Helgram
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Head of House: King Edward Helgram Heir: Frank (Francis), Edward's first cousin Colors: green, blue and black Words: Courage and caution in their own time. |
Helgram is now the royal house of Chaos. A moderate house, favoring a strong monarchy and a moderate central government. The first Helgram King, Staffan, was responsible for ending the Patternfall War (by surrendering, which did not please a number of Houses). While not necessarily favoring Amber, Staffan seemed to regard those who sought to destroy it as inherently dangerous people. His son Edward, the current King, appears at present to simply be carrying out his father's policies without much regard.
Helgram has had a long standing dislike/distrust of Bariman, which is reciprocated. It also has poor relations with Jasby, whom it deposed, and Minobee, with whom it has multiple differences of opinion and a constant personality conflict. Hendrake is a staunch supporter of theirs, more because the Hendrakes are generally fiercely loyal to the crown than any sort of common purpose. Sawall and Chanicutt are also more allied than not with Helgram.
Helgrams tend to be brunettes with moderately fair skin and gray-green eyes (considered a distinguishing feature of the House).
Minobee
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Head of House: Duke Tybalt Minobee Heir: Storm, Tybalt's son Colors: Black and silver-grey Words: Indomitable. |
A powerful, conservative house with a reputation for being fiery-tempered. One of the few houses to retain a substantial power base through the reigns of Vere, Uriel, and Staffan. The only such house without a reputation for trickery and deceit.
Minobee has a long standing feud with Ardas, and by extension Chanicutt with whom it disagrees on almost everything. Minobee was once staunchly allied with Jasby, but withdrew its support of that house during Uriel Jasby's reign and helped to overthrow Uriel. Its relations with Hendrake were once good, but have become quite tense since the spate of intrigues involving Rebecca Minobee, Kamil Hendrake, and Kamil's husband.
They tend to be tall and fair, with bright red hair and brown eyes.
Bariman
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Colors: Green, black and gold Head of House: Duke Ismail Heir: Samant, Ismail's son Words: |
A (mostly) conservative house, with a predilection to meddling in the arcane and inscrutibile. It was a Bariman who created Amber in the first place (though it is deeply unclear what the rest of Bariman thought of that little endeavor). They have been associated with numerous Bad Ideas in the past as well. With Barimans, it's best to check several times for loopholes and unpleasant side effects. They are strongly in favor of a weak monarchy, a weak central government, and freedom to experiment with whatever strikes their fancy.
The Barimans have on-off relations with both Minobee and Nyborg, and probably have more respect for the latter. They have a great deal of disdain for the Hlurle, whom they view as upstarts.
The typical Bariman has black hair and blue or green eyes, they tend to be a little on the short side.
Nyborg
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Colors: Black, blue, and white Head of House: Duke Wynet Nyborg Heir: It's not clear, but probably Sian, Wynet's daughter will get it. Words: The second head never sleeps. |
A ... well, no one is exactly sure, but they're damn good at it. The Nyborg have a reputation for ruthlessness, guile, and obfuscation. They were likely both behind Jasby's rise and its fall, increasing their own relative power both times. They have an on-off relation with Bariman, and no traditional long-time alliances or feuds.
Nyborgs typically have darkish skin (swarthy) with burgundy (red-brown) hair, all varieties of eye colors.
Sawall
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Colors: Blue and white Head of House: Duke Merlin Helgram Sawall Heir: Despil Sawall, Merlin's half brother Words: A serpent is more dangerous at rest. |
A moderate if slightly odd house, and the champion fence-sitters of Chaos. They favor a moderate to strong monarchy, but generally favor a weaker central government. Curiously, the current Duke is not of Sawall by birth but rather by adoption.
Sawall has good relations with Chanicutt, Hendrake, Helgram (the Duke's house by birth) and to a lesser extent Hlurle. Sawall has a longstanding general distrust of Nyborg, and more recent poor relations with Jasby, and Harnack, who takes particular affront to a scion of Amber holding the seat of a great house.
Members of this house typically have very light hair and light colored eyes, medium complexion.
Hendrake
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Colors: Red and white Head of House: Duke Trevelyan Hendrake Heir: Kamil, Treveylan's sister Words: Blood, bone, bravery. |
Loyal supporters of the crown, Hendrake is a very conservative house with a reputation for being honorable and somewhat straightforward, as well as excellent swordsman. Traditionally, the position of Lord General of Chaos has always gone to a Hendrake. The late Duke Borel was a master duelist, and undefeated until he was murdered by Prince Corwin of Amber at the end of the Patternfall war. Trevelyan, the current Duke, is Borel's eldest son.
Hendrakes tend to have light brown hair, brown or green eyes, moderate to fair complexion, and an occasional tendency to be short.
Chanicutt
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Colors: Brown and green Head of House: Duchess Rana Chanicutt Heir: Wystan, Rana's son Words: Challenges are a gift. |
Chanicutt is a moderate to liberal house, they favor strong central government with a modern monarchy. They are willing to at least keep an open mind about Amber, and so oppose those who would seek to destroy it on the grounds that they are being overly rash. They find the Minobees and their feud tiresome, and strive to weaken them mostly because Minobee does likewise to them, though they do have profound differences of opinion as well.
Chanicutt is staunchly allied with the House Ardas and has been for about as long as anyone can remember. They generally get along at least tolerably with Hendrake and Sawall and have recently been making overtures to Hlurle. Their long time enemies are primarily Minobee and Jasby, due to the long standing feud with them.
There are some Chanicutt traits, but nothing that is easily catergorized...
Hlurle
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Colors: Red, vermillion, and gold Head of House: Duchess Xanthe Hlurle Heir: Octavius, Xanthe's son Words: Multum in parvo. |
They are generally assumed to be middle of the road on most things, Hlurle wants most to earn the respect of the other Great Houses, having ascended to the status of Duchy by the graces of Uriel Jasby and Tybalt Minobee after the anihilation of the House Swayvil.
Hlurle gets along pretty well with Sawall and Chanicutt -- particularly since the marriage of Wystan Chanicutt to Alowi Hlurle -- and poorly with the extremely conservative Houses: Bariman, Hendrake, and Minobee.
Members of this house are typically distinguished by dark skin, dark hair, pale blue eyes.
Ardas
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Colors: Red, black, and gold Head of House: Duke Laurent Ardas Heir: Tomas the Duke's eldest son and heir is in a coma. If he dies, the duchy presumably passes to his brother Jarath. Words: The future, not the past. |
The most liberal house, they favor a moderate to weak monarchy and a weak central goverment. They would go so far as to ally with Amber, and are strong supporters of Staffan Helgram's prohibitions against more arcane magics. Currently, they are attempting to rebuild their house, and would like keep Jasby and push Minobee down if they could.
Ardas has an age old feud with House Minobee which has drawn in Chanicutt and Jasby over the years. Chanicutt is a traditional ally, and they get on well with Hlurle and Helgram. Hendrake and Bariman are too conservative for them.
Most members of this house tend to have blond to brown hair, variety of eyes colors, with a tendency to be small & thin.
Jasby
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Colors: Blue and gold Head of House: Aaron Jasby Heir: Probably Aaron's son Sydney, but Uriel had a grandchild who could make an awfully good case if s/he were still alive. Words: Solitude is strength. |
The most conservative and most infamous house, Uriel Jasby and his daughter Morganna were the driving force behind the alliance that destroyed House Swayvil and put Uriel on the throne. With his staunch ally, Jakov Harnack, Uriel launched Chaos into what was later known as the Patternfall war. His rule was so erratic and his policies so destructive, that a coalition most of the great houses deposed him and executed Baron Harnack. Uriel himself committed suicide while the coalition was attempting to decide his fate. His daughter was killed during the period of upheavals, allegedly by a demoness named Jasra, and his throne was given to a cousin, though apparently he does have a single living grandchild.
Most Jasbys are very bitter towards all the great houses, but Helgram seems to bear the brunt of their animosity. Certainly there are rumors that Jasby and Harnack were behind the assassination of Staffan not long after he took the throne.
The distinguishing features of this house are gold or rose-gold hair, light blue or pale green eyes, very fair, they tend to be small and have a fragile appearance.
Swayvil
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Head of House: None Heir: None Colors: Crimson, black, and gold. The King still uses these colors for state affairs. Words: From ardor to courage and back. |
The House is officially dissolved and no longer has any lands or titles though there are some in chaos who still have some Swayvil blood, it's all a long way back.
The royal house of Chaos for most of its history. Uriel Jasby systematically destroyed this house during his reign, finally awarding its holdings and titles to House Hlurle (with had previously been only a Barony).
This house was well known for producing tall handsome lords of Chaos. They tended to be fair, with black or nearly black hair and eyes that were either very dark or a purplish color.