Almanac: Nobilty Pt I ~ Houses of Nobility, Extract from Visions of Glass Options

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Extract from The Companion Issue Seven Vol 6
Oct 2005
By Alan Morgan


The Sallow Princes
The origins of the Nobility lie in truth in the last years of the 1st Age. Little survives to speak of what occurred in the twilight years of that long-passed time and after the Naming War certainly none of the Gods, those who might know, speak of such times. It is enough to know though that come the first year of the new age the land that made up the dominion of what is now the Empire was ruled by the Sallow Princes.

Absolute rulers in their own lands, the Princes had no sole ruler. There rapidly came to be a Master of the Nagrech in Halgar but even he, Rust Nagrech, did not and could not rule those that were the Princes. It must be born in mind that the land governed by such rulers did not at first comprise all that which is now the Empire. The only cities of note were for some time Halgar, Alguss (Alguz), Bieltene (Bildteve), Rorthern (lost) and Bylgel (Ickybiggle). Many of the Princes did not centre themselves upon such places and indeed carved out their own dominions in the lessening wilds away from the strip of land across the map forged by the cities. More than one, in some cases many, Princes did dwell in such settlements and vied with one another for power over the others. Further afield and the pushes of others spread civilisation north, east and south until eventually the ends of the world (such as they were perceived) were reached at the two mountain ranges that even now define the ends of the Empire.

The Princes were powerful men and women . Ritually strong, driven and the further from the cities fell in the manner of warriors the Princes and their vassals claimed land and dominion for themselves. It is here that the foundation of the formal Nobility can be seen.

By the time the Princes had spread across the now-known map those who had claimed and held such a title were secure in their position. Those who followed, those also descended, or had even been present, at the events that gave them such power in the First Age were given title and position of their own and even today many of these ranks survive. Only those present or descended from the events of the First Age that saw the turning of that time to the Second possessed the secrets of the High Ritual power and the very assumption of titles and status set them apart from those who merely did what they were told. One’s name became important, the deeds of ancestors as pointed of those of the living. Unions were made for various reasons, but each was careful to only breed amongst others of their kind: others of the Blood. Many Princes took mistresses or toys from the families of those below them and during the time of the Sallow Princes, though the Blood was kept free from taint, it actually proliferated.

Whilst marriage was unheard of, though ‘compact of union’ was, it was common for those of similar parentage to band together. An especially strong Prince might well have several Bloodied men or women serving her or his bed and they often banded their children together for mutual support, station and advancement. Here were first seen the rise of the Houses that became more formalised as the years passed.

It is not the place of this article to investigate the nature, history or fall of the Sallow Princes, that will be for another time, but it is enough to know that the Houses eventually grew to be more powerful than individual Princes. Some of the Princes lived extremely long lives, certainly more than a century and three longer even than that. The Houses existed simply because those within supported one another but without having a single figurehead who might be seen as a threat by the incumbent Prince. The Principalities did not fall quickly, or indeed all at once. But fall they did to the Republic.


House And Republic
Compromise and resolution litters the history of the Noble Houses. It would not be true to say that the Republic was quite as fair, good or beneficent as many outside the Nobility have chosen to see it. As the Princes fell power turned instead to the Noble Houses. They officially ruled with the Master of the Nagrech as the ultimate arbitrator and the system of laws and even the Great Freedom were not so much a means to empower the peon and bring about some naïve golden age but rather they formed a framework within which the naturally politically astute might thrive. The Republic in effect both limited the power of great individuals and elevated the concept of House.

The land was divided up amongst the Houses, none of which changed that which they controlled anyway. In declaring their responsibilities and oaths the Republic in effect left them to both rule their lands as they saw fit whilst vying power within the formed Halls of the Nobility. Outwardly, if they seemingly cared and protected their people then no one could cast doubt on their fitness to rule. The Game of the Nobility flourished and cunning grew more important than ritual ability, skill in battle or even the ability to conceive further members of House. That said, the system did allow many of the younger crop to rise to power. Nobles who were genuinely good people, untainted by the past and filled with a belief in the Republic that never, in truth, was shared by the founders of the state.

During this time the Nobles even put together the system of Mourathal, then later formalised in the Empire as the Senate. It was however a time when quiet little wars were fought between Houses and for assassins it was a time of riches, status and even glory.

Whilst those of older views increasingly played their games in Halgar and Ickybiggle, those more idealistic tended to run the estates, establish freedoms and speak of a fine future. Without the strength of the Princes others rose to prominence and during the Republic those of the Blood no longer could assume themselves to be the best ritualists and warmasters. Ones who were once servants became more powerful than their social betters.

Society gradually crumbled. High ideals do not make for effective rulership over a land that was increasingly thickly populated, more distantly led and curiously, within the protection of laws and rights, there was nothing to restrict the rise of dark hearted men and women. With the grander Nobles corrupted by their subtle power and the idealistic core made rotten by the cruelty and greed of people everywhere the Republic fragmented.

For the Nobles and ultimately the Empire that was to come, the Republic did formalise House and Hall, lay the foundations for single rulership and even the Senate.


The Magiarchs
It is not true that the Magiarch’s were entirely of the Blood. This supposition during the early years of the Empire was simply another means by which Amora remade the land and enabled the Dissolution of the Nobility after the Night of Levity. Certainly many of those who became dominant were of the Blood but many more were those that gathered their power during the Republic. Many Magiarch’s, especially those not of Glorianave, were commoners who played the part of Nobles, the sort of men and women who dressed in black, had a lust for treasure and may, or may not, have had goatee beards. Many used the then small cults of gods and goddesses and their acts of marriage to join them to Houses but only two of the Blood can breed one who is truly of the Blood.

Of course many of the Magiarch’s were Nobility, but the old titles meant nothing and those that still might claim them either joined with the varied Magiarchal states, retreated to their more distant estates or were quietly killed. The years of the Magiocracies did have a positive effect on certain Houses, political power no longer following the former rules, a great many Nobles returned to ritual or to the field of battle.

Nonetheless, during the years of the Magiarch’s the very concept of Nobility was subsumed to that of Blood and for a time it looked as if the old ways would be extinguished.

The Magiocracies of course ended in the Wars that for years saw first sword and spear, and then spell and rite increase in ferocity. A number of the wilier and even idealistic Nobles took the chance to seize the Inner City. When Cerus Amora set off on his Long Ride with the Yeoman he left rebellion in his wake, sweeping away the old remnants of Magiarchal power even as the Wars saw nine out of every eleven people that had once thrived in the rich lands die either in battle, ritual or the years of blasted ruin that followed it. All the rebellions that rose were lead by those of the Blood, only in Sellaville was this not the case and even then the more physical might was provided by the Lords in support of the elves of Fhaeyle.

Cerus Amora, himself the scion of the Sallow Princes, entered Halgar at last and the Empire was forged.

Perhaps the most lasting effect on the Nobility from the Magiarch’s was in their wake. With the population so drastically reduced there simply weren’t, and still aren’t, enough common folk to work all the land. Much of what is now the Empire is wild and once great estates, though not actually reduced in legal area, are much reduced as only parts can be effectively worked. The common folk were emancipated by the Magiarchal Wars as in the Empire to come Nobles actually had to pay for their services else see them move on to where they would be more reasonably employed.


The Empire
Cerus Amora did not take long to return the land to a form of the Republic but one in which the Master of Primus was not merely an arbitrator but, in the manner of the Princes, an absolute ruler. For this he needed support for despite the shattered state of the land leadership was needed immediately and for that he needed the Nobility.

The ideals of the Republic had become a myth of purer, more wholesome times and the Nobility could both represent such and had the men and women actually capable of such duty. Exiled as he had been from Glorianave but hardly unmindful of the manner in which certain Nobles had held the Inner City, ultimately but not consciously, for his eventual arrival.

The new Emperor Amora therefore sent out a call for the Nobility to attend him in the Inner City. He then dissolved the Houses, taking back every title, House and rank from those who held them. Such would have caused an uproar had he not then given them out again based, entirely justly, upon their actions in recent centuries.

Those who had done what could be for the people, the land and the cities, those who had either done great things or at the very least minimised the misery were actually elevated.

Those who had done nothing were reduced and had to seek out the now greater houses for succour as vassals.

Those who had done great evil were made Repudiare, those who had directly brought the land to ruin were executed on the spot.

In one day he purged the Nobility, a lesson that still remains amongst the Nobility for even now every House owes its continued survival and every Noble his status to the whim of the present Empress.

The Halls were recalled and Amora’s Mourathal formed the first Senate.


The Empress
Scant two years before the High Final Dawn and the end of the Second Age, Emperor Cerus Amora was ousted from the position of Emperor. Having never mastered the Nagrech he became increasingly insane, with the aid and whispers of his Chancellor, Madrak. The Nobility united to usurp him and he was sent into exile with all his descendants. Weeks later he was killed, or died fighting for the Empire, opinions divide.

The next two years saw conflict ripple through the land. Several of the Nobility knew about the importance of the Final Dawn and the need for one to be seated upon the Throne of Glass. Halgar was taken in a coup led by the then Elemental Lord of Air, George, before others managed to break the attempt. Factions vied for power until almost at the very last moment Michael Stoneheart was chosen. At the moment of his assumption the Inner City was attacked and savaged by assassins, one of whom, Baron Roxbridge, caused injury to Michael. The exact details are not widely known and already tales diverge but for a year or more Michael remained, little more than a puppet, on the Throne of Glass whilst the Nobility literally spilt their blood on the Nagrech to keep he and it hale and whole.

Michael’s consort, Truic, was the surprise choice to replace him.

A daughter of Cerus Amora she had deliberately married the now late Baron Baddrass scant weeks before her father’s fall. She and her sisters were scorned by Amora for her actions and thus cast out of House Amora, Truic did not have to accompany her father into exile. As a girl, Truic had adventured in the world and then when her father’s insanity grew too obvious returned to Halgar. It is almost traitorous now to refer to her deeds then for it is hardly a secret that Truic rapidly became a politician of power almost as great as she was a ritualist under Earl Natal’s tutelage.

Truic was made Empress. Arguably she was a compromise candidate, being the only one whom the diverse factions would accept as their second choice after themselves. Nonetheless she assumed the Throne and miraculously flourished. Determined not to be her father Truic invested more power in her Senate and Governors and acted only occasionally with commands of her own. Increasingly she was seen less and less as she worked to master the Nagrech.

At the Final Dawn passed (Deeber IM 1004) it is said that Truic finally achieved that aim. Ascending to a higher state and even worshipped in some cities, Keys especially, as a Goddess in her right…