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House Flitton of Cavernhall, Rulers of Edontas

Nation Name
Edontas
Edoncia in Edontian

Ethnic Peoples
Edontian
Edona in Edontaian
Pathy (Considered derogatory depending on inflection)

Ethnic Description
The Edontians are generally short and pudgy when they are rich, and short and stocky when they are poor. Most of the men reach a maximum of 5'6 or so, while their women are a few inches shorter -- Despite their stockiness, they are generally said to be a loud people with a presence that far outweighs their stature. Whether it is a genetic fault, mark of poor hygiene or diet, or a side effect of the culture's affinity with pipe-smoking is unknown, though many Edontians have crooked, sharp, or naturally missing teeth. To "Smile like an Edontian" is a common derogatory expression meaning "To show off" due to the popularity of false teeth, gold caps, and other custom dentistry in Edontas' upper circles. 

Black or brown hair and olive skin are common traits, though the southern Edontians are generally paler with browner hair, whereas northern Edontians are of ruddier, darker features -- Both have curly hair, thick eyebrows, and thick body hair, which are all seen as stereotypical Edontian features. The men are either short, broad-shouldered, and packed with fatty muscle, or somewhat less short but taut and lean, whereas their women are usually short and full-bodied; Edontian women are frequently viewed as sultry temptresses, whereas their men are viewed as thieves and drunks. Almost all Edontians are brown-eyed, though those born with green eyes are considered lucky. No full-blooded Edontian can have blue eyes or blonde hair, and the two are stigmas tied to bastardy.

Given as a slight to Ardall the Great's least-liked the strangely-shaped lines on the map Edontas is confined to were purposely drawn to give the country vast swathes of marshes, peat bogs, craggy hills, and barren, sandy earth. Edontas has always lacked the natural resources to support a true population, and so throughout history, many Edontians have taken to nomadic lifestyles throughout Ardacia, travelling, trading, and doing seasonal work when it is available, then returning home or sending most of their money back to relatives. This has led to the common slur for Edontians, Pathy, in reference to the trails and roads they walk, though whether it is an insult or not largely depends on how it is used. Due to their itinerant lifestyles, they are viewed almost universally as distrustworthy and clannish, as much as they are mysterious and foreign. Edontas' lands are said by the more pious foreigners to be tainted by the sins of its people. 

Edontas is mostly covered in dry plains that are separated by sparse bogs too shallow and sulfurous to yield bog-iron, and many types of swamps and marshes, increasing in size further west until the country breaks up into uninhabitably small, shallow islands at the coastline. Almost all of Edontas' soil is either too loose and sandy to be farmed, or too boggy to create large structures. Coupled with Edontas' climate being warm and wet due to its proximity with the mixing northern and southern winds and swampy terrain, all of Edontas' land is almost comically ill-equipped to farm.

To make up for their homeland's poor farming condition, those in Edontas who toil rather than travel by cart are almost always either fishermen, buckwheat farmers, or salt miners. Edontas is rich with not with precious metals or ore, but deep veins of salt in its stony hills, and so mining makes up about three fourths of Edontas' exports, while the remaining exports are woodcrafts -- particularly wagons -- and Edontian Ale, a buckwheat stout known for its malty taste and dark red color. Aside from these professions, many Edontians who travel the continent are pirates, bandits, and swords-for-hire, though not as reliable or honorable as Questors.

The Edontians are a merchant people who can seemingly put a price on anything; In Edontian funerals, the body is commonly bid for in an auction to "prove the worth of one's life", which usually pays for the cost of the funeral itself. Status is earned not with battles, but with the size and worth of dowry and traded goods -- Outright gifts are seen as untrustworthy to Edontians. Due to the culture of poverty, haggling is socially acceptable for just about every transaction, from a mug of ale to a fleet of ships.

The image of the Edontian as a liar is perhaps the truest of their stereotypes -- Banditry, quackery, and common pickpocketing are all socially acceptable responses to poverty. A distrust and disrespect for authority is drilled into most Edontians in their experiences travelling Ardacia, and so city guards in Edontas serve as little more than messengers to low lords and landed knights, provided that they are one of the few unswayed by bribes. In lieu of imprisonment or duels, feuds are settled with assassination and honor killings.

The Edontian's preference of vengeance over justice stems from Ardall the Conquerer bequeathing Edontas to Leiredon the Red, his least-liked general and rumored half-cousin. The founding of the country was known as "Ardall's Gift", and due to the country's borders binding it to inhospitable terrain, gift-giving is unheard of; In Edontas, there are only transactions. To exact vengeance, Leiredon did everything in his power to keep his country as far from Imperial rule as he could during his life, such as inflicting the lightest possible punishments for those caught practicing Yevism. Because of this, Edontas has been deeply tied with Yevism for all of its existence, harboring the fewest number of Red Yevist temples of the seven kingdoms, and some of the most spiritual peasantry. Although they have the most swindlers and thieves of any country, "Edontian Yevism" is synonymous with penance for all deeds in the form of confessions to a black brother. For this reason, Edontians are occasionally referred to in japes as "Grey Yevists" for their country's brand of spirituality's loose morals.

Aside from their less savory attributes, there are still good things to be said for the Edontians. They are a deeply musical people, known for playing anything from the fiddle to the lute to the concertina. Edontian courtship frequently involves singing songs and dancing, and musical talent is frequently part of the scale suitors are measured by. Dancing, singing, story-telling, and even theatrical stage magic. Aside from their affinity for music, they are almost always hospitable and warm to their fellow countrymen due to their culture of travelling and the loneliness this begets. Though they are seen as gypsies, tramps, and thieves by most, they have grown comfortable with their label and wear it proudly.

Cuisine in Edontas is seen by outsiders either as too spicy or too oily -- Spice is used to cover the taste of bespoilt meat, while the oil of the whitecairn plant is used either as a thickening agent or in cooking. Because many Edontians, male and female, learn to cook for themselves while on the road, the kitchens of kings and lords all throughout Ardacia are usually stocked by Edontians willing to work for cheaper than most. Edontas' surplus of salt affects its cuisine as well, and it is featured prominently in most Edontian dishes, as well as one fairly unpopular drink. Due to the inhospitable farmland available in the country, most of the food is imported from Caerulmoste, Aaldorenfeald, Westport, and The Sylvain, while the occasional miracle crop grown on Edontian soil is almost always consumed by the grower.
Mealtime in Edontas is traditionally a segregated affair -- Unless one is hosting a "Dinner" or any sort of event, men will eat, drink, and smoke outside, while women, children, the ill, and the elderly eat inside by the fire. Smoking takes a large part in Edontian male interaction, as it shows a certain level of tolerance to pain not believed to be found in women and children, as well as serving as a social gathering. More wealthy Edontians frequently drink tea as they smoke to soothe their throat, and to prolong conversation.

Edontas' associated weapon is the Sicklewhip, a short scythe attached to a metal weight by a chain. Though it is an unheroic and ugly weapon, it is a useful one, as it is designed for both the scythe and flail halves of the weapon to allow an assailant to reach around a shield. In addition, the sicklewhip is often used as a tripwire by bandits to dismount those on horseback by tying the chain half to a root and sticking the scythe end into a nearby tree, which can dismount a rider roughly enough to kill them.

Despite having the most neighbors of any of the seven kingdoms, Edontas has never gone to war on its own grounds, which are too urban, swamplike, or craggy to move large numbers of troops. Instead, the few battles fought by Edontians have all been to aid allies in rebellions, or against peasant revolts in rebellions of their own. Edontas' military is small, and more experienced with traps and guerrilla warfare than open-field battles.

Being a travelling people, Edontians generally wear what they can find, and as such are stereotypically depicted with mismatched outfits, particularly including vests and shorts, which are viewed as outdated styles of The Second Age. A fairly religious people, many Edontian women take to wearing head-scarves out of modesty, whereas men usually grow out their facial hair. Many travelling Edontians are circus folk, and so bells, jewelry, and colorful sashes are usually all part of and Edontian's wardrobe.

History
Edontas was given to Leiredon the Red as a slight for his perceived lack of skill on the battlefield during Ardall's conquest. Comprised mostly of sandy pine forests, sulfur bogs, rocky hills and packed hollow ground above large cave systems, "Ardall's Gift" as it was known, would set Leiredon against Ardall subtly, which would be the beginning of the country's anti-Imperial mindset. 

Worship of Staloth over Eirtu and Elonar never rose to much popularity due to the original lack of funding for any national force of guards, police, or the church of Staloth's clergy  in Edontas. Originally abandoned by Leiredon for the first two decades of its existence while he sailed along the Sunrise Sea, Edontas and crime have been synonymous since its literal founding. It was the site of few events of historical importance until The Great Uprising, when a company of sellswords led by Flitkor the Blind usurped the ruling House of Edon. Flitkor's first order of business would be to found his own great house -- his second would be to gather forces to march on the Imperial city, a war of usurpation that had already been in progress for several months.

After the end of The Great Uprising, Flitkor the Blind returned to Edontas to rule as king, sending forces to aid in House Osgar's rebellion, backing out once they had comfortably established relations with Osgar and won a princess from their defeated foe. The only other use of Edontas' military was fifty years after their aid in The Blackfield Rebellion during The Seven Prince War, a skirmish between House Flitton and House Oaken.

Since then, Edontas has only been spoken in the mouths of nobles for their dependency on foreign crops to sustain their population, and the unwholesome strangeness of their current ruling family, lead by Valdemar Flitton.

House Name
House Flitton 

House Members

King Valdemar Flitton
Princess Gertrude Flitton
Prince James "Bagface" Flitton
Prince Wiliam Flitton

House Words

Through Guise of Night
The words of House Flitton, "Through Guise of Night" refers to their literal and metaphorical use of darkness. Literally, the words are a simple threat: Those who oppose the Flittons are not usually met on the battlefield or in duels, but disposed of through assassination, imprisonment, or intimidation. Additionally, the Flittons signature mounts are direbats, which can only be flown at night, an advantage that the family has historically used for infiltration and escapes rather than open combat.

House Sigil
A brown direbat on a dark blue field, encompassed in a black border. The direbat represents Flitkor's mount and House Flitton's ancestral tradition of bat riding, while the dark blue field represents their comfort with darkness and the night, figuratively and literally. The border represents the security and control they maintain over Edontas, which is a culturally lawless and harsh place.

House Seat
Cavernhall, as its name suggests, is built into a massive cave system. It appears deceivingly small on the surface, though the majority of the structure is actually underground. It is a dank, musty castle that always seems to have water dripping from the ceiling, and the building is filled with an unpleasant coolness to the air brought in by the caves. From the surface, Cavernhall is a short, squat castle made of yellowing white stone, built into the mouth of a large cave overlooking a cliff. The wall encompassing the surrounding area is built of the same white stone as the castle itself, and is decorated at each of its corners with a batlike gargoyle.

Inside the castle, it is kept warm by a fire at the center of the great hall and small cauldrons of sweet incense hanging from the ceilings, though it is still drafty, and the halls seem to wheeze and whistle from the cave winds and drafts. All of the metalwork, from the doorknobs to the candle holders, is slowly oxidizing copper, and at the end of the castle's great hall sits King Flitton's copper throne, which has grown green where his hands lay from sweat. Directly above it hangs the gold-dipped skull of Flitkor the Blind's direbat. Further into the castle's tunnels, the rooms and passageways become less and less paved and carved out until you are simply in a cave that has torches available. It is unknown how far down the Flitton Cave goes, though there is a certain point that no man has been able to ascend known as "The Drop", which is believed to go hundreds of feet straight down until reaching a small reservoir attached to the Mottem Expanse.

The mouth of the Flitton Cave is home to the largest colony of bats in Edontas, and likely the world, who servants of Flitton feed daily. Among the colony are the Flitton's direbats, which are bred for their intelligence and size -- Though they leave each night to hunt, they return unfailingly before the sunrise. The castle itself was originally built with wide corridors to allow Flitton direbat access to the castle as well, though this practice has fallen out of fashion.

House Heirloom

Flitkor's Crown
An eyeless helmet made of enchanted steel. It is said that the wearer can understand and communicate with their mount as well as Flitkor, a suspected Beastmouth, at the cost of their sight. It was first worn by Flitkor the Blind during the Battle for Southcliffe during The Blackfield Rebellion. Inside the helm, it has been described as "Unpleasantly cool and hollow-sounding".

House Themes

Blood - The Flitton direbats are often thought to be vampire bats, though they are only simple carnivores who eat birds and livestock. Despite this misconception, the Flittons have a lot of blood imagery: Valdemar has impure blood, Bagface bled for five years, Oren is described as a "Half-blood", and so on.

Blindness - The founder of House Flitton was Flitkor the Blind, their words allude to being enveloped in darkness, and their secret knowledge passed down throughout the family is echolocation. Their artifact and ancestral helmet covers ones' eyes and lets them control bats, which can't see in daylight. Darkness is arguably their theme as well, but not as much as blindness.

Tradition - The Flittons have a lot of unnecessary traditions -- They name each of their first-born with V-names to protect them from a stillbirthing curse, they raise and train direbats from an early age simply because their founder did hundreds of years ago, and the use of echolocation is taught to heads of the house once again, because tradition dictates it. 

Capital City
Cragkeep is a tightly-packed Edontian city surrounding Cavernhall, House Flitton's ancestral keep which sits in a rocky patch of forest for the sake of pleasant aesthetics, surrounded by a four-sided wall. Like almost all of Edontas, Cragkeep has dirt roads and thatch-roofed wooden buildings, though it still maintains the cramped, discomforting dirtiness of a city. Cragkeep is surrounded by five vertical log walls with entrances and exits on opposite sides, meaning that traders and in theory, invaders, would have to encircle the city five times before entering. It is known for its fogginess and thriving marketplace.

Banner Houses

House Caunie of Coddleston Keep
Flitton's largest banner house, which makes up the bulk of their servants and royal officials. Their sigil is a white hare on a blue and green checkered field, and their words are "Sprinting to Arms". They are known for their fast, well-trained horses and owning many breweries for the country's ale.

House Buckley of Goldenfield
House Buckley has historically controlled vast buckwheat farms, and have been known for an attempted rebellion, as well as their large frames, brown hair, and yellow-brown eyes. Their sigil is a plain yellow field -- It was formerly a pair of hands on a yellow field, but after an attempted rebellion in the third age ending with Vordred Flitton II cutting the hands off of Lord Buckley for his treasonous acts, their sigil and words were changed. Their words, which were formerly "Strength and Protection" are now "Strength and Penance". They make a large portion of the country's ale export, as well as their food production due to their mostly inland location.

House Espen of Dunhill
A small banner house known for their mines and buckwheat farms. Their words are "Bountiful, Plentiful, Dutiful", and their sigil is a bundle of wheat and a scimitar on a two-tone purple field. Their current lord, Luthor Espen, is a devout follower of Red Yevism.

House Hockor of The Black Bog
The smallest of Flitton's bannerlands, though the largest family. Their seat is a small wooden fort hidden in the center of an acidic marsh known as "The Black Bog", and their sigil is a triskelion made of three black fish encircling a red sun on an olive field. Though the smallest, poorest house, they are feared by many for their ancestral tradition of cannibalizing their enemies, a banned practice they are rumored to uphold in their deep, hidden away marsh. Their words, still unchanged, are "Devourers of Men".

House Foressi
A small banner house known for little else but their salt mines and textiles. They engage in little trade or relations with outsiders, sofar as for their current lord to only have a conversational grasp of commontongue. Their words are "None May Fool Me", and their sigil is a white eye on a black field.

House Marshton

House Croftcairn of Croftcairn Valley
House Croftcairn's words are "The Valleys Welcome Few", and their sigil is a brown boar on a teal field of black arrows. Aside from their coal mines, they are known for being tall, fat, and unsmiling. Their seat, Crofthold, is constantly enveloped in a thin fog of smoke -- their ancestral coal mine, not a hundred yards from their castle, has been lost to a coal fire and has been slowly burning away for four decades. They control all of Edontas' mines of precious metals and stone, and are considered the second most powerful family.

House Graves of Stonebeach
House Graves' words are the simplest of the Edontian families; "Unforgiving". Their sigil is a grey axe on a sea-blue field, and they are known for their harbors being the only in Edontas not overrun with piracy, as well as their partly Rhaetian heritage. They are currently lordless, due to their pious lord throwing himself from the piers after discovering of The Godfall, and are ruled by a merchant-steward.

Name
Valdemar Flitton, King of Edontas and Lord of Cragkeep

Age
56

Loyalty
House Flitton

Appearance
King Valdemar is short, fat-faced, and wiry-haired. He has a large beak nose and drooping eyelids, which coupled with his bushy beard and mustache, make him look rather like a gnome. He is almost completely round, and has a bow-legged waddle when he walks, which is hidden by his propensity for robes and tunics. He has oily brown skin and jet black hair, and is almost always red in the face.

Personality
Edontas, being nearly lawless, has historically been by leaders who inspire love or fear. Of the two, Valdemar prefers fear. He is stone-faced, short-tempered, and ruthless. He dislikes most noblemen for their pompousness, and accordingly, tries to deal with foreign families and his own banner lords as infrequently as possible. Those who know the king remember a less dour, almost jovial man, who has progressively grown more and more bitter as he has lost more and more sons.

Valdemar, for all of his ruthlessness, is not without cunning. His near-slavelike conditions in Edontas' salt mines have tripled the country's profits, while his proposal to extend Edontas' western border and attempt to colonize the Sylvain Forest has boosted Edontian nationalism.

History
King Valdemar has lead a fairly unexceptional life for an Edontian king. His wife, a dull and plain-looking noblewoman, died giving birth to his youngest son, born to replace his mutilated second son, due to the fact that his first-born died in a tourney. Valdemar himself was a first-born, as evidenced by the Flitton tradition of naming first-born sons with a V to ensure their safe birth, and has spent all of his life in Edontas. He is known for being cruel, cunning, and fat.

Name
"Bagface"
Ser Culven Flitton

Age
26

Loyalty
House Flitton
The Knight's Order

Appearance
Unsurprisingly, Culven Flitton, who is more commonly known as "Ser Bagface" has a bag for a face. It is thick enough to allow his muffled speech to be audible, but hide his disfigurement even in direct light. It has one hole cut out for his remaining eye, and is loosely tied around his neck for security with a thin rope or piece of ribbon. Bagface eats and bathes only in complete privacy, though he is famous for his love of drinking, and pours cups and bottles alike through his mask into a lipless mouth.

Though his bag is not his actual face, it has served as such for the past five years, more comfortable, concealing, and breathable than any mask or veil. For funerals he has a black bag, for weddings a white bag, for summer balls an embroidered golden bag, but all the same, Bagface is a pretty famous figure -- There are two songs written about him, though the second is not of Edontian origin and is more mythically-inspired than anything. His movements are awkward and jerky, which he hides with clothing, due to his head and neck fusing with his shoulders during his healing. He wears a much more lightweight sword at his side, though his diminished eyesight and mobility leave him completely incapable of feigning dueling. 

Aside from his most notable feature, Bagface is pretty unexceptional. Having spent the past five years bound to his bed save for short outings, he is an unfortunate combination of pudgy and pasty where he was was strong and knightly. To hide this, he favors thick clothing such as capes and tunics -- His most-used cape contains his personal sigil, a brown direbat on a dark blue field with a face covered by a Hartick Leaf, an symbol synonymous with shame in Edontian culture, on the interior lining.

Personality
Bagface is a different person than Culven Flitton. Culven was the first Flitton knight in nine decades, a shining paragon of chivalry, Bagface frequents brothels, wineries, and little else. Culven had the love of the commoners whose land he would frequently visit, while Bagface travels with eight hulking bodyguards encircling him. He is now known for his sarcastic, well-read nature and ruthlessness towards disrespectful commoners.

He sees himself as a proud survivor of pain no other living man has faced, going as far as to make his personal sigil a bat covered by the Edontian symbol for shame. Because he cannot marry, or reasonably find love, he spends most of his spare time in the more luxurious Edontian brothels, or alone, where he either eats or reads.

He is a deeply bitter person, arguably rightfully, and when he is at all angry or offended, replies either with sarcasm or the steel of his men, depending on the status of the person. Whenever he is not with his men he is usually alone, either eating or reading, a habit he has grown more fond of since the incident. Additionally, since the incident he has grown much more fond of drinking, and frequently has several bottles of wine sent to brothels he intends to stay at in advance.

History
Until what he can only call "The Incident", Culven Flitton had a fairly unexceptional life. He was born the second son of a king, choosing to enter The Knight's Order rather than the expected duties of a second born. Though the first Flitton knight in 90 years, Ser Culven was knighted at eighteen, and was well-liked by the common people for his charity, love of drinking, and sportsmanlike behaviour amongst commoners in tourneys.

That all changed six years ago, during a rebellion small enough that it has not been named by historians, Culven received word that a business partner of House Flitton and Guild Administrator in Caerulmoste had been captured by a lynch mob for embezzlement and was set for execution. Atop his direbat Storm, armed with a sicklewhip and a year of experience as a true knight, Culven set out to save the spice trader, arriving just in time to watch his body burn. Upon seeing Culven's direbat in the sky and recognizing Culven as a would-be rescuer and ally of their slain enemy, the peasants brought the direbat lower first with weighted nets, and then to the ground with spears and arrows.

The crash broke most of Culven's bones, leaving him defenseless as he was tied to a pyre and burned alive, rescued shortly by Questors who recognized him as foreign nobility. He was immediately sent to Edontas, treated by five doctors at nearly each moment of the tumultuous, galloping wagon ride. Once at Cavernhall, he was treated by each of the attending Mages, and an additional fifty hired by Valdemar, to be kept alive at any cost.
Culven was indeed kept alive, but so burned and deformed, untrained men would gag at the sight of his face. Rather than wear uncomfortable, heavy masks on tender, fleshless face, he began to wear simple cloth sacks over his head, earning him the monicker "Bagface". For the past six years, Bagface has mostly stayed at Cavernhall, occasionally making brief appearances at tourneys, festivals, and other public appearances of royalty, though never out of the sight of a mage. Even in these brief appearances, due to the strangeness of his appearance, he has become something of a figure in folklore for his bag for a face and drinking prowess.

Name
Sophitia Flitton

Age
24

Loyalty
House Flitton

Appearance
Sophitia, who is a skilled horticulturist, and singer, is blessed to have been born beautiful as well. Much like her father, she has strong Edontian features, and is dark-haired and olive-skinned. She is shorter than most men but taller than most women, and she typically prefers blue or black dresses.

Personality
Sophitia hates that her homeland is known as a swamp filled with criminals, and hates that her house is known for their frightening bats and untrustworthiness. Her mother, a noblewoman from one of Rhaetia's vassals, read many southern fairy tales to her growing up, which has engrained her desire to live as a "proper" princess early in her childhood. Her only escape from Cavernhall is her garden and her singing, and though she practically lives in both, she attends ceremonies and makes appearances at tourneys whenever possible.

History
Sophitia has spent her life pining for a prince to take her from a lawless land and drafty castle. Aside from her singing prowess, her life has little to show. She has never left Cragkeep, though she has attempted to twice.

Name
Prince Wiliam Flitton

Age
7

Loyalty
House Flitton

Appearance
Wiliam is short, round-faced, and pale. He is typically found hiding behind his siter or his father, and is known by the guards and servants as "The Owl" for his large, blue eyes.

Personality
Wiliam is very shy, having learned to speak later in his childhood than most, and frequently hides in the far reaches of Cavernhall's caves, the royal garden, or within the castle itself. He enjoys reading and is frightened by most everything.

History
Wiliam was born to replace Culven Flitton as the future King of Edontas after his maiming. Though he was already a knight, it was believed that he was to be disavowed shortly after his older brother Varyl's death, though his disfigurement and weakness have since left the copper throne of Cavernhall to Wiliam. Orphaned by his birth, Wiliam is known for being a particularly quiet and odd-mannered child.

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