House Wardmane

"Our song rings clear"
The banner of House Wardmane is the famous red lion who plays the Bard's harp. A sigil that invokes honor, commanding all who serve the Thorned Crown. The watchful lion is a welcome sight to the people of Vhurvia, a tried and tested symbol of leadership that has not failed for more than five centuries. Through drought and war, parade and wedding, everyone from Hail's Peak to Grangeport holds the Wardmane historic melody dear, a tune to harmonize through the ages.
Our ancestral home is Ghreatwall, a steadfast keep in the eastern Vinlands, a castle overseeing the Salt Sea coastline. Centuries ago, House Wardmane served the Crown well as loyal bannermen and powerful allies. With the King who bears the name Sanders on the throne and the Wardmane advisors, the Lazanth Kingdom had never seen more peaceful times. Such was the way and so did the years pass. The times brought selfish monarchs, dimwitted rulers, but what everyone feared was a ruler who did not listen to neither the wisdom of their advisors, nor the reason of the gods. Thus, came along King Luther Sander, first of his name.
History has mainly focused on his final deed, but our blood remembers his rule well. Luther was a cruel king, unmatched. Few rulers in history have been so stubborn. During his reign, the treasury ran dry, the Vinlands flooded and all of his wives miscarried. An heirless, coinless king with a single bastard child and an unquenched thirst for blood on his sword. The omens were apparent. One fateful year, King Luther decided to take arms against the vile peoples of the west, the Ereen. My ancestor, Alfred I, advised the king against his stupid endeavor in one final act of service. However, the wheels of history had already begun turning.
Every Lazanth child knew that this would be the kingdom's last war. Luther gathered an army of thirty thousand men, excluding the large Wardmane forces which counted ten to twelve thousand. Our armies were tasked with the suppression of the many small rebellions ignited by the Crown's unwise decision. The king marched east and plundered the Holtlands, just as the peasants took arms and plundered the countryside. Though the Lazanth host had been somewhat worn down, the men were ready to march into Enkh against the Elk Kings. That is, until Luther abdicated. No one knows what happened that day for certain, but be sure that Alfred Wardmane had the end of the Sander dynasty in sight.
House Wardmane raised banners against the pretender Duncan Sander and the bastard child, Jonathan, in the capital. A general commanding a weary army, a bastard with a dozen power-hungry Librarians in Farebrick Sow, and a prowling red lion in the fields. The Lazanth War of Succession had begun. The harped lion met the white rose in battle and devastated the young general. What little was left of the conqueror army was abruptly scattered across the Vinlands with no hope of hasty recovery. The Wardmane army marched through the Bardholt to meet the Bear Lord Clefford, then immediately marched east to the Finger to face House Rower. Both yielded and swore fealty to their new king. Dryfeld was the last region to kneel, doing so by parchment on eagled wings.
The siege of Farebrick Sow did not last long. Loyalist forces surrendered the capital and its would-be bastard ruler. The final blood of House Sander was spilled in the capital, ending the old dynasty and founding the new. Ever since, the Wardmane lion has defended the realm, the Bard's harp has played its melody across time, uniting the Ereen and Lazanths. During the War of the Dawn, the Thorned Crown's vigilance saw to the end of the three starred armies of the east. Our line has always ruled with wisdom, keeping the peace through thick and thin. God forbid our melody stop playing. Who knows what lion's roar would be heard in its absence.

Our song rings clear

Leader

Cicilia Wardmane

Parent Organization

The Thorned Crown

Subsidiary Organizations

• House Sander

Controlled Territories

• The Vinlands