House Baomont

House Baomont is a scholarly noble house of Lumenara whose name is synonymous with systematic inquiry, rune tradition, and the Baomont Institute—one of Faeloria's premier centres of learning and home to the Great Library of Faeloria. Where House Whitmere leans toward royal archives and public education reform, the Baomonts anchor deep research, celestial and natural philosophy, and the ancient methods traced to the Dawn of Magic. Their motto is "Ask, measure, prove."

Overview

The Baomonts are patrons and practitioners alike: their white-stone institute in the capital's scholarly quarter employs tutors, initiates, and a Council of Masters that rivals the political weight of many sword-houses on the Council of Lords when research touches crown policy. Tapestry halls celebrate Baomont ancestors; enchanted catalogues organise a library that draws scholars from across the continent.

Publicly the family embodies Avarian curiosity and rigour. Privately they guard institutional independence—resisting efforts to fold the Institute entirely under royal appointment or to subordinate its research agenda to Arcanum Lyceum battle-magic priorities.

History

Dawn of Magic era — Ancestral scholars associated with the figure later called the First Baomont Scholar established systematic rune study and safe handling practices for maginite—intellectual foundations still taught at the Institute.

Founding of the Institute — Hieronymus Baomont chartered the Baomont Institute centuries ago; it quickly became a continental beacon, distinct from the later Arcanum Lyceum focus on applied arcane training.

Great War — Baomont researchers advised the Mage Corps on phenomena management; the family lost a wing of the Great Library to fire, spawning a permanent duplication effort with House Whitmere.

Present day (530 TRA) — Provost Elara Baomont leads the Council of Masters and speaks for the house in Lumenara; her cousin Master Lucan Baomont is a noted documentarian of court and frontier household life, contributing to the realm's historical record.

Key family members

Provost Elara Baomont (Patriarch by office; head of Council of Masters) — Stern, precise, politically fluent without craving titles. Advises the crown on magical phenomena, long-horizon strategy, and technological innovation.

Lord Cassian Baomont (Patriarch by blood) — Holds the family's Noble District manor and endowment charters; deferential to Provost Elara on Institute matters, active on Council finance for research grants.

Lady Serene Baomont (Matriarch) — Patron of celestial observatories and the Institute's public lecture series; ally of Lady Aurelia Moonwhisper on cross-realm arcane taxonomy.

Master Lucan Baomont (Cousin) — Scholar and author who records household and diplomatic culture for the historical canon; associated with treatments of Eastwatch service life.

Initiate-Archivist Tamsin Baomont (Heir-apparent in research line) — Prodigy in natural philosophy; expected to succeed a Masters' chair within the decade.

Roles and responsibilities

Governance and endowment of the Baomont Institute and the Great Library of Faeloria.
Crown advisory work on strategic military analysis, magical phenomena, and arcane innovation (shared remit with the Lyceum but distinct methodology).
Council advocacy for research funding, Heritage Protection Act exemptions for scholarly excavation, and maginite regulation.
Publication and preservation of Faelorian knowledge for courts, guilds, and foreign universities.

Assets and holdings

Baomont Institute — Primary seat: halls of Arcane Theory, Natural Philosophy, Celestial Studies, and allied disciplines.
Great Library of Faeloria — Multi-storey repository with magically assisted catalogue systems.
Baomont Manor — Noble District residence adjoining Institute grounds; hosts Masters' councils and visiting fellows.
Observatory endowments — Celestial instruments and chart archives used in navigation and festival astronomy (including the Dance of the Stars).

Connections

Avarian Royal Family — Trusted research advisors; not blood kin, but frequent consultants on edicts touching magic and education.
House Whitmere — Cooperative rivalry: shared literacy goals, different institutions; joint disaster-recovery copies of crown records.
House Solcrest — Overlap on arcane regulation; Baomonts prefer peer review where Solcrests prefer licensing fees.
Arcanum Lyceum — Sister institution by reputation; occasional turf disputes over students and faculty appointments.
Lady Aurelia Moonwhisper — Quote source on Institute architecture as "a testament to our shared pursuit of knowledge."