[CHAR] Magnaria

House Osgar of Rytael, Kings of Aaldorenfeald

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.

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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.

Name
King Grindan Osgar, King of the Aaldoren and Lord of Rytael.

Age
53.

Loyalty
House Osgar.

Appearance
Grindan is a mean looking man, with disapproving eyes nearly as black as his hair. He wears a constant frown across his face, the weight of some three decades of rule weighing down any trace of a smile. He stands just short of six feet, his form often dressed in the elaborate garb of his office; a striped red and grey robe, long, but not flowing, with blackwolf fur decorating the shoulders, mimicking the banner of House Osgar, as well as a simple, iron crown upon his head, decorated with a single ruby.

Personality
Unwaveringly dedicated to the causes he has been expected to champion since before he was born, Grindan is a man consumed entirely by the duties of his office and the responsibilities of his household. His foremost thoughts and concerns are the defence of his realm and the continuation of his lineage, and because of this he is as cold and as hard as the steel of his longsword. Those few more personal dedications of Grindan's are those worked into him since his birth, with his future rule in mind. Grindan Osgar has been bred to represent the virtues that embody his house and his nation. He is contemptuous of outsiders, vigilant of injustices, and righteous to a fault.

History
Grindan was born in Rytael, during the earlier part of the reign of his father, King Midfree. Like many fathers, Midfree sought to shape his son in his own image, to mould him into the office-holder that he had been predestined to become. And like many sons, Grindan rebelled. He had little interest in the stewardly demands of his future title, always far more concerned with the greatness of his swordplay than the greatness of his judgement.

Eschewing the influences of his many older sisters, the young Grindan sought to make himself a warrior-king. He clung to the nationhood embraced by his house and his contemporaries to legitimize his fanciful childhood ambitions, imagining himself as the modern day equivalent of great warriors of the past. Entering into early adulthood, Grindan would dream of wielding Abiron, the Osgar ancestral longsword, used so long ago by ancient Osgar heroes like Lord Peter and King Rytael. Grindan sought to follow in the footsteps of these great men—using his martial talent to slay single-handedly whole swathes of foreign armies, and to win by blood the sovereignty of the Aaldoren people. It was only the peaceful death of his father, suddenly, on Grindan's 17th birthday, that tempered the new monarch's fanciful ambitions. Suddenly, the warrior that was Prince Grindan was thrust into the new role: King.

Grindan insisted that he personally take on all of the responsibilities of the realm immediately upon his father's death. He did not permit the thought of a regency council ruling in his stead in his time of grief, and arranged for his coronation, a rapid affair, to occur immediately preceding the late King Midfree's funeral. King Grindan wished to mourn his father whilst wearing his crown, and did so in full royal regalia, displaying his new status to all of the visiting lesser lords of Aaldorenfeald. It was the words spoken to him there by his weakest and oldest vassal, Lord Leofric Dalden, that facilitated Grindan's first turn away from his youthful militarism. Leofric posed that Midfree had been one of the greatest Kings in Aaldoren history, keeping the realm secure and prosperous better than any other, and also commenting that Midfree had barely ever learned to wield a sword.

The words of Lord Leofric lingered far in the back of Grindan's mind during his first year of rule. He deigned that although he would indeed eventually declare his realm's independence and lead his army against whichever men came to defy him, it would wise of him to first prepare both his armies and himself. The King sent out word for the creation of a great many new arms and armour, ordering the mass construction of swords and shields and pike and chain-mail alike. He began to gather a greater proportion of the kingdom's harvest than his father had in Aaldorenfeald's days of peace, filling the stockrooms of Rytael as fast and as well as he could in the space of a year, in anticipation of a siege once the war began. Grindan even called for the Red Brothers to prepare in advance a great many new graves, fortuitously anticipating the casualties of the brave patriots that would fight in the coming conflict. And, of course, Grindan honed his own skills more than ever, spending most of each day training with Abiron, becoming an ever greater swordsman.

Lord Leofric passed away about a year into Grindan's reign. The young King attended the old Lord's funeral in Daldenard, House Dalden's coastal keep, just past the eastern edge of the swamps. Leofric's passing awoke in Grindan's mind the words of wisdom that Leofric had spoken to Grindan at his father's funeral—about the idea that a good king could fight for what was right without shedding blood. Grindan remained somewhat of a skeptic even long after, always ensuring Aaldorenfeald remained foremost a military power, but the seeds of doubt had been sown. Over the length of his reign, Grindan became less interested in making himself into a warrior-king of legend, preferring instead to content himself with a stable kingdom—although still ruling with a much greater sense of militarism than his father.

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Picture goes here. If you're using one, use a real picture (Google "Medieval faceclaim" or "Period faceclaim" or something like that. Some characters will have weird facial details not transferrable to readily-available pictures, so think of these as castings of Ardacia if it were a book; Similar and about what you’d expect from the written description, but kind of shinier, and trimmed of a few details.

“If you choose to give them a quote to reflect their personality, make sure to use it at some point in a solo post or collab.” – Deadbeatwalking

Name
Include titles. Heads of house are kings or queens, their children are princes and princesses, their siblings/cousins/distant relatives are lords and ladies. If you absolutely have to have a character with a famous nickname, try to have only one or two at most.

Age
It's basically the medieval times, so let's say the old age death limit is 70, and anything after that is pushing it.

Loyalty
Their house should be the first thing on this list, unless they've been disowned or something like that. After that would either be a woman's maiden house or any order that character is a member of, such as priesthood or knighthood.

Appearance
A description of their look, style of dress, and anything you'd notice being face-to-face with them. Gait, smell, hyperbolic comparisons, and so on.

Personality
Your character's mannerisms, traits, strengths, weaknesses, and so on. Include private details, and remember, the more realistic this person is, the better. Every member of your house should be a full-fledged person and not a two-dimensional caricature. Keeping in mind the setting, remember that there are few people who are completely good or completely bad.

History
As brief or as long as you'd like, describe your character's life. If you're using this sheet you're already accepted, so don't worry about giving me an epic ballad of life events for your ten-and-two princeling. If they've all had uneventful lives (boo) just give a bulleted list of tidbits of their history that reinforce their personality.

Picture goes here. If you're using one, use a real picture (Google "Medieval faceclaim" or "Period faceclaim" or something like that. Some characters will have weird facial details not transferrable to readily-available pictures, so think of these as castings of Ardacia if it were a book; Similar and about what you’d expect from the written description, but kind of shinier, and trimmed of a few details.

“If you choose to give them a quote to reflect their personality, make sure to use it at some point in a solo post or collab.” – Deadbeatwalking

Name
Include titles. Heads of house are kings or queens, their children are princes and princesses, their siblings/cousins/distant relatives are lords and ladies. If you absolutely have to have a character with a famous nickname, try to have only one or two at most.

Age
It's basically the medieval times, so let's say the old age death limit is 70, and anything after that is pushing it.

Loyalty
Their house should be the first thing on this list, unless they've been disowned or something like that. After that would either be a woman's maiden house or any order that character is a member of, such as priesthood or knighthood.

Appearance
A description of their look, style of dress, and anything you'd notice being face-to-face with them. Gait, smell, hyperbolic comparisons, and so on.

Personality
Your character's mannerisms, traits, strengths, weaknesses, and so on. Include private details, and remember, the more realistic this person is, the better. Every member of your house should be a full-fledged person and not a two-dimensional caricature. Keeping in mind the setting, remember that there are few people who are completely good or completely bad.

History
As brief or as long as you'd like, describe your character's life. If you're using this sheet you're already accepted, so don't worry about giving me an epic ballad of life events for your ten-and-two princeling. If they've all had uneventful lives (boo) just give a bulleted list of tidbits of their history that reinforce their personality.

Picture goes here. If you're using one, use a real picture (Google "Medieval faceclaim" or "Period faceclaim" or something like that. Some characters will have weird facial details not transferrable to readily-available pictures, so think of these as castings of Ardacia if it were a book; Similar and about what you’d expect from the written description, but kind of shinier, and trimmed of a few details.

“If you choose to give them a quote to reflect their personality, make sure to use it at some point in a solo post or collab.” – Deadbeatwalking

Name
Include titles. Heads of house are kings or queens, their children are princes and princesses, their siblings/cousins/distant relatives are lords and ladies. If you absolutely have to have a character with a famous nickname, try to have only one or two at most.

Age
It's basically the medieval times, so let's say the old age death limit is 70, and anything after that is pushing it.

Loyalty
Their house should be the first thing on this list, unless they've been disowned or something like that. After that would either be a woman's maiden house or any order that character is a member of, such as priesthood or knighthood.

Appearance
A description of their look, style of dress, and anything you'd notice being face-to-face with them. Gait, smell, hyperbolic comparisons, and so on.

Personality
Your character's mannerisms, traits, strengths, weaknesses, and so on. Include private details, and remember, the more realistic this person is, the better. Every member of your house should be a full-fledged person and not a two-dimensional caricature. Keeping in mind the setting, remember that there are few people who are completely good or completely bad.

History
As brief or as long as you'd like, describe your character's life. If you're using this sheet you're already accepted, so don't worry about giving me an epic ballad of life events for your ten-and-two princeling. If they've all had uneventful lives (boo) just give a bulleted list of tidbits of their history that reinforce their personality.

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".

Changes to be made. Some information is from a different RP and thus wrong.
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