A noble house is just a group of nobles who are related by birth, marriage or adoption - who work together for their common good. Any individual, no matter how influential or powerful are, will eventually die. If they are really lucky, they might finish up in the history books. However, you they establish a Noble House, it will (probably) endure - and then your name will live on as the Founder of that house. You will leave a legacy.

While some (often smaller) noble houses have a single established leader, the most powerful noble houses have many leaders and powerful people, often in different places – all working towards the same family goals. That doesn’t stop them having individual goals, or striving to increase their personal wealth/power/influence – it just means they bend their personal goals so that the ‘family’ benefit as well. There are benefits for the individual as well - if you take on one part of a Noble House, the rest of it is will probably come to their defence. Suddenly, you might find three, four or more ‘nobles’ arrayed against you. Some examples of powerful houses include:

• House Jeggare, which is powerful in Cheliax and Korvosa as well as having an Avistan wide presence.
• House Leroung of Cheliax ‘owns’ universities in Egorian, Korvosa and Andoran and has a recognised merchant fleet.
• House Morilla has an influential presence in Taldor and Absolom and is heavily involved in the Pathfinder, and other, Societies.
• House Surtova in Brevoy has a power base in New Stetven, another in Port Ice and a merchant fleet.

Noble houses need to add people to their numbers just to survive. As the older generation pass away, the new generation, and their spouses, take over. Their children will form the next generation of the house. But sometimes that just isn't enough , and for those times there is adoption. There are three mains ways to add significant members to the House.

• Birth - New members are born into the House – although this is a fairly slow process. It works well enough when a House is well established and has enough members that they will keep producing heirs for generation after generation. For a newly established Noble House, or a smaller branch of a large house, it is a slow and insecure process. All you need in one mishap ….
• Marriage - An everyday process for most Noble Houses, as senior members get married their spouses are inducted into the family. Normally this involves a long complex marriage contract lodged with the temple of Abadar that lays out the new spouse’s obligations to their new family – and their obligations to their old family. It normally contains a clause to protect the spouse (and their original family) should the marriage breakdown, fail or end by sudden death. The contract often includes caveats about the future and status of any children of the union and requirements for friendship between the families.
• Adoption – More important to new Houses, adoption allows a noble to reward loyal friends and supporters. A legal contract (Abadar again) binds the lord to reward and honour the new member of their family, while the adoptee promises to be a loyal member of the House and serve the lord loyally. Adoption must always be agreed by the 'head of the house' - although a House / Family may have more than one branch and more than one head.

Case Study 1: The marriage of Cyrus Ondari to Valoria der lin Lebeda

Case Study 2: Adoption into House LeMaistre

Naming Conventions This is written, primarily, from the perspective of a Patriarchal Society – partly because that is what I am used to and partly because my game settings are somewhat patriarchal. That doesn’t mean this is the only interpretation acceptable in my worlds, or that women can’t be head of a Major House. But most importantly - this isn’t a rule and it isn’t compulsory :} If you want something different for your character’s House – then go for it. This is just the default version I use when I am building a noble house, and even then it doesn't apply every time.

The House Name is normally only used by Heads of Family and their immediate descendants. For example Henry LeMaistre and Cyrus Ondari – along with all of their offspring take the House name as it is. Cyrus’s brother also has the name Ondari, and is heir to another branch of the house so his children would also take the house name as their own. This is normally restricted to people who are (or have been) children of the Head of Family. So this is to be restricted to Uncles, Aunts, Brother, Sisters and Children of the current head of family. That said, a Head of Family can adopt anyone as his/her Child, Brother, Sister or (more likely) cousin and confer on them the right to use the main family name.

The Nobiliary Particle is generally reserved for cousins of the Head of Family. It might be an adopted cousin or a cousin ten times removed - but all cousins may take the family name with a nobiliary particle. People adopted into the family or marrying in at ‘Cousin’ level normally take this as a family name. Some examples are: de LeMaistre, der lin Lebeda; de Lebeda (different branch of the family?), D’Lodkova, DoZimmer, d’Cordain. These are just examples - you could choose from Af, Der, Du, Von, Zu, or any of the examples on This wikipedia page - or anything else you think is suitable.

Double Barrelled Names imply a relationship with two families at once. Kao-LeMaistre and Lebeda-Ondari might represent married women (or husbands) of Heads of Family who still retain some loyalty to their previous family. It is often the sign of some sort of relationship between the two families. On the other hand ‘Mariam doZimmer Wolfeater’ is a single woman who is aligned both with the Zimmer and Wolfeater clans.

While most cousins, in game, will be PCs or independent NPCs - Entourage Cousins are a device to help expand the family using your entourage members - or by bringing in new members of your entourage. You can find the rules for them on the Entourage Page.