Tirikadessa Houses

Political Structure of a House
A Drow House is typically run by the leading family of the House, who is almost always the Matron and her immediate relations. Structurally, these break down into seven prominent roles for the House:

The House’s Matron is definitionally the leader and ruler of her house. Without question are her commands, without parallel is her power, and beyond question is the peril she is in, at all times.

The First Priestess of a House is the speaker of Lolth, responsible for the spiritual “well-being” of a House. She enforces proper Drow custom and cultural, functioning as the chief enforcer of the Matron and her second in command. This position, by tradition, falls to the eldest daughter of a Matron, meaning that a Priestess has a vested interest in seeing her mother perish.

The Second Priestess is the natural answer to the scheming of the First. Hypothetically holding equal power to the First, the Second Priestess is usually chosen from further down the line of succession, either as the youngest daughter or a favored niece. They function as a check to the First Priestess, and a stop gap to ambition. This role is not necessary to fill, however.

House Wizard is a subservient role in Drow Society, classically held by a male but sometimes in the hands of a female. The arcane and occult are seen as lesser to divine magic, but the use of a Wizard is far too potent to miss out on. Classically, this station falls to the eldest son of a Matron, or her brother.

House Weapon Master is, again, a position open to either male or female members of a House. They function as the leader of a house’s personal security, charged with the martial aspects of Drow life. If the Weapon Master is not the Matron’s lover, it is often a trusted child or sibling in this position, for commanding the soldiers of a House us a potent position indeed.

Elder Boy is probably the least prestigious position in the family, but it is not without power. This position falls to the eldest adult son of the Matron, who functions as the House’s informal task boy and overseer. He works to serve as a bargaining chip for his mother and House, when he isn’t ferreting out secrets and whispering them into the Matron’s ear.

Patron is the final position, and falls to the consort of the Matron. The Patron is her lover, her secret keeper, and her punching bag, a place for her to vent her emotions (whatever they may be) without reproof or resistance. To be a Patron is to live in wonder and dread… unless, of course, you have the power to make the Matron pay for the abuse you suffer (or she actually loves you, the even more unlikely prospect). Notably, Patron need not be a man: more than a few Houses allowed themselves to become subordinate by having their Matron become another’s Patron.

Amakiir
Matron Elama of House Amakiir was the First Priestess of her House, and was the heir apparent to her mother. However, her mother’s health rapidly deteriorated, and towards her final days Elama’s mother actually dissolved her House. For a time, House Amakiir was defunct, and it’s allies and occupants were in disarray, with a number of members trying to form new houses. It was Elama who chanced upon a way to change her fortunes when she was experimenting with clockwork. Mixing clockwork and pressurized steam inside of a suit of armor she wore, Elama was able to strong arm several families of House Amakiir into allying with her, distributing her steam armor to them and building up a suitably potent army. Within four years, Amakiir was restored, with Elama as Matron.

There are, of course, rumors about what happened to Elama’s mother. Everything from “it was Elama’s plan and went off the rails” to “it was a plot by the Church” has been applied. That no concrete evidence has emerged either way is taken as evidence in itself of conspiracy.

Cithreth
Cithreth is possibly the least dramatic of changes… paradoxically making it the most dramatic. Thiala Cithreth wasn’t a Priestess, but Cithreth’s Weapon Master. She received a vision from Lolth to venture into the Underdark and claim a magical sword, which she did. The Matron then stepped down, as did the First and Second Priestesses, and Thiala became Matron. To cement her ascension, Thiala underwent a trial of Lolth’s choosing, which was the ritual copulation with a Glabrezu, and then the following pregnancy with a Draegloth. Then the former Matron and Priestesses just dropped the pretenses and tried to kill her. Thiala sicced her Draegloth son on them.

Dalanthan
Elizabeth Dalanthan’s existence was a secret for the first fifty years of her life. Dalanthan was moving towards embracing a multi-racial and interracial existence, which was only really tolerated due to the Matron then being fully Drow. The city’s consensus was that, so long as the leadership of this mongrel house remained clean, they’d let it slide. Elizabeth thus spent her time as an information broker, coordinating everything she could learn to boost her ascension and take over from her mother. When her mom died, the Will left the position of Matron to Elizabeth, who by then knew too much to be safely eliminated. Elizabeth publicly revealed her Half-Human heritage, and the rest is history.

Dalanthan is mistrusted due to a large number of factors, from Elizabeth’s stable of confidential secrets to it’s control of the financial aspects of the city. The racial aspect is simply one reason that plenty of ladies give… that said, Dalanthan is also somewhat admired as an example of what it’s like to be a True Drow: that House has let nothing and no one stand in the way of their goals and ambitions. You’re just as likely to hear a woman compliment Elizabeth’s ruthless nature as you are to hear her rail against Elizabeth’s mother for bedding down with a Human.

It’s ruthlessness by proxy: when Vae became a priestess she worked her way up through the ecclesiastical hierarchy of her House until she hit Second Priestess. The first died under mysterious circumstances: her head was ground to a pulp with a sledgehammer. Elizabeth then named Vae First Priestess.

Nailo
Keyreth is the most famous for her very rapid ascension. She didn’t have the actual right to become the Matron of House Nailo, as the Matron had a First and Second Priestess, both Keyreth’s older sisters. Keyreth essentially led a revolt against the Matron, dragging her mother to the Alter of Lolth and sacrificing her. Lolth manifested there and then, and dragged both of Keyreth’s sisters into the Demon Web Pits, where presumably they linger to this day. Lolth (supposedly) declared Keyreth Matron.

She’s an old woman, six hundred years along, and has helped revolutionize the magical tools of the city. Her family was barely relevant when she was born, and through the careful blending of arcane, divine, and occult magic, Keyleth was able to leverage the understanding and application of magic to make her family completely indispensable to the city, and fabulously wealthy at that. She also assassinated everyone who challenged her, from the former Headmaster of Coldrock Academy to several cardinals of the church. She has, according to her own statement, taking the Trial of Visions multiple times to personally confer with Lolth herself.

Liadon
Matron: Ridaro Liadon.

First Priestess: Jhelnae, Ridaro’s eldest daughter.

Second Priestess: Zhindia, Ridaro’s second daughter.

Wizard: Sornafein, a Wizard of great repute from Coldrock. This position was originally held by Quietus, Ridaro’s brother.

Weapon Master: Briz’wae, the daughter of Ridaro’s sister (and Gindriia’s sister).

Elderboy: Presently Vacant.

Patron: Jearth. Gindriia’s and Briz’wae’s father.