House Orien

The House that the Lightning Rail built. While the lightning rail may be what House Orien is most famous for, it is not the only method of transportation that the dragonmarked heirs have at their disposal. From horse to rail to teleportation, the Mark of Passage has provided these humans with the ability to move people and products throughout the Five Nations. But their history is a complicated one. At their pinnacle, they controlled all methods of transportation in Khovaire. The bottom came as a result of the Mourning and the loss of Orien's three routes at Metrol, the crossroads of Khorvaire.
House Orien bears the Mark of Passage and maintains both the Courier and Transportation Guilds. Orien's heirs are well-traveled and widely spread, rivaling Houses Tharashk and Ghallanda in those regards. Of their marked heirs, barely a tenth of them (roughly a thousand) make any permanent residence, most of them at the headquarters of Journey's End in Passage, or various royal courts. A sizable majority of the House live and work on the Transportation guild caravans directly, either as drivers, mail carriers or vanguards. As Orien caravans tend to stick to fixed routes, most of Orien caravaneers and Rail-workers tend to remain within a single geographical region, even if they change cities each night.

Agriculture & Industry

House Orien runs the Courier's Guild and Transportation Guild, shipping packages and people across the continent. Using the Mark of Passage, a Marked heir can speed the journey of themselves and their mounts, ignore dangerous and difficult terrain, and make journeys nobody else can. The modern House relies on vehicles, however - their Mark allows the control of the Lightning Rail, and attuning to the engine allows them to speed the carriages fast enough to skim across the conductor stones. The greatest of the marked heirs, however, can warp space directly, allowing them to teleport between their enclaves, along with a handful of high priority goods and travellers. 
For land travel, rail and caravan prices are extremely reasonable, provided one is willing to go where house Orien is already headed. Caravan hubs exist across the entirety of the Five Nations, making regular stops between all major cities and many minor towns, especially where the lightning rail doesn't cover. In addition, major caravan lines connect the Eldeen Reaches, Zilargo, Talenta Plains and Droaam. Some (but not all) caravans are willing to allow armed adventurers ride for free, in exchange for their services in detering bandits.
Rail lines cover the Five Nations, connecting Breland, Aundair, Thrane and Zilargo across several lines. In the east, Karrnath's major cities connect to Gatherhold in the Talenta Plains, and a separate line connects the Mror Holds down into Karrnath. The east and west are entirely disconnected now, however, with the loss of the White Arch bridge between Thaliost and Rekkenmark during the Last War, and the loss of Cyre's lines that connected Vathirond to Vedykar in the Mourning. While Orien has established a ferry between Thaliost and Rekkenmark, volume is severely limited along this route. Political tensions in Aundair over Thaliost's status have prevented the bridge from being repaired, while the presence of the Mournlands renders the Cyre lines unusable to passengers.

The House also offers courier and shipping services for priority messages and packages. House Sivis can communicate a message, but it requires going through a Sivis message station's operators, and House Lyrandar's transport options are not widespread enough to be reliable, so House Orien still holds dominance here. Depending on the speed needed, one can hire a mounted courier, a Marked courier who can traverse off-road terrain, an air courier travelling on flying creatures, or pay for a small amount of goods to be teleported between Orien enclaves.

Leader:
Baron Zellandria d'Orien
(Formerly Kwanti d'Orien)
Headquarters:
Journey's End, Passage, Aundair

Notable Members

• Zellandria d'Orien