5. Major and Minor Houses
The World of Vala’s nations is divided between hundreds of noble houses of various sizes. There are a multitude of Great Houses, and each of them has 3 minor houses (sometimes also referred to as lesser houses) in their liege. The most powerful vassal houses may themselves field armies of a few thousand and control large regions, while the smallest houses may be little more than impoverished landholders with only a few men to their name. Members of the nobility are called “highborn,” in contrast to lowborn commoners.
Players may choose to play a member of a major house, a minor house, or decide to make a commoner character. But be warned, it requires additional commitment to role-playing these characters within the system. Your starting point in the social hierarchy determines your starting wealth as well as additional traits and attributes you may get.
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Major Houses gain the Following Traits:
Starting Currency: 10 Gold
Major House Bloodline Ability. Every major house has a bloodline ability that has made them famous.
The Price of Fame (Major House.) While being Highborn eyes are always on you. . As a member of a major house your family is well known within the world of Vala. As a member of nobility you are the center of attention wherever you go, you gain a +2 to your Charisma. If you are caught committing a crime you will roll a d100 if you roll 25 or higher you will be disowned by your family. While disowned you will have a negative -4 penalty will be added to your charisma attribute, as you are labeled a black sheep of your family. To be welcomed back into your house you must pay a offering of 20 gold to them.
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Major Houses gain the Following Traits:
Starting Currency: 5 Gold
The Price of Fame (Minor House.) While being Highborn eyes are always on you. As a member of a minor house your family is well known within your nation. As a member of nobility you are the center of attention wherever you go, you gain a +1 to your Charisma. If you are caught committing a crime you will roll a d100 if you roll 50 or higher you will be disowned by your family. While disowned you will have a negative -2 penalty will be added to your charisma attribute, as you are labeled a black sheep of your family. To be welcomed back into your house you must pay a offering of 10 gold to them.
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Commoners gain the Following Traits:
1 Gold
+3 to any Attribute of your Choice.
There are several different ways in which a commoner could ascend to a Major or Minor House:
They can marry into the Major and Minor houses.
They can build their own Major or Minor house.
Major House Creation:
Must Have a Bloodline Ability unique to your House.
Must have a renown level of Legendary.
Must have 1,000 Gold to Start the Major House.
Must have all Positions filled at the Start of the Major House Creation:
Commander
Divine Slayer
Marshall
Spymaster
Sage
Successor
Minor House Creation:
Must serve a Major House.
Must have a renown level of Loved.
Must have 500 Gold to Start the Minor House.
Must have all Positions filled at the Start of the Minor House Creation:
Commander
Divine Slayer
Marshall
Spymaster
Sage
Successor
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House Ryu: House Ryu is a major house of Alexandria, being one of the first at it’s founding. House Ryu is a family of dragons that decided to break free from the traditional dragons. As they were one of the groups to start Alexandria the family is more concerned with amassing power and consolidating it within the family to do much else.
Physical Traits: Ryu are known for their opaque irises, pale skin, and dark almost pitch black hair. In their dragon forms they’re scales are pure white almost blinding and without imperfection.
Bloodline Ability: Dragon’s Eye. Also known as “God’s Eye” is the bloodlne ability of the Ryu clan. Upon activation the pupils of the Ryu is changed to a pitch black as they gain an advanced vision. As a bonus action you can activate or deactivate your Dragon’s Eye. While your Dragon’s Eye is active, you can see call around you in a 30 foot radius, and you can not be surprised while conscious. At the end of each turn you have your Dragon’s Claw active, you must spend 5 mana. You must activate your Dragon’s Eye to activate the following abilities:
Search. When you take the search action while your Dragon’s Eye is active, you may also attempt a DC 13 Perception check to locate living creatures and magical effects within 60 feet. You see a faint outline around the detected mana source and what type of mana the magical effect was created from, or one that the creature can use if any, can be discerned by you. This effect can penetrate most barriers, but is blocked by 20 feet of stone, 10 feet of metal, or 40 feet of wood or dirt.
Focused. As a bonus action for an additional 5 mana while your Dragon’s Claw is active, you may focus it. Your ability to sense mana is doubled, and your search range is doubled. You gain a +4 bonus AC until the end of your next turn.
Dragon Fist. You can spend 1+ mana to active this effect. As an action, you make a single unarmed strike as you directly inject mana into a a creature’s body. On a hit, the target is stunned until the end of their next turn. You deal 2 force damage for every additional mana point spent.
Mana Blocking Strike. As part of an unarmed strike, you strike with fingers extended, piercing the opponent’s mana and temporarily blocking its flow. On a hit, the target loses a number of mana points equal to the amount of mana spent and regain the mana lost at the end of this duration or by a casting of this spell.
Minor Houses of House Ryu:
House Kaneko. A famous House from Alexandria. They are famous for their natural talent for hand-to-hand combat. There are many stories of members of House Kaneko reacting to attacks and other kinds of danger that they should have no knowledge was coming making them very annoying to face.
House Sun. A nomadic house that serves underneath House Ryu. The house would become nomadic over the century, learning from the land and communing with the Spirits.
House Kyne: The Kyne family isn’t one for many glaring traditions like many notable royal families such as the Ryu, but nonetheless are known to be quite isolated from the rest of the World, only getting involved when the risk of mortals is at stake. Examples of such is hunting down the cause of calamities across the world. All of the instances in which they have involved themselves in worldly affairs great political strife follows with multiple illegal individuals as well as high society bureaucrats seeking their destruction.
Physical Traits: Those with Kyne blood who are chosen by birth to become knights, are adorned, adored, and trained to become those who represent the House in the years to come. Their clothing shows their power and their resolve. Often dressed in beautiful flowing kimonos and hakamas, many in particular tend to straw away from formal attire when conducting business; this said, the only consistent article of clothing among their knights and medics is a red or golden sash (used to indicate rank) and a white haori lined with golden fabric.
Bloodline Ability: Natural Vitality. One of the reasons that the Kyne family have been able to survive for as long as they have is because of the natural vitality of their bodies. They are able to naturally regenerate both their body and mana. They gain the following benefits:
As a bonus action for 5 mana points, they may regain a number of hit points equal to 1d10 + their Constitution modifier.
As a bonus action, you may regain mana equal to double their level and gain 1 level of exhaustion.
Minor Houses of House Kyne
House Brisk. Known for there skill in blacksmiths and trading. There is almost no section of Alexandria that doesn’t have Brisk pawn shop or smithy.
House Emcee. The House consists of high-level skilled knights. These knights tended to use music in combat fighting to the rhythm of their songs.
House Silva: The decedents of the marriage of: Sparrow Silva, Fenris Seor, Julia Shaw. This legendary team fell in love and decided to take the last name of Silva to create an entirely new House. Despite coming from one of the most physically powerful Knights of all time this family is known for their intelligence. By tradition, the founders of Alexandria charged House Silva with protecting the history of the world.
Physical Traits: The members of House Sigma carry the amethyst eyes and white hair. But are cursed with nearsightedness. So they all must wear glasses.
Bloodline Ability: Seor’s Will or Shaw’s Mind. House Sigma has two bloodline abilities that descend from two of the founders of the house. Members have a 50% chance to inherit either one. Roll a d100 if 1-50 the Sigma unlocks Seor’s Will if 51-100 the Sigma unlocks Shaw’s Mind.
Seor’s Will. This bloodline ability costs 5 mana and has a range of 30 ft. As an action, your will is made visible as it stretches from your body in a straight line contesting against a target creature’s Will. The target must attempt a Constiution roll contsted contested against your Wisdom roll. On a failure, it becomes restrained and mimics your actions while restrained in this way. The target can attempt a Constiution roll contested against your Wisdom roll at the end of each of its turns, ending this effect early on a success. You must spend 5 mana at the beginning of each of your turns to maintain this effect. If circumstances change so that the target is outside of your range, you must spend twice as much mana, or the target will have advantage on the contested roll. If the target is beyond twice this spell’s range, it ends immediately.
Shaw’s Mind. This bloodline ability has a duration of 1 minute. costs 5 mana and has a range of 60 ft. As an action, you attempt to force your consciousness into one creature within range, who must attempt a Constitution roll contested against your Wisdom roll. On a failure, you become unconscious and you enter a physical version of the target’s mind. You may attempt to search their mind, learn about their memories, or even converse with the target telepathically. You may also choose to control the creature but you receive an equal amount of damage whenever they are dealt any damage. While controlling their body you can’t use any of their abilities or traits unless you know how to do them. The target can attempt a Constitution roll contested against your Wisdom roll at the end of each of its turns, ends this effect early on a success.
Minor Houses of House Silva.
House Batista. Members of the Batista clan are medical specialists and sealing experts. They often farm out their incredible sealing abilities and sealed products for fair exchange. They manufacture everything from bombs to medical seals which can be used in place for minor injuries. They also lease out their talents as record keepers and couriers of sensitive and top secret information.
House Lum. The clan is known for being ancient and having a founding that supposedly spans further back than other known Houses, as well as having a generally pacifistic nature.
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House Grendel. The Grendel House is said to owe its origin to a Daimon Lord who attempted to enter the World of Vala. It is said no one knows where the Grendel House came from except the Grendel House themselves, but even that knowledge has seemed to be forgotten.
Physical Traits: The Grendel family have skin that comes in various shades of indigo and small sharp-horns that protrude from the top of their head. The Grendel usually has a jacket on with the family crest of two horns. They usually use this jacket’s hood to cover their horns.
Bloodline Ability: Consumption. Due to their alleged daemon origins the Grendel family possess a powerful bloodline ability known as Consumption. With this ability they are able to absorb the mana of another creature. Potentially killing them if the Grendel member decides to absorb all of the mana of a creature. One creature within a 5 ft. must succeed on a Constitution roll contested against your Wisdom roll. On a failure, their mana is reduced by 3d6 and the Grendel house member can regain a number of mana points equal to the amount absorbed.
Minor Houses of House Grendel.
House Wolf. Is a famous family of swordsman and warriors who are known for their great skill and discipline. Many members are spread out and don’t interact with each other, but many pockets of close family members exist.
House Sidos. Known for their ruthless and what could possible be considered sadistic nature. They are known for mutilating their enemies and tearing them to shreds creating scenes which can only be described as a blood bath of mindless bloodshed and violence.
House Vesta. The Vesta House is a family of extremely skilled illusion users. This talent in illusion is due to the bloodline ability that the house possesses. However, once every few generations, a house member will be born with such enormous skill in illusion that their illusions cause the brain to make anything that happens to the victim within the illusion physically real, allowing the house member to potentially kill their opponents with pure illusion.
Physical Traits. The Vesta’s are known for their unique golden deep-set eyes and naturally muscular body.
Bloodline Ability: Absolute Illusion. A rare trait of House Vesta. Only 1/10 of this family will be born with an incredible talent for illusion. In order to determine if a player has this ability they must roll a d100 and roll a 90-100. The house member’s prowess in that field is so absolute that even without proper training, their illusion is simply overwhelming. Furthermore, the illusion is so powerful that it causes the brain to believe anything that happens to the victim to the point where the illusion physically harms the victim’s body in the same manner they envisioned. This fearsome ability allows the house member to potentially kill their opponents with illusion. In order to activate this trait one creature that a Vesta can see must attempt a Wisdom roll contested against the Vesta’s Wisdom roll. On a failure the technique is activated. On a success they are immune to the technique for 24 hours and are aware of the Vesta member and their attempt at an illusion. The target is taken to an illusory realm where they feel as if they were there for 1 day. In this world the user can exchange information with the subject, or mentally and physically torture it endlessly. While in the illusory world, the user and their target do not need to breathe, eat, drink or sleep (although the user can give the subject the illusion that it is starving as a method of torture). The illusion appears to last for 1 day but in reality lasts for a short moment (1 Round). The user can choose to extend the feeling of days by 30 mana per day. The user can decide to communicate with the target normally or torture them.
Messenger. The user is able to converse with the subject normally while in the illusory world. The subject will suffer no aftereffect after waking from this illusion.
Torture. The subject will undergo extreme torture either at the hand of the user or an illusion of his choosing, either physical or mental, or both. A message can still be relayed, but the illusion is incredibly taxing for both the user and even more so the subject. The subject’s perception of time is heavily distorted during torture, both because of the user’s control and because of the madness it causes; a day under torture may very well feel like a week. Each day under this illusion deals the subject 1d4+2 points of permanent Wisdom damage, negated by a successful Wisdom rool contested against the user’s Wisdoms roll. Regardless of the result of the save, the subject will suffer 4d6 points of damage, plus 1d6 points of damage each round for 1 round afterwards, cumulative for each additional day. If the subjet’s Wisdom score is reduced to 0, it will fall in a coma and remain unconscious until its Wisdom score is brought back to 1 or higher. If the subject’s Wisdom score wasn’t reduced to 0, the permanent Wisdom damage is removed after 24 hours but the subject suffers 1d4 points of temporary Intelligence and Charisma damage from the debilitating torture.
Minor Houses of House Vesta.
House Angel. The people of House Angel are generally peaceful and kind, usually seen with smiles on their faces and animals at their sides. They often keep animals at their sides, as companions in and outside of battle.
House Moss. A famous house from Hellion. Its members are known for their rejuvenation techniques and manipulation of genetics.
House Makki. The Makki house is an old and well-known house in Hellion. The house has had a very prolific history due to its belligerent disposition. When most of the other houses were falling underneath the banner of Hellion, the Makki house stubbornly fought to maintain its independence. The Makki house has a reputation as a stubborn, Warlike house that is often hostile towards outsiders. They are renowned for their brutal fighting style and naturally strong bodies. They also possess a bloodline known as Hero’s Fury. While it is powerful most Makki disapprove of its use.
Physical Traits: House Makki is known for having severe eyebrows that tend to cover a large portion of their foreheads.
Bloodline Ability: Hero’s Fury. The house’s relationship with its bloodline is somewhat complicated. Members of the house who are born with the ability to use Hero’s Fury are considered to be destined for greatness. However, the family highly discourages using Hero’s Fury, and using it in actual combat is considered reckless. Hero’s Fury operates by converting all of the user’s mana into physical energy. That energy is then directed towards the muscles, causing a phenomenal increase in strength in speed. While Hero’s Fury is activated, the user’s mana is converted and consumed at an extremely rapid rate. The Body temporarily increases mana production to compensate, but ultimately the rate of consumption far outpaces the rate of production. The Sharp increase in power can be a serious boon in battle, but the drawbacks to using Hero’s Fury are extremely severe. The user’s mana is consumed so fast that under ideal conditions, the state can only be maintained for about a minute on average. In addition, the time limit depends on the physical state of the user. A user that has a weak constitution will not be able to maintain Hero’s Fury as long as a user with a strong, healthy body. In addition to this, the amount of time Hero’s Fury can be maintained decreases if the user is wounded or tired. The longest recorded use of Hero’s Fury was one minute twenty-eight seconds. In addition to this, Hero’s Fury can not be deactivated by the user once activated. Hero’s Fury only deactivates once the user’s mana has been utterly drained, stopping only just before the point of death. Once Hero’s Fury has ended, a Makki is deprived of all their energy reserves and is effectively helpless. A toddler could walk up and strangle them to death and they would not be able to do anything about it. It takes a full day to recover, and it can be even longer if the user was severely wounded during, or prior to using Hero’s Fury. This is because the energy that the body usually uses to heal wounds was also expended during Hero’s Fury.
As an action you can activate your Hero’s Fury your mana burns extremely quickly and is pushed out of your body like a white light. This form lasts for an initial duration of 60 seconds and your mana drains by 5 for every turn. While it’s activated you are at the absolute peak of your physical capability and gain the following benefits:
You gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
You score a critical hit on 15 instead of a natural 20.
You gain immunity to the incapacitated, paralyzed, and stunned and unconscious conditions.
If you drop to 0 hit points or start your turn at 0 hit points, you can choose to immediately reduce your hit point maximum by 10 in order to extend its duration until the end of your next turn. When you do so, you remain conscious even if you’re at 0 hit points. Once Hero’s Fury is over you drop unconscious for 1d6 days due to your body attempting to heal itself from the damage.
Minor Houses of House Makki
House Yarrow. House Yarrow was formed by locksmiths and inventors of weapons. Although a minor house, its importance to Hellion was big because the largest share of arms created for the nation came from the House’s blacksmiths.
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House Heart. The most powerful organized crime family within the World of Vala. They are a ruthless organization who’s main goal is to bring their influence over the other nations of the World of Vala. They are a ruthless group that cuts out any weakness presented to them.
Physical Traits: Every member of House Heart has a rune of a Heart placed on a prominent part of their body. Ensuring the world knows of their affiliation to the family.
Bloodline Ability: Heartbreaker. House Heart was once a minor house in service to the former Don of the Ader. It wasn’t until they unlocked Heartbreaker that House Heart became a major force within Ikarus. It is said that the leaders of the house sold the family to a daemon for wondrous power. It is said the daemon cut one of it’s hearts out and cast it from the sky. The heart plummeted to the ground, and after the impact was recovered by the House Heart, aiding them in their battles for control. The member of House Heart has the following benefits constantly activated:
Your Constitution score becomes 20, unless it is already 20 or higher, and you become immune to disease.
Your unarmed strikes deal slashing damage, with a damage die of 1d8. You also can produce small bone projectiles, which you can use to make ranged attacks at the range of 0/60 feet, that deal 1d6 piercing damage on hit.
When you make melee attacks or ranged attacks using your natural weapons, you deal additional 1d8 damage.
Minor Houses of House Heart:
House Dino. Also know as the Grave Diggers. They have a fearsome reputation as a group of assassins.
House Strange. Infamous for its questionable scientific experiments. They conduct experiments using children of the family as “guinea pigs.”
House Oni. A Major House from Ikarus. Followers of the Oathkeeper started the Oni House. This house views using Mana as dishonorable and offers their services as assassins and spies. The Oni, despite not using mana, are highly skilled and battle-trained due to the constant warfare they embroiled themselves in. They often wear theater still masks and bandages to cover their bodies; when not in combat, they wear simple attires and their masks and bandages on their hands and feet.
Physical Traits: The Oni’s are known for their unique silver eyes and Tusk-like canine teeth that jut from their mouths.
Bloodline Ability: Unnerving. There is something seemingly off about House Oni. They have an unnerving presence that makes other creatures uncomfortable. Any creature that enters an area of 60ft around the Oni, or begins their turn within it, must make a Charisma roll contested against the Oni’s Charisma. On a failure, the creature is frightened until the beginning of their next turn.
Minor Houses of House Oni.
House Narces. An elusive house who prefer to keep to themselves instead of engaging in the affairs of the other houses, they are nonetheless a powerful force within Ikarus.
House Wixx. A powerful minor house. They have a history of producing talented Wizards of brilliant mind and power.
House Fabrizio. House Fabrizo was created in response to the organized crime within Ikarus. From then on, each generation of the Fabrizio house has donned formal attire when risking their lives to fulfill this duty.
Physical Traits: The Fabrizio family is known for their incredible calm in the face of danger. The Flame of Hope is regarded as the symbol of the Fabrizio family. Like fingerprints or voices, each Flame of Hope has a different shape and distinct characteristic.
Bloodline: Flame of Hope. House Fabrizio is able to activate a Flame of Hope. It is often described as a high-density form of energy that is refined from one’s own lifeforce. A person’s Flame appearance is determined at the moment of their birth. Upon activation it appears on the brow and takes the appearance of spectral flame. You may use an action to activate your Flame of Hope. You may go into Flame of Hope once before needing to finish a long rest to use it again. This mode lasts until it is dismissed using a bonus action or the character is knocked unconscious and while in this mode, you gain the following features:
Resistance to all incoming damage.
+2 to AC
+2 to Attack and Damage Rolls
You gain a flight speed of 60ft.
Minor Houses of House Fabrizio:
House Amos. Amos They are known for their rich history and mastery of mana control. dominant trait amongst the clan members is White Hair with Blue eyes.
House Elrod. A house steadily gaining prominence due to its skill with Wizardry. It should be noted that the Elrod is strictly matriarchal; ever since the clan was founded, the leaders have been female- the males of the clan have shown no bitterness about such a fact.
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