There are ten Veinlords corresponding to rivers of various sizes in Zige. There are cliques and hierarchy amongst them that is continually squabbled over, and most suffer from a tendency to gossip. Rumors spread between them, influenced by their own courts, and small kernels of truth develop into fantastical stories.
One such rumor involves the three largest rivers. Those Veinlords possess the most influence in discussions pertaining to all due to their greater access to resources, large court systems, and high populations. Because each is suspicious of the other, these lords are always concerned that people who have vendettas against them personally will go out of their way to influence a more prominent Veinlord to deny them help or to otherwise bully them. Whether these fears are normally founded is another question.
The internal term for these supposed persons who use a powerful Veinlord to do their own bidding are "shadow rivers." Some shadow rivers are spouses or partners of the Veinlord or other members of their court, so there are some elaborate rituals concocted to ease these fears. Families and court members of Veinlords are regularly engaged with each other, for feast days, holidays, shows, and excursions.
shadows
The slang term for someone trying to exert their will through persuading a powerful veinlord is a "shadow". Shadows can be anyone. Accusations of shadowhood are not common because a failed accusation makes the accuser look petty and unintelligent, often resulting in ostracization. If the accusation has enough weight to be properly investigated, the retaliation is often less than if the accusation can be easily dismissed, as it shows that while there may have been ulterior motives, there's enough uncertainty it was wise to check.
Real shadows often operate with much more delicacy and conspiracy. Real shadows, in fact, can survive an accusation of shadowing. Because who can really say how much influence is too much? They'll have allies in investigative communities, they'll have threats or promises keeping a Veinlord silent, or they'll have great popular appeal. The real shadows hide in plain sight and deep behind the scenes.
famous shadows
The most famous shadow was the spouse of Ghube Ghisisi, Nova Khogieh̨e. Nova used Ghube's power to live a luxurious lifestyle, upgrading them from a single regular house to a vast mansion. A justification was that it would introduce new jobs to upkeep the new space, and they could hold other court meetings in new spaces, but it did also make for a new lovely home.
Nova's wishes grew more extravagant until she and Ghube started to make excuses to journey and adventure to other rivers and places, hoping to make note of rivers with powerful energy and begin to track the development of new Veinlords. Nova swayed opinion about who should be able to rule these distant rivers, and their opinions found their way from their mind to Ghube's mouth as she declared these things.
The entire history of these other Veinlords has been set into motion by someone who was not a Veinlord.
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