Count
“They don’t draw swords—they draw crowds, secrets, and knives in the dark.”
DEFINITION
A Count or Countess governs a province or major urban region within the empire. Their power is based on wealth, court influence, and control over commerce or culture, not military might. They often act as imperial administrators, judges, or stewards of key cities or trade hubs.
They are the polished faces of the empire—until you look beneath the powder and lace.
ROLE & AUTHORITY
- Governance: Manage populous provinces, oversee infrastructure, enforce law and tax collection.
- Economic Gatekeepers: Control major trade routes, merchant guilds, and sometimes mining or magical resource rights.
- Court Players: Frequent the imperial capital, hold influence through marriages, blackmail, and political deals.
- Law & Order: Often serve as regional judges, although bribery and “noble exceptions” abound.
TRAITS & CULTURE
- Appearance Over Honour: They care deeply about image, legacy, and bloodline purity.
- Favourite Weapons: Reputation, scandal, and silver-tongued lies.
- Magic Use: Tends toward enchantments, illusions, or emotion-based magic—useful in manipulation and public performance.
- Raising Children: Groomed like chess pieces—trained in etiquette, debate, seduction, and court survival from childhood.
EXAMPLE HOUSE: VORTELLE
- Representative: Vivianne Vortelle, gossip queen and social saboteur at the academy.
- Territory: Oversees a cultural centre known for theatre, fashion, and propaganda.
- Speciality: Information warfare—rumour control, scandal engineering, and spy networks hidden behind velvet.
- Personality: Sharp-tongued, smiling, and vicious. She doesn’t duel—she destroys reputations.
SAYINGS ABOUT COUNTS
- “A Count’s blade is their tongue, and every sentence cuts.”
- “They shake your hand while buying your silence.”
- “To cross a Count is to vanish without scandal. They don’t break the rules—they change them.”
NARRATIVE FUNCTION
In your story, Counts and Countesses can be:
- Court puppeteers working for or against the imperial family.
- False allies—nobles who claim to support the Saint or oppose Rein, but switch sides for favour.
- Cautionary mirrors—showing what Rein might become if she leaned fully into manipulation and social dominance.
Comments