River Lords

The Nine Trading Houses of the Sko and Vo

"Nine houses, nine flags, nine ways to die on the toxic tides. Pick yer allegiance careful - once ye wear a river mark, it's written in blood and poison both."

Captain Malista Tinmaw

The waters flowing through Grizburg split more than just geography - they divide power among nine ruthless trading houses whose influence extends from Archanoth Lake to the Brianum Sea. These rival organizations wage shadow wars through sabotage, assassination, and calculated betrayal, their conflicts as toxic as the waters they navigate.
House Tinmaw, led by the notorious Captain Malista, commands respect through its mastery of night-running and its fleet of modified barges capable of navigating the most treacherous stretches of both rivers. Their flagship, the Rustleech, serves as both symbol and warning of their dominance over the darker aspects of river trade.

"Ye think the Rust Barons run these rivers? *mechanical eye whirs darkly* They just play at power in their fancy towers. The real masters wear river marks and pay their crews in scars."

Slazgar Two-Eyes

The Crimson Chain, oldest of the trading houses, maintains a stranglehold on conventional cargo transport through Grizburg's main channels. Their massive iron-hulled barges form regular convoys, protected by steam-powered weapon platforms and crews of battle-hardened river warriors.

Nine houses wage their endless war,
On poisoned streams of ancient might,
Each seeking secrets lost before,
In waters darker than the night

The Riverman's Warning

House Viperhand specializes in "diplomatic exchanges" between Grizburg's power brokers and their distant allies. Their sleek vessels, barely visible above the waterline, carry messages and merchandise too sensitive for normal channels. Their feud with House Tinmaw has claimed dozens of vessels and hundreds of lives.
The Brass Covenant emerged from an alliance between rogue artificers and river pilots, their vessels incorporating experimental technologies salvaged from the Whispering Depths. Their crews bear distinctive mechanical augmentations, and their ships move with an unnatural precision that suggests something more than mere engineering at work.

"Each house guards its own special madness. The Covenant's got their machines, Tinmaw's got her rituals, and the Mirror Guild? Best not to ask what they've got floating in those black-sailed barges."

Grizzlek Chainspike, Dockmaster

The Mirror Guild represents the most mysterious of the nine houses, their vessels draped in black sails that seem to absorb light. They deal exclusively in cargo sourced from the Serpent's Mirror, and their crews speak in whispers even when alone. Three separate attempts by rival houses to infiltrate their organization have ended with the spies returning as hollow-eyed devotees of whatever power the Guild serves.
House Stormforge maintains the appearance of legitimacy, operating a fleet of conventional trading vessels. However, their true profit comes from orchestrating "accidents" that eliminate rival ships while making recovery of sensitive cargo possible. Their notorious salvage crews are said to speak with the drowned.

In waters deep where secrets flow,
Nine powers make their deadly play,
Each seeking what lies below,
In depths where ancient horrors sway

Dockside Chant

The Leviathan Compact focuses on specialized transport of live cargo - everything from mundane livestock to creatures recovered from the rivers' most corrupted depths. Their massive aquarium-barges are crewed by teams of beast-handlers and water shamans who have more in common with their charges than their fellow river workers.

"The Nine don't just fight for gold or power - they war for the rivers' very soul. Each house holds pieces of a puzzle none of them can see whole, and perhaps that's for the best."

Yarza the Harborwitch

The Ashen Chain, youngest of the houses, emerged from a schism within the Crimson Chain. Their radical approach to river trade involves vessels crewed entirely by the undead, their captains having discovered ways to bind river spirits to corporeal forms. Their growing influence has drawn increasing scrutiny from both rival houses and Grizburg's authorities.
Competition between the houses ranges from subtle economic warfare to outright violence. The Widow's Run, a treacherous stretch of the Vo where the river narrows between cliff walls, has become a favored site for ambushes. Here, house vessels regularly disappear beneath the toxic waters, their crews joining the ever-growing ranks of river ghosts.

"There's a reason we call 'em houses instead of guilds. Blood runs deeper than water - even water as thick with power as the Sko and Vo."

Captain Malista Tinmaw

Recent years have seen an escalation in inter-house conflict, driven by rumors of ancient artifacts surfacing in the rivers' depths. Some whisper that the Nine Houses are merely pawns in a greater game, their struggles serving the inscrutable purposes of powers that swim in darker waters.

Related Plots

• Trials of the Rustleech