An investigation by the IMPERIAL INQUISITION into the death of Valliard Willy Horen has borne its grim fruit. The blame falls upon one man by our finding: Sir Merle Altwegg. Avistra has given these men shelter, and in doing so has made their crime its own. The second is theft of land. Avistra has pushed its borders onto ground that belongs to Valmont by right, and has done so knowing full well whose soil it crossed. And in settlement of the grievance, render unto us twenty thousand minas.

We are aware that thirty thousand stands owed to Hartwell; we will take twenty in full settlement and count the matter closed. Meet these terms, or meet us in arms.

Let Avistra answer for the murder it harbors and the ground it has stolen. The Blackwyrm Company marches for blood. 

For House Valmont. For the Blackwyrm Company. For Willy Horen.

from the hand of the Valliard, signed by…

P E R  F I D E M  I M P E R I I

HIS LORDSHIP, Antonius Lucien of the House Helane,

Knight Captain of the Imperial Order of the Red Dragon.

P E R  F I D E M  I M P E R I I

HIS LORDSHIP, Jerry Augustas of the House Helane,

Master of Coin.

P E R  F I D E M  I M P E R I I

HIS LORDSHIP, Trajan Godfrey of the House Helane,

Count of Orval.

P E R  F I D E M  I M P E R I I

HIS GRACE, Remus Aurelius of the House Helane, by the Grace of GOD, 

Duke of Valmont, Knight Captain of the Imperial Order of the Red Dragon, 

Patriarch of House Helane, Lord Commander of the Blackwyrm Company, Warden of the South.

P E R  F I D E M  I M P E R I I

HIS LORDSHIP, Constantine Persus of the House Helane,

Baron of Adelhil, Heir-apparent of House Helane.

☀︎ “Intiwan killawan rikuchisqa munay.” ☀︎ 

☀︎ H A R K !

𝕭eneath the watch of sun and moon alike, Aurelian Astrid, daughter of Adrian Caspian Greye, comes forth to the meeting sands. There, upon the shores where gold and silver bleed together above the crashing tide, she shall stand beside Kusi Amaru, son of Tupaq Amaru Leomonte. What was sworn in ages now calls them together at-last, a bond promised and held stalwart before any tribulation.

Let all who bear witness come, let the sea winds carry mirth and joy! 

☀︎ C E R E M O N Y

T O U R N E Y 

As the two brilliant souls are bound to the earth itself, so too are they bound by martial law and ancestral prowess. Upon the sands there shall be a grand T O U R N E Y of grappling, where strength, honour and bloodline shall contend! And after, there shall be a private bout – the warriors of the Tawantinsuyin against the noble House Greye.

N U P I T A L S

The blessed nuptials shall ensue before the watchful gazes of their families and friends alike, and the ceremony will be overseen by Ser Corswain, followed by the exchanging of sacred vows and promises of eternal fidelity, companionship, and love. All in attendance are welcome to offer the couple their well-wishes at the conclusion of the sacred ceremony. 

D A N C E 

Following the nuptials, a jubilant celebration of dance and revelry will occur thereafter. Guests will partake in traditional dances that hold deep significance to the newlywedded couple. Attendees shall make merry in the company of the bride and groom, promising a night of mirth and enchantment that will be remembered most fondly in the years to come.

☀︎ A L L   A R E   I N V I T E D ☀︎

☀︎ S P E C I F I C   I N V I T A T I O N S

Their Imperial Majesties;

 Marcus I and Valentina of Asturias, Emperor and Empress of Azuras, and their Peerage

Their Royal Majesties

Tar-Pharazôn and Tari-Ashael, High King and Queen of Idunia, and their Peerage

Haraldr av Edvardsson Ruric and Anastazie, King of Norland, and his Peerage

☀︎ P E R S O N A L

His Holiness Caius II,

Lady Pomponia,

Lady Koda,

Lady Andromede,

Lady Neasa,

Lady Eirene,

Lord James,

Dame Manon,

Dame Noiye,

Ser Erwin,

Ser Cesari,

Ser Soren,

Ser Leoni, 

Ser Janos,

Ser Marton,

Miss Altheria,

Miss Amalia,

Mister Cassian,

Miss Daiyu,

Mister Bojangles,

Mister James Vursur,

Mister Angelo.

KALLPASAPUKUNALLA,

KUSI AMARU LEOMONTE,

Apu kay Qurikancha, Kondorisi kay Manko-Capaq.

 AURELIAN QILLA RUNALEI GREYE,

Steward of Ederica and the Greye Warden of Trade.

The role of a conqueror and the role of a ruler are distinct and parallel. A conqueror ought to be steadfast and decisive, while the ruler must be wise to the duplicity of his counsel and choose his path accordingly to his own ambitions. At the crux of both lies ambition; a pure unbridled ambition must consume the good conqueror, and must consume the good ruler. Transitioning a lust for honor and glory in blood into a lust for prosperity and greatness in governance is a task many have found impossible. After all, even HIM Tiberias, despite his decades of steady rule, found it best fitting to abdicate to Hadrian; even HIM Hadrian, Lord keep his soul, found it best to hand the reins to his son after him than manage the continent he had brought to heel. 

Once, it was Leofric, a name he picked up to hide his true name and lineage. Once, it was Leofric, a sellsword and veteran of a defeated side in the Saint Lucien’s War who found his mettle alongside the lofty ambitions of Roger de Rouen. Once, it was Leofric who fell in love with the pandemonium of combat, of the scent of ozone neath a visored sallet with the clash and brim of steel on plate. Once, it was Leofric who gave his blood for Roger, and then it was Leofric who gave his blood for Tiberias, and then for Hadrian, and finally for Marcus. He gave his blood, and it was Hadrian who gave his blood back, that same blood that joined ruler and conqueror, that joined prophet and king at the stem of the brain, at the center of consciousness: the blood of Horen, the blood of Helane.

To be entered into the Court of the Dragon was to reconcile the life of war-strife bedlam with the peace his successes, and the successes of the colossi he stood on, with the peace it had ushered in, that Pax Tiberias. Many men had given blood, but few had given sweat like Antonius, and in the salt and brine and ash and smoke and blood and fire and blade and horse, he gave way to Helane, and Helane gave way to Valmont, and Valmont gave way to a son. 

Once, it was Horen Helane, who grew motherless and denied the chaos his blood oh-so-desired. Once, it was Horen Helane, who shot out at brother, and at sister, and at father, and at the stranger, who cried orders in the entitlement borne of the velvet and ermine that every noble was pampered from. Once, it was Horen Helane who barked a crossbow to be aimed at a princess, of his own blood, and it was Horen Helane who lost the name his father had earned him; all the ire and mettle and storm and metal of his father had no path through the olive-branch woven thistles of peace, and so for him it must have burned.

Once it was Horen, who slept on stacks of hay, and who ate only bread, and drank only ale, for clean water was a luxury for the rich that an acolyte had no place consuming. Once it was Horen, who had his boyish ambitions of power so curbed by devotion to his vocation. Once it was Horen, who sat at the Isthmus of Kramoroe, and who bathed in the waters of Gramesh, but now it was Horen the boy, Horen the Monk, who sat and festered until that dragonsflame in him had no more straw to consume save that stuffed in his pillow. Once, it was Horen, who was denied what he saw his right not in birth, but in merit and dedication; it was Horen who would never see the cloth.

Once it was Remus, and once it was Antonius, and where one grew eager, the other grew bored. Once there was a monk, and once there was a knight, and neither could be either as the dawn of peace faded into twilight.

AVE, DUX NOSTER

HIS GRACE,

REMUS AURELIUS HELANE

by the Grace of GOD, 

2nd Duke Valmont

Patriarch of House Helane

Lord Commander of the Blackwyrm Company.

“In uncertain times, wisdom is a treasure no less valuable than gold.”

Georgius Vilac

By decree and blessing of House Helane, these words are carried forth unto all practitioners of the alchemical arts.

Already do our halls shelter two esteemed alchemists and their pupils, whose works have brought wisdom and prosperity unto our lands. Yet the Duchy of Valmont seeks to further cultivate such knowledge and thus extends its hand openly to any alchemist wishing to reside within our duchy.

House Helane also offers education for those who wish to receive it on the basic arts of alchemy, the construction of automatons, and smoggers.

Those who answer this invitation shall be granted:

• Free housing and residence within Valmont’s lands
  • For instructors a stipend will be provided saint weekly as support for teaching a pupil of the Duchy.
• Protection under House Helane and the Duchy of Valmont
• Opportunity to study alongside fellow practitioners and their students
• A welcoming court wherein learning and discovery are encouraged

Those interested are encouraged to send word unto House Helane or present themselves within the Duchy of Valmont.

P E R  F I D E M  I M P E R I I

HIS GRACE, Antonius of the House Helane, by the Grace of GOD, 

Duke of Valmont, Knight Captain of the Order of the Red Dragon, Warden of the South, 

Patriarch of House Helane, Lord Commander of the Blackwyrm Company.

OCTAVIAN CAECILIUS HELANE
( @kaydo808 )

“Saint Julia, wife of Exalted Horen and Mother of Mankind, pray for the child whom God has granted me. Grant a life long in service unto you, and may it truly fulfill him. I pray you keep me as well, keep me strong and wise to defend my child from the dark of this world riddled with evil. Wash us both in your virtues and lead us to a pious life, seeking salvation through you.”

With great thanksgiving unto God the Almighty, the Household of the Count and Countess of Orval doth seek to have it be known within all regions of our fair Imperium that a noble babe of legitimate stock hath been born. Upon the twelfth day of Sun's Smile, in the year of our Lord, six hundred and fifty-three, Her Ladyship, Countess Berengaria, safely delivered a strong and healthy son, born unto the House of Helane - assisted by a collection of physicians and midwives. Already, the child resembles his noble parentage and holds great likeness to his Lord Father.

The babe came within its expected hours with the company of thunderous cries echoing through the halls of Castle Chalons. It is duly noted that young Lord Octavian Caecilius was received with great joy and celebration as the noble pair’s prayers were answered. Thus, he was baptized in this very hour by the Reverend Mother Ildegardaia, who too shared the couple's joyous mood.
 

THUS, HE SHALL BE KNOWN AS;

His Lordship,

O C T A V I A N   O F   O R V A L 

 Signed,

The Right Honorable, His Lordship, Trajan Godfrey Helane,
Count of Orval

The Right Honorable, Her Ladyship, Berengaria Giuliana di Rosavena e Helane,
Countess-consort of Orval
Second Burgher of Alba

 The Duchess Valmont holding her inaugural court in Chalons.

Hearken! The Stoneborn have fallen, and the flock of Man has taken to their lands and settled in a display of Horenic pride. Let it be known that all subjects, old and new of the Lord Helane are called to the seat of the Blackwyrm in Chalons in an audience to voice their concerns, bare witness to a new epoch of lordship of south by its warden, ANTONIVS LVCIEN, and his trueborn son by the grace of God, REMVS AVRELIVS.

Petitioners are invited to provide tribute, show submission, and make their voices heard for the good of the commonwealth of Valmont and the duchy, where the Duke and his esteemed household will hear any and all who make themselves known. The court is to be headed at [WEDNESDAY 3PM EST] by:

LORD REMUS AURELIUS HELANE

‘The Whitewyrm’

2050-XXXX

Count of Chalons, Baron of Adelhil, Lord-Protector of Valmont

Baseborn son of ANTONIVS HELANE

The second session of the Amaranthine Court will be held to welcome newly sworn, leal vassals of the Duke Valmont and his noble son, the right honorable Remus Aurelius. Any petitioners in the citizenry wishing to raise matters regarding the commonwealth of the realm, or the communauté, may bring their issues to the regnant lord and his heir.

This session will mark the inaugural events of the celebrations of the Pertinaxi union between Her Imperial Highness, Pontia Vesta Horen, with the Right Honorable Remus Aurelius Helane. Festivities will commence with the opening of the Bloodpit in Chalons, headed by the Right Honorable Trajan Godfrey Helane, and then be followed by a hunt in the temperate plains of Valmont.

Warriors and hunters of great renown are invited to test their mettle against one another, and against the grandest creation of God, those beasts borne of nature.

✢ 1. AUDIENCES WITH HIS GRACE, THE DUKE VALMONT AND HIS HOUSEHOLD

✢ 2. RECEPTION OF GENTRY AND VISITING NOBLE PEDIGREES

✢ 3. INAUGURAL BLOODLETTING IN THE PIT

✢ 4. HUNTING OF BEASTS

from the hand of Remus Aurelius Helane, signed by…

P E R  F I D E M  I M P E R I I

HIS GRACE, Antonius Lucien of the House Helane, by the Grace of GOD, 

Duke of Valmont, Knight Captain of the Imperial Order of the Red Dragon, 

Patriarch of House Helane, Lord Commander of the Blackwyrm Company.

HIS LORDSHIP, Remus Aurelius of the House Helane, by the Grace of GOD,

Count of Chalons, Baron of Adelhil, Heir-Apparent to the House Helane, Minister of the Consistory of the Three Troubadours.

To the People of the Empire,

Hail, I invite you to ride forth for Castle Chalons on this day, join us where savagery and celebration are joined together for one occasion of unrelenting fun. There, within our ring, all four races are casted into the darkened pit beneath our home to contend in combat, each round lasting only until one victor remains standing.

Should you think yourself capable then come and take place among the gathered warriors, drink deep with the endless amounts of wine and set your bets upon the warrior you deem most worthy. Fortune smiles upon the daring of course, and in every fight lies the promise of gain or even the sting of loss. There is no greater entertainment that gets the heart beating nor sharpens the senses, for in the Bloodpit, every moment teeters on the edge of Death.

Come, then. The Bloodpit of Chalon calls for you.

TO SIGN UP!

from the hand of Trajan Godfrey Helane, signed by…

P E R  F I D E M  I M P E R I I

HIS LORDSHIP, Trajan Godfrey of the House Helane, by the Grace of GOD, 

Count of Orval, Comite of the Blackwyrm Company.

“White cliffs blaze where forgotten gods were torn, Golden fields roll like banners newly born, Tawantinsuyin brood between sky and savage sea, And only steel and storm decide what men shall be.” – ʟᴀɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ɢᴏʟᴅ


HARK, in the ruins of the dwarf lands and the Cerulian territories, Panaka Leomonte and the Tawantinsuyin company have established their homes along the shores. Under the authority of Lord Helane, whom they serve with discipline and strength, the men of Tawantinsuyu have secured a village to call home.

It is temporary, yet it endures–a blazing hearth where we may feast, where we may fight, and where we may find refuge amidst shadow and calamity. Let our people prosper in strength and harmony, and may long health be granted in honour of Apu Tupaq Amaru!

 Two chevaliers of the Order of the Blackwyrm in the highlands north of Tochtenwald.

The granting of charters for knightly levies among the men of the Order of the Black Dragon, along with the joint responsibility of heading the Inquisition, serving as Knight-Captain, and Lord Commander of the Blackwyrm Company has so actuated the right honorable Sir Antonius Lucien Helane to elevate that company of serviceable and warhardied men in which he spent his youth and led to conflict in Saint Lucien’s War, outwith of which they emerged a regiment duressed and veteraned, to a knightly sovereign order swearing fealty to the Lord of Valmont, and the Patriarch of the House of Helane. So let it be known, that the Blackwyrm Company and all within holding the rank of Lieutenant are raised as men of the gentry of Valmont, to be recognised as knightly men throughout the Imperium.

So has his son and heir, his lordship Horen Remus Helane, endeavoured to capture the essence of the knightly warband that surrounds his father, those glimmering amaranthine knights that returned to the Emperor his long lost son, and purged the Kingsroad of the impious.

The ✢ C O M I T A T U S is the central organisational unit that the Order of the Blackwyrm is built upon, led by a warrior of renown and comprised of comites sworn in fealty to their leader. Derived from the mercenary contingents that made up the Blackwyrm Company through a structure of lesser leaders all sworn in fealty to a greater goal, and their warriors beneath them, the Lord Commander of the Order of the Blackwyrm commands loyalty above all else in a code of honor internalised within the order.

Very often are mercenaries shamed with accusations of dishonor, and for men of the Blackwyrm, this oft came through the nature of their honor: one reserved for each other, by each other. Induction into a comitatus is a matter of immense import, as it levies onto not only the newly inducted, but any withstanding comites, to treat all fellow comites with as little animosity as they would their own blood. This exclusivity of showing honor was historically interpreted as a lack thereof, but be not led astray, o’ reader.

As a Valliard order, so too are the Valliard tenets of faihita and the troupe preserved. The gentry of Valmont are expected to be the superior in all ways to the common levy; in education, in martial prowess, in speechcraft, and most importantly in diligence and industry. Although gentry is inherited, the status of comite, often substituted by the Norn thegn or Old Godwinite thane, is one that every man takes as an individual to ensure only the pinnacle of the Ròsencs, or Rhônemen, are ever allowed to don the armor the Blackwyrm once did.

Outside of the comitatus, the Order of the Blackwyrm serves as the standard knightly levy of the House of Helane and its lord, with the comites serving as senior officers above their lieutenants (trans. ‘in the place of’ the gesith), serjeants-at-arms, men-at-arms and recruits, with all the junior structures of the Blackwyrm Company preserved thereunder to operate as the personal banners of the patriarch, and his comites.

As a successor order to the Blackwyrm Company, the Order of the Blackwyrm inherits the hierarchy of that company in its junior officerial and enlisted roles. All sworn into the company shall and will serve within the bounds of its established ranks. Each rank carries its own duties, privileges, and obligations. No man or woman may claim a rank beyond that which is granted by the Commander. Advancement is earned through service, adherence to Company law, and the proven ability to bear arms in the Blackwyrm name. Any deviation from the recognized hierarchy shall be deemed a breach of discipline and punished accordingly.

LORD COMMANDER

The supreme authority of the Order of the Blackwyrm, embodying the values of the comitatus from which they were appointed, and entrusted with overall command, diplomacy, and the execution of the will of the Patriarch of the House of Helane. In matters regarding the Order, their will is absolute; they are loyalty, and the Order, incarnate.

COMITE

A comite is a living extension of the regnant Lord Helane, and it is in their ranks he seeks counsel; they are a limb to act without question, sharing impulses and instincts with their seigneur. Beyond the responsibility of a retainer, a comite is privileged to know the lord as his companion and friend, and entrusted with the execution of his will as a gent d’arme of Valliard and Imperial gentry.

LIEUTENANT

The most trusted enlisted members of the Order, the lieutenant acts in the stead of the comites to lead and direct junior members of the Order. They are trained to discipline and corral the knightly levies of the order, granted the responsibility of punishment and promotion among the unknighted members of the Order.

MAN-AT-ARMS

The backbone of the Order; they are trained soldiers who form its fighting core, executing given orders, maneuvers and holding the line in battle. From this point on they are recognised as full-fledged members of a knightly levy beneath the Order of the Blackwyrm, granted its protections, and may be raised to squire a knight.

RECRUIT

The first step into the Order, reserved for those newly sworn but yet to be proven. Recruits are placed under the close watch of Officers and Footmen, drilled in the Order’s methods, and tested in discipline along with skill. A recruit cannot progress until they have served in one engagement alongside the Order.

 

The foundation of this host is the Codex Draconis, inscribed in the hand of its first Lord Commander, Camilius Horen, who bore in mind the core tenets which made the Renatian Legion the most feared host known to the realms of Man. This codex, therefore, is not just mere parchment and ink, but rather the beating heart and soul of the Order of the Blackwyrm. Every man who dons the black is sworn to its articles, and it is through these tenets that order is kept, and strength maintained. The Lord Commander may speak above it, but none may ignore it.

ARTICLE I | OF JOINING THE HOST

To bear the arms of the Blackwyrm, each man aspirant of such a charge must pledge loyalty to the Order and the House of Helane above all other princes, lords, or kin. When he has proven his fidelity to the Order in his first battle, his name is inscribed in the Black Book, as kept and maintained by the Lord Commander, thereby marking him an official brother-in-arms. Until such a time comes, the unproven shall serve a season as recruits; only when they have endured battle beside their brothers may they don the full black raiment of the Company, and stand a full-fledged member to be protected and loved by his brothers.

ARTICLE II | OF OATH 

Each soldier of the Blackwyrm shall swear upon steel and fire to uphold the Order’s, and its ordermen’s, honor, to obey the word of the Lord Commander, and to guard his brothers-in-arm as though they were those of blood. Betrayal of this oath is the gravest sin, punishable by the cord, by quartering, or the stake.

ARTICLE III | OF RANK AND AUTHORITY

Upon induction, each man of the Order shall bind himself to the ranks as set forth in this charter. To spurn the chain of command, or to assume a station or the responsibilities thereof not granted, will be taken as an affront to the Codex Draconis, and will be grounds for dismissal.

ARTICLE IV | OF SERVICE AND OBLIGATION

The Order of the Blackwyrm marches its blade wherever the Lord Helane sees fit. So too is every man expected to march, fight, and labor where ordered, whether upon wall, field, or road. The host shall provide provision of its own, and none may desert in time of need. As such, no man may forsake his charge or desert his station. Service continues until death, or until released by the Lord Commander.

ARTICLE V | OF LAW AND JUSTICE

The Codex Draconis is the law of the Order, to guide its operatives in the ordering of the host and its greater maintenance. As such, all are bound beneath it. Matters not expressly spoken of in the Codex, being of lesser scale, are left to the discretion of the Lord Commander and the comitatus, who shall serve as arbiter of the Order’s justice. Disputes shall be heard in proper by the Lord Commander, and no man may take vengeance into his own hand. The word of judgement, once given, is final, and all are bound to abide by it. A slight against one man of the Order, in turn, is a slight against the Order as a whole, to be taken up as faihitha.

ARTICLE VI | OF WARFARE AND SPOILS

When the Order takes the field, each man shall fight in accordance with the Lord Commander’s orders, or that of his officers. None shall break formation save on command. Upon the conclusion of a battle, the spoils of war are gathered, and divided according to rank and merit: firstly to the Order’s  coffers, thereafter to his officers, then lastly to the men. Plunder taken unlawfully or hidden brands a man a thief or oathbreaker. Sacred relics and standards shall be delivered whole to the Lord Commander. 

ARTICLE VII | OF THE RAISING OF LEVIES

All comites of the order will be granted the privilege of raising their own household as members of the Imperial and Valliard gentry, who may display their own coats of arms but must still adhere to the wider Codex Draconis, its chain of command, and heed the word of the comitatus and the Lord Commander as subunits, rather than an external host, of the host as a whole.

ARTICLE VIII | OF UNIFORMS

When rallied, patrolling, guarding a member of the House of Helane, or otherwise called by the Order, any man of the Order must wear the uniform befitting his rank and station to maintain a state of readiness for any and all orders delivered unto him. A man out of uniform will be exempted from the privileges, though not the obligations, of the Codex Draconis, and forfeits his right to reward or recompense.

ARTICLE IX | OF DISMISSAL

At any time, a man may be dismissed from the Order by word of the Lord Commander, whether for cowardice, treachery, or breach of the Codex Draconis. Such men are struck from the Black Book, their share of coin forfeit. Further they are stripped of their right to wear black, save by pardon of the Lord Commander himself. Should a man seek voluntary dismissal, however dishonourable, he is allowed the right to seek audience with the Lord Commander to petition such. 

Let this codex stand as law and shield to all who bear the arms of the Blackwyrm. In honor, in duty, in iron, we are bound.

Day-to-day life and standard operations of a knight of the Order of the Blackwyrm differ greatly from the knights of yore, and perhaps, knights at all. They are extensions, but they are individuals; they are retainers, but they are poets; they speak the word of their lord, but they manage their own host in turn. To be a peer of the realm is to be a peer of the Lord Helane, and a counsel unknowing of the toils of rulership, and leadership, is no counsel at all for a duke.

✢ M A R T I A L  S E R V I C E - A Knight of the Blackwyrm is to join and engage in campaigns, battles, and expeditions at the command of their kinsman the Lord Helane. They are to raise and provide levymen, maintaining formation, discipline, and readiness among their ranks and the ranks of the Blackwyrm at any and all times.

✢ P A T R O L - A Knight of the Blackwyrm is to secure the Kingsroad and the lands of the duchy to protect the commonwealth of Valmont, to conduct patrols, guard the holdings and interests of the Lord Helane, the roads leading therein, protect nobles, emissaries, and persons deemed of importance by their liege.

✢ D R I L L I N G - A Knight of the Blackwyrm is to ensure that the men of Valmont, and especially the Order, are maintained in a state of martial excellence through regular training in arms, of the ancient art of combat and the modern arts; through horsemanship and chevalrie to uphold treatment of their steeds; through aptitude in formation fighting and leadership capability; and upholding discipline both in and out of combat as extensions of their lord.

✢ C A M R A D E R I E - A Knight of the Blackwyrm is to participate in councils, feasts, giftgivings, ceremonies and gatherings of the order; they are to maintain unity among the comites and their individual comitati and foster the bond of faihitha within the brotherhood.

✢ Q U A R T E R M A S T E R Y - A Knight of the Blackwyrm is to keep the condition of their arms, armor, mounts, and equipment; they must be industrious and ensure the capacity of the Order of the Blackwyrm to fit and equip its men; they must provide labour and resource to the Order and remain prepared to answer any call to muster.

THE ORDER OF THE BLACKWYRM

from the hand of Horen Remus Helane, signed by…

P E R  F I D E M  I M P E R I I

HIS GRACE, Antonius Lucien of the House Helane, by the Grace of GOD, 

Duke of Valmont, Knight Captain of the Imperial Order of the Red Dragon, Patriarch of House Helane, 

Lord Commander of the Order of the Blackwyrm.

HIS LORDSHIP, Horen Remus of the House Helane, by the Grace of GOD,

Count of Chalons, Baron of Adelhil, Heir-Apparent to the House Helane, Minister of the Consistory of the Three Troubadours.

 The Duchess of Valmont holding her inaugural court in Chalons.

Hearken! The Stoneborn have fallen, and the flock of Man has taken to their lands and settled in a display of Horenic pride. Let it be known that all subjects, old and new of the Lord Helane are called to the seat of the Blackwyrm in Chalons in an audience to voice their concerns, bare witness to a new epoch of lordship of south by its warden, ANTONIVS LVCIEN, and his trueborn son by the grace of God, HOREN REMVS.

Petitioners are invited to provide tribute, show submission, and make their voices heard for the good of the commonwealth of Valmont and the duchy, where the Duke and his esteemed household will hear any and all who make themselves known. The court is to be headed at [FRIDAY 5PM EST] by:

LORD HOREN REMUS HELANE

‘The Whitewyrm’

2050-XXXX

Count of Chalons, Baron of Adelhil, Lord-Protector of Valmont

Baseborn son of ANTONIVS HELANE

✢ 1. AUDIENCES WITH HIS GRACE, THE DUKE VALMONT AND HIS HOUSEHOLD

✢ 2. RECEPTION OF GENTRY AND VISITING NOBLE PEDIGREES

✢ 3. KNIGHTING AND OATHING OF THE INAUGURAL COMITES

✢ 4. INAUGURAL BLOODLETTING IN THE PIT.

from the hand of Horen Remus Helane, signed by…

P E R  F I D E M  I M P E R I I

HIS GRACE, Antonius Lucien of the House Helane, by the Grace of GOD, 

Duke of Valmont, Knight Captain of the Imperial Order of the Red Dragon, 

Patriarch of House Helane, Lord Commander of the Blackwyrm Company.

HIS LORDSHIP, Horen Remus of the House Helane, by the Grace of GOD,

Count of Chalons, Baron of Adelhil, Heir-Apparent to the House Helane, Minister of the Consistory of the Three Troubadours.

 The north face of Fort Adelhil.

With the ever growing need in the Imperium for land to be settled, the pioneers of the Heartlands have been faced with a thicket of beast and brush to their north. Long known, and long unsettleable, the Emperor Tiberias first chartered the formation of the Administratum Trostinum, and set about the Legio II ‘Vander’ to clear the lands upstream from Rittersburg of the Metzlite menace under the watchful eye of the Legate Aetius, employing Foederati and penal legionaries en masse. Their initial successes have warranted the necessity of a keep defending the pass over the river Rhône (H. Imp. Rhodanus) to protect the gains into the marches so far, and Daemonic incursions into the Heartlands.

The valiant and leal service of the Lord Antonius Helane has earned him the recognition of his Dragonsblood, and the entrusting, with great importance, of defense of this new frontier. Within a decade of his recognition, was his keep constructed, to stand for eons and to shepherd a wave of great Imperial patriots throughout Azuras and all the Hadrianic Conquests.

This new land is populated by a hardy and soldier-descended people, used to long travels on the road as well as other assorted colonisers from the Heartlands. Composed of a mix of mercenaries of various backgrounds, most recently Savoyard and Santegian, Les Valliards are a most hardy people dotting the banks of the river Rhône, standing as a testament to Horenic determination.

Diverged from Burgundian in the year 2059

✢ W A R R I O R  C A S T E - The Valliards derive their values from many groups as a confluence-born peoples. That being said, their ethos is inextricable from the bellicose and war-ready state that the Blackwyrm Company had imposed upon its constituent armsmen. The main recruitment grounds for the Blackwyrm Company have then had tremendous impact on the eventual makeup of those soldiers’ descendants, and the landed peasantry or house servants dragged along with them. An elite warrior caste dominates any settlement of Valliards, with a strict adherence to a manor lord ideology de facto set in stone through the nature of a mercenary company. The landing of Lord Commander Antonius Helane has carried this tradition into law, ingraining it into the everyday life of a Valliard.

✢ S P I R I T U S  O R E N I S - The House of Helane was born at the split of the House of Horen, though their line originates from Camilius Helane. The exploits of the Blackwyrm and the loyalty of the House of Helane to an emperor, and the very idea of empire, is one mirrored in their gentry and home life. The success of the people Valliard has, traditionally, and continues to be, directly tethered to the success and existence of a united Man. They are a trusting and loyal people to Lord Commander and Imperator, and the loyalty to the former almost always coincides with that to the latter.

✢ P R A C T I C E D  R H E T O R I C - Valliard social life was for eons centered around the campfire, and the cooking pot. Shared evenings are spent in common spaces, and every evening in a free company is shared; the Old Valliard men and soldiers would gather  around boiling stew and fizzing kegs as they were handed out. These gatherings have long fostered a performer’s culture: chroniclers, troubadours, poets, and singers all found their place among the Blackwyrm Company, raising spirits in place of swords. This has long carried forth. The further the Valliard people become distanced from their martial beginnings, the more the social aspects of a soldiering past are solidified and abstracted from their origins. Family chronicles of storied service to the company, victories and triumphs in battle, bloodlines, and cultural heritage are all of extreme importance to the Valliard.

✢ P R A G M A T I S M - The loyalty of the men of the Blackwyrm company, although hard forged and strongly bound, does not originate from respect of titles. The loyalty, initially, of any mercenary, is purely contractual. Much of Valliard life and service revolves around an exchange of services. Loyalty is earned, codified, and inherited across generations. Shunned stories tell of ‘fragging’ in the fledgling days of the company, where the legionnaires pruned themselves of unworthy leadership. Service to the House of Helane, and from the House of Helane, has long legitimised and justified the loyalty of a Valliard to their Lord Commander. The continuity of service of the enlisted to their commanders, and vice versa, is the sole foundation of the contemporary rule of the Wyrmlords in Valmont.

✢ M E R C A N T A L I S M - A storied history of gold and plunder has long rooted itself in the inner entrepreneur of every Valliard. They are not a greedy people, but they are a laborious and corporate one. Upon the company’s arrival onto Azuras, they were quickly put to work by Antonius Helane extracting the resources to prop up the burgeoning Rittersburg and Imperium. Valliards occupy a vast variety of trades, though most orbit around warfare and the logistics surrounding it. With the Pax Orenia, many of these interests were shifted back towards civilian life, transforming the innate industriousness of the Valliards into a corporate machine that sees many men of Helane serve the Imperial Treasury, and fatten the pockets of  their superiors and themselves, contributing greatly towards an outside perception of slyness in any talks of business.

✢ F A I H I T H A - Honor among sellswords is oft the topic of quips and jests, but this derives more from a misunderstanding of a sellsword’s honor, rather than a wholesale lack of honor. To men of the Blackwyrm Company, honor centers around service, insofar as being wronged in the line of service, or inappropriately compensated, is a grave offense. From these quarrels was the term ‘faihitha’ born, a word of  Old Marian origin that encapsulates all matters of feuds and combat; vendetta. Just as service and loyalty is inherited, so too are these vendettas. These held slights on honor, person, or coin, alike in sincerity to the Dwarven Book of Grudges, are tethered to blood and honor, often ending in total obliteration or obsolescence over minor slights, even generations later. This, though bloody, is a sellsword’s honor; to do right to their kin.

✢ D A Y  O F  E X . O W Y N - Traditionally undertaken during the summer solstice, or rather, begun, given the long winded affair of the Path of Owyn, the Day of Ex. Owyn is both a second baptism, festival, and coming of age ritual. Beginning with familial and communal festivities, the Valliards gather around their newly grown adults in one grand huzzah before they are set on their new lives, both spiritually, and physically. Before setting off on any pilgrimage, items of childhood importance - toys, plushies - are cast into a bonfire surrounded by village people carrying torches. Following the bonfire and feast comes a night of singing and feasting, quickly followed by a sobering journey to visit any and all temples to give succor to the needy, pray with the saints, and worship in all the houses of the Lord. Though a dramatic entry into the reality of adulthood, the newly grown are accompanied by their village in the procession, a communal rally of support for their own.

✢  J O C S  F L O R A L - A festival to mark the turning of spring, the Jocs Floral is a hallmark pillar of Valliard cultural traditions, exemplifying and bringing to light the very best of the creative artisanry of their people. Judged by the Consistory of Three Troubadours, composed of the most highly recognised scribes and literati of contemporary literary art. Here, poets, troubadours, and chroniclers - sponsored by families - compete in artistic bouts of verse and rhyme for the glory of their own work, but also of their sponsors. The victors are lauded with flowers and favor, and granted entry to judge the next year’s festival, where the cycle repeats once more. Songs of history, triumphs, and familial victories ring out in the blooming forests by the banks of the Rhône, and all the pieces are preserved in the annals of the Consistory as a testament to the work and efforts invested in their productions by competitors, permanently etching them in the histories of literary art.

✢ L ’ O S T E G U E R R A - Harvest fairs puncture through the blurry lines that distinguish culture from culture as a celebration of popular labour. A long season of work, tilling, planting, tending and harvesting culminates in meal sharing, the end of one shift of the year before the inevitable call to the next. To a group of sellswords on the road, though, there is little use for harvests, let alone festivals celebrating them, other than the abundance of goods in local burhs. In this abundance, the captains and lieutenants among the Valliards take to feasting with their men with all the spares of their pantry, leading to absurd, unseen dishes. Local markets serve as the base for fried chicken, pickled quail, and anything else that can be made of what remains.

✢ T R O U B A D O U R S  A N D  T R O U P E S - Mercenaries and roadfolk are not hugely distinct from each other, and in many ways, hold more similarities than differences. Wandering peoples who live upon the road, and whatever work they can find, who eat and sleep ‘pon ancient kingsroads. For minstrels, actors, musicians, they find nary better companions than sellswords, grizzled by what they witness, and eager for a tale or a laugh. Eventually, captains took to incorporating those bards and balladeers into their own ranks in ‘troupes’, from which new material would develop: bawdy comedies of old captains, glorified retellings of crude warfare, anything to lift the spirits of their men. Certain troupes, or their makeup of troubadours, became favored by whatever captain they pleased most, becoming staples of units and war camps flying the Blackwyrm banner. With the settling of the Valliards, and the tumults of time, the tradition of immortalising one’s lineage in song, laughter, and verse has kept the peoples of the Lord Valmont together from hearth to hearth.

✢ F A M I L Y  C H R O N I C L I N G - Although not originally a practice based in hereditary lineage keeping, and rather simply a corporate manner of cataloging, regiment chronicling, and later family chronicling has been a staple of Blackwyrm's organisation, and proud history. The Black Book serves as a basis from which many of these captains began their family chronicles, giving a wide tree of interconnected heroes and champions of every station under the banner of Helane. With the lack of many other written records, these chronicles became the principal material from which troubadours would compose their works, transforming rather banal lists of feats, births and death dates, and names into illustrious displays of verse and rhetoric, recited aloud during feasts and receptions that only amplify the significance of sacraments, or major familial events. Marriages, oaths, and reconciliations are all sung of, combining an oral and written history to never let family stray far from the mind.

The resurgence of a Pertinaxi empire has led to an equal re-emergence of interest in Flexio based names. Although original company names, save the ruling Helane family, drew from a variety of backgrounds, now there is more of an overt Flexian and High Imperial influence on naming traditions, though typically reserved for second names, newly ennobled Valliards who have no surname, and for the aristocratically inclined. The everyman of the Blackwyrm Company drew from Valliard dialects of many more mainstream naming conventions, such as Auvergnian, Santegian, Savoyard, etcetera. Names of both types include:

from the hand of Horen Remus Helane, signed by…

P E R  F I D E M  I M P E R I I

THE RIGHT HONORABLE, Antonius Lucien of the House Helane, by the Grace of GOD, 

Count of Valmont, Knight Captain of the Imperial Order of the Red Dragon, Grand Inquisitor, 

Patriarch of House Helane, Lord Commander of the Blackwyrm Company.

HIS LORDSHIP, Horen Remus of the House Helane, by the Grace of GOD,

Baron of Adelhil, Heir-Apparent to the House Helane, Minister of the Consistory of the Three Troubadours.