Main Families of the Gorhadian nobility.
For centuries Gorhad has been the capital of the Empire. For centuries real power has been held in the hands of a few families, whose roots sometimes date as far back as the old Republic, when their senior members held the highest public offices and the power to decide of the fate of the State.With the advent of Athorion I, his conquest of the Southern Kingdoms and his consequent gain of the highest influence in the Council, true power became the prerogative of one man: the Emperor.
But this was surely not enough to discourage the old patrician families of Gorhad, nor kept them from having enormous influence in State matters. Even the greatest Emperors could do very little without an army of bureaucrats, handling the details, keeping the imperial machine running and well oiled. And with such a complex apparatus, with so many decisions to take on so many different affairs, and so little time to take them, a legion of councelors is required, each one of which strives to take advantage over the others and raise another step in the fifteen stepped stair which leads to the trone and to the Emperor's ear and the throne itself. Then there are those who can just hope for an influent position in an important office, or something similar, and then again the few who are just happy with their country villa and a retired and pacific life (or just make it do).
Historically there have been 30 high ranking families, and a hundred or so minor ones.
Only nine of the 30 Patrician Families hold real power in court and any real hope of getting one of their members seat on the Black Throne, and the struggle between these nine is constant and extreme. The others just side up with whomever they think can help their cause, and dream of the day when one of the nine will fall and they will be strong enough to take their place.
Already one family has disappeared in the blood bath that followed the death of the last Emperor of the First Empire, Athorion the Wretched. House Numitia vanished in a single night, when all his members, clientes, servants and even all the horses and livestock were slaughetered by unknown hands. Some say sorcery was used, many legends exist about how the Numitii were destroyed, and many others about the two youngest sons of Augustus Numitius Vaianus, who supposedly excaped the slaughter. In troth, the bodies of the two children were found in the pantry, cut to pieces and hooked to the ceiling, one of the most gruesome details of this entirely horrible story; nonetheless, the legend keeps circulating, perhaps because the inherently romantic heart of the people needs to believe in the existence of a lucky survivor of such a murderous deed. Whichever the truth, years have passed, so even tracing back survivors would be pointless, and house Numitia no longer exists, but none of the lesser patrician families held enough power to occupy the niche the Numitii had left vacant, so the other nine families simply closed up and divided among themselves the lands and wealth of the Numitia even if it is said that the Valerii family (the family from which the current Emperor comes from) grabbed the largest share.
The lesser families are just supporters of the 30 Patricians. They hold the title of "noble", but not the higher-ranking title of "patrician". While noble families in Gorhad are actually expanding in number, due to watering of the bloodlines and titles awarded as a reward by the Emperor himself, the Patricians do not vary: only a full blooded son or daughter of a Patrician house can inherit the titles and wealth of the family.
Cases of women leading a Patrician house are quite rare: the nobility of Gorhad believes women are intrinsecally unable to handle state affairs, or whatever else task requiring any intellect, and should bear themselves within their own limits. The few that did, however, were some of the best stastesman (or rather stateswomen) the Empire ever had. And, probably due to the inherent ostiltiy of the other families and often of their own family members, some of the most ruthless. It's not clear whether this utter lack of restrain from bloodshed has been the prime cause of their success in the vipers' nest of Gorhadian politics, or it has been just a consequence and a quickly developed survival instinct. It certainly worked.
To make the imperial political background even more complex and lethal, the clergy of each of the churches holds great power and influence on the everyday life of the city. Each patrician family has a choosen cult; in most cases attendance is simply facade, set up in order to obtain more of the Emperor's favour, to gain public consent, often just to have an (allegedly) unbiased proxy for treaties, or one who can vouchsafe for their honesty in front of the gods should an accusation of sorcery (until recent times the preferred way to ruin political enemies), be charged upon them.
The clergy is well aware of this, though.
Commonly, in fact, such alliances are shaky at the very best; the clergy tryies to modify the political course of the Empire to gain pre-eminence over the other churches, ready to betray everybody who trusted them if this turns to be advantageous for themselves, while the Patrician families themselves, conscious of how things stand and ready to abandon anybody who is sliding down the social ladder, lest he bring them in his fall.
In this complex environment, decisions the consequences of which affect the entire Known World are taken, and choices are made which could change the lives of everybody forever.
Playing with imperial politics is a fast way, for adventurers daring enough to choose so, to rise to great power and wealth, or to be thrown in a cold, unmarked tomb.