Jeroboam's Tale:
“My family was always at a disadvantage due to an unfortunate inherited trait that dates all the way back to the war of the mark. Though it only surfaces every few generations, it is still there. It is still known. My family will never amount to greatness. Never will we achieve any political power. We are lucky to hold on to what we earn. Growing up in Breland was difficult having an aberrant dragon mark. For me it was close to a curse. The only bright side was that my sister didn’t have the mark. She was able to make something of herself, though a secluded life in the church of Aureon is not what I’d have done. Her choice though and she was always happy with it.
“A few generations ago, my family was forced to move to Shavalant just to escape the embarrassment. Border towns are more forgiving than most and for me it was good to have the opportunities for martial training, especially during the war. That was when I met up with some of the agents of House Tharashk that worked out of Greywall. Once the war was over, they got me a job working security in a town that at best could be described as lawless. From there I picked up some magical talents and started to make use of my dragonmark. That got me associated with the Finder’s guild.
“This was all after my sister Tinar had moved to Sharn and set up a good life for herself. While I was working the hard streets, picking up titbits of skills and magic here and there, she was in the city of towers earning her keep in one of the churches of the sovereign host. I always looked forward to news from her, until one day she sent word that she’d met a young man named Johan d’Cannith. What scared me; what gave me a feeling of dread was knowing that any future they could have together would be clouded by our family name. He was a favoured son and heir of the dragonmark of making. I knew his family would never allow the two to marry. It turned out he knew that too, and curiously he had a plan to deal with it. An opportunity had come up to earn enough gold to set himself up outside of the family and Johan had headed off to Aundair to do it. He was prepared to step away from the Cannith family for Tinar and more: he was prepared to take on a dangerous mission to achieve it. That impressed me.”
(Actually Johan was trying to gain enough standing in the family to do what he wanted, independence was really just a backup plan, but that is all Tinar knew about)
“Johan is soft though. There is no way he’ll get back without someone there to watch his back. So it looks like it’s up to me. I’m going to track him down and make sure he gets back alive.”
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Eberron: Nightmares from the Shadows
