Nero scoffed at Gabriel's comment, though he could not help but recall the Soren name. He might really have noble lineage, though he'd be considered a member of a branch at best considering the relation was from his mothers side.
His mind went over what he knew of great families real quick. Since Kolar did not have any kind of nobility, great families was just an informal term representing a family with many high level card masters. But it was only informal because it wasn't officially recognised, not because the list of great families wasn't comprehensive.
Another reason why many people, Nero included, assumed that the great families weren't officially recognised was because the army wanted power to stay centralised, and admitting that a few specific families had accumulated a large influence went against the image they tried to portray.
Nero, however, did not find the concept of great families to be unfair, or part of some sinister plot, though realistically speaking everything he hated about Kolar leadership probably stemmed from those families. To him, it just made sense. Of course anyone who attained power would look out for their families.
It wasn't about accumulating power, as much as it was about preserving one's family and loved ones.
Perhaps not everyone else saw it like that, but he knew for a fact that if he ever gained power he wouldn't hesitate to use it to benefit his family. So, perhaps to avoid being hypocritical, he was not averse to the concept of great families. Though, he did find a few more than distasteful. The names Rodney and Dom came to mind.
He couldn't help but smile gloatingly.
"You know, just yesterday Silas' father called me nothing more than a foot soldier with no future. I wonder if he regrets it now," Nero said looking at his face in the newspaper.
"If you expect some kind of apology, then forget it," Gabriel said in an irritated tone. "High society folk don't usually apologise. To him, this is nothing more than you receiving an unexpected 15 minutes of fame, and doesn't amount to much. Instead of him, you should be focusing on our immediate future.
"I was really hoping that we'd build up some degree of strength to rely on long before we get any attention like this. We're going to have to be very careful during the recruitment test, and then whatever we're going to have to deal with in the ruins."
"Gabriel, you're being too irritable," Nero said, his voice suddenly devoid of his earlier amusement. "I don't know about you, but I never planned on avoiding danger, or combat. If we're incompetent that's one thing, but we're not, so get over it. This is an opportunity. Whether it's the politics, the great families, the ruins, they're all opportunities.
We just need to make sure that we're ready to take advantage of them."
Gabriel clenched his fists, and had countless things go through his head that he wanted to complain about, but eventually he let them go with a sigh. This was one of the primary reasons he wanted to partner up with Nero to begin with. He was always laser focused, and never gave room for doubt.
Even though he had been publicly used against his will, and put in an awkward position, he wasn't flustered in the slightest. To be fair, it wasn't like he was the one responsible for the Demon corps taking over, but it hardly mattered now. Whether he liked it or not, he was now thoroughly in their camp.
"The recruitment tournament is in two months. We'll need to prepare for it," Gabriel said, taking a seat on the chair he had kicked earlier. "Among other things, I'll need to brief you on all the great families and what to expect."
"I know about the families," Nero said plainly. Who didn't know about them?
At the very top of the unofficial hierarchy were the six sage families. At the moment, Kolar had six living Sages, which was more than any other country individually. It need not be mentioned that the families of these sages were at the very top of the family hierarchy, benefitting from the leadership of their sage.
It only made sense that these families would be extremely wealthy and have access to some of the best publicly available resources. Whether they also had access to resources that were supposed to be strictly military use probably depended more on the integrity of their associated sage, but it was fair to assume they had at least some of them.
After all, the best and most valuable resources were always acquired by the sages themselves.
Below the six sage families was a wide bracket of middle grade great families. These families varied in things like political power and wealth, but these families usually had any number of 2 star card masters, meaning above the arcanist level. Some of these families were former sage families, or had long histories, and made up the majority of the families.
Unlike the sage families, whose influence was spread across Kolar, these families had their strength localised. For example, the Dom family was prominent in Aetherpeak, but their prestige would be limited elsewhere. Certain families were focused on specific fields, such as farming, or card crafting, and so only had influence within those specific circles.
All in all, despite lacking official recognition, the cumulative influence of the families was quite significant. But individually, they were little more than local celebrities.
Since even the sage families had severe restrictions on them in terms of having private military force, or forming official yet private organisations in tandem with other families, the families had no real way of developing any significant power when compared to the country. Any power they wielded was a result of posts they held in the army, or in civil offices.
Even that was strictly regulated to avoid any one family developing some kind of monopoly.
That left the largest yet weakest bracket at the end, and consisted of families such as Nero's, with two or more Arcanists among them. These families were the most common, and the extent of their influence went as far as their local communities. For example, Nero's father was friends with the chairman of AAB, and they'd even visited each other's houses on occasion.
Apparently their families had been neighbours when they were growing up.
The number of his family's connections extended across the city, and considering the fact that Nero had two protectors within school, it also extended to their workplaces. But the difference between them and the greater families was also apparent.
"Of course you know about them. But Nero, so far, you've been doing the best in our school. That's because you put in an incredible amount of hard work and effort, not to mention your natural skill and talents. But such things only take you so far. You're a pro at hand to hand combat, but against kids who have been raised in some of these families, your advantage will be cut short.
"It may not be of their own volition, but many of them have out in the same amount of work as you, if not more. They've also had private trainers all their lives, not to mention countless cousins doing the exact same kind of training as them to give them competition. Fighting them is in a whole other league, and fighting is just one area of many where they have an advantage."
"Compare them to yourself. Where would you rank yourself among the Neophytes from these families."
Gabriel paused. He sensed the silent accusation. Well, it wasn't really an accusation. They both knew he was also from one such family - he'd just been adamant about keeping which specific one quite so far.
"Somewhere in the middle," he admitted. "But take your head out of the fighting ring. There's more to these things. I'm going to have to brief you on the dynamics between all these families, and we'll need to come up with a plan on how we're going to proceed. Let me tell you something - any family with a background in Tera corp isn't going to look favourably upon you right now."
"We'll deal with it," Nero said, waving his hand. "You're letting your worry of the problem affect you too much. You can brief me on the families until I get discharged. Apparently I'm not supposed to just leave the hospital once I wake up. Who knew?"
Gabriel facepalmed.
"Speaking of families, you heard of the Soren family."
"Soren family, yeah. It's one of the oldest families in Kolar, even predating the empire. It's said that they had close ties to the emperor during his time, though details are sketchy. Some records indicate that they might have even had a sage in the early 200s, though there aren't any proper records of it.
They've long since fallen out of power, and the Soren name disappeared a couple of decades ago as far as anyone in recent history knows. Why?"
"I heard it in passing," Nero said, not revealing his thoughts. "So, about these families…"