Valkadian Houses (nobility)

==The Valkadian Houses :==
In Valkadia one's house is attributed by birth (from the mother side) or from choosing by adoption or bestowal. Only a house lord can adopt one into their house ; while only the Darklord can bestow one with a new house. Each house is responsible for a duty ; the great houses have dominion to administer wholes provinces, Valkadia physical partition. The minor houses have more focused responsibility like a town lordship or an administrative duty. Rules of inheritance, roles and progression in the houses are heterogeneous and evolve with each lordship.
===11 Great (major) Houses===
There are eleven great (or major) houses, each supposedly in charge of one of the eleven state duties. Theses hours claim to be able to trace their lineage to the Valka imperial era, in the far past. Incidentally theses 11 houses are also those with the higher political weight in the empire. Each of these houses developed a specific culture with varying degrees of sophistication and their proper goals in the Game. Then tend to share some contempt toward the most ambitious minor Houses nobles and commoners, yet are eager to adopt the most promising and politically savvy of them.
===The minor houses===
Aside from the major house, the Valkadian nobility exists in an embroiled tapestry of minor noble houses, often raised to fulfil a Darklord wish or a social need. Theses houses abound, some lost to time, war and intrigue, they might get absorbed by a major House while other sprout following a new Darklord coronation. Such Minor houses could arise when a border expands and new stretch of lands need to be administrated, some houses appeared following the birth of new social rituals, at least fifteen are dedicated solely to defend strategic locations and twenty to oversee local use and raising of undead. Some houses might gain full ownership of a town, while other second rank cities share their governance with multiples minor houses.