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House Akko

The Red Star Rises

House Akko makes its home at the Cavernous Palace, a fortified palace built into a natural cave system in the Aunamendiak mountains. The Akko are all red-headed, as no one near the line of succession is permitted to wed a blonde, brown or black haired person. The head of the house is the Akko Queen, married to the King of the Kingdom of Misala. While the queen is not in charge of the state, she is in charge of her house, an office that can only be held by women in the uniquely matrilineal family.

The Akko are known for their cunning and scheming at court, which they dominate. Nieces, sisters and aunts poison one another for promotions or petty drama, and only fools of women make enemies out of the house. As wives, Akko ladies are famed for their intellect, which is a likely product of a royal education. Akko men are unimportant politically, but the stereotypes are those of dutiful soldiers and sailors who put their kingdom first in every situation.

House Betor

We Weather The Storm

House Betor is the least powerful of the five great houses, but they are miles ahead of any other estate that would dare assume the title of great house. Undisputed rulers of the north coast of Aziria, where the rain falls as often as the sun shines, they are renowed sailors of the clinker-built boats. With some room for doubt, they are the toughest Misaltar out there, and among the most devout. The northwest was the subject of the first Irbedein - holy war - and the legacy of that still remains.

The Betor are known for their honour and piety. They are content, even with their relative poverty, but their pride should not be underestimated either. House Menarion challenges the Betor for the rule over the Houses of the Southern Slopes, but they have found difficulties in acting on those claims. The Betor men have refused to give up an inch ever since the conflict began.

House Eukal

The World's Splendour

(Pronounced: eh-you-call)

House Eukal is the richest house. Controlling the rich eastern coast from the city of Alxa Min, the Eukal have the most urban land in all of Aziria at their service. There, they rely on the wealth of merchants and artisans, not the raw strength of a large army, to serve them. Trade is an Eukal's fate, not soldiering or sailing, but they have mastered the art, and so their riches are envied by the other great houses.

Currently, the Eukal have little room to expand, but a proximity to the Cavernous Palace of the Akko offers opportunities too. No other geat house is so close to the centre of power as the Eukal, and they have made their proximity count. No other great house has provided a king as often as the Eukal.

By the other houses, House Eukal is viewed as a shrewd bunch of negotiators, careful yet not greedy stewards of their wealth, but also as somewhat disgraceful. Customs and traditions are nothing but pieces in a game called politics, and the Eukal play it without hesitation. Whether their honour or their piety suffers from that does not matter, if they come out ahead elsewhere.

House Menarion

Behold, And Awe

House Menarion is the largest house. Controlling inland river valleys, they have a large population, and a large number of retainers and soldiers they can call upon. Only the Naudaxel rival them in that regard. But where the Naudaxel border the Apasuma, shaken but not fallen, the Menarion have unparalleled access to the Heart Houses and beyond, the Belly of Aziria. Those houses, divided, will not stand together in the face of Menarion onslaught, and will submit to the Lords of the Lesser Ranges, or so the Menarion believe. The iron mines and the forges of the Menarion are the greatest of all, and clad in armour and weaponry no other house can produce, they will win any war.

The Menarion is as close one gets to the average Misaltar. Pious, dutiful and honourable, but not to great extents, the Menarion care for their family before everything else. They are generous patrons to lesser houses and the common populace. Their disputes with other houses amount to influence conflicts, as the Betor aspire to control the Southern Slope, and the Zaljun the Baorial Coast. Any other house would not be able to contend for three regions at once, but the Menarion have been playing for the Heart, the Baorial Coast and the Southern Slope for years.

House Naudaxel

Subjects of the Stars

(Pronounced: Now-da-shell)

House Naudaxel is the Northern House, the House of the Plains, the House of the Horses. They have many names, but they all point at their geography. The northern slopes of Aunamendiak have not been disputed for a long time, for Naudaxel has them firmly in their grip. Masters of cavalry and priesthood, they know what to excel at, and this is why none have risen to challenge them so far.

Malach, the holy city of Issarism, lies several days riding from the Naudaxel border in the Guamorian Apasuma. The cradle of Issarism itself can be found in the hills of southwest Naudaxel lands. As such, their influence in the Misal faith is profound, and the Naudaxel have joined the ranks of famous apas priests since generations. As owners of the largest even lowland in the Kingdom of Misala, the Naudaxel have learned to master cavalry. Compared to a Saka, they are infantile riders, but relative to the other Misaltar, they are the horse lords of the north.

The stereotypical Naudaxel is therefore a horseman dressed in the robes of a priest, eyes always fixated on the night sky, but there is more to the northern house. Great wineries dot the ancient Eskrus region, and the Naudaxel do not shy from wit and humour. They are not simply devout, they are sophisticated, perhaps moreso than any other house.

House Zaljun

Fear Our Jaws

(Pronounced: Zal-yun)

House Zaljun is the naval house. With their stronghold in the ancient island port of Apail, they have an excellent base for their navy, and no qualms about how to use it. If there was a dishonourable house, it would be the Zaljun. With disgraceful strategies including piracy and pillaging, they have established their presence on the southern coasts of Aziria. If not for the presence of a strong Dzayer Empire, they would certainly be raiding other coasts as well.

Although their army would be as ill-disciplined as a group of poorly choreographed rats, the Zaljun fleet would never break formation, and never cease their rowing for as long as there were unbroken whips to beat the slaves with. At sea, House Zaljun does not know the meaning of giving up. Or of mercy, for that matter. If it were up to them, they would burn Alxa Min and the Naudaxel ports, but so far, the Zaljun profit more from the Akkogea than any other house, as they are now shielded from their greatest threats by the shields of the Menarion and the smooth diplomacy of their Akko rulers. That does not change the fact that the Zaljun would like nothing more than for their control to stretch from Guamoria to the Sun-Drenched Coast, with no foreign ships to dispute their dominance.