House Silva
House Silva is a powerful great house in The Aleanza ruled over by a dynasty of elves formerly known as the Shimmercourt. They rule from their seat of Silva Hold in the Shimmerlands and the current lord is a young elf named Yriel Silva who has taken his father's place after he was poisoned by assassins from the Khalrag Dominion and his mother went missing. House Silva is famous for its extremely powerful mages, masterful warriors and their harvesting and sale of most of the kingdom's magical components harvested from the enchanted forests that surround their home. Their house sigil is a white backround with a sky blue shining star and their house words are "When there is no other way, the perilous path is the only road to salvation."
Structure
House Silva is an ancient house descended from the bloodline of the elven kingdom known as the Shimmercourt, and while they were incorparated into The Aleanza, they have elected to maintain a degree of independence. Instead of vassal houses pledging their loyalty and holding their own fiefs, House Silva consolidates their power and has no vassal houses. They also forgo the system of Richters and the Aleanza's system of maintaining local government instead appointing individuals known as Sovereigns to oversee the two cities within the Shimmerlands, these individuals are always elves and are usually the sons or daughters of the current lord of House Silva. To assist the lord in carrying out managing such a large territory House Silva also has a unique council of consisting of powerful individuals in the territory which is referred to as the Shimmercourt, borrowing from the kingdom it the house descended from. House Silva operates under normal partition where the eldest child regardless of gender is elected to be the next lord upon the former's death.
Culture
House Silva, being made up of primarily ancient and nigh-immortal elves is almost alien when compared to the other cultures within The Aleanza. While they may seem passive to others, hiding in the safety of their dangerous forests, elves simply take longer to react to threats as in their eyes these are temporary and comitting to conflicts could lead to unneccesary deaths, as waiting 50 years for something to pass is nothing for an elf. They also hold a reverence for the natural world around them and take great care in maintaining the forest around them. Finally given their long lives the people of this region dedicate centuries to pursuing their various pursuits, becoming expert craftsmen, unmatched warriors, or devastatingly powerful mages.
Public Agenda
House Silva is incredibly wealthy with the region providing them a bevy of incredibly rare and valuable resources, and though they guard these closely they have gained much profit from selling their reserves. For House Silva, war is a last resort and in peacetimes prefer to maintain a bare minimum as far as an army goes, but has the capability to muster up to 10,000 soldiers armed with high quality half plate armor, finely crafted spears and masterwork shields. These soldiers are usually militia recruited from the human or half elf population and the elite few elves are put in reserves or deployed to a battlefield that best suits their talents. To other races this may seem cruel, but the cost of raising a single elf soldier could buy you an entire mercenary company of lesser races. These elite elves make up their core of mounted warriors, shock infantry and battlemages and do not number past 500.
History
House Silva was formerly known as the Shimmercourt which was a powerful kingdom of elves that bordered the other large kingdom of the continent, The Kingdom of Everboar. The two kingdoms have always had good relations and when both were absorbed by the newly formed Aleanza, this relation was further reinforced when the eldest daughter Lyra was married to the at the time lord of House Steins Anton Steins.
Demography and Population
The majority of the population is concentrated in the two ports within the region Port Nesnas and Silfond, but the pure elf population is concentrated within the forests. The population is mostly humans, half elves and elves, but the ports attract a variety of folks. Slaves are rarely seen in this region as despite recognizing their usefulness they see owning someone as barbaric.
Territories
House Silva occupies all the land within the Shimmerlands bordering House Steins. They have held these lands since the ancient kingdom of the Shimmercourt was founded.
When there is no other way, the perilous path is the only road to salvation.
Type
Geopolitical, Great house
Capital
Demonym
Silva
Leader Title
Family Leader
Parent Organization
Location
Controlled Territories
