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The First Dragonmarks Appear

Metaphysical / Paranormal event

2200AS

The first dragonmarks appeared among the intelligent races of Khorvaire over three thousand years ago.


The first dragonmarks appeared among the intelligent races of Khorvaire over three thousand years ago. For centuries, the dragons and other explorers of Eberron had known that Prophecy marks were formed by such seemingly random forces as coral growth, lava flows, and earthquakes. These were always the symbols of the draconic Prophecy studied by the dragons of Argonessen. Yet beginning three thousand years ago, such symbols, called dragonmarks, began to appear on the bodies of various related lineages of elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, humans, and half-orcs. Like the earlier Prophecy marks, the dragonmarks represented primal forces that were tied to both the thirteen moons of Eberron and the planes of existence. As such, a dragonmarked heir was actually a pawn of the Prophecy: a tool that could be used to shape the future. The dragons could no longer ignore the “lesser races”—that they were intended to play a greater role in the Prophecy had now been made manifest by the will of the Progenitors.   Among the first dragonmarks to appear was the Mark of Hospitality among the nomadic halflings of the Talenta Plains, which eventually lead to the formation of House Ghallanda twelve hundred years later during the time of Karrn the Conqueror (see below). For those accustomed to the hard life of the plains, the powers of the mark were a real boon. The halflings knew nothing of the draconic Prophecy and concluded instead that the dragonmarks were a divine blessing and that those so blessed were obliged to use this gift to help others in need. The majority of marked halflings chose to follow this call and came together to form a new tribe. A number of ancient Talenta legends involved blink dogs who came to the aid of stranded travelers and the tribe drew on this tradition when they adopted the name of Ghallanda, a word in the Halfling tongue that roughly translated into Common as “helpful hound who appears where needed the most.” For centuries after the development of the mark, halflings of the Ghallanda tribe roamed the Talenta Plains, offering magically conjured food and shelter to the needy. They sponsored glorious feasts for the heroes of the plains, standing apart from feuds and tribal conflicts. The helpful hounds were welcome in every camp and assisted Talentans of all the tribes.   At the same time as the Mark of Hospitality was emerging in the Talenta Plains, the Mark of Shadow and the Mark of Death appeared among the elves of Aerenal. It was at this time that the dragonmarked families of elves began to use the d’ prefix before their surnames (as in d’Phiarlan) to indicate their marked status. This convention would later be adopted by all of the dragonmarked houses of Khorvaire after the War of the Mark.   The dragons watched in awe and horror as the Prophecy began to unfold among the “lesser races.” To deal with the emergence of the dragonmarks, younger dragons petitioned the Conclave ofArgonessen for the right to create an organization that would study and secretly interact with the peoples of Khorvaire to learn more about their role in the Prophecy. The Conclave gave its conditional approval for the creation of this organization of relatively young dragons—known as the Chamber—and for the creation of a territory where its members could operate that was formed from the Vast of Argonessen. This area was renamed the Tapestry. The Chamber became a highly influential—and almost completely secret—power group in the political affairs of Khorvaire over the next three millennia, seeking to manipulate the common races of Khorvaire to bring about certain outcomes of the Prophecy. But even the members of the Chamber sometimes pursued wildly different agendas.   The dragonmarked families would eventually form themselves into noble houses that were the most important elements in the magical economy of the continent of Khorvaire. Communications, transport, crafting, animal husbandry, and security—the cornerstones of Eberron’s pseudo-medieval economy were all effectively owned by the dragonmarked houses. The wealth and influence of the present-day dragonmarked houses extend far beyond the power of the dragonmarks, however. Though the unique magical abilities of the Mark of Making might have given House Cannith smiths an edge over their mundane competitors in centuries past, the spell-like abilities of the dragonmarked were hardly novel in a society where divine clerics, artificers, magewrights, and other spellcasters were far from rare. However, it was the carefully crafted histories and reputations of the dragonmarked houses in future centuries that was responsible for their commercial dominance in present-day Khorvaire. The skillful manipulation of magic and artifice allowed the houses to use their marked heirs as the keys by which even greater magic was controlled. House Sivis’ speaking stones, the lightning rail of House Orien, the airships of House Lyrandar, and the creation forges of HouseCannith all kept the dragonmarked houses at the center of Khorvaire’s economic, military and social development. As a result, the dragonmarked would come to enjoy a status in Khorvaire that “mundane” wizards and artificers could never match.

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History of Eberron