The families listed here range from Ustalav’s most inf luential to the nearly unknown, yet all possess tainted blood that guides their fates or directs their ruin. Beyond dungeons or lurking monsters, these families’ ancestral destinies might spark any number of adventures as they seek to avoid their fates, or drag others down to share in their dooms.
Rulers
Both destiny and tragedy seem attracted to those in power. As those among the echelons of command seek to indulge or avoid their respective fates, lives by the thousands are changed forever.
Caliphvaso: Through the ages the fates of the Caliphvasos and Ordranti princes have intertwined. Since the nation’s resurrection, the rulers of Caliphas have desired the Ustalavic throne, yet despite centuries of manipulations, failed intermarriages, and subtle treacheries, the crown they view as rightfully theirs has ever evaded their grasp. Family histories speak of greater outrages between the houses as well, such as Laurisica Caliphvaso, who was banished to Sarkoris for her threatening intelligence and popularity, and Ralagen Caliphvaso, poisoned by Prince Gennen to quell scandalous rumors—and whose radiant ghost still wanders Chateau Douleurs. With every generation, the Caliphvasos grow more embittered and ambitious, culminating in the line’s final pure-blooded member, Carmilla, who holds the capital within her demesne and seeks only the time to spring a trap decades in the making.
Galdana: Although known to the current count of Amaans only by way of dusty family legends, the Galdana line possesses an inherent talent for the arcane, especially those magics that manipulate the mind and command the dead.
Muralt: The cousins of the Odranti family secretly suffer as the slaves of the traitor Iselin, a deathless necromancer who forces his will upon the inheritors of his bloodline. Although the villain has long manipulated the Odranti and Muralt lines, any relation of these families could fall under his control.
Odranti: The crown of Ustalav both empowers and cripples. Generation after generation, Ordranti princes take the throne with visions of inf luence and reformation, only to have their hopes dashed by ages of entrenched decrees, bureaucracy, and noble infighting. Thus even the family’s most capable rulers typically become mere figureheads and fall to distraction, passing the nation’s mounting ills to their offspring along with the shackles of princedom.
Despite his militaristic impatience, Prince Aduard III has seen little change during his rule. Yet, proud and convinced of his family’s right to wear the crown, he refuses to let the throne pass to the supposed son of his weak brother and a Caliphvaso trollop, despite not yet having a legitimate heir of his own.
Tiriac: The curse of vampirism taints the ruler of Varno, who has posed as the past several lords of his line. Loathing his affliction, Tiriac endlessly seeks a cure so he might die as a human. But he is not without scions—of a kind. Although Tiriac loathes his condition, through the centuries he has unleashed more than one vampire spawn, reserving his cursed blood for those he despises most, or those who hold the greatest chances of curing his condition but require the time to do so.
Virholt: Few know of the secret divinations that prove a direct heir to Andriadus Virholt, bastard of Ustalav’s last king, still lives. Yet even were a successor to this ancient royal bloodline to realize his heritage and make himself known, Andriadus’s supposed betrayal of his nation to the Whispering Tyrant would make the revelation more likely to end in an execution rather than a coronation.
Nobles
Dozens of Ustalavic nobles cling to petty titles and moldy heritages, often unaware to what extent their dead ancestors control their lives.
Arudora: Centuries ago, some power beyond foulness, evil, and age sought to destroy the Arudora family, transforming their estate into the cursed citadel known as Bastardhall. Through the ages and under dozens of different names, the Arudora line has lived on. Yet some power still seeks the surviving Arudora, thirsty to reclaim the blood of Bastardhall.
Beauturne: Former counts of the Palatinate of Lozeri, the Beauturnes endlessly scheme and seek to raise support in their private war against the Palatinates, bitterly striving to reclaim rulership of their stolen lands.
Beumhal: Although the Beumhal line was thought to have ended in a night of madness and murder, under the name Inimald a branch of the family line abandoned their ties and lived on. With House Beumhal’s reclamation and reopening, some scion of the Beumhal family might be called back, whether by curiosity, greed, or something else.
Kindler: With their family estate, August House, rotting outside Ardis, most of the remaining members of the impoverished Kindler line have forsaken their family titles and holdings. Against the advice of his aunt, famed author and former Pathfinder Ailson Kindler, the young sage Styrian Kindler chronicles legends along Avistan’s western coast. A mysterious swordsman calling himself Calanvald Kindler also walks the streets of Caliphas, hunting some elusive foe, though none among the Kindler family know anything of him.
Millair: More than 80 years ago, Camille Adler was murdered on the night of her marriage to Halister Millair, locking the five families of Lake Redleaf into a prison of misinformation, pride, and suspicion. Eventually a new heir will take ownership of Millair Manor, and the secret of a decades-old mystery will rise again.
Moulot: When the explorer Jacaid Moulot returned from Varisia with a gigantic rune-etched diamond, he presented it to his wife as a gift. Seven days later she died mysteriously. Ever since, every female Moulot to claim the diamond has been enigmatically murdered, granting the Thassilonian artifact the name the Invidian Eye.
Commoners
Dark deeds and hidden plots aren’t unique to Ustalav’s rulers, with many families of common stock being haunted or blessed by the specters of ages past.
Ghalmont: None among the Ghalmont family know of the half-Kellid blood running through their veins or their clan’s true name, Twisted Tongue, though such might explain their ancestral nightmares of midnight rites before bestial obelisks, as well as their loathing for the Ustalavic crown.
Locnave: Considering their family blessed by Cayden Cailean, the Locnaves hold peace and simple pleasures as life’s greatest rewards. Many in Chastel look to the family for leadership and aid when hardships arise.
Reinhold: The swampers of the Graidmere hate the Reinholds, who have defended their ranch along the bog’s edge for eight generations. Although the family has suffered curses and murders, they stand as the best-known trackers and bandit hunters in Sinaria.
Thell: In 80 years, nothing more exciting than a lost sheep beset the Thell farmstead. Strangeness and danger were so unknown to the Blickwell farmstead that when Brouse and Emuriel’s newborn, Zoenessa, was kidnapped by servants of the palsied hag Osiso Clatterclaws and replaced by the witch’s changeling daughter, no one even noticed. Raised as human, none but Zoenessa herself ever suspected her terrible heritage, even into adulthood enduring nightmares of eyes upon her and eerily tempting songs beckoning her into the night.
Treyes: When Liron and Cadamon Treyes raided the ruins of Kalexcourt and founded Lepidstadt University, more than just the people of Ustalav noticed. The ancestors of the famed scholars and adventurers have long been held as authorities on Ustalav’s ancient mysteries, but are also haunted by those selfsame secrets.
Voltiaro: The power behind Illmarsh’s unsettling Church of the Indomitable Sea, this inbred family of thugs and hypocrites disguise their depraved agendas behind a cloak of doomsaying, suspicion, and fanaticism. Although numerous sons and daughters have f led their family and its unwholesome traditions, some call of their tainted blood always compels them to return. The latest of these outside children to feel the call is Oscor Voltiaro, a distant cousin whose parents never told him of his family’s legacy, and who now desperately seeks anyone who can help reverse the strange and piscine transformations wracking his body.
