Dynasty & Decadence/Worldbuilding

Current Context for House V’Neef

V’Neef, V’Neef, V’Neef – if you talk politics, it is all you ever hear. From the technical officers in the ministries in charge of manse allocation to the roughest fisherman in the furthest northern tip of the Isle, her name is on everyone’s lip.

Twenty-three, stunningly beautiful, effortlessly charming and holding in her veins the purest blood in the entire Realm (bar, possibly, the Empress herself). A golden child, beloved by the entirety of Creation, she was without an enemy in the world – until she was given her own Great House two years ago. Suddenly, her fast-tracking through the Spiral Academy isn’t talent, but favouritism; her marriage to Cynis Thepru isn’t romantic but jade-mining; and the extraordinary Exaltation of her first child at age six is less a draconic miracle and more a harbinger of interesting times.

The first sign of danger was Cynis Thepru’s poisoning at the hands of the Society of the Veil & Lilly. The fruitless investigation has lead to accusation and counter-accusation – was it House Cynis? V’Neef? A would-be suitor? And then Mnemon, previously the youngest child of the Empress to receive her own House (at age 55) and formerly the very image of an affectionate sister, has been marked by a new chill, though no hostile action has been taken.

Offshoots of House Peleps rise and fall almost as often as they have a member to powerful to control and not powerful enough to oust the current leaders. These only last a generation before reabsorption, and the reabsorption usually goes down with minimal hard feelings. Usually, this is done with the a pragmatically ruthless appraisal of what the new House contributes by having its own ‘brand’ and whether they are worth protecting from hostile outside forces.

In your case it is different – senior figures in House Peleps wants you gone and the name ‘Taric’ to be forgotten. Taric offended the House seniors greatly by courting V’Neef as a potential husband, doing her favours against the interests of Peleps and implicitly offering to defect with his entire family (and critically, their incredibly vast wealth) if she accepted.

V’Neef has managed to offend House Peleps thrice over– first, by cancelling her importation of wine from the East and relying entirely on her own vineyards to meet demand; second, by sponsoring the young libertine and famously sarcastic playwrite, Cynis Somat, to the senior post of minister of the Righteous and Accountable Ministry of Weights and Measures as a ‘new broom’; and finally and most critically, by adopting as ‘children’ a retired Leedal naval general and a Lost Egg Guild factol with a fleet of vessels plying the Inner Sea, raising questions as to her House’s interest in maritime trade.

Politics

• The Salt Rate was recently lowered to 2.75%, increasing market activity and speculation and serving as a strong indicator of the economic and spiritual stability of the Isle. This has greatly agitated the Small Gods of Salt, and House Peleps Tanic has been requested by the Treasury to deal with them before they openly defy the Empress in some way they cannot take back.

• The patrician family, Dragarchi, continues it's unhindered ascension through both legitimate and illegitimate society, thanks to the support of Peleps Tanic Taen and Grolush (respectively). The second son, Dragarchi Correal, has taken a seat in the Lesser Chamber in the last election, adding his presence to lead the deliberators already on the family payroll, and this growing political power is supported by the family's extortion, gambling and fencing rackets. The family's success can be attributed to punctual and full payment of it's sizable dues – of both kinds - to House Tanic Peleps.

• The Gracious Upright Fox is a legend in the world of espionage, known to be Lookshy's greatest living spy. In his earlier days, he assassinated the previous Tri-Khan of Chiaroscuro, destroyed the infectious Raksha, Curious Blue, and infiltrated Cathak Canian's Wyld Hunt. Now, a rumour is starting that he runs Lookshy's assets on the Blessed Isle. And it seems he has a score to settle with defectors!

• The Perfect of Paragon has identified and turned another undercover agent answering to the Eye. The thaumaturge has used his plundered power to compel the spy to return to the Realm's embassy, now loyal to a new master. The Eye has been instructed by the Foreign Office to try again, but not to attempt any retaliation, as diplomatic relations with the upstart Scavenger Lord remain paramount as the tribute levels are renegotiated next year.

• Eye Turned Inwards, the Internal Affairs branch of the All-Seeing Eye currently suspects over a half-dozen graduates of the Spiral Academy recruited subsequently into the Eye have been turned by House V'Neef to become their personal assassination squad. So far, no penalties or terminations have been authorised as the Eye Turned Inwards seeks to find out how House V'Neef are predicting who they will recruit.

Law & Crime

• The Blessed Isle hosts over a dozen cities with populations well over 100,000 people. This is a relatively recent phenomenon (though historians note is merely e return to a fraction of the post-Contagion population) and has born an inescapable consequence – rampant and uncontrolled crime. The traditional method of bucolic maintenance of the law – a magistrate for each prefecture to decide cases and root out corruption and vice; a few dozen blackhelms to break up riots and deal with unruly foreigners; and an understanding with the local tongs to keep themselves to quiet extortion, illicit prostitution and animal fights – have completed fallen apart under the pressures of the increased urbanised populations.

• The nights are now an alternate ecosystem of roving gangs, highwaymen and cammorae and the citizenry who venture from their homes are entirely at their mercy. Even by day, there is an explosion in crimes such as heroin dealing, selling slaves to mortals, armed robbery and rape.

• These are being politely ignored by the Imperial Government and, as Exalts are immune to their depredations due to their elemental power and patricians mostly protected by their armies of servants, there is no sign that this will change. The Thousand Scales have developed statistical data to ‘prove’ crime is stable and to pour scorn on any ‘unmanly babblers’ that suggest there is a crime problem. Powerful political factions, lead by legendary magistrate archon-hunter, Leedal Tomei, and the current Paragons of Danaa’d and Heiesh, have subtly made their disapproval known for those who suggest that blackhelms – armed peasant-thugs whose place is institutional violence on the direct orders of their betters – should conduct investigations or develop proactive strategies or that power should be derivated away from magistrates towards prefects by expanding the blackhelms to a wing or even, Empress forbid, a dragon for a major city.

• Only in such degenerate days could the family have gathered conclusive proof of Rat-Kin, degenerate beastmen living the sewers of[your city]. These filthy anathema-spawn kidnap the dregs of society- indentured servants and slaves- but what they do with their victims is still under investigation.

• Magistrate Leedal Tomei, graduate of the Heptogram and ex-Immaculate Monk, is the greatest man-hunter in the Realm. Rather than having his own circuit, he awaits invitations from other Magistrates to pursue criminals that have left their chosen jurisdiction and chases them down relentlessly wherever they may go. Currently, he has besieged Pelep Tanic Alaric’s best pupil’s cloister near the Dam of Serpents, demanding they turn over an itinerant monk that has claimed sanctuary but is wanted for child-abuse.

• Not everyone is taking the matter of crime quietly - There is a rapidly growing cult of Invisible Cricket Practitioners (think a Terrestrial style that carries the vibe of Mantis Style and Ebon Shadows Style) in Tuchara. This hidden cult utilize a new and entirely forbidden art in honour of the mysterious urban legend known as the Invisible Embodiment of Justice Black. This figure is usually portrayed as a tall black clad man in a black cloak, wearing a Black helm's helmet modified with the visage of a praying mantis. He is beloved for having brought down the Red River of Laugher gang (cocaine smugglers led by a faeblood), the Monarchi family (a patrician clan heavily involved in extortion and supported by House Peleps) and the Abbot Dandelion (who was subsequently shown to be using his temple as a brothel for children).

• The Society of the Veil & Lilly are ancient and mysterious order of assassins and poisoners. Half their agents are spread throughout high society and focused in the Realm, Lookshy, Great Forks and Whitewall, waiting to strike, while the leaders are alchemists with no established identity. The society is known for never giving up on a contract and never being caught- so far, they have not failed a single time. Magistrate Krati of Barrosk captured one of the agents recently, but the agent had taken a poison that activated only when the agent was asked charm-enhanced questions. An antidote has been developed and awaits another possible subject for interrogation.