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Eirread is easily the most inhospitable place in Magnaria -- A flurry of sleet, snow, and hailstones fall from the sky almost constantly, while on the ground geysers burst with lava, boiling water, and poisonous clouds of gas. Cuisine incorporates one of the four animals that can survive in the climate -- hares, horses, seals, and fish -- and the month of the lunar equinox is called "The Long Sleep" for the Eirra because they are unable to leave their homes without almost immediately freezing to death. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to find a fouler corner of Magnaria, though the land is not without its own pleasant culture and customs. The Eirra are known for their baked goods, teas, stews, and seafood, as well as their many fables. Aside from their food and folk stories, the Eirra have a strong faith in their sun god,
Yorgid.

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House Hafrek

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The Eirra are a short, pale, wiry-haired race of men that have survived the arctic winds of their homeland for centuries. They are almost always black-haired, though dark brown or even sandy brown hair is not unheard of. The men and women alike frequently have unibrows or sideburns by the time they are adolescents, stereotyping them as a cartoonishly furry in foreign plays and stories. They have flat, round faces, with brown eyes almost permanently locked into a squint due to their country's strong winds. Because most Eirra are typically one missed meal away from malnourishment, they are a short, sinewy people, commonly likened to weasels or rats by foreigners wishing to call them something derogatory. They have diets that are high in meat, butter, and cheese, and have difficulty digesting large amounts of vegetables or grain.

Closer to The Cinderfields, one in ten Eirra are born with birth defects, and either adapt to their handicap as they grow or are "given to the sea elves" in the Singing Sea. Some of the Eirra do not so quickly shun their disfigurement; There is a banner house within the Cinderfields that has hereditary disposition to Ectrodactyly,
and another to blindness.

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Sunbois

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Eirread, like many poor countries across the globe, keeps itself out of bankruptcy by spending very little. There is virtually nothing to trade in Eirread; Their crops, while edible, are hardly as large or as tasty as those grown in the south. Their mountains, while rich in salt, coal, and bronze, contain almost no gems or precious metals. Aside from their three small mining exports, Eirread has no other trade.

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Valdemar Hafrek, King of Eirread and Keeper of the White Gate

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List 'em

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"Dutiful until Death"
_{Eirread is too inhospitable a land to afford having incompetent or errant rulers, and so the Hafreks are notoriously serious about their duties as the country's ruling monarchs. Historically, many Hafrek kings have killed or disowned heirs deemed unworthy.}

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List 'em. Most powerful vassal is to be played by other players unless it's not filled by IC launch.

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Storrholt, loosely translated from the Oldtongue as the Great Woodland, is a densely packed region of forest and farmland with a spattering of rolling hills near the southern tip of Magnaria. --

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House Osbjorn

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The Storr

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--

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All of the food

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Runi Osbjorn, Thane of Melar and King of Storrholt

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List 'em

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"Through Nature's Wrath"

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Name
_{Flavor text if needed}

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List 'em. Most powerful vassal is to be played by other players unless it's not filled by IC launch.

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Irukarut, commonly known as 'The Merchant Kingdom', is a varied and relatively warm land, its weather consistent and often pleasant from its home isles of Irukarut to the City of Brass that serves as their greatest bastion on the mainland. Inhabited by the Karut, a culturally distinct people who travelled to the islands thousands of years ago, and their allies - the Joulani, or outsiders - from the mainland, the Merchant Kingdom is a bustling and wealthy land, its prosperity born of a bounty of fish, corals, precious metals, gemstones and spices.
Above all, the world is one of dualities - Earth and Sea, Sun and Moon, Gold and Fish - and the Emperor is at once both the embracing of that balance and the force that corrupts and destroys it. The Karut are happy to trade, but as the wind breeze flows and the riches of the world are made their own, then so it is that the Karut will keep growing...

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The House of Golu; the Thrones of Karut-Joulani

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Broadly, there are considered to be three main 'ethnic groups' within Irukarut, both its mainland holdings and its 'true homeland', the archipelago also known as - somewhat plainly - the Irukarut Isles.

---- The Karut (dominant ethnic group, ethnically distinct from mainland Magnarians and the most populous group of the home islands)
---- Joulani (nomadic Karut allies on the mainland supposedly descended from the mythical 'Red People' who are otherwise distrusted and disliked by the majority of settled communities - more broadly, it includes all immigrants and exiles who pledge themselves to the House of Golu and Irukarut. It's become an extremely broad term, and the Joulani fill out a huge range of roles in the society of Irukarut... unfortunately, most of these roles are not well-respected)
---- Outlanders (a general term for non-residents - travelers and merchants of other lands. They are also welcome, and hospitality to strangers is a well-known trait of the Karut, but they are always aware that their presence is... temporary, and if anyone should start to forget it, the lot of the Joulani is a frequent and clear reminder)

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For the purpose of Pseudo-Abrahamic similarities in holy sites, themes, and religious disagreements, everyone worships (in some way) the moon, the sun, or a combination thereof.

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Primarily, the Karut have built their wealth through the growing and trade of the spices they brought with them from their ancestral home centuries ago and which are now effectively native to the Irukarut Isles. They also profit from the mining of gold and precious stones, the bounty of which are dug up and refined from the deep mining shafts created in their early excavations and arrivals of the landscape around their capital, the City of Bronze. Fishing and the gathering of rare corals and shellfish also serves as the foundation of their cooking and much of their trade.

---- Gold
---- Gemstones
---- Bronze
---- Fish
---- Spices
---- Corals

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Wasa Golu, Merchant-King of the Karut and the Jouliani

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Jonn Golu, heir of the House and Isles of Karut
Tarin Golu, holder of Firstfort and the City of Bronze
Millet, trusted servant
Timmelak the Marshlander, Guardian of Heaven's Ridge

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"Wealth and Wisdom, gifts of the King"
_{Explanation if needed}

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????

Name
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List 'em. Most powerful vassal is to be played by other players unless it's not filled by IC launch.

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Alban is a land of mountains, hills, and forests and it would surely be difficult for anyone to find any part of it that is truly flat, except for a few of its mountain valleys. Despite being sparsely populated, Alban is rich in natural resources -- metals ready to be mined in its mountains, lumber from its many forests, fish that can be found along its stormy coasts, and more. The region is divided into two distinct parts -- the Highlands and the Lowlands -- with each being ruled over by clans that ultimately owe their loyalty to the King of Alban. The clans of Alban are notorious for their large personalities and fighting one another, even for the most petty of slights, and it remains something that often requires a great deal of oversight when under a capable king, whilst at the same time it may very well threaten to boil over into full-blown anarchy under a weak king. On average, the Albans tend to be both tenacious and honorable, uplifting ancient traditions such as guest right, and can always be expected to attain their rightful vengeance against those who have wronged them. However, this is hardly without exception, and one may find that the men of Alban are capable of holding many dark secrets.

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House Canmore

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The Albans are generally divided into two distinct groups of people, Lowlanders and Highlanders, but both are almost entirely indistinguishable from one another beyond certain cultural oddities. They are pale, much more so than most, but certainly not to the same degree as their cousins to the north. On average, Albans are taller, stockier, and bulkier than most other men, often giving off an intimidating and almost wild presence while in the company of others. They usually are brown of hair, though it is common enough for those who live in Northern Alba to have hair that is light brown or even blond, while red hair remains a rarity. Eye colors are subject to much the same level of diversity, but green, blue, and variants thereof have long since become the most common. Overall, a hard land has created a hard people, leaving them largely unconcerned with the niceties observed among other groups of people, and leading many to primarily pursue activities with a martial focus.

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After near a thousand years of continuous Imperial rule over the entire continent, two unique identities have since developed within Alban; those who live within the somewhat fertile and wooded stretches of land that is known the Lowlands, as well as those who have chosen to make their home towards the northern mountainous regions, in what is aptly referred to as the Highlands. Of the two, the Lowlands has almost always been more influenced by the trappings of Imperial culture, ever since the initial conquest of the Alban tribes.

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For the purpose of Pseudo-Abrahamic similarities in holy sites, themes, and religious disagreements, everyone worships (in some way) the moon, the sun, or a combination thereof.

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Constantine Canmore, King of the Albans, Lord of the Mountains and the Hills

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List 'em

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"Motto Here"
_{Explanation if needed}

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List 'em. Most powerful vassal is to be played by other players unless it's not filled by IC launch.

Nation Name
Kingdom of Aaldorenfeald.

Ethnic Peoples
Aaldoren.

Ethnic Description
The people of Aaldorenfeald tend towards darker features, such as brown eyes and black or brown hair. Their men are of average height and build, but their women tend to be tougher than those of foreign lands, taller and stockier. The Aaldoren are built for poor conditions—hairy, and with stark, hard facial features, they are well-suited to labour and to making the best of tough terrain and tough times. Those who call Aaldorenfeald their homeland can get by with less than the people of the rest of Ardacia, enduring through famine and other hardships easier than most.

Culture
The Aaldoren are a utilitarian, moralistic people, largely distrustful of outsiders and their vices. They very much tend towards seeing themselves as apart from the rest of Magnaria, a people unto their own. The root cause of this sense of separation is Aaldoren morality, which is strict and unforgiving, making even the more draconian lords of foreign kingdoms raise an eyebrow. This instilled dedication to righteousness leads the Aaldoren to look down on outsiders, viewing them at best as neglected souls in need of virtue, and at worst as sinful influences, to be avoided or destroyed.

Drink is the Aaldoren vice, and just about the only vice tolerated—besides perhaps wroth. The Aaldoren jokingly refer to alcohol as "the price of virtue", as its abundance and popularity as the sole culturally acceptable excise is what prevents the men of Aaldorenfeald from reverting to more hated escapes. Gamblers and flesh-peddlers are despised by the Aaldoren, chased away from Aaldorenfeald's towns and villages just as quickly as they can flow in from the rest of Ardacia. The Aaldoren's dedication to drink has given them a reputation as drunkards in the lands beyond their own, a stereotype that is not entirely inaccurate. Alcoholism is common in Aaldorenfeald, especially among the nobility and wealthy merchants, who can afford proper beverages rather than the fermented swill the peasants subsist on. However, the free flow of booze through Aaldoren lands also means that the devil's nectar has less of an effect on the Aaldoren than it does on most; they can drink more and be impacted less, making Aaldoren runaways in foreign lands every barman's favourite customer.

The dress and diet of the Aaldoren is not unusual for their location in Ardacia, but many of their distinct customs are strange and difficult for outsiders to understand—often intentionally so. Foremost among these is the 'Rord', an Aaldoren cant especially common in the border areas of Aaldorenfeald, which see the most foreigners. Rord is a mixture of the Commontongue and the Oldtongue, with many pronunciations changed to allow for speech to occur as quickly as possible. Rord is always spoken rapidly, but specific phrases in Rord tend to be superfluous, declaring obvious information needlessly to give the impression that more is being said. An example of this is the phrase, "Abodan say scandborn becuman segnrike", which translated literally would mean, "I declare that strange men have entered the righteous kingdom", but is generally understood to be an invitation to begin speaking in Rord. Many Aaldoren cannot hold an entire conversation in Rord, but do understand certain specific phrases and words. Many Aaldoren greetings and songs are spoken in Rord, even when only Aaldoren are present, and it has become something of an informal second language to many.

A facet of Aaldoren culture that is essential for visiting foreigners to understand is Aaldorenfeald's obsession with the dispensation of justice. A Rord phrase common to the Aaldoren is "Háligdóm ær Ástandennes", or "Righteousness before Survival", and its meaning is clear: it is better that a man be righteous than that he live. As such, the Aaldoren do not shy away from executions, even for what might be considered minor offences in other lands. Another aspect of justice in Aaldorenfeald, which has caused minor political crises in the past, is the kingdom's universal approach to law; the law is the law in Aaldorenfeald, and all men, whether peasant or lord, are equally subject to it. It has happened in the past that lesser lords of foreign lands have broken the law in Aaldorenfeald, and their families expected leniency due to their relative's status, inevitably to no avail. Even ne'er do wells of the House of Gorgen have fallen prey to Aaldorenfeald's unforgiving executioners, lecherous third sons and murderous bastard daughters of Magnar's line just as susceptible to the law as any other man.

This equity also extends—albeit to a lesser extent—to broader society in Aaldorenfeald. Although the kingdom of the Aaldoren has its lords and its lowborn like any other kingdom, there is not so great of a cultural divide between the two in Aaldorenfeald as might be observed elsewhere. A free peasant with great riches could not be easily distinguished from a lord in Aaldoren lands, eating the same food and wearing the same clothes. Aaldoren nobility is even known to occasionally intermarry with the kingdom's landed gentry, a fact which makes marriages with Aaldoren noble families be seen as undesirable in the other kingdoms of Magnaria. This is especially true of the Osgars themselves: despite the prestige of their royal lineage, the Osgars have never intermarried with House Gorgen throughout the entire duration of the empire, and any union of theirs ever agreed to with a non-Aaldoren family has caused scandal, without exception.

History
Aaldorenfeald was created out of nothing. Its boundaries were not dictated by geography or created out of a personal union, its people did not share at the nation's founding anything binding them to one another, and there was no strange magical phenomenon or other shared experience of any kind that contributed to the formation of a fledgeling national identity. Instead, the Kingdom of Aaldorenfeald was both sired and born out of war—senseless war.

The etymology of the word 'Aalodren' is believed to come from the Oldtongue, although its meaning is uncertain. In contemporary Rord, a language influenced by the Oldtongue, Aaldoren refers only to the people of Aaldorenfeald, with no alternate meanings to act as clues for the word's etymology. Some Aaldoren historians have affectionately claimed that the word means "just" or "righteous", but these are almost certainly anachronisms, contemporary revisions by the Aaldoren of today to try and glorify the country's past. In truth, the word 'Aaldoren', like the people it refers to, seems to have just appeared, spontaneously, as if grown out of the Earth or spoken accidentally and carried on.

The first records concerning the inhabitants of the area of Magnaria now called 'Aaldorenfeald' come from the chronicles of House Héahgestréon, an Aaldoren noble household that prides itself as being the oldest reigning of Aaldorenfeald's dynasties, and further insists that it is indeed the single oldest family yet drawing breath in all the continent. The oldest of the Héahgestréon Chronicles, locked away in the house's seat of Andredweald, write (in the Oldtongue) of a people called the Aaldoren, apparently embroiled at the time of writing in an unnamed war of conquest. The Aaldoren were evidently a tribal society at that point, their territory stretching from the Windwall mountains in the north down to an area of swampland identified in modern analysis as the Dalden marshes to the south. The chronicles tell the tale of the rise of the Addlomans, an Aaldoren tribe from the north side of the Kempedson river that migrated far to the west and north, into what was then called the White Woods. The natives of the White Woods—non-Aaldoren who were extremely pale of skin and apparently proficient in magic and immune to the cold—were soundly defeated by an Aaldoren tribal coalition led by the Addlomans, a process that evidently took multiple generations. All those adult men and women native to the woods were executed by the Aaldoren after their conquest, but the young children were adopted by Aaldoren families to be raised as their own. The Héahgestréon Chronicles tell that, to solidify their claims to the woods against further foreign peoples to the north and west, the Aaldoren hauled a great quantity of stone quarried at the Windwall to their newly won forests, with which to construct a mighty fortress to defend their claims. To complete their conquest, the Addlomans built their keep in the densest part of the woods, cutting and burning a clearing in the forest's heart before assembling their new stronghold. Once the great stone castle was completed, the Aaldoren renamed the White Woods to the Black Woods, and the Addloman tribe resettled in the forest's west, around the territory neighboring their great new hold. There are no dates assigned to this great conquest, but it is believed to have occurred thousands of years ago; generations before Magnar's later conquest of all the continent.

MORE TBA

House Name
House Osgar.

House Words
What Eyes Neglect.

The words of House Osgar have a multitude of different meanings. Firstly, they describe House Osgar's lands, and Aaldorenfeald and its people in general: a harsh, ugly kingdom, full of hard and unwelcoming people; the kind of place that your eyes would quickly neglect in deciding between one area of Magnaria or the next. Secondly, the words are an insight to the tactics of the Aaldoren in wartime, their expertise in ambushes and striking weary foes when they least expect it, when their eyes are neglectful. Third, and most importantly, "What Eyes Neglect" is an allusion to the sigil of House Osgar, the wolf with purple eyes, representing sovereignty. House Osgar aims to achieve an entirely independent Aaldorenfeald, under their own firm control. With this in mind, the current political state of affairs, Aaldorenfeald's position within a unified empire, is something to be neglected in favour of independence.

House Sigil
Purpure eyed black wolf rampant upon a barry of eight, gules and grey.

House Seat
The seat of House Osgar is the castle of Rytael, located in the north-central region of Aaldorenfeald. Rytael was built in a forest clearing, carved out of the surrounding Black Woods, a densely forested region occupying the kingdom's northwest. Rytael is not especially imposing at first glance, relatively small and plainly constructed for the keep of a Great House. However, the structures within the walls—a tower at each of the four corners and a main keep in the centre—are both tall and have extensive underground storage sections. This allows Rytael to stockpile enough food to keep the fortress' defenders supplied through lengthy, multiple year long sieges that might starve out more impressive looking castles. The most important defensive feature of Rytael is not its large stockpile capacity, however, but its position within the Black Woods. An army attempting to siege or storm Rytael would have to enter into the dense conifer forests, forcing it to break ranks and leave itself vulnerable to harrying. Rytael has two gates: one along the south wall, called the Red Gate, and another along the west wall, called the Grey Gate.

House Heirloom
House Osgar's ancestral heirloom is the longsword Abiron. Massive and heavy (even for a longsword), Abiron is able to cleave through the most heavily armored opponent with ease, and is legendarily assigned to have even been capable of slicing through solid stone: a tale that its current owners do not try to test, lest they ruin what is still an excellently maintained headsman's blade. It is said by the court at Rytael that in order to ensure that the Lord Osgar is always a man of strength, he must be able to wield Abiron before he may be crowned King of the Aaldoren; like some other Aaldoren traditions, this has caused minor civil wars in the past.

An artefact of history, Abiron was wielded in battle by the the famous King Rytael, the first King of the Aaldoren from House Osgar, after whom the fortress of Rytael is named. Rytael used Abiron, which was then a short-sword, to slay the last Lord of House Swithwulf in single-combat, ending both the civil war that saw to House Osgar's supremacy and the bloodline of House Swithwulf. Afterwards, the newly crowned King Rytael, insistent that Abiron was not large enough a sword for a King, ordered that the blade be reforged to combine it with the battle-axe used by the last Lord Swithwulf in their duel. After the smith, a peasant, presented the newly reforged Abiron to him, the newly crowned King Rytael was so pleased that he named the smith a Lord, presenting to him in recompense for his work the former seat of House Swithwulf, Axaweald. In gratitude of House Osgar's generosity, the new Lord named his household 'House Abiron', renaming the fortress of Axaweald to Abiron as well, in recognition of the family's unique ascent to lordship.

Capital City

The capital and largest city of Aaldorenfeald is Hebban, located in the southeastern part of the Osgar crownlands. A metropolis, rivaling the other great cities of Ardacia, Hebban is nonetheless a righteous settlement, its streets as calm, orderly, and free of vice as any other in Aaldorenfeald. It is the largest city in Magnaria to be bereft of whorehouses, and possibly has both more churches (and more alehouses) than any other place known to mankind. Of the former, the most notable is the imposing Blodbold Cathedral: a massive, spired church, decorated with red stained-glass windows. Blodbold is the mother church and symbolic centre of INSERT RELIGION HERE, and is the site at which the kings of Aaldorenfeald are crowned, married, and laid to rest; no common man or lesser noble may use Blodbold for these purposes. The INSERT RELIGION HERE cathedral dominates the scenery of the city's west, which is home to the manors of much of Aaldorenfeald's burghers and lower aristocracy. The eastern quarters are more humble, resident mostly to migrated peasants and a number of craftsmen and other professionals. The city's guard, the Hebbanheald, is unique in being an all-female force, and is traditionally led by a daughter of the King. Devotees of INSERT RELIGION HERE, the Hebbanheald is responsible for keeping the city free of vice, and the organization is known for being strict in their interpretation of the law and merciless to those who would break it.

House Héahgestréon
The oldest of Aaldorenfeald's noble houses, having governed their lands as chieftains of the Héahgestréon Tribe long before the Conquest. The ancient, gentle hills of House Héahgestréon's territory is the birthplace of the Rord language, and Rord is the language of the house's words, "Háligdóm ær Ástandennes" (or 'Righteousness before Survival'). House Héahgestréon's keep is Andredweald, a stone fort built over top of the region's tallest hill. Their sigil is the scale of justice upon a dark green field.

House Kempedson
The Kempedson River, which runs throughout the flat, fertile fields that dominate Aaldorenfeald's east, is the namesake of House Kempedson. The eastern shores of Kempedson Lake, from which the river originates, is also home to Kendrytown, the fourth largest settlement in Aaldorenfeald. The small castle in the centre of Kendrytown, simply called 'Kendry', is House Kempedson's seat. The Kempedson's words are "The Gentle Flow", and their sigil is a gold shield on a vertically bisected field, the left half light blue and the right half a darker shade.

House Dalden
The Daldens rule from their eponymous seat of Daldenard, situated along Aaldorenfeald's eastern coast. From there they rule the lands to the west, covering the kingdom's border region with Caerulmoste. Dalden lands are swampy, too acidic to be arable and too difficult to navigate to be useful for overland trade. This results in most of the Dalden's peasants working along the coast, as fishermen, giving the interior of House Dalden territory an eerie quietness. This gave rise to both the minimalistic words of House Dalden, "Silence", and the house's rather empty sigil: a field of black with a single, dark green vertical line running across the right border.

House Abiron
The words of House Abiron, "None More Loyal", make clear their devotion to their liege-lords, House Osgar. This devotion is born of history; the Abirons were a low-born family of simple blacksmiths before the first Osgar King of Aaldorenfeald, King Rytael, granted them their nobility and all their current lands as reward for their founder's skill in reforging the Osgar's ancestral sword: Abiron. The hilly area over which House Abiron presides was Aaldorenfeald's crownlands before the First Aaldoren Civil War, and the Abiron seat, itself called 'Abiron', was the former seat of House Swithwulf, the original ruling family of Aaldorenfeald before they were destroyed by King Rytael. The prosperous city just outside of Abiron, Threeborg, is the former capital of Aaldorenfeald, under the Swithwulf era. Today it is the country's second largest settlement, and a major trade nexus for the country's south-west, known for the plentiful expert blacksmiths which have made it their home, under House Abiron's tutelage. The Abiron sigil is a upward facing sword, representing their namesake, on the same barry of gules and grey as the Osgar sigil.

House Hordweg
A mercantile house, dominating trade along Aaldorenfeald's eastern shores. The Hordwegs hold domain over the Blue City, Aaldorenfeald's third largest settlement, which is situated at the edge of a peninsula jutting out into the sea. The Hordwegs are famously impartial to the various civil disputes that occasionally arise between the Aaldoren houses, having neglected to participate in any armed conflict since the Great Uprising. In spite of this, House Hordweg possesses a rather substantial naval fleet, holding more than twice as many ships as the fleets of Houses Ecefrod, Bernaccia and Dalden combined. House Hordweg's seat is the tall, ornately decorated castle of Goldhouse, situated on a set of cliffs just outside of Blue City. Their words are "Weather the Storm", and their sigil is three vertical bars, the left and right both dark blue and the centre gold. On each bar is a ship, coloured black for the gold bar and brown for the blue bars.

House Niven
A westerly house, owning a small patch of territory along the border with Kedoren. House Niven's words, "As Good as Gold", are an allusion to the bounty of the earth for which their lands are known: salt. The rolling hills of Niven territory are littered with salt mines, and most of the salt extracted from them is exported—especially to the west, where it is sold to House Tyndall and their banner houses. House Niven's keep is Knife's Edge, which demarcates Aaldorenfeald's border with Kedoren and is located on the main road through which the two kingdoms conduct their trade. The Niven sigil is a red eagle on a quarterly field, the first and fourth quarters white and the second and third black.

House Ecefrod
Based out of their seat, The Ford, House Ecefrod has been party to a blood feud with House Bernaccia for hundreds of years. Since before the Great Uprising, the two houses have been at each other's throats, always selecting the opposing side in wars and other conflicts—in House Ecefrod's case in particular, often simply out of spite. House Ecefrod's keep, the Ford, is a new castle, and is not yet completely finished. Their ancestral seat was taken from them long ago by House Bernaccia, and in the years between its seizure and the commencement of the construction of the Ford, the Ecefrods resided in a humble wooden fortress, neglecting to build themselves a proper castle as they increasingly hopelessly clung to the notion of reclaiming their former one. This longing for the old Ecefrod castle, called 'Anwig', is explained rather artlessly in the words of House Ecefrod: "Anwig is Ours". The Ecefrod sigil is a black field, on which sits a white castle, symbolizing Anwig.

House Bernaccia
The winning half of the Ecefrod-Bernaccia feud. House Bernaccia's lands are delineated from House Ecefrod's by the Kempedson River, but it was not always so. In the days before the First Aaldoren Civil War, what is now Bernaccia lands was divided in three. The eastern half was possessed by the Bernaccians, but the western half was ruled by House Laidur, and a patch of territory south of the Kempedson, on which sat the castle Anwig, was commanded over by House Ecefrod. House Bernaccia had always laid claim to Anwig, alleging that the land on which it sits was unfairly allotted to House Ecefrod after the Conquest only because Lord Orrion Swithwulf, the first Lord of Aaldorenfeald, married a lady of House Ecefrod. When the Bernaccians fought with the victorious Osgars in the first Aaldoren Civil War, they asked to be granted Anwig as reward for their assistance, but were instead consoled with the more valuable but less meaningful lands of the dispossessed House Laidur. Only years later, after their service in the so-called Longsword Rebellion, was House Bernaccia's loyalty to House Osgar rewarded with Anwig. The castle has been their seat ever since, leading to their old seat, Mundbyrd, becoming a neglected ruin. The sigil of House Bernaccia is a chequy of green and blue, on which sits a white lion passant. Their words are "The New, the Bold".

House Aefterling
A noble Aaldoren house reigning over the western half of the Black Woods. Their seat, the Timber Fort, sometimes derisively called 'The Tinder Fort', is a very large (but primarily wooden) fortress, built over top of the stone ruins of the former seat of long-dead House Addloman. The Fort is located deep within the quietness of the Black Woods, far from large towns and trade routes. The rather ominous words of House Aefterling, "The Sharpest Blades", are not actually meant to be an intimidating warning to their foes, but rather a statement on the effectiveness of their ability to harvest the lumber of the forest over which they reign. Their sigil is a shield divided horizontally; the bottom half depicting a forest and the top half a starry, moonless night.

House Uxfrea
Descended from a bastard line of the defunct House Swithwulf, the Uxfreas nonetheless fought alongside the Osgars against the Swithwulfs in the First Aaldoren Civil War, smiting down much of their cousins' armies and earning themselves a reputation for excellency in war. In the modern day, the Uxfreas are especially renowned for their particular expertise in personal combat. The Uxfrea seat, Lambeth, is known for hosting an annual tournament—the Galden Tourney—on the week before the festival of Anathema. In the Galden, warriors of note from all across Ardacia come to determine who shall be crowned that year's "Galdensac": the (largely honorary) champion of mankind who will lead the people in their triumph over witchery for that year. Besides breeding warriors and calling witch-hunts, the gentle hills of House Uxfrea's lands are also known for their plentiful sheep and shepherds. The people of their area of Aaldorenfeald produce a great deal of mutton, wool and sheep's milk, the latter of the two commonly made into clothing and cheese, respectively. This makes the Uxfreas a relatively prosperous house, earning them the coin needed to conduct their tournaments. The sigil of House Uxfrea is a sheep on a field of green, and their words are, "Peace Perseveres".