House Adarbrent

House Adarbrent

"Weigh the anchors and 'furl the sails - a whole horizon awaits us!"

Personages

Patriarch: Royus Adarbrent Consort: Akaya Adarbrent Heir: Alroy Adarbrent (eldest son) Membership (Nobles): 22 Predominant Faith: Valkur

Faction Details

Common Descriptors: Curious, courageous, wanderlust Primary Classes: Ranger, fighter, rogue Alignments: LG, NG, CG

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 3. 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 10. You are the acknowledged and legal head of the household.

Interests

Trade & Interests: Shipping, cartography, exploration Holdings: Waterdeep

History

Ethnicity: Chondathan Founded: 1317 DR

One of the youngest of Waterdeep's noble Houses, House Adarbrent is a marvel - in a port city full of merchants, the Adarbrent merchant fleet is second to none, and third only to the Watermen and Guard for sheer size. The Adarbrents are explorers, first and foremost, and theirs is not just wanderlust. Exploration burns in Adarbrent veins, and they have turned those fires into profit as well, offering not just mercantile shipping services but also having a hand in cartography and exploration (both a'sea and on land).

The family is led by Lord Royus, who first came to Waterdeep with his family when he was but three years of age. He watched as his father turned the Adarbrent Shipping Company into House Adarbrent within a single generation, a feat almost unheard of.

Faction

A house of wanderers and travelers, with interests in shipping, navigation, cartography, and exploration.

Overview

Explorers of every stripe, from those who lead deadly expeditions into uncharted lands to the master cartographers that record and reveal the findings of those expeditions, the Adarbrents dare where few do. While the Adarbrent love of exploration is first and foremost to them, their explorations and wealthy lifestyle is supported by their shipping business.

Goals and Philosophy

Unlike many Waterdhavian Houses, the Adarbrents' dreams take them beyond Waterdeep's walls - and indeed beyond the horizon. The Adarbrents favor those who dare much, especially if they do not wait for others' permission before undertaking their feats of daring. The Adarbrents are goodly folk, though, and there is no room in the House for those whose daring is not tempered by compassion and mercy.

Activities

House Adarbrent is involved in multiple shipping concerns, as well as a variety of cartographical investments; several of the House hold prominent positions in the Surveyors', Map, and Chartmakers' Guild (and to a lesser extent, the Master Mariners' Guild). As much as half of the House is away from Waterdeep at any one time, so many of its members are the masters of fleets or important mercantile or exploration vessels.

Quests undertaken by agents of House Adarbrent might include the following:

• Accompany an Adarbrent ship on a journey through dangerous locations.
• Find and recover a wrecked ship and her crew.
• Lead an expedition along a previously unknown route or a previous unknown location.

Perks

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

• Living Quarters: Rank 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: Rank 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).
• Oft at Sea: Rank 2+. An Adarbrent of this renown has been at sea often enough to learn to make themselves useful while there, gaining a free Navigator's Tools or Vehicle (Sailing Ship) Tool Proficiency.
• Business Opportunities: Rank 3+. Lynchpins to House Adarbrent'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): Rank 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.
• Ship's Captain (Title): Rank 4+. Those with the inclination toward doing so may be made the captain of one of the Adarbrent ships, as a test for future possible leadership within the House. They become the master of one of the Adarbrent ships, with a full ship and crew ready and able to do their bidding - though they are not free to do as they like, for the captains answer to the House's Fleet Masters.
• An Available Ship: Rank 5+. Those in very good standing with the House can call upon the services of one of the House's ships. Ideally, a tenday is required before doing so, to make sure the ship isn't needed for any House business, but a ship can be called upon in emergency purposes within a number of hours equal to (11 - your Rank), though this does negatively impact the House's finances.
• Fleet Master (Title): Rank 7+. There are four who hold this title in House Adarbrent, one for each of the Adarbrent fleets.
• Wealth of the House: Rank 10. The patriarch of the House is in total control of the House's finances and various holdings, established by the laws of Waterdeep.

History

• 1311 DR: Adarbrent Shipping Company comes to Waterdeep from Cormyr, when Royus is but 3 years of age.
• 1317 DR: The Adarbrents are ennobled as a full Waterdhavian House.

Members of the Family

Main Branch

	Royus Adarbrent Patriarch (Rank 10) • 46 years Royus came to Waterdeep from Cormyr with his father many years ago. The Adarbrent Shipping Company was a success from the start, and Lord Royus now has the third largest fleet of ships in Waterdeep (after the city guard and the Guild of Watermen).
	Akaya Adarbrent Consort (Rank 7) • 44 years Akaya is the quiet strength behind her family. She occasionally accepts invitations to society events, but she is far likelier to be found in raucous revels with sailors and shipcaptains than she is to be among society matrons.
	Alroy Adarbrent Heir (Rank 5) • Firstborn • 23 years While not the most hardy of seamen on board ship, Alroy Adarbrent is one of the best navigators in the city today.
	Syllia Adarbrent Secondborn (Rank 4) • 16 years The only daughter of the Adarbrent family, Syllia is a true spitfire. She is her mother's daughter, as Royus often points out, with her willfulness, tenacity, and temper. She has been apprenticed to her Uncle Komiss, a captain in the fleet, for a year now, and her path in life is fairly clear. Though her mother has forced her to take a year off from shipboard life to prepare for her Coming Out, Syllia clearly resents it.
	Ellis Adarbrent Thirdborn (Rank 0) • 10 years A quiet, bookish boy with a stutter that clearly embarrasses him terribly.

Other Branches

	Tyrannus Adarbrent Patriarch's Cousin (Rank 0) • 23 years The child of a star-crossed romance between Royus' younger brother
	Ruullado Adarbrent Fleet Master (Merchant) • Patriarch's Uncle (Rank 9) • 57 years The younger brother of Royus' father, Ruullado is the oldest and most experienced of the House Fleet Masters. The core Adarbrent shipping fleet is his to command, and has prospered under his careful hand. Ruullado is known to hate pirates.
	Haless Adarbrent Fleet Master (Merchant) • Patriarch's Cousin (Rank 8) • 51 years The older cousin who grew up with Royus, Haless is well-loved by her fleet's captains - "Haless' Suitors," Royus like to teasingly call them, although there is probably some truth to the name. Haless has never married and seems disinclined to do so, though she never takes any man of the sea for her lover. "I don't ever want to either command him or fight him," she has said by way of explanation.
	Shooral Adarbrent Fleet Master (Exploration) • Patriarch's Brother (Rank x) • 41 years The middle brother of Royus' siblings, Shooral is head of the exploration fleet. Since the death of Kraeis, the youngest of the Adarbrent sons, Shooral and Royus have not spoken - a simple feat, considering just how much time Shooral spends at sea.
	Ondran Adarbrent Fleet Master (Auxiliary) • Patriarch's Cousin (Rank x) • 30 years One of Ruullado's sons, Ondran has made his name well and truly within the Adarbrent fleet, raised even above those many times his years to the position of Fleet Master. That's unsurprising to anyone who knows him, however - his men are fanatically loyal, and he is possessed of both charisma and cunning in equal measure.

Holdings

• Resources Limit: If necessary, House Husteem could probably generate about 45,000 gp in liquid coin and valuables within a month, or about 15,000 gp within a tenday.

House Estate

South Copper Street, North Ward, Waterdeep
House Adarbrent's estate is the southernmost noble estate in Waterdeep, right at the very edge of the North Ward - a testament to the relative youth of the Adarbrent ennoblement. Nonetheless the Adarbrent rubies have purchases a great deal of luxury here, and it shows.

• Rubycliff House: This three-story study in opulence was the first purchase the Adarbrents made, even before they were ennobled (but definitely as they had already begun trying to become so). Rubycliff's first floor is made up of primarily public rooms, with a small garden-facing suite for elderly House members for whom stairs are too difficult. The floor above has the various apartments and private living spaces of the main branch of the Adarbrent family, and the top floor is a series of lord-and-lady suites, nursery, and the like for the direct use of the Lord of the House's immediate family.
• The Second House: Named so for its purchase right after the Adarbrent ennoblement, the three-story Second House was originally used as living quarters. Today is houses a handful of offices, primarily those of the Lord and the four Fleet Masters of the House, with a very public street-access facade. The ground floor houses the Lord's office and public meeting and waiting space for visitors, as well as the great Chart Room of House Adarbrent, and each floor above that is divided into two suites of offices for the Fleet Masters.
• Wavewidow's Tower: A tall four-story tower constructed by Royus' mother when his father passed away, the Wavewidow's Tower sits in the middle of the fine Adarbrent gardens, surrounded by trees. Its ground floor is the family chapel to Valkur, with ample space for worship and small apartments for visiting priests who might call on the Adarbrents seeking shelter. Above that are two rooms of "mourning apartments" - suites of rooms that Adarbrent nobles traditionally retreat from the world into at the deaths of their spouses. Finally, the last floor stands quite tall by itself and is entirely glassed in, providing an excellent view of the surrounding city. It is just tall enough and angled just right to be able to see half of the harbor, and the spyglasses there can be used to get a closer look at ships coming into port.
• Highsails House: The four floors of the Highsails House provide living spaces for those Adarbrent nobles who do not dwell in the Rubycliff House proper. It has a single galleries great hall centrally located on the first floor, flanked by small apartment suites that are traditionally given over to newly-weds in the family. The three floors above that are all divided into living spaces that are clearly noble in appointment if not necessarily size.

Iolrath Marfander Butler (Rank 5) • 64 years Distinguished and unflappable, Iolrath has been a servant for House Adarbrent for longer than they have been ennobled in Waterdeep. Iolrath maintains exquisite order in the house and ensures that everything that needs to go on behind the scenes does so outside of the view of the family he serves. For their part, the Adarbrents consider him not-quite-family - all of them have grown up with him, and many nights Lord Royus and he sit up after everyone else has gone to bed and the two talk, exchanging advice.

Rumors About House Adarbrent

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