Golden Legacy (3.5e Campaign Setting)/Golden Empire

Great House Kazuki
House Kazuki is the administrative House of the Empire and manages nationwide concerns and interactions between the lesser Houses. It directly rules the central Imperial Province, Shenghua, from the immense capital city of Tenjuku. House Kazuki is associated with Kouryuu and administrates the Empire as a whole. It consists of the Golden Emperor and his vastly extended family; unlike the other noble houses, each member of the house bears the name Kazuki, then their given name, and none other. The Kazuki family have distinctive golden eyes, which they claim is proof of their direct descent from Kouryuu. This claim is further backed by the House's immense magical aptitude and a much greater number of Void Adepts than the lower Houses.

High Houses
Just below Great House Kazuki are the four High Houses, which serve to administrate the direction of the Empire associated with their patron Incarnate. Each High House technically maintains authority over any Low and Least House territories in their jurisdiction, although in practice they have their own holdings and agendas to manage and allow these other Houses to handle their own affairs.

House Kubota
Though it is smaller than even some of the Low Houses, House Kubota maintains its status through magical innovation and its efficient administration of the harsh North. Some suspect that it maintains its effectiveness with the help of forbidden pre-elven-war (or even pre-Cataclysm) artifacts, but no such allegations have ever been formally levied, much less proven. It is associated with Genbu.

House Shin
Originally a Low House, House Shin was granted its current status after the defection of House Reta. It is an agricultural powerhouse that eagerly seeks to prove itself and governs the vast plains and forests of the East. It is associated with Seiryuu.

House Mukade
House Mukade is renowned for its military might. It manages the treacherous South, where said might is continuously tested and tempered by skirmishes with yuan-ti and their lizardfolk followers. It is associated with Suzaku.

House Takuma
House Takuma controls much of the Empire's mining interests, and occasionally draws ire for its unorthodox practices and (to some unseemly) close ties with the dwarven stoneholds that border its holdings in the West. It is associated with Byakko.

Low Houses
The four Low Houses govern holdings within the territories of the High Houses. The majority of their holdings lay in the direction associated with their patron Paraelemental, but each Low House holds territories scattered across the entire Golden Empire. This ensures multiple lines of communication remain open between regions at all times.

House Juudai
House Juudai is the newest Noble House, notable in that all of its members are shifters or lycanthropes. Despite their origin and bestial appearance, they have a strict sense of fair play and honor, and are famed as arbiters of disputes. It is associated with Setsuna.

House Muranaka
House Muranaka is associated with Tensatsu.

House Shunsui
House Shunsui is associated with Orochi.

House Oshiro
House Oshiro is associated with Tetshira.

The Ushinawa Reta
House Reta was one of the original four Noble Houses from the birth of the Golden Empire and the closest to House Kazuki, with whom it had a closely shared ancestry. Ideological differences in the centuries since caused many of its members to sever their ties with the Empire; in response, House Kazuki stripped the entire House of its status and holdings.