Vincas te Casas
Each of the Casas Crantas of Merochas maintains at least one Vinca, or estate, somewhere in the Merochasan countryside.  Many of the Casas have several such estates - hacientas - scattered throughout the land, but one of their estates will be the Vinca te Casa, the family estate.  Depending on the Casa, this vinca may be more important than the estato urbano - the estate in the city of Merochas, which each of the seventeen Casas Crantas also maintains.
The vincas serve a variety of purposes.  They may be the center of expansive agricultural lands, or other valuable natural resources.  The vinca is also the center of the tropas te casas, the paramilitary troops each Casa maintains, both as a source of internal power, and as their complement to the mutual defense of the country.  Also, the vinca is simply a good place to go when the heat and clear skies overhead allow the stink of the canals to build up in late summer - or when unrest in the city threatens the safety of the family.
A vinca is really a small town, with its own farmers, craftsmen, and trades people.  Depending on the function of the vinca, there may also be large numbers of laborers, miners, or artisans.  And each is home to a significant number of troops.  As in most things in Merochas, the Casas Crantas dominate the countryside - most of the large towns in Merochas are really vincas.   Only a handful of towns are actually independent centers of trade.
Some of the Casas are actually more centered in the countryside than in the city of Merochas itself.  These Casas Campas - "country houses" - are Jakimo, Sevastion, Tyvalt, and Viontello.  In addition, Consalo, Lysantre, and Fertinan are sometimes included in such a listing, because their interests often lie with the Campas, and they support many of the same policies that the Campas support.  The other Casas, when spoken of in this context, are called Casas Urbanas ('city houses').  Since most of the Casas fall into this group, they are seldom referred to as such, however.