The argument
Obligation outlasts institutions. Corporations fell and reformed and fell again. Governments did not survive at all. What survived was families who knew exactly what was owed and to whom, and who could enforce it without any apparatus beyond memory and consequence. The Houses regard the arcologies as a fashion.
How it works
Guarded and transactional. Nothing is free and nothing is forgotten. A favor accepted three generations ago is a live instrument, and the Houses will present it at the least convenient moment because that is when it is worth most.
How they see you
As a potential counterparty. The Houses do not have enemies in the way the corporations do. They have people who are current on their obligations and people who are not, and the second group is handled without much drama.
Where the name comes from
Not from dishonor. From the practice of marking a lineage with what it has done, permanently and visibly, so that nobody has to be told twice.
House forces trade in favors and leverage rather than raw firepower, fielding profiles that manipulate reinforcement, morale, and objective control.