Jul 3

Jul 3 Dragonmarked Houses - House Jorasco

The House Jorasco comprises of halflings who bear the Mark of Healing. The Red Cross of Eberron, they have come to the aid of countless people. They heal the sick and the spare the dying, but also act as a hospice for those who magic, no matter how powerful, can save. Believe it or not, the Red Cross has its fair share of detractors, and so does House Jorasco, as many say they do not provide their services out of some sense of altruism, but out of greed.

House Jorasco

Dragonmark - Mark of Healing
Race - Halfling
Traits - ASI Increase, Medical Intuition, Healing Touch, Spells of the Mark
Headquarters - Vedkyar Enclave (Vedykar, Karrnath)
Patriarch/Matriarch - Ulara d'Jorasco
Emblem - Griffon
Guilds - Healer's Guild

History

Another tribe of halflings, another dragonmark. It makes you wonder what was in the water in the Talenta Plains. The Mark of Healing appeared shortly after the Mark of Hospitality. The Jorasco halflings were a nomadic tribe that wandered throughout the plains. With the appearance of the Mark of Healing, they started to provide aid to those in need of help. One of the few tribes that did not thrive in combat, Jorasco halflings were still well respected as they offered a variety of healing services to the other tribes, including midwifery, acting as battlefield medics, and helping ease the suffering of those beyond their help. Tribute and gifts were given to the Jorasco tribe for such services, as was the custom among the tribes. It was a simpler time for them, but everything changed with the establishment of the House Jorasco.

When Karrn the Conqueror pushed eastward in his neverending quest to expand his kingdom, he discovered the dragonmarked halflings of Jorasco. Karrn sent word back to the Houses in Khorvaire, and their emissaries traveled to the Talenta Plains. They negotiated with the halflings, and after a lengthy process, House Jorasco became a full-fledged house. Eager to gain acceptance amongst the other Houses, the Jorasco halflings took immediately started to integrate themselves in the ways of central Khovaire, adopting the customs of Khovaire as fast as they could. Casting aside their heritage, they expanded their reach from the Plains, creating hospitals throughout all of Khovaire and actively seeking to assist those in need of their healing services. As a result, the tribal history of the Jorascoian halflings as all but been erased. There is little else known about the Jorsaco halflings during this timeframe.

Becoming a House was an expensive endeavor, especially with the halflings trying to establish hospitals through Khovaire. House Jorasco soon found itself owing large debts to both House Cannith and House Sivis. Unlike when the halflings roamed the Talenta Plains, this debt was expected to be paid back in gold, not in healing services. House Jorasco quickly developed a set schedule of fees based on the services provided and required payment in advance before rendering such services. These payments allowed the healers to have a living wage and also to pay off the debts they owed to the other houses. As the House became more successful, payment became less about survival and more about profit. Jorasco's mission of healing became intertwined with their passion for gold, which some seized upon when criticizing the House.

During the Last War, Jorasco healers provided their services far and wide. Their commitment to staying neutral allowed the House to serve all sides during the conflict. Many times one could find healers from House Jorasco on both sides of the battlefield. Each of the Five Nations sought their services, and the House quickly found itself with lucrative contracts with all of them. To this day, these contracts exist, having been extended and re-negotiated, with House Jorasco increasing prices every time.

House Jorasco works hand in hand with House Ghallanda, providing medical support for the mercenaries that House Ghallanda supplied. They assisted in critical military operations and engaged in joint missions with House Ghallanda, giving respite and healing for the wounded so they could be sent back out to the front lines. House Jorasco continued to thrive and benefit from the Last War long after its conclusion, providing rehabilitation services and long term care for those whose bodies and minds were permanently damaged during the war. Since the end of the war, the House has expanded the number of enclaves and healing houses through Khovaire with each of the Five Nations financing veteran's hospitals for their soldiers.

The Mark of Healing

In 3.5e, the Mark of Healing was a series of three feats that focuses on healing spells. The first feat was the Least Dragonmark feat, and the series culminated with the Greater Dragonmark feat. The prestige class in this edition was the Nosomatic Chirurgeons. Within Jorasco, members of a militant sect of healers twisted their powers to darkness. They are not innately evil, but the power they possess and wield is an embarrassment to Jorasco's reputation. These powers have granted them such abilities as pestilence touch, plague bearer, and immunity to diseases. Upon discovering a member of this sect, House Jorasco will dispatch heirs to eliminate them.

Least Mark of Healing: cure light wounds 1/day or lesser restoration 1/day; +2 bonus on Heal checks.
Lesser Mark of Healing: cure serious wounds 1/day, neutralize poison 1/day, remove disease 1/day, or restoration 1/day.
Greater Mark of Healing: Heal 1/day.

4th edition expanded the power of the Mark of Healing. The Mark of Healing feat allowed them to master and perform rituals in the restoration category along with Remove Affliction as if they had the Ritual Caster feat. The paragon path was the Jorasco Jadehand, which incorporated Druidic traditions and abilities they used to heal the lands of Khovaire, stopping supernatural menaces, and those that actively seek to harm the land and the people that live there.

Jadehand Action - Able to restore extra hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier.
Improved Recovery -Give an ally advantage on a saving throw.
Healing Savant - Use a healing power during a short or extended rest, and boom, it healing to a creature's maximum hit points.

Today

House Jorasco is known through Khovaire because of its Healer's Guild. The leader of the guild, Baron Ulara d'Jorasco, is much beloved in northwestern Khorvaire for her instrumental role in combating an epidemic in that region a decade ago. She has maintained the Jorasco monopoly on healing and keeping religious organizations, especially the Church of the Silver Flame and Church of the Sovereign Host, mostly out of the healing industry. She is an intellectual and has little time for the day to day operations of the House, leaving them to the young members.

House Jorasco has been taking an increasingly expansive view of what constitutes healing, as House Jorasco runs more than just hospitals, but rehabilitation centers, convalescent homes, and hospices. They also assist in broader ways than traditionally associated with the House, such as helping to maintain quarantines, locating rare healing herbs, and working on vaccines for the plagues that have begun to infect the people of Khovaire.

The guild runs schools that teach medicine, as well as houses of healing that provide both conventional and magical training. Of course, gold is still the name of the game for House Jorasco. House Jorasco heirs learn how to use their dragonmark to heal, but the schools also teach others how to treat people without magic. If you can pay for their magical services, your wounds or illnesses, if the prices are out of your range, you can still receive treatment, but it is of a mundane quality. House Jorasco is also one of the largest purveyors of magical portions in Khovaire.

Many within Khovaire criticize Jorasco's demands for payment, as they feel the poor and needy should have such services provided to them for free. Members of the House insist that it is not greed that drives them, but making sure the House thrives to that it may continue its good works and research in the years to come. Recently, rumors have begun to circulate in certain circles that House Jorasco, who in conjunction with House Vadalis, under cover of the Last War to conduct horrifying experiments to develop biological weapons and unique and twisted creatures.

In the 5th edition, the Mark of Hospitality is a halfling subrace with the following traits:

ASI - Wisdom increases by 1.
Medical Intuition. When you make a Wisdom (Medicine) check or an ability check using an herbalism kit, you can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the ability check.
Healing Touch. You can cast the Cure Wounds spell with this trait, and at the 3rd level, you can also cast Lesser Restoration with it. Once you cast either spell with this trait, you can't cast that spell with it again until you finish a long rest.
Spells of the Mark - Spells that include Cure Wounds, Aura of Vitality, Aura of Life, and Greater Restoration. Must have spellcasting ability.

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