House Sivis
"A word is alive, struggling to make its meaning known. The mark lets you hear it breathe." — Lysse Lyrriman d'Sivis
Mark: Scribing | Race: Gnome | Symbol: The Cockatrice Leader: Doyenne Lysse Lyrriman d'Sivis | Headquarters: The Labyrinth, Korranberg, Zilargo | Guilds: Notaries Guild, Speakers Guild
Almost everyone in the Five Nations speaks Common. Few have any idea that it was a Sivis invention. Blending elements of the trade language of the Sarlonan immigrants with a handful of gnomish house languages and some entirely artificial structures, House Sivis created a language that was remarkably easy to learn and spread — then taught it across Khorvaire with the aid of Deneith, Cannith, and Ghallanda until it took root as the lingua franca of a continent. Today, Common is as invisible as air. That is exactly how House Sivis prefers to operate: indispensable, ubiquitous, and unremarkable until absent.
House Sivis bears the Mark of Scribing — the dragonmark of communication, translation, and the written word. The house is composed primarily of gnomes and has cultivated, over centuries, an indispensable role as Khorvaire's foremost provider of messaging, legal documentation, and linguistic services. Speaking Stones are a crucial part of everyday life, playing a vital role in commerce, politics, and civilian affairs. But Sivis heirs do far more than operate message stations. The arcane mark of a Sivis notary is the continental standard for document authentication. Sivis accountants count coins across Khorvaire. Sivis mediators and barristers settle disputes. Sivis heirs have driven the publishing industry since before Galifar. If a business deals with words, there is likely a Sivis heir tied to it somewhere.
House Sivis gnomes present as friendly, curious, and engaging. That warmth is real. It is also a surface. Beneath it, Sivis heirs love bureaucracy and intrigue as deeply as any Zil gnome, and the house's internal life is a constant low-grade conflict of family schemes and rivalries carefully kept from souring its reputation for impartiality. The Doyenne Lysse Lyrriman watches this balance with a jeweler's precision, ensuring the gnomes fight each other in ways that do not embarrass the institution.
SIVIS MESSAGE STATION — TERMS OF SERVICE House Sivis guarantees delivery fidelity, not the response of the recipient. Messages sent during wartime or under embargo may be delayed; they are never altered. All transmissions are logged and encrypted. Only sender and recipient may access transcripts without lawful compulsion. The cockatrice carries your word, not your intent.
Origins & Lineage
The story of House Sivis begins not with the mark but with catastrophe.
During the golden age of the Empire of Dhakaan, the region south of the Howling Peaks and west of the Seawall Mountains was a seat of knowledge — home to the Imperial archives and the greatest college of the Duur'kala. When the Daelkyr incursion reached its final, devastating phase, two Daelkyr were unleashed specifically against this region. Belashyrra released a curse that caused written words to evolve, every document twisting into its own unique cipher — the shifting script. And the Crawling Queen, Valaara, released wasp-like creatures the Dhakaani named volaaganti, word eaters, whose venom infected victims with a unique language that replaced every tongue they had ever known. The bulk of the Dar population was slaughtered. What remained was ruin and silence.
This is what the gnomes inherited — the foundation of what is now Zilargo. During the Age of Dhakaan, gnomes had hidden in the Shimmerwood Forest and the dark corners of the Seawall Mountains. When the empire fell, they emerged and claimed the Dar ruins. Three city-states rose, each an alliance of powerful families. In Korranberg, House Sivis claimed the Raat Tohesh — the subterranean facility that had once housed the college of the Duur'kala. Its vaults held countless secrets, but all had been warped by Belashyrra's shifting script. The wordsmiths of House Sivis developed two complementary specialties: translators who picked apart the endless ciphers so scribes could duplicate anything of value, and interpreters and mediators who worked to restore communication in a region still fractured by the word eaters. The volaaganti were eventually exterminated, but the damage persisted — every family and many houses had been left speaking languages with no common roots, languages shaped by Xoriat rather than natural evolution.
House Korran was the greatest power in Korranberg — they had claimed the Imperial Archives, which Dorius Alyre used as the foundations of the legendary Library of Korranberg. Sivis and Korran had long been involved in a linguistic arms race, each digging deeper into their Dhakaani vaults in search of valuable secrets. When Loran Lyrriman Sivis manifested the Mark of Scribing, it was believed to be a singular wonder — the influence of Syrania, or a blessing from one of the Thousand Gods. Then Sahra Syrralan Sivis manifested the mark, followed by Magys Magan. As soon as it was confirmed the mark could be inherited, House Korran desperately sought to make matches with Sivis. They were too late. House Sivis recognized what it held and had no intention of sharing.
The other families of Korranberg grew jealous, and more than once an alliance contemplated the destruction of House Sivis. The leaders deflected this by emphasizing absolute neutrality and lack of ambition — declaring that they wished to be useful to all, while holding dominion over none. Many scholars believe Sivis interpreters may have carefully exacerbated conflicts among rival families to redirect hostility away from Sivis. It is a hard thing to prove, as most historical documents from that period were recorded by Sivis scribes.
The Invention of Common
House Sivis's most ambitious project was the development and dissemination of the Common tongue. Blending Sarlonan trade language with gnomish house languages and artificial structures designed for ease of learning, Sivis created Common and taught it across Khorvaire. With the aid of Deneith, Cannith, and Ghallanda, it spread quickly — first as a trade language, then steadily taking root, edging out countless regional languages that are now all but forgotten. The house that invented the language everyone speaks does not advertise this fact. The fact speaks for itself — or rather, it does not, which is exactly the point.
The War of the Mark
The next chapter in the history of House Sivis has been largely expunged from the record. Accounts of the period six to seven hundred years before the rise of Galifar describe in great detail the leadership of Vown and Deneith in rallying the houses to fight the War of the Mark. But these chronicles — copied and disseminated by Sivis scribes — say remarkably little about what House Sivis did. A scholar who studies the absences carefully can draw a troubling conclusion: House Sivis was responsible for the War of the Mark.
Sivis leaders believed the houses needed a shared enemy to cement their alliance, and concluded that vilifying Aberrant Dragonmarks would cast the true marks as blessings of Siberys against the curse of Khyber. Aberrant marks are dangerous, and some carriers had caused genuine tragedies; Sivis seized on these cases, exaggerating and spreading them, turning legitimate fear into deadly panic. During the War of the Mark, most commoners gladly helped Deneith forces track down Aberrant-marked individuals because they truly believed it was protection — and that belief was the work of House Sivis.
Whether the leaders regretted what they had set in motion or were simply satisfied to conceal the extent of their influence is a question left for historians. The subsequent centuries have shown House Sivis to be a scrupulously reliable partner. It played a critical role in bringing Kundarak and Tharashk into the Twelve. It provided neutral communication infrastructure to all sides throughout the Last War. Perhaps they have simply gotten very good at leaving no footprints.
The Mark of Scribing
The Mark of Scribing deals with communication in its fullest sense: both the written and spoken word. A gnome who bears the mark can feel words as though they are living creatures, struggling to make their meaning known. Comprehend languages is the most basic gift — any bearer can cast it as a ritual, and given time, any word will surrender its meaning to a Sivis heir.
All bearers can inscribe a unique mystical Sivis sigil on any surface — an arcane mark as unique as a fingerprint, a pattern of purple-blue lines reminiscent of the mark itself. The heir does not choose its design; they touch the surface and draw on the dragonmark's power, and their sigil appears. House Sivis keeps a record of every known heir's sigil, allowing archivists to track the origin of any notarized document. From this foundational ability, heirs learn explosive runes for tactical use, illusory script for concealed messages, and the production of spell scrolls through the deeper craft of Sigilry.
All bearers can also cast whispering wind — sending a message to any location within ten miles. This is the fundamental principle harnessed by the Speaking Stone, which relays messages faster and farther across the network. Heirs with the Lesser Mark gain tongues — not only comprehending any language but speaking to any creature. Silence allows prevention of communication. Command allows the heir to speak a single word in a language no one knows yet everyone understands — Sivis scholars believe this draws on the language of the Progenitors themselves.
The most dramatic powers bypass words entirely. Sending allows instantaneous transmission over any distance. Telepathic bond forges a mental link between individuals. Some heirs develop the ability to reverse this, manifesting as confusion. A rare handful have learned to communicate through dreams — and because this gift has never been common enough to offer commercially, Tasker's Dream actively searches for heirs who manifest it.
Guild Operations
House Sivis helped establish the organizational structure — baron, viceroys, seneschals, enclaves — that most dragonmarked houses have adopted. For Sivis heirs, bureaucracy is a delightful puzzle. The structure of House Sivis is more complex than any other house: the guilds, families, and enclaves all have countless small positions and honors that can be gained or lost, and competition over these titles is a game the entire house plays. Every Sivis heir is part of this greater game. The stonekeeper taking your message is not just a stonekeeper; she is Lord Canto Corralyn d'Sivis, Second Stonekeeper of Ardev, Gilded Listener and Keeper of the Month for five months running.
The Notaries Guild
Oversees everything associated with the written word — and extends to accountancy and cartography. Its departments: Aureon's Press (spell scrolls), the Atlas (divination-enhanced cartography), the Binding (publishing), the Hidden Word (cryptography), the Key (translation beyond blunt comprehend languages), the Ledger (accountancy), and the Quill (scribes, stenographers, legal preparers — and some believe, expert forgers).
The Speakers Guild
Licenses trades related to the spoken word. The Canon — the finest law school in Khorvaire, training barristers in every legal system including Aerenal, the Lhazaar code, Mror custom, Eldeen druidic law, and even the Empire of Dhakaan. The Concord — mediators and negotiators. The Herald — interpreters whose skills go far beyond comprehend languages, reading between lines and advising on etiquette. The Stone — the message station network.
The Ninth College
The center for Sigilry — the art of producing spell scrolls and weaving power into glyphs. The most accomplished are called Unbound Scrolls. Its library in the Raat Tohesh is believed to hold the largest collection of scrolls in any Thronehold nation.
Tasker's Dream
The house's research institute, focused on amplifying the mark's sending and telepathic bond powers. The institute studies dream manipulation and psionic telepathy.
Oversight
The security arm, modeled on the Trust. An invisible guardian whose stories are deliberately spread and deliberately exaggerated. Most professional criminals would rather rob a Kundarak bank.
The Founding Families
House Sivis began as an alliance of twelve families: Corralyn (mediators, Fairhaven), Dassakar (heralds, formerly Metrol, now Rukhaan Draal — two-thirds of the line died on the Day of Mourning), Haskal (linguists, Trolanport — hyperfocused and uninterested in intrigue), Lyrridan (publishers, Korranberg — prefer books to people), Lyrriman (Canon, Oversight, Korranberg — the most powerful family), Magan (no guild; keep the hearth lit — cooks, carpenters, cleaners, the neutrals everyone confides in), Santor (Aureon's Press, Ninth College — cerebral Sigilists), Severin (Ledger, Korunda Gate — accountants who love numbers more than words), Syrralan (the Quill, Wroat — the most ambitious family, with old Phiarlan ties), Tarlian (the Stone, Zolanberg — solid, reliable, and by consensus exceptionally dull), Torralyn (Hidden Word, Tasker's Dream, Zolanberg — imaginative, romantic, invented the speaking stone), and Wandaryn (the Atlas, Trolanport — bold, dramatic, discovered the Mark of Finding in the Shadow Marches).
Despite constant rumors, there is no evidence of a thirteenth family. Though on this topic it is worth noting that Sivis prints the history books.
Political Relations
House Sivis is formally neutral and maintained that neutrality through the Last War. No nation will trust a communication network it suspects of partisan loyalty; Sivis neutrality is not idealism, it is infrastructure. The relationship with Zilargo is close and structurally complicated — the Trust maintains formal contracts with Sivis for analytical services. Sivis has not signed any explicit edict of "we won't share your messages" — but if it was ever revealed that they did, no one would ever trust them again. The conspiracy theories persist: Sivis preserves every message ever sent; they spy on sending spells cast outside the network; they are a front for the Trust. Over a thousand years, the house has maintained public confidence without disproving any of these rumors.
The house has an especially close relationship with House Kundarak: Kundarak letters of credit require a Sivis arcane mark to be considered valid.
Notable Holdings
The Labyrinth (Korranberg, Zilargo) — Headquarters, central hub of the speaking stone network, and home of the Raat Tohesh. Within its vaults, Dhakaani lore still lies concealed beneath Belashyrra's shifting script.
Sivis Tower (Dragon Towers, Sharn) — Shares space with Kundarak. Calligraphic engravings throughout. Solirion Torralyn d'Sivis heads the enclave. Hosts the only sending-capable station in Sharn — only two gnomes bear the Greater Mark, and even with reservoirs the power can be used only a handful of times per day. Standard service: 5 gp per page, +15 sp for city delivery.
The Raat Tohesh / Ninth College (Korranberg) — The ancient subterranean facility, now housing the Ninth College's research operations and the largest scroll library within any Thronehold nation.