Stability
Story Emits
Lycene Succession Crisis:
First Archduchess Carlotta Velenosa was murdered during the King's Rest and then her daughter Archduchess Esera Velenosa was pushed off Sovereign Bridge by the Dominus of the Faith. Can't the Lyceum keep a highlord until at least the rest of the world stops falling apart? The communal breath of the Lyceum is held following Esera's death, figuring that a round of assassinations or the civil war is in the making, but remarkably, it seems violence isn't imminent. Duke Niccolo Velenosa has served as voice as House Velenosa for decades, and while he's not Velenosa by blood, most wouldn't question his fitness to rule... but at least most of the Lyceum would have expected someone in his family to challenge his claim. Instead, it seems the opposite is happening. His daughter, Princess Isolde, publicly renounces her claim and proclaims her support for Niccolo, as do her cousins Luca, Serafine, Eleyna and others that might stand in line of inheritance. Niccolo's claim is further supported by the merchant caste, Duchess Belladonna Pravus, Duchess Calista Fidante, and Duke Hadrian Malvici. While that is solid enough to safely be recognized by the rest of the Compact, it would be a mistake to say his reign is secure- there's persistent discord throughout the Lyceum on account of his lack of Velenosan blood, the troubling precedent for a title to revert to a parent, and most importantly the implicit lack of stability from the arrangement. The Lyceum has enough to worry about- Niccolo's reign will not be secure until he marries someone that can support his rule, appoint voices from other houses that can bring the badly divided Lyceum together (House Rubino or Zaffria would be wise), and this time they want a damned will with a declared heir and line of succession in advance, and not just when his grandchildren are born. They wish the new Grand Duke of the Lyceum a long life, but it's the -Lyceum-, let's not have a civil war after a routine poisoning. Get it secure and stable.
Thraxian Succession
Prince Donrai Thrax is not someone that you'd expect to be mourned throughout the Compact, and he's not. But he was the last highlord of an era, and he represented stability (admittedly terrifying stability) from an unpredictable and warlike great house. His death, in the mind of most of the Compact, couldn't have come at a worse time, with Arx facing an external threat, and each of the other four great houses having lost their own high lords at least once in recent years. Still, with Donrai dead, most in other four regions were hoping that finally that kindly Prince Dagon Thrax, knightly grandson who had been openly critical of thralldom and harsher Thraxian traditions, was going to finally usher the Mourning Isles into a new era of peace with the Compact. Not so much. Lord Victus Thrax fought a duel with him and claimed the seat and rule of the Mourning Isles. Dagon, to his credit, renounced his claim and recognized the rightness of the duel, and supporters of Victus swiftly move to (surprisingly bloodlessly) firmly take control of the Mourning Isles, making Lord Victus Thrax the undisputed Prince Victus Thrax, Prince of Maelstrom.
The rest of the Compact, to put it mildly, are horrified. Essentially every lord with an illegitimate child is intensely troubled by the danger of a baseborn child usurping a rightful heir to begin with, and trying to sell that custom as part of Thrax culture isn't exactly reassuring to the lords terrified currently by a lack of stability in the Compact. Secondly, Victus is a warlord, and they were watching that Assembly of Peers. He was already seated at the council, the other high lords were treating him as one of their own, so they assume their leaders will do nothing to rein him in, and Victus, unlike Donrai, made no objections when his vassals spoke out of turn and were threatening and combative to other peers at the Assembly. This makes many of them believe he has far less control over his vassals than Donrai did. Most at this point would not be placated without anything that looks like real reforms, such as the abolition of thralldom or male-only primogeniture.
For Thrax itself, Victus' rule is secure and uncontested. Outside of the Mourning Isles, it's anything but. Vassals of the other great houses will not respect their high lords treating with Victus as their equal in the current state of affairs, and it's worse than most might think. For many of them, the threat of House Thrax under a warlord that is less concerned with reining in his vassals is a larger threat than 80,000 shavs bearing down on Arx. For many of them, shavs, regardless of number, have never broken through Arx's walls and sacked the city. House Thrax most certainly has, and the Crownbreaker Wars weren't that long ago.
The Regency
Stability and security is on the forefront of the minds of most everyone in the Realm. It comes as a welcome relief to many that Duke Gabriel Bisland is selected as regent once more. His previous time as regent in the wake of the Tyde Rebellion and the death of the old king was a time of relative peace and prosperity, and there's still a great amount of faith in the highly respected general. His appointment soothes some nerves, particularly in the wake of the deaths of the recent highlords and the realization that an enemy army is bearing down on Arx. Truthfully, most of the Compact is almost blissfully dismissive of the threat posed by the Bringers of Silence- magic doesn't exist, and shavs are just shavs. It's a worry, to be sure, but there's less panic one might expect.
That will probably change if Arx comes under siege.