Setting: Government, Lord's Council, Founding Families

[Tenchuu]

I am working on a new adventure that requires NPCs from the major governmental body in Daunton. But when I look at the Wiki, this information looks like it's still open ended. So before I just create something, I thought I would ask here to make sure I understand what's already been done and also to ask for your idead, suggestions, and additions.

1. Government of The Proximate Isles
A. Is there a central or joint governing body for the Proximate Isles, or is it more or less 'each island for itself'?
B. In Daunton, does the City control the entire island?

2. The Mayor and the Lord's Council
A. Who is really in control? The Mayor, or the Lord's Council? Is there a King/Queen of Daunton?
B. Does the Mayor sit on the Lord's Council?
C. Is the mayor's control limited to the city, or does it extend to the entire island? What are his powers/responsibilities?
D. Does the Lord's Council's Power extend to the whole island? What are their power's responsibilities?
E. Who is on the Lord's Council? Just the founding families? Is there some way to be added / appointed to the Lord's Council?

3. The Founding Families
I was just going to make some up, because I need 3-4 for my adventure. But if anyone else has some ideas for those families, I'm all ears.

 

[garyh]

I'm strongly considering having my upcoming replacement character a Human Slayer 9 who's an adventurous younger sibling of a minor branch of one of the Founding Families, by the name of Marinya Durstan. Looks like this:

http://images.wikia.com/fireemblem/images/2/20/Titania.jpeg

Here's a couple wiki pages I found while researching the background that might help you:

L4W:Setting:The Founding Families - L4W Wiki

L4Waunton - L4W Wiki

 

[Tenchuu]

Those were the pages I started from, but there is only one family, and it's not clear what role the families play vs the mayor. I could certain just add some content, but since this is such a central part of the setting, I wanted to get some collaboration going on those ideas. I had a few ideas on some of the other founding families:

Maester Amroth Linwelin – The chief Maester at the Great Library. The elf is old and stuffy, and he is fiercely loyal to the Celestine Rhysling; he is enchanted by her beauty and her family wealth, and hopes (perhaps hopelessly) to acquire both.
Skill Check Modifiers: If the player’s first history check is successful, all other rolls gain a +4 bonus. However, if the first history check fails, all other rolls have -2 modifier.

Sir Edward Brennon – Once a great hero, now he is a fat drunk. Still, he longs for days of glory past. Despite being married, Brennon frequents many houses of ill repute and has several bastard children.
Skill Check Modifiers: If the player’s first bluff check is successful, all other rolls gain a +4 bonus. However, if the first Bluff check fails, all other rolls have -2 modifier.

Witfer Ithric – A plump, gimpy, ugly Halfling, Witfer is a conniving schemer. He has a sharp tongue to match his wits, and speaks more boldly than his stature affords him. The Ithric family are successful traders of great wealth, but the more trusted and respected members of this family have past away, leaving this one as Lord.
Skill Check Modifiers: If the player’s first streetwise check is successful, all other rolls gain a +4 bonus. However, if the first streetwise check fails, all other rolls have -2 modifier.

Celestine Rhysling – A beautiful, middle aged woman. Her husband died suddenly, and she suspects it was murder by one of the other council members, but she not sure who. She is paranoid, but still an eligible socialite. She entertains many men looking to court her, but she is not yet willing to marry and give up her seat of power. Her taste of power since her husband's death has made her crave more.
Skill Check Modifiers: If the player’s first diplomacy check is successful, all other rolls gain a +4 bonus. However, if the first diplomacy check fails, all other rolls have -2 modifier.

Grimwold Brem – The third son of a dwarven founding family, Grimwold had to find a place for himself, having little chance to inherit his father’s fortunes and title. He looked to gain fame and renown as a man at arms, adventuring and fighting in tourneys. For a time, he followed Aurelia Carenvale, enchanted by her beauty like so many others, and fallen for her misleading charms, like so many others. But just as the others, she cast him off for another. He departed her service less than a year before the five saved Daunton. In the time that followed, Grimwold studied at the Temple of Palladys, and he was confirmed as a Paladin. Many consider him the ‘Hero that wasn’t’ and speak whispers about how he went from following one powerful woman to another, but this time one that couldn’t leave him. But they would never say these things to his face. Unexpectedly, His older brothers were taking by illness and accident, and the unlikely heir was recalled from the temple to become a Lord. Note: Not all of them Brem’s left Allaria, and some of his relatives remain in the fallen empire.
Skill Check Modifiers: If the player’s first religion check is successful, all other rolls gain a +4 bonus. However, if the first religion check fails, all other rolls have -2 modifier.

Lord Winston Donnervale - The Rich nobleman has earned himself a position of respect amongst the founding families, though his wealth came after the exodus from Allaria, so the Donnervales are not truly founders. A man of great business acumen, he usually has the final say on matters of coin for the realm. While generally friendly to all, he has no love for wizards, warlocks, mages, or any professor of arcane knowledge. Due to a run in with shapeshifter that he refuses to speak of (or even acknowledge, when questioned), he completely distrusts all manner of Arcane users, regardless of the reputation.
Skill Check Modifiers: Players with Arcane power sources are -2 on skill checks against Donnervale. Players with Non-Arcane power sources are +1 on skill checks against Donnervale.

 

[CaBaNa]

The Donnervale family was established during Daunton's Dead Shadow. Add them to the list.

 

[Tenchuu]

The Donnervale family was established during Daunton's Dead Shadow. Add them to the list.

[MENTION=82643]CaBaNa[/MENTION]
I updated the List. Let me know if you approve.

 

[covaithe]

Those interested in the Donnervales might want to read Porphyria's background. I don't think anything there directly conflicts with what's here (except her father's name, which I'm willing to change).

There are a couple of other established noble families that I can think of. The Glasstons are moderately well established as a founding family, and have featured in a handful of adventures.

The L'irkash family featured briefly in Closed Eye, and I think were involved in one of [MENTION=79945]JoeNotCharles[/MENTION]' adventures, too. I forget which one. There's a little bit about them in the NPC section of Closed Eye's (incomplete) summary.

I just now noticed that there's another family, the Haverfalls, mentioned in the Closed Eye summary, as being happy about the L'irkash's bad luck. I don't remember anything else about them.

There's Lord Byron of the series of adventures with his name in the title; I don't know much about those. Is he a Dauntonian?

 

[Tenchuu]

I'll be sure to come back and update the list to include the information from the Glasstons; I had left them off my list because they already exist in the Wiki, and I am looking to expand on that, but it should make it easier on everyone if I keep everything in one place.

Re: Lord Byron, I had not given much thought to where he came from, but I did fancy him a Dauntonian. I am thinking maybe all Lords are in the Lord's Council, but not all Lords are founding families, and I can make this organizational distiction easily enough.

I suppose the broader question is: what makes one a lord in Daunton? Traditionally, the title Lord has curteousy for some other title, which corresponded to a land grant from the king. In this setting, there appears to be no monarch. I would assume that the mayor is either appointed by the Lords or elected by the people, though it is not clear to me, and it is no clear who has greater power, the Lords or the Mayor.

Do these lords effectively rule Daunton as an Oligarchy, with the Mayor being more of an administrative function?

Also, are lords just weathy land owners, or is there something else special which identifies them as Lords (as opposed to plain old rich people)?

 

[covaithe]

Oh, right; now I see that you mentioned earlier that you'd started your search based on one of the pages about the Glasstons. Mea culpa.

I, too, had it in my head that the Founding Families were a small subset of the nobility in general. Nine? Twelve? I might be remembering those numbers from some previous discussion about the number of founding families, but I may also be just making it up. Dunno. I don't think it particularly matters that there be a fixed number, but I do think an effort should be made to keep the number small. There can be tons of lords, though.

Likewise, I think it's worth preserving the real-world distinction between "Lord" and guy-who-owns-land. Traditionally (at least according to wikipedia), the former is used only by specific ranks of the nobility.

I think it's also worth looking at the wikipedia page on the House of Lords,
if only for the phrase "the Lords Spiritual and Temporal", which explicitly includes the church hierarchy, too. That neatly solves the problem of where people like the head of Lauto's church, who clearly must be a power in the city, stands in relation to government.

 

[JoeNotCharles]

I mentioned the L'Irkash family briefly in Menace of the Icy Spire - the first encounter was on a wrecked ship that turned out to belong to the L'Irkash family, and after it was finished the PC's found a bit of family history in the ship's log (or something like that). Didn't tie in to the rest of the adventure at all.

 

[BenBrown]

There seem to be enough people titled "lord" or something else thereabouts that I figured that doesn't necessarily make them part of the founding families. They could just be old Allarian noble families that maintain their titles despite the fact that the lands they once ruled have fallen to ruin.