Noble Houses of Guardia

There are twenty families with the traditional status of "Noble" in the Kingdom of Guardia. A family's status as "Noble" is protected by Guardian law, and that status entitles Nobles to certain rights and priveleges, such as the right to retain a stable of Knights, or the right to preside over trials within the Noble's land. The established Nobility is one of the most archaic vestiges of classical Guardian feudalism that remains in the modern Kingdom of Guardia.

The First Nine Nobles

The original Nobles were the circle of generals and knights who served with Vinas Guardus in their war of rebellion against the Zenan Empire. When Zenan fell, King Guardia I (as he was crowned) established the heartland of his kingdom in the Northern Province, which became the original Kingdom of Guardia (Guardia Proper). He divided the land up into nine prefectures, and gave one to each of his nine most loyal military commanders. While the mythological mystique surrounding King Guardia would have it that he awarded prefectures to only the most noble and honorable of his retainers, there is some speculation that he doled out land and power with great discretion, hoping to keep the more capable of his officers from rebelling against him. There is some historical evidence that shows that the early days of the Kingdom were marked by at least one inter-prefectural battle between two of Vinas Guardus' most prominent generals -- a condition that may have been designed by Guardia I in order to preserve his own supremacy.

These nine first prefects became enormously wealthy, both from the plunders of war in the south and from the moneys they earned from Guardia Proper's fertile farmland. When that first generation began to die out, the sons (and a few daughters) inherited the Kingdom, and over the course of a few generations the Nobility became an enshrined fixture of the rising nation.

The Legality of Noble Title

With the Kingdom's steady expansion south toward the city state of Porre, the original nine Noble titles had expanded into almost 30. This multiplication was brought about by more than a few succession disputes (which caused families to split into factions supporting multiple heirs), as well as "self-made" Nobles who rose from either the military or merchant classes with sufficient wealth or influence or soldiers to buy a sort of pseudo-Nobility.

In the year 112 AD, under the rule of an old (and some suspect senile) Guardia III, a Royal Edict was issued that enforced a limit on the Nobles, such that there could not be more than 20 households with Noble status. This would ensure a potentially (but not necessarily) fair and even distribution of arable land, it would encourage reigning Nobles to settle matters of succession in a timely fashion, and it would protect the established Nobility from competition with the lower classes. And, in the early 100's, this was widely regarded as a good thing. (by Nobles, that is)

With the passing of the old King's edict, sundered families were re-united, a few houses merged even though they were not blood-related, and Noble status was stripped from a few of the self-made lords who lost out in the shuffle to comply with the King's word.

Nobles and Politics

Nobles have historically made very few waves in the Kingdom of Guardia. As laws and sensibilities liberalized with the passage of time, the Nobles exchanged more and more of their tangible power for mere figurehead status. It was a calculated tradeoff by the Nobility: in giving up hard political clout they preserved their capacity to generate enormous wealth from the ownership of huge tracts of land.

However, the Nobles still clung to the Kingdom's various organs of government throughout the Kingdom's history. While they did not have a choke-hold on power, the Nobility as a whole made sure that it retained a position of influence in the Kingdom's development.

In the year 534 AD, a limited form of "democracy" was introduced to the Kingdom with the creation of the office of the Chancellory. The Chancellor's post was created as an executive assistant to the King and Queen, with limited powers of proclamation and the ability to take audiences from the common people in the King's name. This post was elected by a simple majority of the ruling Nobles, and was often a member of one of the Noble houses -- there are also several instances of a Chancellor holding rank within the clerical hierarchy of the Church of Spekkio. While the Chancellor's practical powers could not compare with those of the King, the existence of the Chancellory (and the influence the Nobles had upon that office) helped the Nobility make up for the gradual loss of their power to directly govern the prefectures of the Kingdom -- a process that began in the late 400s.

Then in the year 605 AD, a system of Courts and Judicators was established in the Kingdom. Judges and Judicators and Jurors were selected and sent throughout the prefectures, and trials became a common fixture in the Kingdom's larger cities. Though initially intended as a purely punitive system, to make a public spectacle out of declaring the sentences of those tried, by 645 AD the system had softened under the rule of King Gunthar I, who had the somewhat radical notion that those brought before the Court could potentially be not guilty; Gunthar was the first to insist that all those brought forward for judgement should have an advocate to speak on their behalf. At all levels of this new judicial system, the Nobility was involved: Nobles were permitted to select Judges, Judicators and Jurors, and Nobles were the only class permitted to study and practice law as advocates for accused defendants.

Parliament

In the year 976 AD, the Parliamentary Reform Movement brought the first vestiges of true popular democracy to Guardia with the establishment of the Parliament. The initial concept for the Parliament dates somewhat earlier, to the year 710 AD, when the Nobles began to hold monthly gatherings to discuss matters largely concerning trade between the various Noble land holdings. A grand meeting hall in Truce was constructed for this purpose. The Parliamentarians at first demanded that the Noble gatherings be opened to members of the merchant class; but as the movement spread and became more popular, it was clear that a true democratic movement was in the offing. King Guardia XXIII, on the advice of his Chancellor, promised to assemble the People's Parliament in 976 AD. To do this, the King co-opted both the Nobles' gathering and their meeting hall in Truce, and determined that each prefecture would be allowed to send a single representative to meet monthly and discuss matters concerning the Realm. This ended up placating the Parliamentary Reform Movement -- until the Nobles figured out that they could just send themselves as their prefecture's representative and return to the status quo, since the King had not explicitly stated how a prefecture's representative was to be selected. Guardia XXIII had, by this time, largely separated himself from the process, grieving as he was for the death of his Queen, Aliza, in 987.

True democracy in Guardia would have to wait until Guardia XXIII's abdication, and the coronation of his daughter, Queen Nadia Guardia I, who established truly democratic Parliamentary elections. To placate the Nobles, Parliament was divided into two "houses": an Upper House, which gave each prefecture equal representation (a single representative), and a Lower House, which gave representation based on prefectural population. A third house, the House of Nobles, also was originally part of the Parliament, but gradually this disappeared as the Nobility came to dominate elections in the Upper House. The King was still the primary organ of government, but Parliament allowed the people, for the first time, to have a say in the way that Guardia was governed.

The Lower House was lead by a Speaker, who was elected from among the representatives (called "Councilors") of the Lower House. Typically this was the leader of the majority party, or of the ruling coalition; the Speaker presided over House sessions and set the Lower House's agenda. The Upper House, meanwhile, was lead by a Prime Minister, who served similar leadership functions as the Speaker in the Lower House, but over time was treated as a secondary executive over the whole of the government. It was, in fact, not unheard of for one Noble to hold both the positions of Prime Minister and Chancellor.

Derik's Reforms

The Parliamentary system would remain more or less as it was in Guardia until the year 2322 AD, when, in the wake of the Cleansing Wars and Derik Pendouris' return to the throne, great changes were enacted in the Guardian system. A new Constitution was drafted, within which the following reforms (among others) were set in place:

• Limitations on the powers of the King (royal decrees now had a more limited force of law [as compared with acts of Parliament], and the Prime Minister could overrule a royal decree with 2/3 of the Parliament behind him/her)
• Parliamentary Reforms (Parliament was reduced to but a single house, eliminating the Noble-dominated Upper House and subjecting all seats to popular election; the Prime Minister's powers were now strictly limited to setting the agenda and presiding over sessions of Parliament)
• Executive Reforms (an elected executive branch was created out of the office of Chancellor; the Chancellor was now a popularly elected position, whose duties included overseeing much of the bureaucracy that had previously answered directly to the King)
• Campaign Finance Reform (The reforms also limited what could be spent by an individual while campaigning for office, and how much and from whom a candidate could take campaign contributions. This measure was designed to curtail the influence of the Nobility, who had for centuries laid claim to Upper House seats like they laid claim to land in the Kingdom. For the first time anyone could remember, the Parliament had only a handful of representatives who were from a Noble House)
• Prefectural Mirroring (The reforms enacted on a national level in 2322 were handed down to the Prefectural governments at the local level; Prefectural councils were now all popularly elected, and regional Prefects now had their powers limited [and in some cases enhanced] like those of the Chancellory. The only exception to this was the four prefectures of Chorras, which retained their own form of governance, per longstanding agreement between the Chorrans and the Crown)
• Separation of Church and State (a key reform that prohibited any one person from holding position in both the government and a clerical hierarchy; priests [of any religion] could no longer stand for national or prefectual office, and could neither be appointed [by King or Chancellor] to posts in the Bureaucracy without 2/3 approval from Parliament. Priests were also barred from succeeding the throne, or serving as Regent -- a direct response to the reign of Archbishop Meres)

Prominent Noble Houses

House Penders

The First House of Guardia, Penders is a House whose history dates back to the First Nine Nobles of Guardia. As one of the original Nine, much of Penders' land lies in Guardia Proper, and their estate is within the outer limits of the city of Truce, though Penders also has significant holdings in the farmland of Dorino. Reliably Royalist, Penders traditionally held a place of leadership in the Upper House of Parliament until the reforms of 2322. The current head of House Penders is Lord Enderik Penders, who until 2322 was also the Prime Minister of Parliament. Enderik ran for Chancellor during the first national elections for the post in 2322, but lost out to Khalid Morris, who still holds the office today. During the Syndicate Wars, Lord Enderik held the best claim on the throne, as his house was related to the previous reigning dynasty through a marriage generations earlier. However, instead of pressing his own claim, Enderik chose to back the claim of Doan Pendouris, who claimed direct-line descendency from Queen Nadia Guardia I. While this move is sometimes looked to as an example of the noble virtue of Guardia's First House, there are some members of House Penders who have silently expressed their contempt for Lord Enderik's squandering of the House's birthright. The coat of arms of House Penders depicts a two-headed mastiff guarding a closed portcullis.

House Dalton

This house rose after the First Nine. Geneaological documents trace this house's origin to wealthy Porrean merchants who effectively bought their way into nobility. Dalton holds an estate in Truce, but most of the House's land lies on the Zenan continent; in particular, they hold title to lands in Denadoro prefecture and points south, toward Porre. The family also claims to have ties that go back to the Kingdom of Zeal, though the only justification for this lies in closely-guarded family lore. House Dalton has, in the past, been involved in intrigues involving both the Kingdom of Guardia, and with independent Porre. During the Guardia-Porre War of 1010 AD, the Daltons played both sides to their advantage, escaping reprisals only because of their connections with other Nobles in the Upper House of Parliament. More recently, Dalton's patriarch, Lord Renard Dalton, was implicated in the scandal surrounding the selection of the new Archbishop of the Church of Spekkio following the Cleansing Wars. Despite Lord Renard's efforts, Lady Madrigal was selected, and following an investigation pushed forward by House Penders, Lord Renard was divested of his noble title and forced into exile. House Dalton has survived Lord Renard's disgrace, but only just barely. The House is now headed by Lord Renard's daughter, Lady Delilah Dalton. Dalton's coat of arms depicts a red fox chasing its own tail.

House Talman

While Talman is not one of the First Nine, it is nonetheless a very old and respected noble house. Talman's lands are exclusively in Guardia Proper; they once controlled colonies in Chorras, but lost these during the first war of Chorran Independence. Talman has historically been a Conservative House, though they shifted their position during the Syndicate Wars, when Lord Ibanez Talman sided with Doan Pendouris (who was Royalist himself, and enjoyed the backing of a number of Royalist supporters) and backed his claim to the Throne. Lord Ibanez went so far, in fact, as to offer Doan his daughter's hand in marriage. Kay Lynn Talman was married to Doan for only a short while before she was killed in an ambush, arranged by the Trann Syndicate in an attempt to eliminate the troublesome Pendouris once and for all. Though Lady Kay was killed, the son she was pregnant with, Derik, survived (although necessarily born premature due to the death of his mother). One would have thought that the death of Kay -- and the miraculous survival of Derik -- would have been enough to cement relations between Doan and House Talman, but Lord Ibanez affiliated himself with the OmniSent, and the two men (who had been allies against the Trann Syndicate) had a bitter falling out. Lord Ibanez's joining the OmniSent and sporting the bolt badge resulted in his being divested of his noble title and exiled from Guardia. Lordship of the House has since passed to Lord Talman's grandson (and Derik's cousin) Blake Talman, who takes every opportunity to champion the cause of his grandfather and lobby for his repatriation. Relations between Pendouris and Talman remain icy to this day, largely over the issue of Ibanez Talman's exile. House Talman's coat of arms depicts a hippogriff with a crown above its head and a silver chalice clutched in one of its talons.

House Montressori

One of the First Nine, Montressori's land lies mostly in the East of Guardia Proper, in the region around Proto Dome, though they also have holdings in Geno and Chorras (currently imperiled by the looming civil war), and have extensive trade ties in Medina and on Alter-Dragon. The House also has an historic connection to the city of Port Banteau: the city's eponymous founder, Banteau, was a son of Montressori. Montressori established and grew its power in the early days through shipping, trade and exploration. It was Montressoris who were first to establish trade relationships with the Genoans, Montressoris who were on the first ships to settle Chorras, Montressoris who worked to open shipping lanes to Medina in the early part of the last millennium, and Montressoris who established trade pacts with local nations after the discovery of the Alter Dimension. One of the most infamous members of this house was Eusic Mori, founder of Atreus, Inc. Born in Medina to one of the heirs of Montressori, Eusic grew up with all the priveleges of Guardian nobility. He ended up forsaking his house (depending on who you ask, he was kicked out and dispossessed), but managed to squirrel away a sizable portion of the family treasure to use as seed money to start up Atreus. The current head of the family is Eusic's uncle, Aldernathy Montressori -- a pragmatist and consummate schemer who has lead his House for decades. House Montressori's coat of arms depicts a serpent with golden eagle's wings, its tail coiled around a scepter.