Post by Ashurr on May 14, 2011 0:39:26 GMT -5
1,975 YK
The Founding of the City of Sharn:
While a wave of human settlers from Sarlona
eventually followed Lhazaar’s expedition to Khorvaire’s eastern shores, these brave people did not stop there. They soon pushed inland and explored their new continent’s northern and southern coasts seeking fertile land to settle and new kingdoms to establish. As a result, Malleon the Reaver, another Rhiavhaaran pirate from Sarlona, discovered the inlet of the Dagger River in southwestern Khorvaire twenty-five years after Lhazaar’s historic arrival. Malleon enslaved the goblins he discovered there hiding in the Dhakaani ruins of Duur’shaarat and built a fortress within those ruins on the bluff above
the river.
Malleon, a superstitious man, hoped to make peace with whatever spirits remained in the ruins of the once-great Dhakaani city. He sealed off the deeper levels of the goblin-made mountain- monoliths that had been the home of the majority of the hobgoblins and he named the new human city Shaarat, deriving the name from the the stories of Ja’shaarat told by his goblin slaves.
Over the next six hundred years, Shaarat grew into a powerful and wealthy city. Around -1,400 YK, Breggor, the first king of the nation of Wroat that would eventually become the Kingdom of Breland, demanded that Shaarat bow to his authority. Malleon’s descendants, who were the lords of the city, refused. A long siege followed, ending when King Breggor ordered his wizards to rain down magical destruction on Shaarat, destroying the city once more.
Breggor wanted the city on the Dagger River for his own and he did not allow the place to remain ruined for long. Within a decade of the siege of Shaarat, Breggor renamed the city Sharn. For the next eight hundred years, until the outbreak of the War of the Mark in -1,500 YK, Sharn’s towers began to rise along the bluffs of the river and the city flourished along with the rest of the Five Nations.
–1,800 YK
House Sivis is Born:
The Mark of Scribing appeared among the gnomes of Zilargo in southern Khorvaire almost twenty-eight hundred years ago. The society of Zilargo, the nation of gnomes established on Khorvaire millennia before humans arrived, had long revolved around noble houses: alliances of families wielding great social and political power. Sivis was an established gnome house even before the Mark of Scribing began to appear among its members. Though the dragonmark originally manifested in only a few of the bloodlines within the house, it later spread to all of the families who composed House Sivis. The gnomes of Zilargo, like the elves of Aerenal, were immigrants from Thelanis, a race touched by fey magic and driven by curiousity. The bards and sages
of Sivis worked quickly to unlock their mark’s full potential. Recognizing the risk of being ostracized for the power they held, the Sivis dragonmarked also sought to make themselves useful to Zil society, even as they distanced themselves from the politics of those they served. In this, they laid the
foundation for what would become the standard for the dragonmarked houses across Khorvaire: mercantile forces whose political neutrality increased their commercial power.
Within a few centuries of the Mark of Scribing’s appearance, House Sivis spread to other lands, where its heirs’ skills as translators and linguists proved invaluable to the young human nations of Khorvaire. Many Sivis gnomes claimed that their house was responsible for the refinement and spread of the Common tongue and alphabet from the Old Common of the earliest human migrants from Sarlona. As House Sivis spread beyond Zilargo, it made contact with the leaders of the newly created dragonmarked houses, helping to establish the common traditions shared by all of the houses to this day. As time passed, Sivis would play a critical role in discovering new dragonmarked
bloodlines and helping the younger houses establish a foothold in the world. Of all the houses, Sivis has historically had the most interest in the draconic Prophecy and the role of the dragonmarked houses within it. Ever since Alder d’Cannith’s assertion after the War of the Mark that twelve
contemporary dragonmarks would one day be found in Eberron (see below), the sages of Sivis searched for the missing marks. Despite its influence, House Sivis never sought to dominate the other houses, instead working to be a friend and ally to all of them. Of course, the gnomes were a subtle people who knew more about political scheming than the human race could ever dream and many dragonmarked heirs wondered if the vaunted neutrality of House Sivis was not a mask shrouding a far-reaching hidden agenda to become the puppet-masters of all Khorvaire.
The Founding of the City of Sharn:
While a wave of human settlers from Sarlona
eventually followed Lhazaar’s expedition to Khorvaire’s eastern shores, these brave people did not stop there. They soon pushed inland and explored their new continent’s northern and southern coasts seeking fertile land to settle and new kingdoms to establish. As a result, Malleon the Reaver, another Rhiavhaaran pirate from Sarlona, discovered the inlet of the Dagger River in southwestern Khorvaire twenty-five years after Lhazaar’s historic arrival. Malleon enslaved the goblins he discovered there hiding in the Dhakaani ruins of Duur’shaarat and built a fortress within those ruins on the bluff above
the river.
Malleon, a superstitious man, hoped to make peace with whatever spirits remained in the ruins of the once-great Dhakaani city. He sealed off the deeper levels of the goblin-made mountain- monoliths that had been the home of the majority of the hobgoblins and he named the new human city Shaarat, deriving the name from the the stories of Ja’shaarat told by his goblin slaves.
Over the next six hundred years, Shaarat grew into a powerful and wealthy city. Around -1,400 YK, Breggor, the first king of the nation of Wroat that would eventually become the Kingdom of Breland, demanded that Shaarat bow to his authority. Malleon’s descendants, who were the lords of the city, refused. A long siege followed, ending when King Breggor ordered his wizards to rain down magical destruction on Shaarat, destroying the city once more.
Breggor wanted the city on the Dagger River for his own and he did not allow the place to remain ruined for long. Within a decade of the siege of Shaarat, Breggor renamed the city Sharn. For the next eight hundred years, until the outbreak of the War of the Mark in -1,500 YK, Sharn’s towers began to rise along the bluffs of the river and the city flourished along with the rest of the Five Nations.
–1,800 YK
House Sivis is Born:
The Mark of Scribing appeared among the gnomes of Zilargo in southern Khorvaire almost twenty-eight hundred years ago. The society of Zilargo, the nation of gnomes established on Khorvaire millennia before humans arrived, had long revolved around noble houses: alliances of families wielding great social and political power. Sivis was an established gnome house even before the Mark of Scribing began to appear among its members. Though the dragonmark originally manifested in only a few of the bloodlines within the house, it later spread to all of the families who composed House Sivis. The gnomes of Zilargo, like the elves of Aerenal, were immigrants from Thelanis, a race touched by fey magic and driven by curiousity. The bards and sages
of Sivis worked quickly to unlock their mark’s full potential. Recognizing the risk of being ostracized for the power they held, the Sivis dragonmarked also sought to make themselves useful to Zil society, even as they distanced themselves from the politics of those they served. In this, they laid the
foundation for what would become the standard for the dragonmarked houses across Khorvaire: mercantile forces whose political neutrality increased their commercial power.
Within a few centuries of the Mark of Scribing’s appearance, House Sivis spread to other lands, where its heirs’ skills as translators and linguists proved invaluable to the young human nations of Khorvaire. Many Sivis gnomes claimed that their house was responsible for the refinement and spread of the Common tongue and alphabet from the Old Common of the earliest human migrants from Sarlona. As House Sivis spread beyond Zilargo, it made contact with the leaders of the newly created dragonmarked houses, helping to establish the common traditions shared by all of the houses to this day. As time passed, Sivis would play a critical role in discovering new dragonmarked
bloodlines and helping the younger houses establish a foothold in the world. Of all the houses, Sivis has historically had the most interest in the draconic Prophecy and the role of the dragonmarked houses within it. Ever since Alder d’Cannith’s assertion after the War of the Mark that twelve
contemporary dragonmarks would one day be found in Eberron (see below), the sages of Sivis searched for the missing marks. Despite its influence, House Sivis never sought to dominate the other houses, instead working to be a friend and ally to all of them. Of course, the gnomes were a subtle people who knew more about political scheming than the human race could ever dream and many dragonmarked heirs wondered if the vaunted neutrality of House Sivis was not a mask shrouding a far-reaching hidden agenda to become the puppet-masters of all Khorvaire.