Mathanith (House)

Mathanith House Seal

At a Glance

Colors: yellow and copper
Sign/beast: enfield
Capital: The Sora Holdings in the northwest.
Total Population: 2956
Political Affiliation: Galare Partisan

Geography

Mathanith Province

Mathanith is a roughly rectangular province north of Deriline, west of Galare, south of Imthereli and east of a province abandoned by a lost house. The southern and western borders of Mathanith are hilly with the rumples that lead to the mountain ranges of the south; the land north and east of it is flatter, smoothing toward the coast and the climatological influences of the sea. It has a total population of 2956 residents, making it the least populous of the provinces of the Eldritch (prior to the razing of Jisiensire). This in despite of its land, which is on the whole more usable than that of its southern neighbors. Unfortunately the terrain in this region is more favorable for not only the chimera and basilisk, but other large predators. The northwestern parcel, in fact, once belonged to the Ran family, but they lost their last tenants and were absorbed by the Sora for a total of 800 residents.

Likewise, the Solvi took in the last remnants of the Mant family and its tenants in the southwest, and 719 people now live in that combined region under Solvi rule. The Lona in the northeast had similar issues to the Ran and Mant, but managed to hold on to their reduced numbers and the land beneath them: 623 people live there. But the most successful of the parcels belongs to the Sara in the southeast, bordering Deriline to the south and Galare on the east. With 814 residents it is the most populous of the Mathanith parcels, and has many interactions with the Galare--more, in fact, than Lona to the north. These interactions, combined with the common interaction with neutral Deriline, has made Sara feel "not Mathanith enough" to the rest of the House, and their relative prosperity feeds a great deal of envy.

People and Society

Founders

Shandrelsara and Gaelinuth Sora.

Families

Sora (ruling family)
Lona
Sara
Solvi

History

The head of Mathanith, Elanoriel Sora, is known for her impulsive behavior and strong passions. She adored her nephew (her sister's son Noran) more than her own daughter,^[1] whom she nevertheless selected as her heir. When her daughter became attached to a boy she disapproved of, she immediately set her daughter aside in favor of Duluvin, who was heir to Mathanith for all of a handful of years before Elanoriel grew irritated with his constant raking and put the heirship on a completely different family's daughter, Evelis Lona. The "Saga of the Mathanith Heirs" was gossip for decades, and has died down... somewhat. People are still waiting for Elanoriel to take some new pet and displace Evelis... but Evelis, having a very good head on her shoulders, has been a model of propriety since her selection and has retained her status.^[2]

This mess disgusted the Chancellor, Delerenenard, so much that he rarely talks of Mathanith as if he belongs to it.

"It is a cruelty that we remember best the irritations of the present over the virtues of the past, because Elanoriel in the first days of her marriage was a generous woman and a lover of the arts. Many a musician was sheltered in her halls, painters lived off the commissions she gave them, and as crowning act, she sponsored an entire craft hall for tapestry weavers and embroiderers. Which sounds frivolous, save that Mathanith’s western provinces lost so many to monsters that an appalling number of women found themselves widowed. The craft hall gave them work, dignity, and shelter, and preserved for all Eldritch techniques of the art that would have been lost forever without her patronage.”^[3]

Mathanith Eldritch

Physiognomy

Tend toward triangular faces with blunted chins. Gray eyes are common, particularly cloudy or pearly, but moss green is also seen in Mathanith nobles.