Dreams in the Elf House

While the Queen is a renowned figure, the true rulers of Ouroboros are the Elf Houses, and the rulers of the Elf Houses have always been their women.

Like this...

...but dressed like this.

Gender in the Elf House

If you are a woman, life is decadent and dangerous.

If you are a man, it's either a total fuck-and-murder fest, or the dull life of a soldier.

Let's break that down a little.

Elf Women...

...do not speak: the subtleties of their body language convey all.

...are taught a thousand subtle arts over their long lives: chief among them are poisoning, dagger-fighting, spellcraft, and conspiracy.

...give birth to great clutches of eggs, though usually only one child survives the hatching (when two survive they are called twins, feared and respected, but that's another article). Those with children are Matrons, some of whom grow quite immense.

...are supervised by the Reverend Mother, who oversees the bloodlines and controls who breeds with who.

...are pretty much all Ladies in Waiting (meaning that they're waiting to strike down the Reverend Mother with poisoned needles).

Elf Men...

...are mostly kept at home in a communal harem for the house. They spend their time vying for their mistresses' favor and poisoning their competition.

...are sometimes chemically (or magically) sterilized to become Castrati, the grim private armies of their house.

...are ruled by a female Dominatrix (commander of the castrati) and Consort (minder of the harem, only woman to be sterilized).

...can be declared women and given all the privileges of a lady in waiting. This happens for many reasons: military valor, political alliances, managing the bloodlines, etc.

Houses of the Elves

The House of Salt and Honey: Theirs are the pleasure houses and vice dens, and their Reverend Mother Farniece is the only living thing in the city that has ties with the mysterious entities known as bees, from which the mutagenic and geriatric substance we call honey is derived. This monopoly, if it can be maintained, has secured stability for this house until the end times.
The House of Blood and Milk: Their Dominatrix, Botfly, leads her great armies of castrati plundering into the other Ouroboroses and defends this iteration from incursion by these alternate cities. It is by her will that the cosmic predators called ourselves do not slaughter us and take our children for meat-slaves.
The House of Stone and Silence: They own the blind masons, responsible for preserving and protecting the architecture of the city from its constant restructuring. This grants the house power over time and space unrivalled by any other force in Ouroboros (save perhaps Uncle Moth). However no one really likes them, as they are universally grim and changeless over the long and imaginary eons.

Street Encounters 2

1	Train of castrati-guarded slaves taken from last month's battle with the enemy.
2	Spider-riding ladies in waiting, out slumming, positively intoxicated by your absolutely horrific aesthetic. Peddlers swarm them, isn't it charming?
3	Warm-smiled matrons with little superfluous arms, they ride in silk-and-silver palanquins, guarded by huge formation of castrati. Crowds cheer.
4	Elf woman from a fallen house duels a lady in waiting over the heart of a human (interpret that literally if you want, but you don't have to).
5	Wandering troop of disbanded castrati, drunk and looking for trouble.
6	Silk bridge over a sludgy canal of sunken gondolas, escaped harem men crawl out from underneath and try to extort an exorbitant toll (they'll also accept escape from the city).
7	A sinister lady in waiting greets the worst of you with your most heinous crime.
8	A sobbing, broken castrati abandoned by his patrol mates, a green recruit from the pillowy abyss of the harem.
9	Crane-riding elf children, some have fallen off their mounts, the others mock them as they weep on the cobblestones.
10	Castrati slavers, heavily armed, waiting to take you.

Takato Yamamoto

I could do this all day.