House Sivis is Born

Founding

The bloodlines of sivis are founded.

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 curiosity. 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.