The Seven Families of Agosia

Make no mistake, nothing comes in or out of Agosia without the knowledge of The Seven

Rilius Inkwise, “The Economies of Agosia”

There are three distinct powers within the Kingdom of Agosia. That of the Crown and the nobility, that of the Military, and that of the great merchant houses. The wealth that the merchant houses bring in to the kingdom is vast and through taxation by the crown, funds the ruling nobility and military of the Kingdom, creates a large amount of jobs across the Kingdom and even in places beyond the borders of Agosia. There are over 100 merchant houses in Agosia, divided subjectively by wealth and influence. At the top are The Seven, the most powerful merchant families in the Kingdom whose words influence rules across multiple continents and who employ multiple thousands of individuals across the lands. After The Seven, are the Great Houses. These are powerful merchant families in their own right, though not as powerful as one of The Seven, they still weird a large amount of influence and control trade networks that stretch all over the known world. There is no set number of Great Houses, and membership into this elite group is determined by a complex web of calculations involving net worth, assets, political influence, and social standing. Many of these have some degree of political tie to one or more of The Seven but not all of them are directly beholden to The Seven the way so many of the minor houses are beholden to the Great Houses. Under the Great Houses are the minor houses. These are smaller merchant families with just a few trade routes at most. Many of these are beholden to a Great House, much like a feudal system. Those that are independent have a difficult time navigating the cutthroat politics known as “the game” as One misstep can cause a more powerful house to take steps to eliminate the troublesome minor house. Though great are the bardic tales The current list of The Seven is:

• Sternsingers: Best known for their strong trade routes with the Eastern part of the continent and the Kingdom of Kholia.
• Saintilliard: Known for their control over 75% of the trade within Agosia itself and a large amount with the adjacent kingdoms.
• Sorrowfell: A mysterious merchant house that is best known for their exclusive trade routes to Iolathe and the Kingdom of the Dead.
• Ragnar: Headed by a a family of Dragonborn, this merchant family is best known for their trade with Dragonwall at the border of the Chaos Lands.
• Cinderbow: Best known for their exclusive trade routes with the Southern Kingdom of Samarah in the Akhaveen desert of Wynnmeare.
• Morningswift: One of two families that is ruled by Elves, the leader of this merchant family, Merith Morningswift, is a Moon Elf and hence it is widely believed this is why they have such strong trade routes with the Moon Elves of Wynnmeare.
• Highshade: The other Elven merchant family. Their head of house, Elneiros Highshade has near exclusive trade agreements with the Sun Elves in the traveling forest.