"Six for the truth over solace in lies"
The Sixth House, The Emperor's Reason, The Master Wardens is the sixth planet in the Nine Houses System. Wardens of the Library, Sixth House is the center of academic study in the system. Their bookish nature leads many to underestimate their skill.
History[]
Founded by Cassiopeia the First, the Sixth House is home to the greatest repository for knowledge and research in the Nine Planets System. The House has an engineered knack for churning out precocious, skilled, and wildly intelligent Necromancers. Scholars from other houses travel far and wide to study at the Sixth Library. However, despite visitors to the Library, the Sixth House remains relatively isolated, and as a result, the "consanguinity" of their bloodlines have degraded the gene pool considerably.
Perhaps motivated by the broadened genetic potential of members of other Houses, the Sixth House contributes a steady stream of soldiers to the Cohort. They remain a loyal subsidiary to the Empire until Y10000 of the Emperor’s reign, during which the Sixth House enacts the “break clause.” This allows them to mobilize the Sixth House installation and leave the Nine Houses System.[1] Sixteen members of the Oversight Body are selected to negotiate with the insurgent group Blood of Eden on behalf of the Sixth House.[2] During the interim period, the rest of the population remains on the Sixth House installation where it is temporarily located on an exoplanet just outside the Ur system.[3]
Source Gram[]
According to Commander We Suffer, the Sixth House made contact with Blood of Eden around six thousand years prior to the events of As Yet Unsent. Central to We Suffer’s claim is an incident mired in Edenite mythology: the origin of Source Gram. Regarding the veracity of this claim, Camilla Hect confirms that Blood of Eden has information about the Sixth House that an outsider would not know, though all BOE’s references are “incredibly antique.”[4] Based on BOE’s naming conventions of other known collaborators,[5] Source Gram is likely a person. Given its connection to Blood of Eden, and Camilla Hect's testimony that the Sixth House seceded as a result of instructions left years ago by Cassiopeia,[1] it is possible that Source Gram is Cassiopeia the First, Lyctor and founder of the Sixth House.
Atmosphere/Climate[]
Sixth House, as one of only two planets closer to Dominicus than First House, has an extremely hot climate outside of their climate-controlled Library. The planet also contains a volcano, reborn by The Emperor, that can occasionally be felt on the lowest levels of the Library.
Sixth House Administrative Structures[]
Necromantic Scholarship[]
Archaeology[]
Necromantic scholars emphasizing primarily in organic materials (namely skeletons, but also including original paper and other objects).
Archivists[]
Scholars[]
Relatively low-level, achieving the position of scholar in ones early teens would be regarded as an impressive achievement. The scholars path through a Sixth House education is a convoluted and ever changing one. Scholars must complete modules to earn points, but the regulations around how and when modules can be completed are frequently restructured and shuffled. It is assumed that at a certain number of points, they can earn higher ranks and diversify into a more specific lane of study.
Data Collection[]
A seemingly low-mid level position, Collections assist in recording and properly filing observations from active investigations. In The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex, they seem to function similarly to lab assistants.
Swordsmen's Spire[]
Swordsmen seeking placement with the Cohort have only two requirements: competency and "genetic outreach potential", or attractiveness. Swordsmen, "Aspirants," are placed into three categories upon graduation.
Alexandrites []
Attractive and competent fighters, Alexandrites are sent for out-of-system deployment to aid the war effort and hopefully find a suitable match with which to diversify the gene pool.
Epeids []
Competent fighters, but with no particular attractiveness, Epeids are given a general referral to the Cohort and left to make their own successes. The Sixth has little interest in swordfighting.
Nireids[]
Attractive and incompetent, Nireids are an unexpectedly honorable position. Nireids are specifically deployed to off-world reserves in order to attract a necromancer mate and diversify the gene pool.
"Add Sixth House soldiers at the peak of physical performance whose last exam was to memorise erotic poetry. They say it’s a massacre." [6]
Locations[]
The Library[]
The Library is the main stronghold of the Sixth House. As the primary hub for knowledge and research in the System, the Library is carefully regulated both in climate and bureaucracy. Though many researchers visit the Sixth with a hope of unearthing new materials, the rarest and oldest artifacts are rarely let out of their protective cases.
Character of the Sixth House[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nona the Ninth Day Five, Ch. 23
- ↑ Nona the Ninth Day One, Ch. 6
- ↑ Nona the Ninth Day Five, Ch. 28
- ↑ As Yet Unsent
- ↑ Nona the Ninth Day Three, Ch. 12
- ↑ "The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex"