Descended from an ancient line of a powerful Cortosi mage from the Radiant Church and a highly skilled warrior from the Empire of Tauzou, House Sirl has existed for many generations longer than Vel Anir has stood. Despite the age of the family line, it did not join with Vel Anir until several hundred years after the city's making when then matriarch of the family, Iyuri Sirl, assisted Vel Anir in the conquest of the Cortosi city of Villareal known today as the Day of Embers.

Iyuri Sirl stood as the head of the Sirl family both in her exceptionally powerful magic of starfire, but also as the head of the Cortosi Red Guard mercenary band based out of Villareal. Using her own docha of highly trained warriors, personally saw to the beheading of Villareal's ruler and the extermination-by-fire of his own family in order to solidify herself as an influential and powerful ally to Vel Anir's rule.

In seeing her capabilities of bringing an otherwise large city to heel, Iyuri Sirl was offered a place on the King's council in exchange for her sworn oath of loyalty and the use of her warriors to take care of Vel Anir's troublesome members that posed a threat to the crown. It was from this day forward that House Sirl was seen as the Enforcers of the King's will. Since then, Iyuri Sirl has enacted a form of Shadow Peace throughout the Anirian territories that saw the silencing and disappearances of any who might speak out against the royal family or cause strife within the kingdom.

The Sirl name became synonymous with death and as their infamy grew, so too did their influence and power within Vel Villareal and beyond within Vel Anir where Iyuri Sirl was invited by the King himself to make her home close to the royal palace. There she could enforce her vigilance over the other Houses and the people of the Kingdom. To this day, House Sirl maintains a standing force of warriors trained within the traditional Red Guard art of warfare and martial arts that is unique to them.

Starfire Magic has been passed down from the original Sirl matriarch, Amorea Delarosa. This magic is hereditary and shows up only in a single offspring per generation - traditionally this designated the child in question as the Sirl heir but this decision was later rescinded and changed not just in part due to the short lifespans of the inheritors, but also due to the joining of the House under Vel Anir. From that generation onward, the inheritor children were taken to the Dreadlord Academy. Instead, the child born without the power was given the seat of heir while the child born with magic was then poised to protect them upon becoming a fully fledged Dreadlord. This power is mighty and given enough time to master it, the mage can pull from several founts of abilities:

• Divine Magic
• Light Magic
• Healing Magic
• Fire Magic

The power of Light and Fire grow more strong during the day and peak when the sun is at its apex, then wane at night. The powers of Divine and Healing peak in the night hours when the stars are at their brightest. Unfortunately due to the intense nature of the magic, it often drives the inheritors to early deaths before they might have their own children, which has resulted in a much smaller family line than seen within most of the Great Anirian Houses.

In the case of twins, it has been recorded that both children gain aspects of the Starfire Magic. Typically this has allowed the twins to live far longer lives as they balance one another out. In this situation, it is the child with the Divine or Healing magic that takes the seat as head of the house while the child with the aspects of Fire or Light assume the role of protector.

It is noted that in historical documents, only the direct line of descendants has been catalogued in the Sirl Family tree by generation and not by descending lineage. While outside marriages were later catalogued in secondary tomes, any child that inherited the family magic was automatically granted the family name of Sirl regardless of married family name. A * denotes the inheritor of the Sirl family magic.

• Vel Villareal - Ancestral city of house Sirl, major trade hub, northeastern Cortosi coast, main seat of House Sirl influence
• Dalian Hall - House Sirl private seaside estate on the Cortosi coast.

• House Eden
• House Strand
• House Harkenov
• House Gantri

As an amalgamation of two historically differing cultures, House Sirl has made an art form out of connecting and merging the two: that of Cortosi heritage and the ancient Empire of Tauzou.

TEA CEREMONY

• Typically taken daily at mid-day
• High-quality imported teas are made by hand
• Hand-crafted tea sets changed by the day depending on the weather, season, and any observed holiday
• Tea is taken in SILENCE. No conversation may be had until the tea is gone

WEDDINGS

• Official wedding color is black - no white wedding gowns.
• Roses and gold/gilt decor are the main style, dragons also typically make an appearance within the ornamentations
• Fire usually also plays a role somewhere - for the Sirl's specifically it was often used as a means for the Sirl descendant who inherited the power of Starfire to carry or lead their wedded down a walk of fire, protecting them from harm
• A tea ceremony is conducted between the husband and wife where each creates a tea for the other. Brews it, pours it into an ornately custom made bowl or cup, and then serves it to them
• Taiko Drums are used throughout the ceremony
• Pledged houses typically will adopt some of these things, and sometimes all of them depending on how loyal they wish to be perceived to their Liege Lord or Lady.

MARTIAL ARTS

• House Sirl maintains a unique tradition of teaching loyal subjects the martial arts style and forms of its ancestor, Kishou
• This style is clinch and grappling focused similar in vein to judo and jiu-jitsu (for RL comparison)
• These techniques applied honed and targeted focus on pressure points of the body to grant the fighter the ability to quickly and effectively take down targets much larger and stronger than themselves
• The basis of this technique was founded around the need for Kishou to train his blind wife, Amorella, to protect herself in a fight against physically superior aggressors and relied heavily on sense of touch rather than vision
• Fights often reflected this style through a constant point of contact on one's opponent, whether through isolating a limb or having a hold of their clothing, allowing them to take the fight to the ground and being able to put an opponent into a submissive lock or hold without relying on brute strength
• Countering attacks, disarming, and using an opponent's weight, movement, and momentum against them are inherent to the technique

CUISINE

• A curious mixture of raw and tempered pan-cooked meals (Think: a mixture of orient and spanish cuisines)
• Light fare, heavy on the use of rice
• Vegetable and bean centric salads are common
• Strong flavors, often spicy
• Heavy use of seafood, shellfish, and poultry
• Light on red meat
• Most Sirls eat using chopsticks rather than the customary utensils of Vel Anir

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