House Corvane

House Corvane controls the orbital yards above Demeris. The construction belt is large enough to serve as a navigational feature, takes work from every court in the Embrace and from clients beyond it, and has no equivalent elsewhere in the system. Governments that reject Velyrian records or political claims still bring damaged vessels to Corvane because they cannot replace the capacity gathered there.

The house controls more than fabrication. A completed vessel becomes a warship under Corvane license, and that permission is granted on terms that return for renewal. A court taking delivery therefore receives both a fleet asset and a continuing negotiation. Corvane can move a contract forward, leave it on the slips, or set a completion date that forces every dependent plan to move with it. Grain lands late, garrisons wait, and envoys arrive after a settlement when a fleet misses its season.

This authority belongs to the yards and their licenses, not to the city beneath them. Civic and transport authorities govern Demeris, while engineering colleges, labor bodies, and chartered administrations carry much of the work that feeds orbit. Corvane schedules construction and controls entry to its protected facilities. It does not turn that industrial control into a separate government over the surface metropolis.

The yards also deny Corvane secrecy. Their frames stand above a populous city, and observers can count occupied slips from orbit. The house publishes its order book and admits inspection because concealment would invite every client to suspect a hidden preference. A visible queue limits what Corvane can disguise, but it also makes a promised place in that queue credible.