Overview Dossier
Classification The Ten Aristocratic Patrician Dynasties of Ptolus Seat of Power The Palaces and Fortified Estates of the Nobles’ Quarter Governing Body The Council of Coin (Senior commissioners, merchant lords, and house patriarchs) Origins Ancient imperial charters granted during the golden age of the Western Empire and the Praemal settlement epochs Influence Banking, private navies, dragon rookeries, arcane research, high courts, guild cartels, and underworld proxies
👑 Overview: The Ten Dynasties of Ptolus
The Ten Noble Houses of Ptolus represent the pinnacle of political prestige, dynastic wealth, and cultural authority in the city. Granted hereditary estates and judicial privileges centuries ago by imperial decrees from the Western Empire, these houses have weathered barbarian sieges, the Ghul Wars, and the recent fracturing of the imperial crown in the Three-way Civil War.
While the common citizens of Midtown and the Warrens live day-to-day on trade or dungeon salvage, the Noble Houses inhabit a rarefied world of manicured cliffside estates, marble galas, and private armies. Each house possesses a distinct cultural heritage, commercial empire, and metaphysical specialty:
┌───────────────────────────────────┐
│ The Ten Noble Houses of Ptolus │
└─────────────────┬─────────────────┘
│
┌───────────────────┬────────────────┼───────────────────┬───────────────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌───────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
│ House Dallimothan│ │ House Vladaam │ │House Sadar│ │ House Abanar │ │ House Kath │
│ • Dragon-Lords │ │ • Fiend-Blooded │ │• Shadows │ │ • Banking & Coin│ │ • Fine Arts & │
│ • Kirstol │ │ • Iristul │ │• Renn │ │ • Dered │ │ High Society │
└─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └───────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌───────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
│ House Khatru │ │ House Erthuo │ │ House Rau │ │ House Shever │ │ House Nagel │
│ • Chivalric War │ │ • Elven Scholars│ │• Maritime │ │ • Machinists & │ │ • Impoverished │
│ • Dorant │ │ • Peliope │ │• Martha │ │ Foundries │ │ Fallen Saints │
└─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └───────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘
🏛️ Directory of the Ten Houses
1. House Dallimothan (The House of the Dragon)
- Patriarch: Lord Kirstol Dallimothan
- Domain & Specialty: Draconic chivalry, aerial dragon-drake cavalry, eastern bluffs citadel. Staunch allies of secular law and Commissar Igor Urnst.
2. House Vladaam (The House of Wickedness)
- Patriarch: Lord Iristul Vladaam (Absent on dark pilgrimage; estate managed by Navrus Vladaam, Alisanna Vladaam, and Godrick Vladaam).
- Domain & Specialty: Ancient tiefling nobility, dark alchemy, forbidden relics, assassins, and a bitter generational feud against House Nagel.
3. House Sadar (The House of Shadows)
- Patriarch: Lord Renn Sadar
- Domain & Specialty: Shadow magic, umbral conduits, volcanic basalt palace beneath the Spire. Allied with the Inverted Pyramid; estranged from Lady Rael of Castle Shard.
4. House Abanar (The House of Coin)
- Patriarch: Lord Dered Abanar
- Domain & Specialty: Banking, mortgages, currency exchange, the Abanar Exchange, dominant bloc on the Council of Coin.
5. House Kath (The House of the Muses)
- Matriarch: Lady Devina Kath
- Domain & Specialty: High-society galas, opera houses, fine arts, patron of playwrights, wielders of social blackmail.
6. House Khatru (The House of the Sword)
- Patriarch: Lord Dorant Khatru
- Domain & Specialty: Traditional martial tournament champion, heavy cavalry armories, unyielding military honor.
7. House Erthuo (The House of Lore)
- Matriarch: Lady Peliope Erthuo & Scholar Alistair Erthuo
- Domain & Specialty: Elven ancient antiquities, historical excavation sponsorship, deep libraries, and historical artifact translation.
8. House Rau (The House of the Sea)
- Matriarch: Lady Martha Rau
- Domain & Specialty: Merchant fleets, maritime commerce across the Bay of Ptolus, harbor warehouses, naval privateers.
9. House Shever (The House of Machinists)
- Patriarch: Lord Thollos Shever
- Domain & Specialty: Industrial foundries, clockwork mechanics, technomancy, close industrial ties with the Shuul.
10. House Nagel (The House of Fallen Grace)
- Matriarch: Lady Fransin Nagel
- Domain & Specialty: Impoverished, noble house with celestial aasimar ancestry; stripped of wealth but fiercely honorable, defending the poor of Ptolus.
🧭 Story Hooks for Adventurers
- The Great Council Gala: The Council of Coin hosts an annual grand summit in the Nobles’ Quarter. The party is hired as covert bodyguards by Lord Kirstol Dallimothan to prevent an anticipated assassination attempt orchestrated by House Vladaam.
- The Inter-House Excavation Race: When a new vault entrance beneath the Banewarrens is discovered, House Abanar, House Erthuo, and House Sadar each hire rival adventuring companies to retrieve the primary artifact before the others.
- The Disputed Succession: An ancient will discovered in an imperial catacomb reveals that an impoverished orphan in the Warrens is the true legal heir to a massive estate claimed by House Rau, triggering a desperate race to keep the heir alive against hitmen.