Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ithilorien 04-20-05, 12:54 AM	This is long, so here's the short of it: Not all Dragonmarked House members bear the mark, yes? A non-marked parent can engender marked offspring, right? The child of an excoriate may be welcomed back into their parent's home, correct? Do I recall correctly that Dragonmarks are not present at birth, but manifest in later life, usually in response to stress? I'm going to be playing in my first Eberron game soon, and was toying with the idea of making a half-elf dragonmarked bard from House Phiarlan. Wanting to throw in a little tragic history (and mildly inspired by Lei) I thought it might be interesting to add in some flirting with excoriate status. Relevant information: the campaign begins in Sharn. So I don't have to try and roleplay extensive knowledge of the city I'd like the character's history to place him there as a new arrival. I was thinking: The character's mother was an elven daughter of house Phiarlan, and an exceptionally talented bard in her own right, despite her lack of the mark. She fell in love with a dashing human bard and eloped with him, expecting to live out a life of passion and music only to find herself abandoned and pregnant after the 'wedding' night. For this act of rebellion, and because she bore the bastard child of someone not of House Phiarlan (and worse yet, a human) she was excoriated. Fast forward a couple of years and my character has been raised up alone by his mother, who has made her living as a traveling minstrel. Surrounded with music even in the womb and trained in bardic lore, magic, and music since before he could walk he managed even to surpass his mother in talent. Unfortunately, in the winter just before his 21st birthday she catches ill and dies. As a result of his grief he manifests the Mark of Shadow. Not wanting a wayward bearer of the Mark wandering Khorvaire, and considering that the child himself has done nothing wrong, House Phiarlan welcomes him with open arms and brings him to Sharn to be indoctrinated into life as a member of the clan. This work?
ekomega 04-20-05, 01:17 AM	1) If your DM allows it. 2) Since half-elves are their own true breeding race, something clearly happens when the human material interacts with the elven material. I believe this precludes the possibility of dragonmarks passing from human to half-elf or elf to half-elf. However, see point number one.
Tanvalis 04-20-05, 01:24 AM	Yeah, I'd have to agree... if you're DM allows it then sure... but from what I understand about the Dragonmarks it's more than just genetics that allows one to be passed on. Otherwise half-elves would be able to represent ALL of the dragonmarks of the humans, elves, and half-elves. The only mark I've seen have more than one race was the mark of finding that can have orcs, half-orcs, and humans... why that is I don't know, but it is.
Vharuck 04-20-05, 03:09 AM	Correct. Dragonmarks can only appear on the single race (two races for Tharashk) they are listed as. It's not only genetic. It may be magic. Nobody knows what it is. But they have noticed that it follows certain rules.
Setherial 04-20-05, 07:02 AM	You could make it an aberrant mark, ofcourse the house would never accept you back but I don't see them excepting you in the first place since you are only half of their bloodline, a corruption they would never allow to mix with their blood again. This will open up some very interesting roleplaying opportunities for you and your DM. cheers D
JohnnyONeal 04-20-05, 09:15 AM	I like this concept. It's not technically "allowed" under the rules, but I see no reason why a DM wouldn't make an exception for you. So my first instinct is to tell you to just ignore the rules in this case. However: The character's mother was an elven daughter of house Phiarlan, and an exceptionally talented bard in her own right, despite her lack of the mark. She fell in love with a dashing human bard and eloped with him, expecting to live out a life of passion and music only to find herself abandoned and pregnant after the 'wedding' night. For this act of rebellion, and because she bore the bastard child of someone not of House Phiarlan (and worse yet, a human) she was excoriated. I'm just not seeing this as an offense that would result in excoriation. Marrying an evil nymph, sure. That's making the house look bad. Marrying a member of another dragonmarked house? That's about as bad as it gets. But marrying a human who's also in your line of work? I see them giving her nothing more than a slap on the hand. Of course, part of that is because the resulting half-elf child shouldn't be able to manifest a mark... A simple twist to the story that would keep it well within the rules is if the father were a member of House Thuranni. Of course, that means your character would have to be an elf. :)
ieattrollsforbreakfast 04-20-05, 11:48 AM	I agree with Johnny's thoughts on this. Marrying outside of the house isn't an offense, it only increases its size. However, marrying to another house is an offense, so you could keep the tragic part of the background there by having her marry another dragonmark heir. However, marrying into a different race reduces chances of bearing marked children, so his mother may be urged not to go through with it, but wouldnt be excoriated. The other issue is the half-elven child. Despite having a Phiarlan parent, as a half-elf you wont be able to manifest a mark. How about making the father a half-elf? Depending on your DM's views on genetics in D&D, you might be able to play into the interacial stigma, but still be an elf.
Euangelion 04-20-05, 02:28 PM	The Khoravar (half-elves) Dragonshard details what races half-elf, elf, and human unions produce. Human + half-elf = 50% chance either human or half-elf. All other combinations, including elf + half-elf, always produce a half-elf. Of course, a GM can always make adjustmants to suite their own campaign.
Vharuck 04-20-05, 08:49 PM	See, I don't think the DM should forego the race rules here, as I believe that the secret of the Dragonmarks is something Keith created with a distinct reason in mind. And he went out of his way in saying how they work. Since they may tie into the hundreds of other mysteries of the world, I opt to leave well enough alone.
Ithilorien 04-20-05, 11:56 PM	Okay apparently I misconstrued the description under the "Dragonmarks" section of the half-elf blurb on page 16, where it says: SInce the union of elves and humans sometimes produces half-elves that are not part of the true-breeding race, a small number of half-elves can be found among the human- and elf-controlled dragonmarked houses. My understanding was that as it made a note of half-elves in both human- and elf-controlled dragonmarked houses under the part describing half-elven dragonmarks it meant to imply that half-elves could bear the mark of any house they were born into. Apparently I was wrong which is to be expected considering I haven't actually read the book cover-to-cover, just bits and pieces that seem relevant at the time. Thank you for your help, everyone.
Gurv 04-21-05, 07:53 AM	My understanding was that as it made a note of half-elves in both human- and elf-controlled dragonmarked houses under the part describing half-elven dragonmarks it meant to imply that half-elves could bear the mark of any house they were born into. Apparently I was wrong which is to be expected considering I haven't actually read the book cover-to-cover, just bits and pieces that seem relevant at the time. An honest mistake. That section is meant to remind people that not only are some members of the dragonmarked houses born without dragonmarks, but also that the dragonmarked houses employ members who are not even of the same race. Half-elves are especially likely to be found in this "unmarked member of a different race" role, due to the fact that a marked human could have an unmarked half-elven child. But half-elves are incapable of bearing any marks other than the Mark of the Storm and the Mark of Detection.