[OOC] My Heart is on the Throne

[ScreenAcne]

In the land of Handon marriage and partnership is everything. It determines your future of not only you, but all those that will come after you. Marriage is the ultimate sign of trust and the majority of the legal system is devoted to writing up vows for the altar. Through this system alliances are made,subjugation is enforced and names rise or fall by the matters of the heart and cold shrewdness of the mind.

The wise, King Merin, has stepped down from his throne on his 99th birthday to allow the new generation to obtain the seat. While a king can only be male, his authority and power spreads both to the queen and her house. Between the 10 houses an arena of personal happiness, distant love, power, politics, and ambition will open up for all nobility. Each man must gain the support of as many houses and popular commoner vote as he can from each land to claim the title of king. The brides to be dance with the young lords in a shuffle of obligations, duty, desire...and ruin.

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On marriage:

Hider

The idea of a divorce doesn't exist in Handon. To have an affair or leave a married partner is considered a crime equal to homicide. It is more a legal and cultural process than a religious one although some houses may have religious aspects tied to it, that has little baring on its societal impact.

Working on a strong communal reputation, marrying "down" can spiral into a weaker family name. Marrying a criminal can move that stain onto your house, as you have sworn to abide them in all things. Vows are carefully tailored, serious, and binding contract. While Marriage can assure an alliance, a prince or bride can be married off for the purpose of pushing a vow that effectively turns the other house, and it assets in service to the first house.

In Handon society it is considered normal to have double digit children in noble families."love", is still meant to be the purpose and motivator of marriage but this nothing more than a face. Arrangements can be made, and forced, if the house can keep the bride or groom to be silent. In Handon to say your not marrying for love is a reputation killer, even if everyone knows this without saying it. To have it implied is considered a dire offense equal to spitting on the person in question.

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Handon

Hider

Handon is a large land to Rival America, Texas and Africa combined, connected only by a narrow path called, "Grey Valley", to another, much smaller kingdom inhabited primarily by a league of species that didn't want to live in human dominated society:

Gariang

While Handon is prosperous in food, supplies, trade, cities, and culture Geriang has struggled due to a series of volcanic eruptions destroying most of their budding towns and reducing their farm lands barren.

Handon itself is magical. Most people can use magical items for mundane task such as; levitating books or making a broom sweep by itself, but actual schools of magic requires decades of training at an academy in their respective lands. If you tried to use proper magic without training you'd more than likely hurt yourself than anyone else. Mages and Sorceress regularly have numerous scars from even monitored and controlled lessons in their fields.

Kings and Queens

Hider

Kings are the ultimate authority over the land and when they die it is traditional for the queen to step down too. Former queens reside in the Widows Castle with a cut from the treasury to ensure a happy and full life. Even a widowed queen is powerful and supremely rich but it is considered bad manners to try and marry her within 10 years of the Kings death. The biggest downfall is the queen must put up an air of constant sadness during this period, evidence of joy or flirting could ruin her.

The Queen takes the kings seat when he is away. It is expected from the crown to lead wars at the generals camps, travel to handle land issues personally, aid the poor and be in person to hear problems when possible. In times of turmoil the Queen will more or less be the person at the throne, making all the large over sight decisions with her only restriction being any policy the king himself has made.

but this is most the time not the case and the king can be expected to perform a traditional role of rule.

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It was a strange day in court. Everyone had been invited from the lowest of the low in nobility and people found themselves in an unlikely crowd shuffling before the marvelous throne room before a single smiling, old man and a young announcer.

"The wise, king Merin steps down from the Crown. The throne is empty once more and Handon needs a ruler to retain the stability of the realm. We shall remember Merin as a kind, sensitive, and caring ruler, whom through his 79 years of service personally tackled the great poverty of the lesser lands 50 years ago. He aided our none-human neighbor of Geraing during their terrible tragedy, and whom, upon hearing of the lower houses being unable to feed the people during the farm famine sent out his own cooks and supplies to those in need, despite reducing his families own meals to breed and water for 3 years.

A grand celebration of his achievements, his long rule, and considerate heart will take place at the end of the month, and then the long competition for his successors will take place"

and with that. Merin, despite his age stood up straight. Took a short bow. His classic smile beaming as he spoke with a voice full of youth

"It was a pleasure to serve you all. Good luck"

and simply placed his crown on the throne before walking out.

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The day of your registration was the day that you would truly become a noble, apparently blood isn't enough, it requires ink to finish the process. To make it to this day was the mark that you had been fully accepted by your house, and deletes any chance of being what in Handon would call, "Invisible Blood", yet you were not prepared. Not prepared for the mind numbing drudgery of spending your entire day marching in different offices, for different reasons, to get different orders, and be told that somehow this makes your name more your name than it was before.

The day had left you behind as you went to the very top office of the tower. Upon entering you see a man still in his pajamas despite the sun only starting to set. Ink is splattered everywhere, and on everything. It appears he is a very early sleeper or he has simply learned that he no time to change. He looks at you, a rounded smile with a small nod.

"Yes, sire. This is the last form"

Registration of Current Nobles

The Name of the Noble: "Please sign here, sire."

The House of which said noble belongs: "Ah, truly a notable family."

Current Age of said Noble: I argued the rudeness of it, but the scribes demand it.

House History: "Self explanatory, sire. You've probably be forced to write this a hundred times already."

Lands and Ownership: "Any lands, acres, villages and notable items."

Autobiographical Knowledge: "For the lore books, sire. We will keep it locked up until you're 50th birthday as law demands."

Portrait: "If you don't have a painting to spare, for whatever reason, I will write down a description of you."

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CSHEET AND ITS BCODE TO COPY

[color=goldenrod][h3][u][b]Registration of Current Nobles[/b][/u][/h3]

[b][u]The Name of the Noble:[/u][/b][/color] your name and any titles.

[color=goldenrod][u][b]The House of which said noble belongs:[/b][/u][/color] the name of your house
[/i]

[color=goldenrod][u][b]Current Age of said Noble:[/b][/u][/color] min 18 max 36

[color=goldenrod][u][b]House History:[/b][/u][/color] Rough, quick scan of what your house is known for, how they came to power. And a banner.

[color=goldenrod][u][b]Lands and Ownership:[/b][/u][/color] Where do you rule. How much. Farm lands primarily or barracks ectr.

[color=goldenrod][u][b]Autobiographical Knowledge:[/b][/u][/color] Essentially your character history themselves. How they were raised.

[color=goldenrod][u][b]Portrait:[/b][/u][/color] your look. You may use a picture of any type or simply describe it. If you describe it. I won't hold you to a long description. I won't beat you for keeping only a paragraph or so.

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Empty Spots
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HOUSE BOSANDA: By @sisyphus

HOUSE VEROLIN by @viciousmarrow

HOUSE AP'ARTHMAEL by @snagglepuss89

HOUSE NOIRE by @silverink

HOUSE PHOENIX by @the muse

HOUSE VIDOKAR by @hannibal

house 7

house 8

house 9

house 10

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Geriang 1

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OOC RULES

Min post are expected to be 2 paragraphs with a max being 5. I am mostly relying on player judgement for this. This is mostly a prefered guideline than a strict rule, if the gist of your pertinent actions/content in your post can be summed up in 1 sentence EG: "I walk over and said hello" it probably should be below that max.

To make a character you can pretty much design your own house, history and land as a part of Handon. They may be a none-human species although they should still be relatively compatible with human society. As this is a society that is strongly linked around marriage and coupling. Sentient wolves probably wouldn't fit in here.

Geriang is an entire foreign kingdom and besides what little is noted, that is also free to fill in the lore. It will require a creative and odd monster, however, as it's gimmick is that it is a foreign place of none-humans.

The more creative you are, the better chances your sheet will be accepted.

@Infamous Empath@POOHEAD189@Sentel@Hannibal@snake153@Snagglepuss89@FantasyChic@Sisyphus

[Bishop]

Just to clarify further, only humans are allowed in the kingdom or non humans too? Do non humans face prejudice and abuse by the humans?
Can my house be the one to handle undercover matters? Like spying, assassinations, anything that the army and police can't do. In 2 words, the Secret Police. The left hand of the king which takes orders directly from him.@ScreenAcne

[ScreenAcne]

@Bishop

King merin being an open, happy, public relations sort of guy. You can expect that any policies that allow any strong Orwellian abuse to be squashed by him while he was in power.

Secret police aren't usually needed. The king has absolute authority, in terms of narrative, he has a right to put forward any policy he wants from..banning carrots to announcing a holiday where men walk around naked. So, unless a king comes into power that strongly values stealth and extensive control, over open mandate your special officers probably won't see a lot of actions outside of your houses lands.

Non humans can live in the houses, yes. Although they must be suitable for marriage and human relations, typically not TOO strange at least 75% humanese...maybe %60. The most monstrous and odd species would be from Geraing.

No. Not really. Generally as a rule humans don't have issues with monsters. A houses may have a philosophy off to them, but they will quickly become unpopular as Handon was always made of humans and none humans. They don't see a racial divide on their citizenship.

[Hannibal]

Can I make 2 charcters. Brother and sister?

[Bishop]

Registration of Current Nobles

The Name of the Noble: Leoghard de Bastij

The House of which said noble belongs: House Bastij

Current Age of said Noble: 27

House History: Leoghard is second in line to be the head of the Bastij family which currently serves the king as the official tax collection organ. They collect taxes from the ordinary citizen to the highest ranking noble and they have special clearance given by the king to use whatever they deem necessary in order to uphold the quota. During their dealings they are above the law and that's why the punishment for abusing the system is even harsher for them.

The house Bastij was one of the original founding houses and aside that they possessed the largest material wealth of them all. They came as conquerors adorning their golden dragon armor and blood red banners with a dragon on top of it. They came from the shores of the east and started invading the tribes that lived there. Up until they reached the massive dessert that they called at the time "The Devil Sands". During their invasion they started subjugating the tribes that lived there and created outposts and explored the vast desert seeing as the travels from one side to the other, if taking the route around it was made weeks longer. They didn't get far on their invasion as the main land forces on the other continent started facing different enemies and armies until the empire of the Golden Dragon was defeated but the colonies on this new land still lived on.

With no more forces to support the invasion or keep the people subjugated they started thinking on establishing settlements, citadels, a standing and lasting territory for them to rule. But the tribes started uprising while being helped by the "more civilized" armies on the other parts of the continent. In the end they retreated on the establishments that they created on "The Devil Sands". During their invasion where they were at their strongest they had taken control of the major trade routes that were used by the other powers and build fortifications on every oasis there. They retreated to these establishments and fortresses. They were deep enough in the desert that a siege on one of these castles would be a foolish suicide mission. In the end a trade was made for them to open the trading routes one more and grant protection to every trader that passed in exchange for a fee and peace.

In time the establishment and fortresses expanded, forming citadels on even the outskirts of the desert as now the threat of being sieged was nullified by the peace treaty. The civilization only flourished with many other races joining and living on the outer citadels. The 7 outer citadels were built on top of flat hills and rock formations scattered through the desert. They were chosen to strategically space as equally as possible from the other citadels. If no such formation was found then one was build from scratch.

The inner 4 citadels that surround the main castle of The Golden Dragon were the ones built during the time when they retreated deep in the desert after news of their main land kingdom being destroyed accompanied by pressure from uprisings and attacks from other armies. They compromise entirely of high medium to high cooked meat nobility and bloodlines from the main land. There is an entire new life there with a different, more refined culture. These 4 citadels are built along a wall which surrounds the castle.

The castle is made entirely out of gold. Only the royal blood resides there. When the mainland forces were being obliterated, the princess and a handful of servants managed to escape. They came to the colonies asking for help which was ignored. They instead took the princess and retreated to the castle. They cut off their ties with the falling Golden Dragon Empire. The general and leader of the colonies married the princess and produced many heirs. That's how the royal bloodline has remained intact. Only the most skilled, beautiful, distinct and notable people from the 4 inner citadels can hope to stay at the castle grounds.

Golden Dragon Banner

The banner depicts a golden dragon swimming on a sea of blood. It stands as an analogy to their house triumphing above all enemmies and shining brightly among the filthy blood of the other houses who were not part in the founding of the kingdom or to the houses that fell below their once shining nobility and grace.

Lands and Ownership: They have ownership of the Devil Sand, a large desert on the middle of the continent that vastly extends in every direction to cover a big part of the land. 7 great citadels are built on the outskirts of the desert, 4 on the inner part which are connected by a big wall, extending all the way to hundreds of feet deep underground, surrounding the main castle.
By owning the Devil Sands they also own all the trade routes that pass through there. To go around the desert in order to reach the other side would take weeks upon weeks longer than just going straight through it.

The citadels are connected through underground passages. These tunnels extend throughout all the desert, buried beneath all the sand. As far as the exploration of these tunnels goes, they have been fully mapped although most of them led to dead ends as a result of the tunnel's support system giving in and collapsing. Every entrance point is highly secure and no unauthorized personnel has ever set foot in them. Their existence alone shouldn't be knows but rumors have been circulating for decades now.

The Bastij have made an agreement with a private international trading organization in order to trade with the main land. In turn they trade with the surrounding houses.

They are the head of the tax collection organ.

They house the largest prison constructs in the entire kingdom. Below each of the outer citadels is a massive labyrinth of dungeons which serves as a prison for everyone of the nearby houses. Many prisoners who enter those dungeons are known to perish before their time is due and as so they have gotten an infamous reputation among criminals and average people alike.

Besides that they have the largest banking system in the entire kingdom as it is for the kingdom.

Autobiographical Knowledge: His sister, while being the oldest child and the favorite of their soon to be late father is the next in line as the head of the family. A good warrior with an even greater mind and accounting skills. Leo thinks that even if she was the younger sibling their father still would've picked her. Not that he's any less capable but more like less manageable. Different from his sister that obeyed their father's word like law Leo always found a way to break free from the leash, if the thing ever managed to get around him. Being away from the family most of the time while doing various dealings ranging from normal to illegal he was seen as inconsistent and untrustworthy in the eyes of his father.

His sister, Sorea de Bastij, was a caring-family-first kinda person. Always kind to Leo and a complete monster at work and the battlefield. To the family and her close ones it looked like she put on an iron mask during work and battle, changing from sweet and caring to ruthless and unforgiving, to everyone but Leo. Leoghard always knew there was something off about his sister. Instead of putting on a mask while away from the family, she rather took one off, her true self revealing. Besides this, on or off work, his sister had always cared for him.

Still, if something were to happen to his sister...well let's just say someone wasn't going to be sad.

Portrait:

[Oddsbod]

This's an interesting take on a high fantasy RPG, nice job. Nice name too, 'My Heart on the Throne,' pretty rad. There's way too much on my plate to join up right now, but best of luck with this.

[Bishop]

Don't have a map for reference so any directions on the layout of the kingdom or do we have free reign to invent lands and add them to the kingdom and to the possession of our house?

[ScreenAcne]

A brief extension on some social lore:

None of this needs to be read. This is purely fluff to expand on the world and its systems.

Invisible Blood: Is a term for someone who isn't registered officially in their house. This happens, traditionally at 18-but can occur by an parent before hand- the reason for this is a bit complex but originally it was to stop Bastards or half brothers or whatever appearing out of some shadowy past and taking the houses lands in the case that heritage is somehow impended.

The other is so house can get rid of the unwanted. If a child is sick, lame, genetically disfigured, ugly or an assortment or other things. When they reach age they are not officially apart of the house and will, quickly as possible be married off to a lower house, hovel or even..paper king with a dowry so he will become, officially a member of their House instead.

Greater Houses: these are basically the 10 houses.

Lesser Houses: These are small houses that may own only a small amount of land. This can include a respectable authority over a couple of farms and even a village, some infantry to a small manor in the middle of nowhere with only a couple of rice growers living about. A lesser house is typically wealthy enough to have a small force and some businesses under them.

Hovels: These are House whom are locally powerful. They are respectfully rich and will have a nice, large house. They typically have only one servant and possibly a body guard or two whom either paid or by loyalty is dedicated to protecting the house. Most knights fall under this type of house. Traditionally these groups don't own land, instead owning houses or businesses in another lords land instead.

Paper King: A family whom has something but only in print. They can have a dubious claim to land, or even a deed to something utterly worthless like a empty, used up mine in the Grey Valley. These folks normally make their fortune by harassing more important house with these claims in court, which they will either get a settlement. Actually win the case, and random said land. Or use that land to force a marriage.

Most paper kings are petty, using a deed written by some house who maybe..sort of...could of..owned it at some point when it was being transitioned by another 3 houses. They have totally fake ownership or they may technically own a tiny amount of land in something bigger in which they harass until they can bleed their targeted family.

[FantasyChic]

I have some questions. I want to play as a Bride, so would I go along making a house as normal or do I join a house that someone else creates?

That goes out to others too, I can play as the Bride in a house if one wants.

[ScreenAcne]

Don't have a map for reference so any directions on the layout of the kingdom or do we have free reign to invent lands and add them to the kingdom and to the possession of our house?

@Bishop

My, brother priest of the beasts. You got, motherfucking. total creative freedom. Have your city be a big ass desert. Have it be an ice hole. Have your people believe in a god that dresses like Santa. It's all bubble gum, kindred.

The only thing you got to work from is your own judgement on how much that stuff will fit with the society and setting from what few rulerinos I provided and lore.

[ScreenAcne]

@FantasyChic

Each player represents their own house. Despite their gender.

[FantasyChic]

@ScreenAcne Gotcha. Ok, will begin working on my own

[ScreenAcne]

@Hannibal

I'd like to keep it 1 character per player.

[Bishop]

@FantasyChic Be mine!

I'm officially calling dibs on her. Hands off!!!

[FantasyChic]

@Bishop Well according to Screen, each player represents a house on their own. So sorry, will be making my own.

I look forward to our.........alliance though

[Rai]

I'm trying to get the idea together in my head. I'm thinking of joining for sure. Though I'll be outright that I'm thinking of joining as a androgynous character.

[ScreenAcne]

@Rai

Shit, I'm all sweet with confusion in the sheets, kindred. But. I'm ok with you being like. A none noble character if we get the. motherfucking. numbers for the main roles if that's what you're feeling.

[Sisyphus]

Working on an idea for a noble house - think it's going to be sort of Gold Coast / Caribbean island themed.

[Snagglepuss89]

Registration of Current Nobles

The Name of the Noble: Llewelyn Ap'Arthmael

The House of which said noble belongs: House Ap'Arthmael

Current Age of said Noble: 23

House History:Ap'Arthmael can be considered the "New Kid on the Block" amongst the 10 Houses. They began as a minor noble household at the fringes of Handon, ruled over by the much more powerful House Artagonet. House Artagonet ruled over an area of land known as the "Shattered Mountains". The Shattered Mountains were not called as such because of any natural disaster, but because eight smaller "Kingdoms" ruled their own lands independently, only barely united under House Artagonet, and demanding much autonomy in exchange for their service. This made Artagonet a powerful, but internally unstable House.

Four generations ago the Great-Great-Grandsire of House Ap'Arthmael's current ruler took advantage of this internal instability (After continual failure by House Artagonet to rule its lands effectively) to gain power for itself. They had long stood as advisors and generals to House Artagonet, and were in a unique position to exploit the house's weaknesses. For three generations they waged a political war against their liege, forging powerful marriage alliances with the other lords in the Shatter Mountains- aided by string of almost infertile heirs in House Artagonet who could not produce the children to make their own alliances.

Finally, Arthmael Ap'Cledwyn, the father of House Ap'Arthmael's current ruler married Elizabeth Artagonet, the head of House Artagonet. Their contract stipulated that House Artagonet would from then on be subordinate to House Ap'Arthmael, and cemented the latter's rulership over the Shattered Mountains, effectively elevating them into the position of the 10 Great Houses, and making them eligible for election to King of Handon

Notable features of House Ap'Arthmael:

The House's name changes with each generation. The next ruler takes the name of the previous, and adds "Ap" if it is a son, or "Verch" (pronounced Ferch) if it is a daughter. The next generation would effectively be House Ap'Llewelyn or Verch'Llewelyn. Negotiable during marriage contracts.

The rulers tend to gray early and die young due to the stress placed on them by themselves and their subjects' expectations of House Ap'Arthmael. Finding a spouse is perhaps even more important for rulers of the house because of this- a way to ease the burdens of their duties and relax.

Banner: A white and black Chimera on a field of blue. The Chimera representing their house motto, white and black to represent the harsh contrast between duty and desire- while blue represents The Twin Streams, control of which helped them obtain the influence locally to take control of the Shattered Mountains.

Banner

Lands and Ownership: The Shattered Mountains (Nominally). Direct control over Ironoak Reach (Town), Cledwyn's Gate (Fort), and Twinstreams (Port village), which together account for 80% of the population and over 95% of the revenue in House Ap'Arthmael's holdings, not counting taxes and troops supplied by lesser vassal houses and lords.

Vassals of House Ap'Arthmael

The Syndwaelin Clan: Said to be descendants of an elf who (In an almost unheard of act of settling down with one who is not of elven kind) married one of their ancestors long ago, the Syndwaelin Clan certainly have traits which back up their claims. First, they are very long lived for Humans, some Elders of the clan have reached the age of 200 and beyond according to rumor. Secondly- they are considered extraordinary archers, perhaps the best in the realm. All members of the clan practice archery- even the women, and as a whole are heavily muscled. A requirement to use their Ironwood bows, which can easily exceed draw weights of 300 pounds.They primarily make a living as mercenaries- although they also make a pretty penny plying their carpentry skills to the nobles that can afford their craftsmanship.

They pay no taxes to House Ap'Arthmael, and in exchange charge no fees for use of their mercenaries in war, and on top of that always give House Ap'Arthmael top bid for their services, even if already on contract for somebody else. The only income they provide the House is buying the Ironwood that is used to make their bows and others crafts.

Tunomungeg: A reclusive dwarven town that only deals with the surface when they need to trade metals for supplies. Not much is known about them even by House Ap'Arthmael, the last two generations having had no dealings with them whatsoever outside of regular payments of tax.

Their situation is almost the opposite of the Syndwaelin Clan. They outright refuse to provide any soldiers- even should they need to defend The Shattered Mountains from invasion. Instead they pay a tax in raw precious metals every year- And should they need to obtain goods from outside the realm, an additional tariff on top of the initial tax. Gold and Silver are their main contributions to House Ap'Arthmael, although they primarily trade iron to the rest of the Kingdom.

Korlanthe's Tower: A small- though the number is unknown- group of Wizards who own the largest pocket of habitable land in The Shattered Mountains. Supposedly they are of no small influence within the world of magic, although their true purpose and influence is only known to magic users. The Tower's name changes to match whoever leads the group, and has been in control of the wizard Korlanthe for some decades now.

They care not who rules The Shattered Mountains and the only condition to serving House Ap'Arthmael was that one of their number always accompany their lord as one of his advisor. However, it is well understood that they would never assist in the invasion of a foreign land, even if they would not hesitate to use their magics to repel any would-be-conquerors trying to enter The Shattered Mountains.

The Harpy Queen: With names that are impossible to pronounce on the Human tongue, the reigning Matriarchs of the harpies are all called The Harpy Queen, no matter who currently holds "Rulership" over the creatures. With no income to tax, low intelligence, and very limited use in warfare- their "Fealty" is perhaps the most nominal of all The Shattered Mountains.

Still, they have some use- if limited. Not having to fight them off saves resources better spent elsewhere, and though their low intelligence makes them frustrating to work with- they do make excellent scouts both inside the realm and at the borders. In exchange they are permitted free reign to hunt anything that isn't livestock throughout the Shattered Mountains, and any Human that kills one of their kind is expected to be tried as severely as if they murdered any other race.

Ferry's Rest: The city of Ferry's Rest sits at the very border of the Shattered Mountains, nestled along the river of Twin Stream's. The mayor of the city- much like the King- is elected amongst the residents of the city, although it is just as often that a lowborn earns the title as a nobleman. It is by far the wealthiest city in the region (Discounting the unknown wealth of Tunomungeg) and even the relatively modest taxes they pay account for a third of House Ap'Arthmael's annual income.

Unlike the other inhabitants of The Shattered Mountains, Ferry's Rest would not particularly be hard to conquer in a conflict, and they could not collect enough leverage to grant them the same level of autonomy seen throughout the rest of the realm (Any threats of cutting off trade and supplies from outside the realm would be met with an immediate conquest of the city). As such, their relationship with House Ap'Arthmael is that of a standard vassal. They have to pay tax every year, and provide troops to assist with defense of the realm in times of war- as well as abide by the same laws that govern the rest of their liege's subjects.

Autobiographical Knowledge: Llewelyn was raised to uphold the house motto of "The Goat with its herd. The Snake in the grass. The Lion on the plains". The Goat symbolizing good rulership over their people. The Snake representing gaining political power through intrigue and diplomacy. The Lion representing prowess on the battlefield. In other words, perfection was expected of every head of House Ap'Arthmael- especially since their rapid rise within the Shattered Mountains.

It has- to say the least- been a stressful upbringing.

While each ruler effective picked one of the three- Goat, Snake, or Lion- to focus on, they were always expected to at least outwardly encompass all three to both their allies and rivals. While it could not be said that Llewelyn was raised without the comforts that came from being a member of one of the ten great houses- It could be argued he had a rather harsh upbringing. Lessons encompassed his every hour from a young age, and hardly ceased as he grew older. The internal politics of the Shattered Mountains demanded a strong leader- lest the internal factions ruin themselves in their constant attempts to gain advantages over their neighbors. Now, due to his father's success, Llewelyn had to focus on the politics between the great houses as well, an entirely different kettle of fish requiring an entirely different set of knowledge and skills.

With these stresses in mind, it was easy to see why heads of the household tended to die young.

On top of this, his mother inherited the low fertility that had plagued the last several generations of House Artagonet, and Llewelyn was a rare only child amongst the noble houses of Handon. Thus, if he died before siring an heir, his branch of the house- and likely all the power it had gained over the last few generations- would die with him. Placing even greater expectations on his success.

Now, with the death of his father and candidacy for kingship occurring in tandem, it is time to put the strain of his upbringing to the test. Unfortunately, his childhood has not made him the most deft socializer, even if his political knowledge could rival that of most diplomats. He has inherited, more or less, all of the traits of his house, for better or worse. It was enough to gain rulership of the Shattered Mountains, but would it be enough to rule Handon?

Time would tell.

Portrait:

Already the telltale signs of his house are beginning to show on Llewelyn. He looks to be a man five or ten years older, with flecks of gray already beginning to show throughout his hair. A serious expression usually rests on his face, and when not in conversation his eyes are looking at a place far off. His sense of humour, when he shows it, tends to be on the grim side, and unless he's truly relaxed and his mind is taken off of his duties any smile he gives does not reach his eyes. Other than this: His is not of extraordinary size or strength- though skill might be another matter entirely. The Lion demands that the head of House Ap'Arthmael be able to defend himself.

[POOHEAD189]

I look forward to our.........alliance though

@FantasyChic

Edit: Hey now peeps, let's see how the RP goes organically.