Ask the DREAMING DARK

A Source of Inspiration 

Disclaimer: Eberron is property of Wizards of the Coast. I am not an employee of Wizards of the Coast, and any answers given here are in no way sanctioned by Wizards of the Coast. This is NOT official material, and may be contradicted in future Eberron sourcebooks or articles. My answers are in this forum my opinions and reflect how I might run a situation in MY personal campaign – nothing more.  

September 6, 2006

Q: Why did you decide to make House Cannith human instead of Dwarf?  The dwarves seem to fit a 'crafty' type house a little better than humans. What was the reasoning to not make House Cannith either Dwarven or even Gnomish?

There are so many different ways to answer this question that I'm honestly not sure how to begin.

First, I'd have to challenge the concept that humans are not "crafty". After all, if you look at OUR history, you'll find that almost every brilliant discovery or innovation has been made by a human! Looking to myth and folklore, dwarves and elves are often presented as having skills beyond those of any human artisan. And even in Eberron, the Mror dwarves are said to be master smiths and masons. But while humans may not have the same exacting attention to detail that Aereni or Mror craftsmen do, humans are more likely to innovate… to break traditions. And that's a significant part of the idea of House Cannith. From Edison to Einstein, humans are capable of doing great things – and the artificers of House Cannith are amazing innovators, if not necessarily the best craftsmen.

By contrast, the Mror Dwarves are skilled with hammer and forge, but are not presented as being especially innovative. They are stoic, standoffish, concerned with defending their vast wealth from outsiders. In part, I personally was inspired by Tolkien's words in The Hobbit: "… a fierce and a jealous love, the desires of the hearts of dwarves." The Mark of Warding allows the dwarves to protect what is theirs, both the golden hoards that lie under the mountains and their mines and fortresses. 

And gnomes? Despite their talents for alchemy and elemental binding, the gnomes are not the tinkers found in other settings. First and foremost, the gnomes are concerned with knowledge… and communication is a vital part of that. Words are the weapons of the gnomes, and as such, the Mark of Scribing is a good match for the Zil.

And with THAT said, it was never the intention to match the marks to create some sort of super race-class-mark synergy. After all, the archetypal rogue is a halfling… but it's the elves who get the Mark of Shadows, while halflings have Hospitality and Healing (both of which are quite useful for primitive nomads!). Frankly, I like the fact that there is no single perfect artificer. Play a human artificer and you have the chance to be in Cannith and take the Mark of Making. Play a warforged artificer and you can infuse yourself, and explore the idea of the construct that is studying the principles that give it life. Play a dwarf artificer and you can be the magical smith you have in mind. All three are equally valid… though as Charisma is a useful ability for artificers, both dwarf and warforged take another slight hit there.   

The races of Eberron diverge from traditional archetypes. Halfling barbarians. The militant Tairnadal elves. The orc Gatekeepers. The image of the dwarf mage-smith has mythic resonance, and there are gifted dwarf artificers and magewrights in Eberron; if you check the features page, the magewright Golan Dol is a dwarf, and he's one of the best smiths of the age. But House Cannith is a house of innovation and change – and humans have always had a knack for that. 

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