Post by Ashurr on May 13, 2011 1:03:49 GMT -5
The Formation of House Vadalis:
The Mark of Handling first appeared among humans in
the Eldeen Reaches who eventually formed House Vadalis some eighteen hundred years ago. House Vadalis was the dragonmarked house that created and ran the Handlers Guild, which was devoted to breeding, selling, caring for and training normal and magebred animals throughout Khorvaire.
Originating in the Eldeen Reaches, Vadalis was the only human dragnmarked house to keep its center of operations outside the Five Nations. Its members were content to serve the small cities, towns and rural areas largely ignored by the other, more cosmopolitan, houses.
While the dragonmarked houses consist of extended families—separate bloodlines that all trace back to a common ancestry, the sheer size of most houses means that few house members can claim any sort of relationship outside their immediate family unit within the house. House Vadalis is
the exception to this rule. While the other houses have done their best to increase their size and influence on Khorvaire, Vadalis has taken almost the opposite stance. Every Vadalis heir over the age of 10 can recite his family lineage on both of his parents’sides for several generations. This is not a
matter of rote memorization for the purpose of pride, but information that sees daily use. Through this knowledge, any heirs of House Vadalis can determine the exact blood relationship to one another within an hour’s time. This in turn creates a strong bond between them. It is one thing to work alongside someone who shares your name, but another to aid your grandmother’s sister’s great- grandson—at least to a Vadalis heir. House Vadalis is a family first and a business second. Commerical deals that might threaten the larger family unit are ignored, while plans with less profit that accommodate the house’s structure are taken up instead. The other houses are routinely astounded by the Vadalis ways, often ridiculing the house’s limited wealth and influence, but Vadalis
simply takes a different view of the world. In their minds, no one of their blood is a stranger and no amount of money can take the place of kin.
–500 YK
The Founding of House Medani:]/b]
Fifteen hundred years ago, the Mark of Detection first
appeared among the half-elves (Khoravar) of the land that became Breland and they proceeded to organize themselves into House Medani. Of the twelve dragonmarked houses, House Medani had the lowest profile—and that is how the house’s heirs preferred it. The half-elves of Medani were the masters of the Warning Guild, through which they offered their services as bodyguards, inquisitives and sentries to clients across Khorvaire. Medani was the youngest of the dragonmarked houses to originate within the Five Nations, with the Mark of Detection appearing only shortly before the War of the Mark began. The Medani families banded together in pre-Galifar Breland prior to the outbreak
of that conflict, but had few aspirations beyond being left alone. Only in the aftermath of the War of the Mark did Medani’s elders bow to the pressure of the other houses and take their place among the Twelve. Despite often strained relations with the other dragonmarked houses, Medani’s collective voice carries weight. The house’s warnings are ignored at the listener’s peril, but Medani’s
iconoclastic nature makes it sometimes difficult to work with.
Though any number of organizations might claim a lock on the truth, House Medani can back that claim. Those who possess Medani’s dragonmark can sense arcane and divine power, the taint of poison, unseen intruders or magical observation from a world away. All Medani heirs train in the use of logic, perception and techniques for assembling fragments of evidence into a recognizable whole. As allies, they are formidable; as enemies, even more so. The Medani alliance existed before Galifar came into being; a collection of families based in the former Medani provinces of what would one
day become Breland. Already accustomed into blending into human or elven society, the half-elves of the Medani concealed their dragonmarks when they first appeared. A close-knit society, they were content to use the Mark of Detection quietly, building a reputation as bodyguards and scouts while
attempting to avoid the growing conflicts of the other dragonmarked. House Cannith discovered Medani partway through the War of the Mark. At first, it was thought that the Mark of Detection might simply be a widely prevalent aberrant dragonmark, but that conjecture was soon discarded. Cannith finally tracked down the elders of the Medani families and convinced them (some say
threatened) to take their place alongside the other dragonmarked houses. Even in the present time,distaste for authority runs strong in House Medani, giving rise to an aloofness that many dragonmarked heirs ascribe to the house. Medani is forthright in its views on interhouse politics and is an active participant in the Twelve, but representatives of the other houses sometimes claim that
House Medani works against their interests as often as it supports them.
-500 YK
The War of the Mark:
Aberrant dragonmarks appeared to have come into existence at the
same time as the true dragonmarks some two thousand years before the present time. The first records of the aberrant marks referred only to individuals as opposed to their appearance among families. Historians now believe that aberrant dragonmarks appeared sporadically and were only rarely passed
on to their bearers’ children. Fragmentary histories of this period paint a grim picture of the “children of Khyber,” attributing all manner of depravity to the bearers of aberrant marks. Of course, these tales also attribute astonishing powers to the early aberrants, such as the story of one who burned down an
entire thorp with a wave of his hand because he “desired warmth.” Whether these stories have any grain of truth or not, tales of aberrant activity grew more frequent over the centuries. Approximately fifteen hundred years ago, the appearance of aberrants reached an apex—and the bearers of the true
marks decided that it was time to act.
The War of the Mark transformed the dragonmarked houses into their present-day forms and solidified their places within Khorvarien society as the most important players in the Five Nations’ economies. It also solidified the early influences of House Cannith and House Deneith among the other dragonmarked houses, since both were able to bring significant military force to bear in the struggle. Dragonmarked house lore presents the war as a bold struggle to eliminate the deadly threat posed by those bearing aberrant dragonmarks. A close study of historical documents from this period
suggests that aberrant dragonmarks began to appear in far greater numbers in the century just prior to the outbreak of the war and that many of these marks carried great destructive power. However, revisionist scholars now claim that the so-called war was largely fought to secure the power and prominence of the true dragonmarked bloodlines and to eliminate a possible source of economic
competition for their services. The truth is probably somewhere in between, as it often proves to be in such cases.
Whatever the true reason for the outbreak of the conflict, its first few years were very one- sided. Spread across the Five Nations, the aberrants were hunted down and exterminated one-by-one by their better-organized and well-disciplined foes in the dragonmarked houses. The war might have
ended then if not for the aberrant-marked nobleman Lord Halas Tarkanan. Tarkanan organized the surviving aberrants into an army in the third year of the dragonmarked houses’ inquisition against his people. Under Lord Tarkanan’s leadership, the aberrants proved a surprisingly resilient enemy against the far more numerous and better-equipped troops (most of them House Deneith mercenaries) of the dragonmarked houses.
Halas Tarkanan, a powerful aberrant heir known as “The Earthshaker,” possessed an aberrant mark which gave him great control over natural forces, but his strategic brilliance often played a greater role in winning victories in battle. His consort, an enigmatic woman known only as the Lady of the Plague, was considered an even greater threat. Though she is commonly depicted as a monster in folktales, many scholars have observed that she seems only to have used her aberrant mark’s powers over disease when forced to and might even have despised her gift—facts carefully omitted from the official histories of the War of the Mark prepared by the gnome scribes of House Sivis.
Tarkanan, a brilliant tactician, used his military skills and the sheer magical power provided by the aberrant marks to turn the tide of battle against the dragonmarked armies. Tarkanan and his queen, the Lady of the Plague, seized control of Sharn, the great mercantile city growing above the bluffs of the Dagger River, and turned it into the primary bastion of the aberrant army. In the end, though Lord Tarkanan’s efforts extended the conflict for a further four years against the might of the dragonmarked houses, he simply lacked the necessary numbers to secure a victory. Tarkanan and his aberrant forces were slowly beaten back to the walls of Sharn by the armies of the dragonmarked.
Tarkanan himself was trapped in the final siege of the city of Sharn alongside his consort, where the last of his troops had taken refuge from the massing forces of pre-Galifar Breland, House Deneith and House Cannith. When it became clear during the dragonmarked houses’ siege of the city that he and his followers were doomed, Lord Tarkanan, the Lady of the Plague and his other lieutenants
unleashed the full horrific magic of their aberrant dragonmarks—arcane power sufficient to destroy the entire city. Earthquakes shattered its towers, rivers of lava flowed up from the fiery lake deep beneath the city, hordes of vermin rose from the depths and terrible plagues ravaged those who ventured too close to the ruins. Many think even in the present day that the Lady of the Plague’s
death-curse still lingers in the depths of Sharn, the source of creatures such as the feral spirit, the roach thrall and the rancid beetle swarm . Those members
of the besieging armies who escaped the flames of Sharn’s fall were devoured by swarms of vermin or stricken down by deadly plagues. The War of the Mark was over—but Sharn had suffered greatly and was abandoned once more.
Despite the horrific conclusion of the War of the Mark, the dragonmarked houses had eliminated the only true potential rivals to their economic hold over Khorvaire and they began to assume the forms they hold at the present time. At the end of the conflict, Lord Hadran d’Cannith suggested that the dragonmarked houses formally cement their alliance by creating an arcane citadel—a center for research and the study of both arcane magic and the potential powers of the
dragonmarked heirs. Though there were only ten dragonmarked houses in existence at this time, the architect and artificer Alder d’Cannith convinced the committee to follow through on Hadran Cannith’s idea to name the new institute the Twelve, based on his belief that there were twelve true dragonmarks in addition to the lost Mark of Death. Alder was a brilliant man whose works had
played a critical role in the War of the Mark and the members of the committee humored him— though few expected the remaining two marks to eventually appear (the remaining two marks, Warding and Finding, were not “discovered” until after the formation of the Kingdom of Galifar). The new institute was constructed as a ziggurat that mystically floated above the city of Korth in
Karrnath.
In the beginning of its existence, the Twelve played a critical role in shaping the
dragonmarked houses’ development, but as the houses grew in power and spread across the continent, its influence diminished. Nonetheless, the Twelve remains one of the premier centers for arcane magical research in Khorvaire. By combining the skills and mystical talents of the different dragonmarks, the wizards and artificers of the Twelve have created remarkable items. It took the
combined skills of House Orien, House Cannith and House Kundarak to create the magical safe- deposit vaults that allow House Kundarak’s customers to deposit goods at one bank and withdraw them across the continent. Airships, the lightning rail, even the warforged—these marvels could not have come into being without the spirit of cooperation and discovery found among the Twelve.
The Mark of Handling first appeared among humans in
the Eldeen Reaches who eventually formed House Vadalis some eighteen hundred years ago. House Vadalis was the dragonmarked house that created and ran the Handlers Guild, which was devoted to breeding, selling, caring for and training normal and magebred animals throughout Khorvaire.
Originating in the Eldeen Reaches, Vadalis was the only human dragnmarked house to keep its center of operations outside the Five Nations. Its members were content to serve the small cities, towns and rural areas largely ignored by the other, more cosmopolitan, houses.
While the dragonmarked houses consist of extended families—separate bloodlines that all trace back to a common ancestry, the sheer size of most houses means that few house members can claim any sort of relationship outside their immediate family unit within the house. House Vadalis is
the exception to this rule. While the other houses have done their best to increase their size and influence on Khorvaire, Vadalis has taken almost the opposite stance. Every Vadalis heir over the age of 10 can recite his family lineage on both of his parents’sides for several generations. This is not a
matter of rote memorization for the purpose of pride, but information that sees daily use. Through this knowledge, any heirs of House Vadalis can determine the exact blood relationship to one another within an hour’s time. This in turn creates a strong bond between them. It is one thing to work alongside someone who shares your name, but another to aid your grandmother’s sister’s great- grandson—at least to a Vadalis heir. House Vadalis is a family first and a business second. Commerical deals that might threaten the larger family unit are ignored, while plans with less profit that accommodate the house’s structure are taken up instead. The other houses are routinely astounded by the Vadalis ways, often ridiculing the house’s limited wealth and influence, but Vadalis
simply takes a different view of the world. In their minds, no one of their blood is a stranger and no amount of money can take the place of kin.
–500 YK
The Founding of House Medani:]/b]
Fifteen hundred years ago, the Mark of Detection first
appeared among the half-elves (Khoravar) of the land that became Breland and they proceeded to organize themselves into House Medani. Of the twelve dragonmarked houses, House Medani had the lowest profile—and that is how the house’s heirs preferred it. The half-elves of Medani were the masters of the Warning Guild, through which they offered their services as bodyguards, inquisitives and sentries to clients across Khorvaire. Medani was the youngest of the dragonmarked houses to originate within the Five Nations, with the Mark of Detection appearing only shortly before the War of the Mark began. The Medani families banded together in pre-Galifar Breland prior to the outbreak
of that conflict, but had few aspirations beyond being left alone. Only in the aftermath of the War of the Mark did Medani’s elders bow to the pressure of the other houses and take their place among the Twelve. Despite often strained relations with the other dragonmarked houses, Medani’s collective voice carries weight. The house’s warnings are ignored at the listener’s peril, but Medani’s
iconoclastic nature makes it sometimes difficult to work with.
Though any number of organizations might claim a lock on the truth, House Medani can back that claim. Those who possess Medani’s dragonmark can sense arcane and divine power, the taint of poison, unseen intruders or magical observation from a world away. All Medani heirs train in the use of logic, perception and techniques for assembling fragments of evidence into a recognizable whole. As allies, they are formidable; as enemies, even more so. The Medani alliance existed before Galifar came into being; a collection of families based in the former Medani provinces of what would one
day become Breland. Already accustomed into blending into human or elven society, the half-elves of the Medani concealed their dragonmarks when they first appeared. A close-knit society, they were content to use the Mark of Detection quietly, building a reputation as bodyguards and scouts while
attempting to avoid the growing conflicts of the other dragonmarked. House Cannith discovered Medani partway through the War of the Mark. At first, it was thought that the Mark of Detection might simply be a widely prevalent aberrant dragonmark, but that conjecture was soon discarded. Cannith finally tracked down the elders of the Medani families and convinced them (some say
threatened) to take their place alongside the other dragonmarked houses. Even in the present time,distaste for authority runs strong in House Medani, giving rise to an aloofness that many dragonmarked heirs ascribe to the house. Medani is forthright in its views on interhouse politics and is an active participant in the Twelve, but representatives of the other houses sometimes claim that
House Medani works against their interests as often as it supports them.
-500 YK
The War of the Mark:
Aberrant dragonmarks appeared to have come into existence at the
same time as the true dragonmarks some two thousand years before the present time. The first records of the aberrant marks referred only to individuals as opposed to their appearance among families. Historians now believe that aberrant dragonmarks appeared sporadically and were only rarely passed
on to their bearers’ children. Fragmentary histories of this period paint a grim picture of the “children of Khyber,” attributing all manner of depravity to the bearers of aberrant marks. Of course, these tales also attribute astonishing powers to the early aberrants, such as the story of one who burned down an
entire thorp with a wave of his hand because he “desired warmth.” Whether these stories have any grain of truth or not, tales of aberrant activity grew more frequent over the centuries. Approximately fifteen hundred years ago, the appearance of aberrants reached an apex—and the bearers of the true
marks decided that it was time to act.
The War of the Mark transformed the dragonmarked houses into their present-day forms and solidified their places within Khorvarien society as the most important players in the Five Nations’ economies. It also solidified the early influences of House Cannith and House Deneith among the other dragonmarked houses, since both were able to bring significant military force to bear in the struggle. Dragonmarked house lore presents the war as a bold struggle to eliminate the deadly threat posed by those bearing aberrant dragonmarks. A close study of historical documents from this period
suggests that aberrant dragonmarks began to appear in far greater numbers in the century just prior to the outbreak of the war and that many of these marks carried great destructive power. However, revisionist scholars now claim that the so-called war was largely fought to secure the power and prominence of the true dragonmarked bloodlines and to eliminate a possible source of economic
competition for their services. The truth is probably somewhere in between, as it often proves to be in such cases.
Whatever the true reason for the outbreak of the conflict, its first few years were very one- sided. Spread across the Five Nations, the aberrants were hunted down and exterminated one-by-one by their better-organized and well-disciplined foes in the dragonmarked houses. The war might have
ended then if not for the aberrant-marked nobleman Lord Halas Tarkanan. Tarkanan organized the surviving aberrants into an army in the third year of the dragonmarked houses’ inquisition against his people. Under Lord Tarkanan’s leadership, the aberrants proved a surprisingly resilient enemy against the far more numerous and better-equipped troops (most of them House Deneith mercenaries) of the dragonmarked houses.
Halas Tarkanan, a powerful aberrant heir known as “The Earthshaker,” possessed an aberrant mark which gave him great control over natural forces, but his strategic brilliance often played a greater role in winning victories in battle. His consort, an enigmatic woman known only as the Lady of the Plague, was considered an even greater threat. Though she is commonly depicted as a monster in folktales, many scholars have observed that she seems only to have used her aberrant mark’s powers over disease when forced to and might even have despised her gift—facts carefully omitted from the official histories of the War of the Mark prepared by the gnome scribes of House Sivis.
Tarkanan, a brilliant tactician, used his military skills and the sheer magical power provided by the aberrant marks to turn the tide of battle against the dragonmarked armies. Tarkanan and his queen, the Lady of the Plague, seized control of Sharn, the great mercantile city growing above the bluffs of the Dagger River, and turned it into the primary bastion of the aberrant army. In the end, though Lord Tarkanan’s efforts extended the conflict for a further four years against the might of the dragonmarked houses, he simply lacked the necessary numbers to secure a victory. Tarkanan and his aberrant forces were slowly beaten back to the walls of Sharn by the armies of the dragonmarked.
Tarkanan himself was trapped in the final siege of the city of Sharn alongside his consort, where the last of his troops had taken refuge from the massing forces of pre-Galifar Breland, House Deneith and House Cannith. When it became clear during the dragonmarked houses’ siege of the city that he and his followers were doomed, Lord Tarkanan, the Lady of the Plague and his other lieutenants
unleashed the full horrific magic of their aberrant dragonmarks—arcane power sufficient to destroy the entire city. Earthquakes shattered its towers, rivers of lava flowed up from the fiery lake deep beneath the city, hordes of vermin rose from the depths and terrible plagues ravaged those who ventured too close to the ruins. Many think even in the present day that the Lady of the Plague’s
death-curse still lingers in the depths of Sharn, the source of creatures such as the feral spirit, the roach thrall and the rancid beetle swarm . Those members
of the besieging armies who escaped the flames of Sharn’s fall were devoured by swarms of vermin or stricken down by deadly plagues. The War of the Mark was over—but Sharn had suffered greatly and was abandoned once more.
Despite the horrific conclusion of the War of the Mark, the dragonmarked houses had eliminated the only true potential rivals to their economic hold over Khorvaire and they began to assume the forms they hold at the present time. At the end of the conflict, Lord Hadran d’Cannith suggested that the dragonmarked houses formally cement their alliance by creating an arcane citadel—a center for research and the study of both arcane magic and the potential powers of the
dragonmarked heirs. Though there were only ten dragonmarked houses in existence at this time, the architect and artificer Alder d’Cannith convinced the committee to follow through on Hadran Cannith’s idea to name the new institute the Twelve, based on his belief that there were twelve true dragonmarks in addition to the lost Mark of Death. Alder was a brilliant man whose works had
played a critical role in the War of the Mark and the members of the committee humored him— though few expected the remaining two marks to eventually appear (the remaining two marks, Warding and Finding, were not “discovered” until after the formation of the Kingdom of Galifar). The new institute was constructed as a ziggurat that mystically floated above the city of Korth in
Karrnath.
In the beginning of its existence, the Twelve played a critical role in shaping the
dragonmarked houses’ development, but as the houses grew in power and spread across the continent, its influence diminished. Nonetheless, the Twelve remains one of the premier centers for arcane magical research in Khorvaire. By combining the skills and mystical talents of the different dragonmarks, the wizards and artificers of the Twelve have created remarkable items. It took the
combined skills of House Orien, House Cannith and House Kundarak to create the magical safe- deposit vaults that allow House Kundarak’s customers to deposit goods at one bank and withdraw them across the continent. Airships, the lightning rail, even the warforged—these marvels could not have come into being without the spirit of cooperation and discovery found among the Twelve.