Noble Houses

Players may create new Houses for their PCs in consultation with the GM, or may be members of any of the following:

Cormanth
Head: King Trionos XIII Cormanth, Lord of Castle Trionos and Monarch of the Grand Kingdom
The Cormanth have ruled the Grand Kingdom for three centuries, and trace their ancestry back more than seven hundred years to Trionos, the legendary King of the West who defeated the demon-wizard Egarim, conquered Time and Space, and married Pam, Queen of Cooks.

Beldon
Head: Baron Viktor Beldon (Outlawed), Lord of Castle Beldon, Southland; formerly Lord of Acquitan.
Distant cousins of the Cormanth, the Beldon once rivalled them for power. But in 2700 AUC their head, the Baron Viktor Beldon, launched the Beldon Insurrection, an attempt upon the throne that failed disastrously. Viktor's wife Lady Valyria Beldon perished when the city of Acquitan fell to the loyalist forces. Baron Viktor Beldon fled to the Southland, where he remains a thorn in the side of the Grand Kingdom today. The Beldon have been stripped of all lands and titles, but it's rumoured they still retain secret support within the Grand Kingdom.

Toldare
Head: Baron Geoffrey Toldare, Lord of Shreve Port
Close cousins of the Cormanth, the Toldare declared early for the Crown during the Beldon Insurrection and helped defeat the Beldon.  In 2711 AUC Sir Belvin Toldare, second trueborn son of Baron Geoffrey and a promising young scion of the House, attempted a campaign against Baron Beldon, but was captured with his wife Alicia at the disastrous Battle of Sam's Landing, and they remain hostage.
Shreve Port bastards are surnamed Tide.

Banbridge
Head: Baron John Banbridge, Lord of Hawksleigh
The industrious Banbridge are marcher lords of Hawksleigh, which controls access to the Golden Pass, only route through the Westwall Mountains to the Southland.  They take much wealth from the road toll, and also make a good living lumbering the great elm trees of the Greenelm Woods to the north.

Verdayne
Head: Baron Mathis Verdayne, Lord of Castle Soraja

"Nothing is Ever Forgotten"

The Verdayne rule from Castle Soraja, guarding the Bleak Shore in the north of the Grand Kingdom from Bornishmen raiders venturing across the Bornish Channel. They claim descent from the legendary Princess Soraja, said to have been daughter of the original Hero-King Trionos I from before his decades-long captivity 'Beyond Time and Space'. When Trionos battled free of his long captivity, and finally defeated his great enemy the demon-wizard Egarim, his wife was dead, and he remarried - to Pam, the humble kitchen cook turned warrior-woman who had helped to free him. The Cormanth are (supposedly) descended from Queen Pam, this arguably makes the Verdayne the senior House - and certainly more blue-blooded - which in some eyes gives them a greater claim to rule.

Other major Houses include the Lords of the Bergruckenwald and the Dukes of Willow Vale, descended from dragon-slaying King Thongar the Mighty.

Minor Houses
Carenton - long a minor power in the annals of the Grand Kingdom, their most prominent member  the former crusader Sir John Carenton now seeks to establish a new Barony at Westguard in the Southland, raising them to the status of a major House.