[b]Jarless:[/b] Eyildr Crowsfoot, the White Crone, Jarless of Hjaldr's Vale.
[b]Path:[/b] Way of the Patron

[u]Household[/u] 

[b]Eyildr Crowsfoot[/b], aged 74, the venerable Jarless of Hjaldr's Vale for some fifty years of peace and prosperity. She is of small, occasionally uncertain physical stature and walks with the help of a heavily bejewelled cane wrought from oak wood. Upon her head she wears a woven diadem of bronze studded with amethysts, and heavy and imperious robes. Wrinkles adorn her face heavily, with crow's feet at her eyes and a sunken, aged mouth. Grey hair is drawn back into intricately woven styles by countless maids. Her eyes, however, remain sharp and keen - pinpricks of greying light that take in all around her with a keen and unyielding accuracy. When she speaks she does so slowly and carefully, and does so freely, unafraid to offend those around her by her observations. It has been Eyildr's diplomatic coolness, however, that has fostered amicable relations with the Elves of Galadriel and her own men of Hjaldr's Vale, and has allowed her realm to acquire some wealth in this manner. 

[b]Asmund Crowsfoot, the Unyielding[/b], aged 33, heir to the Jarldom of Hjaldr's Vale. Asmund was Eyildr's third son with her long deceased husband Glithli, after Torvigg and Hallfrid, but upon the deaths of the latter at sea in a great storm within the Icevein Inlet he found himself heir to the Vale and to his venerable mother's title. Asmund is a warrior at heart, much at contrast to the careful and unwarlike ambitions of his mother. He has fought where necessary at the behest of his aged mother, and in times of crisis and war it is he who leads the banners and armies of Hjaldr's Vale against incoming menaces. A tall and inspiring commander, he wears his flaming orange hair loose around his head and grows a great beard.

[b]Kalli (24), Hjelda (21), Birna (18) Crowsfoot[/b], the Unmarried Maids of Hjaldr's Vale. The three youngest daughters of Eyildr are some of the Kingdom's most eligible maids. A marriage to one of them could easily be a way to secure the fealty of the Vale.

[b]Arl Tormus Watervale of Red Reach[/b], aged 43, is the most prominent Arl in the Jarless' domain. His town of Red Reach rests extremely close to the border of Galadriel, and it is through him that much of the trade passing through into Hjaldr's Vale and the Kingdom at large comes. He is therefore the richest of the men in the Vale after the Jarless herself, and his smooth disposition and uncharacteristically anti-war opinions have led him to be distrusted by many of the Kingdom's councillors. Some suspect him of attempting to influence the aged Jarless. He is married to Eyildr's eldest daughter Faelina and by her has two sons and a daughter aged between 13-3.

[b]Arl Baveer Hawksbane of Grassmarch[/b], aged 21, is the 'Boy of Grassmarch'. He is the lord of much of the fertile grasslands that compose the eastern portion of the Vale. Raised in the court of the Jarless as a boy after the death of his parents in the same sailing mishap that killed Eyildr's eldest sons, he has been as much as a surrogate son to the Jarless and through this has an unyielding loyalty to her that secures at least the most fertile area of the Vale as continuously leal to her.

[b]Thanes Aldrun Hawskbane[/b], uncle of the current Arl of Grassmarch (41) and [b]Haaken Moonsfall[/b] (28) a distant cousin of the Jarless and noted military wonder.

[b]Dynasty Bio:[/b] The Crowsfoot dynasty have ruled the Vale since the arrival of Hjaldr Crowsfoot the Red Rooster onto its grassy plains some five centuries ago, largely uninterrupted since then save for insurgencies by many petty lords during times of crisis or unsure succession. The family has maintained its grip on the region largely due to its unstoppable fertility - the current Jarless has twelve children and has used them, as she and her siblings were used before her, to maintain carefully cultivated marriages and matches with those around her. There was even talk of one of her daughters being married to a petty king of the Elves. The Crowsfoot have not ruled with an iron first, but justice unto those who have sought to usurp their power has been swift and exacting. The preferred method of execution in the Vale is drowning in the River Stael. 
 
[b]Province Name and Number:[/b] 9, Hjaldr's Vale.

[b]Fiefdom Bio:[/b] The Vale holds some of the Kingdom's most fertile lands, and along its east and south great fields of wheat, barley and corn are grown in the lands of Grassmarch. Its southern location also allows it to be somewhat warmer than many of the northern fiefs and so it often escapes particularly harsh winters. The western and northern coasts have developed extensive maritime cultures that foster travelling between the fiefs and also southwards towards Galadriel, and exploration along the Elven west coast has also developed in this time. The fief's largest city is Firsthold, historically the first place where the eponymous Hjaldr set up camp upon his arrival into the Vale. It rests in the far north of the fief on the coast of the Icevein Inlet and is the seat of the Crowsfoot family. Other large cities include Red Reach, which nestles extremely far south, near to the border of Galadriel and so has a culture influenced by Elven architecture and a higher than normal number of Elven and half-Elven residents, and Grassmarch, which rests on the south-east edge of the fief and maintains dominion over the extensive agricultural land that is used to feed many of the areas of the Kingdom.