Dragonmarked
From a few bands of roving artisans and tinkers, House Cannith has risen to dominate commerce and industry in Khorvaire. For every advance made in magic, odds are good that Cannith had a hand in it—from everbright lanterns to the lightning rail, from the warforged to the secret experiments now lost deep within the wastes of the Mournland.
With its power and creative genius, the house commands both respect and fear. Despite its accomplishments, however, Cannith stands in turmoil. Unable to agree on a new ruler in the aftermath of the Day of Mourning, the house splintered into three factions, each with its own agenda. This rift has caused unease among the houses and beyond, giving monarchs and entrepreneurs pause even as they cautiously back one of three would-be leaders.
Makers of History
Since its incorporation prior to the War of the Mark, House Cannith has been a leader among the dragonmarked houses. It pioneered the marriage of magic to the needs of daily life, and members of the house are the foremost experts on the use of dragonshards. Along with the gnomes of Zilargo, the house created the elemental ships that cross the seas. In partnership with House Orien, it forged the lightning rail that once spanned Khorvaire.
Cannith’s most indelible mark on history was made in 965 YK with the creation of the warforged. The mastermind behind the warforged was Merrix d’Cannith, who set out to create a sentient construct that could fi ght in place of living creatures. First commissioned by King Jarot, the last king of Galifar, the warforged instead went to battle on behalf of his children during the Last War.
Merrix’s son Aarren gave sentience to these living constructs. For thirty years, the sale of warforged kept Cannith prosperous, with each of the Five Nations commissioning troops from Whitehearth, Cannith’s ancestral forgehold. The house seemed destined to prosper as the Last War dragged on. Then came the Day of Mourning.
Paradise Lost
On the Day of Mourning, a blast of arcane power obliterated Cyre, leaving empty wasteland. Most Cyrans perished that day, including the patriarch of House Cannith: Baron Starrin d’Cannith, known as “the Gorgon” for both his intimidating manner and the symbol of his house.
What caused the Day of Mourning, none can say. It seems that of the cities of Cyre, Eston suffered the greatest damage. Eston's destruction claimed the life of not only the baron, but also many of the house’s prominent leaders and dragonmarked heirs.
Almost as great as the loss in blood was the loss of the forgehold itself. Making had been the center of Cannith ingenuity and invention for centuries. Only projects concurrently researched in Sharn by Merrix d’Cannith, grandson of the first Merrix, survived. Making is never far from the minds of House Cannith’s leaders, with Merrix in particular striving for its recovery. Increasingly, though, the cost associated with that recovery effort has exacerbated the rift within the house. Some seek to resurrect Making one day; others wish to turn their backs on the tomb of the past and focus instead on the future.
The Treaty of Thronehold
Two years after the loss of Cyre, the Treaty of Thronehold was signed, putting an end to both the war and the nation of Galifar. No one profits during war like a weaponsmith, and no one suffers as much from war’s end.
For House Cannith, the treaty brought more than the end of a profitable market: The signatory nations recognized the warforged as a free people, due the same rights as other sentient races. The treaty also forbade Cannith from creating more warforged, ensuring that the house’s crowning achievement would be remembered as little more than a bloody postscript to past glory.
Having no choice but to agree to the treaty’s terms, the heads of the fractured house returned to their respective homes, plotting in silence while they went through the motions of retooling House Cannith for peace. Merrix, however, never intended to let his grandfather’s legacy pass away. His stronghold in Sharn holds a secret creation forge, known only to the sworn heirs of his line.
Today, those who gain entry to the Sharn forgehold see significantly newer warforged. Unaware of their rights as sentient beings, these warforged serve the artificers, who seek the next evolution of design. This secret rebellion leads Cannith along a dangerous path. Should Merrix’s deception be discovered, Breland and the other nations will have to enforce the treaty—even if it means striking the blow that shatters House Cannith for all time.
The Early Days of the War
In the early years, House Cannith had not yet developed a specific vision for its wartime creations, and its efforts were spread across a variety of methods and techniques. The creation of the warforged titan in the middle war years would eventually lead Cannith down the path toward the true warforged, but that was far from the house’s only development. In a faint foreshadowing of the great schism to come, Cannith’s creative efforts divided the house informally into three separate factions.
The first, led by Calenzo, focused on individual tools and weapons even after moving beyond mass production of the mundane. From their efforts came creations such as eternal wands, self-loading crossbows, strength- and speed-enhancing armor, and even the dancing property found on weapons in the modern era.
Merrix’s interest—and, by extension, the direction in which the house eventually turned as a whole—was in the creation of animated machines of war. The warforged titan was the most well-known early product of this interest, but others such as the runic guardian and the steel kraken sprang from this effort as well. For a time, Merrix experimented with animated siege engines (such as the siege golem). Although popular with a few generals, they were too limited in use compared to the warforged titan to gain widespread acceptance (and to produce steady revenue).
The smallest group focused on creating vehicles of war. Led by Lirisa d’Cannith, it manufactured clockwork and golemlike steeds, mobile structures, and the apparatus of Kwalish (named for an ancient wizard whom Lirisa greatly admired). Several of Lirisa’s descendants have sworn that it was, in fact, one of her designs that eventually led to the creation of Argonth and the other mobile fortresses active during the war.
ECG
The Mark of Making first appeared among the human traveling tinkers and artisans of the Cannith clan of Cyre almost 2,500 years ago. Between the magic of the mark and its members’ natural inventiveness, Clan Cannith steadily increased its power and influence, creating its own areas of jurisdiction throughout Cyre and central Khorvaire. An active and enthusiastic participant in the War of the Mark, House Cannith found itself one of the most powerful of the dragonmarked houses after the war.
House Cannith used that power to forge partnerships. At the end of the War of the Mark, House Cannith worked with the other dragonmarked houses to establish the Twelve. They allied with the elemental binders of Zilargo and the scions of House Lyrandar to create elemental ships to sail Eberron’s seas. Emboldened by that success, House Cannith’s magewrights collaborated with House Orien on the lightning rail. House Cannith also helped to establish the network of message stations that House Sivis uses to facilitate communication across Khorvaire. The Last War: When the Last War began, House Cannith found itself acting as arms dealer to all five of the combatant nations, a position that allowed it to amass fantastic wealth and an unparalleled degree of influence among the Five Nations. But selling weapons and armor was only the beginning. In 965 YK, the first warforged soldiers marched out of Cannith’s forgehold at Whitehearth, and soon House Cannith was supplying not only weapons but also the soldiers that wielded them.
House Cannith’s unbounded prosperity lasted almost thirty years. But in a single moment on the Day of Mourning, House Cannith lost its leader, Baron Starrin d’Cannith, many of its dragon marked heirs, and the Whitehearth forgehold. The Treaty of Thronehold made matters worse for the house, because it set the warforged free and banned House Cannith from making more. With the Five Nations at peace, Cannith’s role as arms dealer to the world diminished.
These recent setbacks have made House Cannith’s leaders more determined than ever before to reverse the house’s fortunes, and have highlighted the rivalry among the house’s leadership. At any given moment, Cannith’s inventors are sequestered in secret laboratories across Khorvaire, trying to create something even more dramatically world-changing than the towers of Sharn, the lightning rail, or the warforged.
The Three-Headed Gorgon
When Starrin d’Cannith died, he left no direct heir or immediate relations, but it did not take long for claimants to the house leadership to appear. Typically, upon the death of the patriarch, the title goes to either his closest living relative or his named successor. Starrin’s named successor was his only son Norran, who died with his father in Cyre and left no children of his own.
When succession becomes murky, the elders of the house interpret the will of the former patriarch and choose a successor. However, with the ranks of the house leadership decimated, no effective or fair vote could be held. Cannith was paralyzed, with three heirs emerging to claim leadership: Merrix d’Cannith, Jorlanna d’Cannith, and Zorlan d’Cannith. Though each had a valid claim to the patriarch’s seat, a more problematic set of candidates would be hard to find.
Merrix (LE male human) is the grandson of the first Merrix, the son of Aarren d’Cannith, and the former patriarch’s grandnephew. The youngest candidate, he was little more than a baby when the warforged were invented. His age and lack of political expertise give him the weakest claim, but his inheritance of Merrix’s legendary skills in research and innovation forces his relatives to take him seriously. He wishes only to pursue his secret experiments in peace, but knowing Jorlanna and Zorlan, he is convinced that a firm hand will be required to keep House Cannith on course—not necessarily his hand, but one of his choosing.
Jorlanna (LN female) is a proud, attractive woman in her fifties. She is far closer to the age of a proper matriarch than Merrix. Her claim is stronger too, as the daughter of Starrin’s second wife, Elsabet. Regardless, Jorlanna is considered least likely to attain the title. She has a strong vision for a united house, allies among the Twelve, and the personal magnetism to lead, but the Cannith elders distrust her judgment. In her youth, Jorlanna engaged in a scandalous romance with an heir of House Deneith. Both families put a stop to it once they became aware of the relationship, and the lovers disappeared from public view for over a year. It was rumored that Jorlanna bore a child during her time away—product of a coupling forbidden after the War of the Mark. However, when she finally resumed public life, she did so alone. Today, whispered rumors of her indiscretion haunt her, and critics use them as proof of her lack of judgment where the good of the house is concerned.
Zorlan (NE male human artificer 3/sorcerer 4/dragonmark heir 1) is a distinguished, shrewd scion of the house. His talent with fi nance and eye for profit made him a trusted advisor to the Gorgon, whose cousin, Xerith, was Zorlan’s mother. Zorlan’s gifts are countered by a cold, cruel personality that unnerves many within the house. His time in Karrnath is rumored to have drawn him into the customs of that land, including worship of the Blood of Vol. Some fear that Zorlan’s ambition could lead him to make pacts with dishonorable groups.
Merrix, Jorlanna, and Zorlan are each determined to become the next leader of House Cannith. Between them, they have divided the lords seneschal so evenly that a new patriarch will likely never be chosen. As it stands, the divided leadership makes it increasingly likely that only death or disaster will change the balance of power.