Sektarri Houses Top Level

The Sektarri noble houses are pillars of imperial stability within the mountain cities and trade corridors of the Empire. Each house is loyal to the Empire as a system, though not necessarily to the Pharaoh as an individual. Their power is expressed through economics, religious authority, military obligation, and control of vital imperial functions.

Though commonly spoken of as peers, the houses are not truly equal. Status flows from divine patronage, proximity to imperial infrastructure, and usefulness to the Empire’s long-term survival.

What follows is a top-level overview of the most influential houses currently shaping Sektarri politics.

House Sekharet¶

The House of the Pharaoh

House Sekharet is the imperial keystone. It is the Pharaoh’s house, and therefore enjoys privileges no other house can formally contest. Its authority is less about wealth or tradition and more about inevitability: imperial mechanisms bend naturally toward it.

Sekharet dominates infrastructure contracts, imperial logistics, and long-term resource planning. It embodies the Empire’s doctrine of control through continuity. Where other houses maneuver, Sekharet endures.

Loyalty to House Sekharet is not the same as loyalty to the Pharaoh personally. This distinction is widely understood and quietly exploited.

Imperial Alignment: Absolute
Power Base: Infrastructure, logistics, imperial bureaucracy
Tone: Cold authority, inevitability, institutional dominance
Play Use: Political gravity well, unavoidable patron or obstacle

House Tallisar¶

Stewards of the Cities

House Tallisar is devoted to the Goddess of Tallaris and derives its power from urban life itself. Markets, civic order, population flow, and the management of cities fall naturally under its influence.

Tallisar is cosmopolitan, outward-facing, and pragmatic. It thrives on diversity, trade, and information. While deeply loyal to imperial doctrine, it interprets doctrine through the lens of stability rather than dominance.

This house is often the first to interact with non-Sektarri elites, foreign merchants, and imperial proxies.

Imperial Alignment: Strong, flexible
Power Base: Cities, trade networks, population management
Tone: Sophisticated, adaptable, socially dense
Play Use: Excellent PC patron, intrigue-heavy campaigns

House Velloriam¶

Keepers of Imperial Measure

House Velloriam is devoted to the Goddess of Velloriam and concerns itself with law, standardization, and enforcement of imperial norms. Where Sekharet defines the shape of the Empire, Velloriam defines its rules.

This house embodies imperial doctrine more ideologically than any other. Its members believe deeply in order, hierarchy, and the moral necessity of structure. Mercy is not their role; consistency is.

They are respected, feared, and rarely loved.

Imperial Alignment: Ideological
Power Base: Law, regulation, doctrine enforcement
Tone: Severe, principled, uncompromising
Play Use: Moral pressure, lawful antagonist, institutional conflict

House Khepra-Zad¶

Wardens of the Scales

House Khepra-Zad is the Empire’s martial spine among the Sektarri. Its forces specialize in containment, suppression, and dragon-facing operations. Their relevance is unquestioned; their methods often are.

This house is overtly militant, highly disciplined, and deeply practical. While loyal to the Empire, its loyalty is rooted in necessity rather than ideology. Without Khepra-Zad, dragon containment would falter.

Other houses tolerate their aggression because the alternative is catastrophe.

Imperial Alignment: Functional loyalty
Power Base: Military force, dragon containment, strategic violence
Tone: Brutal, disciplined, indispensable
Play Use: Antagonistic allies, hard choices, martial patronage

House Nefrassa¶

The Old Blood

House Nefrassa predates the modern Empire and clings to ancient Sektarri traditions. It remains powerful through control of ancestral lands, legacy trade routes, and ritual authority that no decree can fully erase.

Nefrassa is loyal to the Empire but not entirely aligned with imperial doctrine. Its resistance is subtle: tradition instead of rebellion, ceremony instead of protest. Their relevance is maintained by cultural legitimacy and quiet influence.

They are often dismissed until they are needed.

Imperial Alignment: Loyal but traditionalist
Power Base: Ancestral holdings, ritual authority, old alliances
Tone: Dignified, restrained, quietly defiant
Play Use: Nuanced patron, cultural conflict, slow-burning tension

House Irsu-Meret¶

The Ascendant House

House Irsu-Meret is new, ambitious, and rising fast. Built on aggressive trade, technological exploitation, and imperial opportunity, it exemplifies what the Empire rewards.

They are loyal, efficient, and hungry. Their success breeds resentment among older houses, and suspicion about how far they might go if unchecked.

They have not yet developed the weight of tradition, but they compensate with results.

Imperial Alignment: Enthusiastic
Power Base: Trade expansion, technology, imperial favor
Tone: Sharp, ambitious, opportunistic
Play Use: Rival patrons, social climbers, economic pressure

Using the Houses in Play¶

Best PC Patron Options:
House Tallisar, House Nefrassa
Likely Antagonistic Pressure:
House Khepra-Zad, House Velloriam
Long-Term Political Gravity:
House Sekharet
Rising Instability Vector:
House Irsu-Meret

Each house intersects with multiple cities and regions; none are tied exclusively to a single location, though their influence is stronger where their interests align.

The Sektarri houses are bound together by loyalty to the Empire, but that loyalty does not erase rivalry, resentment, or quiet dependency. Their relationships are defined less by open conflict and more by leverage, obligation, and the careful avoidance of destabilizing moves.

No house wishes to weaken the system that sustains them all. Instead, pressure is applied sideways.

House Sekharet stands apart from the rest. It does not compete in the same way the other houses do, and few attempt to challenge it directly. Its authority is structural rather than personal, and most houses seek influence through Sekharet rather than against it. Favor from Sekharet is seen as validation; disfavor is quietly catastrophic.

House Tallisar and House Velloriam maintain a relationship of mutual necessity and constant tension. Tallisar thrives on movement, growth, and density, while Velloriam demands accounting, limits, and standardization. Neither can function without the other, and both privately believe the Empire would run better if the balance tilted their way.

House Khepra-Zad is tolerated rather than embraced. Other houses rely on its ability to confront threats they would rather not acknowledge, particularly dragons, but distance themselves from its methods. Khepra-Zad is often excluded from social consensus, then summoned when consensus fails.

House Nefrassa occupies an ambiguous position. Older houses respect its lineage, newer houses underestimate it, and Sekharet watches it closely. Nefrassa rarely initiates conflict, but its refusal to abandon certain traditions gives it unexpected influence in moments where legitimacy matters more than efficiency.

House Irsu-Meret is the least trusted and the most closely observed. Its rapid ascent has earned it imperial favor but also suspicion. Older houses question its foundations; Irsu-Meret questions why tradition should outweigh results. Its relationships are transactional, sharp-edged, and deliberately temporary.

Despite these tensions, open conflict between houses is rare. Disputes are resolved through contracts, audits, patronage shifts, and strategic neglect rather than violence. When a house falls, it is usually because the others quietly stopped supporting the conditions that allowed it to stand.

The Empire prefers it that way.