House Agundar

House Agundar

"Like lightning, we strike!" (traditional; in little use)

Personages

Patriarch: Relavarr Agundar Consort: Yulysree Agundar Heir: Empiirl Agundar (younger sister) Membership (Nobles): 36 Predominant Faith: Talos

Faction Details

Common Descriptors: Brutal, mercenary, taciturn. Primary Classes: Fighters, Barbarians, Cleric (Tempus) Alignments: CN

Faction Ranks

• Favored: Rank 1. You are a favored member of the House. If you are a scion of the House, you have pleased the patriarch sufficiently to gain his notice. If you are an agent or retainer of the House, your efforts to aid the House have gone well-noted. • Lynchpin: Rank 2. You are given a position of some responsibility in the House's operations. If you are a scion of the House, the patriarch considers you one of the favored scions of the House, and consults with you on matters of House importance. If you are an agent or retainer, your contributions and skills in service of the House have won you a position of no small regard and respect in the patriarch's eyes - although that may earn you the jealousy of his blood kin who are less favored than you. • Matriarch/Patriarch: Rank 3. You are the acknowledged and legal head of the household.

Interests

Trade & Interests: Mercenary fighting, warrior training; formerly sword forging Holdings: Waterdeep

History

Ethnicity: Tethyrian Founded: 1116 DR Previous Eras: 1354 DR

One of the Houses to sell their title, the Agundars left Waterdeep and focused on their business as mercenaries. During this time, the family lost its smithing holdings (most of which were in Waterdeep) in favor of its mercenaries and the training of fighting forces. The Agundars returned to Waterdeep two decades ago, but have only taken up their titles since the coming of Laeral.

Members of the Family

• Lord Relavarr Agundar: Patriarch (Renown 10) • 27 years. A scraggle-bearded young lordling, Relavarr is every inch the stereotypical young noble patriarch: in love with his power and wealth, addicted to his vices, and wholly unconcerned with the serious affairs of running his House. Fortunately, he has a bevy of uncles and older cousins who are only too capable of doing so in his stead, and eager for the rewards thereof. Relavarr married his mysterious bride a year ago, though he still carries on as though he were yet a bachelor.
• Yulysree Agundar: Consort (Renown 3) • 28 years. A lovely maid whose hair color changes often, shifting from one improbable alchemical hue to the next. Yulysree attended the requisite events with her husband shortly after their marriage, but has sworn off most Waterdhavian social events since. This, of course, only increases her mystery in Waterdhavian eyes: who is she? Where is she from? Why does she fancy herself better than the highest of society?
• Empiirl Agundar: Heir, patriarch's younger sister (Renown 2) • 22 years. Well-established as a fiery-tempered young woman with very little use for her brother's crowd, most Waterdhavians in the social set agree that she dislikes the parties and revelry so much mostly because her brother loves them so. The two have always had an adversarial relationship; when they were young, while Relavarr was trying to get out of sword-lessons, Empiirl was showing up to linger in the salle doorway, desperate to take up the blade herself. As soon as their Uncle Maspryth put a sword in her hand, Relavarr never picked his up again, and neither of them could have been happier for it.

Holdings

• Resources Limit: If necessary, House Agundar could probably generate about 25,000 gp in liquid coin and valuables within a month.

Agundarhalls (Villa)

Hassantyr's Street, North Ward

An impressively-wrought eight-foot-tall wall of storm-grey stone surrounds the Agundarhall's grounds, with its top foot of stone carved into rolling banks of stormclouds, with bolts of forking lightning arching down to the bottom of the wall every ten feel or so.

• Agundarhalls: A grand mansion, the three stories of the Agundarhalls are elegantly appointed, with a "martial chic" (gilt weapons and decorative suits of armor) throughout it. The ground floor includes modest entertainment and extensive living spaces, such as salons, dens, a small conservatory, and a grand dining hall. The kitchens and most of the "backstage" elements of the house are in the kitchens, including living quarters for servants. The upper two floors have finely appointed living spaces, many of which are divided into small apartment clusters of multiple bedchambers, bathing chamber, and garderobe built around a single "family room", intended for smaller family units within the House. The small western portion of the building that juts out into the gardens have a rooftop garden that is a favorite for Household gatherings for birthdays and the like.
• Stables: The Agundars are a horse-riding family, to the extent that they usually eschew carriages and the like, save for their elderly or infirm. This single-story building has a small carriage-house in it, with the rest of its space dedicated to a full and proper stables. The back of the building has a short staircase down into basements with stablehand quarters. This basement also has a short tunnel connecting it to Agundarhalls, and is the family's usual means of getting to and from the stables during the day.
• The Old Smithy: Once, the family's business included smithworks. This extended beyond the owning of several smithies and a foundry, however – members of House Agundar themselves once practiced fine smithcraft, and this grand old stone building housed their fine forges. Sadly, these forges have been dead for several generations now, though none of the Lords since then have been able to quite bring themselves to erase that part of their past. Lord Relavarr has half-jokingly threatened to turn it into a party-palace for entertaining, but this has been met with some degree of concern and even fury by others of his House.
• The Grand Salle: The Grand Salle of the Agundarhalls is an incredibly highly respected school of sword-work. The building consists of a long gallery along its southern edge, with a passageway that cuts all the way across and the southern wall divided into a number of smaller two-person practice salles. The northern wing of the building features a large-melee hall, most often used for demonstrations where the school's student body is gathered, or for the occasional mass-melee exercises (which are as likely to take place in the cobbled courtyard to the west of the building, or in the small section of the gardens just outside the school). The upper stories have living spaces for instructors who are retainers of the House, and for those members of the House who prefer to live here. The third floor is entirely given over to the Sallemaster, with ample living quarters, a private salle, armory, and library. The portion of the floor that faces the street outside ends in a rooftop patio where the master frequently practices.

The Grand Salle (School)

Though the building itself is part of the House's villa, the Grand Salle is also the Agundar's school of the fighting arts, and it is not merely members of the House who are trained there. The Grand Salle's students – sometimes called "salle-swords" in a bit of Waterdhavian punning – who reach a notable place within the school are given purple-and-silver half-capes to wear as markers of their membership. It is not uncommon for these purple-clad groups of young bravos and bravas to roam the streets between nightlife venues looking to challenge the duelists of other schools – or anyone else wearing a blade they like the look of – to duels (usually to first blood). Though the Sallemaster frowns on this sort of nonsense, the masters at the Grand Salle don't go out of their way to inhibit their students. Swordfolk are going to fight, they say with a shrug.

Mercenary Companies

The Agundars maintain four different mercenary companies, most of them in operation throughout the North and the Western Heartlands.

• The Stormblades: Heavy Cavalry + Heavy Infantry. Absurdly heavily armored to a man, with both soldier and horse shod in heavy iron that clangs as they walk, the Stormblades all use two-handed blades with distinctive lightning bolts etched down the centers of their blades. They field two hundred heavy cavalry, and three hundred infantry, as well as a small cadre of dedicated war-wizards and clerics of Talos. The Stormblades are xxx.
• Aemetar's Whirlwind: Light Cavalry + Archers + Scouts. Named for the Agundar lord who created them, Aemetar's Whirlwind are extremely fast. A hundred light lancers, some three hundred archers, and two hundred scouts make up the Whirlwind's forces. Aemetar's Whirlwind are xxx.
• Sons of Thunder: Heavy Cavalry + Heavy Infantry. A company of two hundred, divided between fifty heavy lance-and-axe cavalry and one hundred fifty scale, shield, pike, and axe. The Sons have a distinctive shield-clanging war chant they use before going into battle. The Sons of Thunder are xxx.
• The Skybolts: Skirmishers. A company of about fifty, the Skybolts are specialized skirmishers, clad in chain shirts, small shields, javelins, and longswords, on light horseback. The Skybolts are xxx.

Known Faction Perks

Scions and agents of House Agundar in good standing might receive the following benefits:

• Living Quarters: Renown 1+. Those in good standing with the House are given quarters within the House's Waterdhavian villa appropriate to their role in the House.
• Living Expenses/Salaries: Renown 1+. Those in good standing with the House also receive a stipend of 1gp plus 5sp per day per point of Rank. This is not actual cash, but simply familial credit towards payment of Lifestyle costs. This stacks with the same kind of familial credit received from the Waterdhavian Noble Background (see Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide).
• Business Opportunities: Renown 3+. Lynchpins to the House's operations receive access to a variety of business opportunities within the House's money-making endeavors. This is handled as "Running a Business" in downtime months. This does not incur a business expense, but if too many of the character rolls results that end in a loss of money, he can and will find his Rank in the House reduced.
• Heir or Consort (Title): Renown 3+. The holder of one of the legal titles Heir of House and Consort of House, as recorded with the city of Waterdeep, is entitled to an additional 2gp per day in familial credit, per the "Living Expenses/Salaries" entry above. The heir is also accorded certain privileges within the legal system of Waterdeep, including the ability to speak on behalf of his House in some legal proceedings and the like.
• Sword Instructor (Title): Renown 5+. A House member or retainer of this rank has demonstrated a skill not merely with sword-work, but with the teaching thereof. Sword Instructors of the Agundar salle are responsible for drilling students of beginning skill levels, and seeing that they have the degree of proficiency that will warrant them time with the Sallemaster directly. This title comes with a stipend of an additional 2gp per day in familial credit, per the "Living Expenses/Salaries" above.
• Sallemaster (Title): Renown 7+. The master of the Agundar salle is responsible for training all members of the House in sword-work, and for taking on paying students. They usually have a small staff of Sword Instructors working with them to teach the lower-skill students while the Sallemaster sharpens the upper class. This comes with a stipend of an additional 4gp per day in familial credit, per the "Living Expenses/Salaries" above.
• Wealth of the House: Renown 10. The patriarch of the House is in total control of the House's finances and various holdings, established by the laws of Waterdeep.