On Nobility and the perils of magic!

Nobility of Zengul

The city is ruled by the Sable Emperor and has been since before the ending of the First Age of Man. To most of the populace the Emperor is eternal, though any thinking person will agree the Mask is passed on through the family line. Some Emperors have been female, others male. The rumours that the Sable Emperor is a vampire who survived the end of the First Age are, naturally, treasonous to express.

The noble families that run the city form a vast nepotist oligarchy at the heart of Zegful. They control most of the major trade routes and the diplomatic ties with all other cities, nations and empires. You can be wealthy and powerful in the city – many merchants and those who run districts are – but your power is always funnelled through a very narrow tunnel. You make make the best beaded artwork the city has ever seen, but your supply is determined by the nobility who truly determine how the city functions.

The downside of this is that if there is a shortage of anything – especially if it is essential – the nobility are blamed. Their sections of the city may be guarded, but these are hired guards: never the Royal Guard, and never the City Guard. And they can turn on their own masters as fast as anyone else, especially if infighting with another noble house of trade problems have limited the cash flow the family has. As a result, most noble families have their fingers in many pies, often from many removes, but chiefly control raw goods more than finished products.

The battle between the varied noble Houses means that the nobility go to drastic steps to have even a small benefit over others. Assassination is not allowed, but spying on a family, figuring out about their more illicit deals and the like it entirely permitted and some For Hire groups do nothing but that. The pay is good, provided one can bring in results. And the nobility always operate at several removes so your actions can’t be traced back to them. If they aren’t, they are desperate and you’d best keep far away from them.

This does mean that cyphers are very prized by the nobility despite magic being extremely frowned upon at best. Every noble family has at least one ‘tame’ wizard in employ they wish no one to know about, and try and use that power against each other. It’s one reason why sone wizards curled up in weird towers are ignored by Officialdom since they are actually working for them. The wiser families have a wizard among their staff – often dubbed a sorcerer, as if the name somehow makes it safer – but the discovery of them has destroyed more than one house down the years.

Gm Note: The power struggles among the noble families are epic in scope. Everyone is competing for a piece of the pie and few are willing to try and make a bigger pie. The city survives because of trade and the realization that, should things go to hell, they are the ones the commoners will come after first. That being said, the House in charge of a commodity can change in moments and Houses fall and rise in standing with the Sable Emperor on a daily basis. Some Houses even utterly fall, but this is seeen as a good thing because it makes an opening into a very rarefied spectrum of the city.

Servants of the nobility tend to play up – or down – the nature of the noble Houses, their time among the families, what it is like on an airship and the like for one reason or another. Some of the noble Houses don’t even have any servants, partially as a result of this.

Spotting Magic

Everyone knows magic exists, though few have seen it in action. Everyone knows wizards are dangerous and scary, but again few have really met one. Mostly because only survivors live to tell stories. The problem of this is that many foci can be mistaken for magic [and can well be magical in nature] so this can be used in beneficial and worrisome ways. The flip side of all this is that there are many wards against the evil gaze, items for detecting magic and the like for sale. Some of them even work properly. Most likely do not.

Enough do that wizards (and those lowly adepts) don’t like to be around market squares just in case and many wise merchants and traders carry at least one item of dubious provenance designed to discover the use of magic. Generally, magic detecting dowsing roads and compasses are the most common items for sale and most sellers move often, have little stock and make it a point to never issue refunds. Items that consistently work are, naturally, seized by the authorities.



Noble Families (added May 22nd)

House Leden. One of the major noble families, they specialize in trade routes and currently control over 50% of the fleet of Zengul. This is after 10% of it being decimated as a result of some ill-advised ventures into slavery and Zeunorst but it is at present perceived to be the most powerful of the noble families. Their almost-monopoly on trade across the ocean has a lot of other Houses jealous of them.

House Ernsai / House Towen: Two families vying for control over the mines and minerals about the city. Both Houses are powerful, with many merchants and smithies tied to each but their struggle against each other keeps them on an even footing.

House Aild: House Aild controls the granaries of the city. It is the second House Aild, the previous one having been destroyed during riots of a family 60 years ago.

House Silverson: House Silverson deals with spices and salts and is the only noble family that survived the First Age entire intact. It is said that even the Sable Emperor finds them pompous.

House Marlet: House Marlet is the largest of the current houses in numbers, and manages hunting and disposal and use of animals outside the city proper. if you’ve had anything cured and tanned, it went through this House at some point.

House Yisham: Unlike the other major houses, Yisham is not focused on base goods but they do supply many judges and are focused on schools and the higher education in the city. They trade in knowledge, essentially, and are very good at what they do. The House having been founded by lesser members of the family of the Sable Emperor is a large factor in this, naturally.

House Greystoke: The only House whose power residences mostly outside Zengul, they focus on the other lands, cities, and diplomacy and their status as a major house fluctuates under the favour of the Emperor.

Minor Families:

House Draal: minor family specializing in the trade of foodstuffs.

House Skelsay: The House that makes all flying airships and control the airways. They would be more powerful, but it is a colossal expense to make and maintain the airships of Zengul.