribes—say remarkably little about the actions of House Sivis in this time. The details have been buried, but a scholar who carefully studies the record can see the shape formed by the absences and draw a simple conclusion: House Sivis was responsible for the War of the Mark. Sivis leaders believed the Houses needed a shared enemy to cement their alliance, and concluded that by vilifying the Aberrant Dragonmarks they could also cast the House Marks as the “True” Dragonmarks. It was Sivis that promoted the idea that the House Marks were blessings of Siberys while Aberrant Marks were the curse of Khyber. Aberrant Dragonmarks are dangerous, and many of those carrying such marks endured tragedy before mastering their powers. A handful of cases were truly horrific; the Lady of the Plague was responsible for thousands of deaths. Sivis seized on these stories, exaggerating them and spreading them, turning legitimate fear into deadly panic. During the War of the Mark, most commoners gladly helped Deneith forces track down Aberrant forces, because they truly believed the Sentinels were protecting them from a terrible threat… and that is the work of House Sivis. 

It’s possible the leaders of House Sivis didn’t realize what they were setting in motion. Perhaps they only meant to bolster the reputation of the “True” Marks. Certainly, it was Cannith and Deneith that outfitted the Sentinels and initiated hostilities. What is certain is that it was House Sivis that set events in motion, and that they felt a need to expunge the record of their actions. It’s up to the DM to decide if the leaders of House Sivis buried their deeds because they were ashamed of the outcome—or if they were proud of their work and simply wished to conceal the extent of their influence. There’s no obvious parallels to this whispering campaign in the subsequent history of House Sivis, so it’s possible that they truly were horrified by what they’d done and swore never to take such an action again. Certainly, the subsequent history of House Sivis has no obvious parallels to this terrible action. Throughout the history of Galifar, House Sivis was known for its absolute reliability and neutrality, showing no signs of ambition. House Sivis has been a helpful partner to many other Houses. It played a key role in bringing House Kundarak and House Tharashk into the Twelve. Sivis has been closely aligned with House Kundarak since its inception, but every House employs Sivis scribes and accountants. Likewise, Sivis is so trusted that commanders and kings used its services for secret communications during the Last War. Most people believe that House Sivis is absolutely dedicated to its work. And perhaps this is the case. Perhaps the War of the Mark is a single shameful moment in history, one that drove the House to a better place. Or perhaps they’ve simply gotten better at concealing their manipulations, and they simply haven’t left such obvious footprints with their subsequent actions. 

While House Cannith loves to take the spotlight, House Sivis has played a vital role in ensuring the prosperity of the Twelve. House Sivis has always sought ways to improve the fortunes of all Houses, and Sivis mediators are always working to resolve disputes between Houses and enclaves. House Sivis has also long sought to learn more about the Dragonmarks themselves. While it’s House Cannith that builds most focus items, Sivis sages play a crucial role in research and theoretical development. House Sivis is known for its constant internal intrigues, but it has been a solid, reliable partner to the other Houses in the Twelve… or so it seems. 

Looking to recent history, the most crucial date in the history of House Sivis is the 3rd of Olarune, 783 YK. This is the day that Tasker Torralyn d’Sivis tested the first pair of Speaking Stones, dramatically amplifying the range and speed of a Sivis heir’s Whispering Wind. Six years later, House Sivis opened its first message stations; some say that the world became a smaller place that year. In 998 YK Speaking Stones are an important part of everyday life, and the Sivis think tank known as Tasker’s Dream is working to find a way to do for Sending what Tasker did for Whispering Wind. 

House Sivis remained scrupulously neutral throughout the Last War. While Zilargo was a strong ally of Breland, there’s no evidence that House Sivis showed any special favor to the Bear. Most major fortifications of all nations maintained Sivis message stations, and Sivis Whisperers could accompany scouts, using Whispering Wind to send reports back to a command post. But Sivis leadership has no love of war and harbors no doubts that it will prosper in peacetime, and the House celebrated the signing of the Treaty of Thronehold. 

What Happens Next?  

House Sivis has always been a stable house that takes pride in the reliability and security of its services. Traditionally, it channels its love of intrigue into internal rivalries—but those rivalries are friendlier than those seen in House Cannith, and heirs are careful not to threaten the overall stability of the House with their schemes. But there’s always the possibility for adventure; here’s a few seeds to work with. 

  • The Rival. The heirs of House Sivis are always competing for titles and honors within the House. If an adventurer is part of the House, they should work with the DM to develop their nemesis—a Sivis heir they’ve been competing with since childhood. This rival doesn’t want to hurt the adventurer, but they want to embarrass them or to outshine them. Any meeting should be a duel of words and wits; who said it best? In addition, the DM could drop secondary goals into an adventure that are irrelevant to anyone except the heir. If the adventurers are exploring a Dhakaani ruin, the Sivis heir might know that there’s a standing bounty on any records of unknown Duur’kala songs. If the heir can find any songs, they’ll earn recognition in the House. But their rival also wants this honor! Might the rival show up in the ruin themselves? Will they try to steal whatever the adventurer finds? Or might they have even planted a fake song in the ruins that will embarrass the adventuring heir if they turn it in without noticing? An important element here is that however bitter it might get, this is still a friendly rivalry. Neither rival wants to actually hurt the other; if the rival was to die, the game would be over! 
  • Language is a Virus. Working with House Vadalis, a member of Tasker’s Dream manages to recreate the Volaaganti. Anyone stung by a Volaaganti has all of their known languages replaced by a single new language. When the Volaaganti breaks free from containment, chaos ensues. Adventurers arrive in a small town to find that all of the inhabitants are speaking an alien language; if there’s multiple strains of Volaaganti, there could be competing languages within the populace. Can the adventurers find a way to contain the Volaaganti? Can the effects of their venom be reversed? What happens if the adventurers themselves are stung by different Volaaganti and divided by language? 
  • The Bond. Tasker’s Dream pays one of the adventurers to field test a new form of Telepathic Bond—a version of the spell that should last for a week. The adventurer has a telepathic bond with a Sivis sage, who will provide commentary and advice over the course of an adventurer. Initially, this may be annoying or useful; the sage has expertise in History and Arcana and could provide helpful advice. The twist is that the sage is kidnapped by a Cult of the Dragon Below who intends to twist the Telepathic Bond, using it to spread Dyrrn’s corruption. The adventurers have to rescue the sage before it’s too late. But they have no idea where the cult is; to find it, they must decipher the clues the Sage can send through the bond. 
  • Here There Be Demons. Sivis cartographers are always eager to fill in blank spaces on their maps. Adventurers could be hired to explore a dangerous region Sivis has yet to fully explore—part of the Demon Wastes, the Watching Wood of Droaam, the Black Pit of Breland, or somewhere equally dangerous. Adventurers might have to defend a team of cartographers accompanying them into danger. On the other hand, Sivis could provide the adventurers with a scrying focus that allows the cartographers to study and record details of the adventurers’ surroundings without endangering the gnomes.
  • Dangerous Dreams. Occasionally, an heir of the Greater Mark of Scribing develops the ability to manipulate dreams. Tasker’s Dream has been trying to harness this gift—but something has gone terribly wrong. A dreaming heir is in a coma, and the sages are concerned that their dream is expanding—pulling other sleepers in and leaving them comatose as well. Is this the work of the Quori or a curious Night Hag, or is it the dreamer themselves who seeks to craft an empire in Dal Quor? Tasker’s Dream needs adventurers to utilize experimental magic that should allow them to enter the dreamer’s nightmare—but no one knows how death in the dream will affect them! 

That’s all for now. But this excerpt is only a third of the full article, which includes Sivis Customs, the Structure of the House, a look at all twelve of its founding families, and more! If you’d like to see the full article — as well as to take part in my live Q&As, the next of which is on December 27th—check out my Patreon!

Excerpt: House Ghallanda and the Mark of Hospitality

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A King’s Bounty with a pinch of vazilla, as always. But what’s wrong? I can see it in the slump of your shoulders, my friend; something’s weighing you down. Tell me your troubles. A burden shared is a load lifted. And if I can’t help you solve your problem… Perhaps I know someone who can.

House Jorasco possesses the Mark of Healing. Those who carry this Mark can cure disease and heal physical injuries. The gifts of House Ghallanda are subtler than that. Rather than healing existing afflictions, the Mark of Hospitality grants the ability to provide sustenance and comfort—to maintain health and happiness through times of hardship. Those who bear the Mark can provide food and shelter, and settle disputes before they result in violence. In its earliest days, House Ghallanda used the Mark of Hospitality to help travelers survive the many dangers of the Talenta Plains. Since then, the House has spread across Khorvaire. As innkeepers and bartenders, as bakers, brewers, and chefs, House Ghallanda continues to provide sustenance, shelter, and comfort for those in need. 

In many ways, House Ghallanda is the happiest Dragonmarked House. The majority of its heirs take real joy in the work that they do. A Ghallanda innkeeper takes pride in providing a sanctuary from the grim world beyond their walls. A Ghallanda chef hopes each meal they prepare will give someone a moment of joy. Yes, they charge for their services, because they have to in order to continue to provide them. But even as Ghallanda maintains casinos and luxurious resorts for the wealthy elite, it still continues to look out for those in need. The Wandering Inn is an ancient tradition, traveling across the Talenta Plains and helping travelers. There is no Wandering Inn in the Five Nations, but there are Wanderers. Some Ghallanda heirs know exactly what they want to do in life. They train in culinary arts or hostel management, going straight from their training to service in a thriving establishment, working their way up from within. But other heirs wish to see more of the world before they lay down roots. These heirs can choose the path of the Ghallan—the “Helpful Hound”—or as they are generally called, the Wanderers. Ghallans are charged to travel. They’re encouraged to make as many friends as possible, and to try as many types of food as possible—to learn recipes they might use in the future. But like the Wandering Inn, the primary charge of the Wanderer is to help those in need. This might mean giving goodberries to a starving family, offering a fugitive a temporary shelter in an extradimensional space, or stepping in to mediate a dispute before blood is shed. Wanderers aren’t expected to have an answer for every problem, or to be able to provide long-term support. But they strive to make a difference, to ease burdens and to help where they can. When a Wanderer does settle down, they bring those experiences with them. How is it that the bartender at The Dog & Biscuit knows Prince Oargev? I’ll tell you. It was a few years back, with the war still going then. It was raining cats and dogs… and I don’t mean that as a figure of speech. Lamannia was coterminous and we were in a manifest zone, and, well, I’ve never seen anything else like it. The Prince and I were traveling in the same Orien coach, him in the private chamber mind you, when a brace of falling wolfhounds just shatter the thing. We’re out in the open now, and it’s clear that we’re either going to be crushed by falling beasts or eaten by the ones already on the ground. So I raise my Tiny Hut and invite the prince and the coachman inside, and we spend the next hour eating morsels and playing cards. By the time the storm was over, well, I’d won a fine estate near Metrol and a friend for life. Too bad the manor was lost in the Mourning, but of course the Korth wouldn’t have let me keep it… 

The innate, ongoing gifts of the Mark of Hospitality include an intuitive bonus to using Cook’s Utensils and Brewer’s Supplies. As an heir carrying the Mark, you have an innate appreciation for flavor, as well as an instinctive sense for proper timing and ratios. The Mark also provides an intuitive bonus to Persuasion. This is less about active manipulation, and instead reflects the fact you’re inherently easy to like. People who carry the Mark of Hospitality have a disarming charm; it’s why it’s so easy to open up to the Ghallanda bartender. 

In playing a Ghallanda heir, consider the road you’re on. Most of your cousins know exactly what they want, and they’re willing to take the slow road to get there—cleaning tables, working as cooks, bellhops, or stewards until they eventually have the opportunity to own their own establishment. What is it you dream of? Do you want to own an inn? If so, do you already have a name for it? Are you always tracing out the floorplan or doodling ideas for the inn sign? Would you rather be a brewer or a chef, in which case you might be searching for the perfect flavor or some legendary ingredient? Are you a Ghallan Wanderer, always looking for a way you can lend a hand? Or are you finding your own path—not committed to any tradition or duty, just waiting to see where fortune takes you? Beyond this, consider where you’ve been and who you met along the way. Talk with the DM and ask if you have any interesting friends who might owe you a favor—or who might be expecting a favor from you!

THE MARK OF HEARTH AND HOME

The Mark of Hospitality has three aspects: Food, Shelter, and Soothing. The ability to provide nourishing food is a key aspect of the Mark of Hospitality. Anyone who bears the Mark has the ability to Purify Food and Drink. The greater gifts of the Mark allow heirs to produce food from thin air. When cast through the Mark, Goodberry is called Mighty Morsel; rather than producing berries, the spell creates ten pellets that provide the sequential flavors of a three course meal. Prayer of Healing is called Fortifying Feast: when cast using the Mark, the ten minute casting time involves conjuring a small meal which must be consumed by the beneficiaries. Ghallanda’s Hospitable Hall allows the caster to create a meal for up to thirty people! For all of these food related spells, the caster must make a Wisdom (Cook’s Utensils) check to determine the quality of the meal; 10 is acceptable, 15 is excellent, and 20 or higher is superb. When casting Create Food and Water the caster has disadvantage on this check; this food tends to be bland, and it takes an exceptional chef to imbue it with compelling flavor. 

Providing shelter is a second key aspect of the Mark of Hospitality. The Tiny Hut of the Lesser Mark conjures a simple physical shelter that endures for eight hours. It’s an excellent way to escape from unexpected bad weather. There’s a branch of the Hosteler’s Guild that specializes in what we would understand as Glamping—a Ghallanda guide takes you through an interesting stretch of wilderness, producing a Tiny Hut as a secure shelter for the night and preparing a fine meal. Rope Trick has a short duration that prevents it from being terribly useful as a commercial service, but it is the stepping stone toward the most iconic power of the Mark: Ghallanda’s Hospitable Hall. This allows an heir with the Greater Mark of Hospitality to open a portal to a small extradimensional space, with furnishings and decor drawn from the imagination of the heir. The 24 hour duration allows any heir with this power to run their own “pop-up” business. Aside from putting a roof over one’s head, the Mark of Hospitality also helps to secure that shelter. Any heir with the Mark of Making can cast Unseen Servant. This is said to draw off a fragment of the heir’s own spirit, calling on their own helpful nature to offer assistance. Heirs with the Lesser Mark can conjure a more palpable force: Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound, or as it’s called when cast in this way, Ghallan Guardian. This typically takes the shape of a spectral Blink Dog formed from the swirling lines of a dragonmark, though occasionally heirs manifest unique shapes for their guardian; Baron Yoren is known to summon a guardian Clawfoot raptor. A Ghallanda innkeeper may offer to cast a Guardian for a customer who seems to have a need for a little extra security for the night. The final gift is quite rare: the ability to cast Hallow, drawing on the power of the Mark to protect an area from malign forces. No heir can cast both Hallow and Ghallanda’s Hospitable Hall; even player characters must choose which of the two spells they have access to.  

The final aspect of the Mark of Hospitality is the ability to soothe others, helping people enjoy their food and shelter. At its simplest level, this is seen in the innate bonus to Persuasion granted by the Mark. Any experienced heir can extend this to cast Calm Emotions, which has brought an end to countless bar fights. Some heirs learn how to concentrate this effect, channeling this soothing energy into the ability to cast Sleep.  

What about Prestidigitation? Prestidigitation has always been associated with the Mark of Hospitality. It was one of the optional spells tied to the Mark in the original Eberron Campaign Setting book, and it was a gift of the Mark in Eberron Rising From The Last War. However, Forge of the Artificer has dropped it, instead allowing the bearer of the Mark to cast Calm Emotions. Prestidigitation is an extremely useful spell for an Innkeeper or chef: it allows them to heat, chill, or flavor food and drink, as well as to clean floors and dishes with a gesture. This article already imposes a number of changes to canon in the revised Spells of the Mark list, and I prefer not to change the traits as well. As a result, this article introduces the Innkeeper’s Gloves as a common focus item that allows a Ghallanda heir to cast Prestidigitation. The point being that almost every marked heir CAN cast Prestidigitation—they’re just doing it through a focus rather than through the unassisted Dragomark. 

Kanon vs Canon. My goal with these articles is to strengthen the story of the Dragonmark, ensuring that its abilities paint a consistent picture and support the services the House provides in the world. With the Mark of Hospitality, this has resulted in me changing four Spells of the Mark from those that will appear in Forge of the Artificer. 

  • At 2nd level, I’ve replaced Aid and Enhance Ability with Rope Trick and Prayer of Healing. I like Prayer of Healing because the ten minute casting time allows it to be presented as a form of Heroes Feast (which was originally granted by the 3.5 Greater Mark of Hospitality); the idea being that the heir actually prepares a meal that strengthens the party. This is more compelling to me than the random boost of Aid. Meanwhile, Rope Trick plays to the idea of providing shelter and foreshadows Ghallanda’s Hospitable Hall. 
  • At 4th level, I’ve replaced Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum with Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound. This was a difficult decision; Ghallanda inns would benefit from being shielded by Private Sanctum. But Private Sanctum is a spell that becomes permanent if cast enough times, which means that if Ghallanda had it, people would be paying them to cast it for them. Nobles would want Private Sanctums in their homes. And for that reason, I feel that Private Sanctum should be a gift of the Mark of Warding, not the Mark of Hospitality. KUNDARAK is the house you’re supposed to be paying for magical security, not Ghallanda. Furthermore, Private Sanctum primarily protects against Divination and Teleportation, which again feels more like WARDING. By contrast, the Mark of Hospitality already has the ability to cast Unseen Servant. Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound is essentially a strengthening of that existing spell; it fits the Blink Dog iconography of the House; and having an Innkeeper put a dog at your door for the night feels appropriate without stepping on the toes of Kundarak. 
  • At 5th level, I’ve added the option of Ghallanda’s Hospitable Hall. Hallow is a powerful spell, but it’s very limited in its use; it has a 24 hour casting time and a 1,000 gp casting cost; it’s not something an adventurer can use on a regular basis. Beyond this: Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion was one of the original options for the Greater Mark of Hospitality in the 3.5 Eberron Campaign Setting, and for me it’s always been part of the flavor of House Ghallanda. Part of the point of the Wandering Inn is that you have mansions inside wagons. With the current structure it’s awkward to give a Dragonmark the ability to cast a 7th level spell; so I’ve created Hospitable Hall as a slightly weaker version of Magnificent Mansion. Note that this is a spell that is only supposed to be available to characters with the Mark of Hospitality—emphasized by making the Mark a component of the spell. For most people, this is still a 7th level effect. 

As always, using kanon content is something that requires DM approval. This is how I use the Mark of Hospitality in MY campaign, but other DMs may prefer to rely on canon material. 

Focus Items

Ghallanda heirs employ the common focus items presented in Exploring Eberron—Dragonmark Channels, Dragonmark Reservoirs, and Channeling Rods. Exploring Eberron also introduces the Ghallanda Cauldron (which reduces the time required to prepare a meal) and the Manor Key, which preserves the 3.5 tradition of Ghallanda Magnificent Mansions. Exploring Eberron also highlights the idea that existing magic items can be reflavored as focus items, calling out the Ghallan Jug as a form of Alchemy Jug that draws on the Mark of Hospitality. In addition to these, here’s a few new focus items to play with. 

Bag of Bounty

Wondrous Item, Uncommon 

This leather bag has three charges. A creature with the Mark of Hospitality can take a Magic Action to open the bag and cast Create Food and Water, expending one charge in the process. When using the Bag, a creature can make a Wisdom (Cook’s Utensils) check to determine the quality of the food; they don’t suffer the disadvantage that normally applies when casting Create Food and Water with the Mark of Hospitality. The Bag of Bounty recovers 1d3 charges at dawn. 

Hosteler’s Anchor 

Wondrous Item, Uncommon (requires attunement by a creature with the Mark of Hospitality) 

The Hosteler’s Anchor is a stone brick engraved with the Mark of Hospitality. If the anchor is placed in an extradimensional space created by the creature attuned to Anchor—such as a Magnificent Mansion, Hospitable Hall, or Rope Trick—it can help maintain the space in the absence of the caster. When the duration of the spell expires, the caster can immediately refresh the spell through the Anchor. This requires the creator to expend the appropriate spell slot or charge from a magic item, but it requires no action on the part of the creator. The creator can even set this effect to occur even if the creator is unconscious, although they must have the appropriate spell slot or item charge available to be spent. A creature who possesses both a Hosteler’s Anchor and a Manor Key can attune to both items using a single attunement slot. 

Innkeeper’s Gloves

Wondrous Item, Common 

If you possess the Mark of Hospitality, you may use a Magic Action to cast Prestidigitation while wearing these gloves. 

THE HISTORY OF HOUSE GHALLANDA

There are many ways to die on the Talenta Plains. The easiest is to stand still, to wait for malign spirits and hungry ghosts to find you. But even those who stay in motion face many dangers. Sometimes there’s no shelter to be found when predators prowl or when strange storms are brewing. Sometimes mischievous fey or malevolent fiends steal food or spoil it, condemning travelers to misery and death. The Talenta tell countless tales of those who have fallen on their journeys, warning the young of the dangers that lie ahead of them. Even in these grim tales, there’s always hope. There are hidden oases and helpful allies. Ustukata is the inner spirit that lifts the tired foot, a possessing spirit that animates those too exhausted to carry on and drives them on until they reach safety. Ghallanda is the helpful hound that appears where needed the most, the blink dog who appears with food for starving travelers and guides those who have lost their way. In one tale, a wanderer named Kullikora is caught in a blood storm with her family and friends. Their supplies are ruined and they’re driven off the path of safety. The travelers know that when the storms come again, it will consume their spirits and leave their dancing bones behind—and even if they could find shelter, they would soon starve. Kullikora wanders away from the group and begs the spirits to show mercy to those she loves, offering herself as a sacrifice in exchange for their safety. Ghallanda appears before her, and leads her to a door in the side of a mound of sand. On the other side of the door, Kullikora finds a vast billowing tent filled with soft cushions and piled high with food and drink. She leads her family to this sanctuary and they rejoice, but there is still concern. They have shelter tonight, but they are far from the safe paths; what will happen tomorrow? Ghallanda tells her you didn’t FIND this sanctuary, Kulli. You created it from the love in your heart. You carry it with you, and you can open the door whenever you wish. But you said you would lay down your life for others, and I will hold you to that. You carry the sanctuary within, but you must open that door to those in need. Continue on. Wander where you will. But help those in need, for you are the shelter from the storm. 

The tale of Kullikora is the oldest known reference to the Mark of Hospitality, and while it’s impossible to date it precisely, the scholars of the Twelve believe it is the oldest reference to any Dragonmark. Canonically the Mark of Hospitality first manifested around 3,200 years ago, just before the Marks of Shadow and Death appeared in Aerenal. It’s said that Kullikora wandered the Plains helping those in need, and as she did so she met other halflings who had also been blessed in moments of dire need. Together they established a caravan that would be a mobile sanctuary—the foundation of what’s now known as the Wandering Inn. As their numbers grew, these wanderers named themselves the Ghallandala, the Tribe of the Helpful Hound. 

Tradition is important in the Talenta Plains; following the paths laid out by the ancestors is the key to survival. For centuries the Ghallandala followed in the footsteps of Kullikora. In addition to aiding those in dire need, the Ghallandala found ways to ease the burdens of every traveler. Someone didn’t need to be starving to enjoy a conjured feast, and the Hospitable Halls of the Ghallandala offered a wondrous respite to any weary traveler. They would host celebrations for heroes, and provide food and drink for gatherings of the tribes. The Ghallandala expected compensation for this, and this laid the groundwork for the House as it operates today; the Wanderers and the Wandering Inn perform acts of charity, but innkeepers and tavernmasters are paid for their services. 

The Plains are vast and dangerous, and when humanity spread across Khorvaire most shunned this haunted land. But over the course of centuries, some folk did plumb the mysteries of the Plains. There were Zil explorers, Karrnathi soldiers, would-be settlers from Metrol and more. None stayed in the Plains for long, but they delved deep enough to encounter trouble… and some of them, to be offered respite by the Wandering Inn. Stories of the helpful halflings spread, and the sages of House Sivis took note. The Severin-Harn Expedition was a joint operation of House Cannith and House Sivis, charged to investigate tales of ancient ruins, strange magics, and possible Dragonmarks in the Talenta Plains. Severin-Harn found everything it was looking for, and it was lucky for them that they did; without the assistance of Ghallanda and Jorasco, the explorers would have died a dozen times over. In the wake of this expedition, envoys of the Twelve met with the leaders of Ghallanda and Jorasco in Gatherhold. While some of the Ghallandala resisted the idea of joining these outsiders and expanding into the world beyond, many embraced it. The elder Gray Gavaral said “When these outsiders came to the Plains, they didn’t know the paths and they walked into danger; if not for my kin, they would have died painful, miserable unpleasant deaths, save for those who lingered, praying for death’s release. One lesson to take from this is to stay in our Plains and never leave, for here we know the paths to walk. But some day there could come a time when we had to leave, and on that day we would have no guides. These outsiders are our Helpful Hound, here to show us the path. Let us find our way in the world beyond. Surely there are travelers on the roads beyond our Plains; surely they have need of our gifts.” With the help of House Sivis and the Twelve, the Ghallandala became House Ghallanda. It took time for the halflings to become comfortable in enclaves, and to learn to love inns that stayed in one place instead of wandering. And so they spread and prospered. 

Taken as a whole, House Ghallanda is one of the most benevolent Dragonmarked Houses. Most of its heirs love what they do. The typical Ghallanda bartender isn’t trying to compel you to share your secrets to add to their stockpile of data; they truly do want to help lighten your load. Most Ghallanda like mediating disputes and making their customers happy. At the same time, most won’t ignore their own self-interest. A Ghallada bartender may happily do you a favor; but a time may come when they’ll ask a favor in return. They aren’t trying to steal your secrets, but they won’t forget what you share. And while the Wanderers offer charity to those in need, heirs tied to traditional businesses are expected to do what they need to do to ensure that those businesses prosper. With that said, Ghallanda is a case where the monopoly of the house is largely self-enforcing. House Ghallanda doesn’t seek to sabotage independent restaurants, inns, or taverns. They have gained a degree of monopolistic power because of three things. The first is the quality and reliability of the services they provide. The Hosteler’s Guild has a team of inspectors who travel across Khorvaire ensuring that every business that carries the Ghallanda seal maintains its standards of health and quality. Over the course of centuries, people have come to rely on that Ghallanda seal. The second thing Ghallanda offers is familiarity. While there are countless unique inns and taverns, everyone knows the Gold Dragon Inn and many travelers want the security of that familiarity when they arrive in a new place. So quality and familiarity have helped Ghallanda succeed. The final piece of the puzzle is the simple fact that people like the Ghallanda… and as a whole, the House has earned that trust. 

When people think of Dragonmarked Houses on the fields of the Last War, they typically imagine Deneith soldiers, Jorasco healers, and Cannith magewrights operating arcane artillery. However, House Ghallanda has always had a military role. The quartermasters of the Dragontail Guild have long supported House Deneith and the army of Galifar. The standard Ghallanda quartermaster deals with logistics, supplies, and food for their unit, with the added benefit of being able to supplement shortages with a Bag of Bounty and the power of their Dragonmark. But the most prized quartermasters are those who possess the Greater Mark of Hospitality or a Manor Key—and thus, who can provide a Hospitable Hall or Magnificent Mansion for their unit. The Twelve would often assign a Greater Quartermaster when a large force of noncombatant Dragonmarked heirs were assigned to a dangerous area. When threatened, the heirs would retreat into the Hall until the danger passed. But Greater Quartermasters were in high demand by all of the Five Nations. With Ghallanda’s Hospitable Hall an heir can provide food and shelter for up to 30 soldiers, and when the door to the Hall is closed it is imperceptible—making it an incredible boon for a small force operating behind enemy lines. On an ongoing front, a Hospitable Hall is an excellent shelter for an army’s commanders to plan their strategies, especially as the Hall provides absolute protection from any sort of bombardment. At its height, the Dragontail Guild had over two hundred Greater Quartermasters in the field. This work was something done out of a sense of duty to the house. Most Greater Quartermasters would rather run a pop-up inn or tavern than serve as a portable garrison, and at the moment the Dragontail Guild only has thirty Greater Quartermasters on staff; the rest are out in the world pursuing their dreams and praying that the peace will last. 

Ghallanda Sanctuaries

During the War of Unification, a Ghallanda quartermaster named Kalaba Fullbarrel saved Galifar Wynarn from a deadly ambush. While sheltering in the extradimensional space, Kalaba discussed the principles of the house with the King. When his kingdom was established, Galifar I made an amendment to the Korth Edicts, ruling that the enclaves of House Ghallanda were to be treated as sovereign nations. Ghallanda owns the land upon which its enclaves sit; it can maintain a military force—the Hearth Guard—to defend its enclaves; and those within a Ghallanda enclave are beyond the legal reach of any nation or House. Just as the Sentinel Marshals have retained the right to enforce the law across all nations, House Ghallanda has retained the sanctuary status of its enclaves to the present day. Ghallanda enclaves have long served as neutral ground where enemies could negotiate face to face, and as well as offering sanctuary to all manner of people; a Sentinel Marshal famously observed that Ghallanda Hall in Sharn holds “more fugitives, scoundrels, and mysterious strangers per square foot than anywhere else in Khorvaire.” 

House Ghallanda takes pride in providing sanctuary to those in need. Adventurers may take advantage of this protection, or they may run up against it when an enemy takes shelter in an enclave. There’s a few principles to keep in mind. Keep in mind that these things only apply to Ghallanda enclaves, not to every Ghallanda business! The Gold Dragon Inn isn’t a sanctuary. 

  • Ghallanda enclaves are protected by the effects of Hallow. This has the secondary effect that no creature can enter or exit an enclave using teleportation or interplanar travel.
  • Each enclave houses a garrison of the Hearth Guard, charged to defend the enclave from outside threats and to maintain order within it.  
  • House Ghallanda isn’t obligated to provide sanctuary. An enclave only has room for a limited number of guests, and it’s up to the master of the enclave to decide who will get the beds. This can be revoked at any time, at which point the Hearth Guard will escort the ex-guest from the premises. A guest’s privileges are lost every time they leave the enclave and will be reevaluated upon their return, so it’s unwise to dart in and out. 
  • Any act of violence or theft  will result in a guest being expelled from the enclave. In some cases, a guest can be expelled even for engaging in violence in self defense, especially if their actions endanger others. 
  • Sanctuary isn’t free. The base cost of room and board at a Ghallanda enclave is 5 gp/night. This can be adjusted by the master of the enclave as they see fit, either lowered if the master is sympathetic to the guest’s circumstances or raised if the guest is deemed to be a particular burden. In some cases House masters have been known to bargain with guests, promising ongoing shelter in exchange for some sort of service. Notably, a master might engage the services of a group of investigators to assist a current guest, to investigate a guest, or potentially to convince a guest to leave if such a task is beyond the capabilities of the Hearth Guard. 

What Happens Next?  

House Ghallanda isn’t as hungry for profits and expansion as most of the other Houses. House leadership strives to ensure the security of Ghallanda’s heirs and to continue the charitable work of the Wanderers. However, there are Ghallanda heirs working with the Twelve in the hopes of doing more for the world… whether helping the hungry or finding ways to spread a little joy. But even the best intentioned experiment can go terribly awry!

  • The Lost Mansions. House Ghallanda records suggest that there were at least twenty Hospitable Halls and Magnificent Mansions equipped with Hosteler’s Anchors in Cyre on the Day of Mourning. It’s possible these mansions and their creators were destroyed by the Mourning. But it’s also possible that they are still active. Perhaps the people inside are afraid to venture into the dangerous world beyond… or perhaps the door to the demiplane is sealed and can’t be opened, and the inhabitants have been trapped since the Day of Mourning. A team of researchers from the Twelve have created an experimental orb that should be able to locate and open sealed hall doors, but they need a team to go to the Mournland and find these lost mansions. Of course, it’s possible one of them has become a Living Magnificent Mansion, and now prowls the Mournland looking for victims to draw into its luxurious depths!    
  • Breaking Sanctuary. The adventurers are hired to extract an Aurum Concordian from a Ghallanda enclave. Brute force isn’t the answer, so what will they do? Can they find leverage that will convince the target to leave of their own volition? Find a way to trick them, or to deceive the Hearth Guard? What happens if they discover that the target is a decent person—and that their employer is a ruthless criminal who wants to kill the target?
  • Feed me! The adventurers have been invited to Green Three, an isolated research facility where House Cannith, House Ghallanda, and House Vadalis are working with Conjure Food and Water, Plant Growth, and other techniques to try to create an inexhaustible food supply. The adventurers are supposed to be participating in a taste test, but when something goes terribly wrong, they must defend Green Three from the rampaging meals! The cake may be a lie, but the pudding will kill you…
  • The Suite Life. An unusual start to a campaign is to have all of the player characters be people who are claiming sanctuary in a Ghallanda enclave. Why are they trapped inside? Are they political renegades? Reformed criminals targeted by ruthless rivals? Innocent people framed for crimes they didn’t commit? Dragonmarked heirs hiding from in-house feuds? Whatever the reason, all of the adventurers are trapped in a hotel. Can they spot and expose the spies and assassins pursuing them? How will they deal with their brutal enemies who are also guests of the enclave? What would it take for them to be able to leave again? Consider John Wick 2 and A Gentleman in Moscow for inspiration.
  • To Serve Galifar. The adventurers are tasked to recover a tome from Sora Katra’s library in the Great Crag of Droaam. It’s… a cookbook! Is it the secret recipe for grist? Is it culinary secrets from the Age of Demons? There’s only one way to find out!  
  • The Haunted Hall. House Ghallanda has been working with House Phiarlan on a new endeavor—Ghallanda’s Haunted Hall! Combining the flexibility of Hospitable Hall with Phiarlan illusion, this is supposed to be a pop up entertainment that provides spooky delights to anyone who dares to pass through. But something’s gone terribly wrong. The Hall is actually haunted, and the creator can’t shut it down! Is it Thuranni sabotage? Was it opened in an unknown manifest zone? It’s up to the adventurers to venture into this very haunted house and find a way to shut it down! 

That’s all for now. But this excerpt is only a third of the full article, which includes Ghallanda Customs, the Structure of the House, a deep dive into its most prominent enclaves, maps, recipes, and more! If you’d like to see the full article — as well as to take part in my monthly Q&As—check out my Patreon!

Excerpt: House Cannith and the Mark of Making

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A smith's anvil with a Gorgon's head displayed on the side
The seal of the Fabricator’s Guild, by Matthew Johnson

The coldfire lantern hanging from the ceiling? That flickering’s due to a poorly etched sigil. Give me five minutes and a crown’s worth of residuum and I could have it steady and brighter. There’s a crack in the cleansing stone, and if it continues another inch it’s going to start soiling instead of cleansing. But that’s not the worst of it. In my mind I can see a better design. I could make a cleansing stone that’s half the size, using half the shards, that would make colors even brighter. I can see it. I could make it. I know I could. I just don’t have the time.  

The Mark of Making provides an intuitive bonus to any ability check made using Artisan’s Tools. This isn’t Proficiency, though it stacks with it; it’s an intuitive understanding of tools. Weaving, painting, baking, smithing—you instinctively know how to make things. This guidance goes beyond the mundane. The Mark of Making provides the same intuitive bonus to any Intelligence (Arcana) check, and anyone who carries the Mark has the ability to cast Magic Weapon once per day. Magic comes naturally to you, and one of the first things you learned to do was to weave it into wood and steel. So when you look at a weapon, you know you could improve it. When you see a broken object, you know you could mend it. And if you had the tools and the time, you know that you could make something better.

For some Cannith heirs, this knowledge becomes an obsession. They can’t pass by a broken object without Mending it. Others may seem socially awkward or absent minded, because the designs they’re working through in their minds are always more interesting than the conversations around them. But for most Cannith heirs it’s a background detail and a point of pride. They are confident in their skill, and find it soothing to create things; Cannith heirs often have some project they’re working on, something small that keeps their hands busy. But they don’t have to work on it at all times; they can set it aside to focus on the needs of the moment. 

House Cannith has long been seen as the most powerful Dragonmarked House and the heart of the Twelve. In part, this is due to the commercial success and wealth of the house. Cannith goods have long been part of everyday life across the Five Nations, from the Everbright Lanterns that light the streets to the coaches that drive along them. Cannith supplied the armies that fought in the Last War, producing arcane artillery, armor and weaponry for soldiers, and with the warforged, soldiers themselves.  But beyond that, many Houses rely on Cannith for the tools that are integral for their success. The Lightning Rail, Elemental Airships, Speaking Stones—all of these were designed with the assistance of Cannith artificers and produced in Cannith factories. This in turn has nurtured a cultural arrogance within the House itself; Cannith heirs consider themselves the equals of any noble, seeing their House as the greatest power in Khorvaire. At least they did until the Mourning. The loss of Eston and of the Patriarch Starrin d’Cannith has sown the seeds of chaos. Almost every heir supports one of the three leading candidates to replace Starrin, and no compromise has emerged in the last four years. The divided House was unable to block the edict in the Treaty of Thronehold that shut down the creation forges, further weakening House Cannith. The House continues to move forward, sustained by its infrastructure and its momentum, but pressure is building. If the House can’t mend itself and unite behind a single leader, it could soon splinter into three. 

THE MARK OF MAKING

The most basic gift of the Mark of Making is Mending—the ability to repair things that have been broken. While the most obvious manifestation of this cantrip is repairing a break or tear, in my campaign I also allow it to undo other sorts of minor damage: smoothing out dents, restoring burnt cloth or leather, lubricating rusted metal, and similar minor transformations. Cannith Tools amplify these gifts in small and sustainable ways, while the Spells of the Mark allow a Cannith Heir to perform instant, dramatic effects. Some say the Mark of Making draws on Onatar’s Forge while others claim it’s tied to the Fires of Fernia. Whatever the truth, a Dragonmarked heir can instantly Heat Metal or Grease a surface. Fabricate allows an heir to visualize a creation and use the Mark to impose their vision upon raw materials; while the ultimate power of Creation manifests matter from pure arcane essence to make the vision real. This is also the basis for the dramatic Conjure Barrage, which allows a Cannith heir to temporarily create a swarm of weaponry. 

Summon Construct lies between Fabricate and Construction. While the spell normally requires “a lockbox worth 400 gp” as a nonconsumable material component, when cast with the Mark of Making the caster instead needs to be holding a set of Artisan’s Tools with which they are proficient. While no materials other than the tools are required to cast the spell, Canith heirs usually draw on raw materials in the area and fill in the gaps with manifested matter; the final appearance of the construct depends on the materials used and the imagination of the heir. Many younger heirs manifest constructs similar in appearance to warforged, because they are used to working with warforged; but others could create animated armor, metal insects, or even clockwork beasts. When the spell expires, the manifested matter dissipates and the construct collapses back into raw components. Regardless of the materials used to create the construct, when it is summoned the caster decides whether it possesses the Heated Body, Stone Lethargy, or Berserk Lashing trait.

An heir capable of casting Spells of the Mark can cast Identify as a ritual. Here again, the heir needs to have a set of Artisan’s Tools they’re proficient in rather than the traditional pearl component; when casting Identify, the heir is essentially running a series of tests on the object they are studying. Meanwhile, Magic Weapon is a fundamental power of the Mark that any heir can cast—while those with access to Spells of the Mark can master the more powerful Elemental Weapon. 

Kanon vs Canon. Three of the spells on the list above are marked with asterisks, and that’s because they vary from what’s presented in Forge of the Artificer. In the original Eberron Campaign Setting, two of the Mark of Making’s spells were taken up with Repair Damage; Mending was a full spell rather than a cantrip; and Creation was split into two spells. So in translating the Mark of Making to 5th Edition, there’s a lot of space to fill… but I don’t love the choices made in canon. I associate Cannith with metal, so using the Mark to lubricate and heat metal makes sense to me—more sense than Floating Disk and Spiritual Weapon, both of which are more about projection of force and levitation. At 4th level, I prefer Summon Construct to Stone Shape. I don’t feel like stone is something we’ve called out as playing a major role in Cannith, while constructs have been part of its story since the first Gorgon!

ARCANE FORGES AND CREATION PATTERNS

The most iconic tool of House Cannith is the Creation Forge used to create the Warforged. These eldritch machines draw on the full potential of the Mark of Making, working with the principles of Creation and Fabricate to manufacture construct bodies and draw the spark of life into them. The Treaty of Thronehold demanded that House Cannith shut down its Creation Forges and cease the production of Warforged, and the House appears to have done so. But the Creation Forges are just one of the many arcane tools House Cannith employs to streamline its production process. Arcane forges are stationary tools that amplify the powers of the Mark of Making. The standard arcane forge can only be operated by someone with the Greater or Lesser Mark of Making—which is to say, someone who can cast Fabricate as a Spell of the Mark. Arcane forges are limited in a number of ways. 

  • A forge requires a Schema, which is a blueprint for a particular object. The forge has to be attuned to the Schema, which takes time; so on a typical day, an arcane forge is only producing a specific thing. 
  • Most arcane forges are specialized tools that can only work with a particular type of material—metal, wood, stone. 
  • Likewise, most arcane forges are limited in the size and complexity of object they can fabricate.
  • An arcane forge requires a small amount of residuum (refined eberron dragonshards) to operate. This is a minor cost that’s far outweighed by the speed and efficiency of the forge, but it is a requirement nonetheless. In the past, this has been a limitation on how many forges the house could operate. The rise of House Tharashk ensured a steady flow of dragonshards, which has allowed Cannith to expand its use of arcane forges.  

A Grand Forge provides access to the full scope of Fabricate, allowing an heir to, for example, produce a fully formed longsword from the raw materials presented. However, the more common Base Forge is typically used to produce components which are then assembled by workers on a line. It dramatically speeds production and helps to ensure uniformity of product, but it’s still a process that requires a significant amount of human labor. Whether using a Base Forge to produce simple elements or a Grand Forge to produce finished goods, the heir operating the forge is required to be proficient in the type of tool that would normally be used and to make a check to ensure the quality of the product. In essence, the heir walks through the process of production in their mind and the forge uses the Mark of Making to make it real. While the operator has to have the ability to cast Fabricate through their Mark, they don’t actually cast the spell when using a forge; like a Sivis heir operating a Speaking Stone, it’s something that they can repeat indefinitely—provided they have rare materials and residuum.

Arcane Forges are a form of Eldritch Machine. They’re large, stationary objects tied to a specific f. However, Cannith has smaller tools that help them accelerate production. Creation Patterns are metal rods or tablets engraved with arcane sigils. A Creation Pattern holds the imprint of a particular magical device. This reduces the time and cost to create the item embedded in the Pattern by 33%, provided the artisan has the Mark of Making and has access to the Pattern throughout the creation process.  

FOCUS ITEMS

House Cannith is the primary source of Dragonmark Focus Items in Khorvaire. Cannith heirs regularly make use of Dragonmark Channels, Dragonmark Reservoirs, and Channeling Rods. Exploring Eberron calls out that House Cannith can produce objects that duplicate effects of existing magic items but with the additional requirement of having the Mark of Making to use them. A few examples of these…

  • Onatar’s Gift has the powers of an All-Purpose Tool. A +1 Onatar’s Gift is standard issue for any capable Cannith Artificer, and is generally shortened to Ony—as in, “You got your Ony?”
  • Cannith’s Marvelous Miniatures are identical in effect to Quaal’s Feather Tokens, but they appear to be small metal objects in the shape of the token effect (Anchor, Bird, Fan)
  • Talin’s Compact Constructs duplicate the effects of Figurines of Wondrous Power, but they appear to be articulated metal models rather than statuettes; they expand in size when activated. 
  • Merrix’s Instant Fortress works like Daern’s Instant Fortress; the Cannith model was created by the same artificer who developed the Warforged Titan (the grandfather of the current Merrix d’Cannith).
  • The Apparatus of Cannith is similar in effect to the Apparatus of Kwalish. Cannith developed the Apparatus over the course of the last decade as a potential submersible for use in the Last War, but has been unable to produce a version that doesn’t require the use of the Mark of Making. 

The idea is that all of these items are drawing on the power of the Mark of Making. In the case of the Compact Constructs, Instant Fortress, and Onatar’s Gift, the item literally builds itself when activated, using the principles of Creation to fabricate temporary matter. In the case of the Apparatus, the idea is that the heir has to use the power of the Mark of Making to keep the Apparatus stable and functioning. I might allow a player character Artificer (especially a Battle Smith) to operate an Apparatus of Cannith, with the idea that they can use their own remarkable skills to hold things together. So in choosing Focus Items for Cannith, look in particular for things that are used to create objects or that could be depicted as creating themselves. The Rod of Lordly Might is another example of this, with the idea that the Rod constructs and deconstructs the various weapon forms it can take. 

The silhouette of a gorgon's head above a crossed wand and smith's hammer.
The seal of the Tinker’s Guild, by Matthew Johnson.

THE HISTORY OF HOUSE CANNITH

Cyre was said to be the heart of Galifar, and with good reason. The central region of Khorvaire is blessed with a blend of fertile soil, abundant resources, and beneficial manifest zones. When humanity spread across Khorvaire, the Metrol League was quick to prosper. Initially a single city, the League expanded to include the city-states of Metrol, Eston, and Tolan. The Mark of Making appeared approximately 2,500 years ago, appearing in three families. The Harns of Tolan traced their roots to Nulakesh in Sarlona, and had established a reputation as armorers and weaponsmiths; the first marked heir, Costa Harn, forged a set of magic swords that would feature in countless legends and tales in the centuries to come. The Vowns of Eston were Pyrinean. Eliasa Vown declared her Dragonmark to be a blessing from Onatar, and she crafted reliquaries and Octograms charged with mystic power. The Jurans were wanderers with Rhiavhaaran roots. They traveled the roads between the great cities, carrying goods and news and using their skills to repair broken things. Ellos Juran gained renown for his ability not just to fix broken things, but to transform wood and steel into finished goods. Each family prospered in their own way; the most dramatic moment came in the following century when the heirs of Costa Harn led a coup in Tolan and seized control of the city. They placated the other leaders of the Metrol League by promising a tribute of Harn weaponry. They shifted the city itself to support their vision, fortifying it and building up its foundries and its forges; it was Castela Harn who changed the name of the city to Making as a celebration of her family’s skills.  

The reputation of the Making families grew over the course of decades, as their goods spread out to distant markets; the warlords of Karrlakton and Korth prized weapons forged in Making. It was Dedra Vown who engineered the alliance of the Making families. A charismatic woman with a grand vision, Dedra wooed the Jurans and Harns with stories of the marvels they could create if they pooled their resources and diverse talents—not to mention the economic advantages to building a regional monopoly. Cannith was the name of a legendary shrine of Onatar in Sarlona, and Dedra convinced the others to join together as the House of Cannith. Castal Harn and Dedra Vown were wed, and it was said at their time that they gave birth to a Gorgon, as this was the first joint product they unveiled. As centuries passed, the House of Cannith prospered. They developed the first Arcane Forges, which were initially used primarily to refine ore—turning raw iron into ingots of fine steel. They developed the earliest form of Magecraft. As the house extended its reach across Khorvaire, they eagerly sought out new arcane techniques and tools, sending adventurers into ancient ruins and adapting any innovations they found in other cities (as they would one day use Desa Cane’s Truelight Lamp as the model for Cannith’s Everbright Lantern). One of the most remarkable forces they encountered were the Edoros of Thaliost, a family of innovative alchemists. Though the Edoros didn’t carry the Mark of Making, their skills and techniques were so valuable to the House that it slowly absorbed the entire family. Today the Edoro are considered one of the founding families of House Cannith, and the Mark of Making is firmly rooted in their lines. 

House Sivis and House Cannith both claim credit for the early unification of the Dragonmarked Houses. Cannith accounts say that the Vowns considered the Dragonmarks to be blessings of the Sovereigns and thus thought it logical to bring them together—not to mention profitable—inspiring others with their own structure and organization. Whoever laid the bricks, it was the War of the Mark that served as the mortar, laying the foundation of the Houses as we know them today. As the Houses initially spread, it was natural for them to forge alliances through marriage. The Harn line of House Deneith is one of the few concrete relics of this time, reflecting strong ties between the weaponsmiths of Metrol and the warlords of the north. This blending of bloodlines produced a wave of Aberrant Dragonmarks. It took generations for people to truly recognize the impact of this—critically, that someone who manifested a “mixed mark” lost all connection to the Dragonmarks of their parents and couldn’t pass either Mark to their own children. While this was a general concern to all of the Dragonmarked families, the Vown in particular saw it as an act of blasphemy. If the Dragonmarks were gifts of the Sovereigns, and crossing the lines both produced an unpredictable, dangerous Mark and stripped the bearer of their former connection to the Sovereigns—how could this be anything but the work of the Shadow? While the Vowns were driven by religious fervor, the Lyrrimans of House Sivis recognized the power of a manufactured enemy to bring people together and willingly embraced and amplified the Vown message. This was the beginning of the War of the Mark. Sivis and Phiarlan propagandists worked together to spread terrifying tales of Aberrant Dragonmarks, some based in truth and others entirely false. As Deneith troops armed with Cannith weapons pursued Aberrants across the land, most people believed that the Dragonmarked forces were heroes defending them from a deadly threat. The War of the Mark showed what the Houses could accomplish when they worked together, and the leaders of the houses weren’t about to let that go. Hadran Vown Cannith and Alysse Lyrriman Sivis forged the proposal for a permanent alliance between the Dragonmarked Houses—though it was the architect Alder Juran who pushed to have that alliance named The Twelve. 

The next great shift came with the rise of Galifar Wynarn of Karrnath. House Deneith strongly supported Galifar’s ambitions, believing he would succeed where Karrn the Conqueror failed. Deneith arranged negotiations between Galifar and the Twelve, and pushed the other Houses to accept the terms of the Korth Edicts. This placed significant limits on the political and military power of the Houses, but promised them vast economic influence. House Cannith was severely impacted by this, as the Harns were the Lords of Making and the House had vast holdings in Eston. But while the House would have to give up its absolute claim, Galifar promised they would retain their enclaves and forgeholds. This was accomplished in part by Galifar’s dismantling of the nobility of Metrol, a more severe restructuring than took place in any of the other Five Nations; Galifar built his new nation of Cyre around the pillars of House Cannith. 

House Cannith prospered during the golden age of Galifar, helping to support the expanding infrastructure of the united kingdom. Cannith steel and the Flying Buttresses supported the great towers of Sharn. New enclaves and forgeholds were established throughout the Five Nations; while Making continued to thrive, the House shifted much of its heavy industry to Breland. While the House made a slow and steady profit, this period also saw it splinter into what Baron Starrin d’Vown once described as “The hundred kingdoms of Cannith.” Viceroys and ministers built their own tiny empires, diverting funds for their personal projects. Rivalries escalated between forgeholds. This was never so severe as to threaten a true splitting of the House itself, and some of the Barons even encouraged these little wars; overall, House Cannith continued to grow and prosper. But it’s a key aspect of Cannith’s culture that can be seen throughout the Last War and in the present day. A strong Baron could hold the House together and force it to move in a single direction—but the Cannith Seneschals were always looking out for their own projects and interests. 

As centuries passed, Cannith helped construct the Orien trade roads and spread everbright lanterns throughout the kingdom. Speaking Stones, Elemental Galleons, the Lightning Rail—these were remarkable innovations that transformed daily life. And yet, these advances occurred slowly. Cannith and Galifar both grew at a careful, steady pace. It was King Jarot ir’Wynarn who shifted this tempo. Some say Jarot was shaken by the events of the Silver Crusade, or even by reflection on the Year of Blood and Fire that had rocked Thrane centuries earlier. By some accounts, Jarot feared armies rising up from Khyber; others claim he was certain that the forces of Riedra were preparing to invade. Whatever nightmares drove him, King Jarot demanded that the Twelve provide him with weapons. Not just arms and armor for common soldiers; Jarot urged Cannith to devise new forms of arcane artillery and to “Change the face of war.” Across Khorvaire, forgeholds devoted to civilian goods shifted to produce tools of war. Soon the hundred kingdoms of Cannith were competing, each seeking to shine. Hungry for inspiration, Cannith Viceroys launched a new series of expeditions to search for forgotten secrets; Cannith teams traveled to Xen’drik, explored Dhakaani ruins, and even made their way into the Demon Wastes. 

Cannith’s achievements over the course of the Last War are too numerous to list here. With each decade, they improved the design of their Siege Staffs, Long Rods, and Blast Disks. The development of the Warforged forever changed life in Khorvaire; what began with the semi-sentient Warforged Titan ended with the terrifying Warforged Colossus. Throughout the course of the war, the competition within the house continued, with each Viceroy vying for resources, each determined to make the next stunning breakthrough. Of course, Cannith didn’t want to create a weapon that would end the war; the perfect weapon was one that required rival nations to purchase their own counter to it. Cannith thrived in the Last War… until the Mourning. 

The Mourning devastated House Cannith. The death of Baron Starrin created a crisis of leadership. But beyond the loss of a leader, Cannith lost its oldest and most important enclaves—the centers where young heirs of the House were raised and trained. It lost a host of forgeholds and factories, the full impact of which is yet to be seen. Cannith forgeholds aren’t interchangeable. White Knight was a small forgehold near Kalazart that focused on the creation of Focusing Nodes. While these have no function on their own, they are crucial to maintaining the flow of power through large-scale arcane systems—and as such, are necessary for the creation of a Lightning Rail engine, an Elemental Airship, a Warforged Colossus, a Floating Fortress, or anything of similar size. This is just one example of a specialized facility that supplied Cannith forges across Khorvaire; the wounded house is scrambling to repurpose existing facilities to compensate for what was lost in Cyre. Other forgeholds were engaged in research that had been intentionally held in isolation by the Holdmaster—potentially decades of specialized work now lost to the House. Beyond forgeholds and enclaves, Cyre held countless Cannith warehouses filled with raw materials and finished products. The Mourning claimed vital resources, facilities, skilled staff, and House officers, along with historical records and relics of the House; it was a shattering blow. 

The surviving officers of House Cannith—the Seneschals and Viceroys—gathered in Sharn at the end of 994 YK. Over the course of a week of meetings, these ministers developed plans that would allow the Fabricator’s Guild to continue to operate, redirecting supply lines and resources to account for the loss of Cyre. But try as they might, there was no consensus on a replacement for Starrin d’Cannith. There was a formal process for succession that traditionally occurred in Eston, with relics, rituals, and a vote amongst the officers. But Eston and its relics were lost, and many of the ministers were dead and had yet to be replaced. In addition to a bitter divide over the proper candidate, many ministers insisted on filling the empty offices first and attempting to reclaim lost relics, either out of a legitimate loyalty to tradition or a belief that more time would help their chosen candidate gain additional support. Ultimately, the Sharn Accords split House Cannith into three administrative regions, each overseen by a Baron; the Accords dictate that the officers of the House shall gather at Vult each year to discuss the process of succession. 

This is the state of things in 998 YK. The House remains divided in its loyalty to the three Barons. It remains to be seen if one of them can restore the House to its former glory, or if the House will fracture. But should House Cannith break apart like the Shadow Schism of Phiarlan and Thuranni, the smaller Houses would be far weaker than the Gorgon of old. Cannith South and Cannith East rely on alchemical solutions produced by Cannith West, while Cannith South has the bulk of the steelworks; a full separation would dramatically limit what each of the smaller factions could produce. 

What Happens Next?  

  • Just How Bad IS House Cannith? Eberron is a setting in which the DM is expected to make key decisions about their version of the world. One of those questions is whether House Cannith is a villainous force. Cannith can be presented simply as a resource that produces useful tools for adventurers. Its inventions are a vital part of everyday life. On the other hand, it’s possible to present House Cannith as a force that acts with ruthless efficiency to maintain its monopolies, stifling or stealing independent arcane resources, acting carelessly in its dangerous research (IE did it cause the Mourning?), and using its economic power to demand favors from governments, criminal organizations, or others who rely on its services. You can present the typical Cannith heir as feeling remorse for the fact that the House treated Warforged as weapons, or you can present the House as having no sympathy for the Warforged and scheming to regain control of the Creation Forges and the Warforged themselves. Canon material generally walks a middle line between these extremes; it’s up to the DM to decide what’s true in their version of the world. 
  • The Three Headed Gorgon. The Sharn Accords split power between three Barons: Jorlanna Edoro in Fairhaven, Merrix Vown in Sharn, and Zorlan Harn in Korth—has a strong case and a faction that supports them. But Cannith is a machine that needs all its pieces working together to prosper. The Sharn Accords have kept it going so far, but if the three factions can’t come to an agreement soon it may begin to break down. Any of the three Barons might employ a capable group of adventurers to help with their schemes, whether they seek to elevate their own standing (recovering treasures from the Mournland, completing an arcane breakthrough, performing a major act of philanthropy) or to sabotage their rivals. 
  • Profiting from Prophecy. House Cannith’s leadership crisis could be a key decision point in the Draconic Prophecy, with the future taking different paths based on which Baron claims the crown. If this is the case, each Baron could have a greater power promoting their cause. Canon has already suggested that one of the Lords of Dust is influencing Jorlanna. But there could be a different Lord of Dust backing one of the other Barons—perhaps Mordakhesh is supporting Zorlan, knowing that his leadership will lead to devastating war—while the Chamber may be supporting the third Baron. On the other hand, it could be that the fall and dissolution of House Cannith is the outcome an immortal faction is seeking.   
  • The Bounty of the Mournland. There are countless Cannith facilities in the Mournland, ranging from warehouses stocked with mundane goods to hidden forgeholds where secret weapons were being designed. Perhaps the Mourning itself was the result of an accident at just such a facility—and if that’s the case, the weapon responsible could be there just waiting to be found. Adventurers already exploring the Mournland could stumble onto such things, or they could be hired to recover Cannith goods from the Mournland. The patron could be a Cannith heir, or it could be someone with nefarious intent. The dwarf who pays the adventurers to recover a sealed chest—an extradimensional locker filled with Blast Disks—could be an Aurum arms dealer looking to resell them for a prophet, or they could be one of the Swords of Liberty planning to blow up King Boranel. The lost forgeholds weren’t spared from the effects of the Mourning, and Cannith ruins might contain warped constructs, living spells, tormented ghosts, or even greater dangers. 
  • Endless Rivalries. House Cannith has always suffered from corporate intrigues and internal divisions. While Zorlan, Merrix, and Jorlanna vie for control, there are countless lesser intrigues between rivals fighting over resources, contracts, and simply for prestige. Adventurers could be employed to steal a rival’s research, to embarrass them at a gala, or any sort of minor scheme. 
  • The Fate of the Forged. House Cannith created the Warforged and sold them into servitude as weapons. Some heirs of the House seek redemption by helping the Warforged in the present day. Some are indifferent to the overall plight of the Warforged as a species, but seek to continue their research—secretly creating new Warforged, whether using hidden Creation Forges in violation of the Treaty of Thronehold or pioneering new means to create sentient constructs. And then there are those who still consider Warforged to be assets of House Cannith, villains who seek to impose their will on Warforged with tools like the Master’s Summons. On the other side of the equation, there are Warforged who yearn for vengeance on their creators, and others who seek Cannith aid in solving the challenges faced by their species. 

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE? This is an excerpt of an article written for my Patreon supporters. The full article is three times the length of this one, and includes the Structure of House Cannith (with details on the Fabricator’s Guild, the Tinker’s Guild, the factions of the three Barons, prominent forgeholds and enclaves, and more), the Families of House Cannith, Cannith Customs, new focus items, and more!

Excerpt: House Deneith and the Mark of Sentinel

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A heraldic image showing three heads -- a gdragon, a lion, and a goat -- over a shield.
The sigil of the Defender’s Guild, by Matthew Johnson.

Those two have been watching you since you came in. The dwarf in the conveniently nondescript chainmail recently drank a Potion of Giant Strength—see the way his muscles are trembling, barely able to contain the power? The Khoravar’s a mage. That’s a wand of Xorian wenge in his hand, so she’s probably an enchanter. Which probably means they intend to take you alive… probably. Do you want to try your luck and see how it turns out? Or shall we discuss my rates for protection? 

The Mark of Sentinel sharpens your senses. It provides an intuitive bonus to Perception and Insight. But this isn’t just about keen sight and sharp ears. It’s an intuitive bonus—an instinctive evaluation of all possible threats. The Dragonmark keeps you alert, every ready. When you enter a room, you always check the exits. When you meet a stranger, you’re always searching for signs of hidden weapons or hints as to their combat capabilities. It’s not a conscious thing; it’s been drilled into you and enhanced by your Mark. House Deneith has never abandoned its martial roots. If you were raised in the House, your education was on par with any military academy in the Five Nations. And once you survived your Test of Siberys—whether you manifested a Mark or not—you had to serve a tour in the Blademarks or the Defender’s Guild. Whatever path you’re following now, you were raised in a culture of martial discipline and service. 

When creating a Deneith adventurer or NPC, consider how this upbringing has affected them. The majority of Deneith heirs serve as Blademarks or Defenders for their entire careers; that service is all they know and all they need. What about the Deneith you’re making? Do they still serve the house or have they turned their back on it? Or is it something in between—they’re a mercenary licensed by the Blademarks, but they’ve chosen to follow an independent path? Regardless of the answer, consider this. A Deneith heir was raised with a strict code of discipline and bound to a chain of command. Do they maintain that discipline as an adventurer, and possibly seek to impose it on others? Do they want the party of adventurers to function like a military unit? Or have they rejected their upbringing, choosing to celebrate their independence and freedom? Is war second nature to them, or are they trying to bury their blade? 

While it varies by family, Deneith heirs tend to be stoic and serious. Heirs of the house were raised to be soldiers, and furthermore, trained to be ever alert for danger. It’s nearly impossible for a Deneith heir to fully relax and let their guard down; it simply isn’t in their nature. Likewise, Deneith heirs are driven by their desire to protect the people and things they care about. In making a Deneith character, consider who or what you’re protecting. Is it your entire adventuring party? Is it a particular individual? Or is a concept—a nation, a faith, a village? This is one of the main reasons heirs end up leaving House Deneith, whether voluntarily or as excoriates. As a Blademark or a Defender, you serve the client only as long as gold continues to change hands. You could be defending a noble one day, and serving their mortal enemy the next day. The House does its best to push heirs to see themselves as, ultimately, defending DENEITH—protecting the family and ensuring its prosperity through their hard work. But there are always Sentinels who develop an attachment to their clients or to ideals beyond pure profit. As a Deneith character, are you driven by gold and the good of your House? Or have found something that’s more important to you than platinum?  

Deneith upbringing is much like a military academy, but that doesn’t mean that Deneith adventurers have to be fighters. Heirs initially train with spear, club, dagger, and crossbow, and those that excel at physical combat focus on martial training. But magic is part of everyday life in Eberron, and heirs who have the potential to become Wizards, Sorcerers, or Bards receive specialized training to develop those skills. Blademark mages are trained to focus on Evocation, Conjuration, and other spells that can play a powerful role on the battlefield; those destined for the Defender’s Guild will focus more on Spells of the Mark and personal defense. Meanwhile, a Deneith Bard is primarily trained to lead. They’re warlords, not entertainers; their Inspiration reflects this leadership, and they are driven toward the College of Valor. These paths—martial and magic—are the common choices; heirs without the exceptional potential of player characters will still be tapped as player characters. Other classes could reflect unusual training or focus. The Peacekeepers are an elite force within the Defender’s Guild, trained to protect clients in environments where no weapons are allowed; they are an order of Monks with the Warrior of Mercy subclass. While there’s no schooling for it, Deneith has produced a number of champions whose mastery of the Mark of Sentinel allows them to reduce the damage from attacks; this is a different way of playing a World Tree Barbarian, presenting their Rage and other class features as being manifestations of the Dragonmark. Other classes are less common in House Deneith. A Rogue or Warlock with the Mark of Sentinel likely developed their skills outside of the House; Deneith doesn’t typically traffic with spirits, and while the Peacekeepers are subtle, the Blademark and Defender’s Guild primarily focus on strength rather than stealth. Deneith heirs with a religious calling typically follow this beyond the House. An heir who becomes a Paladin may return to Deneith once they have mastered their gifts, and such champions often become Sentinel Marshals; but the house itself doesn’t have the depth of faith required to train Clerics of Paladins, let alone Druids.

A list of spells associated with the Mark of Sentinel.

THE MARK OF SENTINEL

The Mark of Sentinel allows its bearer to protect themself and the people around them. Many of its gifts are straightforward, whether deflecting an attack with a wave of force (Shield) or providing slightly weaker protection over a longer period (Shield of Faith, although no faith is required). Heirs who possess the Lesser Dragonmark can disrupt other forms of energy, as seen with Counterspell and Protection from Energy. Heirs with the Greater Mark have the ability to cast Bigby’s Hand; this draws on the same force manifested with Shield, amplified and wielded with more finesse. Guardian of Faith draws on this same power, manifesting a being formed from this shield energy. Typically, a Deneith Guardian of Faith draws on the appearance of the heir’s family beast—a Ram, Lion, or Dragon. However, there have been heirs of the House whose Guardians have taken other forms; Matriarch Dalia d’Deneith was celebrated for manifesting a full Chimera with her Dragonmark.

Most of the spells of the Mark of Sentinel revolve around the projection or disruption of energy, but there’s a second thread that’s more subtle: Compelled Duel and Warding Bond. While adventurers with the Mark of Sentinel have access to all of its powers, NPCs are often more limited. Deneith NPCs from the Ravan line tend to develop Compelled Duel and Warding Bond, while those of the Wyrn families are more likely to be able to cast Shield of Faith and Barkskin. The children of the Lion—the core Deneith—are equally likely to manifest either or both sets of spells. 

Kanon vs Canon. One spell on the list above is marked with an asterisk, and that’s because it’s a change from the list that appears in Forge of the Artificer. By canon rules, the Spells of the Mark for the Mark of Sentinel include Zone of Truth… and I don’t like it. Zone of Truth is a great spell for a Sentinel Marshal, and could be a useful one for a bodyguard. But thematically, it feels quite different from the other spells; it’s about investigation rather than defense. Which ties to the fact that we’ve previously said that it’s House Medani that licenses Truthtellers—Magewrights that can cast Zone of Truth. If Zone of Truth was a core ability of House Deneith, I’d expect Deneith to be licensing Truthtellers. So, in my campaign I replace Zone of Truth with Barkskin. This allows the heir to give a willing individual an Armor Class of 17 for up to an hour, with no concentration required. Thematically, I see it as an extension of Shield and Shield of Faith, describing it not as “giving the target’s skin a bark-like texture” but rather as surrounding them with a faint but noticeable shimmer of energy. This flares up when it deflects a blow, manifesting as a web of blue-purple threads. This is something people have been working with for centuries, commonly used by Defenders to protect charges who either can’t wear armor or aren’t proficient in it. So while the shimmering is subtle, it’s an effect observers will notice and recognize. 

A warrior with the Mark of Sentinel projecting a shield of energy from his right hand.

THE HISTORY OF HOUSE DENEITH

Some say war is bound to the roots of Karrnath. The area is infamous for its Mabaran manifest zones, but perhaps Shavarath and Daanvi have a subtler, broader influence. Maybe there are shards of Rak Tulkhesh’s prison buried beneath the great cities of Karrnath, whispering of violence. Or maybe it’s just that the land is cold and harsh, and that the people there must be strong to survive. That, too, is part of the mystery of Karrnath. It’s a grim land, harder on its people than the green fields of Aundair… and yet those born in Karrnath often feel a fierce love for their bleak homeland, finding the more hospitable lands of the Five Nations to be uncomfortably soft and warm. 

The Mark of Sentinel was the first Dragonmark to manifest on humans. At that time, what is now Karrnath largely followed the model still seen in the Lhaazar Principalities of the mainland—a scattering of domains carved out by those with the strength to hold them. When the Mark of Sentinel first appeared on Jarla Deneith, she kept it hidden while she mastered its powers. When three of her children developed the Mark, Jarla and her kin used its power to challenge the tyrant Dynass. Though Jarla was slain in the battles that followed, the Deneith triumphed. Jarla’s eldest son, Karrlak, laid the foundations of Sentinel Tower in the city that still bears his name. At that time, almost every heir of Deneith developed the Sentinel Mark, and the legend of these mystical warriors spread across the land. It was a century later when new stories arose of Sentinel-marked champions in other realms—the Wyrns of Korth, and the Ravans of Vedakyr, which was then called Ravanloft. The Ravans were crueler than the Deneith, and ruled through force and fear. The Wyrns were loyal servants of the lords of Korth when the Mark appeared among them, and they remained loyal to their oaths, using the Mark of Sentinel to defend their liege lords rather than turning against them. From the beginning there was bad blood between Deneith and Ravan, and the next century was marked by an escalating series of duels and raids which weakened both families and their cities. The Deneith were valiant warriors, but civic administration proved to be their weakness, especially when plague and famine wracked Karrlakton. This led to the rise of a new leader, whose charisma and strategic brilliance helped him rally the common people of Karrlakton behind him: Karrn. While some tales say Karrn defeated Orrin Deneith in battle, the official account of the house says that Karrn invoked the lords of Korth and their Sentinel Guard and urged Deneith to follow their example. Karrn swore that if Orrin and his family would stand by his side and defend him, they would share in his glory. According to the Annals of Deneith, Orrin believed that Karrn was guided by the Sovereigns of War, and said that the gift his family was given was meant to be a shield, not a crown. In the decade that followed, Karrn’s fortunes soared, and the Deneith prospered at his side. One by one, the great cities fell to Karrn’s blade or submitted to his rule. The lords of Korth chose to join Karrn, and the Wyrn came with them. The Ravan resisted; they were driven from Ravanloft, and Karrn claimed the castle built by the Sentinel family as his personal sanctuary. The Ravans opposed Karrn throughout his campaign, and had things gone another way, they might have fled into the Lhazaar Principalities and remained independent to this day. But during the Battle of the Bastion, Orrin Deneith called out the matriarch Syele Ravan. Orrin said that those who carried the Warrior’s Mark should stand together, and Leodan Wyrn stood with him on this. If Syele defeated Orrin, both Wyrn and Deneith would join with Ravan and oppose Karrn. But if Syele fell to Orrin, the Ravan would join their fellow Sentinels. The Annals say that Orrin compelled Syele to accept the duel through the power of the Mark they both carried, and that magic flowed through all those who bore it, binding them to this bargain. Had Syele won that fateful duel, House Ravan might be a power in the world today. But Orrin emerged victorious, and that was the beginning of House Deneith. 

The Sentinel Families stood alongside Karrn as he forged the kingdom of Karrnath and stretched his hand beyond. They fought alongside him as he crossed the river and claimed the lands to the south. And when Karrn went too far—when his army was broken and his forces scattered—it was his Sentinel Guard who saw him safely back to his castle in Ravanloft. Orrin Deneith died in the battle of Daskaran, flinging himself in the path of a ballista bolt that would have slain Karrn. While his death was a blow to his family, the story of Deneith’s commitment and courage spread wide… and when the war was finally over, Queen Lycia of Daskaran sent messengers to Karrnath, seeking a force of Sentinel Guards of her own. It was at this moment that Deneith embraced the path of the mercenary—not bound to a single king, but promising loyal service to any who would pay their price. 

Karrnath persisted even after the death of Karrn the Conqueror. Karrlakton remained the stronghold of Deneith, and over time the house expanded its mercenary operations. Karrlakton became the proving ground for a force of soldiers ready to serve under any banner. Over time they spread out across Khorvaire, propping up nobles and warlords and establishing new garrisons in those cities they protected. When the War of the Mark unfolded, it was Deneith that organized and commanded the combined forces of the Dragonmarked Houses… And Halas Tarkanan, who organized the Aberrant resistance, was the son of a Deneith heir trained in the tactics of the House. When the Twelve was established in the wake of the War of the Mark, Deneith was a proud member. In the time that followed, Deneith’s ranks grew. Merchants (and House Orien) employed Deneith mercenaries to guard their caravans. City-states relied on Deneith soldiers to serve as peacekeepers. Some scurrilous accounts suggest that members of the Ravan line engaged in acts of banditry in order to drive up the demand for Deneith’s services, but these accusations were never substantiated. 

While Deneith served clients all over the continent, its heart lay in Karrnath. The lords of Karrnath leaned heavily on the House, and more than once Deneith helped “adjudicate” a conflict between heirs. While the House maintained its general principle that the Mark of Sentinel was a shield, not a crown, there’s no denying the fact that they helped the Wynarn family achieve and hold power—and the Wynarns were unmarked cousins of the Wyrn. The ties between House and Crown remained close, and it was common for a Wynarn prince to reside in Karrlakton and to drill with the Deneith. This was the case with the young Prince Galifar. When that prince became a conquering king, the offer he made to the Twelve — the terms of the Korth Edicts — were modeled on the role House Deneith had played throughout the history of Karrnath. Deneith’s endorsement of Galifar played a vital role in pressuring the other Houses to accept the arrangement, and it’s no coincidence that Deneith alone retained the right to maintain significant military forces under the Korth Edicts. Nonetheless, the golden age of Galifar proved to be a challenging time for House Deneith. With the nations united, the people of Sigilstar no longer feared Aruldusk raiders, and the lords of Athandra and Danthaven resolved their disputes through the courts rather than on the battlefield. There was still some need for the Blademarks—defending merchants, battling brigands, suppressing unrest, fighting monsters. But it was clear House Deneith needed to explore new paths, and this led to the foundation of the Defender’s Guild and the Sentinel Marshals. The Blademarks had always served as bodyguards to powerful lords, but now the role of guardian was more important than that of soldier. And the Sentinel Marshals quickly became a trusted force that could be called upon to pursue fugitives from justice and to enforce the King’s laws from one end of Galifar to the other. 

One might expect that the Last War would find House Deneith heavily invested in the Defender’s Guild, ill-prepared to take to the battlefield. Little could be further from the truth. In the final years of his reign, King Jarot became obsessed with the defense of Galifar. In addition to building up the Royal Army, Jarot commissioned increasingly powerful weapons of war from House Cannith and called on House Deneith to provide elite units and to prepare reserves. Patriarch Halden Harn d’Deneith could smell blood on the air, and he worked quickly to revitalize the Blademark and to draw together the scattered mercenary bands licensed by the House. It’s worth noting that the Sentinel Marshals largely opposed the Last War, and the Lord Commander Brashin Halar d’Deneith met with each of the rival Wynarn heirs, urging them to honor tradition and to preserve the united kingdom. Some say that Brashin’s assassination, six months after the death of King Jarot, was the true death knell of Galifar. 

Once the war broke out in earnest, demand exploded. In most nations, nobles were expected to provide military forces to their ruler. This could be accomplished through conscription, but a lord could avoid this by paying for a unit of Blademarks to take the place of their subjects. Karrnath and Thrane were both culturally well prepared for war and had little need of such forces, but Cyre leaned heavily on House Deneith. Breland adapted over time, but also relied on Deneith in the early years of the war. Coincidentally, this meant that Deneith soldiers were often fighting their distant cousins in Karrnath. Despite this, the Karrnathi rulers respected Deneith’s neutrality, allowing the house to maintain its power in Karrlakton even as Deneith soldiers laid siege to Loran Rath. With that said, there’s a common myth that Blademark soldiers wouldn’t fight other Blademarks. Such a restriction would complicate warfare and seriously diminish the value of Deneith forces. However, there are two motes of truth to this tale. When blooded Deneith heirs faced one another in battle, they would surrender after suffering any injury—a tradition known as the first and felling blow. In situations where heirs expected to face other heirs, they would often carry a baton in addition to their primary weapon, using the club when fighting other heirs. The point being that they would fight, and to the best of their ability, but they would try not to kill their kin. It was also well known that Deneith would pay a ransom for its heirs, so even enemy soldiers would often try to take blood heirs alive. However, when heirs of Deneith fought against licensed mercenaries with no blood ties to their house, no holds would be barred. It was for this reason that Deneith was always seeking to increase the ranks of the Blademarks. When Deneith scouts discovered the strength of the hobgoblin bands in Southern Cyre and the Seawall Mountains, they were all too eager to recruit forces from the clans of the Ghaal’dar. The Ghaal’dar weren’t enacting some carefully planned scheme, and had Deneith shown more restraint or spread the Ghaal’dar forces more widely across Khorvaire, they might have averted the disaster than became Darguun. As it was, the soldier Haruuc recognized the shifting balance of power, and rallied the lords of the Ghaal’dar to support the bloody treachery that followed. In another time, the rise of Darguun might have destroyed House Deneith. But as it was, the nations employing Deneith were simply too reliant on the House to change their ways. But the shadow of that grand betrayal still looms large over the House, and it was this that allowed House Tharashk to gain support for its own mercenary endeavors. 

Another point often misunderstood is the relationship between House Deneith and the elves of Valenar. House Deneith didn’t recruit the Tairnadal Elves, and it played no role in their initial arrangement in Cyre. The Eberron Campaign Setting states “When the Last War began, Cyre came under attack from all sides and quickly sought allies. While the Undying Court of Aerenal had no interest in returning to Khorvaire, the Cyrans drew the interest of the Valaes Tairn.” Queen Mishann ir’Wynarn dealt directly with the var-shan Shaeras Vadallia, against the advice of Halden d’Deneith. It was only after Vadallia’s betrayal that Deneith brokered deals with Valenar shans for the services of individual warriors and warbands. Deneith is very careful in how it assigns warbands, and their contracts with the elves hold many penalties for oathbreakers. Notably, each warclan that deals with Deneith has a representative residing in Sentinel Tower in Karrlakton—a hostage for their clan’s good behavior. 

With the end of the war, Deneith once again finds itself with a surplus of soldiers. Within the house, the focus has shifted back to the Defender’s Guild. Many of the Blademark Viceroys believe the current peace won’t last, and are thus working hard to keep their best bands together. But many Blademarks have been released from service until circumstances shift. 

What Happens Next?  

  • The Lure of Conquest. The importance of neutrality has been drilled into the house for generations. The Mark of Sentinel is a shield, not a crown. But the heirs of Deneith are only human, and there will always be those who dream of what Deneith could accomplish if it chose to act in its own interests instead of serving others. The Lord Commander of the Blademarks, Shirin Ravan d’Deneith, has such dreams. A recent convert to the Seeker faith, Shirin has been making contacts within the Order of the Emerald Claw and talking with Karrnathi warlords frustrated by Kaius III’s pursuit of peace; he may also be in contact with the Blades of Karrn in Stormreach, or Zorlan d’Cannith. Ultimately it’s up to the DM to decide if Shirin has enough support to actually move against Baron Brevan, or if his ambitions are far from being realized. A second question is whether Shirin envisions himself to be a second Karrn the Conqueror, establishing a resurgent Karrnath—or if his dream is to rally the Houses behind him in an echo of the War of the Mark, creating a realm governed by the Twelve. 
  • What’s Going On In Sharn? While some houses have well-established nefarious forces within their ranks—such as the Hurricane Harvest of House Lyrandar and the Feral Heart of House Vadalis—it’s important to remember that in Eberron, there’s always room for a new cult. The Hurricane Harvest and Feral Heart have history. But Cults of the Dragon Below can take root anywhere. Likewise, anyone could potentially be mind seeded by the Dreaming Dark. Because there’s no precedent in history, no one’s looking for cults in House Deneith… but it’s an excellent place to drop a cult of the Vigilant Eye (from Exploring Eberron) or a shard of Rak Tulkhesh. With that in mind, some people say there’s something strange about the Deneith enclave in Sharn; if you want to know more, check out Sharn: City of Towers. 
  • Hunters and Sentinels. The rift between House Tharashk and House Deneith has been simmering for a century. Sentinel Marshals have increasingly found themselves in competition with Tharashk bounty hunters, and now Tharashk is intruding on Deneith’s core business by brokering the services of Droaamites. Tharashk wields considerable influence as the primary source of refined dragonshards, and the Twelve has refused Deneith’s requests to censure the Dragonne’s Roar. This feud is a source of tension between heirs of the two Houses, and there have been bitter conflicts between individual Marshals and Hunters in the shadows. It’s up to the DM to decide how this will escalate. Will it remain limited to clashes between individuals? Could Deneith try to sabotage the reputation of the Dragonne’s Roar by manufacturing a disaster involving Droaamite mercenaries? Open conflict between mercenaries is unlikely, but anything could happen…

This article is an excerpt. The full version is three times the length of this, and includes the structure of the house, customs, details on the founding families, and focus items tied to the Mark of Sentinel. To access the full article, check out my Patreon!