Editing Noble

{{culture
|related=[[Final Empire]]
|world=Scadrial
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|books=[[Mistborn (series)|Mistborn]], [[The Stormlight Archive]]
}}
The '''nobles''' are a race of humans on [[Scadrial]].{{epigraph ref|mb3|25}}

The nobles were effectively created by the [[Lord Ruler]] when he forcibly divided the people of the world. The nobles are descendants of the people who supported the Lord Ruler on his rise to power. When [[Rashek]] took up the power at the [[Well of Ascension]], he used it to alter mankind as a whole to be more capable of dealing with ash, but he also made physiological changes between the different groups of people; noblemen and [[skaa]]. The nobles are made taller, stronger, less fertile, and more intelligent. These physical differences are small, and have mostly been erased by noble and skaa interbreeding over the thousand years of the [[Final Empire]]'s history. All [[Allomancer]]s have a noble ancestor somewhere along their heritage. This is because when the Lord Ruler came to power, he gave his initial supporters beads of [[lerasium]] which imparted to them the powers of a [[Allomancer#Mistborn|Mistborn]].

== Culture ==
The life of the nobles is rife with secrecy and plotting. Almost all nobles are driven by gaining money, power, or social prestige.

All nobles are divided among different Houses. Each house has its own agenda and works towards its own betterment. Each house individually has its own political enemies and allies. Generally, leadership of a house is inherited.

Each house has different levels of power, a social hierarchy. They use [[Steel Ministry|Obligators]] as a means to prove they are trustworthy, for even unimportant matters, such as a meeting with friends.

=== Great Houses ===
{{quote|Interspersed throughout the city were a dozen or so monolithic keeps. Intricate, with rows of spearlike spires or deep archways, these were the homes of the high nobility. In fact, they were the mark of a high noble family: Any family who could afford to build a keep and maintain a high-profile presence in Luthadel was considered to be a Great House.
|-The Final Empire{{book ref|mb1|2}} }}

The Great Houses are the most prominent noble families in the Final Empire, notable for their ability to build a keep and maintain a high-profile presence in Luthadel.{{book ref|mb1|2}}  This is made difficult by the Lord Ruler's keep tax.{{book ref|mb1|24}} There is nothing more embarassing to the aristocracy than a Great House that is unable to maintain itself.{{book ref|mb1|28}}

The Great Houses control imperial trade and enslave the greatest majority of the skaa.{{book ref|mb1|6}} Country nobility resent the Great Houses for their control of the canal systems.{{book ref|mb1|23}}  

The Great Houses get to buy a monthly stipend of atium, one of the main ways that the Lord Ruler controls them.{{book ref|mb1|13}}  Nearly all Mistborn are members of the Great Houses.{{book ref|mb1|7}} The Great Houses take Mistborn attacks very seriously, and have an unspoken agreement not to use Mistborn to assassinate each other.{{book ref|mb1|6}}

A major house war between the Great Houses tends to happen every couple of centuries or so.{{book ref|mb1|6}} House Wars are primarily political.{{book ref|mb1|24}}  The last House War was devastating.{{book ref|mb1|6}}

When Vin starts infiltrating the nobility, the ten Great Houses, in order of power, are: [[House Venture]], [[House Hasting]], [[House Elariel]], [[House Tekiel]], [[House Lekal]], [[House Erikeller]], [[House Erikell]], [[House Haught]], [[House Urbain]], and [[House Buvidas]].{{book ref|mb1|9}} Breeze describes the current high noblemen to be "a careful discriminating group."{{book ref|mb1|6}}

=== Keeps ===

* [[Keep Venture]]{{book ref|mb1|30}}
* [[Keep Hasting]]{{book ref|mb1|23}}
* [[Keep Elariel]]{{book ref|mb1|18}}
* [[Keep Lekal]]{{book ref|mb1|28}}
* [[Keep Orielle]]{{book ref|mb3|30}}

=== Balls ===
The inner-city nobility, particularly those in [[Luthadel]], hold a nightly circuit of balls in their Keeps. [[Vin]] attends a number of balls under the guise of [[Valette Renoux]] in order to spy on the nobility and spread some rumor and intrigue.{{book ref|mb1|6}}

Her first ball is at [[Keep Venture]], where she meets [[Elend Venture]].{{book ref|mb1|12}} She also spots her father, Lord Prelan [[Tevidian Tekiel]].{{book ref|mb1|13}}

About a month later, [[Keep Elariel]] holds a ball at which Valette danced for the first time.{{book ref|mb1|18}}

=== Minor Noble Houses ===
Outside of the ten Great Houses, there are countless minor houses, some of which eventually became major players during the Collapse. 

* [[House Cett]]
* [[House Aime]]
* [[House Conrad]]
* [[House Geffenry]]
* [[House Teniert]]

== Powers ==
A portion of nobles are Allomancers. Very few, however, are actual Mistborn. This is due to the thinning of [[Preservation]]'s power through the generations of nobles.

Nobles are taller and smarter than skaa, although by the end of the Final Empire this was simply due to education and nutrition.

== Notes ==
<references />
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{{Mistborn|Era 1}}
[[Category: Nobles| ]]