House Sterling is a family of Argentum whose crest is two hands pointed down, one closed and one open.1 The house’s name is on the Sterling Timber Yard outside the North Gate and on Sterling Outfitters & Expeditionary in the Hearth Wall, and its crest is painted small at the bottom point of the shields sold there, as a maker’s mark rather than a banner.1
Activities
In the past ten years or so the family has opened a lot of businesses in Argentum: a lumber mill, a general store, the Sterling Sovereign, an apothecary, and a business building carriages and renting out horses. None has failed, and all have been wildly successful.2 Most opened near a competitor and hurt its business badly. The Sterlings seem to go out of their way to take over a market by undercutting prices without lowering quality, and in a few cases they raised prices once the competitor had gone out of business.2
History
Session 15
Rhysaene thought House Sterling had sent Daisy to kill her on 1 Nightdeep, 1714 PSF, over a ledger of Lathiel’s. Lathiel had told her the house was dirty.3 Luma’s family had just gone into business with them.3
Session 17
Lathiel's ledger, found on 7 Nightdeep, 1714 PSF, is Lathiel’s record of crimes by House Sterling. It records Sterling businesses underpaying their taxes and bribing clerks, Sterling requests for preferential installation of lava lamps around their businesses, and how the tenants of the apartments where the Sterling Sovereign now stands were forced out.4 Its last line, in Infernal, reads: “House Sterling seems to have an uncanny run of good luck. There must be more to it than that. I smell sulfur.”4 Luma wrote to her family to warn them about the house.4
Session 18
At the Silver Archives on 8 Nightdeep, 1714 PSF, Luma and Rhysaene found the official records of Sterling construction in the city, among them the Sterling Sovereign and the Sterling lumber yard. They looked incredibly above board and boring, but they inflated what land had cost and what had been paid for labor, compared with Lathiel's ledger.2 The records are likely government copies, and House Sterling would hold the originals.2 Sterling Outfitters & Expeditionary had sent Luma coupons.2
Session 19
Vi Aroon told Luma on 9 Nightdeep, 1714 PSF, that he had heard House Sterling was trying to get into furniture, and that a furniture stall at the Canal Markets would compete only with them.5