Editing Lineage:House Lineages (section)

=House of Capet=

[[Image:Fleurdelis27386lg.gif]]

Positive Stereotype:  Noble leader from a proud line.

Negative Stereotype:  Sickly degenerate necromancer.

Symbol:  Fleur-de-lis.

Signature Spell:  Animate Shadow.  “Calling up the Shadows”.

Magical Style:  Medieval French.

The House of Capet have owned most of Europe at one time or another, as well as quite a few other countries.  They seized the French throne from the House of Carolus in the 10th century, with help from the Julii and the branch of Carolus holding the throne of the Holy Roman Empire.  Capet held the French monarchy, under various names including “Bourbon”, until the revolution, almost a thousand years later.  They also held Constantinople in the 13th century, Portugal in the 12th to 19th centuries, and Spain from the 19th century to the present day, as well as holding a wide variety of other European titles.

The House of Capet had a strong interest in the Americas as early as the 16th century, when it set up stations in the Carribean and along the east coast of North and South America.  Capet soon established themselves in North America wherever French settlement took them, particularly in Canada, Louisiana and Missouri.  They sided with France in the French-Indian war which caused them to lose a lot of power and territory in the Americas to the Houses of Stuart and Hapsburg, resulting in a feud that lasts to this day.  They were firm supporters of the American Revolution and took great delight in breaking Stuart power in the Americas, if only for a time.  On the other hand, they strongly opposed the French Revolution, rightly predicting that it would sweep them out of power in France.  They sided with the South in the American Civil War, not wishing their powerbases in Louisiana and Missouri to be disrupted, and sided with the Allies in the two world wars in order to liberate France.  In general, they are suspicious of the American government, viewing it as a tool of the Hapsburgs and the English Houses.  They saw American imperial ambitions in the wars in Korea and Vietnam and see imperial ambitions in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq today.  Capet possessions include Ford Motor and Viacom.

Mortal Politics:  The United States is chaotic and corrupt.  It needs a strong, centralized administration and less state power.  The US needs to get out of the middle east right away.  The wars are just a way for the old English Houses to build a greater empire, getting even more money and power while the American people do the dying and foot the bill.  

Cost:  5 points.

Advantages:  Language (French, Broken)

Perk:  Capet Blood.  A mage of the House of Capet is at +2 to the Savoir-Faire skill.  The House has a particular reputation for its use of enchanted cloaks, often with the power to hide the user from sight or to transform them into an animal.  Any roll to enchant a cloak is at +1.

Disadvantage:  The Delicacy.  Mages of the House of Capet suffer from a condition of the flesh that makes it dry and brittle.  They look perfectly normal, but are very susceptible to injuries.  They have the disadvantage Fragile (Brittle, Combustible) (20 points).  Other Houses assume that it is the byproduct of centuries of horrific Capet necromancy.

Skills:  Administration, Conniseur (Any), History (Medieval French), History (Modern French), Occultism, Savoir-Faire, Symbol Drawing (Western Hermetic), Thaumatology.

Spells:
Body Control:  Climbing, Debility.
Healing:  Lend Energy, Recover Energy.
Light and Darkness:  Continual Light, Darkness, Light, Shape Darkness. 
Necromancy:  Animate Shadow, Animation, Death Vision, Materialize, Skull Spirit, Summon Spirit.


Relations

The Houses

House of Anjou:  We should have destroyed these vipers when we had the chance, before they fled to Saxon England.  We won’t make the same mistake again.

House of Cain:  They are only safe to have around if they are in your employ.  After all, they are always in someone’s employ.

House of Carolus:  Their ancient lineage makes them romantic, but they are ignorant, simplistic thugs under the shining armor.

House of Flavii:  All puppet-strings lead ultimately to the Flavii.

House of Hapsburg:  In the end, ultimate power will go to them, or to the Stuarts, or to us, and the Hapsburgs know it.

House of Julii:  The Romans infest the world, making wars and manipulating the peasants for their own ends.

House of Lancaster:  If it weren’t for them and their industrial horrors, we, and not the Stuarts, would stand as the greatest House.

Order of Lilith:  The witches have move than a touch of Hell about them.

House of Medici:  The financiers are one of the few great Houses to actually serve a useful function.

House of Romanov:  Waiting in the wings, they could provide a useful counterbalance to Stuart one day should the need arise.

House of Stuart:  In the end, ultimate power will go to them, or to the Hapsburgs, or to us, and they don’t even know it.

House of Trastámara:  Their reputation for terror can make them useful allies.

House of Ummayad:  The secret they hide so closely is that they worship Heaven.  A terrible secret indeed.

House of Warwick:  They are too much a part of the system for us to take power without employing their services.  Fortunately, they are always interested in deals.

House of York:  It is the violence of York that has allowed the House of Stuart to exclipse us.

The Rebellion

Order of Boudicca:  The hate the English Houses even more than we do and that makes them useful.

Order of Copernicus:  They are a destabilizing influence.

Order of Darwin:  They hate Heaven with a passion, but it only leads them to make trouble.

Order of Eve:  They are useful assets, too undisciplined to tame but idealistic enough to manipulate.

Order of Jesus:  As long as they recognize our temporal power, I don’t care what their religion is.

Order of Judas:  Could anything be more obvious than that we must beware them?

Order of Siddhartha:  Their strange cult keeps them out of politics.  I hope it spreads.

Order of Solon:  These jealous populists seek to destroy anyone great.

Order of Spartacus:  It is this unruly mob that gives the Rebellion its strength.

Order of Thales:  They teach others to question things they should simply accept, causing unrest.

Order of Utnapishtim:  Worms, barely worth noticing.  They’ve spent ten thousand years or more skulking in swamps.