House Medani is the smallest and one of the youngest of the dragon marked houses. Yet its members, bearers of the Mark of Detection, are seemingly everywhere, acting as sentries, magic researchers, advisors, inquisitives, and spy-catchers. The khoravar of House Medani pride themselves on their circumspect nature and their powers of observation both mundane and magical.

More so than most dragon marked houses, House Medani has a strong geographical association. The Mark of Detection first emerged among the half-elves of Breland, and to this day, more than half of the members of the house still live within Breland’s borders.

History

Though any number of organizations might claim a lock on the truth, House Medani can back that claim. Those who possess Medani’s mark can sense arcane and divine power, the taint of poison, unseen intruders, or magical observation from a world away. All Medani heirs train in the use of logic, perception, and techniques for assembling fragments of evidence into a recognizable whole. As allies, they are formidable; as enemies, even more so.

The Medani alliance existed before Galifar: a collection of families based in the former Medani provinces of what would one day become Breland. Already accustomed to blending into human or elf society, the half-elves of the Medani concealed their dragonmarks when they first appeared. A close-knit society, they were content to use the Mark of Detection quietly, building a reputation as bodyguards and scouts while attempting to avoid the growing conflicts of the other dragonmarked.

House Cannith discovered Medani partway through the War of the Mark. At first, it was thought that the Mark of Detection might simply be a prevalent aberrant dragonmark, but that conjecture was quickly discarded. Cannith finally tracked down the elders of the Medani families and convinced them (some say threatened) to take their place alongside the other dragon marked houses. Even today, distaste for authority runs strong in Medani, giving rise to aloofness that many dragonmarked ascribe to the house. Medani is forthright in its views on house politics and is an active participant in the Twelve, but representatives of the other houses sometimes claim that House Medani works against their interests as often as it supports them.

The Brelish Connection

By virtue of its geographic origins and current leadership, however, House Medani has a close relationship with the Brelish crown. The house is based in Wroat, and Baron Trelib (NG male half-elf rogue 7/master inquisitive 2) is a long-standing friend of King Boranel. During the Last War, Medani maintained the same steadfast neutrality as the other dragonmarked houses. However, it is rumored that a good portion of the wartime intelligence directed to Breland from its allies in Zilargo might have originated with Medani—the house using connections of Sivis to assist its homeland while maintaining necessary secrecy.

Though the dragonmarked houses are directed to carry on their mercantile operations at a neutral distance from the nobility of the new Khorvaire, Trelib’s close relationship with King Boranel often causes the house to deal more favorably with Breland than with the rest of the Five Nations. Trelib is known to have supplied a number of Medani operatives to Boranel’s court, and is also charged with discovering who assassinated Boranel’s first wife, Queen Chaseva. Those close to Trelib speak of his utter devotion to solving the murder, but all his efforts to date have proved fruitless.

Though this close relationship angers many outside Breland (nobles and dragonmarked alike), some Brelish have their own concerns. Within the King’s Dark Lanterns, high-placed operatives wonder openly whether Boranel is in fact being played by Medani—and whether Trelib’s long years of friendship have enabled him to place deep-cover agents within the ranks of the Brelish court or the Lanterns themselves.

Relationship with Lyrander

Though both Lyrandar and Medani are made up of khoravar, little love is lost between the two houses. Unlike Ghallanda and Jorasco, Lyrandar and Medani formed at different times, in different areas, and under very different circumstances. Lyrandar is ambi- tious and ostentatious, while Medani is focused and withdrawn. The former prides itself on its diplomacy and political acumen, while the latter has no fear of playing favorites.

Despite their dissimilar temperaments, the two houses have some common ground. A subtle disdain for those who feel entitled to power shows in their dealings with the other houses (particularly Cannith), as does a preference for working with the common folk of Khorvaire rather than the elite. On rare occasions, they have supported one another against initiatives among the houses and movements by the nobility to limit the power of the dragonmarked. Such alliances are short-lived, however, and often conveniently forgotten.

Membership and Advancement

Joining House Medani

The half-elf blood of Medani has a strong influence on the views of the house. Accustomed to walking between worlds, the house values the racial heritage that allows its members to move in both elf and human society with ease. Unlike House Lyrandar, Medani favors occasional intermarriage to elves or humans, both as a means of renewing the connection to its ancestral blood and to add to the house’s expansive social connections. Other races are not considered candidates for marriage, and such matches are actively frowned upon by house elders.

House Medani is not so particular when it comes to its hirelings. Any individual with the proper aptitude can apply to the Warning Guild, be granted certification, and work under the house banner, if not for the house itself. This is particularly true in Wroat and Sharn, but even in Medani’s smaller enclaves, the house typically hires individuals based on talent alone.

House Medani prizes critical thinkers of all types. Spellcasting ability is valued, but is not considered a replacement for an analytical mind and keen judgment. 

Membership

Members of House Medani and the Warning Guild learn quickly that they must make their own way in the world. Medani is not the most powerful house, nor the most populous. The strengths of its members are keen insight and a learned ability to predict the actions of those around them based on the evidence at hand. To that end, the house employs its members not in the collection of intelligence, but in counterintelligence. Medani does not traffic in secrets; it helps to keep them.

Medani agents and inquisitives work to detect and disrupt the theft of goods and information. Some focus on the more traditional physical methods of doing so; others take a more subtle approach. All Medani heirs train in close combat, with a focus on surprise tactics. They are not masters of disguise, nor are they especially gifted at blending into a crowd, but no one can pick a target out of that same crowd faster than a Medani heir.

Advancement

Advancing in the Medani hierarchy is not necessarily dependent on performance in the Warning Guild. Though you will be encouraged to consider joining the guild, Medani recognizes that not everyone is suited for its rigorous (and sometimes dangerous) fieldwork. In fact, a number of house patriarchs have never been members of the guild—most notably Stavros, a great tactician of five centuries past who lost the use of his legs as a child.

Your house is a close-knit one, but the nature of your work makes you constantly aware of the danger of betrayal and infiltration. However, from the moment you prove yourself, you are part of an elite group. Your family and people dedicate their lives to others—watching, waiting, and ensuring that those in their care live to see tomorrow unharmed.

The Warning Guild

House Medani and the Warning Guild are synonymous in the minds of many Khorvairians, few of whom realize the degree of offi cial separation that stands between them. Rather than a simple extension of the house, the Warning Guild has grown into an affiliated but largely independent entity. The Mark of Detection often leads to meddling in unpleasant affairs; official separation keeps the house at a safe distance whenever the unpleasantness turns out to involve the nobility or the dragonmarked houses themselves.

While the Warning Guild provides valuable experience and training for its members, House Medani’s ministers realize that not everyone’s gifts are best suited to that path. Heirs and house members whose skills lie elsewhere are encouraged to pursue them, as long as those pursuits benefit the house eventually.

Missions

When not tasked with a specific assignment (most often protecting nobles or the dragonmarked elite from assassination, kidnapping, and the like), you will find yourself engaged in Medani’s more general business of sifting the plots that run rampant in Khorvaire. When the Warning Guild hears a growing rumor of a new Droaam incursion, you follow those rumors from Sharn to Graywall and beyond—confirming these plots by shutting them down. When a noble is blackmailed, you are not content to simply keep terms of the payment quiet, but will work your way back to discover who gave the order, and why. Beneath the veneer of civil politics, the plots of Khorvaire are given life by noble courts, criminal guilds, and dragonmarked houses alike. In the end, you see through their deception as no one else can.

House Medani in the World

In a world in which secrets, espionage, and assassination can be bought and sold on the open market, the role of the counterspy takes on great significance. House Phiarlan, House Thuranni, the King’s Dark Lanterns, the Royal Eyes, the Aurum, the Emerald Claw, and uncountable other organizations weave their webs of intrigue across Khorvaire—all the while cursing the agents of House Medani who undo their wellwrought plans.

Urban campaigns in particular can easily entwine a party with House Medani, even if none of the PCs has any affi liation with the house. The party could run headlong into a Medani investigation, become involved with a character being guarded by a member of the Warning Guild, or join forces with a house operative to take on a common foe.

Beyond the house’s role as a counterintelligence agency, Medani (like Lyrandar) is looked to for leadership by many Khoravar. However, the house accepts this role as an offshoot of its position as a protector—not as a gods-given right.

As befits a house proud of its iconoclast status, House Medani is a tightly knit group. It is among the smallest of the houses in population, and individuals are encouraged to have strong bonds to their extended families. Factional disagreements arise within the house from time to time, but have never threatened to become schism or open confl ict. Outside the house, relations between Medani, Phiarlan, and Thuranni are sometimes strained, with the three houses often working on different sides of the same intelligence-gathering operations.

The relationship between House Medani and House Lyrandar is a complex one. Though precious little common ground or competition exists between their mercantile operations, the two half-elf houses have very different views of their racial heritage. Lyrandar had centuries to spread before the appearance of the Mark of Detection, and takes as its mandate the continued development of an inclusive Khoravar race. Even before the appearance of their dragonmarks, the Medani had rejected this view, content to see themselves as heirs to two worlds rather than the builders of one.

Today, where Lyrandar seeks racial isolation, Medani sees greater strength in being a bridge between two cultures. House Medani’s encouragement of occasional intermarriage between half-elf and elf or human is abhorrent to many Lyrandar, who are not afraid to make their feelings known.

Despite the inherent separation of the Warning Guild from the house, strong functional ties bind the members of both. Medani operatives outside the Warning Guild work mostly to collect, collate, and decipher the information gained from the plots the guild uncovers, and both sides look out for the other. In its own way, House Medani’s store of intelligence might be the equal of either House Phiarlan or House Thuranni, but with one signifi cant difference: Medani’s information is never sold. Rather, the house uses the facts, rumors, and speculation at its disposal solely in the service of its clients—and sometimes to convince prospective clients that they need Medani protection.

NPC Reactions

House Medani’s home and history lies in Breland, and members of the house can expect an initial reaction of friendly from all Brelish except those who oppose King Boranel’s reign. Members of the city guard in the urban centers of Khorvaire give House Medani an indifferent reaction, improving to friendly if they have been helped by (as opposed to shown up by) the house in the past.

Law enforcement and intelligence agencies recognize House Medani’s expertise. At the same time, Medani operatives are often seen as unwelcome meddlers in official business, a view that makes them unpopular in some administrations.

Holdings

In keeping with its role as a house of counterspies, Medani keeps a low profile even in its ancestral home in Wroat. The Medani enclave is a connected network of unmarked buildings within sight of both Brokenblade Castle and Parliament Hall. It is not marked on any map, and those not already aware of its existence would be hard-pressed to pick its well-guarded doors out from among the private apartments and shops that surround it.

The Tower of Inquisition, Medani’s center of interrogation and incarceration, is the only part of the enclave known by name among the other dragonmarked houses. A nondescript stone building overlooking the river, it is said to be as well guarded as Brokenblade Castle itself. Underground passages and permanent dimension doors are said to connect the tower and the castle, created so that the enclave might be used as a secret refuge in the Last War, but this rumor has never been confirmed.

In addition to its ancestral hold, House Medani maintains enclaves in Fairhaven, Flamekeep, Korth, Sharn, and Trolanport. It has smaller centers in Newthrone, Pylas Talaear, Stormreach, Taer Valaestas, and Varna. Medani outposts can be found in smaller cities across Khorvaire, including Rhukaan Draal in Darguun

Arythawn Keep: This fort in southeast Thrane, heavily damaged in the Last War, has recently seen an influx of House Medani personnel, all members of the Thousand Yard Stare, which is charged with patrolling the borders of the Mournland. The house has entered into an arrangement with Thrane: The Medanis will repair the keep in exchange for the right to garrison the riders of the Thousand Yard Stare there. Columns of cavalry are always arriving and departing to the east—a quick ford of the river, and the riders are in the Mournland.

Symbol

Medani’s power is observation. They will see your enemies before they can harm you. They will spot threats… and eliminate them. Thus, a creature with a deadly gaze was a logical choice.