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One of the PCs that joined my group for RRR is a Mivoni Swordlord of a rather low-ranked house. I took some inspiration from published materials, and heavy inspiration from Redcelt's work on this subject. I threw out most of the published canon on Mivon, specifically the names, as I found them not to really fit the flavor I was going for in my Mivon. Feel free to use this for your own game, and tell me how it went!
Here is my version of Mivon's Nine and Twenty Houses.
For my game, I wanted Mivon to have a strong flavor, very different from Brevoy. My players have spent some time in Brevoy and the Stolen Lands, which in my game are very inspired by the English and Scottish countryside and political landscape. For Mivon, we ended up with a strange blend of Italian and Spanish culture.
The upper echelon's of Mivoni society are heavily infused with Italian. The common people speak Spanish, and this is looked down upon heavily by the elite. I wanted to play up that the Swordpact had strangled Mivon's growth, and the staunch conservatives in the Council are unwilling or unable to see that change is necessary to keep Mivon alive.
I liked Redcelt's idea of breaking the Houses into factions, but I found his work a little to complex for my game. So instead, I've broken the Houses down into three simple factions that I know my players will remember. Credit goes to Redcelt for this idea and for the naming conventions.
For those of you who actually speak Italian, I apologize for my butchery.
Il Sangue (the Blood) are the traditionalists and conservatives among the Swordlords. I started with the base assumption that, in order for Mivon to be in the stagnating stasis the PCs find it in, it needed to be ruled by a group of insular xenophobes. Enter il Sangue. The base assumption is that, unless a Swordlord has a reason not to be a member of this faction, they belong here. They vastly outnumber the rest of the factions, but only because of their lack of uniform ideology.
The Vincitori (Victors) are the warhawks of the Swordlord Council. They are led by Lord Vittorio Nicovante, the second-ranked Swordlord of the nine major houses. For years, Vittorio has been quietly amassing power, allies, and wealth in order to overthrow the traditionalists of il Sangue. He plays himself off as a loyalist to the Comte, but has only been waiting for the right opportunity to challenge the Old Trout for rulership of Mivon. If his plan goes right, this year will be the year...
Il Mercante (Merchants) are those who believe Mivon's future lies in moving away from the Swordpact and making trade allies in the world. Their cause is led by Lord Arturo Scarlatti, leader of the third-ranked Minor House and one of the most charismatic people in Mivon. He shows kindness and respect to the PCs and believes that helping them will help Mivon in the long run.
That's it for now. Next up in this chapter, my notes on Mivon's biggest annual celebration, the Festival of Blades! Here is where the Swordlords compete in the List of Suitors, anyone from Mivon is able to settle grievances through duels, and the city teems with tourists who fill the city's coffers and pump new blood into the economy!
THE FESTIVAL OF BLADES
The Festival of Blades is an annual week-long festival that hosts feasts, tournaments, and street entertainment of all varieties. While Mivon is usually an insular city with few outside trade partners, the Festival is one of the only times of the year where the city is opened to everyone. River kings, Brevic nobles, and tourists from all over gather for the festivities.
The first day of the Festival begins with the Settling of Grievances. Here, any person, noble or commoner, may challenge someone to a duel over a matter of honor. It’s very rare, though not unheard of, for a commoner to challenge a noble, and even rarer for one to win.
There are three types of duel: to the loss, to the blood, and to the death. A duel to the loss is judged by a magistrate, who awards points for nonlethal strikes with blunted blades. There are magistrates all over the city who may judge these duels. A duel to the blood continues until one competitor has drawn the other’s blood, and ends thereafter. Such duels are rarely fatal, but death in a duel to the blood is not unheard of. Duels to the death are exactly that. They are fought until one competitor is dead and the other is the victor.
Days two through seven of the Festival are where the Challenge of the Suitors takes place. I have generated March Madness-style brackets (single elimination for the Houses Major, double elimination for the Houses Minor) to track the rankings of all Houses in the List of Suitors. On the second day of the Festival, the first three seeds of the Houses Major will duel, along with the first seven seeds of the Houses Minor. Each day thereafter, there will be one duel each day for the Houses Major, and seven for the Houses Minor. Day seven will have the final duel for the Houses Major, and the final three duels for the Houses Minor.
The Festival concludes with the option for the champion of the Houses Minor to challenge any lord of a Major House. If the Minor lord wins, their House ascends to one of the Major Houses, knocking out whomever they defeated.
Here are the brackets for the Houses Major and the Houses Minor.
Next up in this thread: The adventure hooks I have for my party during this festival. So far, I've got a demon attack that leads into political intrigue, a seemingly unconnected murder mystery, and a political shakeup in the works—the Vincitori are ready to make their move...