Building My Dungeons and Dragons World Part 11: Dragonmarks
Introduction
So I lied. While beginning to do an article on dwarfs, I came across a subrace of dwarves called the Mark of Warding. After digging, I discovered that the Mark of Warding is one of several dragonmarks from the Eberron Campaign series. While their original lore is related to Eberron, they were too good an opportunity to miss since I have two continents dedicated to dragons. So I decided to give them an article dedicated to them and those with them.
These subraces will not be covered in blogs about their races, but they may get a string of blogs dedicated to them later. Without further ado, let's get into it.
Dragonmarks
So in the original lore, the Dragonmarks are the physical manifestation of the Draconic Prophecy, a record of everything that has happened since creation. There is much more lore than this once I begin to look into the dragons that study this prophecy, but that is all tied to the original world that Wizards of the Coast created.
In my world, I want to make the origins of the dragonmarks a mystery. The marks are called dragonmarks because they originated inside the Metallic Union, but the dragons have no idea why they exist or what they mean.
I also want to tie it to the non-draconic members of the Metallic Union society. There are a variety of races that live alongside dragons and dragonborn. The dragonmarks will identify the significant houses of these races, making them the pillars of the non-draconic community.
From here, we return back to the mechanics of the original lore. The dragonmarks are passed down through bloodlines, usually. There are thirteen of them that appear among seven races. Aberrant marks are born when people with two different marks have children. The marks manifest in adolescents and grow in complexity and size based on how powerful they are.
The House of Strongense
The Mark of Detection manifested in the House of Strogense, a family of half-elves. The mark gains its name from its ability to warn its users of dangers. Its weakest users can detect magic and poisons. The family uses their abilities to specialize in security jobs.
The family has gained a lot of power and respect due to their work with the many draconic clans. The metallic dragons enjoy their privacy and their oldest members are key figures in the Metallic Union, making them prime targets. But the family's greatest source of income comes from the northern border.
The Strogense family has a semi-private estate near the northern border. This estate acts as a forward operating base for the forces that patrol the border and a training camp for the members of their family members who have recently manifested their marks.
Many family members become druids, calling upon connections to natural forces to boost their abilities to find danger. This can take the form of animal companions, an innate connection to a natural environment, or even studying the stars for prophetic signs of danger.
The Locos Family
The Locos family has an interesting history. They are old, with some believing that they lived on the continent long before the Metallic Union was founded. Their recorded family history starts at the Fracturing of the Dragons. At that time, the family was actually half of a tribe, with the other half consisting of a tribe of orcs who resided in the eastern mountains with them.
When the Fracturing occurred and the metallic dragons began to take over the southern continent, the tribe was divided into two factions. The orcs wanted the resist the new government while the human didn't want to risk the wrath of the dragons. The half-orcs suffered the worst, as many were forced to take sides against fellow family members.
Things came to a head one night when an unusual guest came under the claim of seeking shelter for the night. When suspicion began to spread that the guest was a dragon in human form, the orcs attempted to murder their guest. The humans responded viciously, forming a protective ring around the guest. The brawl quickly escalated when weapons were drawn. The guest took action, revealing himself to be an actual silver dragon who was simply looking for a calm meal with others. This only served to harden the resolve of both sides into a bloody night of conflict. By daybreak, the silver dragon had taken the Locos family under its wing while the surviving orcs fled. To this day, the Silver Clan has made it its mission to protect the Locos family from harm.
When the Mark of Finding manifested in the Locos family, the Silver Clan agreed to act as security for the family's new agency, the Locos Searchers. While the humans and half-orcs use their abilities to hunt down whatever items or creatures the job calls for, a member of the Silver Clan accompanies them to watch their back. It is common for one protector to be permanently assigned to one member of the Locos Searchers, though they sometimes switch out if the situation is necessary.
The Amham Family
The Mark of Handling raised the Amham family to prominence. They were simple horse trainers before the manifestation of the mark. They were usually employed by showmen and cavalry riders. The Mark of Handling allowed the family to expand into a wide array of animals, allowing them to diversify their clients.
The Amham family now has several animal-handling facilities across the Metallic Union, with races of every kind calling on their services for a variety of mounts. Beyond that, they are often called in to aid with founding and launching new breeding centers. Unlike many of the other families, the Amham family has found employment overseas, and even under the sea. This makes them one of the few houses with international connections.
The Helifoots
The Helifoots are a family of halflings who has run clinics in the Metallic Union for a long time. They frequently worked alongside the followers of Bahamut to establish clinics in various population centers around the continent.
The manifestation of the Mark of Healing initially terrified the halfling doctors, who believed that they had either been cursed or caught an unknown illness. It was only after they discovered their newfound gifts that they began to relax.
That said, only some people in the family are comfortable with the mark. The Helifoots are the leading non-draconic authorities in researching the origins of the dragonmarks. Without knowing where the manifestations are coming from or the intentions of their original creators, the Helifoots are uncomfortable with simply letting the matter lie.
In the meantime, the family continues its business. The Helifoots continue to work alongside the churches of the Metallic Union to reach those in need. Some of the family members start up new clinics, some work with the clerics directly, and some attach with hero parties or the military as support volunteers. The family takes great pride in itself and the mark's ability to help others.
The Goodboughs
The Goodbough family is another family who came to prominence after their dragonmark began to manifest. Inns and restaurants are a dime a dozen in the world and competition is fierce. The family did have an inn in a major coastal city, but the inn was not well known.
The manifestation of the Mark of Hospitality gave the Goodboughs the edge they need to compete with their neighboring inns. This boom in business and popularity then gave them the funds to start one of the Metallic Union's first chain businesses. Officially named the Goodbough Inns, it has become common to refer to them as the Good Inns, a joke lost on those outside the country.
Outside of the official family business chain, the Goodboughs have become well-known in other circles for their abilities. The mark has led to many of them becoming good servants and chefs across the Metallic Union, serving the upper class, the clans, and even the dragons themselves.
The Rema Family
The Rema family had already proven themselves as capable craftsmen and repairmen long before the Mark of Making manifested. Fletchers, blacksmiths, toolsmiths, and even artificers. They were a well-known family and considered one of the greats among craftsmen.
The Mark of Making not only increased their natural abilities, but it gave them a unique avenue. Members of the Rema family began to train in combat, developing their own combat style based on their ability to summon items magically. While most members were susceptible to anything that dispelled magic, the most powerful uses were able to create items immune to even this. This ability allowed them to branch out from just being craftsmen into being soldiers, rogues, and even artificers. If it weren't for the rarity of the siberys mark, the Rema family would be a terrifying force.
The Passan Family
The Passan family was another human family whose mark made them into the successful family they are today. Originally owning a small ranch on the edge of a city in the Metallic Union, they were not even well known in their own community. The manifestation of the Mark of Passage allowed them to go from being simple ranchers to one of the top courier businesses in the community.
Their business is not without its flaws. Since it is a family business, there is only a limited number of jobs that they can take at one time. This rarity, while bad for more commercial businesses that rely on consistency, has made them a unique asset for the Metallic Union and the various draconic clans. The family is often called upon to transport important messages and goods between powerful members of society.
The work is not without its risks, however. Only the most powerful members of the family can transport a security escort alongside them. The weaker members must either slow down or travel without security, leading to the Passan family requesting that its members be given military training if they are going into the family business. The Metallic Union has agreed to the request, acknowledging the risks.
The Loudpitches
The Loudpitche family name has gained international attention. With the Mark of Scribing, the family found a nitch in the communication business as translators and mediators, with their strongest members working directly with the Metallic Union and the Clans. They often appear at meetings with foreign powers, leading foreign nations to associate the Loudpitches with the Metallic Union.
The family often works alongside the Passan family, leading to close business ties between the two. The Metallic Union and the Clans have often asked the two families to work in tandem with each other when they need to send important messages together. Since these messages are usually critical, the families have created tag teams out of their most powerful members. These tag teams are trained together by the military and will often be found hanging out together outside of assignments as well.
The Soreno Family
The Soreno family is the last human family on this list to receive a dragonmark. The family is mostly composed of druids, though not every member of the family takes this path. This lead the family to seek a largely isolated lifestyle. When the dargonmarks manifested in other families across the Metallic Union, they were unaware of what was happening. The family sought out communities when they began to see the mark manifesting in their own family.
Similar to the House of Strongense, the Soreno family utilizes their druidic origins to boost the gifts granted to them by the mark. But while the House of Strongense gifts are geared toward finding things, the Soreno family's gifts are geared towards protection.
While most families united to form a strong family with their newfound powers, the Soreno family was soon divided. Many members of the family sought to use their gifts to remain isolated from society. Others believed their gifts were meant to be shared and help others. This division has not been mended, instead leading to the family going their separate ways, each viewing the other with anger and disdain.
The main family uses their gifts to protect homelands from harm, usually from rogue groups or wandering tribes of evil races. They have become like a military unit, working off each other to defend each other while using their druidic abilities to go on the offensive.
The rest of the family has become heavily incorporated into society through a variety of professions. Some are adventurers, some are guards or professional bodyguards, and some have even created their own divisions in the military. All refuse to acknowledge the main family's existence in hiding, to the point where younger generations are even unaware of the main family's existence.
The Evershadows
The Metallic Union may be under the leadership of the benevolent metallic dragons, but that does not make it immune to crime. The criminal underworld was always well hidden but was never organized. Criminal groups would often fight each other over industries and territories, often leaving them vulnerable to heroes and the law overall.
When the dragonmarks began manifesting, the name Evershadows began to spread. The name spread steadily outwards, as one criminal group after another was either absorbed or annihilated. After a while though, as the Evershadows solidified their control over the criminal underworld, their names disappeared from the public eye.
Officially, the Evershadows are an organized force that seeks to wage war against criminals by engaging in similar tactics as them, fighting fire with fire. Unofficially, the Evershadows and the Clans held a secret meeting late one night. The various clans agreed to turn a blind eye to the Evershadows if the Evershadows agreed to help them deal with anything that put the Metallic Union at risk.
The House of Stoso
The House of Stoso is a family of half-elves with a unique specialty. The family has strong ties to storms, rumored to have originated when a distant member was born during a fierce storm at sea. Whether or not the story is true, the House of Stoso has strong ties to both storms and the ocean. It was of little surprise when the Mark of Storm manifested in their family, further increasing their natural abilities.
The House of Stoso has strong ties with the Bronze Clan, uniting with them to build a naval force that guards the ports of the Metallic Union as well as designated shipping lanes. While the bronze dragons take to the skies and rain down lightning, the clan attacks from ships on the sea. Since members with the Mark are often immune to things like lightning, they can launch magical attacks without fear of getting hurt by their allies.
Their ties to the Bronze Fleet have given the House of Soto a militaristic mentality, with the members of the family expected to obey authority and do what's best for others. While it is not required for members of the family to join the Bronze Fleet, it is expected. Members of the family who don't are often looked down upon, or in the worst cases outright ostracised from the family.
The Ironforges
The Ironforges are a prominent family of dwarves in the Metallic Union. Before the manifestation of the dragonmarks, the dwarves worked alongside the rest of the races in the metallic union. The Ironhelms were broadly known for being opposed to this union, unwilling to distinguish between the metallic dragons and their chromatic brothers in the north. These claims are based on a history of terror.
During the fracturing, the Ironforges lost their home to one of the northern dragons, with their treasures taken and their city burned. Their mountain home was roughly a day's walk from where the border between the dragon nations would be drawn just a couple of years later. The Ironforges desperately want their mine and home back, but the Metallic Union believes that doing so would risk starting a war with the Chromatic Warlords. This answer has led to animosity between most of the family and the dragons.
The manifestation of the dragonmarks has only antagonized the situation further. The Ironforge family gained the Mark of Warding, allowing them to better protect their new home from intruders. The problem is that the family has used their connections to gain ownership of one the biggest iron mines in the Metallic Union. While this wasn't originally a problem, when the marks manifested, the family used their new powers to cut off the rest of the Union's iron supply. The Metallic Dragons and the Clans have attempted to negotiate with the family, but the dwarves only want their old home back. The Union refuses to instigate a war but also doesn't want to take back the mine by force.
But all things are complicated. Many members of the family have left the mine, believing the main family is wrong. These family members have become invaluable to the security of the clans, working alongside and unofficially adopted by both the Strongense and the Soreno families. All parties know that these family members could end the stand-off, but are seeking alternatives to putting these family members in a bad situation unless entirely necessary.
The Solothreth
Officially, there was never a thirteenth mark that manifested in society. There was never a family of elves known as the Solothreth. That family definitely didn't practice necromancy and attempted to aid one of the Chromatic Warlords of the North with creating a dracolich. The Metallic Union never officially mobilized both the clans and the Evershadows. Those forces were never deployed to Solothreth homes across the Union. Those forces did not systematically purge all bearers of the Mark of Death and their families.
What officially happened was that the Evershadows went to war with the Solothreth family for control of the criminal underworld. In a single bloody night, the families waged a secret war in the city streets. The Evershadows came out successful, suffering major casualties and forcing the clans to have a meeting with them to avoid further violence in the future.
Aberrant Dragonmarks
Whatever force created the original dragonmarks is still active. Aberrant dragonmarks are dragonmarks that appear on people outside the main twelve families. These marks were originally believed to be signs of infidelity with members of the family, but they are too frequent and widespread for that to be the case. Additionally, it has drawn the attention of the families, the clans, and the dragons. They are unsure how to respond to these aberrant marks, but try their best to incorporate and teach these "aberrant" to maintain the society they have built.
Conclusion
So that was the dragonmarks. It was so tempting at some points to keep the original family names from the Eberron book, but I figured that if I was going to change the stories and histories behind the families, then I should change their names as well. I really wanted to take this chance to build some unique families and provide some unique elements to one of my cultures to differentiate them from the other societies.
You may have noticed that I missed posting last week. This was an unintentional schedule change, but also probably a permanent one. I am going to start uploading a blog entry in this series once every other week instead of weekly. This will hopefully allow me to avoid burnout and produce better articles. Provided there are no more surprises for me, the next article should be on the dwarves. So I will see you in two weeks.
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