Dragonmarked Houses and the Twelve

House signs compete for attention across a busy commercial landing.

The dragonmarked Houses are hereditary families whose magical gifts became the foundation of powerful businesses. A dragonmark is an intricate magical mark visible on the body, granting abilities associated with a particular field, from healing to transport. Training, specialized tools, skilled workers, and generations of accumulated influence turn those gifts into institutions. The marked heir is one part of a much larger workforce.

Marks, families, and employment

A House contains unmarked relatives as well as heirs who manifest a mark. Its businesses also rely on employees from many backgrounds. A surname, a professional license, and a place on a payroll describe different relationships to the same institution. A marked heir can receive unusual access to training and equipment while carrying obligations to family and employer.

Leaving a House leaves the mark itself intact. The practical cost can include housing, a career, contacts, and access to tools. Unmarked employees can face comparable pressures when several parts of daily life depend on the same organization. Lives and Loyalties describes those ties in Sharn.

The Twelve and the Concord

The Twelve is the old forum through which the Houses cooperate. Shared research and services bind businesses together even while they compete.

In 1250 YK, the Houses operate combines woven through transport, care, housing, communication, and useful magic. The Twelve Concord is their agreement coordinating the federated Mana Standard. Customers receive a common identifier, while individual Houses keep separate accounts and interests. Enrollment at one counter can lead to many separate contracts.

Cooperation has limits. Houses compete through business, litigation, and the influence of the customers and institutions that depend on them. Breland’s crown, parliament, Sharn’s elected council, and its courts retain authority, exercised under considerable pressure. The city’s laws and a service contract remain different sources of power.

There are twelve recognized dragonmarks among thirteen commercial Houses: Phiarlan and Thuranni both carry the Mark of Shadow.

Services at a glance

These services are part of ordinary life at every height of Sharn. The ability to buy faster help, switch providers, or contest an error is distributed much less evenly.

Background: The Dragonmarked Houses.

House identities in 1250

The Houses' ancestral arms coexist with modern commercial logos. Formal heraldry persists on enclave gates and ceremonial documents; simplified beast emblems, distinctive lettering, colors, and advertising lines identify everyday products and services. A House's commercial logo is different from the magical dragonmark borne by its heirs.

The emblems below are familiar on products, service counters, and magical advertisements throughout Sharn. Each House presents its own promise, even when several services meet at the same landing.

House	House	House
House Cannith	House Deneith	House Ghallanda
House Jorasco	House Kundarak	House Lyrandar
House Medani	House Orien	House Phiarlan
House Sivis	House Tharashk	House Thuranni
House Vadalis

Life on the Landings follows these brands into the city's shops and streets.