House Lekal

House Lekal is one of the ten Great Houses of the nobles on Scadrial. It was considered the fifth most powerful house at the end of the Final Empire.
== Holdings ==
=== Keep ===
House Lekal owned an impressive keep in northeastern Luthadel, near Keep Venture. It was surrounded by a defensive wall and was easier to defend than other keeps. The ballroom was shaped like a pyramid with five platforms, one large one in the center for dancing and four smaller ones used for dining. A small gentleman's lounge was adjacent to the ballroom. Four tiers of balconies overlooked the main floor that included small viewing alcoves and stained glass windows. Although several keeps in Luthadel had larger windows, Lekal's were exceptionally detailed and beautiful. They depicted a variety of subjects, including the Ascension of the Lord Ruler, portraits of famous noblemen, and exotic landscapes and animals. Like other large keeps, Keep Lekal employed many servants that attended to the nobility.
=== Estate ===
House Lekal owned a country estate in the south, on the River Channerel not far from the Southern Sea. It had a manor house, but no palace. After the Collapse and the power struggle among the nobility, the estate became a shantytown and was dubbed Lekal City.
== History ==
=== Final Empire ===
House Lekal was one of the primary rivals of House Venture. It had relatively stable finances compared to some of the other houses in Luthadel, although it could not match the wealth of House Venture. Like other Great Houses, Lekal regularly threw lavish balls; its members also attended balls at other keeps in order to politick and gossip.
Near the end of the Final Empire, Jastes Lekal, a young member of the family that was likely the house's second heir, befriended Elend Venture and several other young noblemen who might have otherwise been rivals. The group discussed philosophy and politics, often in an idealistic manner. They secretly read banned books and spoke of better living conditions under the Lord Ruler, although they did not seriously consider actually rebelling against him. Elend's friendship with Jastes caused him to share information that would not typically be given to a rival noble.
House Lekal was one of the houses that Kelsier's crew targeted during their campaign to sow chaos among the Luthadel nobility in an attempt to start a house war. Kelsier was able to sneak under Keep Lekal's defensive wall by crawling through a drainage ditch so he could perform some type of sabotage. Vin attended a ball at Keep Lekal as "Valette Renoux" and started rumors via Kliss, although Jastes started to become suspicious of "Valette". Vin's plan backfired, and she made Elend and his friends, including Jastes, targets of an unsuccessful assassination attempt.
During the skaa rebellion in Luthadel, Elend took his few remaining soldiers to Keep Lekal despite their rivalry; he felt the nobles would need to put their differences aside and Keep Lekal was well-fortified. Keep Lekal did in fact outlast some of the other great keeps during the rebellion.
=== Collapse and New Empire ===
After the fall of the Lord Ruler, the Luthadel nobility fractured. House Lekal established a "kingdom" in the Southern Dominance where their country estate was located. Jastes came to lead the House and attempted to implement some of the idealistic policies he had long discussed with Elend, but his approach failed because his local rivals continued to use the ruthless methods that were common during the Final Empire. A number of Lekals were killed, including Jastes's sister. Obviously stressed and bitter, Jastes seemed to lose himself; he assembled a koloss army that he "controlled" by paying them with fake coins, brushing off any collateral damage that they caused. The Lekal forces allied with the armies of Straff Venture and Ashweather Cett in the Siege of Luthadel. Jastes predictably lost control of the koloss army, resulting in the Battle of Luthadel and a great deal of death and destruction, ironically including the koloss storming Keep Lekal. Elend felt that he had no choice but to execute his former friend for his actions.
After Jastes's death, his uncle Audil succeeded him as king of the Lekal lands in the south. Acting as 'Chief Ambassador of the New Empire', Sazed (accompanied by a contingent including Breeze) visited the estate-turned-shantytown of Lekal City. Although Audil had lost most of his kingdom to bandits and koloss, House Lekal still controlled enough land close to Luthadel to worry Elend, and Sazed and Breeze successfully compelled Audil into signing a treaty with the New Empire.
As Scadrial became increasingly unstable, Lekal City and the surrounding area were destroyed by lava from an ashmount, likely Zerinah or possibly Doriel. King Audil and many of the people loyal to him were killed as the area burned.
=== Post-Catacendre ===
Despite House Lekal's traitorous actions and near-destruction, it survived the Catacendre. By , the Lekals wielded a considerable amount of political power and were the primary rivals of Elendel Governor Replar Innate. Due to this rivalry, House Lekal didn’t engage in bribes and other corrupt dealings with the governor.
== Members ==
*Jastes Lekal, former friend of Elend Venture and the first ruler of the Lekal kingdom in the south
*Audil Lekal, Jastes's uncle and his successor as king
== Trivia ==
*The pyramid shape of the Keep Lekal ballroom was inspired by the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas.
== Notes ==
category:Mistborn Era 2