The High Houses

I have read everything and I am not sure if this is something that will be covered in A Walk in Shadow, but who created the houses? They seem to be independent of K'Rul and his creation of the warrens. I know Errastus claims to have been the Master of the Holds, but he's bat shit crazy and unreliable.

I also know that Shadowthrone and Cotillion were grooming Tattersail to be the Master of the Deck, but Ganoes snagged that. As far as I know, there isn't any other named Master of the Deck(or Holds for that matter).

The whole concept and execution of the Houses seem to have some major clout behind it, as by sanctioning tCG into a house, it crippled a lot of his shenanigans. It also seems like some people (Karsa) can ignore being assigned a role, while others cannot (Baudin, Seguleh 2nd).

That's not even getting into whether or not a person needs to be an acsendant to fill a role or if being assigned a role creates ascendency for said person.

And where does Ascendency fit with being alive or dead? Clearly Hood is doing some shenanigans of his own by having ascendants doing stuff for him when they are clearly dead.

I am sure there are more questions I have regarding the High Houses, but that is it for now.