Houses of Caspia

House Joplin

House Joplin is considered the foremost amongst the Great Houses, having won the Kingsmoot seventeen times since it was established. The head of the household, Venus Joplin II, sits upon the throne in the Tower of Swords as the High King. She has ruled in this position for over thirty years, while the Joplin estates are looked after by her daughter, Magellan Joplin. They proudly boast the largest army, featuring large regiments of halberd wielding infantry. Their tactical combat acumen and polearm mastery is unmatched throughout Caspia.

House Jackson

House Jackson rules their domain from the port city of Jack son’s Keep. They are renowned as great monster slayers and take pride in the many trophies collected by their scions. The current head of the household is Prince-Elector Sol Jackson. His children, Pluto and Eris, are both renowned warri ors and Sol pushes them to perform great heroic deeds in hopes of winning votes for the upcoming Kingsmoot. Sol has even sent his son Pluto to the city of Drakkenheim in Westemär in hopes of having house Jackson be at the heart of resolving the conflicts and issues of the fractured nation.

House Jackson is the only house to have never won a single Kingsmoot, and they are the laughing stock of the other houses as a result. Sol is determined to be the first Jackson to take the position as High King of Caspia. Nevertheless, House Jackson has a capable army skilled in swordplay and javelin-throwing.

House Jones

House Jones resides in the coastal city of Jonestown. However, they do not focus their attention on ships and naval combat. Instead, the family is renowned for their great horse breeding facilities, and they fancy themselves the greatest equestrians on the continent. They spend years mastering horseback archery, jousting, and riding skills, and Prince-Elector Saturn Jones has never lost a horse race or a jousting match.

House Jones has held the title of High King more than any other house except House Joplin. However, even when not seated on the throne of the Tower of Swords, House Jones is extremely active in domestic and international politics. They entertain nobles from Westemär and Elyria on a regular basis, and always ensure their scions marry members of prominent foreign families. As a result, House Jones also has some of the strongest alliances and ties to the nobility of the other nations. In fact, the late Queen Lenore of Drakkenheim was a member of House Jones, and her marriage solidified strong ties between Westemär and Caspia for a time. Since her apparent death after the destruction of Drakkenheim, House Jones is attempting to recuperate their alliances and maintain a grip on their position. They see an opportunity to vastly expand their holdings now that Westemär is falling apart.

Furthermore, the household has been able to maintain a highly influential position within Caspia due to the recent appointment of a House Jones scion to the position of High Flamekeeper of Caspia.

House John

The seat of House John is located in Bladeshatter Bay at the sprawling coastal town of Port John. Their navy is well known in the Middle Sea for being more deadly and vile than the many pirates who pillage the trade ships through those waters. They have the strongest fleet of any Caspian house, and Prince-Elector Neptune John is a famous naval captain, swashbuckler, and strategist. House John is sometimes looked down on from the other Cas pian houses, as Neptune John is not actually a direct descendant of Rex Caspian.

House John has a history of mageborn children, and even several half-elves, tieflings, and dragonborn in their bloodline. Since the Edicts of Lumen require noble houses to disinherit their mageborn children, it came as a great tragedy when an entire generation of House John’s heirs all turned out to be mageborn. Since none could inherit the household lands and titles, a bastard child of a lesser Caspian house was adopted into House John and chosen to inherit the family estates.

The mageborn trait was so strong in House John’s bloodline that when the Edicts of Lumen were first presented, House John was the strongest opposing voice. They were instrumental in shaping the final document, and only agreed to sign it after they themselves established the practice of allowing noble mageborn to take up positions as court mages for their own households. Today, the true descendants of John Caspian still live, but all are mageborn members of the Amethyst Academy

House Jagger

House Jagger’s holdings are nestled at the end of the Great Caspian Canyon along the River of Rust, in the small city of Jagger’s Ford. Prince-Elector Mars Jagger rules over the city from his cliffside castle. Surrounded by badlands, their estates are quite a bit rougher and rugged than other Caspian cities. House Jagger maintains a smaller army than the other houses, but one no less mighty, for their wyvern-riders are the envy of Caspia. For generations, the Jaggers have hunted the Caspian Canyon for wyvern nests. After collecting and hatching their eggs, the Jaggers raise and train the creatures to use as mounts. The powerful air force of wyvern-riding knights has been instrumental in many Caspian wars.

As rulers of the southernmost regions of Caspia, House Jagger has fought constant battles and wars with the people of Terene over the borders between their lands. Caspians often see the jungles as a wild land filled with monsters, and venture forth on hunting expeditions. However, the Terene locals do not want Caspian knights stomping through their lands slaying their creatures, and so violence between the two is common

House Joyce

House Joyce’s domains stretch out along the coast of the Middle Sea; the family makes their home in Joyce Harbor. The household is the only Caspian Great House who prominently professes their faith in the Sacred Flame — the family built the largest cathedral to the Faith in Caspia. Scions of the household often become clerics and paladins of the Sacred Flame, and the family is relied upon to bring healing and divine magic to many Caspian battles. They wish to see the Sacred Flame shine its light more strongly within Caspia.

Due to their close ties to the Faith of the Sacred Flame, they have a strong relationship with Elyria. Princess-Elector Persephone Joyce frequently travels to Lumen to meet with the Divine Matriarch. However, she hasn’t been back since Elara Jones was appointed High Flamekeeper of Caspia, and the development has strained the political ambitions of House Joyce, who in the past could reliably arrange one of their scions to the position

Scalebreaker Legion

Part mercenary company, part monster-hunting lodge, and part adventuring guild, the Scalebreaker Legion is a prestigious paramilitary organization in Caspia which stands apart from the noble houses. The Scalebreakers count amongst their ranks some of the greatest monster hunters the world has ever known, and are specifically trained in the art of hunting and in Caspia for warriors who do not belong directly to one of the six Great Houses, and the legion has been instrumental in protecting the realms of Caspia from dragons and other monsters, but also from foreign invasions.

The Scalebreaker Legion has existed in some form in Caspia even before the nation itself, but rose to modern prominence when they defeated the invading forces of Albrecht von Drakken in the year 822. During the Dragonfall War, Scale breaker Knights slew the House von Drakken dragons and rout ed their armies, and Commander Bernard of the Scalebreakers presented the head of Albrecht von Drakken himself to High King Andromeda Jones at the Tower of Swords.