Noble Houses of Infernus

---

And they are the pillars, designated by his own blessing, to lead this Realm in his absence. Recognized for their power, their leadership, and most of all, their loyalty to the Realm, they are the ones that will continue our prosperity. And when our next golden age comes, let it be known now that it was them that guided us to such fruitfulness.

—Elder Demon Iin'vrai'kulniil Lu'kiinolz

---

Even among the numerous Planes of Existence, the Noble Houses of Infernus are quite famous for their successes and achievements that have become the envy of many other species. The only species that rivals the prosperity of the Noble Houses are the Orders of Angels of Paradiso, and oddly enough, humans in The Mortal Plane (even though they are completely unaware of it).
Founded in Solar Year 052 NS, the Noble Houses of Infernus is a form of governance that puts power into the hands of the many recognized families of the Realm. Learning from their past mistake of the Ancients wanting power solely for the 7 Primordial Ancients, the Elders devised the system to spread power among many. Such power could not only be properly contained but would also have several systems of checks and balances.

Power to the Many

The Ancients were incredibly powerful and were almost perfect embodiments of Zan'nal'takriin's greatest seven ideals. Although it's still uncertain which of these ideals sparked the wanting of all power into the 7 Primordial Ancients, it's speculated that Az'liin'kol, often called Lust, was the driving force for the events leading to the Infernus Civil War and, ultimately, the end of the Ancients.
After the Civil War, and after Zan'nal'takriin had left for The Crossroads, the survivors, the Overrulers, the first line of Elders, were left on their own to rebuild the Realm. It was up to them to figure out why their beloved Realm had suffered such a disastrous fate. So, the Elders came up with the solution to split power into the hands of many: Iin'vurnu vol Kaliin'marnuvaz, meaning The Powerful Houses of Nobility of Infernus.
Another revision to the old ways of governance was Zan'kalii shol Kri'iivnii, The Divided Lands of Unity. This system divided Infernus into 5 levels of governments: Zul'nan, Zan'val, Zan'nil, Zan'kiil, and Zan'furniir. Zan'kalii shol Kri'iivnii is directly tied with Iin'vurnu vol Kaliin'marnuvaz.

Of the 3 Noble House Structures

Noble Houses, in a nutshell, keep royal powers from having too much power by being able to vote on pieces of proposed legislation that a royal family may wish to enact into law. Noble Houses can veto pieces of legislation in a Zan'nil or a Zan'val by a 4/6ths majority of all noble households in either.
Aside from being actively engaged in the legislature of Infernus, noble houses also have special domains they all privately own. These domains always adhere to the laws of both Zan'val and Zan'nil. Additionally, a noble domain can also have its own set of laws. Noble houses also have private militaries that are under their direct commands. These militaries are called the Ol'viilun, or the "Fighters of the Noble."
The Noble Houses of Infernus is split into 3 different types: Greater, Lesser, and Honored Houses. Each house is different from the other in various ways, but each one has one thing in common; each Noble House in Infernus has a seat in the Iniil'shazul Council.

Greater Noble Houses

The Greater Noble Houses are the oldest and most powerful of all houses in Infernus. What sets these houses apart are that they are all direct descendants of Zan'nal'takriin. Often seen as directly blessed by Zan'nal'takriin, the only way these houses were formed was to be both a direct descendant of The Great Devil as well as being blessed by him. Although there are still many direct descendants of the Father of Demons, he is no longer present, having self-banished after the 4th Great Holy War.
These houses were all formed during the Elder Rule, and at the peak of their rule, there existed a total of 150 Greater Noble Houses. Unfortunately, after the Avriin'durel Plague, that number was cut to 109. And after the 4th Great Holy War, the number was further cut to 82. In modern-day, 72 of the original 150 Greater Noble Houses are still alive. No new greater houses can ever be formed, as one of the two requirements for forming one is gone.
These houses can have up to 5,000 servants in their Ol'viilun. Also, and unique to only the greater noble houses is Duriin'miin, "Personal Herald Fighters," which are small but proficient and sworn personal guardians/servants to a greater house's family members. Both the Ol'viilun and Duriin'miin have their own hierarchies, but the Duriin'miin is a bit more complex.
Another unique aspect of these houses is Kal'raavul, "Sacred Weaponry." These are unique and powerful artifacts that have incredible powers. Each greater house has one to two, and each is heavily guarded. One such Kal'raavul is House Avernus's "Secrets of Borrowed Time Grimoire," which holds the knowledge of what is said to be the greatest spiritual spell of all time: Borrowed Time, a spell that defies the laws of mortality itself, where pain becomes rejuvenation and death becomes life.

---

The Greater Noble Houses are also the ones that play the largest roles in Infernus's governance. At the top are the 7 High Royal Families of the Realm; these families' lineages all traced back to the original 7 Primordial Ancients. These 7 Families, Houses, Avernus (Satan'na), Lu’kiinvir (Lucifer), Niil’zinkuv (Beezlebub), Levii’dinviian (Leviathan), Da’non (Mammon), Az’linzus (Asmodeus), Bel’ziinlur (Belphegor), all comprise Enkiil'mal, or "Greatest Oversight." This level of governance is at the level of an entire realm or Zul'nan: there are seven high royal families and continents; each realm is governed by one. Each of these families has a large domain, and always the largest, domain of any noble house.

Sure they're high kings and queens and the literally the most powerful devils in the Realm. But that doesn't mean they get to rule with an iron fist. That time came and nearly wiped out our existence. As far as they're concerned, they set the law at the highest levels only, and even then, they're prettyvague and open for interpretation. And furthermore, us, yes our house, gets to veto them if we don't like their laws.

- Naomi Zaliin

Although a single high royal family leads entire realms, they don't have total control of the realm. They are oath sworn to Julamiir'umiil, the "Limitation of Powers of Royalty." This doctrine acts as a constitution that limits royalty's authority, i.e., a High King or King cannot make a law of his own accord. It must be passed by a special counsel (these councils vary depending on their kingdoms). High Royal Families each have one seat (always the High King and Queen) at the Iniil'shazul Council and sit the closes to the seats of The Council of the Elders

---

Ruling over a Zan'val, a kingdom, are another type of greater noble House: the Royal Families. Of the 72 Greater Noble Houses, there are 16 Royal Families. These families are responsible for upholding the higher form Enkii'yol, "Great Oversight." This system is near identical to Enkiil'mal, the biggest difference being that governance is at a smaller level.

Well, they make the law for our entire Zan'val. You know, Zan'nil kii U'liis, Ba'luna, Univiil, Ka'ulin, and Ku'ul. If I'm not mistaken your old home had a similar system. I guess you'd call them states, but we call them kingdoms...well sort of.

- Naomi Zaliin

Each royal family rules over a single Zan'val, which is comprised of Zan'nil. Like high royal families, these families are also given a single seat at the Iniil'shazul Council and sit behind their seats. They also make up the 2nd largest of domains of the noble houses.

---

The rest of the 49 Greater Noble Houses are not considered royalty but are still highly respected in the Realm. These houses are all still unique; the biggest difference between them and the Royalty of the Realm, the size of governance they have. These houses don't govern Zan'val nor Zan'nil. Instead, they govern their own special domains within a zan'nil. Although considered a low level of rule, they still uphold Enkii'yol.

Sure we're not royalty, but we were made just the same by our Great Lord. But most importantly, we're his direct bloodlines. His blood after hundreds of millenia still coursing and burning hotter than the Infernos itself within us.

Amanda Saleos

These families are all given 1/2 seat (in terms of voting, not literally) at the Iniil'shazul Council and sit behind the Royal Families. Their domains are large but considerably smaller than that of their Royal counterparts. Unlike their royal counterparts, not all Zan'nil in Infernus contain a non-royal greater family.

System: Hybrid Constitutional Monarchal Federation (in mortal terms)
Current Number of Houses: 72 Greater | 160 Lesser | 436 Honored

Noble House Structures

Greater & Lesser Blood-Born Family

Noble Houses Blood-born Family Structure by bnichs

---

Duriin'miin

Duriin'miin Hierarchy by bnichs

---

Ol'viilun

Ol'viilun Hierarchy by bnichs

Lesser Noble Houses

Formation & Brief History
Lesser Noble Houses are those that were formed after the 1st The Kur'ska. These houses, although they are noble, differ the greatest from Greater Houses in the fact that they aren't direct descendants of Zan'nal'takriin. Unfortunately for these families, the All-Father's blood doesn't run through them, although these families did receive the divine blessing of him. The lesser houses are also slightly different in their formation due to a great number of them having been created after Zan'nal'takriin's banishing, blurring the lines on their true definition. Between the lesser houses exists a minor divide: those formed before the Contemporary Rule and after. Those formed before are often seen as val'molun, "blessed lesser." Those formed after the Contemporary Rule are seen as val'kiimol, "unblessed lesser." Although a minor division, in the past, this led to hostility between the two classes of Lessers. The largest and most prominent issue between the two was that val'molun received Zan'nal'takriin's blessing while he was present (as in the family was literally touched by him). Val'kiimol received the blessing differently. Instead of Zan'nal'takriin being present, his blessing was handed down by the power of the Elders, believing they had the power to offer such a thing.
Many of the val'molun houses saw this a form of weakness of the val'kiimol and often saw them as inferior. This angered the val'kiimol, and often threatened to take action against their supposed superiors, often acting against them or sabotaging them in petty ways. The classes went back and forth for two generations, and luckily without a single casualty until the mortal year 532 CE: the Azan'panjal Incident.
The Azan'pajal incident was a large battle in the city of Azan'pajal (Realm of Lust) against House Sarjol by House Niimuniik. House Niimuniik, a val'kiimol, had enough of House Sarjol's insult on them and challenged them to a house-wide duel to prove the house's worthiness. House Nimuniik bested House Sarjol, but the Sarjol house, their pride having been beaten the most, found the result unacceptable. What was supposed to have been a duel between houses turned into all-out warfare between the two. House Sarjol, in their anger, killed every member of House Numiiniik, with Sarjol having lost almost every member of their own. In the end, the House was taken to The Council of the Elders, and the incident turned into a recognized Realm-wide issue.
The issue was never resolved for several years until the The Elder Council came up with a new idea: introduce something, rather, someone that was below both. Something that could quell the issue of the val'molun not seeing the val'kiimol as equals. And so, what was decided was to finally open up Infernus to the other worlds, namely the The Mortal Plane. Introduced those that not just the lesser houses saw as inferior, but devils and demons together. Humans.
The idea of introducing mortals into the realm, even to the Elders, surprisingly worked. It worked so well that both lesser houses were able to put aside their old ideologies and embrace a new one that saw that all devils were equal. However, although the lesser houses were now united, a new dangerous, and extremely unethical practice was formed; not just lesser houses, but all devils seeing the humans as vastly inferior and weak, took them as slaves to the bidding of their new masters.

---

Zan'kalii shol Kri'iivnii & The Iniil'shazul Council
Like Greater Noble Houses, the Lesser Houses have their own domains that they rule over. However, they are also much more limited in their rule. First and foremost is the size of their domains; most often than not, the size of the domain of a lesser house is around half of a greater house. These houses also don't make laws like their greater counterparts. Similarly, they also have ol'viilun, though, they are only allowed 1,000 fighters rather than 5,000.
Also lacking for the lesser houses are Kal'raavul. Lesser Houses have none and are never allowed a single one. Instead, what they are given are giin'raakol, "honored weaponry." Although not in the same league as kal'raavul, giin'raakol lack the same magical qualities, but in return, are always exclusively made of the best materials in the realm by an Elder. These weapons are also personally engraved by the Elder that made the weaponry, then giving his honors to the family.
Being a part of the Noble System, lesser houses have their seats at the Iniil'shazul council. Being that is more than double lesser houses than greater houses, each is given a 1/4 seat to make sure power is kept in balance. At present their are 160 Lesser Noble Houses throughout Infernus.

Honored Houses

History & Formation

At the end of the Contemporary 2 Line (Generation New Dawn), the Elders declared that no new Lesser Houses were to be made, feeling that the ability that they were allowed to was too much power and violated In'vurnu kii Riin'volkol sa Nai'iinu, "Infernus Promise of Advisory and Oversight." It wouldn't be until the Contemporary 4th Line (Generation Influence) that any new Noble Houses would be created.
At the end of the Contemporary 3rd Line (Generation Integration), Mortals had enough of being slaves and revolted against the devil society of the time. To the surprise of even the Elders, the Mortals staged a revolution that lasted 30 mortal years (7 Infernus Solar Years) and forcefully drew a stalemate with the then devils. Although Mortals had suffered drastic losses in their revolution, their hearts and determination to free themselves and declare themselves as not inferior to devils was brought to the attention of the most powerful Elder in the Realm, Ev'kiilos Zanii'vol.
For the entirety of the revolution by humans, The Elder Council stayed passive, closely watching Mortals. After the Battle of Sanviilshun, where mortals managed to force the Greater Noble House of Orobas out of their own domain, the Council decided to intervene. In 175.230 NS, Elder Ev'kiilos Zanii'vol invited the leader of the revolution, Anna Duca, to the Iniil'shazul Council of that year. There at the council, much to many of the Realm's Noble Houses discontent, Duca explained in great detail why Mortals were revolting and that if they couldn't come to a resolution that they'd continue fighting until the last person was dead.

The fact is, the one you all refuse to acknowledge, is that I'm here now, a human among devils and demons. Invited by one of your greatest, and allowed to speak by all your greatest. You would all be so blind and ignorant should you still fail to recognize us as equal. And if you don't...we will fight until our last man or woman is dead. For a fate of being reborn a slave is a fate worse than death itself.

- Anna Duca

Duca delivered a speech that lasted 4 hours at the council, pouring every frustration and piece of anger that Mortals had towards the devil society. As her speech drew on, devils began to see what she was speaking of, especially the val'kiimol. The val'kiimol, in shame and disgrace, were the first to recognize the errors of their ways, their actions hypocritical from the times they wished to be seen as equal by the val'molun and now acting the same as their former oppressors.
Once the val'kiimol admitted their wrongdoings, a majority of the other Noble Houses followed suit. Once Duca had convinced the devil society of wrongdoings, she had only one request for her species: that they would be officially recognized by the Council as equal to devils. Such a request would finally free mortals after 345 mortal years of slavery and allow them to have the same opportunities in the Realm as Devils.

Duca's request was put on hold for a one solar year, until the next meeting of the Iniil'shazul Council. The fighting between Mortals and Devils, although not officially resolved, was ordered into a ceasefire. All operations of slavery were frozen, but slaves were still not free.
The following year (175.231 NS), Duca's request was brought back to the Iniil'shazul Council. Once more, Duca was called back, and this time requested to bring her top revolutionaries. There at the council, Duca's request was the final topic to be spoken of. Her request, after a year of anxious waiting by Mortals, was put to the vote. With a unanimous vote, the request that Mortals, rather, the Human race to be recognized as equal to Devils was passed. Furthermore, by the declaration of all seven of the high royal families, Anna Duca was named duvnaziinshol, "one who has proved to be of great honor and respect."
After her naming, once the Council was about to close, Elder Ev'kiilos proposed something no devil would have imagined: begin new Nobility lines, the Duca surname being the first. No one waited, and no argued. The proposal went to a vote immediately. With a unanimous vote, the Duca surname became the first Noble House to be formed after the last Lesser Noble House. Thus, with the formation of the Honored House of Duca, the next and final type of Noble Houses began.

---

Zan'kalii shol Kri'iivni & The Iniil'shazul Council
The Honored Houses are the lesser powers of the three different types. Unlike the Greater and Lesser Houses, they are not given a domain to rule over. However, in recognition of their achievement of obtaining such a status, they are given a large lot of land that they can privately own by decree of either a high royal or royal family. The amount of land given to an honored house can range between 70 - 120 acres, depending on where the house wishes to settle.
Unfortunately for Honored Houses, they are not allowed Kal'raavul nor even Ol'viilun. They are allowed giin'raakol, although their weapons are specially made by the royalty that recognized them and not an Elder. Although optional, normal servants for these houses are allowed.
Any family, whether Devil or Moral, can become an Honored House. That is, however, not a feat that is so easily achieved. To become an Honored House, an individual or a family must do something of great worth to either a Zan'nil, Zan'val, or an entire realm. One such example of this is House Ferfulsh, its founder, a Devil by Giintolz Ferfulsh, founding the Infernus Rail System in Mortal Year 1724. The system is still used at present, both the biggest and most used in the rail, also being the primary means of transportation for the Greater and Lesser Houses.
Every Honored House is granted a seat at the Iniil'shazul Council, although since the number of them of vastly outnumbers any of the other houses, each house is worth 1/8 a seat. These houses sit the furthest from the Elder Council and before the space for allowed press. At present, there are 436 Honored Houses in Infernus, 259 Devil and 177 Mortal.