The Midlands

The Land and Its People

The Midlands lies east of the Sovereignlands, between the Hearthlands and Tarkath, with the Soundless Sea along most of its southern and eastern border. Its plains are ideal for farming and for horses.

This page describes the protectorate as it stood in 763, when the Annwyn appeared. The last section follows what became of its people there.

The climate is mild all year, with a dry season and a rainy season on the plains. The Spires of Castellan rise along the southern border. Thunderstorms are common in spring and fall, when warm southern winds meet the cold air of the north.

Midlanders are generally welcoming. Trade and frequent tournaments bring people of every station through their towns. Here the horse and the hawk are sacred, valued for their freedom on land and in the sky. There are no serfs left in the Midlands, which makes the protectorate a place that serfs elsewhere dream of reaching.

House Corveaux

House Corveaux began as a vassal of House Castellan, the master builders whose works still stand across the Midlands. When the Rourkes and Aragons destroyed the Castellans in the Great War, Lord Dorian Corveaux was the closest in blood and the strongest in power. He pledged himself quickly to Queen Catherine Bannon. The other high houses could not agree on a rival, and the Corveaux brought them to heel one at a time.

The family took up residence in the old halls, and the protectorate slowly changed around it. A Lord Perryn lost a duel to a knight of the Ordo Erdani and was so impressed that he asked to name the knight his heir. House Corveaux agreed, then passed a law allowing any knight of the Midlands to be named the heir of a house. The high houses became knight houses over time, and valor became the measure of worth.

In the civil war of the seventh century, Queen Cateline Corveaux withdrew her armies from the usurper James Bannon. She then arranged the marriage of her daughter Anne to Roland Aragon, who became the first monarch from outside House Bannon. Anne spurned the Bannon name and was known as Anne Corveaux. The bitterest recent blow came in 751, when the richest farmland in the Midlands was given to House Blayne as part of the Hearthlands.

Lord Paragon Desmond Corveaux had held the seat for twenty-two years by 763. Heirs of the family are chosen at a proving, and his son Aramaux won his father's the year before.

The Knight Houses

A division has deepened among the houses of the Midlands. The Horse Lords of the north built their own wood and stone keeps and have little use for ornament. The Castle Lords of the east and south live in the Castellan keeps and honor them as relics of their lineage.

House Corveaux of Vairsing

Vairsing climbs the side of Eagle's Nest Mountain with the keep at its top. The city and its farms hold eighty thousand people, and upward of 1,500 knights of the Vermilion Order live in its barracks.

House Corveaux of King's Crossing

Lord Garamond Corveaux keeps a hard peace in one of the largest trade centers in Arnesse, where the Vermilion Road meets the Aurean Road. His wife, Lady Jocelyn, was born a Bannon and took command of the court the day she arrived.

House Corveaux of Suthwater

Lady Jeanne Corveaux has ruled Orgonne, the City of the Sea, for fifteen years. Her knights and sailors guard the port against raids from the sea.

House Perryn of Avalen

The Perryn breed some of the finest warhorses in Arnesse and accuse House Marston of stealing them. The Ordo Erdani began as an order of courier knights, and its members are largely freemen who proved themselves.

House Valewood of Lionguard

Lady Alexandrine Valewood leads the Order of the Lion from one of the oldest keeps in the protectorate, behind the four coastal towers called the Lion's Paw.

House Falconer of the Aviary

Lord Renaud Falconer's white keep winds up the north face of Gryphon's Peak. His knights of the Order of the Gryphon hold honor above loyalty to any lord.

House Penrose of Esslyn

The Order of Mercy tends the wounded on the battlefield and has leave from the Apotheca to make its own poultices and potions. The house also holds the Keep of Ninewells, where pilgrims search for a hidden ninth well said to restore life.

House Urqhart of Stag's Leap

The Knights of the Black Watch began by burning lines through the plains grass, so that fleeing serfs had nowhere to hide. They remain unpopular, and they are known as exceptional hunters.