Noble Houses

The Noble Houses of the Gratus Confederacy are the backbone of its militocratic society. There is at least one for each region of Gratus territory, with each having an overruling speciality and attitude.

List of Notable Houses

 * House Ardenne of Bastion, debt collectors and brokers for lower families. They are the moneylenders of society and make good on their promises; especially if it gains them large amount of coin. They employ the mercenaries Vargan as debt enforcers and public assassins. They leave corpses nailed to the door of the property of the deceased, serving as a warning to their community.
 * House Baratus of Bretheria. The Gratus Confederacy's information network. They provide spies and are known to keep their affairs extremely guarded. They have made their disgust of elves extremely clear and are the only house to not use them in any capacity; they do not want to taint their house.
 * House Eventi, agricultural experts for the Confederacy based in Tarfordia. With their fishing and husbandry skills, they feed the nation. They are seen as commoners and lesser by other Noble Houses, since the nobility make themselves visible on the fields and in fisherboats. They are seen as kind-hearted by the peasantry, except when crop failures happen. They punish farm-masters and their family for failing the house publicly, a showing that draws many of the peasantry due to its brutal spectacle. The nobles provide rousing speeches stating that the farm-masters forced their hand.
 * House Lorencé, extremely wealthy traders who do nothing by half measures. They value beauty and wealth, and use one to acquire the other extremely frequently. They are often seen surrounded by the most beautiful elves adorned in gold and silks. They revel in scandal and breaking societal taboos. They are based in the Honcia province.
 * House Sevren, providers of the most soldiers to the Gratus forces. They are based in Anilalia, one of the biggest of the Noble Houses and provide military might. They are a highly martial house and are very direct in speech, a trait not appreciated by more diplomatic Houses. They have a private army called the Sons of Sevran that they use to patrol and settle border skirmishes between them and Wylders. They are known to be meritocratic compared to other houses. If they are sufficiently skilled, low-born and non-humans can rise to higher ranks, to the chagrin of the rest of the Gratus nobility.
 * House Withers, arms dealers and largely apathetic to the common folk. They are the heaviest users of orcish labour and were the inventors of the Neural Nails, devices used to control and pacify the orcs that they use in their factories. They are based in Arigmo.