House Kundarak

House Kundarak is a Dwarven house with services focused in security and banking. Their primary customers are those who have enough coin to buy something worth protecting including the wealthy, the powerful, other dragonmarked houses and even nation states. They are the wealthiest Dragonmarked House by far and their banking establishments can be found all over Khorvaire. The power and wealth of this house stem not just from its influence over banking and finance, but from the safeguarding of all valuables. The rich veins of gold, iron, copper, and other minerals found in their hold in the Ironroot Mountains have made the Kundarak dwarves some of the wealthiest individuals on Khorvaire, and the house has spent centuries parlaying that wealth into a continent-spanning financial empire.

Most of the nations of Khorvaire and the other dragonmarked houses rely on House Kundarak for loans and security, which gives the house an unparalleled level of influence. House Kundarak has close ties to House Sivis. Gnomes are found at most major branches of the bank. In exchange for a share of the profits, the House of Scribing provides bookkeeping services, verifies important documents, and assists with magical communication, in addition to providing the services of its mundane advocates and mediators.

Dragonmark
House Kundarak possesses the Mark of Warding which allows the bearers to secure items, papers and money giving reason to why they are the number one service in banking and securing valuables.

The aspects of the Mark of Warding grant the following benefits:
 * Least Mark of Warding: alarm 1/day, arcane lock 1/day, fire-trap 1/day, or misdirection 1/day; +2 bonus on Search checks.
 * Lesser Mark of Warding: explosive runes 1/day, glyph of warding 1/day, or nondetection 1/day.
 * Greater Mark of Warding: Mordenkainen’s faithful hound 1/day, greater glyph of warding 1/day, or guards and wards 1/day.

Services
House Kundarak provides loans, letters of credit, and safekeeping services in all the nations across Khorvaire. Only the Lhazaar Principalities have relatively minor banking facilities, and the Warding Guild has more extensive operations there due to its work with the prison island of Dreadhold.

The main services provided by the Banking Guild consist of exchanging coins for more transportable forms of wealth, such as gems, bills of exchange, or letters of credit. The larger offices link by magical means, and an individual who maintains a balance with the bank can withdraw funds against one of these letters or bills from any of the major outposts. House Kundarak also provides credit and loans, but as an institution, the house only deals with royalty, dragonmarked houses, guilds, and other large groups and will not typically make personal loans.

One of the most popular services for those who can afford it is safe-deposit vaults. Although very expensive (10 gp/day), after renting a vault from House Kundarak the client and any delegated companions receive a word of access and can deposit any items or valuables weighing up to 10 pounds. Through arcane means, these vaults can be accessed from any Kundarak banking center, regardless of where the vault was originally accessed for deposit.

The Warding Guild consists of experts in magical and mundane security, as well as troops trained to guard Kundarak holdings. House members stationed at Dreadhold belong to this guild. The guild provides independent security consulting and services; Kundarak locks and traps are renowned throughout the land.

Key Locations
Korunda Gate - A major city in the Mror Holds and the headquarters of House Kundarak,

The Deep Mine - An extremely rich and deep mine that is being mined by a collaboration of Dragonmarked Houses and Dwarven clans in the outskirts of Zilargo.

Leadership
The current head of House Kundarak is Morrikan d’Kundarak (LN male dwarf aristocrat 3/fighter 9/heir of Siberys 2), referred to as baron by those outside the house and as lord by those within it. Titles and positions within the house are hereditary, and are always passed down from father to son (or, in rare cases, to nephew) within the Kundarak line. Lord Morrikan is a shrewd and patient patriarch who has ruled his house for over a century. When the Last War broke out, Morrikan’s voice from his observer’s seat at the Iron Council was said to be the first to whisper of independence.

Guilds
If it’s worth stealing, chances are that one of House Kundarak’s two guilds can help keep it safe. Through its Banking Guild, Kundarak endorses loans (typically at 15% interest per year, plus collateral) and letters of credit, in addition to providing safekeeping for some of Khorvaire’s most valuable treasures. The Warding Guild boasts experts in defenses both magical and mundane.


 * Banking Guild: The Banking Guild oversees all major banking and finance across civilized Khorvaire, particularly in the Five Nations and the Lhazaar Principalities. Professions related to these services are the purview of the guild, which licenses bankers, coinmakers, gemcutters, gold- smiths, jewelers, moneychangers, moneylenders, treasurers, and similar professionals. It also works closely with the other guilds (particularly those of House Cannith) to ensure fair standardization and stable pricing on goods and services.


 * Warding Guild: If the Banking Guild is the public face of Kundarak, then the Warding Guild is its quiet twin. The guild provides a wide array of services relating to security and protection, and shoulders the responsibility for licensing locksmiths, security guards, warders, and the like.


 * Golden Door: This is actually a division of the Warding Guild rather than a independent guild itself. Golden Door is responsible for the development and installment of advanced security systems such as complex locks and magical wards. The majority of its contracts are internal, focusing on the security of house Kundarak before all else though the house extends its services to other dragonmarked houses and the rich.


 * Iron Gate: Another division of the Warding Guild, Iron Gate provides guards who've received training in guarding objects and places of importance. Acting like a secret service the members of Iron Gate are highly elusive and are rarely seen beyond their designated posts. Iron Gate extend their services to the guarding of personnel though they avoid clashing with House Deneith's Defenders guild. Despite this the majority of the political class of the Mror Holds are often protected by Iron Gate guards.

History
For as long as anyone can remember, the dwarves of Khorvaire have been a race divided. Long before they came into their own as masters of the Mror Holds, the dwarves of the Ironroot Mountains were locked in bitter infighting. For some seven thousand years, clan fought against clan over disputed territory, mineral rights, and especially honor. Dwarven pride is strong even today, but in an older age of blood and steel, pride was a way of life — and death.

Though the origins of the dwarf kingdoms of Khorvaire are lost to history, it is known that a unified dwarf nation once spread deep beneath the Ironroot Mountains. Within this kingdom, it came to pass that twelve clans were exiled for barbarism and unrest, forced to the surface along with their followers by Lord Kordran Mror. The gateways to the kingdom below were closed off by powerful magic, the dwarves told that they would remain in exile until they had found the honor that their barbarism prevented them from attaining. Alongside the exiles, a clan of wardens was sent to the lands above to watch over these gates — a clan by the name of Kundarak.

For thousands of years, the exile clans fought among themselves, both for dominance and for the right to return to the kingdom of stone. Even the appearance of the Mark of Warding among the Kundarak clan did nothing to stem the conflict; indeed, it fast became a source of bitterness and distrust among the other clans, who developed no such marks. When Prince Karrn annexed the lands around the mountains for his father King Galifar, the fractious exile clans were easily subdued.

As it happened, the dwarves’ subjugation by Galifar was their salvation. Forced to set aside their violent ways, the exiles created a common culture and found the honor they had long sought. In the end, though, this understanding came too late. When the heirs of Kundarak opened the sealed gates, the kingdom of stone was gone, having been destroyed by the daelkyr while the twelve exile clans made war on each other. However, with their ancient duty to guard the entrances to the lands below discharged, the Kundarak were free to set their sights on greater tasks.

With the aid of the gnomes of Zilargo and House Sivis, the Kundarak clan began its transformation into House Kundarak, and it was formally inducted into the dragonmarked houses in 106 YK. By the close of that century, few banking and financial operations on Khorvaire were not under the control or influence of the dwarves of the Mark of Warding. For eight centuries, the once barbaric stonefolk of the mountains worked patiently to establish themselves among the other surface races. When the Last War erupted, House Kundurak preferred to take a financial role rather than a direct military presence and within years, the nations of Khorvaire quickly became heavily indebted to House Kundarak as they relied on large loans to pay for soldiers, equipment, and provisions. Twenty years into the war, the Mror clans declared their independence from Karrnath. Though House Kundarak has never held a seat on the Iron Council and denies playing any role in the independence movement, its support was central to the political will that forged the dwarf nation.