Sterren Manor
Sterren Manor lies among the orchards and farmland south of Sarnath, its star-carved gates marking the country seat of one of the city’s wealthiest families. Alagar Sterren has turned his retirement here into a life of excess, keeping company with guests and dependants whose ambitions have made his household a dangerous place.
A House of Revels
Music and drunken laughter fill halls hung with the Sterrens’ black stars. Lavish feasts, masked revels and private debauchery have become the pleasures of Alagar’s old age, sustained by the estate’s wealth and the servants who keep it running. The gardens and grand furnishings speak of a family accustomed to influence, while its ageing patriarch enjoys being flattered and obeyed.
Alagar was once a formidable figure in Sarnath, and his retreat from the city has done little to soften him. His generosity comes with an appetite for humiliation and control. Much of his family now refuses his invitations, leaving the manor to those willing to tolerate his behaviour or profit from his favour.
The Sterren Name
The Sterrens built their fortune at the Crimson Star Tavern, a Sarnath institution older than the city walls. Alagar’s children, Marwel and Porlond, still run it, preserving a family business that has survived generations of Quince rule. Darion’s brewing laws left the tavern as the only legal competitor to Rivengate Brewery, though its trade is now confined to the city.
At the manor, a prized tapestry celebrates Frayoc Sterren’s furious protest against those laws before Darion himself. The family still takes pride in that defiance, but Sarnath’s brewers are being targeted and the Sterrens have already suffered a loss. Their wealth and old connections give them influence across the Southern Provinces, along with enemies whose interests reach into the household.
An Uneasy Household
For all Alagar’s authority, the manor depends on Penrod Ramsgard. The steward has served the estate for years, managing its affairs and enabling the revels he has grown to despise. His careful manners conceal a need for control that extends far beyond his duties, and Alagar resents how much power he has allowed him to hold.
Their quarrel runs through a household already divided by resentment and competing claims on Alagar’s fortune. Behind its polished hospitality, the manor is a place of private bargains and threats, where being close to the master brings both privilege and unwanted attention.
The Family Fortune
The Sterrens own property across the Southern Provinces, giving the struggle over Alagar’s inheritance weight well beyond the estate. His young wife Milisandia, brought from Veloria into an arranged marriage, sees that wealth as her chance to escape a household she has grown to hate.
Odette the Prim arrived as an injured traveller and has since become Alagar’s mistress, gaining influence over both him and Ramsgard. His favour makes her part of the struggle over the family’s wealth, while his children remain in Sarnath defending the business that built it.
For Rivengate and the Crimson Brotherhood, a divided Sterren family offers an opportunity to weaken one of Sarnath’s oldest independent powers. The manor’s private quarrels have become part of the same struggle over money and influence that threatens the Crimson Star.