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Notable Houses and NPCs
Topic Started: Nov 3 2011, 01:38 PM (47 Views)
Azahul
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Name: House Reigos

Crest: A gold crown on a background of red

History: The founding House of Reisig, House Reigos is the House of Kings. Every king for the last four hundred years has been a direct descendant of the founding king, Malor.
The House has its roots as the ruling family of one of the old feudal kingdoms that predated Reisig, and before that it is believed it can trace its heritage back a thousand years to one of the first migrating tribes to migrate to modern day Reisig. When Malor rose to power, Reigos was already the most powerful kingdom in the region. Under the command of his armies, they swiftly united the fractured kingdom.
Since then, the sons of House Reigos have ruled the nation. Since the days of King Hart, the dominance of the royal household has been all but unassailable. They have unquestioning control of the nation’s military, and ownership of most of the factories in the newly industrialised kingdom. They have greater wealth and power than any other House, and have begun to turn their eyes away from their nation to the barbarous wilds to the north. These days, House Reigos distances itself from the political games played by others of nobility. They rule supreme.

Traditions: The eldest noble son of House Reigos is the king of all Reisig. As a result, the actual ruling of the House tends to fall to the next in line, a tradition that both allows the king to concern himself with matters involving the entire nation without his House suffering, and prevents the heir apparent from plotting an early ascension to the throne by keeping them busy with administrative duties.
The House has strong religious ties, and the King is always accompanied by four senior priests who, together with him, form the Covenant of the Hand. They serve to advise him on matters of religious importance. Many lesser nobles within the House mimic this tradition, which ensures that Reigos’s ties to the church are always strong.
Uniquely amongst the Houses, one cannot marry out of House Reigos. Any man that marries a daughter of the House forsakes his old House and becomes a son of Reigos. This tradition was put in place under King Hart to prevent other Houses attempting to form alliances by marriage with the king. This means that if the head of a House marries a daughter of Reigos, he loses his right to rule his own House and it falls to the next in line. At the same time, this new son of Reigos forsakes any right to rule of House or kingdom, even should he be the eldest male heir available.
Although Reigos has control of the nation’s military, and many of its nobles choose to take military commissions serving as senior officers in the army, it does maintain its own Household Guard. This Guard numbers over a thousand strong, and are the only Guard in the kingdom to bear firearms. They are generally seen wearing ornate leather armour and long, heavy cloaks bearing the sign of the crown., carrying a flintlock pistol and a rapier. There is a strong duelling tradition within the Guard, and they are the only ones in the kingdom permitted to duel with pistols. Rapier and cloak make them formidable adversaries in more traditional duels.

Leader: King Martin is the current king, but the current head of House Reigos is his nephew Gereon, the son of his elder sister.
King Martin keeps to himself, and little is known to the public about his attitude and temper. It is believed that he desires to curtail the powers of the noble houses even further, and that he dreams of expanding the borders of Reisig. He donates great money to scientists and leaders of industry, hoping for new weapons of war to conquer the barbaric lands beyond Reisig’s borders. It is well known that the man himself is a trained warrior, and that he even as king he finds time to train with House Reigos’s Household Guard in the art of duelling with pistol and rapier.
Gereon, on the other, is far more often in the public eye. He is a renowned wastrel with a crude sense of humour, a young man but already fat on alcohol and soft living. He is smart and cunning, a patron of the arts, and known to use his position to make life difficult for any noblemen that catch his eye. It appears he shares his uncle’s distaste for the political machinations of the other noblemen, but unlike his brother he is inclined towards using his power and influence to trouble or even outright destroy Houses that draw his attention. A man to be avoided, if at all possible.
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Azahul
Administrator
Name: House Gael

Crest: A white boar on a black field

History: House Gael is one of the youngest of the five Great Houses, a trifling three centuries that still predates most of the surviving lesser Houses. When King Hart formed his alliance to force the Houses into the charter, it was House Gael that provided the bulk of the soldiers that gave weight to the king’s proclamations.
In the time before King Hart, House Gael had maintained its power by sheer brutal force of arms. Its sons were trained in warfare from the day they were born, and some of the finest military commanders in the kingdom’s history have been sons of Gael. By the time of Hart, Gael ruled over a kingdom within a kingdom, with the sworn fealty of every House within the western provinces of the kingdom. They were the last to side with Hart, and for a crucial few weeks it seemed as if Gael might make a war of it. If they had, it would have been a long and bloody one, for the forces of House Gael and their allies were not outnumbered overly much by the other Great Houses and the king’s own forces.
Since the signing of the charter, Gael’s military has declined in size, many of its original Guard formed the basis of the first incarnation of the king’s army. In fact, the sheer number of Gael guardsmen and officers serving in the newly formed royal army was a matter of great concern before the policies of training recruits levied from the serfs of every province in the use of firearms became the foundation of the new army.
House Gael’s Household Guard is still the single largest force in the kingdom that remains independent of the royal army, standing at over five thousand men. In the western regions of the kingdom, they serve as a pseudo police force, and many of the army garrisons in the west are manned by an equal mix of royal soldiers and Gael Guardsmen.
For all the lip service the men of House Gael present to the king, they are still the least trusted of all the Great Houses, and closely monitored by the royal family at all times. Their power is even greater than it first appears, for it is a commonly held fact that large segments of the royal army would be more likely to answer to the head of House Gael than to their king, should a confrontation take place. To make matters worse, House Gael has a policy of insinuating its veterans as teachers in the military schools that produce the new generation of military officers, and amongst the soldiers it is a generally accepted fact that prior training as a Household Guard of House Gael ensures a rapid promotion, provided you are stationed in the western reaches of the kingdom.

Traditions: House Gael has a long and proud military tradition. Their sons are trained in military tactics and swordplay from an early age, and, uniquely amongst houses, this training has moved with the times. It is expected that any son of House Gael that is not the immediate heir apparent should join the military and undergo officer training, and thus House Gael ensures its sons are taught the latest in military doctrines. They learn how to command forces armed with firearms, rather than the more medieval weapons their Guardsmen are armed with.
The Household Guard of House Gael functions more like an army in any case. Rather than one set of traditional weapons unique to their House, House Gael Guardsmen are trained with a variety of weapons. They are split into companies of a hundred men, with each company trained to act as an independent unit. These companies are trained to fight as pikemen, cavalry, swordsmen, crossbowmen, or mixed arms units. Alone amongst the Houses, House Gael has a force to command that presents itself less as a guard of honour, and more like a proper army.

Leader: The current head of House Gael is Lord Lothar. Curiously, for the typically rebellious and belligerent House, he appears to be quite loyal to the throne and discourages the dissident talk normally so commonly attributed to House Gael. He is new to the rule, inheriting the station from his elder brother just six months ago. He was recalled from a commission in the king’s royal army, where he had been serving as a Major, upon the death of his brother Manfred. Manfred was well known to be a drunk and a violent man, and he was eventually killed in a duel he picked with the nobleman of a lesser House while drunk.
Surprisingly, the young Lothar has made no attempt at retribution for this act. By all accounts, he hated his elder brother, and while he appears annoyed that his commission in the army has been cut short, by all accounts he has proven a competent and able administrator of his House’s expansive estates over the last few months. Still, the man is considered a tad simple when it comes to politics, and it is believed his wife, Maria, or one of his many aides, is the true power behind the throne that dictates when and where House Gael places its formidable political power.
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