The Draconic Prophecy

Rising from the Last War

Though it is not a sentient force that can control or reward your party, the Draconic Prophecy can be similar to an Immortal Being patron. The Prophecy can act as a guide for adventurers who seek to fulfill it—or to steer its fulfillment in a particular direction. You stand among the heroes of the present age; surely you have a role to play in the unfolding prophecy.

In order for the Draconic Prophecy to work as a patron, one or more of the characters needs to have access to words from the Prophecy. Your group might adventure to seek out places where the Prophecy is written: mountainsides and cavern walls, ancient text and crumbling ruins, or the patterns of moons, stars, and the Ring of Siberys (best interpreted at an observatory). A dragonmarked character might gain insight into the Prophecy from the marks on their skin. Alternatively, a character might hear words from the Prophecy in dreams or visions, or surfacing from some deeply buried memory of a traumatic event.

Given access to the words of the Prophecy, it’s up to the characters to decide what they mean. The Prophecy is notoriously difficult to interpret, and a given passage might be fulfilled in different ways (or, possibly, in multiple ways over the course of centuries). For example, take a prophetic snippet like the one mentioned in the book’s introduction: “If the Bear King is slain by a sorrowful assassin in the Shadow of the Mourning, the Crown will fall from his nation.” This might mean that if King Boranel of Breland is killed in the Mournland, the kingdom of Breland will be dissolved, and if dissolving the monarchy is the characters’ goal, they can try to bring about those circumstances. On the other hand, it could mean that if an awakened bear in the Eldeen Reaches declares himself king of the forest, and if the bear is killed on the anniversary of the Mourning, the tallest tree in the domain he claimed (the Crown of his nation) will fall. If that is the characters’ goal, for whatever reason, they might try to bring those circumstances about.

The currency of favors that defines most patronage relationships is tricky when your group’s patron is a series of vague oracular verses rather than a person. However, bringing about the fulfillment of the Prophecy in a certain way often has immediate or long-term benefits that are equivalent to the favors another patron might grant your group. Toppling the Crown in the Bear King’s domain might give you access to a spell inscribed in the ancient tree’s rings, for example.

Source: Dragonmarked

For centuries, explorers have noted strange symbols similar to dragonmarks formed by such seemingly random forces as coral growth, lava flows, and earthquakes. These are the symbols of the draconic Prophecy studied by the great dragons of Argonnessen. Dragonmarks caused an upheaval among the dragons when they first appeared, and the Chamber has monitored the marked races ever since. It is difficult for humans and their kin to grasp the vast mysteries of the draconic Prophecy. Some scholars claim that the dragonmarks represent primal forces, and are tied to both the moons of Eberron and the planes. As such, a dragonmarked heir is a pawn of prophecy: a tool that can be used to shape the future.

The statement that a vile demon can be destroyed only by “Storm, Shadow, and the Servant of the Forge” might refer to vague legend—or it might refer to heirs of House Lyrandar, House Thuranni, and House Cannith working in concert. Members of the Chamber sometimes assemble teams of dragonmarked heirs to meet certain conditions. In other cases, the convergence of heirs can have its own significance. Just as a shaman reads meaning into the random patterns of bone chips, a student of the Prophecy can dredge omens from the presence of particular dragonmarks in a specific location.

More information about the draconic Prophecy and those who study it can be found in Magic of Eberron. Some of the greatest dragon prophets (a prestige class introduced in that book) have been heirs of dragonmarked houses, though many sever their house ties after grasping the greater mysteries.

Source: Exploring Eberron

Province: Destiny, divination

Suggested Cleric Domain: Knowledge

Suggested Paladin Oath: Devotion

Priests of the Draconic Prophecy embrace the idea that there is a guiding force underlying reality, and that they can see glimpses of its divine plan. A priest of the Draconic Prophecy believes that their divine powers are granted to keep the Prophecy on its proper path—that when a cleric uses cure wounds to save a comrade, it’s because that person isn’t destined to die today. When they cast a spell such as commune, it doesn’t contact an extraplanar entity, but reveals a cryptic glimpse into the Prophecy itself.

Despite having priests, this isn’t an organized religion and there are no clearly established traditions. It’s a calling, and each champion must find their own path. Priests of the Prophecy are often set in opposition to forces that seek to manipulate the Prophecy and to use it for their own ends, notably the fiendish Lords of Dust.

The dragon prophet is a member of one of the “lesser races” who shares the dragons’ ambitious goal of understanding the complex and convoluted draconic Prophecy. Dragon prophets wander the world seeking signs of the Prophecy in everything, hoping to make sense of new revelations and pass them on to their draconic mentors back in Argonnessen, home of the dragons. As they learn more of the Prophecy, they gain greater insight into dragons, and into the movement of the constellations that plays a large role in the Prophecy’s inner workings.

Playing a Dragon Prophet

Each dragon prophet is unique, and you are no exception. You are driven primarily to find new pieces of the massive, millennia-spanning puzzle that is the draconic Prophecy, but your means for doing so likely differ from any of the Prophecy’s other followers. Dragons of every type recruit dragon prophets, though not every dragon has a dragon prophet working for it. Your personality and methods are strongly dictated by your dragon mentor, and many dragon prophets share at least one alignment component and certain aspects of their dragon mentor’s personality (greedy if red, stately and distant if silver, scheming and manipulative if black, and so on).

The one trait you share with all other dragon prophets, however, is your ability to make long-term plans. The knowledge of the health and extended life span you gain when you reach the pinnacle of your class makes you sure that any plans you lay will have ample time to come to fruition.

You are not a member of any specific organization. Each dragon prophet furthers the agendas of her dragon mentor and herself (in that order), and you are no exception. In fact, it is extremely likely that at some point in your career, you will come into conflict with another dragon prophet who seeks some bit of knowledge you have gained, or who is competing for access to a single resource important to your understanding of the Prophecy.

How you handle such an encounter is up to you. Many prophets cooperate (though almost always briefly) if they run into one another, while others loathe their dragon prophet peers and fight on sight. Some dragons recruit prophets as part of a larger organization, however, and if you are such a prophet, you might be ordered to work with other dragon prophets from time to time on a particularly important portion of the Prophecy.

Combat

Like other arcane spellcasters, you rely on your spells to see you through difficult battles. Your style in combat is different from that of any other prophet, given your individual magical specialties and the allies you adventure with. Choosing constellation abilities that complement your companions’ fighting styles will help keep them (and yourself) alive longer.

You should plan for battles whenever possible by scouting the territory (magically or otherwise), and preparing accordingly. Spells that improve your allies’ fighting capabilities can be cast before a conflict, allowing you to lurk near the fringes of a battle, locate the most significant threat (likely a rival spellcaster), and focus your energies there. Ready counterspells frequently and keep plenty of dispel magic and greater dispel magic spells on hand. In addition, ready actions to cast damaging spells whenever possible in an effort to disrupt enemy casters’ spells.

Once you have mastered five of the draconic constellations, you have an abundance of options at your fingertips to help you overcome adversaries. Play to the strengths you have identified and heightened with your constellation abilities, and remember that you have the time to be patient in your planning. You are usually better off laying siege than storming the main gates.

Advancement

Like other dragon prophets, you were recruited to your important work by a dragon of Argonnessen. This recruitment was likely handled by the dragon in humanoid form, although recruitment stories vary from prophet to prophet. However, because such offers are not extended until a dragon knows that a subject is likely to accept (often because he or she had previously demonstrated an interest in the Prophecy or dragons in general), your own acceptance might have been more a formality than anything else.

The dragon that recruited you became your mentor, and still routinely sends you bits of advice and tips on places to research. You might be required to keep in touch on a regular basis, or you might not hear from your mentor for months at a time. However, you know that your mentor keeps track of your progress, and if that were not incentive enough, the tantalizing hints and fragments of the Prophecy itself lure you on.

In general, you would have been provided with only rudimentary instruction by your mentor upon accepting the role of dragon prophet—to seek out signs of the draconic Prophecy, make attempts to decipher their meaning, and report your findings to your mentor as quickly as possible. A dragon mentor also provides its prophet with its full name, so that it can be contacted by sending and similar spells. Doing this puts the dragon at risk, but you know that betraying that trust by revealing your mentor’s name would result in swift and merciless destruction. Dragon mentors have message centers hidden in nearly every populated portion of Khorvaire, and prophets wandering far from such areas for extended periods are expected to find other ways to stay in touch.

You should continue to add ranks to your Knowledge (arcana) skill at each level, because doing so gives you the best chance of deciphering dragonmarks and other signs of the Prophecy, as well as extending the duration of your prophetic favor. Taking additional prophecy feats beyond your bonus feats is useful, because they better enable you to survive the challenges your searches will inevitably lead you to face.

Resources

Because dragon prophets lack a formal organization, you are effectively isolated. You must rely on your own skills and initiative most of the time, since your dragon mentor will not be able to aid you often from its home on distant Argonnessen. You should consider buying or building a magic item capable of accessing a sending spell or similar magic, so that you can stay in touch with your mentor. Otherwise, bond with other adventurers and look to those friendships for aid. Whether you reveal your affiliation to them is up to you, but beware indifference—or betrayal— from those who do not understand the importance of your mission.

Dragon Prophets in the World

“No one knows everything. No one understands everything. But there’s no harm in trying.” —Yesrin Lieng, dragon prophet

The dragon prophet prestige class enables you to have the most fascinating creatures in D&D—the dragons—play a pivotal role in a campaign. Dragon prophet characters can set out on countless adventures in search of clues to the Prophecy, and can be used to introduce all manner of villains interested in discerning the mysteries of the Prophecy for their own ends.

Organization

Dragon prophets do not affiliate with one another for the most part. Driven not only by their own unique motivations but by their dragon mentors’ agendas, dragon prophets are extremely complex characters. Because they have no set organization, no single prophet claims leadership over others. However, the relationship between prophets and their mentors changes the prophets, making them a little more like their mentors each day.

Each mentor treats its prophet in a different manner, however. Evil dragons tend to think of their prophets as property—a useful and active extension of their hoard. Most prophets willing to deal with evil dragons accept a de facto role as their mentors’ slaves, and some become slave owners themselves in mimicry of this relationship. Good dragons, on the other hand, tend to see prophets as useful (albeit inferior) partners. These dragons expect just as much from their prophets as any evil dragons, but are more forgiving of failures.

Dragon prophets are, without exception, adventurers. They seek out signs of the Prophecy wherever they go, sending word to their mentors whenever they find an important piece of information. A dragon prophet might spend months or even years at a single place engaged in research, but she is always ready to pack up in pursuit of the next clue. As a result, nearly all prophets are solitary individuals, though rumors of a few who have established romantic relationships with their dragon mentors persist.

Dragon Prophets in the Game

Dragon prophets can show up wherever magical activity occurs. Dragonmarks have begun appearing in odd places in the last several hundred years, so wherever such a mark manifests, a dragon prophet probably won’t be far off. Likewise, any general information on dragonkind is likely to be investigated by a dragon prophet, and even magical activity that has nothing to do with dragonmarks or dragons might draw a prophet to an area. They see signs and hints of the Prophecy everywhere, and only they and their mentors know these signs when they see them.

A dragon prophet PC should be encouraged to explore, which is easily done by dropping the occasional odd sign or newly appeared dragonmark into the game. You shouldn’t be afraid to use a dragon mentor as a mentor or teacher figure for the entire party, giving players the opportunity to send their PCs on missions at the request of a dragon. Weaving a primary or secondary story element into a campaign about the Prophecy isn’t that difficult, either. The point is not to try to create the entire Prophecy (for not even the dragons know entirely what the Prophecy portends), but to focus on a small aspect of it, presenting hooks relating to that aspect for a prophet to follow.

A strange pattern appears on the wall of a deep cavern—a spiraling series of lines, vaguely reminiscent of Draconic characters.

A child is born to two full-blooded members of House Cannith, but even at birth she bears an aberrant dragonmark.

The moon Aryth eclipses Lharvion at the precise moment that the plane Thelanis becomes coterminous with Eberron.

When a dragon sage gathers all these facts, she nods. With a few words, she records her conclusions in the spellshard that lies before her. One more path to the future—one more piece of the draconic Prophecy—has been revealed.

The Prophecy is a core element of the EBERRON campaign setting. Dragon and fiend battle over its outcome. It might call for a reluctant adventurer to take on the mantle of hero—or it might warn of dire consequences if adventurers slay a hated foe.

But what is the draconic Prophecy? And what are effective ways to use it in a campaign?

Source and Purpose

None can question the power of the draconic Prophecy. Its power as a tool of divination has been proven time and again. But philosophers and sages—human and dragon, celestial and fiend—have long debated the source of its power. How can the paths of the future be mapped out on stone and sky? Is this proof of divine intervention . . . or does such a concrete cosmic plan defy the existence of free-willed gods?

Tens of thousands of years of debate and divination have produced no clear answers. Here are a few of the popular theories; only the DM can decide if any of these are true.

• The Prophecy is a reflection of the ongoing struggle between Khyber and Eberron. The Progenitors shaped reality at the beginning of time, and the Prophecy reflects their divergent desires for their creation. This is the central belief of the dragon religion Thir.

The Prophecy is the work of the dragon deity Chronepsis, master of fate. The core doctrine of Thir says that Chronepsis is the scribe of the Progenitors. However, certain dragons believe that Chronepsis alone chooses the path of the Prophecy.

• The Prophecy is the creation of Aureon, Sovereign of Law and Lore. This is the popular theory of followers of the Sovereign Host. The doctrine of Thir acknowledges Aureon—Ourelonastrix—as the first prophet, but not as the creator of the Prophecy.
• The Prophecy is a divine force, not unlike the Silver Flame. It draws its power from all living beings. It is shaped by their desires, and it channels their wants. This is how it can predict the future, because it influences people to act in accordance with its predictions.
• Each of the thirteen Outer Planes has an underlying consciousness. Eberron is where the planes converge, and the Prophecy is the result of the debate between these planar voices.
• The Prophecy is the ultimate source of magical energy. Magic has the power to reshape reality, and the draconic Prophecy is the ultimate expression of this. Even those who agree on the nature of the Prophecy argue about its purpose. For much of the history of Argonnessen, the followers of Thir have held to the belief that the Prophecy is the record of creation, and that the purpose of the dragons is to watch and record until creation runs its course. This means they can prevent others from tampering with the course of destiny, but should not manipulate it themselves.

The dragons of the Chamber counter that Ourelonastrix and Hezcalipa used their knowledge of the Prophecy to defeat the Overlords in the Age of Demons. These dragons claim that the Prophecy is a tool, a gift to allow those wise enough to read it some control over the future. In their view, dragons should be on guard against other forces who seek to control this power. The Lords of Dust have always sought to use the Prophecy as a weapon against their foes. The elves of the Undying Court have unraveled many of its mysteries. Now, some among the lesser nondragons seek to use the Prophecy as a tool, if they can only master its secrets.

Ultimately, the Dungeon Master must decide if mortals are meant to tamper with the Prophecy. The consequences of this decision are explored below.

The Nature of the Prophecy

The draconic Prophecy has existed since the dawn of time. Dragons and demons have sought its power.

But what is the Prophecy? What form does it take? How can people fight over its outcome? And how can an infallible prophecy work in a game that is, ultimately, defined by player choices?

The key is that the draconic Prophecy is a living thing. It has never been fully recorded because it is constantly growing and evolving. The Prophecy is a map showing many paths that the future might take, and revealing dependencies. Consider the following:

If the King of Breland is assassinated on the day of the gargoyle’s first victory, there will be war in the west. If there is war between Droaam and Breland, and if the last child of the storm faces the three daughters, the first hag will return.

This is the nature of the Prophecy. It is a web that is constantly unfolding, and the future is formed by threads from thousands of evolving events. This is how the Chamber and the Lords of Dust use the Prophecy as a weapon. Find an outcome you desire, then trace back the path of events that will make it happen. If the Lords of Dust want Sora Kell to return, they must see to it that King Boranel is slain on the same day that Carralag the gargoyle wins the Race of Eight Winds in Sharn. This will lead to war... and that paves the way for the next convergence they wish to control. Meanwhile, if the Chamber can prevent Carralag’s victory or Boranel’s death, it has staved off this fate... though it might have set another path in motion. This is the trick to dealing with the Lords of Dust and the Chamber; both groups are often working toward long-term goals that can’t even be seen without the use of the Prophecy. The Chamber might help stop a massacre, or it might cause a massacre—in either case the dragons care nothing about the victims. They are concerned only with the chain of events that are set in motion, and it might take years, decades, or longer for matters to play out.

Forms of the Prophecy

Typically, adventurers encounter the Prophecy in one of three ways. Signs and Portents: A convergence of moons and planes. A symbol revealed by an earthquake. Three dragonmarked heirs slain by fire. These are some of the ways in which the Prophecy is made manifest. But taken alone, none of these manifestations have meaning. It’s like glancing at tea leaves or seeing two crows on a dead oak tree—without proper training, the omen cannot be interpreted. And the draconic Prophecy is far more complex than tea leaves or tarot cards. In the examples given above, all three of the events could be linked together. Moon, rune, and deaths are all pieces of the puzzle, and knowledge of past events might be just as crucial to success. Most creatures require decades to learn to interpret the simplest signs of the Prophecy, and it takes centuries to truly understand it. Even among the long-lived dragons, few have the patience and intelligence required to become true prophets. As such, adventurers rarely find a piece of the Prophecy that they can interpret on their own; instead, they need to find someone who can help them understand its meaning.

In the past, the symbols that appeared on the earth were called dragonmarks. These days, they are usually called Prophecy marks. The design of these marks is quite similar to those found on flesh, but every mark is different; each line has meaning to one who knows how to read them. If a character who speaks Draconic makes a DC 30 Spellcraft check, she gains a hint about the meaning of a mark, to a maximum of five words. For example, she might recognize the concepts of “king,” “victory,” and “moving stone.” Although interesting, this hint rarely provides full meaning, and might actually be misleading.

A small Prophecy mark might be the size of a human fist. The largest marks are so big that they can be seen properly only from a great height. All marks radiate a strong aura of universal magic and occasionally shimmer with a blue-green radiance similar to the color of dragonmarks. Prophecy marks slowly repair themselves if damaged. It’s possible to remove a small mark whole, but if a mark is simply damaged, it eventually re-forms.

The true nature of Prophecy marks is as mysterious as the Prophecy itself. In Xen’drik, explorers have found eldritch machines from the Age of Giants that seem to use Prophecy marks as a source of power, and many forces in Khorvaire—notably House Cannith, the Twelve, and the elemental binders of Zilargo—are working to unlock this secret.

Translations: A Prophecy mark on a cavern wall won’t provide much insight into the Prophecy. The personal notes of a dragon scholar who has spent centuries collecting pieces of the Prophecy? That’s another matter. The challenge for humans is that dragons typically use spellshards (ECS 265) to record knowledge. A spellshard formed for a dragon is the size of a small boulder. Some dragons prefer to carve their thoughts in stone; many lairs have a chamber of words, and adventurers could find insights about the Prophecy written there. Although few mortal nondragons have truly mastered the draconic Prophecy, a number of sages have studied it, and collected the writings of dragon prophets. Adventurers might find useful translations in the journal of, say, a dead cataclysm mage (EH 58).

The dragons of Argonnessen have created many records about the Prophecy. A translation could simply record events of the past—the shape the Prophecy finally took—but even this can be an important tool for interpreting future signs. Some records reveal possibilities—multiple paths that the future can take, depending on what events come to pass. Other dragon writings focus on a single chain of possibility—the path that the writers are working to achieve.

The precise form of these writings varies based on the author. A translation of the Prophecy could take the form of poetry, a formal treatise, or a few cryptic words. It has meaning to the author, but it might still puzzle the random reader.

Prophets: The simplest way to read meaning into the Prophecy is to know someone who can read its signs. The role of the dragon prophet has already been discussed, but other options exist. A deathless elf or disguised rakshasa could offer insight into a path of the Prophecy. A scholar might piece together a translation—imperfect, but something to work with. Or a dragonmarked character could have a sudden and vivid prophetic dream. A gift of Chronepsis? Insight flowing directly from the source of the Prophecy and through his dragonmark? Or part of a devious quori scheme?

The Prophecy as Adventure Hook

Having considered the origin of the Prophecy and the forms it takes, a question remains. Why use it? What does it bring to an adventure?

Destiny: The draconic Prophecy is one way to establish certain adventurers as people who have a special destiny. The fact that player characters possess action points already suggests that they are favored by fate; the Prophecy can take this a step farther, cementing the fact that they are the only ones who can accomplish certain tasks. This helps even low-level adventurers stand out in the world. They might not be ready to take on the tarrasque now, but they know that some day, they are destined to battle it.

Control: The Prophecy is a tool that holds mighty forces in check. Both the Lords of Dust and the dragons of Argonnessen possess power that dwarfs that of most adventurers. But their knowledge of the Prophecy handicaps them in many ways. For example, the Prophecy could reveal that if the dragons defeat the Dreaming Dark, Tiamat will be released; but if the adventurers accomplish the same task, the Daughter of Tiamat will remain bound for another thousand years.

Choice: The Prophecy can be a tool to help the Dungeon Master choose the direction of a campaign. A prophet seeks out the adventurers and reveals that they are at a crossroads of fate. If they follow one path, war arises between Droaam and Breland. If they take the other path, they discover a lost kingdom in Xen’drik, and one among them dons a crown. So . . . do the players want a war campaign? Or an extended adventure in Xen’drik? The prophet doesn’t tell them how events will play out—who will wear a crown, or if they will all live or die—but she gives them the opportunity to pick a direction for future adventures. Battling Fate: Another possible path for a campaign is to reveal a piece of the Prophecy that the adventurers want to prevent from coming to pass. A warrior is destined to kill the one he loves the most. A wizard will unlock the secret of the Mourning . . . and destroy the Five Nations. Is it possible to avoid this fate? Or will the adventurers’ attempts to change their destinies actually be the cause of their undoing?

In working with prophecy, ambiguity is a powerful tool. An adventurer will wear a crown . . . but does this mean he will rule a kingdom, or could it be a cursed crown that will give an undead spirit possession of his body? Likewise, a DM could rely on cryptic titles instead of being obvious from the start. The Prophecy might mention the “child of the crimson storm” . . . but it could take time to prove that this is in fact the Lyrandar heir in the party

The dragons of Argonnessen scrutinize the world for signs and portents. They study the sky above, the pits and caverns below, and the land between, watching for hidden significance. The dragons, long-lived and patient, seek meaning in the patterns they discover. These patterns play out in the Draconic Prophecy, a record of events past, present, and future that has been emerging since the creation of the world.

Passages of the Prophecy appear throughout the world—above, below, and between. Signs are revealed in the changing shape of the Ring of Siberys. Dragons spend a great deal of time and effort charting the movement of the moons and stars, studying the patterns of the Dragon Above, and interpreting omens. Symbols appear on the sides of mountains, on the walls of caves, or in the deepest recesses of Khyber, although some of these signs can be read only when the moons and stars are in certain alignments or in the proximity of certain dragonshards. Around 3,000 years ago (recently, by draconic reckoning), a new canvas for the Prophecy appeared: The races of Khorvaire began to manifest dragon marks. The appearance of dragon marks on these “lesser” races has led to much debate among the dragons. The destiny of the world, some would claim, is spelled out in the Draconic Prophecy. On some level, this assertion is true, but most people who are aware of the Prophecy take an overly simplistic view of it. The truth of the Prophecy is far more complex, rich with possibility, and fraught with danger.

There are those who make a casual hobby of collecting snippets of the Prophecy. The small pieces and fragmentary verses that are readily available give a misleading view of the Prophecy’s nature and purpose. Such verses are among the most well-known parts of the Prophecy, and they suggest that history unfolds according to a script, preordained and unalterable. Particularly in the wake of the Mourning, a popular view of the Prophecy is that it charts the pathway to the end of the world. Those who hold this view find their lives instilled with a sense of urgency, their existence overshadowed by impending catastrophe.

Others among the mortal races of Khorvaire study the Prophecy more intently and have a better sense of its scope. Upon learning that pieces of the Prophecy were fulfilled before humans or elves ever walked the earth, and that others can’t possibly be fulfilled for another thousand years, these scholars tend to lose any sense of immediacy. The world will not end this year, or the next, or during any human life span. Still, the Prophecy adds enormous weight to individual events on a smaller scale. The Mourning might not herald the destruction of Eberron, but the event is invested with the weight of the Prophecy and is a portentous moment in history.

Dragons, demons, the Undying Court, and others able to study the Prophecy for multiple human lifetimes gain a deeper understanding of its proper context. The destiny contained in the Prophecy is not a foreordained sequence of events, but an infinity of possibilities, an intricate network of conditions and dependencies. The language of the Prophecy expresses cause and effect, declaring the consequences of certain events, not the probability of any given event. Its verbs are slippery, allowing multiple interpretations. Although some people use their limited understanding of the Prophecy to justify their actions or their inaction, the more sophisticated come to understand the Prophecy as a context for action. Its field of possibilities gives a reason to act, to watch for opportunities, and to seize those opportunities as they come. For those who take the right action at the right time, the Prophecy can be used as a road map and the consequences it describes can be brought to pass. For those who take a different action or the same action at a different time, the same verse of the Prophecy might be fulfilled in a different way, with different consequences.

The fluidity of the Prophecy, as it is correctly understood, is what makes it possible for groups such as the Chamber and the Lords of Dust (on behalf of their demonic overlords) to contend in order to influence its interpretation and fulfillment. It is also, not coincidentally, what makes the Prophecy useful in a D&D campaign, where the characters remain in control of their destinies at least to some extent. The Prophecy can lead them into adventures and outline the consequences of their actions, but it cannot dictate their actions—or the results of their die rolls.

Even among dragons, few make any claim to have truly mastered even the smallest aspect of the Prophecy. To these enlightened minds, a greater wisdom exists among the layers upon layers of meaning in the words of the Prophecy. They see the Prophecy as the language of creation, the words that called the world into being—the tongue in which all things were first named. Those verses continue to speak the world through its course. These dragons seek not to fulfill what has been predicted, but to continue the course of creation that was established at the beginning of time. Through their contact with the Prophecy they become creators in their own right—alongside all the beings in the history of the world, mortal and divine, who have heard and understood and spoken that mystic language.

Forms of the Prophecy

Typically, adventurers encounter the Prophecy in one of three ways.

Signs and Portents: A convergence of moons and planes, a cavern revealed by an earthquake, three dragon marked heirs slain by fire—these events are some of the ways in which the Prophecy is made manifest. Taken alone, none of these manifestations have meaning. It’s like glancing at tea leaves or seeing two crows on a dead oak tree—without proper training, such an omen cannot be interpreted. Worse, the Draconic Prophecy is far more complex than wet leaves or black birds. In the examples given above, all three events could be linked. Moon, cave, and death are all pieces of the puzzle, but knowledge of past events might be just as crucial to interpreting them. Dragons take decades to construe the simplest signs of the Prophecy, and centuries to comprehend extended passages. Even among the long-lived dragons, few have the patience and intelligence required to become true prophets. Thus, adventurers rarely find a piece of the Prophecy that they can interpret on their own; instead, they need to find someone who can help them understand its meaning.

Prophecy Marks: The Draconic Prophecy is written across the world, in symbols scrawled across the landscape, written by no mortal hand. These signs are known as Prophecy Marks. The smallest, mere inches across, might be found eroded into a stone at the base of a hill, formed by the patterns of a cave’s stalactites, or wound through the veins in the leaves of a tree. Others grow so large that they are visible only from above the clouds, written in the shapes of mountain ranges or the patterns of desert sands. Even the configuration of country roads and city streets in some Eberron locations form Prophecy Marks, without any deliberate effort on the part of their builders.

Interpreting a Prophecy Mark isn’t a simple matter of deciphering Iokharic script or reading written words. It requires time spent contemplating the twisting lines of the mark with a clear mind, and these marks often reward multiple attempts to plumb their meaning with increasingly deep understanding. Depending on the size of the mark, five minutes of quiet study can convey the gist of a mark’s meaning, but a large or complex mark might require hours or even days of contemplation. For example, the Prophecy Mark that appears in the introductory adventure in the Appendix (page 264) is a small manifestation on exposed earth, requiring only five minutes for a character to understand its meaning. At the other extreme, the Sky Caves of Thieren Kor—said to appear above the land of desolation in the dark of the great moon—consist of twisting tunnels whose walls bear words in their striated walls, while the tunnels themselves form the shapes of additional words. With a few hours’ study, a character might gain some important knowledge of the Prophecy from the Sky Caves, but one could walk those twisting tunnels for weeks or even years and not fathom all the nuances of meaning conveyed by the juxtaposition of words and symbols.

Translations: A sigil on a cavern wall doesn’t provide much insight into the Prophecy. The personal notes of a dragon scholar who has spent centuries collecting pieces of the Prophecy, though, are another matter. The challenge for humans is that dragons typically use Eberron dragonshards to record their collected knowledge, and a shard cut for a dragon’s use is the size of a small boulder. Some dragons prefer to carve their thoughts in stone; many lairs have a chamber where words are inscribed on the walls, and adventurers could find insights about the Prophecy written in such a place. Although few mortal nondragons have truly mastered any aspect of the Draconic Prophecy, a number of sages have studied it and collected the writings of dragon prophets. The precise form of these writings varies based on the author. A translation of the Prophecy could take the form of poetry, a formal treatise, or a few cryptic words.

Prophets: The simplest way to read meaning into the Prophecy is to know someone who can interpret its signs. In addition to dragon prophets, a deathless elf or a disguised rakshasa could offer insight into a path of the Prophecy. A scholar might piece together a translation—imperfect, but something to work with. A lunatic exposed to a huge Prophecy Mark might dream nightly of snippets of the Prophecy he can’t hope to understand, or a dragon marked player character could have a sudden and vivid prophetic dream. It’s often up to the characters in these cases to figure out what to make of the Prophecy they learn, but that can be part of the adventure’s fun.

Few outside the dragon lands of Argonnessen know of the draconic Prophecy. Most common folk of Khorvaire view the long-lived dragons with fear and mistrust, when forced to think of them at all. However, the dragons shepherd vast and intricate plans toward fulfillment, plans that have at their heart the sacred Prophecy. Some enlightened individuals among the “lesser races” have gained an understanding of the Prophecy, or at least of its existence. A rare few scholars have even attempted to study the Prophecy. Such research is typically shortlived, however, because dragons do not tend to look kindly on those seeking to meddle in any fashion with the Prophecy. Some of these researchers simply disappear, while others develop a sudden interest in some other project.

A few members of the lesser races have learned something of the Prophecy. After the emergence of dragonmarks, the dragons realized that, just perhaps, humanoids have some important role to play in the unfolding Prophecy. Many dragons believe that observation of the bearers of dragonmarks, especially those that find some greater purpose in life, is enough. But a few dragons decided several hundred years ago that they desired an insider’s perspective.

Inception of the Dragon Prophets

Overtures were made to specific individuals the dragons had observed for some time. Some bore dragonmarks themselves, but most did not. The individuals in question were all of an arcane bent, much like dragons themselves, and they were tasked with being the eyes and ears of their draconic masters, seeking signs of the Prophecy and occasionally acting on behalf of the dragons in causes in which the dragons were interested. In every case, these individuals acted to further the dragons’ understanding of the Prophecy. In the process, they gained some insight into its mysteries themselves and began to manifest strange new abilities reminiscent of the great dragon deities. These individuals collectively came to be known as dragon prophets.

The dragon prophets have learned much from their draconic mentors (or masters, depending on the specific relationship involved), many dealing directly with a greater understanding of the draconic Prophecy. These abilities focus on the insight of the complex Prophecy, as well as a greater understanding of the world at large. As a prophet gains more of a grasp on the Prophecy, she begins to see everything around her in a different light. Many find themselves able to predict the future, while others simply become more aware of their surroundings.

Adventure Idea

—On a trip through Khyber, the PCs stumble across a mysterious chamber. Dragonmarklike sigils adorn the walls in continually shifting patterns. While there, they encounter a dragon prophet, who came to the cavern to research the odd marks and their connection to the Prophecy, just as he is ambushed by cultists of the Dragon Below. The PCs have the opportunity to be exposed to the mysterious draconic Prophecy for the first time, as well as uncover the motivations of the lunatic cultists in attacking the prophet. Is some portion of his research pertinent to Khyber?

Dragonshards and the Prophecy

The dragons of Argonnessen are convinced that dragonshards are essential to understanding the Prophecy. The dragons read the true meaning of the marks within the shards, and realize that some marks are only truly understood when combined with or exposed to other marks.

Eberron shards, in particular, seem responsible for the manifestation of dragonmarks on the humans, elves, and other races of Khorvaire. Many sages believe that the dragonmarks were brought about due to long exposure, over many generations, to the Eberron dragonshards that lie just beneath the ground. Of course, those sages are unable to explain why no dragonmarks manifested among the orcs of the Eldeen Reaches or the goblinoids of the great Empire of Dhakaan during the millennia that passed before human, elf, and dwarf colonization.

Many dragons spend every night for centuries looking up at the Ring of Siberys. The ring shifts subtly over time, as some of the dragonshards that comprise the ring fall to Eberron as Siberys showers. The dragons feel that signs and portents from the ring represent omens from the spirit of Siberys, guiding the dragons so that they can be prepared if the spawn of Khyber once again emerge to dominate the world.

Tales are told of great Khyber caverns, whose walls are covered in markings of all sorts, and yet those markings shift and fluctuate if a strongly attuned dragonshard is carried through the cavern. Some of the markings seem to shirk away from Eberron shards, yet they crowd toward a powerful Khyber shard. The effect is subtle, however, and only those possessing the great patience and attention of the dragons can truly appreciate these mark manifestations. Only the dragons and those versed in the Prophecy, such as dragon prophets, can gain any insight from the sigils deep within Khyber.

A few nondragons have been exposed to slivers of the Prophecy. Some deranged Dragon Below cultists who worship Khyber, the progenitor wyrm, believe that Khyber dragonshards bind the ancient dragon within the depths of the world. These cultists strive to remove or destroy Khyber shards through magical rituals designed to break the binding forces. Still another cult faction believes that the dragonshards represent the physical form of the dragon itself. These cultists are convinced that if a large enough concentration of Khyber dragonshards were collected, Khyber could find the strength to rise again. These cultists have amassed secret caches consisting of tens or hundreds of Khyber shards.

Other, more scholarly types have suggested that the dragonmarks represent the dragon Eberron expressing its will through the dragonmarked races—races Eberron has chosen. What the races have been chosen for is unclear. Perhaps a cataclysmic showdown is inevitable, with the dragonmarked races battling the aberrations, fiends, and other forces of Khyber, as well as the dragons, the chosen of Siberys. This theory is but one of many regarding the relationship of dragonshards with the Prophecy.

Source: Dragons of Eberron

Here are several ways the draconic Prophecy could enter a campaign.

• An adventurer finds a spellshard journal that has rough details of his own past and future accomplishments, including finding the shard. Who wrote it? Will the PC try to follow the path it lays out, or create a new future?
• The party finds a dead man clutching a basalt disk, lying next to the corpse of a rakshasa. The stone holds a Prophecy mark, and agents of the Talons of Tiamat, the Chamber, and the Undying Court are all searching for it.
• A dragon prophet presents an adventurer with a magic sword. It’s prophesied that the adventurer will fight a champion of darkness hidden somewhere in the city; she has one day to find and defeat him, or she will surely die.
• Adventurers encounter a wizard building an eldritch machine over a large Prophecy mark. The mark has taken on the appearance of an aberrant dragonmark. Is this an innocent experiment, or the first step in a terrible plan?
• An attack by an overwhelming enemy force drives adventurers into a network of caves—a dragon’s lair that has been abandoned for thousands of years. Engravings on a cavern wall include the dragon’s notes on the Prophecy . . . including cryptic clues that could help the adventurers defeat the enemy hunting them.
• The vault of the Grand Library of Metrol is rumored to hold a copy of the Silaxerus Shard, one of the most complete records of the Prophecy in human hands. Agents of the Chamber want to destroy it. The Library of Korranberg, the Twelve, and Arcanix want to steal it. Prince Oargev wants it returned to Cyran hands. Whom will the adventurers help? And what if the Lords of Dust have already stolen the shard and replaced it with a counterfeit designed to mislead?