Eight Houses of the Antivan Crows
The Antivan Crows are compartmentalized into family houses, in imitation of the great noble families of Thedas, with each member of that house, from its leaders to its rank and file assassins, taking the house's name as their family name. The leadership of the guild as a whole lies with the Eight Talons, who are the heads of each house. Lesser houses exist but have much less power than the main eight. These smaller houses are referred to as cuchillos (knives). These smaller houses shouldn't entirely be unmentioned, since it has been seen before where they usurped one of the larger, weaker houses.
A House shouldn't be treated as a group of people all of the same bloodline. Instead, it is a strict grouping of individuals who ally and contract themselves with the House. Someone of the bloodline could not be associated with their house if they are not an assassin. On the opposite end of the spectrum, an Antivan of no notable origin can be a part of a major Crow House despite having no blood-relation to the house itself.
The eight leading houses are as follows, listed from most powerful to least powerful: Dellamorte, Balazar, Valisti, Kortez, De Riva, Nero, Cantori, and Arainai. This list is constantly in fluctuation as finances empower or weaken a house.
Structure
Selected information can be found here regarding some of the houses.
House De Riva
Amongst Crows, the De Riva House is known to have some of the most skilled poisoners from throughout Thedas. The most noticeable of whom is their Talon who, if rumor is true, dines by drinking poisoned liquors and eating envenomed meats. The current king of Antiva is of the De Riva bloodline, but he is not affiliated with the House.House Nero
This house was once the richest in all of Antiva. They got their start pearl-diving just off the coast of Rialto Bay. At the time of their rise, it was an uncontested market since they had figured out ways to deal with the drowners. Members of the true bloodline have been "blessed by the Maker" with larger lungs, allowing them to stay underwater for long periods of time. Since the house is no longer limited to just those of the bloodline, this trait can no longer be expected from any member of the house. They fell from being the most powerful house during a stint where their house's finances were on the rocks. A noticeable portion of their assassins are city-elves, moreso than any other house.House Arainai
Spoiler: Campaign 1This House had been contracted to interfere with the Wardens during the Ferelden Civil War. Eventually, their contract was also to murder the highest members of the Warden's command. The assassin failed and ended up later defecting from their mission, instead choosing to help the Wardens. This reflected poorly on the house as a whole and also ended up costing them a lot of money for failing a high-profile contract, plummeting them from fifth to eight in the pecking order amongst the eight houses.
In response, the house sent assassins to go and assassinate their rogue-member. None were successful and after several prominent members of the house were assassinated, the house as a whole gave up on chasing the rogue-assassin.
Type
Geopolitical, Great house
Parent Organization
Related Ethnicities
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