1)
Ssemm
Patriarch: Tarkuld Ssemm, an aloof, stonefaced elderly man of few words, who avoids public displays of emotion as “common.” His family knows that when his emerald eyes blaze, he’s excited or has flown into a fury, but his face and voice will betray.. 2)
…nothing of any strong feelings. Calculating and practical, determined to turn a profit every waking day, he despises nobles who splash coin about, make grand gestures, indulge their eccentricities, or are needlessly cruel or “loud” in their words and deeds.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 1, 2020
3)
Restraint is the true mark of the cultured.
Matriarch: Valinethe (“VAL-ih-neth”) Ssemm, of wealthy but non-noble Sembian heritage, Tarkuld’s second wife (after the first died in childbirth), Valinethe is twenty summers younger than her husband. Petite, dark-haired, 4)
…and the owner of magnificent cheekbones and large storm-gray eyes that give her a truly strikingly beautiful face, Valinethe is graceful and quiet—but in a low, musical voice, does all the public talking for her husband that she can. Tarkuld dotes on her, but…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 1, 2020
5)
…only in private. In public, they might be two statues allied to each other, not two humans fond of each other.
Heir: Raldinor Ssemm, the only child of Tarkuld and Valinethe, a sulky, spoiled, handsome young man who looks very like his mother, but twice as tall.. 6)
…and male. He collects models (miniatures) of ships and castles and wizards and warriors, the more exquisitely sculpted the better, and has just discovered girls—and how. Nightly he visits the festhalls of Westgate, or has the most acrobatic escorts brought by..#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 1, 2020
7)
…coach to the back gate of the Ssemm mansion and hustled up to his rooms (on the way, they are usually briefly intercepted by his father, who quietly tells them what horrible death of slow maiming they will experience if they harm his son in any way, or steal… 8)
…anything). And he’s trying orgies with dozens of participants, sex with shapeshifters, sex while affected by fly spells, and anything else he can think of or find. While his parents pretend not to notice, so far as he is concerned, and hope he’ll soon move on…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 1, 2020
9)
…to less dangerous entertainments, and choose some regular partners.
Notable Rakes/Adventurers: Kordravvam Ssemm, a broken-nosed but otherwise strikingly handsome, debonair, lithe and athletic master swordsman who always dresses in black leather. He wenches… 10)
…and drinks his way through life with many a merry jest, spurning Tarkuld’s company but visiting Raldinor to give him gifts—and ideas his father frowns upon—and Valinethe to flirt with her (she indulges him, but firmly resists him if she thinks Tarkuld will…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 1, 2020
11)
…discover them). His adventures, which include dabblings in piracy and smuggling, take him all around the Sea of Fallen Stars ports, and on rare occasions into the Moonsea, or inland into Sembia and the Dales, and he long ago bought houses in many places to… 12)
…be his various havens, and sponsored a small gang of brigands to live in them when he’s not there and carry on various quite legal activities as cover for their lawless ones. He did this with the wealth he made adventuring, that has made him not quite as rich..#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 1, 2020
13)
…as the entire rest of the Ssemm family, so he has no interest in sponging off his kin, or abandoning his happy-go-lucky life of derring-do, unless or until age and ill-health force him to settle down. (When that happens, he has plans to woo a suitable… 14)
…Cormyrean noble heiress and become a “rich old bad nobleman” of the Realm of the Purple Dragon.)
House Ssemm have a reputation in Westgate of having a sinister past, and connections to yuan-ti (based on nothing more than the hissing pronunciation of their…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 1, 2020
15)
…surname). They are said (baselessly, nowadays, though it was once true for just two family members, operating independently of their kin) to be involved in slavery. What they truly are is hard bargainers who keep to details of contracts and pacts (and so are… 16)
…trusted in Sembia and the Vilhon, with the result that gangs of Ssemm-hired workers are always employed there), and are heavily invested in shipbuilding and local repairs (roofing, roof-tile-making, plumbing) in Westgate.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 1, 2020