Eberron dragonmarked, not in house?

[Tellerve]

I am going to be starting an Eberron campaign and a character asked a question I wasn't sure about and haven't read about.

I know that not all the people in a dragonmarked house have dragonmarks, but can someone have a dragonmark and not be in the house? Say if some dragonmarked member of the house was slumming it one night or whatever and had an illigetimate child that happened to gain a dragonmark.

What would happen with the child? Assuming the house didn't know until he was grown would they then want him to be assimilated into the house? Killed?

Thanks,

Tellerve

 

[NeuroZombie]

I think it would be perfectly acceptable to have a mark but not be part of the house. Sharn alone is huge, let alone the rest of the world, and there is truly no common way to tell if someone has a mark unless it is on a visible part of the body. There could also simply be people that were born into a house, but do not agree with their politics and have purposefully taken themselves out of the "loop", so to speak.

 

[Khairn]

As I understand it (and play it in my game) the DM Houses are interested in all those that have their Dragonmark and will make an effort to get them involved in the Houses activities. But that doesn't mean that all members with the mark have to be a member.

IMC I have a players who is a renegade from House Orien. As long as his actions dont impact on Orien, they are willing to let him make his own way outside the House. But if he begins to work against the House ... that's an entirely different matter.

 

[Audhild&Krin]

It is entirely possible for someone outside a House to have a Dragonmark. So long as they can trace ancestry back to someone in the House. See the inset on p. 52 of the ECS labeled Starting Characters and Dragonmarked Houses.

Of course you do have to make sure that the mark they choose and house correlate to their race. They could also have an Aberrant Mark (tracing their bloodline back to the War of the Mark).

As far as what happens once the Mark develops, well, if the House finds out they will try to bring the character under their control. If the PC refuses, they will most likely be killed. After all, the Houses have very careful breeding programs for Marked members.

Hope this helps.

 

[ThoughtfulOwl]

Each House represents two things: a dragonmarked bloodline and a family-based corporation.

Having a dragonmark means that you belong to the bloodline, but you aren't necessarily involved with the corporation or even be publicly known to be a member of the family; however, the Houses try hard to bring back into the fold any known wayward member, or at least to keep them under check.

Likewise, you might be a member of the corporation as an associate without belonging to the bloodline proper, or you might be a member of the bloodline who hasn't manifested the Mark so far.

 

[Henry]

If I recall Keith correctly (also known as IIRKC) The Houses have an interest in unaffiliated Marked people, but do not force the issue.

They will force the issue if:

1) You pretend to be affiliated with them and they get wind of it, or
2) You start working for other Dragonmarked Houses on more than a purely freelance basis, or
3) If what you're doing directly opposes them.

Other than that, even if you're on their radar, if you stay out of their way, you're fine.

 

[Klaus]

Yes, it is perfectly possible to be marked and not be in a House. You can be a foundling, whose bloodline traces tenously to the House (perhaps several generations behind). Unmarked parents can have marked children, and marked parents can have unmarked children.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I was under the impression that you could only manifest the Dragonmark if you were of the right bloodline. However, you could just leave the House for any number of reasons.

I don't know about the other Houses, but it seems to me that leaving House Cannith is basically pointless. Where do you get your hands on a Cannith magic item that only responds to the Mark of Making if you are no longer a member of the House?