With this general understanding of the sort of magic that’s found in the world, here’s a closer look at a few particular fields of industry.
Communication
The Couriers’ Guild of House Orien runs a standard postal service, delivering messages by horse and lightning rail. Sending a letter to a central station in a major city costs a few copper pieces. A direct delivery within a city could run up to 5 sp. Sending a large or unusual package — or a rushed delivery — costs considerably more.
Should you need to send a message more quickly, you’ll turn to the message stations of House Sivis. The basic tool is the speaking stone, which allows a dragonmarked operator to send a short message to any other speaking stone. Sending a message through the stones costs 1 gp for every five words in the message and takes one minute for every ten miles between the station and the destination. The gnomes at the receiving station will transcribe the message; for an extra gold piece, they’ll have a courier deliver it to the intended recipient. Most large communities will have a message station, but small villages or frontier towns may not.
The speaking stone network is the backbone of communication, but if it’s not fast enough, there is one more option. A Sivis enclave might have a heir who can perform sending, which can send a message instantly to any Sivis station — and even allow a response, if the recipient is present and waiting at the target station. If available, this service generally costs 200 gp.
Entertainment
While true bards are uncommon, magewright entertainers learn to weave magic into their performances. Illusion is a common tool, used both to enhance a mundane performance or as an art form in its own right. A gymnastic performance might incorporate jump or feather fall. The effects of the thaumaturgy cantrip — booming voice, influence flames, spontaneous sounds — are a boon for any actor. In general, think of ways that such low-level effects might be incorporated into a performance.
The Dragonmarked Houses of Shadow dominate the entertainment industry. House Phiarlan operates west of the Mournland, while House Thuranni is based in Karrnath and the Lhazaar Principalities. Each house has its own theatres, companies, and star performers, but you don’t need a dragonmark to get into show business; the houses train and license all manner of artists and entertainers.
Fashion
When it comes to fashion, the most common manifestation of magic is glamerweave: clothing imbued with illusion. This can involve concrete images, such as a cloak lined with glittering stars or a gown with a pattern of flames; the wearer might even be able to adjust the intensity of these flames with a word. More elaborate (and expensive) glamerweave could even produce the effect of being wreathed in flames. However, glamerweave can also have more abstract effects: slowly shifting colors or a shimmering glow, for example. glamerweave can cost anywhere from 10 to 200 gp depending on the effect; it’s stylish, but certainly a sign of wealth. Zilargo and Aundair are the primary sources of glamerweave, and competition between designers has grown in recent years.
Medicine
The halflings of House Jorasco have long dominated the business of healing. Most large communities have a Jorasco healing house, and even smaller communities often have a lone Jorasco healer. The basic services provided by Jorasco involve use of the Medicine skill and herbal remedies. The next tier of treatment is lesser restoration, offering immediate recovery from disease for those willing to pay the price. Greater restoration is possible if the house has an heir with the Greater Mark of Healing, though this gift can only be used once per day. House Jorasco is also the primary source of healing potions; the quantity and quality available will depend on the size of the healing house.
House Jorasco demands payment before it renders any service. The Church of the Silver Flame and priests of Boldrei often maintain charitable clinics, but most of these facilities only provide mundane healing.
Resurrection is possible in Eberron, but it’s rare. House Jorasco has a handful of altars of resurrection, and someone with the Greater Dragonmark of Healing and 5,000 gp worth of dragonshards can use one of these altars to perform raise dead. Beyond this, there’s a few divine healers with the power to raise the dead. But no one uses this power lightly. Regardless of the method used, it’s hard to pull someone back from Dolurrh, and it grows more difficult with each day that passes after death. Opening a channel to Dolurrh can potentially result in a malevolent spirit taking possession of the body; in a general release of hostile ghosts; or even a marut inevitable manifesting and attacking the spellcaster. All of which means that resurrection is possible for player characters and exceptional NPCs, but it’s not a reliable service for the general public. Most of the time, when someone dies, they stay dead.
Transportation
All the standard modes of transportation can be found in Khorvaire. People use boats, barges, horses, coaches, and more. If something moves over land it’s likely run or licensed by House Orien. If it moves along the water or through the air, it’s likely connected to House Lyrandar. Both houses license independent agents, so the captain of a mundane galleon won’t necessarily be a Lyrandar heir, but the Lyrandar seal on a licensed ship assures you of the quality of the vessel and its crew. Eberron also features some unique modes of transport.
Elemental galleons use bound water elementals to increase the speed of the vessel. These have long been the mainstay of House Lyrandar; an elemental galleon can maintain a speed of 20 miles per hour, more than twice the speed of a mundane ship of similar size. The cost of such travel is likewise twice the cost of a normal journey.
The lightning rail of House Orien is the gold standard for overland travel within the Five Nations. An elemental engine pulls a train of linked coaches over a path of conductor stones, maintaining a speed of 30 miles per hour. The rail links most of the major cities of the Five Nations, though the destruction of Cyre has made travel between eastern and western Khorvaire more challenging. A journey on the lightning rail generally costs twice as much as an inn stay of the same duration, with quality ranging between the modest coaches shared by most travelers (1 gp/day) and the wealthy luxury coaches (4 gp/day). People satisfied with squalid accomodations can try to stow away on a cargo car, but Orien guards discourage such behavior.
Elemental airships are the pride of House Lyrandar, using bound air and fire elementals to propel a vessel through the sky. Airships travel between 20 to 40 miles per hour and have the advantage of being able to cross any terrain. Airships have only been in service for eight years, and as a result many cities don’t yet have the facilities required for docking or maintaining an airship. However, airships are quickly becoming the prefered method of travel for those who can afford them. Airship travel generally costs five times as much as an inn stay of the same quality and duration.
Teleportation is the swiftest form of travel, but also the most limited. An Orien heir with the Greater Mark of Passage can cast teleportation circle once per day; most major Orien enclaves have permanent circles and can be used as destinations. When this service is available, it generally costs 2,500 gp.
All of these forms of advanced travel require someone with the appropriate dragonmark — the Mark of Storm for elemental galleons and airships, or the Mark of Passage for the lightning rail — to control the vessel. While it may be possible to develop an airship that doesn’t require a Lyrandar pilot, the Dragonmarked Houses are quite protective of their monopolies.
