(Some RP/Setting/Petalura information if anyone needs it.)
The House:
The House is a very large building made predominantly of granite and marble, most resembling an old Germanic castle with all the trimmings, including tall spires and intricate masonry. It probably dates back several centuries. It was built on a crag overlooking a river valley, is surrounded by tall pine forest for many miles in all directions, and is notoriously isolated from most of the outside world.
Built by an old medieval earl of one kind or another (and in whose family it has remained to this day), it has only recently come to be occupied again. Most of the numerous rooms remain unoccupied, as they have been for perhaps a century or so.
The owner:
The owner is, of course, a reclusive and eccentric scholar, a direct decendant of the original earl, running his own privately funded research on various biological topics. Not much is known about him yet, but he is rather creepy and people enjoy speculating about him and his activities. Rumor has it that he's cooked up some sort of ferocious maneating beast of one sort or another in a test tube and has allowed it to roam the wilderness surrounding the castle. True or not, the rumor has furthered the isolation of the area. There have been a few sightings of strange things in the area by hunters or campers or somesuch, but most of it has been written off as hysteria or trying to garner attention by rumors or hoaxes.
The residents:
Aside from the professor, there are a few others who live on the castle grounds. Loranten, for instance, does in fact live there as a general servant (although this is perhaps not the whole story. Loranten is not a very good servant at all; were that all he did, he would most likely have been dismissed some time ago). Suishii is also supposed to live there but for no apparent reason other than assigning Petalura to various keepers. There is also a small housekeeping staff.
The only other residents are a few Petalura who choose to live on the House grounds for various reasons; mostly for the terrain, which is quite favorable for creatures such as themselves, having plenty of cover and tall perches as well as hunting opportunities. Most prefer being outdoors for most of the time, as inside the House their mobility is severely limited by narrow halls and numerous stairways, not to mention their habit of knocking things over with their unwieldy wings and tail. A few actually enjoy the House, sometimes visiting with the people inside for hours on end.
