Shadow Rivers
the Myth (?) of Influence
There are ten Veinlords corresponding to rivers of various sizes.
There are cliques and hierarchy amongst them that is continually
squabbled over, and most suffer from a tendency to gossip. Rumors
spread between them, influenced by their own courts, and small
kernels of truth develop into fantastical stories.
One such rumor involves the three largest rivers. Those Veinlords
possess the most influence in discussions pertaining to all due to
their greater access to resources, large court systems, and high
populations. Because each is suspicious of the other, these lords
are always concerned that people who have vendettas against them
personally will go out of their way to influence a more prominent
Veinlord to deny them help or to otherwise bully them. Whether these
fears are normally founded is another question.
The internal term for these supposed persons who use a powerful
Veinlord to do their own bidding are "shadow rivers." Some shadow
rivers are spouses or partners of the Veinlord or other members of
their court, so there are some elaborate rituals concocted to ease
these fears. Families and court members of Veinlords are regularly
engaged with each other, for feast days, holidays, shows, and
excursions.
Shadows
The slang term for someone trying to exert their will through
persuading a powerful veinlord is a "shadow". Shadows can be
anyone. Accusations of shadowhood are not common because a failed
accusation makes the accuser look petty and unintelligent, often
resulting in ostracization. If the accusation has enough weight to
be properly investigated, the retaliation is often less than if
the accusation can be easily dismissed, as it shows that while
there may have been ulterior motives, there's enough uncertainty
it was wise to check.
Real shadows often operate with much more delicacy and conspiracy.
Real shadows, in fact, can survive an accusation of shadowing.
Because who can really say how much influence is too much? They'll
have allies in investigative communities, they'll have threats or
promises keeping a Veinlord silent, or they'll have great popular
appeal. The real shadows hide in plain sight and deep behind the
scenes.
Famous Shadows
The most famous shadow was the spouse of
Ghube Ghisisi, Nova Khogieh̨e. Nova used Ghube's power to live a luxurious
lifestyle, upgrading them from a single regular house to a vast
mansion. A justification was that it would introduce new jobs to
upkeep the new space, and they could hold other court meetings
in new spaces, but it did also make for a new lovely home.
Nova's wishes grew more extravagant until she and Ghube started
to make excuses to journey and adventure to other rivers and
places, hoping to make note of rivers with powerful energy and
begin to track the development of new Veinlords. Nova swayed
opinion about who should be able to rule these distant rivers,
and their opinions found their way from their mind to Ghube's
mouth as she declared these things.
The entire history of these other Veinlords has been set into
motion by someone who was not a Veinlord. Or, so they say.