House Wands

House Wands

Personages

Matriarch: Jhaleelil Wands Consort: None Heir: Ethnesk Wands (younger brother) Membership (Nobles): 89 Predominant Faith: Mystra, Azuth

Faction Details

Common Descriptors: Arcane, studious, connected Primary Classes: Wizards, clerics (Azuth or Mystra), sorcerer Alignments: NG, LG, CG, LN, N, CN

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 3. You are given a position of some responsibility in the House's operations. If you are a Husteem, 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 10. You are the acknowledged and legal head of the household.

Interests

Trade & Interests: mage schooling, magical research & adventuring, dweomercraft-for-hire, landowning, moneylending Holdings: Waterdeep

History

Ethnicity: Tethyrian Founded: 973 DR Previous Eras: 1354 DR

The Wands are a populous, rollicking family. Once given only to magical pursuits, some intermarriage with the Thanns put the Wands on the path to landlordery and moneylending; the latter in particular has been quite successful for them, as they have a reputation for using magic to collect debts owed them. They own a variety of properties in Waterdeep's Trades and South Wards, as well as quite a bit of it among the Undercliff properties.

History

• 400s DR: The children of Eldrus, a Magister of Mystra, take the Wands name in his honor.
• 1238 DR: Syndra Wands dies

Members of the Family

• Lady Jhaleelil Wands: Matriarch (Rank 10) • 52 years. Trained by the previous Blackstaff, Jhaleelil is a wizard of some degree of power. She is unmarried, and perfectly content to stay that way, far too busy with her various arcane undertakings and the running of the House to deal with things like a spouse or children. She is a dabbler in Waterdhavian society at best, although widely considered a very fetching paramour for those with the wit to make it past her natural dislike of most people (particularly the very stupid). She does love the theater, however, and is quite the patron of those arts.
• Ethnesk Wands: Heir, matriarch's younger brother (Rank 7) • 49 years. Though a wizard of hardly any note whatsoever, Ethnesk deals with the household business almost singlehandedly. He is a severe man, with a notable temper; it's said the only person who never feels his sharp tongue is his older sister.
• Mhaeneth Wands: Ethnesk's consort (Rank 7) • 47 years. A close friend of Jhaleelil and fellow apprentice from Blackstaff Tower, Mhaeneth would probably be guildmaster of the Watchful Order if it weren't for her last name. Still, she supports the Watchful Order unflinchingly, both with her personal arcane skill and from the House's coffers. Mhaeneth is the head of the Wands' arcane business, particularly overseeing the mentorship of paying non-family by the House's mentors. Her standards for education were honed by her time with the Blackstaff, and she insists on the highest standards of mentorship.
• Gildath Wands: Ethnesk's firstborn son (Rank 4) • 25 years. Ethnesk and Mhaeneth's oldest son, Gildath is not a wizard himself. He is, however, a very skilled knife fighter and an avid adventurer, a roguish arcane trickster that has picked up a couple of arcane tricks here and there. He belongs to a small adventuring company called the "Deepinghall Companions" who focus their endeavors on Undermountain and other subterranean sites. Gildath is currently trying to recruit a "good, reliable wizard" from his family's arcanists.
• Erdrar Wands: Ethnesk's secondborn son (Rank 3) • 22 years. Lady Jhaleelil's personal apprentice, Erdrar is quite skilled in wizardry, with a focus on abjurative magics. While his mother suspects the matriarch may be grooming him to one day take over House Wands, Erdrar isn't interested in politics; neither is he interested in the adventuring his brother seems to constantly try to haul him away on. Erdrar is an avid folklorist and researcher, with a current obsession: the so-called Seven Sisters. He has learned that some people consider Laeral Silverhand to be one of these figures, and he's trying to figure out a good way to get an audience with her to verify this.

Branches Outside Waterdeep

About half the total Wands family actually dwells outside of Waterdeep, scattered mostly throughout the North and along the Sword Coast. They tend to maintain fine estates with a reputation for wizardry, many of them taking in local apprentices and training them for fees or service. The Wands have eight such estates, located in Neverwinter, Yartar, Secomber, Mirabar, Amphail, Baldur's Gate, Scornubel, and Berdusk. Between them, they house just over forty of the House's membership, with occasional visits from all of them to Waterdeep.

Holdings

• Resources Limit: If necessary, House Wands could probably generate about 12,000 gp in liquid coin and valuables within a month.

Rumors About House Wands

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Faction

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Overview

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Goals and Philosophy

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Activities

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Quests undertaken by agents of House Wands might include the following:

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Perks

Scions and agents of House Wands in good standing might receive the following benefits:

• Living Quarters: Rank 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: Rank 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: Rank 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): Rank 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.
• The Family Trade: Rank 5+. By this point, the character has been so inundated with magical secrets and lore that they inevitably pick up a few tricks here and there themselves, gaining the Magical Training feat for wizard spells.
• Wealth of the House: Rank 10. The patriarch of the House is in total control of the House's finances and various holdings, established by the laws of Waterdeep.