House Reileta

## Aspects

* Situational Aspect: Bound by Secrets, Old and New
* Situational Aspect: Cousins of the Trade
* Situational Aspect: Silk Hiding Steel

## Overview

There's a great deal of money to be had to being able to guarantee a client's anonymity when they receive a product or service. It was the ability to deliver on that guarantee that provided House Reileta with the foundation it needed to rise above being lesser Craftsfolk to join the ranks of the Great Houses. The particulars of how the bookbinders and brothels became united under a single name have been lost to decades of rumor, gossip, and foreign invasion. The result, however, is a House that has made information the greatest of their available products, a product that they'll sell so long as doing so doesn't threaten their home or people.

* Situational Aspect: Bound by Secrets, Old and New

## History

Some say that House Reileta started out in the brothels of the Harbour Wards, because that's where their power base is strongest, and lured in the bookbinders to tracks the secrets they gathered amidst pillows. Others suspect that it was the other way around, that the bookbinders found success in discrete Craft and moved to be closer to businesses they'd invested in that had proven most lucrative. A few even speculate that House Reileta were actually Craftsfolk who'd asserted influence over both businesses. If anybody living knows the truth for certain, they aren't speaking of it.

House Reileta's more recent history is much better documented. While it is currently overseen by Patrician Seon Reileta, external interactions have increasingly fallen under the purview of the House's foremost Craftbinder, Matron Lysida Reileta. That she has received the family name despite being a child of the brothels had sparked speculation that she has bound Patrician Seon in some manner in order to secure a position of prominence within the House. Whatever the matter is, it doesn't appear to have caused internal strife, although that may be because a majority of the House's current **Oathsworn** were similarly risen from such humble beginnings.

* Situational Aspect: Cousins of the Trade

## Domain

House Reileta's holdings within Yosthaven are primarily in the Harbour Ward, primarily in the Docks, but reaching as far as the namesake doorway of Rotter's Gate. They're more active than other Great Houses their size when engaging in foreign trade, and one of the few willing to deal with the Arcaneocracy's merchant vessels in the instances when they make port. While this practice has led to speculation about House Reileta, others are grateful to them for giving the Kryat a friendly face so that they don't have to. The wise, however, suspect that the eagerness is a means to acquire secrets that may be of value when the next war comes.

While Yosthaven is the center of House Reileta's power, it has reach abroad within the nation of Sundevalda, providing the foundation for a comprehensive information network. This network has proven a boon to the nation in times of war against the Kryat Arcaneocracy's incursions, as assets within their Wards allow for near-instant communication between their holdings in different cities, while in times of peace such efforts seem more focused on finding solutions to the damage inflicted on locations like the Harbour Wards.

* Situational Aspect: Silk Hiding Steel

## Housebound

### Patrician Seon Reileta

Having assumed leadership of House Reileta at a relatively early age due to war casualties, Patrician Seon has held a position of influence as head of the family for over half a century. Focused primarily on the House's bookbinding and archives, sightings of the man have become increasingly rare in public. Those that do meet him, however, note that he has a far sharper mind than one might expect from someone of his advanced age. He is forthright in his speech, which some might consider unusual for the House's reputation for intrigue, although it's said that such forthright talk consistently opens with a seemingly harmless secret of the person he's speaking to. How he doesn't hold such leverage over Matron Alora is unknown, and some outside the House wonder if he actually does, and that it's why she hasn't simply had him killed.

### Matron Lysida Reileta

Matron Lysida is a Craftbinder of uncommon skill, having a capacity to lure people into pledges with exploits more overt than others would be able to get past her. This has caused all sorts of speculation as to how the aging daughter of the brothels might distract her opposite party during negotiations. However, she *also* has a reputation for abstaining from exploiting the terms of the deal unless the opposite party engages in foul play first, which has caused more practical people to see her as someone to deal with if one intends to deal honestly. She's also naturally the focus of speculation on the matter of House Reileta's succession of leadership, being believed to have used Craftbinding to secure herself as heir apparent. She has a fierce hometown pride, and is the primary force behind House Reileta's concern regarding the various accursed grounds in the Harbour Wards.

### Cousin Phelani, Oathsworn Scion

A much younger daughter of the brothels, Cousin Phelani is one of the rare members of House Reileta who has skill with a blade. The identity of her instructor isn't publicly known, but rumor has it that she made frequent trips to the outside of Rotter's Gate before she became **Oathsworn**. Combined with the educational opportunities House Reileta traditionally gives Cousins of the Trade, and she's became a capable factotum for her House, often called upon to address external problems that require creative problem-solving.

## Dependents

### Master Erhard Stein

The Oathsworn of Reileta are not exactly famous for their knifework, largely because there has never been much of a need. Given the origins of the House's Wealth, the House has always employed a large number of guards, bouncers, and other professional street toughs. Among their most trusted Dependents is Master Erhard Stein, leader of the Kolguard, one of the larger mercenary companies within Yosthaven. Mercenary is, of course, a broad term. The Kolguard aren't warriors to deploy on the battlefield, unless that battle happens to take place in the den of a tavern. The Kolguard are professional muscle, and Erhard has a reputation as an absolutely brutal street fighter to back his position as the owner of the company.

## Deeper Mysteries (Spoilers)

### Seon and Lysida

The relationship between Seon and Lysida isn't so insidious as the gossips believe. In truth, Seon's late husband had sired a child on one of the brothel's whores prior to the start of their relationship, and that child grew up to be Lysida. Their relationship is one of parent and child, although Seon respects that Lysida had grown into keen-minded adult a while ago, and hasn't diminished since. They initially kept the nature of their relationship secret so that the fidelity of Seon's husband wouldn't be slandered, but now they're doing it because the speculation is an amusing distraction from secrets that *matter*.

### Cursed Wards

House Reileta's territory is primarily within the Harbour Wards, which is afflicted by multiple sites where Kryat Soulcraft has inflicted magical wounds on the city. House Reileta makes a point of analyzing these grounds and combatting the creatures that emerge from them, publicly under the pretext of repairing the damage. The knowledge they seek is broader than that, plying whatever secrets they can from the Cursed Wards in order to add new Soulcraft to their libraries. While they haven't figured out a way to reverse the damage, a way to *prevent* it may have been uncovered, and this ritual is in the process of being integrated into the Soulcraft protecting House Reileta's warded holdings.

### Greater Agenda

House Reileta wishes to keep the peace of Sundevalda. It's good for business, allowing growth, in contrast to the painful attrition of war. The most immediate pursuit of this is pursuing the resolution of conflicts between the Great Houses, whether their mediations or the leverage of secrets to coerce. The grander project in the pursuit of this, however, is the prevention of invasions by the Kryat Arcaneocracy. While this publicly involves maintaining cordial trade relations in time of peace, this is in truth the primary vector for the actual method of intrigue, espionage, and sabotage. The same skillsets and resources that help House Reileta deescalate conflict in Sundevalda allows it to be exacerbated within the Arcaneocracy, always toward the goal of inflicting enough internal turmoil that they can't afford to turn their hostility outward. After all, a defensive war can't be sustained eventually, and the Kryat won't abandon their ambitions of conquest. If lasting peace is ever to be had, the Arcaneocracy must be destroyed.