The Guide to Endless
Noble Houses
Ruling Dynasty
One family or another has claimed the role of the Ruling Dynasty for as long as memories go, and even longer in the official records locked tight in secret vaults. The current Ruling Dynasty, House Vitraeus, came to power during a time of plague and famine nearly 100 years ago. The prior family had squandered much of the city's wealth on grand balls, parades, and other frivolous and unneccesary things when people struggled to eat. House Vitraeus led a successful coup with the support of six other Great Houses and the popular support of a good percentage of the Guilds in Endless.
100 years is not a long time as some races go, but House Vitraeus spearheaded efforts from Wall to Wall to wipe out the plague and rebuild a transportation infrastructure that had fallen into disrepair, thus allowing the food to go where it was needed. For the most part, the citizens welcomed the new Dynasty with open hearts.
But no Great House is without blemish. Some of the Houses called Vitraeus too cruel, for certain parts of the great Sprawl were wiped out and firebombed during the eradication of the plague. Certain loud-spoken and influencial leaders amongst House Vitraeus's enemies were silenced, either through bribes, blackmail, or death. But this sort of activity was fairly common-place amongst the nobles, and common folk were well enough to let things go.
House Vitraeus holds the power of the Blood Oath, the secret of which remains the most closely guarded secret of the Wall.
Major NPCs
Aldebrande Vitraeus - Overall King of Endless. With the death of his father due to sickness, Aldebrande became the 5th Vitraeus Monarch. At only 20 years of age, this human looks to the future of Endless, not always giving the past its rightful due. For that, he has yet to solidify his hold on the other Houses.
Istelle Vitraeus ni Calla - This half-elf was a childhood friend of Aldebrande, having been betrothed to the future king when both were less than 5 years old. She is beautiful, and her voice is said to bring even dwarves to tears when she sings, but Istelle is a shrewd and a perfect partner for the young King.
Robert Vitraeus - Uncle to the young King, and loyal beyond measure to his family. Robert is the senior counsilor to Aldebrande, and the mastermind behind many of the intricate ties that still bind the egos of the noble families to the ruling dynasty in the hopes another coup will never happen.
Great Houses
House Silvermane
Silvermane is one of the oldest families around, their bloodline made famous and wealthy by their masterful craftsmanship of jewelry. As their name suggests in the old times they mainly dealt in Silver, but nowadays they control much of the trade of all precious metals. But the genius what lies behind their endurance as a name is a way the family has mastered the art of tactical marriage alliances, the first notable one is when the family seemed to marry down to a family of lowly landowners, whom unbeknownst to themselves were sitting on top of large silver mine. With that, The family acquired raw material that allowed them to undercut their competition, and either marry or buy their competition.
Old habits die hard, and the sad truth is that nothing lasts forever and the mines that once served as the lifeblood of their trade are running out, and few unfortunately unprofitable business deals, or marriages as they are, have made the aging patriarch of the family realize the inevitable: He is unable to sustain the large family and keep them under his control, and they are heading towards bankruptcy. It did not help that his scheme to marry off his youngest daughter to one of the great houses has foiled due to her disobedience and actions that would greatly soil the name Silvermane. It was much easier for him to convince everyone that she had died from an unknown illness, then become laughing stock for having a deviant as a child.
As Silvermane is an old and ailing house, it is staunchly conservative when it comes to politics. While they have a reputation as Rich and Powerful family, they are also seen ruthless and business-minded with little care for common folk. Many see them as the very definition of greed, and that is not far from the truth. While jewelry trade is their bread and butter, all males of the family are expected to pursue businesses and bring profit to the family. Females in other hand are used as tools for marriage pacts, but this does not mean they are treated badly, as they are highly educated and trained in what someone would see as art of hostile takeover of the family they marry in to. The women of Silvermane are experts of seduction and manipulation and their part is equally important to the men in keeping the family together.
Those people who are unable to turn a profit, or otherwise fall out of favor with the Patriarch of the family are often quickly ousted. While the preferred method of the family is to send unwanted members of the family to work administrating their far-off holdings, for the worst offenders of the family meet an untimely and unfortunate end. A number of accidental deaths the family has suffered have made some of the people think the bloodline as cursed, but those who know the inner workings of the Silvermanes know better.
The family is extremely patriarchal, the head of the house choosing his successor from the dozens of members of the family. For many of the patriarchs of the family in their final years, the only joy they seem to have in life is watching their children, cousins and other relatives fight with each other. Many of the would-be successors use a variety of means that are highly illegal or immoral to dispose or put their rivals out of favor, but as long as they maintain a good public face, and bring results and profits, they are worthy.
Current Noteable members of the family:
Argon Silvermane, Patriarch of the family who is currently in his 60ies who rarely appears in public due to suffering from gout. A shrewd businessman who hired assassins 40 years ago to dispatch his rival in order to become the next head of the house. While many people considering him to be one foot out of the door to the afterlife, he has kept his keen intelligence and sharp tongue, his age only made him less and less impatient for nonsense when only results matter.
Demiscus Silvermane, Oldest son and currently the favored person to become the next Patriarch. He is in charge of the jewel crafting business of the family and is a renowned silversmith himself. He is also famous for holding elaborate parties and auctions for his latest work. He has his father's ruthless nature, and while an intelligent person, he is no match for his father, not even when he is not in his prime.
Lyren Silvermane, Argon's nephew who is in charge of the Silverblades, family's own personal mercenary force that is in charge of guarding their holdings. Lyren is a dashing young man whose looks are equally matched to his swordsmanship. Lyren is one of the most sought-after bachelors in the city, but his duties keep him from marriage, but this does not stop him from having affairs with women, especially from married ones from both his and other noble families. If Lyren was not in charge of the Silverblades, he would be dead by now. Argon has not moved to punish his nephew as he finds the chaos he causes amusing.
Lyssa the Black Widow, Lyren's sister is an infamous and unnaturally beautiful woman who has been married off three times, and all of her husbands have died under mysterious circumstances, but there has never been evidence to pinpoint the crimes on her. Regardless of this, it has made it extremely hard for her to be married off due to her reputation. Instead, Argon has made Lyssa mentor to many of the would-be brides of the family.
Minor Houses
Briarwood Tower is one of shining examples of elven architecture. A marvel of glass and iron that makes surrounding industrial district more livable just by existing. The Briarwoods made their fortune through the paper industry. Carefully culling Elvan woods into useful and renewable product. These days the Briarwoods are an institution--not one of the major lords but call them "minor" at your peril. Entrenched in the politics and economics of the city, they never put on airs or sought higher seats, but trying to uproot the Briars would be far more trouble than any serious contender would wish to undertake.
At least until recently.
Atreus Briarwood ran the company and family the with an iron fist for 300 years. He was an institution unto himself. Cautious, careful, and callous in equal measure the grand patriarch of the Briarwoods steered the family towards unprecedented wealth and quiet influence throughout the whole of Endless--to the detriment of his immediate family and relations. Most of the generations after him saw him as a monster. The dragon in the tower, spitting fire and acid in equal measure. Until his death of old age some twenty years ago, no one dared raise their voice against him.
Naturally, with some 400 years of life, at his death there were upwards of fifty potential candidates to take lead of the company and family...and naturally, none of the liked each other. The resulting succession wars were the quiet talk of high society for years. Every couple of months, some new scandal, a death, an arrest, a reveal of some deviance in the papers. It would have been truly awful, had it not occurred among the low elite--separated from the common folk and high noble alike--now it was just interesting.
About fifteen years ago, the "quiet" succession war came to a bloody end when the least likely candidate--Abraxes Briarwood, Atreus' youngest son--somehow convinced the rest the heirs to kill each other off all at once (the "Crimson Gala" the papers called it). And took his rightful place as the head of the Briarwood estate. Unfortunately the family's fortune and standing took massive hits in the power struggle and Abraxes was forced to take far more aggressive and overt actions to shore up the company's leaking assets.
That made him enemies...well, more enemies.
Abraxes died earlier this year, along with his wife. The papers are very cagey about just what happened but they strongly insinuate that old Atreus's paranoia came down upon Abraxes all at once, and he killed both his wife of a century and himself in a fit of madness. they loudly wonder if the family is cursed.
(Details about various noble houses will be added here.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:24, Tue 14 Nov 2017.