House Morantor and the Commetus Circle

***Per Communi Odium***

House Morantor only nominally rules the city of Gildholth, most of it's power rest in the hands of the merchant guilds of the Commetus Circle. This balance between legitimacy and the military power of their Knight, versus the support of the population and access to great wealth, has recently been upset by another noble seeking to join the house. It is yet uncertain if they and their Knight will be able to sway the many Armigers the city employs to defend it's trade, and which side they will choose in the internal struggles of the house.

## **History**

Just after the Age of Apostasy ended, some merchants of the small town of Guildholdt on the coast of (southern?) Gleinn managed to convince House House Harbruck to lend them aid in cleansing the swampy river uplands of the monster-worshipping heretics that had made commerce and shipping there impossible. Only inaccurate tales survive of how they managed, or how they found the funds to hire a squadron of Freeblade Armigers, but the tales of how the brave Giles Morantor in his Knight Styrix hunted a mighty swamp monster from it's lair by irradiating it's waters for days, and how only the armored might of imperial knights allowed anyone to pursue the heretics afterwards, are still told to this day.

After this deed, Giles Morantor was given rulership over the city of Guildholdt - but he recognized that without the Freeblades hired by the merchants, he would have never accomplished this deed, and so his nobility bade him to grant them great freedom - though this and the newly-opened trade routes also ensured that the city prospered and grew.

The relationship between House Morantor and the citizens of Guildholdt did not always stay so amicable. It's merchant formed an alliance with those of many other cities, and often managed to have trade routes all around the island of Gleinn. Known as the Commetus Circle, the merchants of Guildholdt often tried to use the ruler of house Morantor as a means of influencing the other houses for the benefit of their commerce. A thousand years ago, this went disastrously wrong.

In response to the Commetus Circle hiring their own armed guards for their caravans, Lady Marianne Morantor took the throne of her Knight Styrix in anger, and started attacking the troops she declared to be in illegal opposition to her. The following devastation and civil war lasted for decades, and even after her own heir assassinated her, the damage could not be undone. For generations, any heir of House Morantor who linked to their ancestral Knight was haunted by the memories of the unjust slaughter inflicted upon their subjects, and with many barely able to pilot their Knight at all shame fell upon the house.

Lady Gabrielle Morantor might be the first scion of the house to turn it's reputation around. During her Ritual of Becoming, she managed to appease the vengeful echos residing in (Knight Name), and after her ascension she piloted it without interruption for a year and a day, and slew a score of monsters all across Gleinn. The last of those was a monster that had already destroyed the lands of another minor noble house, and it's last surviving member, Knight-Custodian Alvia, now seeks to join House Morantor, greadly enhancing it's strength and pedigree.

## **Internal Power Struggles**

Describe how the noble house, the merchant guilds, and the new noble, are in a balance of power against each other.

## **Knights**

***Knight Name*,** **Questoris Knight Styrix**, armed with a Volkite Chieorovile,a Graviton Crusher, a Hekaton Siege Claw and a Twin Rad Cleanser. Equipped with Empyreal Preysight and Blessed Autosimulacra. Piloted by Lady Gabrielle Morantor.

***Knight Name*, Questoris Knight Precepto**r, armed with a Las Impulsor, a Thunderstrike Gauntlet, a Multi-Laser and a Stormspear Rocket Pod. Piloted by Knight-Custodian Alvia.