The ruling dynasty of the Six Duchies, whose members take their names from the virtues they are expected to embody - Chivalry, Verity, Patience, Shrewd. The Farseer line carries the Skill, a telepathic magic that allows communication across distances and, in its most powerful expressions, the ability to shape reality itself. The family's legitimacy and survival are central concerns of the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies, and the question of what the line owes to its members and what its members owe to it runs through FitzChivalry's entire arc.

A group of Skill-users trained to work in concert under the direction of the Farseer crown, their combined power amplifying what any individual could achieve alone. Coteries have served the Six Duchies across generations, but the art of forming and sustaining them has been lost and rediscovered multiple times. The coterie Fitz is eventually associated with is central to the resolution of the Red Ship Wars, and the question of what a coterie member owes to their companions and to the crown is one of the trilogy's recurring concerns.