Noble Houses

Carthos Sarvek unified over fifty fiercely independent tribes to create his initial empire. His technique was simple and effective; he defeated them in battle, killed the chieftain, and then sired a son with the chieftain’s closest female relative, which then became the leader of the tribe. While the sons matured, the tribe was controlled by a steward who was a blood relative to Carthos.

From these tribes the Noble Houses were created. Over the centuries, some of the original tribes combined through marriage or conquest. Others split. Others disappeared completely.

In current times, only ten Noble Houses exist, and each has claimed one holy city as its own:

As indicated in the table, each house has a ranking. This rank indicates the political, economic, and military power of the House in relation to the others. Higher ranking Houses also have more land and more favor with the Emperor.

When the Houses first became prominent powers unto themselves, they often fought each other in open combat to gain higher stature and more territory, but these wars were stopped by Emperor Percy Sarvek. Since then, Houses must rely on the House Games and the benevolence of the Crown to increase their ranking.

The House Games are held every five years in the plains below the First City. They last an entire month and commemorate the birthday of Carthos Sarvek. Many fairs, shows, and spectacles can be seen and enjoyed during the games, but the core events are always the competitions between the Houses. Events vary from year to year, but commonly include jousting, archery, wrestling, horse racing, gladiator combat, siege engines, and a grand melee. These events usually have very obvious winners. The Emperor and his family judge other events where there’s no way to easily determine a victor. These events commonly include music, poetry, plays, new inventions, and riddling. Each House earns points in every event based on how well they fare against the others. When all competitions are finished, the winners are granted money, prestige, livestock, and other resources. If the rankings experience any major changes – for example, if the eighth-ranked House won first place in the games – then district borders may also be redrawn, taking land from some Houses and granting it to others.

Houses may also gain land, wealth, and prominence during wartime. The Emperor often rewards Houses that distinguish themselves with uncommon courage or resourcefulness that furthers the war effort.

Houses still clash, but not openly. Some Houses employ wrathnar, mercenaries who conduct covert attacks against a target, providing the price is right. These attacks cannot help a House directly, but may provide many subtle advantages. For instance, if House Clarion used wrathnar to harass House Keirnan supply lines during a war, the Keirnans would have to devote more troops to protecting their supply lines and pay more money to replace the destroyed supplies, thus hampering their contribution to the war effort and creating an opportunity for House Clarion to shine all the brighter. Along the same lines, Houses go to great lengths to protect the identities of the warriors who fight for them during the games, because their families will become targets for wrathnar kidnapping or assassination attempts if the warrior’s identity is discovered.

A Note Concerning Names

It may seem that everyone in the Empire would have one of ten possible last names, but this isn’t the case. Most of the people who live within a House’s territory have no blood relation to the House. A multitude of people, all with different names and ancestry, occupy land within a House’s borders, and they’re considered to be “from” that specific House as long as they’re on the land that’s under a House’s protection. A stranger on the road may introduce himself as “Stanley Cosner, of House Lenmark.”

If a common person marries a blood-member of a Noble House, the commoner must change their last name to that of the House, regardless of gender. If two people are blood-members of different Houses, they must choose who will change the name and leave their House to join the other. The House elders often have much influence in these cases. Once a person is married into House blood, they are referred to as house-kin. Many variations of this term exist, such as house-son/daughter, house-husband/wife, and house-kin.

People directly related through house blood refer to each other as blood-kin.