Houses editing

THE NOBLE HOUSES OF CHAOS

ASHOKA

Specialists in medicine and pharmacology*; very good at shapeshifting, good at healing and diagnostic magic. Allegedly Ashokaways has vast plantations of medicinal plants.

Medium sized house

• Colours : White and gold
• House Look : Pale skin, blonde hair, bright gold eyes. Tall and slender, with long surgeons fingers.
• Head : Duchess Gaynor
• Heir : Lord Landval
• Attitude Before Patternfall : Isolationist

BARRABAN

Scholars, with a huge library* Medium sized house

• Colours : Orange and Brown
• House Look : Dark skinned with red-orange hair and dark eyes.
• Head : Duchess Yvalina
• Heir : Lady Lantina
• Attitude Before Patternfall : Pro-Amber-a Pro-Amber stance before Patternfall means they were opposed to the Party for War

The interior of BarrabanWays is very library-like, with many bookcases and framed ancient manuscripts and so on. Sound is very quiet and muffled there. Their actual libraries are staffed by librarian-demons which will research books for people, seeming to multiply until there are as many as are required for the task at hand. There are locked sections of the House Barraban libraries too, largely in the historical sections.

CARYX A large house Shapeshifting and living item creation specialists*. At odds with the magic-item creating Sawall. Members usually advanced shapeshifter and mages. All have advanced shapeshifting to some extent. Colours : Green and Black House Look : Black skin, African features, curly black hair, green eyes. Head : Nominally Duchess Velana (it is rumoured that all the other members of the house are her Blood creatures); the Head of House is really a vast mass of shapeshifted flesh filling millions of cubic metres. It is vast, ancient and intelligent with huge psyche and endurance, but effectively immobile. It uses blood creatures as remote units (such as Duchess Velana). Heir : Lord Quallar, a noted scholar and researcher into shapeshifting, who is behind the plot in 'Comes in the End Despondency and Madness' (he is something of an absent-minded professor type, who ignores the rules when he feels like it). Notables : Leotus, who was involved in the plot of the same game and Quallar's front man, but who doesn't excel at anything. Attitude Before Patternfall : Anti-Amber They make Fire Angels. They have a tithe of prisoners; it is known they are used to create living weapons, but not how. Using non-intrinsic or shapeshifted weapons is considered by them a sign of weakness and/or incompetence, especially in a House member. Caryxways has a number of 'levels'. The most important is a cyberpunk/high magic metropolis, a city of towers and the like (see the 'Wicked City' Anime), used as their main research and development area. Others include: A post-apocalypse version of the above, used as a testing ground. Fortress Manasa - a vast fortress in the shape of a white stone lotus, on a peak above a cryogenic sea and below a burning sky. It is their administrative centre, and where they meet outsiders. A series of cubical steel rooms with nothing outside, linked in more than three spatial dimensions - their ultra-secret labs. A vast tree floating in a zero-G void of air. Infinite gardens and mazes with some very weird stuff inside.

CHANICUT Politicians, negotiators and diplomats; rivals of House Minobee; oppose House Sawall Medium sized house Colours : Red and grey House Look : Tall and slender with pale grey skin, violet eyes and red hair. Head : Prince Tubble Heir : Lady Derris Notables : Lord Elam Chanicut, a middle ranking diplomat who brings the PCs into the plot in 'Comes in the End Despondency and Madness'. Lord Akash, who is holding the negotiations with the Amberites in the same game. Attitude Before Patternfall : Pro-Amber Some members of this House have the Spirit/Power Moulding part of Advanced Shapeshifting, as this is useful in negotiations, and also in Mimicking people to learn about them.

GALLOWGLASS Way builders. Very neutral, and highly trusted. They do not give out information on what they have built. They know how to get into Caryxways, but will not give out this information. They enforce their own neutrality very rigorously. Large house Colours : Blue and grey House Look : Light brown skin, blue or grey eyes. Head : Duke Hendrik Heir : Lord Karostlin Attitude Before Patternfall : Neutral The jailers of Chaos. They built Fortress Gantu as an inescapable prison Way containing everything from luxury cells to oubliettes. It is administered by them under the orders of the Crown. They use shapeshift-inhibiting drugs as a matter of course, though these are not always effective against advanced shapeshifters; if they do not work, the inmate in put into a hermetically sealed very clean cell with no rats or suchlike which they could use. They may be put into haunted cells where the ghosts or whatever prevent the inmate from sleeping. Some cells are cubes into which the shapeshifter prisoners are forced. Some cells are too small to stand, or lie in. Brutality is commonly used.

HELGRAM Specialists in the Logrus, and most expert pit-divers* Medium sized house Leaders of the pro-Amber faction and the plot with the redheads Colours : Black and silver House Look : Black skin with silver hair and eyes. Head : Duke Tamaril Heir : Lord Talithorn Attitude Before Patternfall : Pro-Amber

HELIBORE Mercenary assassins, thieves and spies*. Neutral if not being paid. Allegedly a small house They have a special House power - they are 'Ghosts', who can, with concentration, walk through solid matter [This is an extra ability costing 10 points; the more 'real' the matter is (including items which have become part of an attackers personal reality), the harder it is to walk through and the more the 'ghost' can be hurt by it.] Colours : Red and Purple House Look : Average height, average looks, pale skinned. Dark purple-black hair, Scarlet eyes. Head : Duke Garek Heir : Lady Cathara Attitude Before Patternfall : Neutral They are often called upon to 'deal with' defectors from houses, and are alleged to keep files on essentially everyone of any importance in Chaos and beyond. Of course, getting to see these files, if they exist, is another matter altogether... House Helibore created by Iain Walker.

HENDRAKE Military specialists*, who train the elite of Chaos, and often the nobles of other houses. A large house House of origin of the Hellmaids. [Female members of Hendrake only. An extra ability costing 10 points which gives is possessor one additional level of armour, always, and one additional level of damage causing ability, all the time. That is, with basic shapeshifting, the Hellmaid will be Resistant to Normal Weapons and have Extra Hard teeth and nails in Human form, while in Demon form they will be Resistant to Firearms and have Double Damage teeth, claws or whatever.] Colours : Black, white and grey House Look : Muscular or athletic builds, with pale skin and black, white or grey hair and grey eyes. Head : Duke Larsus, who is married to Duchess Belissa Minobee; he was killed by Julian at the battle of Kolvir so Duchess Belissa rules the House now. Heir : Princess Maylan Notables : Chinaway Hendrake, huge male with a red scaly, taloned demon form, feared, and has a collection of more than 200 of the skulls of his victims. Borel Hendrake, Master of Arms of the Ways of Hendrake; a feared but extremely honourable duellist. Lady Lintra, a Hellmaid with a rather schoolmistress-like attitude who was killed by Prince Benedict of Amber. Lady Jasra Mordau, maid companion of Lady Lintra (originally from the minor House Mordau) and then of Lady Dara. Lady Gilva (a Hellmaid), who, in 'Dining on Ashes', is out on the battlefield. They fight wars off in shadow to keep in practise, and for payment of various kinds from other houses, when those houses cannot handle a situation. Attitude Before Patternfall : Anti-Amber

JESBY Specialists in the power of Trump; they do teach those of other houses, but not the Advanced techniques which are alleged to exist. At odds with Sawall. Have extensive holdings in shadow because of their mastery of the Trump, and known to do much exploration in shadow. Small house Colours : Green and Gold House Look : Dark skinned with golden hair and green eyes Head : Prince Tmer, son of Rolovians Heir : Lady Eremina Attitude Before Patternfall : Pro-Amber They keep records on everyone they train which allows them to identify Trumps and the like made by their students and ex-students more easily.

MINOBEE Politicians, negotiators and diplomats; rivals of House Chanicut Medium sized house Colours : Blue and Green House Look : Royal blue hair, bright green eyes and pale grey skin Head : Duke Avram at the time of 'Comes in the End Despondency and Madness'; Lady Sorenica in 'Dining on Ashes'. Heir : Lady Evanjala at the time of 'Comes in the End Despondency and Madness'; Lady Galendrissil in 'Dining on Ashes'. Attitude Before Patternfall : Anti-Amber/Isolationist Some members of this House have the Spirit/Power Moulding part of Advanced Shapeshifting, as this is useful in negotiations, and also in Mimicking people to learn about them.

SAWALL Specialists in Magic, demonology and un-living item creation*. At odds with Jesby. At odds with the living item creating Caryx. Known to explore through shadow for things of interest. Medium sized house Colours : Black and blue House Look : Pale skinned, black hair and blue eyes Head : Duke Gramble Heir : Lord Mandor (who does not abide by the House Look) Notables : Lord Despil, Lord Jurt Attitude Before Patternfall : Anti-Amber The entrance to SawallWays lies through the Maze of Art; all of the below is from 'Prince of Chaos': "And so I came, again, into the Ways of Sawall. I had emerged from the red and yellow starburst design painted high upon the gateside wall of the front courtyard, descended the Invisible Stair, and peered for long moments down into the great central pit, with its view of black turbulence beyond the Rim. A falling star burned its way down the purple sky as I turned away, headed for the copper-chased door and the low Maze of Art beyond it. "Within, I recalled the many times I had been lost in that maze as a child. The House of Sawall had been a serious collector of art for ages, and the collection was so vast that there were several ways into which one was cast into the maze itself, leading one through tunnels, a huge spiral, and what seemed an old train station before being shunted back to miss the next turn. I had been lost in it for days on one occasion, and was finally found crying before an assemblage of blue shoes nailed to a board. I walked it now, slowly, looking at old monstrosities, and some newer ones. There were also strikingly lovely pieces mixed in, such as the huge vase that looked as if it had been carved from a single fire opal, and a set of odd enamelled tablets from a distant shadow whose meaning and function no-one in the family could be found to recall. I had to stop and see both again, rather than shortcutting the gallery, the tablets being a particular favourite of mine." "I delivered us into an eerie hall that had always been old Sawall's chief delight in the maze. It was a sculpture garden, with no outside light sources and small base lighting only about the huge pieces, making it several times darker than my favourite lounge. The floor was uneven - concave, convex, stepped, ridged - with concavity being the dominant curve. It was difficult to guess at its dimensions, for it seemed of different size and contour depending upon where one stood. Gramble, Lord Sawall, had caused it to be constructed without any plane surfaces - and I believe the job involved some unique shadowmastery. "I stood beside what appeared to be a complicated rigging in the absence of a ship - that, or an elaborate musical instrument fit to be strummed by Titans - and the light turned the lines to silver, running like life from darkness to darkness within some half-seen frame. Other pieces jutted from walls and hung like stalactites. As I strolled, what had seemed walls became floor to me. The pieces that had seemed floored now jutted or depended. The room changed shape as I went, and a breeze blew through it, causing sighs, hums, buzzes, chimes." Space itself is folded there, making the hall much larger than it seems; one can wander through many times and see different displays each time; there may even be some internal movement too. "Two turns later I came to a way to the main hall and decided I'd better take it. I popped through beside the massive fireplace - high flames braiding themselves within it - and turned slowly to survey the huge chamber, trying to seem as if I had been there a long while, waiting." ... There is a great staircase to one side of the fireplace, and a rose and green and gold-flecked pillar of ways set in a mirrored alcove across the room. One of the ways from it, accessed in an anticlockwise direction, is a beach of pure white sand in a luminous crystal grotto by the black water of an underground sea, with a domed ribbed interior, which has its own storms, and which is sailed by black-sailed ships. They keep records on everyone who they train in magic, which allows their magical signature to be recognised later, if necessary.

SWAYVIL The Royal House. Only some of them know the location of the Logrus and have control of it via Suhey Swayvil, the Master of the Logrus. This is why they are the Royal House. Assaying the Logrus is a privilege granted by the Crown to individuals, it is not a right. They discovered the Logrus and despite their best efforts, no other house has ever discovered it location. They know more of its secrets than any other house, even Helgram (perhaps the secrets of Logrus ghosts?). Colours : Black, gold and purple House Look : Black hair and gold or purple eyes. Head : King Swayvil; at the time of 'Comes in the End Despondency and Madness' he was only a couple of thousand Turnings old (about 3). His father, the last King (who was of Swayvil) was dead, killed in a duel with Chinaway Hendrake; his mother, Princess Alaria of Helgram, was regent; she was pro-Amber and aware of the negotiations going on with Amber. Because there was a weak regency the throne was weak and houses were fighting and scheming among themselves much more than would with a strong throne. By the time of 'Dining on Ashes' King Swayvil has grown into a strong and capable ruler with something of an eye for the ladies. In human form he is young, tall, slender, handsome and charismatic with glossy black hair, royal purple eyes and faintly golden skin, dressed in deep purple clothes with ornate black and gold embroidered decoration. His demon form is a majestic armoured angel with a flaming sword and vast metallic-feathered wings, in gold with purple and black decoration. His avatar form is a fire elemental. Heir : Currently none Theoretically, the King is an absolute ruler. In reality he can only govern with the support of at least most of his nobles. Notables : Lord Suhey, the Master of the Logrus; he is neutral on the Amber question. In human form he is a white-haired old man, somewhat stooped, who sometimes walks with the aid of a staff. He wears caftans in a variety of colours, particularly yellows and golds. His demon form is large and stooped with grey and red coloration, horned and half-scaled, with elliptically-pupilled eyes and large fangs. His avatar form appears to be of black lightning, almost as if it were an elemental made of the Logrus itself... He has a vast book in which the details of everyone who has assayed the Logrus is recorded, including their specific Logrus signature, upon which he can be consulted. Attitude Before Patternfall : Uncontrolled

• All houses have some skill in these areas, but these houses are pre-eminent in that field.

All houses are anti-Oberon, but opinions vary on how to deal with him. The redheads having trapped him has increased their support. Some do not object to having help to do him in (a 'plot with the redheads' faction). Others think they can do him in on their own. Some are isolationist, and want to leave things as they are. Some are neutral, divided between those who don't care and those who want to 'wait and see'.

All houses keep track of their own genealogy and heraldic status, though House Barraban also know a great deal about these matters.

It is possible for a person to move from one house to another with sufficient justification; the precise nature of this justification varies from house to house and case to case, but can include marriage (these are often arranged) and defection...

MINOR HOUSES OF CHAOS There are minor houses in Chaos too, still noble, but which generally do not excel at anything and which are usually allied with one of the major houses. A few of the minor houses excel at certain things which the major houses want or need (e.g. brewing or distilling). However, there are some houses which are classified as minor though they are as large as any of the major houses, which excel at trade and other 'common' things. This is a bone of contention... Thus Major House status is a very subjective thing.

AMBLERASH

FORTUN

KANE

KATHARN

KEMPIS

LANDOR - Entertainers and circus people. The entrance to their ways is a black gothic helter-skelter in a walled patch of ground on the outskirts of the Citadel of Chaos. In sliding down the helter-skelter on a coconut mat, one passes through a shadow veil halfway down, and enters the ways proper. They are known to have performing Fire Angels.

LORCA

MAHAN

MALEBRANCHE

MORDAU - Whose colours are lavender and blue. Members of this House are possessors of the Poison Kiss. [A power costing 5 points, this is the ability to secrete a powerful poison from the lips which gets into the target via the skin. This takes minimal effort, and has the effect of a nearly instant Cardiac Arrest spell with a slightly greater effect (that is, slightly greater Endurance needed to resist it).]

SEPHARIS - A house of dedicated and highly specialised angelic warriors.

STILLINGFLEET

THRYSAN

ULPIAN