Great House Vertinal

One of nine current Great Houses - and one of two original Great Houses - charged by Astralshaper to manage all aspects of Illusion, from handling and harvesting to Transmutation and particulate bonding. Great House Vertinal, as is the story for many Great Houses was a special exception in the eyes of the Goddess; for the Vertinals however, the recognition was for all the wrong reasons. In the early days of the Meridian, the people of the Old World were incredibly weary of ideals that even resembled the ambition of empire in the slightest, as was the case of Astralshaper's unification and vision. She expanded quickly, incorporating many minor duchies and independent states into Her domain, but such aggressive growth was economically unsustainable for the upstart realm, given no time to stabilize and fully integrate the new subjects before moving on to the next. Even though House Solens Arc aided tremendously in establishing order through the reinforcement of core provinces with loyalist governments to Astralshaper, the many more neglected outer provinces felt no obligation to remain apart of the newly founded Meridian of Stars' Eternal, let alone a reason to pay their dues and tithes. Astralshaper, while a very charismatic and competent ruler that had a very natural way with words, turned out to be rather poor at managing finances, unable to comprehend the incessant need to "pay" for anything when her cause was just. Frustrated, she turned to the unruly Vertinals, stating in writing "I don't care how you do it, just do it." on the topic of filling her coffers with the necessary funds; rumor has it that very same document was framed and displayed publicly within the House. From then on, the Vertinals became something akin to a Thieves' Guild, extorting and micro-managing impossibly large swathes of land, operating outside the law in order to enact Her will. While many would tarnish the Vertinal name simply due to their affinity with illusions, their expertise in administration is something is behold, capable of effectively enforcing subject dues, be it in the form of manpower or money. Under the watch of Vertinal, no one with power was safe from their analytical gaze, and no one but them was allowed to hoard gold. For their contributions in jump-starting the Meridian and maintaining stability, they were granted honorary Great House status by R.9, with many members of the house placed in advisory seats and councils for matters of state.
That was not to say they were not without their vices, as they had a crippling and strangely hereditary love for all things valuable and shiny as if they were kobolds. Yes, they collected the national dues, yes they filled the coffers with gold, but not without taking a pension of their own. They designed much of the legislative and executive body of government, and consequently, they knew how to get around it, loopholes if you would. Astralshaper's empire, while grand and vast was still ruled by a single, immortal dragon; Dragons are slow, unchanging, prideful, and once a dragon establishes something it likes, it was unlikely to deviate. The same was true for the Meridian's administration, and even if it were to change slightly, the Vertinals had eyes and ears everywhere - able to react and adapt well before the new policies were to be enacted. They became infamously known for tax evasion and for subverting their own empire, the creation of a secondary black market, and carving out corruption in venerates that had suspicious holes in their pocket. Although underhanded, they were incredibly prosperous. The Regent Vicarvoyancy Assembly, unable to contend with Vertinal subversion, decided the next best option was to cut them off entirely from the Meridian and leave them to the mercy of the Evening Star, reminding the surviving citizens of the consequences of insubordination. Since that day, Great House Vertinal remained silent, but they have not been inactive. They swore a return, but through what means is still unknown, or even if such vengeful claims deserve attention. Today, they have a minor impact on the traditional market and development of the Meridian, but they still maintain business relations with all; exporting little, but producing much. They are most known for their Illusory applications of beautification and projection technology, notably including: the creation of "slates" that cast and display the annual Rompus league. Furthermore as stated previously, they head the ever-popular Meridian black market, with Great Houses such as Autonon contributing to the struggling Vertinal's suspicious motives by dumping a concerning amount of money at their doorstep in exchange for necessary parts to keep themselves running. They know how to profit from strife, and then know when to back off should things get dicey, but Great House Vertinal despite their expertise in treasuring is still a rather poorly managed, highly corrupt, and dysfunctional monarchy. Siblings constantly vie for power and control over what little remains of the Great House, hoarding lump sums of platinum in their own personal estates away from the eyes of their looming Great House. They became something akin to a patrician oligarchy rather than abiding by their hereditary leadership, with each Vertinal blood relative staking their own riches independent to that of the larger whole, thereby further fracturing their unity. The Great House itself is just another competitive aristocratic Vertinal in their eyes, whose seat of power is not safe from pretender movements should they miss-step their bounds.
Under Great House Vertinal, there is a single surviving Major House, previously numbering five just one rotation past before the disappearance of Tilth:

House Rompin' Raiders

An extremely loyal House dominated by orcs, favored by the Vertinals for their simple needs that can and are exploited, offering prime meats as targets and weaponizing their sexual frustrations against their many jealous foes. Aside from that, their own source of income is Rompus.

Structure

The Great House of Vertinal is officially a hereditary absolute monarchy, with the eldest of their blood inheriting all assets and control over the accumulated power of the House from the previous monarch. All members of the Vertinal line are required to wear magic suppression devices usually in the form of a necklace when performing statecraft in order to prove their identity, ensuring all members stay within their lane. However as stated previously, this would be the case in a perfect world. The highly competitive Vertinal siblings, hungry and jealous of their spoon-fed eldest instead prefer to flex their training in tax evasion to avoid even the gaze of their own flesh and blood, retaining what wealth they can for personal spending. Consequently, the Great House operates much similarly to an oligarchy of elite patricians, each with their own equally influential estate complete with a private industry and military comparable to the state's. And to further complicate their already broken House, this divided loyalty extends to even their Houses, with different members of subsidiaries announcing allegiance to specific Vertinal blood rather than the Great House as a whole or its rightful ruler. Typically competitive, but what a Vertinal hates more than their obnoxious family is any outside influences nosing around where they shouldn't. They have been known to be strangely cooperative in times of crisis should a foreign power decide to exploit their apparent weakness, only to have the entirety of the gold-hoarding lunatics barreling down on their, or rather underneath them. Corruption, bribes, intrigue, an enemy's own men and advisers will turn against their ruler in a matter of days should anyone dare to think about seizing Vertinal assets; even if the idea isn't finalized, the Vertinals will know of potential dangers to their safety long before it becomes official on paper, and they will be ready to retaliate

Everchanging, Everknowing.

Founding Date

9

Type

Geopolitical, Great house

Demonym

Vertinal

Leader

Vrin Vertinal

Parent Organization

Regent Vicarvoyancy Assembly