For a Dragon's Throne (Exalted GSRP)

[theajl]

Given the number of lengthy and involved posts here I feel like I should be expanding on my desire to get involved in this as a co-GM I really love Exalted as a concept and a setting just for how ridiculously over-the-top-awesome it is (Kamehameha, Getsuga Tenshou, and Rasenshuriken can get outta here, Geographical Duck Punch is where it's at; the entire Stunt system is great as well because reality literally runs on the rule of cool and I think that's amazing), and White Wolf systems were among my earliest RPG systems, preceded only by good old D&D, so there's the nostalgia goggles as well. It has its issues, as do all systems, but if I had to list my favourite RPGs of all time Exalted would be up there. It's got some actually pretty good fanfic too, unlike D&D.

Combine that with the huge possibility space of social, political, covert, economic, and military conflict between all these factions in a slowly (or not so slowly) collapsing society, and there's immense potential for some truly amazing shenanigans to happen; I want to see it all unfold.

Plus this is an @Maugan Ra production, as slickly put together as usual, and I've consistently loved everything they've ever put out, so a chance to contribute is nice too.

 

[DarkMagyk]

If it's available I'd like to play as a Minor power that has heavy investment in Faxai on the Caul, with maybe some holdings spread across the caulborn cities and the west or south west as well.

I'm not sure how focused you want the game to be on interactions between players versus expansion/conflict outwards, but the potential crusade to retake the Caul has always been very interesting to me.

A note on the timeline - my impression is that the legions withdrew from the Caul then Sha'a-Oka retook the shrine cities and 'liberated' the Caulborn cities. That withdraw was because of the Houses recalling the legions which hasn't happened in this game yet, so what is the intended reason/setup here?

 

[fitzgerald]

1 Lesser house
2) House Iselsi

Because playing the spies in disgrace would be fun

 

[Maugan Ra]

Ok then! Thank you one and all for your applications, and we are now ready to start assigning factions. Since there are only ten Great Houses and we had at least thrice that in applications I can only apologise to those who didn't get chosen - you are of course more than welcome to submit a Lesser House application following the outline below, which will be approved or denied by either me or my Co-GMs, @EarthScorpion and @Chehrazad.

Great Houses

1. Cathak - @dash931
2. Cynis - @Wade Garrett
3. Ledaal - @Azrael
4. Mnemon - @Crilltic
5. Nellens - @Logos
6. Peleps - @Lucienz
7. Ragara - @TenfoldShields
8. Sesus - @mothematics
9. Tepet - @Mina
10. V'Neef - @HalfTangible

I'd like to welcome all of the above on-board, and invite them to do the following:

• Join the discord, if you haven't already (this is required, as a bunch of resources etc will be posted there and nowhere else) - Join the A Dragon's Throne Discord Server!
  • Upon joining the discord, please change your nickname to something that includes your House name. Appropriate roles will be assigned by the GMs.
• Decide on your starting factions. You have eight power to split between a minimum of three factions (except for Nellens, who has ten). Note that this cap can be increased as the game goes on, by creating or subverting Dynastic assets; plan with this growth in mind.
• Design your Matriarch. This is a five dot character asset, who gains two additional positive tags over and above the standard starting allowance. Houses Cathak, Mnemon and V'Neef skip this stage - your Matriarchs are fixed and will be detailed by the GMs.
• Design your three (or six, for Nellens) supporting characters: these are three dot characters, though you may name one heir-apparent to make them a four-dot. Every character MUST be assigned to one of your starting three factions, and each faction MUST have a character associated with it, regardless of the rating.
• That's it! All other assets will be allocated by the GMs, for balance purposes, though you can certainly make suggestions/express your preferences on the discord.

---

Lesser Houses

For those of you interested in playing as a Lesser House, I would like to invite you to make your formal submissions now. I will need to see the following in order to approve/deny the application:

• House Name. Older houses, or those with pretensions or ties to the high nobility, follow the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern (R/a/g/a/r/a or C/a/th/a/k). Younger houses follow local or in-fashion naming conventions (V'Neef), opt for single-syllable names (Bal, Ren, Tia) or for elemental associations (Rain, Wave, Shale).
• Bio/History. I don't necessarily need a huge backstory, but if someone was explaining your House to someone who had never heard of it before, what would they say? What history, traditions and specialities do you have?
• Traits. The default traits for a lesser house are two universal tags; if you have another idea in that sort of ballpark, feel free to pitch it to us. You don't necessarily need full rules for it, but something to help the GMs create an appropriate trait would be required.
• Location. Which province of the Blessed Isle plays host to your House? It is also possible to select a threshold direction to be your home, but be aware that doing so makes it significantly harder for you to have any kind of impact on the main bulk of the game, which is centred on the Blessed Isle.

 

[Scattershot]

Ah, darn, didn't get chosen! Oh well, congrats to those who did! For the sake of it, I'll throw in an app for a Lesser House

Name: House Iselsi - Water That Hides the Deepest Dark
History: The Scarlet Empress tolerates failure little and treachery even less. When House Iselsi managed both in their botched coup attempt, Her Majesty decided to make as example of them. Over the course of a century she gutted the once-great House; taking lands, revoking charters, striking names from the Imperial Register. It was a slow, bleeding death. But when the Empress disappeared, suddenly no one was holding the scalpel. With a chance at vengeance, the remnants of House Iselsi plan to make good on their Vendetta and burn the rest of the Realm to the ground. And they will never see it coming.
Traits: Hidden Dragons - the Iselsi have gone underground after their disgrace and now operate in the shadows as naturally as any slinking creature. Any Asset can be used as a Covert Asset.
The Vendetta - the Iselsi's suffering has turned into hate for their kin. Hostile action taken against a Character affiliated with another Great House gains a bonus dot on the roll.
Location: while most of their holding were ripped from under their feet and given to House Ledaal, the Iselsi still maintain a number of strongholds in the ancestral home of Incas Prefecture.

And there we go! Hope it is looked favorably upon! And GL to all the players who were selected

 

[Wade Garrett]

HOUSE CYNIS
Inheritor 3, Expansionist 3, Occultist 2

Matriarch Cynis Sekhara, The Eldest Daughter

Spoiler

Wood Aspect
Background: Cloister of Wisdom
Temperment: Well Bred Socialite

TRAITS
Wood Dragon Master
("Fool! I was trained in your Immaculate arts by the Mouth of Peace herself.")
Inquisitor's Eye
("I will find the truth. It may be cruel, or it may be comforting, but I will find it.")
Arcane Anatomist
("This is my gift. When I look at someone, I see where they break.")
Shifu of Shadows
("You are weak. Afraid. Useless. But so was I, once upon a time. I will make you strong.)

CYNIS SPECIAL TRAIT: Genuinely Likable
("Do you think I'm the villain from an Immaculate morality play? Of course refreshments will be provided.")

NEGATIVE: Hates Immaculates
("Everything I did was to make you proud. Tell me how proud of me you are, Shifu. TELL ME!")

Cynis Tamaz, the Eldest Son

Spoiler

Faction: Inheritors
Air Aspect
Background: House of Bells
Temperment: Old Fashioned Gallant

TRAITS
Gifted Tactician
Trainer of Heroes
CYNIS SPECIAL TRAIT: Everyone's Favorite Teacher
NEGATIVE: Hungry for Glory ("Peleps, Tepet, who remembers the names of the ones who taught them? I will be more than a page in someone else's story.")

Cynis Zhabele, the Middle Daughter, Heir Apparent

Spoiler

Faction: Expansionists
Fire Aspect
Background: Heptagram
Temperment: Bubbly And Covered In Foreign Knick-knacks

TRAITS
Fearless Explorer
High Stakes Negotiator
Rapacious Raider
CYNIS SPECIAL TRAIT: Life of the Party NEGATIVE: Lunar Nemesis
("Mother, did you...did you seduce my secret Anathema lover?"
"Oh, my dear daughter. You have so much to learn. And what you are learning in this case is that to an Anathema you will never be more than a pawn to use against the Realm. Or in your case, as a stepping stone to another, better looking Dynast. Really, I've done you a favor. Now tell your mother Thank you.")

Cynis Khatreen, The Youngest Daughter

Spoiler

The last child of the previous Matriarch, born after a difficult pregnancy and carefully nurtured to Exaltation. All of her mother's hopes for an heir worthy of her own greatness placed on the shoulders of her youngest, the child who had never failed her or disappointed her. A child who could not be permitted to fail. Who could not be less than perfect. Driven harder than all the rest, driven even harder after she took her second breath. So changed from what she once was, so strange.

Faction: Occultists
Blood Aspect
Background: Intensive Personal Training From Her "Mother"
Temperment: Pillar of Dignity

TRAITS:
Passionate Orator
Brilliant Playwright
CYNIS: Patron of The Arts
NEGATIVE: Crippling Social Anxiety

 

[Etranger]

House Valetari - Dragons Roaming the Frontier

Summary
An ancient House with proud martial and mercantile traditions, the Valetari have not suffered some tragic reverse in fortune or other decline, but can place their lack of prominence entirely at the whims of the Scarlet Empress. Absent the largesse of the Realm's sovereign, whose own networks were more than sufficient to the tasks she set them to, the Valetari have languished in modest obscurity since their founding in the early Golden Age of the Realm.

Despite lacking the wealth and scale of their more-favored cousins, however, the Valetari have carved out a distinctive niche for themselves in the Threshold as procurers of mercenaries, professional intermediaries, and finders of the obscure. Valetari hunters have been known to track their quarry across entire directions, or even into the hinterlands of the Wyld, all in the name of completing the job. Their specialized expertise is sufficient that even the Great Houses may find a need for a Valetari treasure-hunter or mercenary captain from time to time.

Spoiler: Traits

Peerless Acquisitions: If a Valetari hunter is looking for something, they generally find it, whether through extensive connections, dogged tenacity, or deductive brilliance. Whenever it would benefit your actions to have the 'Peerless Hunter' tag, you are assumed to have it. Once per turn, if you take an action aimed at a false target (typically in the case of covert actions against suspected assets) the GM will inform you and allow you to edit the action and redistribute any assigned resources.

Golden Fangs: Lacking substantive military forces of their own for the dodgier acquisitions, the Valetari have turned instead toward setting up an unparalleled network of sell-sword contacts within the Threshold. You may substitute influence for wealth on a 1:1 basis when purchasing mercenaries, and may access up to two directional rosters per turn regardless of your presence in that direction. You may assist another House in hiring mercenaries, giving them access to these rosters: if you do, you gain wealth and influence equal to the mercenary's asset value for that turn.

Spoiler: History

Valetari was an explorer-hero of great renown during the early days of the Realm, an Air Aspect martial artist whose wanderlust and talent for uncovering ancient and forgotten secrets is still the stuff of pulp tales to this day. Her expeditions across the Blessed Isle and the Threshold produced numerous artifacts, occult tomes, and other valuable assets. These were all returned to the Scarlet Empress, as the wandering hero had little regard for material things in and of themselves. For her loyalty and her tireless efforts, the Empress formally acknowledged Valetari's bloodline in perpetuity.

Despite having been granted one of the Realm's highest honors, Valetari had little to no interest in overseeing the lands and resources that came with her new status. As such, many of House Valetari's day-to-day affairs were handled by her husband, who she had married at the insistence of certain elements of high society. Fortunately for her, he was well-trained in the arts of governance, and he ensured that their eldest daughter was likewise properly schooled. It was left to them to govern the would-be heroes and roaming wanderers who now populated their new House.

Having sired the appropriate number of children, Valetari resumed her expeditions, each one more daring than the last. She was reported deceased or missing on numerous occasions, only to re-emerge with some new discovery months later. However, her last-known adventure, which promised to take her deep into the Wyld, was centuries ago, and she is widely believed to be actually, really dead this time. Despite the incredible time that's passed, the House has never officially acknowledged her death, more out of superstition than anything else.

Today, Valetari is a Lesser House of modest repute, with its reputation for wild adventurism tempered by the careful stewardship of its Matriarch. Instead, Valetari fields some of the most skilled investigators, pathfinders, and treasure-hunters in the Realm, as well as boasting extensive ties to mercenary bands across the Threshold. Lacking the economic or military might of its larger siblings, it jealously guards its professional reputation for reliability and competence.

Characters
Valetari Seia, the Careful Shepherd

Spoiler

Rating: ••••
Faction: [Custodian •••]
Aspect: [Air]
Background: [Spiral Academy]
Temperament: [Sanguine]
Positive: [Well-Connected] [Upright] [Expert Bureaucrat] [Exceedingly Pious]
Negative: [Excessively Polite]

Valetari's granddaughter, House Matriarch, and heir to a tradition of cautious husbandry. Seia was an excellent pupil at the Spiral Academy and her lack of rough-and-tumble field skills is more than compensated for by her keen bureaucratic acumen. Her obligatory tour of duty across the Threshold mostly consisted of parties and diplomatic meetings, from which she emerged with a highly suitable network of contacts. She is famously intolerant of rudeness and personal slights.

Valetari Nimes, the Strong Right Hand

Spoiler

Rating: ••
Faction: [Immaculate •••]
Aspect: [Fire]
Background: [Cloister of Wisdom]
Temperament: [Valorous]
Positive: [Aggressively Healthy] [Famed Martial Artist]
Negative: [Indiscreet]

Seia's favorite nephew, Nimes is a classic masculine-martial figure who takes after his Cathak father. A veteran of the Wyld Hunt with the scars to prove it, he loves nothing more than a good duel and plenty of revelry afterwards. Though the Matriarch dotes on her lovely boy, she also doesn't trust him with most of the sensitive business of the House, given his tendency to boast and brag about every secret to his prodigious harem of married lovers.

Valetari Taara, the Heir in the Shadows

Spoiler

Rating: ••
Faction: [Supremacist ••]
Aspect: [Air]
Background: [House of Bells]
Temperament: [Temperate]
Positive: [Detail-Oriented] [Covert Specialist]
Negative: [Overly Ambitious]

The smart money on the Valetari succession favors Taara, Seia's second daughter and eldest surviving child. Trained as a sniper at the House of Bells, Taara has the kind of even-keeled, patient demeanor that appeals most to her mother. Taara herself knows that she's the best candidate, despite not having the expected governance training of the main-line scions, and doesn't bother to hide that knowledge. Seia hopes that marrying her off to a nice boy with a classical education will settle her daughter down for a nice long wait for the matriarchal seat.

Home Province: While many Valetari operations are conducted outside the Blessed Isle, the House leadership makes its ancestral home in Six Vines, preferring the bustle and cosmopolitan nature of the province.

 

[bookwyrm]

Name: House Irezumi

History: To all appearances the Irezumi present themselves as painstakingly Old Realm. Their (ruinously expensive) noble family trees depict Shogunate era wandering heroic swordswomen and virtuous Arcadian gentry, raised up to their current heights as Patricians by their glorious conduct and the enlightened rule of the almighty Scarlet Empress. If one was to look for it their artifice is obvious, so inconspicuous so as to be conspicuous, too rigid and reactionary to be truly peers of the greatest titans of the world who thus fear nothing from a bit of impropriety. Their unstylish but safely conservative mask ill fits them as a Blood Ape in formal court robes, for in truth the Irezumi are social climbers desperate to bury their past as successful usurers as they had buried their true family name when adopting and marrying into the bankrupted original Irezumi.

Behind the carefully modulated and unaccented High Realm speech is the twang of their true history- broke mercenaries and untitled knights left abandoned as the dissolution of the old pre-Realm warlords and forced to subsist as swineherd rustlers and highway robbers until a new Dragonsblooded Legate came to their mountains with an irresistible horde on one hand, and on the other enough Jade to buy out the land's entire pantheon twice over. The ancestors of the Irezumi impressed their imperial overlords when they themselves came down after hearing of the exorbitant bounty placed on their heads and demanded their payment, and then went to work as the empire's thieves set to catch thieves.

Over the years the Irezumi moved from slave-catchers and bounty hunters to caravan guards and guild enforcers to bodyguards and bravos-for-hire, trading on a carefully curated reputation for viciousness and a certain brutal cunning to cartelize and syndicate their hired muscle. Now the middle men between Great Houses and direct criminal rackets, the Irezumi steadily tithe their grey markets and gambling dens, rob rival gangsters and guildless peddlers, and "gift" small monies to the common folk in their hour of need to be paid back at an undisclosed time... and all the while desperately try to chase the dream of real high society.

Traits:
Women of Honor: As the Irezumi brand themselves as the less-official regulators and imperial vigilantes to keep down the scum of the streets and keep their necessary evil out of sight of good citizens, they can use the apathy and outright support of Realm institutions to help subvert or crush Threshold "interlopers" and other "criminals".

Pillars of the Community: However this sense of connection as the Realm's junkyard dogs and loyal pets against all the barbarous wolves of the outside world come with obligations, obligations that if the Irezumi violate too blatantly and too severely, undermine their social position and the machinery of their empire. Too many merchant-folk get caught in opium dens right in the middle of Irezumi "protected" territory, and suddenly their entire network of kickbacks is in question.

Location: Vane, with other scattered chapters all around the Luo-Han Plains, and of course an opulent embassy in the Imperial City itself to maintain appearances

 

[Carol]

House Petal
Thunderous Sakura Over the Mountain​

Among the centenarian Houses of the Realm, with deep roots in Creation's mightiest empire, the Petal's Matriarch can trace her family back three generations. It was during the Iselsi-backed invasion of the Scavenger Lands, in RY 637, that an obscure craftswoman showcased the most desired item of the season: a daikyū shaped like a fearsome elemental dragon. When the Scarlet Empress first saw it, she supposedly asked the craftswoman about her lineage. Low as it was, the first Petal said: "From the mountain, this humble comes." The Scarlet Empress simply smiled. "Return to it as a noble," she ordered, "so I may enjoy more gifts like these."

Petal Wisteria;
House Founder, "She Who Bloomed a Garden"​

Soon, the Petals made a name for themselves as Imperial artisans. They often worked to the tastes of the Great Houses, too. While they made fine peacetime offerings, with wood being their prime specialty, it was during war that they shined. No one could quite make your siege machines as fashionable as a Petal. Alas, despite all their gifts, the Petal Matriarchs so far lacked strong dragonblood heirs. It is, perhaps, their shortened lives and long envy that made them dynamic actors in the era without an Empress.

Petal Azalea;
Second Matriarch, "Mistress of the Hearth"
​

Beautifying War: The war foundries of House Petal, by design, favor the creation of quality over quantity. Each manslaying weapon is crafted by hand in a tedious and long process, but the end result is undeniable. When you want something to awe your foes, you buy Petal.

Distant Death: While the Petal do not often march to war, it is said their ranged units rank highly in all of Creation. Their banners are pink to distinguish them from the common cur. When battle comes, they want you to know who shot the arrow.

The Garden of the Petal can be found in the mountain that divides the provinces of Mavinyos and Chanos. The creatures of Dragon's Blanket know not to distrust the peace there, lest they earn the ire of the Rose Petal.

 

[theajl]

@Maugan Ra for clarity, am I to assume that the mention of Earthscorpion and Chehrazad as co-GMs means I can consider my coGM application rejected or does the lack of an explicit statement that those applications are closed mean you're still considering?

 

[Maugan Ra]

@Maugan Ra for clarity, am I to assume that the mention of Earthscorpion and Chehrazad as co-GMs means I can consider my coGM application rejected or does the lack of an explicit statement that those applications are closed mean you're still considering?

Click to shrink...

Ah, right, apologies for the lack of a reply.

Currently I think three GMs is enough to handle the player count we look to be working towards, and while your offer was appreciated in the end I went with people I know and have worked with before. I appreciate the interest though!

 

[theajl]

Ah, right, apologies for the lack of a reply.

Currently I think three GMs is enough to handle the player count we look to be working towards, and while your offer was appreciated in the end I went with people I know and have worked with before. I appreciate the interest though!

Click to shrink...

That's entirely understandable; I expected to be low on the list either way given I'm not comfortable connecting previous online activity to this identity, so I've no way of proving my bonafides. Keep me in mind if things turn out to be more chaotic than expected!

EDIT: If there's report-writing spots open I'd be interested in that too.

 

[DeMarcheese]

@Maugan Ra Quick question: Can there be multiple Lesser Houses belonging to a Great House at game start or our applications will be competing for each spot at the side of a Great House?

EDIT: I am also attempting to connect with the Discord server but I seem to be experiencing technical difficulties... No messages can be seen so far.

 

[Alectai]

Well, best of luck, I don't want to end up in a position where I'm beholden to other players again, so I'll leave the minor spot fight for those who want it.

 

[JoergenJetsam]

House Yueh, A Dragon Among Vipers​

Heir to both the seafaring Baihu people's rich cultural legacy and the Shogunate traditions of their Tepet ancestors, House Yueh is a family of mariners, warriors, and merchants. Its scions hold a majority of seats on the Lamenting Stone Assembly, Nai Lei's council of ruling oligarchs.

The house honors Tepet Sharas as its founder. That dragonlord besieged Nai Lei during the Realm-Baihu wars, then married Raja Yueh Po-Thuan VI to seal the peace treaty — a love match brokered to both sides' political advantage. Through Sharas, House Tepet gained influence over Nai Lei's strategic port and sizable navy, aiding the Realm's conquest and partition of the Greater Zhao empire. Granting cadet house status to Nai Lei's royal family, the Empress awarded the satrapial lease elsewhere to restrain Tepet influence. Though reformers sponsored by Dynastic rivals eventually abolished the Yueh-Tepet monarchy, Sharas' progeny retained control over Nai Lei's politics through the oligarchic Lamenting Stone Assembly.

-

Traits:
Politically Adroit: As the controlling group of the Lamenting Stone Assembly, all your scions start with a tag reflecting their political acumen.

Distant Emerald Shipping Company: You have the legal right to raise fleets, and can 'escort' rather than forage to defray upkeep costs without causing damage to sea trade/provinces.

-

Location: From the harbor city of Nai Lei, House Yueh rules the satrapy Nandao, situated at the edge of the Southwest's Meiyu Sea.

 

[toxinvictory]

The amount of hype I feel seeing the choice of Co-GM's, this premise and the players chosen being put together can't be adequately expressed.

Best of luck everyone, I can tell this is going to be a wild ride.

 

[DarkMagyk]

House Nissar(taken from Heirs to the Shogunate)

The Dragon Unseen Beneath the Waves
A most trusted outcaste castellan of the Lords Criminal of Wu-Jian was rewarded for his betrayal of them to Imperial assassins and the Imperial Navy by the Empress granting him his own Cadet house, folding the Lords' other surviving lieutenants — and a smattering of other local outcastes who'd thrived under the Lords' rule — into his family.

The house is torn in many ways - Merchants who wish to extend their rule and authority over Wu-Jian in contrast to idealists who resent that the Great Houses have abandoned the sacred Caul. The house has many ties with the Patricians who were folded into house V'neef, but also must recognize the great Peleps presence in Wu-Jian's harbors. The city itself under the Cadet house is mostly unadministered, a thin line between extracting enough tribute and not offending the merchant houses, martial arts schools, criminal organizations and mystical courts that make up Wu-Jian.

Traits(I'm unsure about mechanics, so have left vague):
Road to the West - something about their merchant makeup
Inheritors of the Caul - There is a strong Immaculate faction within the house, and support towards retaking the caul must be given.

Direction would be the west/southwest, if possible there could be interest in one of the less important western provinces like golden sun or steel wind but influence over the Caul is preferred.

Since I see that Wu-Jian has already been apportioned in the discord here is an alternative take:

House of Stone Streams

Founded by a rewarded Outcaste general three generations ago this minor house has settled on hard times, faltering to just a single province's holdings on the blessed isle itself. It is that desperation that drives it to make desperate allies, selling it's vote in the deliberative, and not recalling it's scions that remain with Saloy Hin's southern Legion even as rumors of mutiny fly.

Traits: desperation of the rat: character cling to life an scrape by instead of failing, also easier to make deals
Treasonous allies: emissaries in the south and south east cling to links to power, even with those allies would be very willing to betray the empire and what it stands upon.

The prefecture of this house should be on hard times and probably southern, I was thinking a section of the tarpan wastes, like Willow's edge or one bordering the Dragonswrath desert. There would be extensive southern and south-eastern holdings to keep the house afloat.

 

[Mina]

House Tepet
Expansionist 5, Separatist 2, Inheritor 1

Matriarch Tepet Vergus
Eldest daughter of Tepet

Spoiler

Aspect: Air
Background: The Spiral Academy
Temperament: Conservative

Positive Quirks
Mistress of the sinews of war (Tepet excellence trait)
Expansionist (Faction trait)
Pragmatic
Daughter of the Shogunate
Experienced Arbiter
Melaist

Negative Quirks
Inflexible

General Tepet Arada
The Wind Dancer

Spoiler

Aspect: Air
Background: House of Bells
Temperament: Independent
Faction: Separatist

Positive Quirks
Cunning war hero (Tepet excellence Trait)
Anathema-slayer
Well-travelled

Negative Quirks
Cynical

Dragonlord Tepet Ejava
Roseblack

Spoiler

Aspect: Wood
Background: House of Bells
Temperament: Ambitious
Faction: Inheritor

Positive Quirks
Prodigy commander (Tepet excellence Trait)
Lateral-thinking
Decisive

Negative Quirks
Invites rivalry

Satrap Tepet Nirzu
Defender of Medo

Spoiler

Aspect: Earth
Background: House of Bells
Temperament: Stubborn
Faction: Expansionist

Positive Quirks
Virtuoso archer (Tepet excellence Trait)
Expansionist (Faction trait)
Iron-clad principles
Tenacious

Negative Quirks
Odd reputation

 

[Gig_Complex]

Just wanted to give a heads up, I am interested in playing a Lesser House, but I won't have enough time to knock out a write up until tomorrow afternoon due to some mandatory OT.

 

[TenfoldShields]

@Maugan Ra Quick question: Can there be multiple Lesser Houses belonging to a Great House at game start or our applications will be competing for each spot at the side of a Great House?

EDIT: I am also attempting to connect with the Discord server but I seem to be experiencing technical difficulties... No messages can be seen so far.

Click to shrink...

Well, best of luck, I don't want to end up in a position where I'm beholden to other players again, so I'll leave the minor spot fight for those who want it.

Click to shrink...

Mostly as a point of clarification than anything but minor houses/cadet houses aren't actually under the control or authority of a Great House. Yueh is descended from Tepet fr'ex but maintains close ties with V'neef among others, and most others are in similar situations. They don't have the same depth of resources but they are generally autonomous.

 

[Alectai]

I...

Hrmmmm....

OKAY I GUESS

I'll try working something out.

 

[JoergenJetsam]

Conversely, if you're hoping to play a Patrician house instead, whom unlike cadet houses are all on the Blessed Isle itself, some of them are sworn to Great Houses, and others are well-established and staunchly independent.

 

[Maugan Ra]

Ah, darn, didn't get chosen! Oh well, congrats to those who did! For the sake of it, I'll throw in an app for a Lesser House

Name: House Iselsi - Water That Hides the Deepest Dark
History: The Scarlet Empress tolerates failure little and treachery even less. When House Iselsi managed both in their botched coup attempt, Her Majesty decided to make as example of them. Over the course of a century she gutted the once-great House; taking lands, revoking charters, striking names from the Imperial Register. It was a slow, bleeding death. But when the Empress disappeared, suddenly no one was holding the scalpel. With a chance at vengeance, the remnants of House Iselsi plan to make good on their Vendetta and burn the rest of the Realm to the ground. And they will never see it coming.
Traits: Hidden Dragons - the Iselsi have gone underground after their disgrace and now operate in the shadows as naturally as any slinking creature. Any Asset can be used as a Covert Asset.
The Vendetta - the Iselsi's suffering has turned into hate for their kin. Hostile action taken against a Character affiliated with another Great House gains a bonus dot on the roll.
Location: while most of their holding were ripped from under their feet and given to House Ledaal, the Iselsi still maintain a number of strongholds in the ancestral home of Incas Prefecture.

And there we go! Hope it is looked favorably upon! And GL to all the players who were selected

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After some consideration, I'm going to deny this one. House Iselsi is, by nature of its hidden power base and relentless hostility to all other factions, far more suited to NPC status and GM-tools than as an actual player House.

House Valetari - Dragons Roaming the Frontier

An ancient House with proud martial and mercantile traditions, the Valetari have not suffered some tragic reverse in fortune or other decline, but can place their lack of prominence entirely at the whims of the Scarlet Empress. Absent the largesse of the Realm's sovereign, whose own networks were more than sufficient to the tasks she set them to, the Valetari have languished in modest obscurity since their founding in the early Golden Age of the Realm.

Despite lacking the wealth and scale of their more-favored cousins, however, the Valetari have carved out a distinctive niche for themselves in the Threshold as procurers of mercenaries, professional intermediaries, and finders of the obscure. Valetari hunters have been known to track their quarry across entire directions, or even into the hinterlands of the Wyld, all in the name of completing the job. Their specialized expertise is sufficient that even the Great Houses may find a need for a Valetari treasure-hunter or mercenary captain from time to time.

Peerless Acquisitors: If a Valetari hunter is looking for something, they generally find it, whether through extensive connections, dogged tenacity, or deductive brilliance. House Valetari has an easier time securing rare items or uncovering obscure information.

Golden Fangs: Lacking substantive military forces of their own for the dodgier acquisitions, the Valetari have turned instead toward setting up an unparalleled network of sell-sword contacts within the Threshold. Their mercenaries are cheaper and of higher quality than most.

While many Valetari operations are conducted outside the Blessed Isle, the House leadership makes its ancestral home in Six Vines, preferring the bustle and cosmopolitan nature of the province.

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House Valetari is approved with the following tweaks

Trait: Peerless Acquisitions. Whenever it would benefit your actions to have the 'Peerless Hunter' tag, you are assumed to have it. Once per turn, if you take an action aimed at a false target (typically in the case of covert actions against suspected assets) the GM will inform you and allow you to edit the action and redistribute any assigned resources.

Trait: Golden Fangs. You may substitute influence for wealth on a 1:1 basis when purchasing mercenaries, and may access up to two directional rosters per turn regardless of your presence in that direction. You may assist another House in hiring mercenaries, giving them access to these rosters: if you do, you gain wealth and influence equal to the mercenary's asset value for that turn.

Name: House Irezumi

History: To all appearances the Irezumi present themselves as painstakingly Old Realm. Their (ruinously expensive) noble family trees depict Shogunate era wandering heroic swordswomen and virtuous Arcadian gentry, raised up to their current heights as Patricians by their glorious conduct and the enlightened rule of the almighty Scarlet Empress. If one was to look for it their artifice is obvious, so inconspicuous so as to be conspicuous, too rigid and reactionary to be truly peers of the greatest titans of the world who thus fear nothing from a bit of impropriety. Their unstylish but safely conservative mask ill fits them as a Blood Ape in formal court robes, for in truth the Irezumi are social climbers desperate to bury their past as successful usurers as they had buried their true family name when adopting and marrying into the bankrupted original Irezumi.

Behind the carefully modulated and unaccented High Realm speech is the twang of their true history- broke mercenaries and untitled knights left abandoned as the dissolution of the old pre-Realm warlords and forced to subsist as swineherd rustlers and highway robbers until a new Dragonsblooded Legate came to their mountains with an irresistible horde on one hand, and on the other enough Jade to buy out the land's entire pantheon twice over. The ancestors of the Irezumi impressed their imperial overlords when they themselves came down after hearing of the exorbitant bounty placed on their heads and demanded their payment, and then went to work as the empire's thieves set to catch thieves.

Over the years the Irezumi moved from slave-catchers and bounty hunters to caravan guards and guild enforcers to bodyguards and bravos-for-hire, trading on a carefully curated reputation for viciousness and a certain brutal cunning to cartelize and syndicate their hired muscle. Now the middle men between Great Houses and direct criminal rackets, the Irezumi steadily tithe their grey markets and gambling dens, rob rival gangsters and guildless peddlers, and "gift" small monies to the common folk in their hour of need to be paid back at an undisclosed time... and all the while desperately try to chase the dream of real high society.

Traits:
Women of Honor: As the Irezumi brand themselves as the less-official regulators and imperial vigilantes to keep down the scum of the streets and keep their necessary evil out of sight of good citizens, they can use the apathy and outright support of Realm institutions to help subvert or crush Threshold "interlopers" and other "criminals".

Pillars of the Community: However this sense of connection as the Realm's junkyard dogs and loyal pets against all the barbarous wolves of the outside world come with obligations, obligations that if the Irezumi violate too blatantly and too severely, undermine their social position and the machinery of their empire. Too many merchant-folk get caught in opium dens right in the middle of Irezumi "protected" territory, and suddenly their entire network of kickbacks is in question.

Location: Vane, with other scattered chapters all around the Luo-Han Plains, and of course an opulent embassy in the Imperial City itself to maintain appearances

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House Irezumi is approved, with the following traits:

Women of Honour: Imperial bodies and authorities will not take action against you for any dealings with criminal or otherwise disreputable elements. Whenever your actions would benefit from having the tag "Patriotic Rogues", you are assumed to have it.

Pillars of the Community: You must maintain an Expansionist faction at at least power four; failure to do so will void the protection granted by "Women of Honour". You may ask the GM one question per turn concerning some hidden faction, threat or operation on the Blessed Isle, and will be given an accurate, truthful and comprehensive answer.

House Petal
Thunderous Sakura Over the Mountain​

Among the centenarian Houses of the Realm, with deep roots in Creation's mightiest empire, the Petal's Matriarch can trace her family back three generations. It was during the Iselsi-backed invasion of the Scavenger Lands, in RY 637, that an obscure craftswoman showcased the most desired item of the season: a daikyū shaped like a fearsome elemental dragon. When the Scarlet Empress first saw it, she supposedly asked the craftswoman about her lineage. Low as it was, the first Petal said: "From the mountain, this humble comes." The Scarlet Empress simply smiled. "Return to it as a noble," she ordered, "so I may enjoy more gifts like these."

​

Beautifying War: The war foundries of House Petal, by design, favor the creation of quality over quantity. Each manslaying weapon is crafted by hand in a tedious and long process, but the end result is undeniable. When you want something to awe your foes, you buy Petal.

Distant Death: While the Petal do not often march to war, it is said their ranged units rank highly in all of Creation. Their banners are pink to distinguish them from the common cur. When battle comes, they want you to know who shot the arrow.

The Garden of the Petal can be found in the mountain that divides the provinces of Mavinyos and Chanos. The creatures of Dragon's Blanket know not to distrust the peace there, lest they earn the ire of the Rose Petal.

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House Petal is approved.

Perfection of Death: Other Houses may pay you to upgrade their military and character assets with tags representing equipment of peerless craftsmanship. Such upgrades have a price that you dictate, and can be applied without the normal downtime. Your own characters and military assets may likewise benefit from such upgrades.

Beautiful War: At the start of every turn, you gain a number of influence points equal to the number of times tags derived from "Perfection of Death" were applied to an action in the preceding turn.

House Yueh, A Dragon Among Vipers​

Heir to both the seafaring Baihu people's rich cultural legacy and the Shogunate traditions of their Tepet ancestors, House Yueh is a family of mariners, warriors, and merchants. Its scions hold a majority of seats on the Lamenting Stone Assembly, Nai Lei's council of ruling oligarchs.

The house honors Tepet Sharas as its founder. That dragonlord besieged Nai Lei during the Realm-Baihu wars, then married Raja Yueh Po-Thuan VI to seal the peace treaty — a love match brokered to both sides' political advantage. Through Sharas, House Tepet gained influence over Nai Lei's strategic port and sizable navy, aiding the Realm's conquest and partition of the Greater Zhao empire. Granting cadet house status to Nai Lei's royal family, the Empress awarded the satrapial lease elsewhere to restrain Tepet influence. Though reformers sponsored by Dynastic rivals eventually abolished the Yueh-Tepet monarchy, Sharas' progeny retained control over Nai Lei's politics through the oligarchic Lamenting Stone Assembly.

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Traits:
Politically Adroit: As the controlling group of the Lamenting Stone Assembly, all your scions start with a tag reflecting their political acumen.

Distant Emerald Shipping Company: You have the legal right to raise fleets, and can 'escort' rather than forage to defray upkeep costs without causing damage to sea trade/provinces.

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Location: From the harbor city of Nai Lei, House Yueh rules the satrapy Nandao, situated at the edge of the Southwest's Meiyu Sea.

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As we already discussed this House and the traits privately, House Yueh is approved.

House Nissar(taken from Heirs to the Shogunate)

The Dragon Unseen Beneath the Waves
A most trusted outcaste castellan of the Lords Criminal of Wu-Jian was rewarded for his betrayal of them to Imperial assassins and the Imperial Navy by the Empress granting him his own Cadet house, folding the Lords' other surviving lieutenants — and a smattering of other local outcastes who'd thrived under the Lords' rule — into his family.

The house is torn in many ways - Merchants who wish to extend their rule and authority over Wu-Jian in contrast to idealists who resent that the Great Houses have abandoned the sacred Caul. The house has many ties with the Patricians who were folded into house V'neef, but also must recognize the great Peleps presence in Wu-Jian's harbors. The city itself under the Cadet house is mostly unadministered, a thin line between extracting enough tribute and not offending the merchant houses, martial arts schools, criminal organizations and mystical courts that make up Wu-Jian.

Traits(I'm unsure about mechanics, so have left vague):
Road to the West - something about their merchant makeup
Inheritors of the Caul - There is a strong Immaculate faction within the house, and support towards retaking the caul must be given.

Direction would be the west/southwest, if possible there could be interest in one of the less important western provinces like golden sun or steel wind but influence over the Caul is preferred.

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As I recall, House Nissar in Heirs to the Shogunate was mostly characterised by being a bastard house full of bastard pirates who did bastard things to everyone who crossed them. Which is fine as a faction, it just reads like you're doing something a bit different here?

 

[Azrael]

Well, consider this a first draft at least.

House Ledaal
Factions: Occultist 5, Expansionist 2, Immaculate: 1


Matriarch Ledaal Kinura
Aspect: Air
Background: The Spiral Academy
Temperament: Inquisitive
Positive Quirks:
Memorized the Immaculate Texts
Ruin Delver
Friends in the Scales
Ruthless Interrogator
Sorcery (Ledaal trait)
Negative Quirk:
Lost in the Hunt


Ledaal Jinu (3 dot)
Faction: Immaculate
Aspect: Fire
Background: The Cloister of Wisdom
Temperament: Brash
Positive Quirks:
Dedicated Shikari
Ears of the Magistrates
Sorcery (Ledaal trait)
Negative Quirk:
Uncompromising

Ledaal Hanin Veroka (3 dot)
Faction: Occultist
Aspect: Water
Background: The Heptagram
Temperament: Scheming
Positive Quirks:
Top Student
Knowledge of Demonology
Sorcery (Ledaal trait)
Negative Quirk:
Convinced She's Infallible

Ledaal Avani (3 dot)
Faction: Expansionist
Aspect: Air
Background: The House of Bells
Temperament: Optimistic
Positive Quirks:
Respected Officer
Threshold Traveler
Sorcery (Ledaal trait)
Negative Quirks:
Complacent

 

[fitzgerald]

House Keren, the Scarlet's sinews​

Biography:

In the wreckage of disaster, respite flows from the Scarlet. From our strengths we repay our debts to her a hundred fold.

House Keren's entire history has been a notable pattern of disaster followed by recovery under the Scarlet Empress's protection, earning her the House's fanatical loyalty and service almost from the very start of the Realm. However this has often made House Keren a target for those plotting to damage the Scarlet Empress reign.

Keren Zoya in RY3 appeared before the Scarlet Empress with the remains of the 25th Legion from the North Western shores with a small fleet of ships filled with more material left than men, death from the Contagion and stalling the Balorian Crusade having reaped a bloody toll. With grace and welcome the Scarlet Empress welcomed the openly weeping Zoya and secured her pledge of loyalty and with it the services of a premiere Shogunate Sorcerous Engineer. Now much more impressively armed the Scarlet Empress returned the loyalty by raising Zoya to lead to House Keren, turning her attention to subduing all her rivals to her throne.

House Manosque deeply wounded House Keren in attempting their coup, but again the Empress protected House Keren shielding them from hungry opportunists until they regained their strength. From there the Keren's fortunes soared once more and by the mid 400's many were assuming they were on the verge of ascending even higher.

Then came the destruction of Versino when a good portion of the House was lost in its destruction. Again House Keren pulled back and sheltered under the Scarlet Empress's aegis, this time recovering at much slower pace than before. Eschewing the newly raised Heptagram, House Keren has devoted itself to training its members in the ancient schools of Shogunate Sorcerous Engineering, scoffing at the foolishness of demon summoning and elemental pacts for hard reality of Jade. Or for those less inclined a number of Keren's members toll away in the Thousand Scales, notorious for stubbornly resisting corruption.

Traits:

Sorcerous Engineers: House Keren has skills and training to not only repair and maintain the ancient treasures of the Shogunate but on occasion with great effort and resources make it anew. Their aid in repairing or creating Dynastic reduces the cost involved by [X]

Empress's Sinews: House Keren is well known for fiercely defending the Scarlet Empress from internal enemies, adding [X] to DV against attempts of subversion

Location: Having actually helped build up the Imperial City it is no surprise that House Keren has deep roots in the Scarlet Province having a good number of rich holdings, with much of the remaining House is located on the lowest edges of the Endless in and around an ancient temple fortress raised in dedication to the 25th Legion during the Shogunate.