With five of seven accepted nations and two more applications, will we be seeing a polished map in the near future? Ideally one without borders at 90° angles—this is a quasi-medieval period, we probably shouldn't have national boundaries delineated by longitude and latitude.
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 the continent, 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. 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, although the free flow of booze also means that the devil's nectar has less of an effect on the Aaldoren; 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 small 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.
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 smallfolk 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 Ardacia.
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. The Kingdom of Aaldorenfeald was both sired and born out of war.
The arrival of Ardall the Great in Ardacia monumentally changed the political and social structure of the continent. The land that is now Aaldorenfeald was not conquered in any particular campaign or in any particular year, and its people both did not embrace Ardall's reforms easily and did not reject them violently. The formation of Aaldorenfeald could be most accurately said to have occurred just after Ardall's conquest, when he was dividing his new empire among his generals. Orrion Swithwulf, the last of the seven to stake his claim, simply pointed his finger on a blank spot on the map and said, "Here". With that word, Aaldorenfeald was created.
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 descent. Some 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 recorded instance of the inhabitants of the area of Ardacia under Swithwulf hegemony being called 'Aaldoren' was in the latter part of the Second Age, in a conflict in Aaldorenfeald that substantially weakened the region's armies, immediately preceding The Great Uprising. The chroniclers of history spoke of Aaldoren fighting on both sides of the Black Woods Rebellion, named after the forest occupying much of the country. House Addloman, whose Lord Vinnder ruled over the western part of the Black Woods as a vassal of House Swithwulf, had always opposed the Church of Staloth. The increasingly unpopular nature of the reigning Emperor made Vinnder courageous enough to try and wrest control of Aaldorenfeald from the Lord of House Swithwulf, Lord Terron, an ardent follower of that church as a descendant of one of Ardall's generals. The Addlomans were joined in rebellion by Lord Flotsmer of House Brimgiest, who ruled over the eastern portion of the Black Woods, as well as by a not-yet-regal House Osgar, led by Lord Peter. The combined armies of Houses Addloman and Brimgiest matched those of the Swithwulfs, and the military prowess of both House's Lords allowed them to swiftly defeat the Swithwulf armies shortly after the war's declaration, and lay siege to Axabroc, the seat of House Swithwulf. With the armies of both their allies tied up in the siege, however, House Osgar was left managing those Aaldoren houses loyal to the Swithwulfs and the Emperor. Outnumbered four to one, House Osgar lost a series of bloody skirmishes against the Swithwulf loyalists, eventually forcing what remained of Lord Peter's army to retreat into the Osgar seat, Hebban, and hope Axabroc's walls broke before Hebban's did.
To their surprise, only days after they had sheltered in Hebban, Flotsmer Brimgiest turned his army besieging Axabroc against the Addlomans. Flotsmer had planned the betrayal all along, but had needed House Osgar to be out of the picture before they could confidently defeat their rival Addlomans. The entire Addloman force was destroyed in the Massacre at Axabroc, as the Swithwulfs hiding inside the castle joined the traitorous Brimgiests in slaying both Vinnder Addloman and his assembled army. The Brimgiests then took over the entirety of the Black Woods, storming the Addloman keep and slaughtering the family and their few remaining fighting men—losing in the process, however, Lord Flotsmer, who was slain by the daughter of Lord Vinnder with a kitchen knife. The whole of Aaldorenfeald would have then fallen upon Hebban, if not for the gruesome death of Gertrude Arda, the very day that the Swithwulf and Brimgiest armies joined the siege.
House Swithwulf found itself in an awkward situation. They sought to extinguish House Osgar and take firm control of Aaldorenfeald, but their loyalty to the royal family demanded that they send their armies and those of their vassal houses abroad, to stamp out the various rebellions occurring elsewhere in Ardacia. If they attempted to storm Hebban, they stood to lose a large portion of their men against their entrenched foes. As such, Lord Terron Swithwulf left behind only a token force of Brimgiest men to continue the siege of Hebban, taking the bulk of the Aaldoren armies under his command to march off to join the Crow King in his ill-fated attempt to retain power. Not a day had passed after the departure of Lord Terron that Lord Peter Osgar marched his own men out of Hebban, defeating the weakened army of House Brimgiest and taking the ineffectual son of Lord Flotsmer prisoner.
The victory at Hebban worried the Swithwulf's vassals. They were off fighting all across Ardacia with their armies, while at home, Lord Peter's armies were stood to take vengeance against them, pillaging their countrysides with relative impunity. The arrival of reinforcements to Lord Peter's army from the rebellious House Flitton of Edontas complicated matters further, leaving an army large enough to storm castles, and opposed to the Emperor and the Church of Staloth, the only real fighting force left in Aaldorenfeald. One by one the former loyalists of House Swithwulf quietly deserted, sneaking off in the night with what men they could back to their homes. They even sent letters to Lord Peter, pleading with him to stay his hand and spare their lands, and insisting of their new-found hatred for the Empire. In short order, the last Aaldoren vassal house loyal to House Swithwulf was destroyed; the Black Woods were cleansed of Brimgiest men by the Osgars and Flittons, and the keep of House Brimgiest pillaged by Lord Peter. Lord Terron Swithwulf was now the only Aaldoren Lord left loyal to House Arda, and the only Aaldoren Lord still outside of Aaldorenfeald, participating in the broader Great Uprising.
Lord Terron returned to Aaldorenfeald when it became clear the Emperor was losing the war. He had been almost entirely abandoned by his banner men, and he was not in the mood for more war. He swiftly marched with what was left of his army to Axabroc, breaking the siege placed on it by the houses which had just betrayed him. Lord Peter mustered the few hundred fighting men of the returned vassal houses to his cause, ready to take down Lord Terron in one final battle, but it was for naught. From their seat at Axabroc, House Swithwulf offered peace with House Osgar. The kingdom would return to its state preceding the Addloman's call to arms, but no longer recognizing the authority of the Emperor, and with House Osgar, instead of House Addloman, in possession of the western half of the Black Woods. The other lesser Houses of Aaldorenfeald—tired of war and eager for peace—accepted the offer. What was worse, House Flitton, whose armies had fought with Peter since the departure from Hebban, agreed to the Swithwulf terms as well. The head of House Flitton, King Vors, had made a deal with House Swithwulf. He took Lady Candace, the beautiful young daughter of Lord Terron, as a wife for his first-born son Varryl, in exchange for agreeing to the peace (and thereby depriving Lord Peter of the main part of his army). In spite of the betrayal, Lord Peter stubbornly insisted upon a single alteration to the terms before Aaldorenfeald would have peace. The western Black Woods would go to House Swithwulf instead of House Brimgiest, and the Brimgiest dynasty would be stripped of all their lands and titles, their household absorbed into House Swithwulf, and their lands in the eastern Black Woods forfeit to House Osgar. Lord Terron, desperate for peace, accepted, finding himself with new lands to manage, new cousins to meet, and one fewer daughter, but also an end to war.
The beginning of the Third Age was a time of peace and growth in Aaldorenfeald. Those who had followed the Church of Staloth, like reigning House Swithwulf, converted without conflict to Yevism—adopting all of the intense devotion to faith of any recent convert. The population grew, even as some foreign kingdoms stagnated, and the culture that now demarcates the Aaldoren from the rest of Ardacia began to develop in this period as well. Rord, which had previously been used only in those lands which had never converted to the Church of Staloth, to practice their faith in secret and avoid persecution by Imperial authorities, began to spread throughout the rest of Aaldorenfeald. No longer separated by faith, all of the regions of Aaldorenfeald began to trade with one another more freely, and intermarry with one another, so often in fact that they began to marry with outsiders much less. News of constant persecutions in foreign lands gave the Aaldoren the picture of the rest of Ardacia as a decrepit place, full of those who defy the law and the Gods. A more stringent sect of Yevism developed, Red Yevism, which preached dedicated, unwavering abstinence from sin, permitting only the consumption of alcohol, which was used in Red Yevist ceremonies. The sect's name arose from the colour of the blood they demanded of sinners, unlike those Yevists in the rest of Ardacia, whom punished their ne'er do wells with exile. The rise of Red Yevism would also herald the beginning of the end for House Swithwulf, as it was on the sect's back that the First Aaldoren Civil War was fought.
House Swithwulf had become as dedicated to Red Yevist teachings as the rest of Aaldorenfeald, but was suspicious of the organization's growing political authority. This politicization of faith was part of a trend affecting the whole of Ardacia, and leading to the dwindling prestige of the other Great Houses. Determined to end the Church of Eirtu's power in Aaldorenfeald, the Swithwulfs decided to pit the Red Brothers against the Black. They announced an end to the practice of execution, forbidding the Red Brothers from extracting the blood of the sinners that had earned them their name. Many traditionalist Black Brothers from foreign lands were brought in as well, to take over the administration of many of Aaldorenfeald's churches from the Reds. TO BE CONTINUED
A sect within the Church of Eirtu, taking a more radical and violent approach to the worship of The Great Moon. After the Great Uprising, the Black Brothers of the Church took a hardline to worshippers of the receeding Church of Staloth, but in doing so adjusted their priorities to neglect much of their own teachings on morality. Whoremongers and gamblers were tolerated openly, spared judgement as the Church's focus shifted to uprooting blasphemers. At this same time, the chaos brewing throughout the realm was spawning mistrust and fear in increasingly culturally disparate Aaldorenfeald. The moral degradation being allowed to occur all across the rest of Ardacia led the Black Brothers of the kingdom of the Aaldoren, a comparatively stable region, to persecute the immoral more stringently than ever. Some were even willing to go so far as to sanction and carry out executions—a practice banned by the mainstream Church of Eirtu in Gideon. As this practice became more common in Aaldorenfeald, it earned the priests of this new branch of the Church their new name; whereas traditional Black Brothers were so called because dirt and water would stain their grey robes black, the Brothers of this burgeoning new sect began to be called 'Red Brothers' by the Aaldoren, as their robes were stained red with the blood of executed sinners. Over time the Brothers came to proudly adopt this moniker for themselves, and even christened their new sect 'Red Yevism' in turn.
After achieving a great deal of political authority in Aaldorenfeald as a result of the First Aaldoren Civil War, the Red Brothers increasingly began to see their sect in opposition to the mainstream Church of Eirtu and its Black Brothers. Successive High Brothers would periodically condemn the teachings of Red Yevism, seeing the movement as a perversion of the church's teachings that bordered on blasphemy. This condemnation only legitimized the Red Brothers in their own eyes, however, and they took to priding themselves on their poor relationship with the perceivedly corrupt and docile Blacks. They took advantage of their feud with the Black Brothers over the years to expand abroad, outside of Aaldorenfeald, offering their ministry to overtake the practices of the Church of Eirtu in areas which were poorly serviced by the main church, or which had began to see the Black Brothers in a negative light. Red Yevism became the branch of the Church of Eirtu that represented the destitute, the fervent and the rebellious all across Ardacia, and Red Brothers began to be seen from north to south, their deadly rituals practiced in both the smallest hamlets and the largest great cities. Tensions became high, and for a time it seemed that Ardacia could be thrown into a massive, militant revolt, or perhaps even a civil war. It was only the wisdom of the High Brother of the Black Church that mended the relationship between the two sects.
Under the guidance of High Brother Levon, the Red Brothers and their ideology were to be peacefully incorporated into the main Church of Eirtu, under an agreement that came to be known as the Levon Arrangement. The Red Brothers would serve as Eirtu's militant force, taking on the role of punishing sinners and blasphemers and replacing all Black Brothers all throughout Ardacia who had formerly fulfilled this purpose. This would leave the more numerous Black Brothers to ministrate, conduct ceremonies, and fulfill all other more pacifistic tasks of the Church, including conducting ministries in formerly Red Yevist regions. The executions and various blood rituals for which the Red Brothers had became infamous were no longer to be practiced, and ne'er do wells would be punished with exile to the Isle of Bread—long the Black Church's primary punishment for severe offences—rather than slain. Furthermore, in place of sinner's blood (which could no longer be lawfully extracted), the robes of new Red Brothers would instead be stained in red dye. This last facet of the Levon Arrangement would become symbolic of the arrangement's effect on Red Yevism as a whole.
Red Brothers were not all in favour of the Levon Arrangement. The lack of a centralized system of leadership within the Red Church meant that the arrangement's terms were not carried out equally. High Brother Levon and his successors in the Black Church enforced the concessions demanded by the Red Brothers, placing Red Yevists in charge of the church's enforcement of morality, but no equivalent leadership existed to enforce the Black Brother's demanded concessions on the Red Church. Within many of the more fervently Red Yevist regions of Ardacia, Black Brothers were not permitted to conduct their ministries as agreed, and the Church of Eirtu's militant wing remained in control of ceremony and proselytizing. The Church's blood rituals even continued to be carried out in some places, in secret, and in defiance of the law.
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 Ardacia 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, "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 firm control. With this in mind, the current political state of affairs, Aaldorenfeald's position within a confederated Ardacia, 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 north. 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 forests, forcing it to break ranks and leave itself vulnerable to harrying. Rytael has two gates: one along the south wall, called the King's Gate, and another along the north wall, creatively dubbed the North Gate.
House Heirloom House Osgar's ancestral heirloom is the longsword Abiron. Massive and heavy (even for a longsword), Abiron is supposedly able to cut right through even the thickest plate armour with ease. It is said 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 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 First Aaldoren Civil War 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 presented the newly reforged Abiron to him, 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 eastern part of the Osgar crownlands. A metropolis, rivalling 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 Ardacia to be bereft of whorehouses, and possibly has both more churches (and more alehouses) than any other place known to man. 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 Red Yevism, 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 Red Yevist cathedral dominates the scenery of the city's west, which is home to the manors of much of Aaldorenfeald's landed gentry and lower aristocracy. MORE TBA
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.
MORE TBA
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".
I've put a lot of thought into it recently and I've decided that I don't ever want to fall in love. It just seems so troublesome. But damn I will definitely make out with a hot goth boy at comic con once in a while. 10/10.
@genghismike As far as I'm aware, Trump's main ideological touchstones are protectionism and American exceptionalism. Those aren't disastrous, stupid ideas that will kill America, and you can infer this by the fact that they were the main ideological touchstones of every American politician who ever lived between 1776 and like... the 90's. I believe the United States of America managed to survive through those dark few years.
Trump isn't campaigning to have pi defined as "4" or to invade Mongolia or anything else objectively stupid. His ideas are maybe a little bit out of the current politician's political mainstream (in that they aren't supported by either the Bush family or the Clinton family), but they're really, really far from new, aren't flatly dumb, and clearly aren't out of the average Joe's political mainstream—if at least 40% of people agree with something it's safe to say it's not fringe at that point. Trump's most often talked about and controversial position, by far, is to upgrade a fence to a wall and carry out the law as it is currently on the books in regards to illegal migrants. His plan to coerce Mexico to pay for said wall is actually less stupid than it is unethical and diabolical, although I'm sure the Mexican government wouldn't play ball anyway, just to save face.
"Trump is evil" has a lot more credence than "Trump is dumb", but both are mischaracterizations that really only serve to further divisiveness. People need to stop assuming that every time someone disagrees with them, it's because they're stupid. All that results in is everyone convincing themselves that everyone else is a moron.
I thought that was life in general? Idiots bumbling their way to riches and fame. You cannot seriously believe that Kanye West has skills in music and Kardashian.... well, whatever she does.
From what I've seen of Trump, he's a moron. Capable of appealing to the masses of idiots that are prevalent in the country, but even that is probably blind luck. Also, you can be an idiot and a "loose cannon".
Kanye West had a product that people liked and a way of presenting himself in public that further built his brand and popularized his product line. In that way, Kanye's musical career is actually incredibly similar to Trump's political career. He's giving people what they want and in a way that attracts attention. You do not multiply your inheritance by several orders of magnitude and become a party leader in spite of a complete lack of political experience by acting foolishly. Trump is towing a line just like every other politician in history, and not even the line that he's towing is anything new—just different from the lines towed by people with names like Clinton and Bush.
Ever heard of Ross Perot? The "giant sucking sound"?
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