House Urmbrusk

House Urmbrusk

Personages

Matriarch: Lestra Urbmbrusk Consort: Haemmor Urmbrusk Heir: Imshrel Urmbrusk (secondborn son) Membership (Nobles): 6 Predominant Faith: None

Faction Details

Common Descriptors: Adventurous, cunning, willful Primary Classes: Fighter, rogue, bard Alignments: LN, N, NE

Faction Ranks

• Favored: Rank 1. You are a favored member of the House. If you are a scion of the House, you have pleased the patriarch sufficiently to gain his notice. If you are an agent or retainer of the House, your efforts to aid the House have gone well-noted. • Lynchpin: Rank 2. You are given a position of some responsibility in the House's operations. If you are a scion of the House, the patriarch considers you one of the favored scions of the House, and consults with you on matters of House importance. If you are an agent or retainer, your contributions and skills in service of the House have won you a position of no small regard and respect in the patriarch's eyes - although that may earn you the jealousy of his blood kin who are less favored than you. • Matriarch/Patriarch: Rank 3. You are the acknowledged and legal head of the household.

Interests

Trade & Interests: Landowning, money-lending Holdings: Waterdeep

History

Ethnicity: Illuskan Founded: 1254 DR Previous Eras: 1354 DR

Members of the Family

• Lady Lestra Umbrusk: Matriarch (Renown 10) • 45 years. Ten years ago or so, Lestra's brother Quarren disappeared into Undermountain. A few years later, his seventeen year old son, Rutherford, did likewise, leaving her as the head of house. A few years ago, Lestra's oldest son, Bheron, also disappeared into Undermountain, intent on finding his uncle and cousin. Now, she has forbidden any of her family from venturing into the darkness beneath Waterdeep, and they say that she still has nightmares about its denizens coming for her and the rest of her kin. Her first husband Thonner could not handle both the loss of his son and Lestra's grief, and left her and the House entirely. Other than this bit of tragedy, Lestra is quite the social figure, and a major proponent of the Game's resurrection among the social set.
• Haemmor Umbrusk: Consort (Renown 6) • 32 years. Lestra's handsome consort is her most recent husband, and seems to be a great comfort to her. Many of her peers sardonically congratulate her on her taste in lovely younger men, but the bond the two of them share certainly seems genuine.
• Imshrel Umbrusk: Heir, matriarch's secondborn son (Renown 0) • 16 years. Imshrel remembers. He remembers his uncle and his cousin and his older brother Thonner. They are all gone, and though he would never say so to his mother, he is sure he can find them, down in the dark. He is an avid student of the Sorlaer School of fencing, and prone to wandering the night streets of Waterdeep with a small clique of his fellow bravos.
• Jelenn Urmbrusk: Matriarch's sister (Renown 8) • 42 years. A very focused and successful money lender, Jelenn is a proud woman who fears social scandals. She treasures and protects her allies, but is hell on her rivals. Jelenn infrequently attends social events, preferring her work, sequestered away in Northvault.

Retainers

• Llarwell: Retainer (Renown 6) • 45 years. The half-elf Llarwell served Lord Quarren, and now serves Lady Lestra. He is her right hand, with authority over any servant in the household, and even over some members of the family in specific circumstances. He is Lady Lestra's confidant, bodyguard, and agent, with modest skill with a blade. In truth, his knowledge of Waterdeep's social set is what makes him invaluable, both in what he knows and how quickly he can find things out.

Holdings

• Resources Limit: If necessary, House Urmbrusk could probably generate about 13,000 gp in liquid coin and valuables within a month.

Northvault

Street of the Singing Dolphin, North Ward

Even those who know that the Urmbrusks are landowners and moneylenders can't help but gawk the first time they see Northvault. Its wall is a six foot tall marble structure, with another four feet of wrought iron bars that end in speartips along the top edge. It is made up of four buildings, all of which are also marble, several of which feature elaborate statuary (some of it actually gilded in gold and mithril). The house seal on the double front doors of the Northvault itself are solid silver, with gemstone accents; would-be thieves are cautioned that the footmen standing there are not to guard it, but to instead warn passersby that touching it may trigger magical safeguards.

• Northvault House: The main house, for which the rest of the compound is named, shows an impressive façade to the rest of Waterdeep, all tall, fine marble with elegant, fluted designs. Its street-facing corners feature carvings of roaring bears standing on their hind legs, a reference to some bit of family history. The house itself is two stories in height, with room for the head of house and their immediate family, as well as a handful of other suites. The ground floor has most of the communal living spaces, including a sumptuous dining area and a guests' salon that faces the gardens through gigantic glass windows, but there isn't much other entertaining space within it.
• Heirsroost: Built as House Urmbrusk grew large enough that it needed additional space, the Heirsroost was built for the adult heir who wanted her own household in the later days of the 1200s. As her parents cared nothing for socializing, she took it on herself to tend to the House's needs in that regard, so the Heirsroost boasts an incredible ballroom, gallery, two salons, and a variety of small "trysting parlors" on the first floor, as well as an impressive wine cellars and a garden room with glass doors that can be slid out of the way to open the entire chamber to the outdoor gardens. It also has a welcoming porte cochere off Diamond Street. Its upper two stories provide plenty of space for additional Household members. Today, however, House Urmbrusk keeps the Heirsroost closed save when they are entertaining, as the diminished population of their house all but rattles around even in the Northvault.
• Tenants' Hall: The Tenants' Hall is called such because it is where tenants on Urmbrusk properties may come to pay their rents or petition their landlords for something. It consists of an open office space with a door on the Street of Whispers, and smaller clerks' offices off of that. The upstairs rooms have living quarters for the clerks as well as the offices for whichever member of the family is in charge of the land holdings.
• Ovamberhall: The least opulent building at Northvault, the Ovamberhall is a simply constructed two-story building with servants quarters. Extensive storage and a large and complicated kitchen, as well as suites for senior servants are on the first floor, with smaller living and socializing spaces on the second.

Marblehearth Villa (Rental Villa)

The Cliffride, Castle Ward

The Marblehearth is a rental villa on the Cliffride, one of the few of its kind left there (the others were long ago contributed to the founding of New Olamn). Marblehearth is three-stories in height plus an extensive cellars, with extensive marble used in its construction (the marble was that left over from the construction of the Northvault, in fact). Today, given its close proximity to the bardic college, Marblehearth is rented by a small group of its professors, who prefer living nearby to New Olamn in a degree of comfort and opulence.

Known Faction Perks

• Living Quarters: Renown 1+. Those in good standing with the House are given quarters within the House's Waterdhavian villa appropriate to their role in the House.
• Living Expenses/Salaries: Renown 1+. Those in good standing with the House also receive a stipend of 1gp plus 5sp per day per point of Rank. This is not actual cash, but simply familial credit towards payment of Lifestyle costs. This stacks with the same kind of familial credit received from the Waterdhavian Noble Background (see Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide).
• Business Opportunities: Renown 3+. Lynchpins to the House's operations receive access to a variety of business opportunities within the House's money-making endeavors. This is handled as "Running a Business" in downtime months. This does not incur a business expense, but if too many of the character rolls results that end in a loss of money, he can and will find his Rank in the House reduced.
• Heir or Consort (Title): Renown 3+. The holder of one of the legal titles Heir of House and Consort of House, as recorded with the city of Waterdeep, is entitled to an additional 2gp per day in familial credit, per the "Living Expenses/Salaries" entry above. The heir is also accorded certain privileges within the legal system of Waterdeep, including the ability to speak on behalf of his House in some legal proceedings and the like.
• Wealth of the House: Renown 10. The patriarch of the House is in total control of the House's finances and various holdings, established by the laws of Waterdeep.