"Houses rise, houses fall, but the ring is eternal." - Common phrase regarding Kuati aristocracy
Every aristocractic family on Kuat is deeded an estate at the creation of their House, and while some families have held their ancestral homes for years unnumbered, there are others who see a great deal of turnover. Apart from places like Kuat City, most of the land on Kuat is reserved for the enjoyment and homes of those elevated by the Council of the Ten. (It should be noted that the current council doesn't really have much to do with the actual Ten, however these representatives have been appointed to deal with matters arising from and within the nobility.)
Lady Esila received a manor house west of Kuat City, close enough that she could make the trip easily to the trade center from her home. The previous owners had been a bureaucratic family that had been stripped of rank and had their asset rescinded. The house had barely been vacated when Esila arrived to settle into it. She named it Kocari and it was there that many generations of her family grew and resided.
At many point over the next 500 years, the manor would be expanded and improved by the matriarchs who stewarded it. Lady Denia built the family crypt in 395 ABY to lay to rest her parents and grandparents close by, while Lady Filomena added a substantial garden to the grounds in 439 ABY. Lady Katra added a wing to the house itself in 531 and Lady Zalma expanded the property boundaries by purchasing an adjacent parcel of land in 608 ABY.
Although each matriarch would leave her mark upon the family home, much about the house has been preserved out of tradition and respect for the original lady who elevated herself and her heirs from obscurity to the ranks of prestige.
The oval drive in the front of the estate wraps around a tall, bronze likeness of Lady Esila, commissioned by one of her great granddaughters. It has stood for centuries now and it has become a tradition of newly appointed matriarchs to have the statue cleaned and repatinaed. The brick outer walls are repointed and replaced every couple of years, although a thick green coat of ivy covers the facade of most of the house.
The foyer into the house has a large marble inlay of the crest designed by Esila set into the floor, and it is unclear during which renovation of the house it was added.
The bedroom suite of the matriarch has not changed in all the generations and it is said that the furniture was selected by Esila for the room specifically from among her most luxurious contacts offworld. The pieces have been restored numerous times, reupholstered and refinished but they endure as perpetually as the ring of the Drive Yards that hang in the wide blue skies.
- Tomasina Vettua, University of Kuat, Department of Genealogical Studies