Savage Age: Argyrian Empire

[Ghostman]

House Messaris

• Family Name: Messaris (masculine), Messarina (feminine)
• Current Leader: Callias Messaris
• Motto: Draw each breath as if it were your last

It is said that the Messareis are beloved even to their sworn enemies, so well-received is their name among the Empire's aristocracy. For centuries now has House Messaris been held as the epitome of hospitality and amenity. They are famous for their fiery passions, their love of wine and poetry, and for their virile optimism in the darkest of times. In that energetic spirit lies the strength of the family, the force that enables them to rise above simple hedonism and act as competitive players in the game of politics: For all their blatant indulgence in luxuries and fixation on aesthetics, the Messareis are possessed of a formidable ambition and daring. They are not daunted by any setback, and they'll never give up a battle.

The house is quite wealthy, although it's coffers never grow too fat - their infamously sumptuous lifestyle tends to consume their fortunes as they come, preventing any hoarding. As consummate connoisseurs, House Messaris has mastered the production and trade of wine, controlling directly or indirectly a lion's share of the Empire's most distinguished vineyards and winehouses. They are also enthusiastic patrons of art, counting an impressive array of sculptors, painters and goldsmiths within their network of clients. The works of these master artists are frequently used as diplomatic gifts to cultivate alliances and favours owed from important personages. Other major business interests of House Messaris focus on various forms of entertainment: brothels, gambling halls, opium-dens, and chariot racing teams.

As befits their competence in the field, members of the Messaris family are well-placed in diplomatic posts within the Imperial bureaucracy. Their emissaries are familiar faces in foreign courts, where they make good use of the plentiful opportunities to forge far-reaching alliances.

[Mason]

So I'm totally lurking on this thread, but just wanted to say you write some really detailed interesting stuff. Do you run/have run any games in this campaign world? What would some possible adventures be?

Your synthesis of classical actual history and the legends and myths that make it so appealing truly create an epic world. Well done sir.

[Ghostman]

Do you run/have run any games in this campaign world? What would some possible adventures be?

No games so far. Hopefully I'll get something going in the future. The setting is intended to be useable as a backdrop for a wide variety of scenarios, but what I'd be most interested to try would be supernatural mystery investigations.

[Eilathen]

I may never have said this before, so let me say it now: This setting is excellent in a multitude of ways.

That it is indeed. It would be awesome to have a collected version in pdf or something to read at ones leisure.
Oh and the seven ages are very inspiring.

The only thing that is still missing is the world-map and detailed regional maps for it ;) Come on, Ghostman, you know you want to work on those :D

[Weave]

I may never have said this before, so let me say it now: This setting is excellent in a multitude of ways.

That it is indeed. It would be awesome to have a collected version in pdf or something to read at ones leisure.
Oh and the seven ages are very inspiring.

The only thing that is still missing is the world-map and detailed regional maps for it ;) Come on, Ghostman, you know you want to work on those :D

All of these I desire now. PDF, map, more posts, etc. I'd love to see SA up on the wiki someday, but I'm content to devour these posts as they come. It probably doesn't help that I watched Gladiator yesterday and thought primarily of SA.


EDIT: So it IS on the wiki! How have I never noticed that...

[Tangential]

What do you hope to tackle after the Houses?

[Ghostman]

The only thing that is still missing is the world-map and detailed regional maps for it ;) Come on, Ghostman, you know you want to work on those :D

I keep on changing my mind about the lay of the land in the global scope, so this one's kind of a major thorn in my side. Hopefully I'll get some updated regional maps done though.

What do you hope to tackle after the Houses?

Hard to say. I mostly do write ups when I have the inspiration for them so there's a lot of stuff that has been sitting on the To Do -list for quite a while. I still haven't finished descriptions for all the major geographic areas within the Empire, for example. Religion needs an overhaul, too. But I can't write adequately without a creative urge on, and those seem to come and go without rhyme or reason.

[Eilathen]

I keep on changing my mind about the lay of the land in the global scope, so this one's kind of a major thorn in my side. Hopefully I'll get some updated regional maps done though.

You know, i'd be totally interested to see all these changes, the development of your global-scale view. For me, that is very interesting. But then i am a total geography and map-geek :D
And maybe, just maybe, this "laying out of your geographical thoughts", so to speak, could help you removing that thorn.
So if you feel like it (maybe in a different thread?), show us the different, developing, world-maps.

[Ghostman]

House Catacalon

• Family Name: Catacalon (masculine), Catacalina (feminine)
• Current Leader: Philocrates Catacalon
• Motto: He who wants everything loses everything

Many who look upon House Catacalon today see in it a vivid testimony to the cruelty of the Fates, a reminder that even those of a most exemplary lineage might fall from grace. A truly ancient family with an illustrious history, the Catacaloi used to be powerful, respected and admired by all. During the Age of Silk and Steel their fortunes were reversed, and the exalted noble house was caught in a spiraling decline it has been unable to escape. Now it is but a morbid shadow of it's former self: impoverished, humbled, deprived of influence. Even the ranks of the family have dwindled, many among the line having sought greener pastures via marriage or adoption to other Great Houses. Those who remain are bitter nostalgics, clinging to the fading memory of glories long past. Some among them are given to a lethargic creed of fatalism, viewing their downfall as inevitable; a divine punishment for excessive ambition and hubris of their ancestors.

Despite the extent of it's deterioration, House Catacalon is not dead yet - unlike some other Great Houses that met their ends in times past, the memories of which have dimmed to the point they are preserved only in the cracking marble of crumbling mausoleums and in the dramatis personae of the odd theatrical play. The Catacaloi may be grim and brooding, even without hope, but they have no desire to simply lie down and die. If it truly is their destiny to fall all the way, so be it, but they are determined to make every step a grinding struggle worthy of poetic verse. They will see to it that the gods and their noble peers bear witness to their perseverance.

What remains of the once impressive holdings of the Catacaloi is but scraps: a jumble of rustic villas with attached farmlands scattered across Therania and Acropalaea, a few ailing businesses in the capital city, and a lofty but understaffed mansion in a state of disrepair. What profits the house manages to squeeze out of it's assets are quickly eaten up by their mounting debts. Elevating the family's members into public office becomes harder with each generation, and it has been a long while since a Catacalon was honored with one of the prestigious posts in the Emperor's court. Their courtiers are mostly left rotting in the lower tiers of the hierarchy, with little prospects for promotion.

[Tangential]

Dat second paragraph.

How often are family mottos redrafted?

[Ghostman]

How often are family mottos redrafted?

Very rarely, and then only due to a profound shift in the family's outlook or in reaction to some shocking event. Argyrian culture doesn't have heraldry, so the aristocracy places a good deal of symbolic value on their mottoes.

[Ghostman]

Here's a plan-map of an Argyrian hippodrome that I made for a Cartographer's Guild contest entry.



(Click on the picture for a full-sized version - be warned it's 1600x1200 px)

[Weave]

That's awesome. What software did you use to make it?

[sparkletwist]

Yeah, it looks good. :D
It reminds me of one of those David Macaulay books.

[Ghostman]

Thanks. I used Inkscape and GIMP in combination.