The Six Great Families
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A hush fell over the Star Chamber. The breath of conversation and the heartbeat of dancing footsteps stilled. The doors of the Great Hall that had briefly been closed swept open again and as one body all those in the Hall sank in a bow like a wave sweeping back from the shore. The herald announced their names but unnecessarily so as they were already known to all. The four men and two women glided down the steps into the swell of people below. The music flowed back and the dance continued, but with a more considered and grander air, out of respect for the powers that now moved within it.
The history of the Six Great Households of Lalenth is older than the walls of the city itself and also something of a genealogical mystery. If the Lalenthrian Peninsular has always been as isolated and now, it is difficult to imagine how it is that the population came to dwell there at all. Records do not extend that far back but tradition holds that the population of Lalenth originated from a group of tribes that inhabited the area. It is uncertain what prompted these tribes to unify but the majority of historians speculate that it was to defend against the hostile environment of the Wastelands. The sustained stability of the city suggests that there may at one point have been a major threat that forced the tribes into a cooperative union. Children are taught that the family names have been handed down the generations from those earliest of tribal leaders.
The authority of the families has never been contested, possibly because of the cities prosperity. Rebellion will only breed where there is dissent and dissatisfaction. These households are responsible for all major decisions made concerning the city. They also act as its judges, its administrators, and treasurers. The Six Great Families should not be seen as holding the city in an iron grip, jealously clinging to power. No one on the city is prevented from rising to power and many houses have been given noble status due to merit and success. One can be born in the gutter and die lying on silk. However the only way to become a member of these families is to be born into them or marry into.
At this point it seems unlikely that the position of these households will be shaken in the near future, although the guilds are ever increasing in influence and wealth and some guild masters are beginning to test the constraints of the nobility's superiority. Some speculate that there may come a time when the powers of commerce will rise above the powers of blood and Thread Weaving. Certainly, the thought of the taxes that will soon be levied to pay for the Seventh Arch has been the cause of much grumbling among the artisans and merchants. The time when this grumbling may escalate to any direct opposition, however, still seems far off. For now the Six Great Families enjoy the elevated status that they have for generations.