bumping out of desperation

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House Plutarch
Manufacturers and merchants. If setting=fantasy, they're closely allied with the dwarves under the mountains, and trade surface food for dwarven mined and manufactured goods, and the elves hate them for their enthusiastic lumbering and coal-smoke shrouded towns. If not fantasy, they've just got lots of mines and craftsmen. Members of the noble family favor fur coats and heavy jewelry (less "delicate filigree" and more "I can crush you with my wealth in many ways, of which punching you in the mouth with a fistfull of rings is possibly the most satisfying.")

Neutral, but fiercely loyal to their own people (including craftsmen, miners, merchants, etc) and known for keeping their word and fulfilling contracts to the letter.

Their home castle is up in the mountains, but they're unusual in establishing fortified trading posts in other people's lands (with permission, and subject to local tax.) They're almost more of a family-run corporation than a noble house.

>>23189302
THANK YOU

The dwarf thing works extra-good because Vattas is right near the mountains.

>>23189400

Ah, good, you're still here! Give me a moment, I'll think of another. Any more info on the location? Sea coast, huge forest, plains?

>>23189436
Vattas is on the north coast of the Northlands. It's temperate, but the winters are bitterly cold. There's a massive mountain range to the east, where the dwarves live. It's mostly boreal forest, otherwise.

To give some more context, the province has remained separatist for the last two thousand years (back when bronze was new and exciting) because the main nation, Palhast, was taken over by a theocracy (healing goddess, Christ-like martyr figure). Vattas is reluctantly dependent on the main country, Palhast, for food and other goods, but keeps them at arm's length.

House Desarde: Comparitively small, but the lands they hold are valuable ones as they contain several major waterways and roads. As such they are influential in trade and transportation (though not major traders themselves), are paid taxes by inns and trading posts on their lands, and also make money through collecting tolls from caravans and travellers. The tolls are nominally there to pay for soldiers who safeguard the roads and rivers against banditry and raiding; despite this role, the soldiers are effectively liveried men-at-arms of Desarde and owe first loyalty to them.

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House Usher

It would be childish to call House Usher "evil." Certainly, the Dreadwood that encompasses much of their lands is spooky, and contains some dangerous monsters. Granted, their colors are black and red, and their heraldry depicts a black wolf with red eyes. And, true, every few centuries their ancestor, the Duke of Dread, rises from his tomb to collect a tax of blood and bone from all the living and must be put down by a descendent of the hero who first defeated him (houses LeMay and Plutarch both trace their lineage to that hero, having married his descendents after previous successful vanquishings.) And, fair enough, their manor house is black and covered in spikes and terrifying gargoyles, and contains a library of black magic.

But really, the current members of the house are no more likely to be evil than any other noble. After all, what great house doesn't have at least one murderous bastard in the family tree somewhere? That how nobles are made. Members of house Usher tend to be scholarly, practical people, honorable, hospitable, and charitable. And almost none are werewolves.

Baron Gerald Usher is old, and in poor health. A huge man, even in his decline, his great grey-and-black beard covers his broad chest. He does not travel. He can be found in the den of the manor-house, in his great chair before the fire, a fur blanket thrown over him, drinking brandy and slipping in and out of consciousness, talking to the ghosts of his past.

The business of the barony is handled by his children. Adahn, his son, is a friendly, highly intelligent young scholar. He can name all the herbs, birds, and beasts in the Dreadwood, and might know more than any man alive about the old gods and holy sites from before the rise of the healing goddess. Vanna, his sister, is cunning and beautiful. With rubies at her throat and in her dark hair, she has a taste for intrigue and the pleasures of the flesh.

Ok, OP, so you've got:

>House LeMay, with the diplomatic connections
>House Plutarch, with the money and manufacturing
>House Desard, with the men-at-arms and roads
>House Usher, with the secret lore ("we don't have many soldiers to send, but if you like we can wake up evil undead grandpa and his legion of the damned and send them to the war.")

That should be enough for some fun diplomatic shenanigans!

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>>23189879
Yes it is, thank you so much everyone. Now I just need to name the major players and I'll be all set for tomorrow's game. You're the best, /tg/

Vattasian Mercenary Guild: a guild providing legitimacy to numerous bands of sell-swords, the most notable of which are the Greendrakes, the Southern Strongarms, and Faren's Free Company, each numbering about a thousand fighters.

Noble houses hire mercenaries to bulk up their forces at short notice, however their loyalty can be suspect. They will quickly abandon a failing campaign and are sometimes simply bought off. This is commonplace and has become an expected fact of life with hired mercenaries; the Southern Strongarms being regarded as unusual for strictly honouring a contract to the last.

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>>23189793

>>23189914
Definitely adding this one in. Given that there's a war going on, getting the Vattas Mercenary Guild on Palhast's side would be very important.

>>23189753
>>23189887

Gerun Desarde is the head of his house, but at only 17 years old he hasn't yet reached his majority. He is intelligent but inexperienced and given to impulsive acts.

His uncle Habold Desarde is his guardian and handles the day to day buisness in Gerun's name, while educating his nephew in the finer points of politics and rule. There are rumours, so far unsubstantiated, of Habold's involvement in financial irregularities.

Narillis Desarde is Gerun's 18yr old sister. Sharp and aloof, she resents the custom of male inhereitance and that a noble daughter's main role is to marry into another family as part of an alliance or deal.

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>>23189302
>>23189887

House Plutarch is governed by Polonius Plutarch and his wife, Saralinda. After nearly three decades of marriage, they are still in love, to an almost embarrassing degree. He is short, broad, and bearded, often mocked as the "half-dwarf." She is a tall, graceful, tan-skinned southern beauty, found by Polonius during the adventurous merchant travels of his youth, and married against the will of his parents. They work together in negotiations, one enthusiastic and the other doubtful, a formidable bargaining pair.

They have a dozen surviving children, testament to their, ahem, affection for each other.

The eldest is Petrus Plutarch, son and heir. Slender as his mother and short as his father, he is not an imposing figure, but he is clever, determined, and quick with words. He wishes to court Narillis Desarde, to complete the marriage alliance his father broke by marrying for love, strengthening his family by gaining cheap access to routes for their merchants and soldiers for their security. He views marriage-alliance as a noble's duty, something to be done for the safety and prosperity of the commoners under his protection. Although he writes a good poem.

The rest of his siblings are sisters. Eleven of them, some spoiled, some kind, some twins, some tomboys, some children, some womanly. A rather intimidating pack. The eldest, the twins Sara and Linda, are the most likely to be plot-relevant.

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And finally, relationships!

The younger generation of nobles all know each other. They're the only peer group they've got, after all.

Petrus Plutarch, heir of that house, is close friends with Adahn Usher. Petrus wishes to marry Narillis Desarde; Narillis mostly just wants more control in her own house. Narillis is friends with the Plutarch twins, and somewhat less friendly with Vanna Usher, who she regards as a bit of a cruel slut. Vanna lusts after Petrus, gleefully and possessively. And Adahn is pursued by half of Petrus's sisters (the other half prefer Matthias LeMay, who prefers the twins Sara and Linda, who are a year older than him and would happily share him except that he can't marry them both.) Adahn, sadly, is in love with Sayla Torem. Sayla is in love with being a guard captain.

There! Close enough to the setup of a Shakespear comedy.

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Man writers block sucks. Lets turn this in to an inspiration thread.

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>>23190692
op here, I endorse this course of action

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When was the last time you had a giant sea creature attack your players?

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A girl and her dragon?

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Include this

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Not OP, but I'm saving this thread. This setting seems damn cool, and I almost want to run a murder mystery in it.

House von Wittlesbach

Far from the most powerful family in the region, the family derives their name from their sole holding: Castle Wittlesbach. The head of the family, Baron Otto, is a brilliant strategist, having used his meager forces and the terrain to hold off the advances of political rivals in the region. He hopes to use the current chaos to enlarge his demesne.

Otto has three children. The oldest, Gretchen, age twenty-three, is by far the most intelligent. She views herself as the rightful heir of her father, and resents the agnatic-cognatic succession. Next is Johan, age ninetteen, Otto's second born son (the true first born son was a sickly infant and died two weeks after birth). Johan is well meaning, but ultimately disinterested in politics. He would much rather spend his days in nearby towns enjoying the "flowers", a not-so-clever euphemism for pretty girls. Johan would not contest his older sister inheriting their father's titles. Finally there is Oskar, age ten. Oskar is a legitimized bastard, which has earned him the enmity of Otto's wife. Even at his age, he has already shown himself to be just as martially inclined as his father. Although Oskar currently has no ambitions to seize the inheritance, proudly saying that he plans to serve as his brother's marshal, this may change with age.

>>23190080
>but at only 17 years old he hasn't yet reached his majority.

For a medieval setting, wouldn't the age of majority be 15 or 16?

>>23190850

For a second I thought I knew this place, then I realized most of the trees are not Evergreens.

House Mekkich

Krakus Mekkich (36) may not have a noble lineage or land, but he is a man with ambitions. A foreigner, he came to this land over a decade ago, and has built himself a respectable mercantile empire. He deals in goods from far away lands, but, perhaps more notable is that he owns more than half of all the taverns and whorehouses in the region. His veritable stranglehold on medieval entertainment has allowed him wealth and influence well beyond his birth. The man is cunning and ruthless, but he takes pains to protect his reputation, and has opened more than one orphanage in an attempt to win hearts and minds. He is currently unmarried; he hopes to elevate his status through an opportune marriage.

House Louse

House Louse once possessed wit and strength. Charles the Conqueror, Renault the Bold, William the Wise, Katja the Kind. Their pedigree is without match, but that was all a long time ago. Now led by Marquis Donatien VII, the family is a pale imitation of its former glory. Now the family is known for its decadence. Large feasts, lavish balls, and deviant activities are the norm in their court. What happens outside their castle walls is not a concern to the Marquis, or to any of his fifteen children (only four are legitimate).

Alphonse, Donatien's oldest son and heir, is a cruel man who enjoys having his servants engage in bizarre tasks for his own amusement. The peasants accuse him of demon worship.

Francois, the second son, likes to call himself a poet. However, his drunken scrawls are far more likely to offend than impress.

Charen, the oldest daughter, is perhaps the best of the bunch. She possesses a bone disorder which keeps her bedridden. She is kind and pious, but her influence only extends as far as the servants under her command.

Gaspard, the youngest of Donatien's legitimate children, is a writer like his older brother. Though just as perverse, he possesses the intellect to nevertheless produce meaningful literature. In addition to being a prolific writer, he is also an avid patron of sculpture and painting.

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