Info about the War of the Mark? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Info about the War of the Mark? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Ibbins
06-21-05, 08:15 PM I've taken a great interest lately in Dragonmarks (mainly due to Ussie's thread about Aberrant Marks), and now I'm looking for any info I can find on the War of the Mark. Problem is, I can't find anything about it in the ECS except for a brief mention of it in the Timeline. I need guidance.
ChronosCrow
06-22-05, 04:59 AM I don't know a major amount and I don't think I can cite them all. (Edit: it turns out that I do know a major amount, atleast I'd like to think so in comparison to what has actually been released as cannon material ). I only know a few small tidbits, some I feel only DM's need to know b/c I'm just that kind of purist.

The most written about element is Lord Tarkanan and the War's relation to Sharn, also specifically the "House Tarkanan." All the base information you can find on "House Tarkanan" can be found on page 154 of the book "Sharn: City of Towers." It's probably not good for me to type up all of it here, but it's a really useful book and I highly recommend the $29 for the book. Now, the house itself is not really a remnant from the War of the Mark, it's mostly inspiried the events of it and by Lord Tarkanan, but is a really great DM tool for introduction for things connected that section of the past.

On page 28 in "Sharn: City of Towers" you can also find a rather bigger section about the mix between "Sharn and the War of the mark".

About Lord Tarkanan, (full name: Lord Halas Tarkanan) Information on him I can't quite pin down where I heard about. But, I think I know what most people know about him. The aberrant and mixed marks eventually formed their own loose kind of organization in a way. I don't know the particularities of the group, if they were strict, strong, weak, and if all of the aberrant mixed even wanted to join. But it was these people that formed up the latter resistance versus what houses were around to crush them in the War of the Mark. Lord Tarkanan was their champion and leader I believe at the time during the War. He also had a Queen. Unfortunatly I forget her name and I can't find it now. In one of (or THE) ending moment(s) of the War of the Mark Lord Tarkanan and the Lady of the Plague used horrific magical forces. The ending result was the basic decimation of all of Sharn.

Lady of the Plague: there's a less info on her, but some is on page 28 of the SCoT. I may be wrong also about the Queen part. I have mixed my info up some, but I believe the Queen is also Lady of the Plauge. Lady of the Plauge is still rumored to exist in Sharn as a scary story to tell your kids to stay at home at night. She's chalked up to legend and superstition now, but the educated (in and out of game) venture guesses that she is still alive in some form (my guess is undead or hag) and she haunts the Depths of Sharn. She may even be the root cause of the terrible 'swarms' that haunt Sharn and certain plagues that infest the lower wards of Sharn itself.

If you look closely at the info on the history line in the ECS you'll also find out who took part in the War of the Mark and who didn't. Evidently at the time of the War not all of the houses and marks had actually appeared. The Mark of Passage (house Orien), the Mark of Handling (house Vadalis) and the Mark of Finding (which that being the last one "found" is ironic, house Tharashk) were all found and their respective houses created after the War of the Mark. Side tid bit about that fact. Lord Cannith was one of the main figures of the house and was an extremely quirky character and often attirbuted to being crazy. From the creation of the houses they were always considered to be 12 no matter how many actually physically existed. That happened at the very stern intentions of Lord Cannith.

The cause of the war is extremly apperant. On a wide scale when aberrants marks are used and approved they seem to become greatly feared by the general public and by others with power. The ultimate and entire decimation and dislike of the mark are evidense of that. Also the true history of House Tarkakanan found on page 154 of the SCoT is also evidence of that too.

I've toyed with my own idea of creating higher level abberant marks or a 5 lvl prestige class for them, but the evidence of it's true powers and origins makes me hold back on that idea. Also I scared my players with the implications of owning a mark very early on and they're afraid if they have one of them they're pretty much dead. Which in reality I think that's a great thing to instill in players to be afraid of a small feat, but in the end I did too good a job on that. So none of them have gotten one or seem to be interested.

There are also a few trace things mentioned about the War of the Mark on page 231 of the ECS.

And that about taps me out of information that I can think of right now. I bet plenty of people have ventured guesses and what not at the actual events of the War of the Mark.
PsionicMonk
06-22-05, 05:17 AM nice info, about scaring your players =p dont put too much fear into it, I mean you can cover up the mark with clothing, just so long that no one sees it. Or see you a abilty related to it. Unless you where a wizard then they probly wouldnt care either way. So while they are "Taboo" I dont think people are going to start mobbing the chr just because of it.

I always liked the idea of more powerful ab. marks, they give more use later on in the game.
ChronosCrow
06-22-05, 05:40 AM nice info, about scaring your players =p dont put too much fear into it, I mean you can cover up the mark with clothing, just so long that no one sees it. Or see you a abilty related to it. Unless you where a wizard then they probly wouldnt care either way. So while they are "Taboo" I dont think people are going to start mobbing the chr just because of it.

I always liked the idea of more powerful ab. marks, they give more use later on in the game.

Well I didn't really realize that they would be so scared of it. What happened: The PC's knew this smally noted NPC from their shared backgrounds. The guy was put into a situation where he had to get a way fast so he stole a small fraction of money from a small nameless keep in Breland. A house wanted to get in good with the keep so they put out a warrant for his capture. In the end, after his capture, it was discovered that he had a mark, unknown to anyone but the guy's dead family. In this situation it was likely that the house was going to get the guy killed rather than the usual locked up. So, that idea of death linked having a mark scared my players too much. In retrospect it should have been more prison time or something, but ah well. I can just talk to them and fix it. Otherwise that I highly agree with the "Taboo" idea. I just think that any person that gets in trouble with a house and has an aberrant mark that their penalty will come at a much higher price b/c of the stipulation and history behind the marks.
Ibbins
06-22-05, 02:56 PM Thanks for your help. I'll be off to buy Sharn soon then; I've heard it's an excellent book anyway.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ibbins 06-21-05, 08:15 PM	I've taken a great interest lately in Dragonmarks (mainly due to Ussie's thread about Aberrant Marks), and now I'm looking for any info I can find on the War of the Mark. Problem is, I can't find anything about it in the ECS except for a brief mention of it in the Timeline. I need guidance.
ChronosCrow 06-22-05, 04:59 AM	I don't know a major amount and I don't think I can cite them all. (Edit: it turns out that I do know a major amount, atleast I'd like to think so in comparison to what has actually been released as cannon material ). I only know a few small tidbits, some I feel only DM's need to know b/c I'm just that kind of purist. The most written about element is Lord Tarkanan and the War's relation to Sharn, also specifically the "House Tarkanan." All the base information you can find on "House Tarkanan" can be found on page 154 of the book "Sharn: City of Towers." It's probably not good for me to type up all of it here, but it's a really useful book and I highly recommend the $29 for the book. Now, the house itself is not really a remnant from the War of the Mark, it's mostly inspiried the events of it and by Lord Tarkanan, but is a really great DM tool for introduction for things connected that section of the past. On page 28 in "Sharn: City of Towers" you can also find a rather bigger section about the mix between "Sharn and the War of the mark". About Lord Tarkanan, (full name: Lord Halas Tarkanan) Information on him I can't quite pin down where I heard about. But, I think I know what most people know about him. The aberrant and mixed marks eventually formed their own loose kind of organization in a way. I don't know the particularities of the group, if they were strict, strong, weak, and if all of the aberrant mixed even wanted to join. But it was these people that formed up the latter resistance versus what houses were around to crush them in the War of the Mark. Lord Tarkanan was their champion and leader I believe at the time during the War. He also had a Queen. Unfortunatly I forget her name and I can't find it now. In one of (or THE) ending moment(s) of the War of the Mark Lord Tarkanan and the Lady of the Plague used horrific magical forces. The ending result was the basic decimation of all of Sharn. Lady of the Plague: there's a less info on her, but some is on page 28 of the SCoT. I may be wrong also about the Queen part. I have mixed my info up some, but I believe the Queen is also Lady of the Plauge. Lady of the Plauge is still rumored to exist in Sharn as a scary story to tell your kids to stay at home at night. She's chalked up to legend and superstition now, but the educated (in and out of game) venture guesses that she is still alive in some form (my guess is undead or hag) and she haunts the Depths of Sharn. She may even be the root cause of the terrible 'swarms' that haunt Sharn and certain plagues that infest the lower wards of Sharn itself. If you look closely at the info on the history line in the ECS you'll also find out who took part in the War of the Mark and who didn't. Evidently at the time of the War not all of the houses and marks had actually appeared. The Mark of Passage (house Orien), the Mark of Handling (house Vadalis) and the Mark of Finding (which that being the last one "found" is ironic, house Tharashk) were all found and their respective houses created after the War of the Mark. Side tid bit about that fact. Lord Cannith was one of the main figures of the house and was an extremely quirky character and often attirbuted to being crazy. From the creation of the houses they were always considered to be 12 no matter how many actually physically existed. That happened at the very stern intentions of Lord Cannith. The cause of the war is extremly apperant. On a wide scale when aberrants marks are used and approved they seem to become greatly feared by the general public and by others with power. The ultimate and entire decimation and dislike of the mark are evidense of that. Also the true history of House Tarkakanan found on page 154 of the SCoT is also evidence of that too. I've toyed with my own idea of creating higher level abberant marks or a 5 lvl prestige class for them, but the evidence of it's true powers and origins makes me hold back on that idea. Also I scared my players with the implications of owning a mark very early on and they're afraid if they have one of them they're pretty much dead. Which in reality I think that's a great thing to instill in players to be afraid of a small feat, but in the end I did too good a job on that. So none of them have gotten one or seem to be interested. There are also a few trace things mentioned about the War of the Mark on page 231 of the ECS. And that about taps me out of information that I can think of right now. I bet plenty of people have ventured guesses and what not at the actual events of the War of the Mark.
PsionicMonk 06-22-05, 05:17 AM	nice info, about scaring your players =p dont put too much fear into it, I mean you can cover up the mark with clothing, just so long that no one sees it. Or see you a abilty related to it. Unless you where a wizard then they probly wouldnt care either way. So while they are "Taboo" I dont think people are going to start mobbing the chr just because of it. I always liked the idea of more powerful ab. marks, they give more use later on in the game.
ChronosCrow 06-22-05, 05:40 AM	nice info, about scaring your players =p dont put too much fear into it, I mean you can cover up the mark with clothing, just so long that no one sees it. Or see you a abilty related to it. Unless you where a wizard then they probly wouldnt care either way. So while they are "Taboo" I dont think people are going to start mobbing the chr just because of it. I always liked the idea of more powerful ab. marks, they give more use later on in the game. Well I didn't really realize that they would be so scared of it. What happened: The PC's knew this smally noted NPC from their shared backgrounds. The guy was put into a situation where he had to get a way fast so he stole a small fraction of money from a small nameless keep in Breland. A house wanted to get in good with the keep so they put out a warrant for his capture. In the end, after his capture, it was discovered that he had a mark, unknown to anyone but the guy's dead family. In this situation it was likely that the house was going to get the guy killed rather than the usual locked up. So, that idea of death linked having a mark scared my players too much. In retrospect it should have been more prison time or something, but ah well. I can just talk to them and fix it. Otherwise that I highly agree with the "Taboo" idea. I just think that any person that gets in trouble with a house and has an aberrant mark that their penalty will come at a much higher price b/c of the stipulation and history behind the marks.
Ibbins 06-22-05, 02:56 PM	Thanks for your help. I'll be off to buy Sharn soon then; I've heard it's an excellent book anyway.