House Nellens

The Dragons of the Blood Resurgent

The senator Nellens was a fiery advocate, a rare mortal allowed into the Upper Chamber of the Deliberative. Many expected he would be censured by the Empress for speaking out against his betters, the Dragon-Blooded senators he ought to bow to. Instead, the Empress took him as her lover. Centuries after he died, she founded a House in his honor – an insult to the rest of the Dynasty that the other Houses have never forgotten.

House Nellens fights every day to survive. The only House in the Realm’s history to be raised in honor of a mortal, it has struggled for the past two centuries to earn the respect due to its station. Nellens has taken every chance it can get to advance. Their worldview is summarized in a proverb they quote: “If a woman is your enemy, you just haven’t found the right leverage.”

Why Play a Nellens?

House Nellens is all about the struggles of identity. They straddle two worlds, the patriciate and the Dynasty, and are fully accepted by neither. Play a Nellens if you want to be clever and mercantile; if you want to be scrappy and ambitious; or if you want to have a unique relationship to parts of the country the rest of the Dynasty often overlook.

Nellens Culture

Nellens children grow up being called mongrel, thin-blooded, and fraud. Every Nellens is quick, but above all they are scrappy. The House is very diverse, valuing whatever members it can add to its roster. They thrive on marriage contracts, never granting a marriage without careful review by the House’s leadership. Nellens is the only House to devote itself to a good relationship with the patriciate, and the House which owes the least debt to House Ragara.

What Does Your Character Know?

Nellens characters have a greater awareness of the following topics:

• You have a broad awareness of politics in the few Nellens holdings. You can name the major figures, their duties, and their allegiances.
• Your childhood involved careful study of markets and money. You know the imports and exports of all regions of the Isle, as well as the basics theory of economics and trade. You have specialist knowledge of an industry of your choice: textiles, salt trade, mining, etc.
• You grew up surrounded by peers that the other Houses overlook: the patriciate. You can name all the major patrician families, their important figures, and their allegiances. You know how to mediate between the desires of the patriciate and the needs of the Dynasty.
• You have an instinct for families and lineages. Whenever you meet a prominent figure, you know their lineage and important relatives. You have an encyclopedic knowledge of the pedigree of all Nellens’ major families.