The great houses of Aldoria

Locked Aldoria was founded by five great houses when the first Kaelen Empire collapsed: Aldor, Thessaly, Ardent, Corvane and Morrow. (R-007)

House	Motto	Seat	Wealth	Levies (before the war)
Aldor	The Crown and the Light	The palace, Solis	The Crown	about 80 Shield-Guard
Thessaly	We are the bread	The northern plains	Grain	about 2,000
Ardent	First to the wall	The Southern Hills	Timber, wool, old land	about 800
Corvane	We keep what is given	Merchants' Hill, Solis	Banking	Mercenaries, as money allows
Morrow	The river remembers	The River Provinces	River trade, declining	about 300

House Aldor, the royal line

Full page: House Aldor.

The house that gave the kingdom its name. Its people are brunette, a family trait (R-018). It has held the throne for centuries, but the line grew thin: one child and no cadet branches of note. Queen Lyra is the last of House Aldor.

The commonwealth endgame means ending the one house the realm is named for.

Family tree

See the House Aldor family tree.

How to read it: ⚭ marks a married couple, a solid arrow runs from parents to child, a dotted arrow skips generations or marks what hasn't happened yet, and a dashed box marks a generation that has passed.

Fact	Status
King Aldor IV had one child, Lyra, and the line has no cadet branches of note	Locked
Lyra rules in her own right, married to Tristen. They have no child at the start of Campaign Three	Locked
The line has held the throne for centuries, since the founding of Aldoria	Locked
Aldor IV is "the Fourth", so at least three earlier kings took the name Aldor. The founder was the first	Locked (R-019)
Lyra's mother is Queen Isolde, who died when Lyra was a child	Locked (R-019)
The Aldor line is brunette	Locked (R-018)
Earlier kings' names, distant cousins, and any claimants who could appear if Lyra dies childless	Open

Why a thin line matters at the table

With no heir and no cousins, Lyra's death would end the dynasty outright, the way the Tudors ended with Elizabeth I. Every faction that wants her dead also wants to be the one who decides what comes next. If a distant Aldor claimant ever turns up, that's a ready-made plot.

House Thessaly

Full page: House Thessaly.

Old northern money, grey stone and iron wheat-sheaves instead of gilt. Patient, practical and very hard to fool. Thessaly has fed the capital for generations, and its loyalty has always gone to whoever keeps the grain trade fair. The Duchess (about 70 in Campaign One) has outlived three kings' worth of courtiers and trusts arithmetic over sentiment. Her fear was cheap Kaelen grain through an open Hollowpass, or Church tithes that would ruin her.

Now: fate unknown.

House Ardent

Full page: House Ardent.

A founding house whose original lands lay in the Marches. The family moved west to the Southern Hills a few generations ago and never lost the accent. Blunt, proud and fond of a fight. Ardent sons have fought in every border war. The house resents Church taxes and the capital's habit of forgetting the frontier. It's respected, but not rich in coin.

Now: fate unknown. In Campaign Two, Kaelen money ran a false toll through Ardent lands at Kestrel Gap to set the lords against each other. Steward Venn and "the Collector" were taken.

House Corvane

Full page: House Corvane.

A minor founding house, half-forgotten for centuries until banking made it great. Bankers rather than landlords, their fortune rests on discretion: they lend to great men and hold the documents great men want kept safe. Two Corvane sons served in the Order. The house rose to greatness by financing the Crown in the last war, about 20 years before Campaign One, and has been the Church's banker since. It held the third copy of the secret accord as surety. The Tide City banks undercut its loans to the Crown, and Corvane resents them for it.

In Campaign One, Solaris planned to wed Lyra to the heir, Sir Cassian, and then publicly abandoned him. Cassian went into hiding.

Now: kept in line by fear. They serve whoever holds power.

House Morrow

Full page: House Morrow.

The great trading house. Its head traditionally holds the office of Trade Prince, master of the river trade and the realm's voice in commerce with foreign powers. The last Trade Prince pushed for an alliance with Kaelen that bypassed the Church, and he was murdered for it. The house declined, was framed, was restored, and fought at Hollowpass.

Now: Edric Morrow runs the river trade under imperial licence and is despised as a collaborator. See Edric Morrow, which includes DM-only material.

Through the years

Five houses found a kingdom (58 BP)

Sources

• The Aldorian Codex, "The great houses"
• Kaelen Codex, §0
• Rulings R-007
• Campaign Three handoff, §5 and §6
• The Aldorian Codex: Lands Beyond, "State of Meridia"