The Four Families of Maezberg
The Four Families of Maezberg is a name given to the loose coalition of powerful Wytchborne Families that control the Devil Town district, and by extension the majority of the independent Wytchborne activity within the city.
The Four Families of Maezber are:
The Four Families Devil Town Estates
Each of the Four Families controls distinct parts of with Devil Town but centralizes its power in a small number of city blocks that are fortified both physically and mystically. These small areas are known as the Family's Estate and are where the head of the family and their most prominent underling reside. The Estates are also where the Families store their wealth and treasure and locate their most sensitive operations. These Estates are protected to such a degree that even the surrounding roads have been redirected to form powerful encircling protection sigils.Relations Between the Four Families
While the Four Families compete against each other, sometimes to the degree that it ends in violence, they abide by an ancient code of conduct, almost as old as the Empire, known as The Meritocracies of Mischief. This agreement has fostered an environment of 'growth through conflict' both in Devil Town and between the Four Families themselves, and is responsible, in no small part, for the bargaining power and favour the Four Families have accumulated with the The Empire of the Known World.Power & Influence
Though firmly rooted in Devil Town the Four Families have webs of power and influence that extend throughout the Empire and beyond. This power comes from criminal enterprises, the trading of vices, blackmail, persuasion, and permanent problem-solving. The Wytchborne's infernal abilities are ideally suited the production of strange intoxicants and the supply of strange pleasures, whist their affinity for the sniffing out of secrets and nurturing corruption means they are always able to find new markets. This has led to the creation of a huge sprawling network of indulgence, a web where a tug on a single strand can deliver almost anything required The Four Families employ this network in furtherance of their ultimate end, which is simply the growth and survival of the Four Families, although the mosaic of tiny goals and endeavours that comprise the big-picture of thus agenda can often seem contradictory and baffling, comprised, as they are, of dizzying layers of interwoven conspiracy.The Four Families & The Imperial Throne
One of the most successful and strategic uses of the Four Families' vast power is that of making its use covertly available to the current holder of The Imperial Throne. Exchanging favours and solutions with the crown, whilst showing loyalty and discretion, has made the Four Families an invaluable tool for manifesting Imperial whim in subtle and invisible ways, a fact that has bought the Families considerable protection from both Church and state,The Commission of Mischief
Whilst the Four Families govern themselves, issues of competition and cooperation between the Families is controlled by a council of the four heads of the individual families, an organization known as The Commission of Mischief, a secret meeting at ever-changing locations which convenes to negotiate and vote whenever the need arises. Whilst the Commission has four voting members, that is the Family heads, there is a fifth, non-voting member, who is assigned the title The Visigoth. The Visigoth is a Natal Wytchborne that is selected by the Commission based on their skill and reputation, and it is assigned task of acting as an intermediary between the Comission and the Imperial Throne.Wytchborne Within the Four Families
All Natal Wytchborne residing within Devil Town are required to swear allegiance to one of the Four Families, although the demands placed on an individual by this oath vary in accord with how involved they are in Family business. Should Imperial authorities seek to punish or question an individual Natal Wytchborne it is understood that the responsible Family will either enforce the punishment or deliver the transgressor into Imperial hands - although those Wytchborne with sensitive Family knowledge often find they meet unfortunate accidents before they can be turned-over to the official authorities. Technically all oaths of allegiance to the Families are formally broken when a Wytchborne becomes Assimilated, although it is not unheard of for the Families to apply subtle pressure or offer generous incentives to previous Family members on occasion. Likewise, though the Four Families are forbidden from any interactions with Atavistic Wytchborne, there are always exceptions that prove the rule.The Church and the Four Families
While the Church has formal procedures in place for monitoring and supporting Assimilated Wytchborne they have no such authority when it comes to Natal Wytchborne inside the confine of Devil Town, effectively rendering the Church officially impotent to move against the Four Families on their home ground. After a great deal of heated negotiation at the highest levels of state an agreement was reached to allow the Church to maintain one small base of operations in Devil Town, the Last Chapel, from which they can monitor the area, the populus, and of course the Four Families for serious transgressions and Devil Worship, and while the Church does manage to exert some pressure against the most egregious and obvious criminality and internalism, most of the time the Church's concerns fall upon ears deafened by politics and necessity. Still, the Last Chapel stands as a single bastion of faith inside Devil Town, and inside the chapel's walls Church law holds absolute and the ground remains hallowed. This has made the chapel invaluable in the Church's covert operations in Devil Town, for not only does it give the Church a place from which to coordinate its activities, it also provides a sacturary of holy ground where members of The Immaculate Sisterhood can replenish the power of their miracles, something impossible in the rest the unhallowed ground that comprises Devil Town.
Ruling Organization
Location
Controlled Territories
Related Species
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