The Black House is one of the seven great Houses contending for power in Vala. Belonging to it is treason, yet the oracles prophesy “almost by default” that the lord of the Black House will be king.
| Type | House (faction) |
| Territory | The south |
| Leader | Ob Caligni (rebel); Garkhan (proclaimed) |
| Spanish entry | Casa Negra |
Place in the Ziggurat
The color-linked Houses form the Ziggurat, the kingdom’s pyramid: the Blue House on top, ruling from Uruk (“the House of men”, the only one still with influence); above it only the House of Silver or White House, retired guardian on the moon, of the god Sin; the Red House of Red Bay, martial and neutral; the Golden House, the King’s Special Guard by oath; and below and outside, the “half-rebel” southern Houses: Black, Green-Yellow, Orange-Lilac.
The Black House is the base, and the kingdom’s moral law follows: “Scheming is part of it, but never rebellion. What is below must never want to be above, because nothing above would stand without the base.” The cosmic south, “the nadir of the zenith”, manifests as the Black House.
Tower and land
Its seat is the Black Tower (“dark tower”) in the mountains, “a true mansion of risk”, reached by a winding wooded road. Its land has a guarded perimeter, marked by armored men, about a hundred miles (or kilometers) from the expedition’s starting point. It has grades and its own darkness; word of recall reaches it. Though banished, it claims land and relieves the Wordbreakers of their duties in its zone.
Emblem and lordship
Its new insignia, one of four logos, is a dragon’s eye above Chinese- or Japanese-like strokes. It is the faction of the draconic cult, master of necromancy and of the black dragon. Its lord (Black House, never “Dark House”) commands subordinates and controls the sphere of annihilation of the Great Kante.
Ob Caligni, the King’s chief enemy, hides in the Black Tower with hostages, claiming the black egg. By signed agreement, whoever brings his head becomes lord, and Garkhan was so proclaimed in absentia of his father by the prince’s decree. Chisca, said to be Ob Caligni’s daughter or associate, also belongs to it.
Foreign policy
It proposed Taylor’s marriage to Talia Cristalia of the Green House, and holds the maiden formerly of the Blue House, the ruling rival the Wordbreakers must face. The House of Silver, ally of the Wordbreakers, is the highest authority over the perimeter. Luigi Vampa is a declared enemy.
Conflicting accounts
- The oracles say its lord will be king; others reply that he “was never king for a minute”.
- The Tower lies in “the mountains of Úrsula” or “of Uruk-la-Zul”.
Open questions
- Why and by whom the House was outlawed; what the black egg and the Great Kante are; who the hostages are.
- What the other logos are; how many grades exist; whether its land matches the Tower’s perimeter.
- Whether the saying that the House has no torturers is a rule of the world.