The Iron Kingdoms
The Iron Kingdoms. Order, duty, steel. The keep at Ironhold is older than its lord.
Heavy armor, honor, military structure.
Philosophy
Glory through trial. Order through discipline. Loyalty through oath.
The Long Story
The Iron Kingdoms are nine duchies bound by oath to the High Banneret of Ironhold. Their roads are good. Their fortresses are old. Their winters are recorded with the exactness of a man who has lost a brother to a winter and intends to never lose another. A knight of the Iron Kingdoms is sworn before they are skilled, and trained at the cost of the realm rather than the household. The realm expects, in return, that the knight will die well rather than negotiate badly. Most knights have not had to test the expectation. The ones who have do not speak of it at dinner.
History
Founded in the long winter of 612 by the seven sworn captains of the First Banneret, the Iron Kingdoms have been continuously administered for four hundred and twelve years. Three civil wars, one peasant rising, two famines. No dragon has burned the capital in living memory. Old Pell wrote that this is a kind of victory and a kind of curse: a realm that has not had to learn dragons becomes a realm that does not know dragons. The current Banneret, Edrun, is twenty-seven years old and has read every word.
How They Fight
Heavy cavalry on level ground; massed pike and longbow in the passes; field-camps engineered to last a season. The Iron Kingdoms do not raid. They march. They arrive. They stay until the work is done. They write letters home on the way.
How They Live
Honor is the household currency. Oath-breaking carries a heavier social cost than violence. Cooking is regional and quiet; the same family of mutton stews has been served at Ironhold for nine generations and nobody has tried to improve it. Music is choral. Funerals are long. Weddings are shorter than funerals on purpose.
Known Figures
Banneret Edrun III
Current high lord
Twenty-seven. Has read every word of every chronicle. Has not yet lost a battle, which his advisors find more worrying than reassuring.
Master Brenhold
Forgemaster, Hearthhold
Seventh of his line to wear the title at the Iron Veil Armory. Will tell you if a piece is wrong for you.
Sergeant Bren
Tavern regular, retired
Out of uniform now. Drinks small whiskey. Refuses to talk to the man at the next table for reasons he will not explain.
Bonuses
- ++2 Defense
- ++1 Leadership
- +Trusted by lawful NPCs
Weaknesses
- –-1 Charisma in cosmopolitan cities
- –Slow to gain trust from outlaws and dragons
Starting Reputation: Honored
Likely beginnings: Ironhold · Hearthhold · Westmarch · Three Fords