Mistborn: The Inquisition

HOUSE SORELLE
Major/High House

Player Leadership Information
Handle: Mora
OoC Account: Mora
Contact: PM or Discord
Accepting New Members? Ask


General Information
House Name: House Sorelle
Classification: High House
Socioeconomic Rating: 6
Colors: Ivory & sky blue
General Description: House Sorelle, a building house in the Eastern Dominance, is in turbulent times. Lord Jasper has mismanaged the family fortune, and the house is on the verge of ruin. Jasper's goal is to give Avril's hand to a wealthy suitor who would gift the family a substantial sum that would allow him to pay down the family's debts, not unlike selling off a prized cow.

Character Information
Head: Jasper Sorelle
Heir: Aric Sorelle
Player Members:
-Jasper Sorelle (b. 874)
-Avril Sorelle (b. 899)
NPC Members:
-Aric Sorelle (b. 906)
Miscellaneous:
-Heved, Terris steward (b. 837)
-Vela, skaa servant (b. 856)

Inquisition Notes

Home & Wealth
Current Location: Luthadel
Ancestral Home: Lynwood, Eastern Dominance
Financial Avenue: Building and construction; House Sorelle trains and employs architects and mastercraftsmen, and also has the natural resources of lumber and stone to fuel their trade

Diplomacy
-House Entrone – [Mostly positive] – Overall, the relationship between the two houses is a friendly one based on their long standing contract. However, the relationship is starting to show signs of wear as payments to Entrone have begun to trickle in past due.
-House D'Orsay– [Positive] House D'Orsays success expanding their presence throughout the Empire has sent work to House Sorelle. As D'Orsay works to expand the horse racing part of their business, Sorelle could benefit. The D'Orsays have a soft spot for Sorelle as their ancestral home was built by Sorelle hands.
-House Faarskar – [Neutral] House Faarskar has recently employed House Sorelle to build a manor in Fellise, but the arrangement was less about the merits of Sorelle craftsmanship and more about avoiding House Sureau.

Contracts
House Entrone: House Sorelle purchases cinderblocks and insulation from House Entrone's operations repurposing ash.
House D'Orsay: House Sorelle builds stables and other buildings for House D'Orsay, while the D'Orsays provide carts, draft horses, and drivers to haul stone and timber for House Sorelle.
House Faarskar: House Sorelle is actively working on building a manor house for House Faarskar. House Sorelle routinely enlists Faarskar's decorative metal and gemwork for building projects.

Governance & Customs

Jasper Sorelle is the official head of the house, but where generations of Sorelles have built the house from the ground up, brick by brick, Jasper has managed to bring it to its knees in less than a generation, through neglect, and destructive behavior.

His heir is his son, Aric, his second-born, as the line of succession favors male children and will only pass to daughters if there are no sons available to inherit within the main branch of the family. If the Lord is childless, the title would past to the closest living male relative.

History

The Sorelle family was granted lands in the Eastern Dominance by the Lord Ruler himself in times long past. The area the family settled came to be called Lynwood forest, after one of the earliest ladies of House Sorelle, Lynesse. Rich in timber and stone, it was a perfect place for the Sorelles to ply their building trade. The family, along with the other early settlers, and skaa rented from the Lord Ruler built the area up from wilderness into the vibrant community it is today, timber by timber and brick by brick. The Sorelle family is still one of the key drivers of the area's economy today, with its workforce of skilled architects, builders, masons, carpenters and craftsman, and skaa quarriers and loggers.

Lynwood Manor stands as the long-standing example of Sorelle design and craftsmanship, a hillside palace of sandstone and slate with round turrets reaching up like extended hands trying to grasp at the infinite sky. The impressive structure took over one hundred years to complete, while the Sorelle legacy took even longer to build, as the house ascended the ranks bit by bit over the centuries, to attain the rank of high house.

It took far less time for that legacy to begin crumbling.

Just over a decade ago, Lady Ashley Sorelle died in childbirth, her Soothing presence was gone from the world forever, and Lord Jasper Sorelle became a monster. He gave himself over to drinking, gambling, and whoring, draining the family purse while simultaneously barely lifting a finger to secure new contracts and maintain old ones. His daughter, Avril, with the help of their house steward, and few remaining skaa servants is trying her best to keep their legacy - and ancestral home - from falling apart, with her eye on the day when her brother will inherit the title of Lord Sorelle.

Manor Description

Lynwood manor is an old, majestic building, that had humble beginnings as a simple wooden structure back before records were kept. That was later replaced with a soaring architectural marvel of white sandstone, with tall, rounded towers reaching into the sky, shorter sections topped by high pitched roofs of dark slate roof tiles, crenelations, and romantic, conical peaks, each topped with the pale blue and ivory flag of House Sorelle. Built on a rocky rise, the manor dominates the surrounding landscape of brown and pale trees that provide lumber, along with the massive stone quarry where stones are cut for building. But the design elements don't stop with the exterior design, different areas of the structure boast a gallery of massive, stained glass windows, ornate mosaic tilework, and impressive ceilings - some fan-vaulted, timbered, cathedral-like, and others painted with frescos.

But the massive structure is not in its golden age. It has fallen on hard times, and though Avril and Heved work very hard to keep it in the best shape they can, their efforts are simply not enough. The exterior is partially kept up by a program Avril and Heved started, leveraging apprentice craftsman to do maintenance work on the building as part of their training.

The truth is easier to see on the inside, as the interior has been stripped of much of its former glory. Save for a few public rooms, the manor has very little furniture. The vast majority of statues, tapestries, fine china, decorative candlesticks and paintings have been sold off to pay bills, along with most of the books in the library. Most of the staff that is required to maintain the building has been dismissed, as funds are to tight to keep them on. What's left is a skeleton crew, which includes Avril herself, as no job is above her, despite being the lady of the house.

Sadly, this small band is unable to keep up with the volume of work the building requires, something is always in disrepair. This is made worse by the fact that Jasper contributes to the damage in his drunken rages.
Edited by Mora, 29 April 2018 - 06:13 PM.