House Regas

House Regas holds the island of Myos, part of the archipelago of the Great Green, and is a vassal of House Mardas. It is ruled by Countess Chloe Regas.

History
The fortunes of House Regas have been closely bound to those of House Mardas over the centuries. Its island home suffered terribly during the First and Second Greytides. During the Third Greytide, its people moved in their entirety to Sanctuary and, as with the rest of the Great Green, there is a strong affinity with the people of Sanctuary.

Myos has long been home to a great library. During the Third Greytide, some of the library's contents were moved to Sanctuary, and copies of them form the heart of Sanctuary's own archives of the ancient past. The time constraints imposed by the evacuation meant that not everything was moved, and when the people of Myos eventually returned to it, the library had been ruined. It has been restored since and, today, the library in Myos is held by many to be one of the greatest on Elthos, perhaps second only to the academy in Sanctuary. The members of House Regas have traditionally taken considerable interest in the operation of the library and in the collection of new material for it. Even if they have not been scholars themselves, its members tend to be well-regarded if they can bring back fresh material.

House Regas has tended to adhere to whatever its liege in House Mardas has been doing at any given point in foreign policy. The Great Green is secure and prosperous and so too is Myos.

House Regas has not been immune to the wave of republicanism which has swept the Great Green. It manifests a little differently in Myos, where scholars of common birth have long been held in high regard, and now, since the late 620s, find themselves at the forefront of the republican movement.

Holdings
Myos is a hilly, rocky island, with poor land, its only saving grace for the local economy being that it contains iron mines of reasonable quality, and even those have dwindled in recent years. Most of Myos' economy is driven by the number of travellers who come to visit the library. In some cases, it is for the sake of reference, but at other times, because it has become a place to congregate, it is because it is a convenient place to meet other Dyrians without going quite as far as the imperial court in Sanctuary. The effect on the local economy is like a miniature version of that of Sanctuary: the relative abundance of noble visitors drives demand for high-quality goods, and merchants and artisans oblige.

Current Events
The rising republican sentiment is by far the greatest concern for House Regas. It is being driven primarily by scholars on the island, but not only by them - they have quite some sympathy from certain nobles of House Regas itself, with their long affiliation with those same scholars. The republican movement is unlikely to find support elsewhere in the empire, and House Mardas is keen to see it dealt with. How House Regas opts to address the matter remains an open question. The one matter of so far universal agreement within the house is that violence would be an unconscionable course to a resolution.

Otherwise, the house continues much as it always has. Its members continue to travel on whatever task they are engaged in, though rarely with the eternal quest for knowledge far from their minds. It has as significant a presence in Sanctuary as any house, both for the day-to-day of attending the imperial court and to avail of the academy.