Organization – Draconic House Hazolai

Draconic House Hazolai (“Diamond Lightning”)

House Hazolai is a successful Draconic House, under the direction of the Matriarch Tainhaz, it has gathered valuable territories and built a trade empire.  It is surprisingly uninterested in the traditional draconic activities of plunder and destruction, seeing much more profit through economic control.

Goal: Expand, Protect, Prosper

House Hazolai is a business as well as a House, it has a vast web of commercial enterprises across the Sea of Stars many of whom do not know who their actual owner is.  Matriarch Tainhaz seeks ever more wealth, the power that comes with it is simply an additional spice, but she is playing for the money.  Those who threaten the interests of House Hazolai must be dissuaded or, if they will not take the hint, destroyed.

Alignment

The dragons and other members of Hazolai are out for their own ends, they obey the dictates of the Matriarch because to anything else is . . . foolish.  There is a certain amount on jockeying for position, rivalries and power plays within the House but never to such an extent to risk the stability of the House or weaken it against external enemies.

Leader and Organization

The undisputed head of the House is the Matriarch, Tainhaz, who has ruled the House for the better part of eight centuries.  Tainhaz focuses on the overall situation and the political maneuvering among the Draconic Houses.  She directs action but leaves it to others to carry out the tasks, Tainhaz trusts her family to do the tasks assigned to them and to ask for help when needed.

House Hazolai is loosely organized with individuals within the House undertaking various projects, those who do well are assigned greater responsibility, those that do not are tasked to help others.  Tainhaz is constantly encouraging, some would say pushing, her children to dare more and make a name for themselves.

Headquarters

The physical Hazolai House, know as the Lightning Tower, is in Shel’lioc, the capital, and acts as the central point for the gathering of information and future planning.  It is a rambling structure incorporating architectural elements from all over the Sea of Stars.  Once a year, the entire extended family is called together for a week long period devoted to preparing for the next year.

Joining

It is no surprise that most of the members of House Hazolai are family members.  Bonds of blood are considered vital to maintaining loyalty among the House.  Which does not stop the members of the family from recruiting widely from those that have needed skills and talents.  Those that prove themselves loyal and worthy will be adopted into the family and blooded.

Gaining Prestige

Service to the House and above all loyalty to the family is rewarded.  Those who serve well get promoted to increased responsibility and authority.  Tainhaz admires daring and innovation, those that gamble and win will get additional chances.

There are other routes to promotion, skilled flattery of Tainhaz can gain a person one chance for success, but they had best succeed for Tainhaz does not suffer fools or failures.

Resources

The House has access to money, trade goods, sky and star ships, holding and even a few lands.  At the Lightning Tower there is a great collection of magic items, books, scrolls, weapons and more but finding the right item is a challenge and one had best have the permission of Tainhaz before taking them from the house.

Allies and Enemies

House Hazolai tries to maintain good relations with the other Draconic Houses and generally does so.  Some of the branches of the family come into greater or lesser conflict with the other Houses and rival merchant houses.  But House Hazolai in general maintains a careful balance never pushing anyone too far unless they intend to push them all the way to destruction.

Adventure Seeds

In Shel’lioc-
•    The Lightning Tower is known as a repository of odd and unusual things.  But it would be wise to secure an invitation before visiting, the security on the tower is rumored to be quite impressive.
•    A chance encounter with Tainhaz gains the characters a chance to perform a task for House Hazolai, if they do well, they will have the opportunity to enter into service of the House.

In other places-
•    House Hazolai is always looking for competent couriers and messengers.  Such a job can be a profitable sideline for a venturer.
•    Ships owned by a Hazolai company have been increasingly targeted by pirates.  The character may be hired to investigate what is behind this or guard the ships, depending on where their talent lie.

Adapting House Hazolai to other settings

House Hazolai can easily be repurposed as quasi-criminal family business under the control of a powerful matriarch.

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