Noble Houses

This thread will be for cataloging the major and minor nobility of the world, along with their heraldry to make them easily recognizable.

[Content goes here. Eventually. I promise.]

I. Greater Noble Houses
II. Lesser Noble Houses
III. Minor Noble Houses

Greater Noble Houses

The greatest and wealthiest families in Accord own wide swathes of land, some may even own most of the land a city is built on, and collect taxes and rent from the people who live and work on their property.

House Ferrus



With their easily recognized bull's horns on a yellow field, House Ferrus can be seen consistently across the continent, and many people deal with their banner men, stewards, and proxies in their day to day life. It's joked no coin in Arcanum hasn't been handled by a member of House Ferrus.

Though their ancestral home is West of Lake Mirth, the family is quite old, and has made smart purchases. They now own nearly an eighth of Arcanum, scattered in lots across the city, as well as choice holdings in most other cities to help facilitate and oversee any industry they have a hand in, which is most. They own salt mines, silk farms, at least one fishery and have the sole claim to the only known active copper mine.

Due to the fuzziness of the law in accord, and the sheer number of men sworn to house Ferrus, their men frequently butt heads with the Knights Sol in Arcanum. These encounters very rarely end in actual legal processes as with so few laws it's easy not to break any.

Lesser Noble Houses

The bulk of noble houses between the lines of the truly great and the small or petty, these lesser houses while less prominent, and powerful than others, still hold a surprising amount of sway and can either be valued allies or fearsome enemies. It's wise to mind oneself around these nobles.

House Gilded



In the Eyerie a good portion of wealth and merchants have, some way or another, ties with House Gilded. While they own little land in the city itself, they own much of the land around it, and in surrounding villages. They are employers and clever businessmen. Taverns, inns, bawdy houses, and entire guilds of craftsmen get their work in buildings operated by this wealthy and cunning family.

The public sees them amiably, how could anyone who puts so much work into the spread of booze and merriment not be your friend? Their competition for business sees them less so, and it can be easier to work for House Gilded than to try to compete with them.

House Monoceras



An oddity among the more established noble houses, House Monoceras is a family of Halflings that've risen to prominence through more mundane trades, wise investments and smart buys of choice pieces of land. They're considered particularly eccentric, but not unpleasant.

House Aurelia is a minor house that once owned a small portion of land in The Eyerie. Though they owned little above the surface, rumors persist that House Aurelia has ties to the less savory elements of society and is much more influential than it appears to be. If indeed the house does make movements, it does so swiftly and secretly, and with enough proxies that one never knows who might belong to them. Known for staying underground, at least one surefire way to recognize a true member of the house is by their pale skin, even more pallid than most other nobles.

Left without any land after the destruction of the Eyerie, the house has all but disappeared from public view. Some claim that such a small house couldn't have survived, that among the refugees several very pale faces were conspicuously absent. Others wonder how the house escaped.