House Maa-Talia

Defence 26
Status 52
Land 30
Pop 32
Power 17
Wealth 79

As an ancient house, the origins of Maa-Talia are clouded in legend. Formed in the North Coast, allegedly in the times before the nomadic tribes still roamed the land. The tribes varied in culture and attitude, but some were extremely dangerous because they were steeped in raiding practices and traditions. Thus early settlers in the North Coast had an abundance of resources, but until the tribes were eliminated, constantly lived in danger of these raiders. It's believed the story of Maa-Talia began with a family of traders who traveled throughout the North Coast by caravan and riverboat transporting goods from one settlement to another or to the ports quickly establishing themselves on the coast. One evening in the wilderness between settlements, their caravan was attacked by a raiding tribe. The father was killed and the mother and daughter were raped, but survived. The mother and daughter were found by travelers and taken to a near by settlement where they recovered, but it became apparent that the daughter was pregnant. Determined to support her daughter, the mother re-established the family business from its remnants. Nine months later, the daughter died during child birth, but the child survived. Devastated and initially resentful of the child for the death of her daughter, but bound by her daughter's dying wish, the mother brought up the child. Very quickly, her initial emotional response to the child was replaced by love as she was so much like her daughter in many ways and even herself. But it also became obvious this child was special. She learned so fast, was strong and athletic, smart and incredibly charismatic. The child's name was Talia. By the time she was a teenager she had taken over as the head of the family business. By the time she was 20, the business was the richest in the North Coast and they had begun establishing land ownership and building strongholds to protect their interests.

A time came when her grandmother advised her that she needed to consider an heir to their growing trading empire. There were many suitors, but they were all more interested in establishing themselves as the head of this new growing power house. Her grandmother had been honest with Talia about her parents during her childhood, which gave her an idea. One day, she left the leadership of the house with her grandmother and said she was taking a personal journey into the northern wilds. She was gone for months and there were fears that she would not return, but she did and when she returned she was pregnant. When asked about the father, she only ever said she had found a tribesman who suited her tastes. She gave birth to a healthy daughter, who grew-up under the tutelage of her great-grandmother and Talia together and eventually undertook a similar journey. When Talia's grand-daughter was born, Talia retired and gave leadership of the house to her daughter. This tradition continued for a surprising number of generations but obviously could not continue forever. However, it rooted the custom of a matriarchal lineage within the house, which is still adhered to today.

Over the centuries, House Maa-Talia became so wealthy that they expanded their control into the Crown Lands of Scymira where they quickly grew in status and political influence throughout the kingdom to match the prestige of their wealthy trading empire.

Defense -15 + 30 = 15
Status +15 + 30 = 45
Land +15 + 10 = 25
Pop -10 + 25 = 15
Power -10 + 15 = 5
Wealth +20 + 40 = 60

(30+30+10+25+15+40 = 150)

After building their status for years, the upcoming heir of Maa-Talia seduces the King to bring back a child to House Maa-Talia. Upon the child's birth, the mother becomes head of the house. Knowing Maa-Talia now has royal blood in their line, the King raises Maa-Talia to a noble house.

Defence 15
Status 45 +1 = 46
Land 25
Pop 15
Power 5 +1 = 6
Wealth 60 +3 = 63

???

Defence 15
Status 46 +1 = 47
Land 25
Pop 15 +4 = 19
Power 6 +2 = 8
Wealth 63

Maa-Talia tries to claim the throne because of their lineage to the King from Event 1, but when magic is used to reveal the true history of their bloodline, it's revealed that the line of Maa-Talia does not have blood from the King. Maa-Talia's status at this point to too high to remove them as a noble house, but they do not ascend to the throne and lose status among the kingdom and a royal legion is taken away from them.

Defence 15
Status 47 -3 = 44
Land 25
Pop 19
Power 8 -3 = 5
Wealth 63

At this point in history, Maa-Talia's trade empire runs around the entire coast of Scymira with a monopoly on seafaring and trade. However, the Kraken pirates suddenly come onto the scene with their new technology, Thunder Weapons. When Kraken first discovers the Thunder weapons and uses them it was devastating against all houses. No one knew how they worked or their limitations (e.g. only one shot per battle etc), so everyone was terrified of Kraken. They quickly established control over the south-eastern seas with their home on Stormwrack. During the war, Maa-Talia builds a secret outpost on Stormwrack from which the sent spies to learn the secrets of the Thunder weapons (how it works and the limitations). Kraken finds out and the outpost is massacred in retaliation, but one Maa-Talia boat escapes with the secret, which they spreads throughout the kingdom. Knowing the limitations makes it so people are willing to fight because they Kraken's Thunder weapons are not invincible, but it doesn't undermine the Thunder weapons themselves, they're still very good. Using the Thunder, Kraken maintains control of the eastern sea and shores of Scymira, but Maa-Talia is able to hold the western shores after developing strategies that minimized the advantages of the Thunder based on the limitations that they learned and with help from their allies. Overall, losing all their eastern trade routes and a lot of their fleet is a huge blow.

Defence 15
Status 44
Land 25 -3 = 22
Pop 19
Power 5 -3 = 2
Wealth 63

Currently being detailed.
Suggestion: Something like the Black Plague. Before the outbreak, Maa-Talia transports some commodity from Bodaway to Sharva. Disease from Bodaway spreads to Maa-Talia, but Sharva shuts border before it spreads to them, leading to a culture of isolation.

Defence 15
Status 44
Land 22
Pop 19 -3 = 16
Power 2
Wealth 63 -3 = 60

With the help of Tamer's military power, House Maa-Talia establishes an eastern trade route through the Kraken blockade into the headlands. Allowing for Tamer to open trade with the west again.

Defence 15
Status 44 +1 = 45
Land 22
Pop 16
Power 2 +4 = 6
Wealth 60 +6 = 66

???

Defence 15 +5 = 20
Status 45
Land 22
Pop 16 +5 = 21
Power 6
Wealth 66 +6 = 72

Forged a trade route across land to the Blight to form trade deal with Revelos, but Argyria disease lead to the abandonment of the route and souring of relations with Revelos.

The origin of the disease is a mystery to the houses (maybe it came from the north??) but both houses blame each other for the outbreak.

This disease has the ability to turn the victims blue and cause organ failure. The survivors may still carry the pigment of dull blue skin, and are considered to be mildly cursed, as it is posible for the blue skin to be passed down to children. These people are called Argyrians.

In Revelos, they are treated as if they are of another ethnicity. King Typhos' grandfather was the one who declares that Argyrians are to no longer be treated as outcasts. However, the non-Argyrians have the right to not allow their children to marry the Blue-Skins (see House Revelos History for more details here).

In Maa-Talia, it is prestigious for women to go out into the world to seduce men from other lands and come back pregnant. I'm imagining that their child-rearing culture will be very communal, so there is less risk associated with being a single parent compared to societies that raise children in pairs. This opens the possiblity to very initimate relations when the trading route was first established that helped the disease spread much worse. Once the outbreak was apparent, Maa-Talia temporarily stopped ALL trade until the outbreak was over, which prevented the spread south. However, they never re-openned trade with Revelos because they feared Revelos was the cause of the disease. Argyrians were initially shunned for fear the blue skin meant they were still contagious. But once the blue skin started to pass down to the next generation and it was obviously not contagious anymore, it actually became a sign of prestige because it indicated their relatives ventured out into the world and were survivors, valued traits with Maa-Talia. This is a bit of a misconception because the disease spread at home too, but that's the nature of myths/legends. However, blue skinned outsiders (non Maa-Talia Argyrians) are treated with suspicion for fear they are bringing the disease again. Only public knowledge maintains the dichotomy between prestige versus prejudice. In general people are cautious around blue skinned people until they know their family history, but it is not uncommon for misunderstandings. High ranking members of the house who have blue skin are well known publically from birth and immediately recognized usually.

Defence 20
Status 45
Land 22
Pop 21 -3 = 18
Power 6
Wealth 72 -3 = 69

???

Defence 20
Status 45 +1 = 46
Land 22
Pop 18 +2 = 20
Power 6 +1 = 7
Wealth 69

Deal with Fugue to bring down NPC mining house for the secret of Etherite.

Chal:
I like your idea of my high status, representing access to information/leverage, in return for discounted etherite. I need to come up with an idea why Maa-Talia would want it. Just to make a profit is okay, that's definitely a theme of Maa-Talia, but sort of boring too. Maybe Maa-Talia have discovered that etherite helps a user see/predict weather patterns during the drug-induced experience, so they can way find along their trade routes better. I guess that's a bit like The Guild and Spice in Dune, but might be cool. Leaves a ton of hooks for later too. Maybe its addictive, so all the navigators get dependent. Or long-term exposure leads to weird side effects later. Maybe its purely recreational and Maa-Talia gets the high societies in the Crown Lands hooked. Any thoughts or input?

I was reading over Revelos's thread and it looks like they might already have ideas about what their Scandal means, so you might need to come up with someone else in your plot. You could suggest an NPC House to Falconloft. I'll let you work that out with RoAries, Falconloft or whoever. Regardless who it is, Maa-Talia probably has leverage over them politically and so helped orchestrate the plot with you in return for the etherite.

Saevikas:
One of the ideas I had for the etherite was that, in proper mixtures, it becomes a steroid of sorts. I like the weather predicting capability, it's more interesting than what I had in mind at first. How about we just ramp that up to actually controlling the weather? That way, etherite is more than a really nice looking bath salt, and all the houses might be interested in it, at least if they knew about it.

As for the scandal, probably need to make up an NPC house, perhaps one that's already disbanded as a result of our efforts.

Chal:
The importance of weather control can generalize to other houses too for things like agriculture or maybe even to use as a weapon or blockade/seige tactic. But i still like the idea of the method of use being bath salts or vapourized in saunas to trigger psychdelic trips and surreal out of body experiences. Turns out the users minds are temporarily becoming elements of the weather. So if done right the user can actually control the weather. This is not generally known, so it's pretty much used as a recreational drug for the rich, but Fugue has discovered what's really going on. Fugue is not offering Maa-Talia a discount on etherite, but the secret of what's actually happening during an etherite trip and how to use it. Long-term side effects like addiction, strange symptoms, etc. provide even more hooks. They can be revealed later in the game as interesting twists for any houses that start using etherite heavily ... Maa-Talia certainly will.

I definitely like the idea that our plot takes down another house. Offers hooks for revenge against either of us in the future. I think the house is a major industrial power that offers a serious threat to your operation. Maybe they are a major mining house and already control the market for other gems/metals, so if they were to get into etherite they'd have the potential to out compete you. But our plot destroys them, leaving Fugue with the monopoly on etherite for the near future. Just a thought, totally up to you.

After magic discussions:
Thanks bowlofspinach, that's helpful input! I was definitely trying to think of ways to make it more realistic/explainable (science-y) to reduce the level of magic, but that would have obviously had the opposite effect for you (I'm a scientist, so the more science-y something is, the less magical for me). So I'll try to be more mysterious. Also, definitely NOT thinking of it as a manufactured drug. I think it's more like the salt/gem/gold industry in the middle ages, not like big pharma. And the experience I'm imagining is more like Ayahuasca. Very druid/shaman like experience, except a bath instead of tea. Maybe we should refer to it as a concoction/potion instead of a drug to make it more medieval fantasy.

So here's some changes based on feedback (including saevikas's recent post back in the thread):
1) Not everyone is capable of using the etherite in this way. It is a very practiced skill.
2) It requires a master/guide, like a shaman/druid, who guides the ritual/ceremony/experience.
3) It takes a lot of time (multiple days of soaking in the concoction).
4) Effects are relatively contained to one element of the weather and local.
5) Call it a concoction/tincture/tonic instead of drug.
6) There will definitely be side effects that limit use, but those can be explored in game as interesting surprises as we play maybe?

saevikas:
Although I'll disagree with drugs being high magic, since historically, drugs were used in magic, I think these limitations are fair. As for the concoction's name, how about calling the dissolved form of etherite, ether. Although it's not really ether in the philosophical sense, in that it's mostly pretty salt water unless mixed with the correct recipe.

I also would state that only higher ups in House Fugue and, as of recently, House Maa-talia would know about these properties and the process to induce them, although others may suspect, such as the house we destroyed together.

Falcon:
Etherite is probably related to runic magic somehow, if you need to connect it to a magic type. People who use without scribing a rune are just going to get a nice experience. Taking some of it and scribing a rune probably makes the rune stronger or something like that.

Saevikas:
What I was thinking with the ritual was that the bath itself would be dug out in the shape of a giant rune. Not only would it take a lot of resources, it'll take a lot of time to actually set up the specific rune for the task.

Defence 20
Status 46 +4 = 50
Land 22
Pop 20
Power 7 +4 = 11
Wealth 69 +2 = 71

Defence 20
Status 50
Land 22
Pop 20
Power 11
Wealth 71

Massive Trading Empire

Many well established sea routes

Matriarchical

Concept of "incest" is much broader than current "western" culture. Expands to neighborhoods and communities. In fact, bringing home a child from a foreign culture, house, or region is considered very prestigious.

Blue skin, originating from the Argyrian Strain, is prestigious. A sign of prestige because it indicated their relatives ventured out into the world and were survivors, valued traits within Maa-Talia.

Pursuit of profit, prestige, status and wealth are important values.