Every Drakeblooded can trace their lineage back to the dragons of old, and the Drakeblooded Houses keep careful family trees and hold tight to their traditional duties. Virtually every Drakeblooded is a member of one of the ancient houses, though there are a few individuals who are unfortunate enough to be unclaimed at birth or exiled later in life. Exiles are encouraged to allow their children to be adopted by members of their ancestral house in good standing and it is unusual for them to refuse. The Houses take their reputations very seriously and any scion of the house who is spending more reputation than they’re contributing won’t be left uncorrected for long.
Interestingly, despite being “High Families”, the Houses are not families per se. They usually contain multiple families, who may vie against each other for control of the house. Non-Drakeblooded who are adopted into drakeblooded families may also be inducted into the house, but some traditionalists frown upon this. Drakeblooded adopted into a drakeblooded family will almost invariably join the house of the family, while drakeblooded into a family composed of other species will usually keep to their original house.
Presented here are a selection of Tirneach’s houses. Players may choose to create drakeblooded from any of these houses, or from one of their own invention. If players wish, they may submit their house to be included on this page via this form. Bear in mind, a house listed here can be joined by any player at character creation, appear as NPCs, or already have PC members. Being in the same house does not itself imply a close relation. Even a medium sized house will likely contain different families scattered across the five realms.
House Roaring Thunder
Known as some of the Réig’s most dedicated servants, House Roaring Thunder have been bodyguards to the Réig since time immemorial. While of course none of them have ever served as Réig per se, more than once regents of this house have ruled the land during interregnums. Tradition holds that they anoint the new Réig, effectively giving them a veto over Réigs if there is no clear successor.
Each Iarla is also granted a Roaring Thunder bodyguard by the Réig. To be protected by the Roaring Thunder is a great honour. Less politically savvy or well favoured members of the house are sometimes found selling their protection and the prestige that comes with it. Being so close to so many seats of power, House Roaring Thunder is perhaps the strongest house in all of Tirneach. In this, they live up to the name of their ancestor. Firstborn among the dragons, Announcement of Roaring Thunder was tasked by the Shaper to watch over their kin. They led the dragons in protecting the land and fighting the gwyllt.
The current head is Tiergan, who served as regent for much of the Season of Uncertainty.
House Cleansing Rain
The self-styled stewards of the dragons’ legacy as enemies of the gwyllt. Their draconic ancestor is said to have worked closely with their mortal children in the war against the gwyllt. The histories of the house tell that they were one of the only organised forces that fought those monsters across Tirneach in the time before the Réig. They were quick to ally themselves with the First Réig and were instrumental in the founding of the Torchbearers. In the centuries since their militancy has faded as the agencies of the Church and Réig have fulfilled their former role. Still, the house maintains a strong tradition of its members taking up arms as Torchbearers.
The families of this house can be found in all realms except Draíod, though they are most prominent in Siabhal (where their Head of House, Gránna Dearg Ua Blackthorn resides) and Bruid (where their ancestral enemies are most easily found).
House Crashing Rain
Once upon a time, the drakeblooded of House Crashing Rain swore fealty to the Amber King and Queen of Baol. But that hall has long since fallen, and now Crashing Rain is spread amongst the different highland clanns. They are unusual among highlanders, in truth. Rather than embracing the martial culture in full, they are known as a house of scholars. Their ancestor, whose full name was recently discovered to be Impact of Crashing Rain, was said to have a keen mind and be particularly fond of riddles. They are well respected in the highlands nonetheless. Not only do they keep stories and study the legends of the Amber Hall, but as they are spread across the clanns they often play an important role in highland diplomacy.
In recent years, House Crashing Rain is considered to be a house in decline. Other houses have begun growing in prominence within the highlands. A number of young scions of the house have rejected the house’s traditional ethos, and those who still cleave to it have increasingly made their home away from the highlands, in the lowlands or even further afield. The leaders of the house despair at this, and are said to be searching for any way to revive their house’s fortune.
The current head of the house is Meassa Nic Donnchadha.
House Gentle Showers
House Gentle Showers is a humble Uasan house of low standing. Although once their wise council was sought out by leaders across the Realms, a fall in political favour shortly after the arrival of the First Réig saw House Gentle Showers pushed out of Corroch and out of high society. This was the start of their long, slow decline into ignominy and obscurity. As they withered, many members left the house’s heartlands for other opportunities across the realms. The head of the house now resides in a dilapidated tower in the backwater swamps of western Uasa, near the Draíod border.
The house is largely content with their current lot in life, carrying on with their service to their local communities as healers, councilors and sages. The house has a close relationship and long history with the Order of Necromancers, with many of the house being members and the house having fulfilled the role of necromancers as far back as the annals go. This has contributed to a morbid sensibility among its members, with a house saying being “The water washes away all things in their time”.
House Punishing Hail
The most prominent Drakeblooded House of Bruid, though relatively minor considering Tirneach as a whole. Their ancestor was known to protect the western coast, and was said to devour pirates who preyed upon the people. Once, her house upheld her duty. In times long past, they controlled the coast and kept it safe. Their fury was legendary, and few pirates troubled Bruid.
Of course, nowadays western Bruid is dominated by the city of Zahnhafen, founded by krieger raiders who got past House Punishing Hail. Many members of the house consider the pirate haven a stain upon their honour. The house extensively lobbies the Iarlas of Bruid to put them in charge of the ridings around Zahnhafen, and put some order to the place. Thus far, they have always been denied. They have a particular dislike for Houses Absent Storm and Velvet Mist, who they see as criminals who debase the legacy of the dragons.
Iarla Naoise of House Punishing Hail was a legendary warrior in days of old. They led a massive campaign against the Great Forest and fell in battle, personally leading two bands of galloglaigh against the gwyllt.
House Raging Gale
The drums beat, and House Raging Gale marches. The warriors of this house are well respected among the drakeblooded, known for crashing into battle like a furious storm. The Raging Gale, it is said, do not know the meaning of retreat, but cleave a path forward or die trying. They fight without fear, for they know they shall be remembered. The house is also well known for its storytellers and bards, who immortalise the great champions of the Gale. No member of this house may truly call themselves grown until they know the sagas of their house’s past.
Despite their valour, House Raging Gale often find themselves outplayed by the other houses politically. Their warrior poets long for a more straightforward time, when courage and duty were what mattered. Not scheming, money, and manipulation. The Raging Gale disdain liars, and wear their hearts on their sleeves.
Unsurprisingly, their ancestor is said to have been the foremost warrior among the dragons, who fought enemies of the Shaper all across the land and inspired hope among mortals. The Gale also hold that he was the first dragon to be slain. They say he met the vartach in battle in the mountains of Draíod, and died a hero’s death.
House Sweeping Blizzard
The tales of House Sweeping Blizzard speak of their ancestor as the inventor of craft itself. Such things seem implausible. Regardless, it is agreed that the dragon taught their children the Shaper’s arts of creation. Their holdings across the five realms have some of the greatest workshops in the lands. Generations of smiths, arcanists, and alchemists hail from this house.
House Sweeping Blizzard have historically been a house of middling standing. However, several decades ago, the ambitious young Anagán became head of the house, and began a concerted drive to increase their fortunes. They opened the workshops to crafters outside of the house and began producing goods in bulk, coming to rival the Polished Smile trade guild in Baol. They have even begun to make inroads in Draoid, doing business with the saoi, and are now perhaps the most significant house in the learned realm. Many among the house resent Anagán’s leadership. They long for the days where they produced fine items for the heroes of the realms, rather than firing their forges to produce ploughshares in bulk. But under Anagán, the house has undeniably become one of the most wealthy and powerful houses in Tirneach, so the naysayers find they must constrain their resentment to grumbling rather than action.
House Velvet Mist
While all houses can be found across Tirneach, Velvet Mist are largely based in Bealcaoch. Their ships protect the region, led by the Guardian of the Blind Coast, a mantle that has been handed down from the last of the Sea Dragons. Their ancestor was said to be the most cunning among the dragons, protecting the coast through wit and guile.
Bealcaoch is said to be preserved as a den of criminality by their will. They are indisputably the major power in the area, and it is generally assumed that they have their fingers in any number of criminal enterprises. Though not said within earshot of course. Others hold that House Velvet Mist would never stoop to sully themselves with crime. They simply charge dues to operate within their city. And as the legitimate local power, they have every right to throw those who defy them into the sea with stones tied to their ankles.
Outside of Bealcaoch, members of House Velvet Mist can generally be found in all sorts of trade, legitimate or otherwise. Some try to settle down and lead quieter existences, away from the cutthroat world of house politics. House Velvet Mist is content to let these scions live their own little lives, on the understanding that whenever the house needs them, they will come running. No one ever escapes the Mist’s grasp.
The current head of the house is Íte, and the current Guardian of the Blind Coast is Mealla.
House Vital Rains
House Vital Rains is a House of middling power in Uasa, making their home west of Balcaoch in a settlement called Milic. When the great works began to drain the Uasan swampland, House Vital Rains lent the vast majority of its manpower to the effort in the form of guards and workers. They worked extensively to execute the plans laid down by the Réig’s artisans, and were handsomely rewarded for their Prosperous work. This was regarded suspiciously by more traditionally-minded Uasa folk who would not see the marshlands ruined through cultivation.
Through these works they were able to establish a generational economic position, with the house interests now lying primarily in the loaning out of agricultural and martial knowledge: Though with little by way of their own holdings, Vital Rains scions often find themselves as respected land agents, seneschals, town guard officers, or sword-masters to the children of Riders.
In recent years, the house has run afoul of a wasting illness that has begun to strike down the younger generations indiscriminately. Some whisper that this is their comeuppance, that the land has finally struck back against those who have harmed it so grievously in the past.
The house is led jointly by Mícháel and Cara.
House Whispering Wind
The Whispering Wind can be found all over Tirneach. They pride themselves on tact and diplomacy, and have a strong reputation as envoys and shrewd politicians. Their ancestor was renowned for wise counsel and a peaceful demeanour. The house has long envied the power of House Roaring Thunder, and would like nothing more than to set themselves up as the less martial equivalent. They aspire to be ambassadors of the Réig, and to have a Whispering Wind diplomat in every court worth speaking about. But that very much remains an ambition rather than a reality.
House Whispering Wind has faced many setbacks over the years. Most recently, they threw their lot in with the old Réig Airt Ua Chonchobhair, attempting to become his personal diplomatic service. But they could not control him, and when he alienated his subjects, he came to a mysterious end. His niece Maeláine cast the Whispering Wind aside when she ascended the throne, leaving them in disarray. Since the Season of Uncertainty, they have been trying to get in the good graces of current Réig Tiernan Mac Aonghusa. It is yet to be seen if this will bear fruit.
House Absent Storm
The dragons are long gone from Tirneach, the last having died well before the coming of the Réig. Hundreds of years ago, rumour spread that dragons still lived in the krieger homeland of Schlachtfeld. The Houses dismissed it, but the idea took hold. A great host of drakeblooded abandoned their houses, and set off for Schlachtfeld together. There, they formed the House Absent Storm, and quested through the land searching for rumours of dragons.
In years since, some of their descendants have returned to Tirneach. No longer knowing the names of their ancestral houses, they are regarded with some suspicion by the mainstream drakeblooded. They are often found more on the outskirts of society than the average drakeblooded. Their reputation is not helped by the fact that outcasts, criminals, and those looking to hide sometimes adopt the name Absent Storm. While in Schlachtfeld they have a leader, and are as organised as any house, in Tirneach they have little formal structure. They are often found in krieger settlements and share some of Schlachtfeld culture.