Great House Solens Arc
One of nine current Great Houses of the Imperial Venerate and one of two original Houses of the Meridian, Great House Solens Arc was charged by Astralshaper herself to handle all aspects of Necromancy, from harvesting and handling to Transmutation and particulate bonding. For the first century of the Meridian, this implied the defense against undead and eldritch spells employed by unruly insurgents, rebel upstarts, and violent trans-dimensional beings. And for that entire century, House Solens Arc flourished, owing their origins to a secret society of necromancers and liches that specialized in dabbling in the unlovable and gruesome dark arts of Necromancy. In those simple times before Astralshaper's empire, the reclusive and obsessed occultist organizations relished in the study and understanding of life, death, and undeath. They focused their efforts on manipulating their potential to manipulate and animate all living things, though at a cost. Many had to relinquish their humanity and mortality to become undying and all-powerful liches to sustain their insatiable curiosity to seek and learn. While their practices have been shunned historically as taboo in most societies, they are typically scientists at heart, though possess the unnerving capability to be domineering and disrespectful in their quest for what should not be. When magic became commonplace and accepted during the Death of the Dream era when the Meridian was in its infancy, wizards and warlocks alike took to the streets, once prosecuted, now free to do as they saw fit, cashing in sums of resources and currency for their valuable services as mercenaries. The necromancers were no exception, though were far more connected and family-like as an order than practitioners of other schools of magic, and thus most of their funds went into communal improvements. Soon enough, conclaves of necromancers began sprouting up across the empire, concerning most, but intriguing the ever-watching Astralshaper. They were an exotic curiosity to her, as they betrayed all their stereotypes, always keeping to themselves and stepping in when the balance of civilization and their local community was threatened. They accumulated swathes of followers, protecting entire towns single-handily against evil-doers that sought conquest or wealth in the absence of militia or legion. Consequently, they became something akin to Houses: an idea just now being incorporated and organized in the newly founded Meridian. She watched them as she reinforced the core provinces, seeing them selflessly improve and finance the defenses and livelihoods of the provinces they occupied; and so she took the leap and elevated them to House status. They immediately took to the responsibility with grace, requesting reassignment across the Meridian's chaotic realm, bothered by the immature flaunting of magic in some regions. Occupying various higher administrative roles, they proved to be patient and cunning, able to cautiously and effectively stomp any major or minor issue that would come about, diplomatically employing the assistance of other unalike Houses and local militias to defend her territory. While broke and in a perpetual deficit for their selflessness, they somehow persevered and were nothing short of impressive as a unit to Astralshaper, improvising genius solutions to common problems many other administrators would overlook. She augmented their capabilities with Great House Vertinal's acquired funding, then ascended them to Great House status in R.33 for their contributions, agreeable nature, and non-ambitious posture.
Great House Solens Arc continued to demonstrate absolute subservience to Astralshaper, content with their lot in life as intermediate governors and lords for the mortal races; some necromancers even displayed enough merit to earn the respect of Dragon-dominated regions and were put in charge of the same. However, many of the other Houses and Great Houses grew fearful of their ever-expanding influence over the empire and went out of their way to limit their advance, with very little in terms of regulation to dissuade violence as a means to that end. Of course, being necromancers and populists, they were nearly untouchable through typical channels, be it through conquest or intrigue, boasting a guile rivaling that of even the Vertinals. And so the Houses did the one thing they did best when out of options: they made noise to their empress, Astralshaper. She dismissed their ridiculous fabrications that Solens Arc was determined to undermine her empire, given they have been nothing but beneficial in the short and long-term of her master plan. However, they persisted their cries, gathering traction among the other aristocratic Houses until nearly 90% of the Houses were at her doorstep, intimidated by Great House Solens Arc's power base, convinced by other members that they were next to be deposed and replaced. Seeing little choice, she opted for the next-best solution, ordaining a second Great House from Solens Arc, thereby splitting them in two; and so Great House Monolith was born by the turn of R.73. They were conceived for two simple reasons: to get the rabble off her back, and to contend with any future ultimatums by proclaiming a dedicated Enchantment Great House that worked hand-in-hand with not only the Necromancy Great House, but also displayed the same loyalty as them to Astralshaper, being apart of the same metaphorical tree. And her plan was functional for the most part, though many Necromancers under both Monolith and Solens Arc were displeased enough with the decision to regress back into their independent, reclusive societies hidden away from the Imperial political scene. She respected their need for retreat and left them be, with both her new loyalist Great Houses taking care of all issues together just fine. In modern times, Great House Monolith and Solens Arc share an inseparable bond and are always seen working with each other. The Necromancy Great House however has since veered away from high-visibility positions, having constantly been berated and under pressure from the Imperial Venerate for their "ambitious tendencies". Instead they have chosen to isolate themselves, developing and maintaining new technologies to protect and improve the Meridian as a whole from the side-lines, creating notable ground-breaking inventions such as Intelligence Archives, Necromatic Sensors, and Wards. However, given the extreme nature of their associated Necromatic particulate and the usual slow-paced patience of the Great House, progress was slow and steady, their exports lacking, though still netting a positive income through the resell of various augments and gizmos that assisted in logic gating, ranging, detecting, and absorbing life energies. Their products, due to their rarity are notoriously expensive yet required by most Houses, with Privateers and Great Houses such as Autonon going so far as to steal and pillage their resources and technologies, as they are unable to pay the extortionate prices. This has incited them to maintain a formidable military presence to dissuade assault against their facilities, though rarely flexes their power for harm.
Under Great House Solens Arc, there are two subsidiary Major Houses:
House Tuvoriz
A loyal House, tasked with the construction and manufacturing of common Necromatic components and to ensure the protection of Solens Arc assets outside of the cities, hosting a majority of the military might for the whole school.House Mono Heart
A very disloyal House with a defector IA government that overrides the Citadel, they collaborate with House Valiant and disregard all orders from their respective Houses and contribute very little to their success.Structure
The closely-knit Necromancers of Solens Arc require little in way of bureaucracy due to their innate cooperation, instead preferring an administration for the sake of administration than governance. With the advent of Intelligence Archives, Solens Arc had developed a super-sentient Citadel that processed and recorded all inputs from across the Meridian, from Ward integrity to logistical accounting. Most of their operations are completely automated, with all necromancers wielding the same authority as the next; only a select handful entrusted with the care of IAs like that of the Citadel held any form of superior political leverage. In short, the only downside of their organization is the unionized librarians that tended to the Archives, responding very poorly to micromanagement from other necromancers, believing themselves above the need for higher orders. Despite this small short-coming, it has had very dramatic implications as new IAs are pre-programmed to prioritize the requests of this undercut union over Solens Arc or even the Citadel. Additionally and unrelated, Solens Arc also has a lower-tier of laborers that any member of any Necromancy or Enchantment House can lawfully command. Deckannima slave-laborers have become commonplace as the "dregs" of society, occupying unsavory positions such as soldiers and magic "janitors" tasked with the protection of all assets and personnel from particulate assault. They are summoned and killed at will through the use of specialized tablets they call "cards", assigned to hazardous locations in place of the old races. Though overall, the living Citadel itself retains the position as the "technical" leader of Solens Arc, all members within respecting its analytically driven recommendations as perceived commands, happily carrying out its will as it compiles and reacts solely to the facts.
Of the Night, Forever Brooding, Forever Dark.
Founding Date
33
Type
Geopolitical, Great house
Demonym
Solens Arcan
Leader
Parent Organization
Comments