Eberron FAQ 9/25/2010: Emailbag

I’ve been traveling over the past week, and I have a great deal of work I need to do, so I haven’t had the time to address any of the longer subjects I want to get to. However, here’s my thoughts on a few questions sent my way. If you have questions, ping me at HellcowKeith on Twitter!

Would it be possible for a character to manifest dragonmarks from two or more houses? If not, why not?

It’s a basic principle of Eberron that anything is possible, if you want it to be possible. Perhaps the person in question is a living channel of the Prophecy and will in time develop all 13 marks; perhaps it’s the next step in evolution of the dragonmarks. So sure, it’s POSSIBLE… if the DM wants to make it part of the story.

With that said, it’s not NORMAL, and by canon, not something that has ever happened or is ever expected to happen. Dragonmarks are tied to specific bloodlines and specific races. What has been stated in the past is that when dragonmark bloodlines are mixed, the offspring may develop the mark of either one of the parent houses… but that far, far more often they will develop aberrant marks. In fact, this is the only reliable way to produce someone with an aberrant mark; other aberrants appear randomly without connection to bloodline. This has resulted in a strict taboo against relations between members of different dragonmarked houses.

So if it was my game, I wouldn’t allow multiple marks as a casual thing just because you like the Mark powers. It would be something that you had a good reason for and that you were prepared to have become a defining element of the campaign. It would be something that would mystify and in some cases terrify the established houses, the Chamber, and the Lords of Dust, and all of them would likely want to manipulate you, control you, or kill you. And I’d likely want it to be the foundation of your epic destiny. If you’re prepared for that? Sure, I’d probably let you have multiple dragonmarks. But it’s never happened before, and it would be an earth-shaking event.

How safe is it for humans to visit Droaam? Do they try to have some civilization and safety? Or is it uncontrolled?

I’d suggest you read my novel The Queen of Stone, which is set in Droaam; if you have a DDI account, you should also read the Backdrop: Graywall article. Quoting that article:

Droaam stands outside the Code of Galifar and the Treaty of Galifar. There is no uniform code of justice in Droaam; instead, the law lies solely in the hands of the designated representatives of the Daughters of Sora Kell.

So the short form is that the answer depends entirely on where you are and who you are. Sheshka is the ultimate authority within Cazhaak Draal, and if she decides to petrify you for drawing a sword, that’s her right. If she’s invited you to Cazhaak Draal as a guest, or if you come as a merchant or ambassador with an offer, she probably won’t petrify you because she’s not a savage and she is interested in building her influence; she’ll treat you with respect and order her subjects to do the same. On the other hand, if you’re arrogant adventurers who enter her realm without permission and slaughter a flock of cockatrices, you are trespassers and poachers who deserve to be punished harshly. If you enter the Watching Wood, the Dark Pack has the right to hunt you down if they choose; the question is whether there’s a particular reason for them not to.

The Daughters are interested in forging stronger bonds to outside forces, and as a result, they have created ways to help outsiders in Droaam. In Graywall, they established the Calabas and allowed House Tharashk to govern it, creating a safe haven for Eastern merchants with legitimate business. Merchant caravans can buy flags of passage; wagons flying such flags are guaranteed to be left alone by the warlords, but this offers no protection against independents, be they harpies, hungry trolls, or human bandits; beyond this, some warlords will ignore these edicts if they think they can do so and avoid the Daughter’s wrath. As a result, caravans are encouraged to hire strong defenders – which means that one role for the PCs is to serve as caravan guardians. In The Queen of Stone, the Daughters invite ambassadors to Droaam, and they provide the ambassadors with a large force of guards, precisely because they can’t promise truly safe passage without the presence of troops.

If you stay on the main road and in the cities that have significant contact with merchants – specifically Graywall and the Great Crag – you are relatively safe, especially if you have some obvious sign of the favor of a particular warlord or simply don’t seem wealthy or interesting. But Droaam is definitely a frontier nation. Bandits, independents who have yet to embrace the path of the Daughters, or wild beasts are all threats. Whenever I run a game in Graywall and people are outside of the Calabas, I warn them not to split the party; if a troll picks a fight with you in Bloodstone, the Flayer Guard are more likely to bet on the outcome than to protect you. if you keep your head down, there’s no particular reason that troll WILL pick a fight; but the threat is there. You’re the outsider in Droaam, and many of the monstrous races have good reason to dislike the people of the east.

Can we use narrative elements (“fluff”) from 3.5 Eberron books in 4E without canonical contradiction?

99% of the time, yes. In making the update to 4E, the decision was not to change the timeline or make any major adjustments to the setting. There are a few minor changes:

* It is now mechanically possible for a PC to develop a dragonmark normally associated with a different race. However, as noted above, this is called out as a bizarre thing that could be the first time it’s ever happened in history – so it doesn’t change the existing 3.5 stories.

* There are dragonborn in Q’barra. The theory behind this, however, is that most humans don’t really know the difference between lizardfolk and dragonborn; thus the 3.5 fluff remains accurate, it’s simply that some of the forces refered to as lizardfolk in 3.5 are actually dragonborn. The events are the same, it’s just that the race is different. This will be addressed further in an upcoming DDI article.

* The planes remain the same but have been mapped to the 4E core planes. Which is to say that Thelanis is still Thelanis, and all the fluff of Thelanis remains. You still have manifest zones to Thelanis, still have the Twilight Desmense, and so on. However, Thelanis also fills the role of the Feywild, so things that reference the Feywild should be adapted to Thelanis.

There are a few other things, but this is the basic point; these are changes that build on the flavor but don’t replace it. Anything you’ve done with Thelanis or read about Thelanis is still valid; the Feywild connection is simply a hook for working in new 4E material.

That’s all for now!