Jade House of Lords

Jade Carp of Lesser Lords, the House's heraldic charge

The **Jade House of Lords** is one of the most distinguished and oldest houses to come from the early Mythic Ages. It is most noted for its open succession policy, equal rights to rule, and the fact it is restricted to those of eponymous Jade descent.

The Jade House of Lords is nominally and in faith a house of elves. It was organized as a method of coordinating succession schemes after centuries of oppression under the laws of Goodfellow rule. Its power structure and usefulness in establishing political dominance in a declining high elf hegemony in Prace allowed it to dominate the continent, and later spread its influence over much larger kingdoms including those in Arborea, Laconia, and Gantelusia.

## Political structures

### Open succession

The cornerstone to the success of the Jade House of Lords has been the use of an "open succession" policy established by the initial founders of the Jade Council of Lesser Lords.

The open succession policy, called *eruhina* internally, dictates that anyone can petition to join the Jade House of Lords given that they meet the following requirements:

* The person owns an uncontested estate;
* The estate in question has economic rights to a river, lake, or body of water of notable size;
* The person's vassalage, if any, does not necessitate slavery, only a matter of allegiance;
* The person does not hold allegiance to any houses hostile to the Jade House of Lords;
* The person does not hold vassals hostile to the Jade House of Lords;
* The person is of Jade descent;
* The person will not renounce their membership to the Jade House of Lords under penalty of ordeal;
* The person will not participate in open hostilities against other members of the Jade House of Lords under penalty of ordeal.

### Jade succession schemes

Because a child of someone with Jade descent and a human will always take after the Jade parent, human rulers who take a Jade spouse will always have children who are Jade.

This fact was more or less unknown until Late Antiquity, when elves were forced to take non-elf husbands and wives under Goodfellow rule to disrupt their order and families enough to force them into compliance. However, what became known to the elves as their lineage became more *half-elf* is that no matter how many generations pass, the traits that made them *half-elf* did not diminish.

This fact was combined with the open succession policy to great effect. Lords of the Jade House of Lords would give their Jade daughters to the lords of human houses to solidify an alliance, often to end a conflict over territory. The children of the Jade mother would also be Jade, and as they matured, even if they did not take over the house, they would still be able to enter the Jade House of Lords to repeat the process. By the time it was recognized that the house was more Jade than human, the Jade members would have enough political clout to eventually dominate the house.

## History

### Jade Council of Lesser Lords

At the time of his coronation as the lord of the Palace of Blue Leaves in Valendor, Eluvitar Ilditor desired an alliance with other lords of similar circumstance.