Muse Festival

The people of Hyrule, common and noble alike, pay for protection against various threats (monsters, brigands, hostile neighboring realms, etc) in the form of taxes. The Hyrulean crown uses these taxes to pay for the formulation of a military, whether speaking of local militia and town guards, or a full army should war be declared.

Of course, military matters are far from the only thing that taxes pay for– taxes go to the betterment of the realm (theoretically). Roads, employment, food, anything you can think of to support the people who reside in it.

It's essentially a big pyramid scheme. The commoners are governed by the nobles in whose fiefdoms they reside, and the nobles who own those parcels of land are governed by the royal family, whose authority is absolute in all Hyrule (theoretically).

Every sovereign of Hyrule has their own style of ruling, whether they prefer to handle documents and the court without leaving Hyrule castle, hear out the grievances of their people and make judgements to improve the realm from there, or even ride out and personally handle any threats they know of alongside the royal guardsmen (I tend to write mixtures of the first and last; the middle doesn't really come into play much). However, regardless of how the sovereign handles business, there is so much of it that most all of it must be delegated. Hence the nobles working under them.

Every noble family can trace their ancestry to whoever founded their house and received a title in exchange for fealty to the crown. Most families have a lot of work to trace back so far, as Hyrule is seated in many traditions that have stood for quite a length of time. The most recent noble title awarded was to Delphine Langlois, and her house is charged with a parcel of land in Faron as well as the upkeep of the Spring of Courage as attendants to Farosh the golden dragon spirit. That duty passed to Delphine to note her connection with Farosh; it is said she gained a great affinity for magic, specifically shock magic, when she received a blessing of Farosh in the form of a fragment of the dragon spirit's horn.

Other houses have held their duties for much longer than the Langloises. Let's go over a goddamn list of who's who– and the below list is not exhaustive; there are plenty more noble and notable families, these are just ones that at least one of my OCs belong to.

House names at the start of each blurb, and the names of muses in these blurbs are bolded.

House Allaway: Technically this family doesn't own land and aren't noble, but they are a house of knights sworn to serve Hyrule. Their duties are generally martial in nature. Notable members include Raven and his son Link, and many in their lineage have served the crown as royal guardsmen.

House Bhelthir: A house of landed nobles in Akkala, not far at all from Death Mountain. Their main settlement is a mining town called Ordorac, which also houses the Spring of Power– which the Bhelthirs are tasked with keeping up. They are attendants to the crimson spirit Dinraal. Unfortunately, Ordorac was razed 22 years previously by a flame dragon, and all but two of its residents slain– six year-old Vair Bhelthir and one year-old Cara Bhelthir, who escaped on a horse thanks to the combined efforts of their parents, Lord Gildas Bhelthir and Lady Lavena. Generally, the Bhelthirs were martially inclined, as befitting servants of the goddess Din. Gildas was also a holy man, and his legacy there lives on in his daughter Cara, even as Vair went into the life of a knight and eventually a royal guard. However, in later years, Ordorac is rebuilt and Vair installed as its ruling lord, as the heir of the previous lord.

House Blackscale: Before the razing of Sableflame, House Blackscale wasn't noble, but they did own their own residence and the land it was built upon, as common folk of relative wealth (bourgeois, sort of). They served the people of Sableflame as town masters, and they were well liked, even loved, by the people they looked after. They specialized in trade and a number of merchant caravans answered to them, a few of which were fronts for.... less than legal businesses. Their family was so named because they had taken it upon themselves to tend the fabled residence of the dragon spirit Sirredes, which had been long abandoned by the house originally meant to be Sirredes' attendants (House Yaeldrin, if y'all wanna know). House Blackscale was nearly wiped out before the setting of my writings– in Twilight Princess verse, much of Sableflame were starved out of their homes and then slaughtered by the lord of House Yaeldrin and his servants; in Age of Calamity verse, it was King Uther (Rhoam's predecessor) who slaughtered them after Lord Yaeldrin pointed a finger of suspicion at them. These days, the Blackscale family is referred to as a clan, as an extended family of criminals who do not all share blood ties. Indeed, aside from Raithyon, his sister Sekkala, and his daughter Reownha, there is no blood relation, simply a name– a name associated with the victims of a genocide.

House Brighid: A minor noble house whose duties involve cataloguing creatures all throughout Hyrule– natural, magical, and monstrous. Their house has a number of warriors and adventurers who journey in search of monsters to research, and they are responsible for much of the content of Hyrule's bestiaries. The current most notable member of this family is Lady Tallula, who will be the next head of house. She builds upon her family's knowledge of domesticated creatures with magical research, and also serves as the head veterinarian of Hyrule Castle. In her efforts to create a spell that would allow her to translate animal vocalizations into speech, she accidentally bestowed humanoid speech upon her companion, a Tabantha Forest Cat named Fluffy. When this happened, she was commanded to cease the line of inquiry for ethical reasons– so that others in the future could not plumb the depths of experimenting on animals to create such things as exceptionally discreet spies.

House Dinrel: A major noble house. The Dinrels rule over the city of Floria, through which run a series of waterfalls and rivers. The largest and most notable is of course the falls for which the city is named. Their duties are more administrative and less symbolic; rather than tend to a holy site or some such, they are focused on the government of their lands, which are rather densely populated for their location– they can thank the river on which Lake Floria is seated for the immense amount of trade going on here. Their current head of house, John, is a skilled tinkerer, who combines magic and science to craft wondrous things. The real diplomat is his wife Guinevere, who despite being common, has quite a way with other people and knows her history very well. They have three children; Bryant, a wayward bard who left the family to pursue his own happiness; Raelynn, a tinkerer like their father who left to avoid the burdens of ruling the family and continuing the family line; and Jason, who serves the Hyrulean royal family directly as a diplomat and covert agent (the latter known only to the crown and certain other trusted agents). Note: Despite sharing the surname and many physical traits with its members, Shanz Dinrel has no blood relation to this family. Weird, eh?

House Faenorin: This family has fallen from a high place in the recent past. Their previous head of house was Lord Sheezrar, and he was a skilled diviner who used various components, magical and not, to enhance the unusual abilities of his mind to see beyond the norm. He also fought for legal protections for the Shiekah people– and it came to light one day that he had a great deal of Shiekah lineage in him, by which I mean various ancestors in the house had married Shiekah or people with Shiekah blood. Whether this was tied to his assassination is only speculation, but one day his manor near the Regencia River was burned. His wife, teenage son, and infant daughter all vanished and haven't been seen, but Sheezrar's remains were found in the ruin and positively identified. His firstborn, whom he had with his first wife (deceased in childbirth), had the realization of gender identity– as being a woman, not a man, and rather than claim her inheritance and use her deadname to do so, went underground to seek a way to become who she truly was, under the name Valanthe. His second wife also survived, and hunts those responsible for the murder of her husband and destruction of the new life he gave her. Finally, his infant daughter Lambda was rescued from the flames by the Blackscale clan, and has a new life as the clan leader's elder daughter... Leshana Faenorin (muse coming soon) is of this house, and is the youngest sibling and only sister of Sheezrar.

House Ferro: A house of knights, though in a recent event, most of one branch of this noble house fell to monsters. The sole survivor of that attack was Sandalio, who hones his martial skills with zeal so as to prevent such a tragedy from happening again– with particular regard to the Hyrulean crown, whom he serves directly as a royal guard. Most of House Ferro served House Liuvigild (see later in this post), but even before the family's demise, Sandalio turned from that service and washed his hands of that noble line's sordid affairs. Sandalio has little to no interest in the perpetuation of his line, particularly given both his identity as homosexual and disinterest in courting. His hobbies concern weapons maintenance and research, and he is one of two characters of mine who could possibly invent firearms in Hyrule.

House Glynn: Originally the house to which belonged Lavena Bhelthir. They tend lands in southeastern Akkala, close to Zora's Domain, and have always had a cordial relationship with the Bhelthirs. Lavena's betrothal to Gildas Bhelthir was no surprise, but the warmth with which Gildas treated Lavena was, to her. Though their relationship was born of politics, genuine love and affection sprouted from it, and perhaps if Ordorac had never fallen to a flame dragon, they might have had more children than Vair and Cara. Stories aside, House Glynn serves mainly as a political ally and neighbor to Zora's Domain, as their lands are just north of Tal Tal Peak. They also own ore refineries, and their unity with House Bhelthir once meant a secure source of ore until the flame dragon came. They have been forced to source from elsewhere in recent years, meaning difficulty in making ends meet. They are responsible for a great deal of the raw materials used to craft weapons in Zora's Domain, given the Zora fondness for silver.

House Kaneko: A family of Shiekah. They have no official noble standing in Hyrule, but they are wealthy and their word carries much weight among the Sheikah population. Most of their wealth is of honest origin, but some members of the house deal in less than legal methods. The family matriarch dislikes said illegalities, and barely tolerates such family members if she absolutely has to– after all, the Shiekah have more than enough trouble in Hyrulean society and don't need additional criminal labels. For this reason, Pyxrin Kaneko was disinherited from her family when she began to associate with the Blackscale Clan, despite the deplorable acts that created their situation.

House Langlois: As previously mentioned, this house originated when a noble title was awarded to a human (not Hylian) of the name Delphine Langlois, and a parcel of land in Faron (including the Spring of Courage) accompanied that award to denote her connection to the golden spirit Farosh. With rights to the Spring of Courage came the duty to attend it, which felt appropriate given that Farosh had granted Delphine a blessing of affinity for shock magic with a shard of the dragon spirit's horn. Delphine married a second son of the Liuvigilds named Reyes and gained somewhat more political standing in this way, though the Langloises are still seen as a fledgling family. They also maintain Delphine's collection of journals that catalogue her adventures in Hyrule and her vast knowledge of its past, present, and even future, some of which is written in an otherworldly script taught only to those born into the family. They see themselves as scribes responsible for the maintenance of ancient and secret prophecies. Notable members include the current head of house Gibelina and her only child Hubert, who is a member of the Hyrulean royal guard.

House Liuvigild: Residing in Tobio's Hollow in Faron, this house was the original attendant family to the Spring of Courage prior to the formation of House Langlois. They're a bit bitter over losing this duty and some of their standing to a woman who wasn't even Hyrulean by birth, which is further salted by the marriage of one of their number to her. Though they have skill in politicking, their ethics declined when the current head of house took over. They do still maintain good relations with the Dinrels of Floria, particularly since Guinevere Dinrel was once a common woman from their lands. There were many ancient collaborations between the families, including a joint expedition of the Zonai ruins that hinted at existence of special garments constructed for the attendants of the dragon spirits, with depictions of what will come to be known as the Charged Armor.

House Majeru: This family resides in Necluda, between Kakariko and Hateno. Long ago, a daughter of the royal family of Hyrule married into this house, and her descendants have often displayed some of the sacred powers inherent to the royal family. About a decade ago, House Majeru lost its head of house and his wife in an assassination, leaving just their young offspring, who inherited the position of head at the age of seven, albeit with a regent to assist. This scion later decreed their identity as a woman and gave a new name as Kendra of House Majeru, where previously she had been known as male. Kendra has ruled with an even and kind hand, initially guided by guard captain Taunch Kimbatuul prior to his second recommendation to the Hyrulean royal guard, which he finally accepted after Kendra assured him she would not waver in her path without his protective skills and friendship. Of note: Taunch was in large part responsible for Kendra's survival during the assassination of her parents, despite his youth and newness to the Majeru guard at the time. House Majeru was originally held sacred duties associated with death and allowing souls of the deceased to pass on. Kendra still sees to these rituals and duties, though they have taken a lower priority of late as she must tend to the living as well. House Majeru is associated with the god known as the Bargainer because of this vigil over the souls of the dead.

House Mulrennan: House Mulrennan is the attendant family to the azure dragon spirit Naydra, and reside in Madorna near the slopes of Mount Lanayru in order to tend the Spring of Wisdom. Madorna sees snow much of the year, and the Mulrennan manor and its small surrounding settlement is well fortified against avalanches and the mudslides that result from spring and summer melting some of the snow pack on the mount. The Mulrennan manor also features a vast library, given that they are associated with Nayru's aspect, wisdom, and they firmly believe that curiosity is the beginning of that virtue: wisdom. The current head of house, Diarmuid, isn't too terribly possessed of it, bearing a lustful and fickle disposition that has resulted in a small number of bastard children. He does have two daughters with his wife Riona: first born and heir Wynne, and second born Aine. Wynne has devoted herself to the wisdom of alleviating and preventing suffering, taking up two contrasting arts: martial combat and arcane healing. She has earned a position among the Hyrulean royal guard, and though Wynne is the weakest of them in a direct fight, she remains invaluable for her medical expertise, particularly in the field. Her sister Aine serves in Hyrule castle, tending to its resident shrine of wisdom.

House Skeates: A powerful and wealthy house of nobles who hold land near the Crenel Hills. Their members boast the best martial training, and have the skills to prove it. Their reputation has fallen far following the reign and disappearance of King Uther (Age of Calamity verse), who was originally of their number. Uther was once engaged to marry Princess Enid of Hyrule, but Enid rejected royal life and by extension Uther himself and so she fled Hyrule Castle one day, and could not be found until her corpse was discovered in a hidden apartment. It's said Uther was enamored with Enid, and her disappearance wounded him severely. In order to allow the royal family to regain the favor of the Skeates family, Uther was offered the hand of Enid's younger sister, Princess Bridget, who did not have the same fiery strength Enid did. Uther accepted, and when Bridget's father the king died, Uther took the throne and began a conquest to end Hyrule's fragmented state at the time and unite it under one banner. This campaign was bloody and highly controversial, and ended when Uther mysteriously disappeared in battle– his body was never recovered. The crown passed to a man who had once served as captain of the Hyrulean royal guard prior to marrying Uther's daughter Rhiannon: Rhoam of the noble house Bosphoramus. In the Twilight Princess verse, Uther was further back in history by some generations, and though he was still engaged to marry Enid and then married Bridget following Enid's disappearance, he mysteriously sickened and died shortly after the announcement of the conception of his child with Bridget– thus, his campaign died before he could declare war.