The Ashford, A People

[amyselia 2962]

Penned by Rosceline of Aryn, 2043 of the Aegisian.

Published by the White Commons Company, 638 of the Tiberian.

 

Heirs to the Ashen Fjord

 

 

 

I. INTRODUCTION

II. FAMILY UNITS

III. UPBRINGING

IV. FAITH

V. TENETS

VI. NOBILITY

VII. RITES

VIII. WORDS

 

Note: I do not recommend the consumption of this document in one sitting. Rather, it should be sought out according to one’s needs, so that it may be digested in individual parts.

 

Foreword from the White Commons Company Purchased among a chest of items from a roguish band of bandit-merchants, this herein scroll was presumably meant to survive the travel to Azuras, and is among the last preserved instruments of Druscan scholarship. As such, it is both a relic and a guide: a vessel of memory for those who would claim the mantle of wisdom, and a warning to those who would treat inheritance lightly. The White Commons Company offers it now, not as a mere curiosity, but as a covenant: that the labor of those gone before may yet temper the after.

 

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The following document is a review of the old, new and lost ways of the Ashford people, defined as the descendants of the ethnic eshænveurd pagans of ancient history through the blood of High Pontiff Lucien I. This document omits the mention of iconic figures, cities, places, and saints, focusing on cultural and traditional practices alone. Though this document treats the Savoyards- who have suffered the least cultural diffusion from the original culture of Lucien -as the default cultural denomination, extant and extinct subcultures shall briefly be included via accounts of their unique variations. However, we must make note of the etymology, as explained below. What this document does not do is write a historical account of the Ashford, for this is to be covered elsewhere. 

 

ETYMOLOGY

> Eshaenveurd: The ancient ethnic group of people known as the Men of the Ashen Glade, to which all Ashford owe their ancestry. It is unknown whether these people continued to reside in Esheveurd after Lucien’s arrival, for its location is lost to time, and so bleak is she that one would hardly want to find her.

> Ashford: The bloodline descendants of the father of the Ashford, Velwyn, or High Pontiff Lucien I, who was the first Eshaenveurd to set foot on Aegis after the ancient departure by Adelric of the Seven Thousand.

> Savoyard: The culture established by High Pontiff Lucien I in his creation of the Prince-Bishopric of Savoie and the House de Savoie, encompassing all the commoners, clergymen, and nobility of his Kingdom.

 

By these definitions, a Savoyard who is not descended from Lucien is not Ashford, nor is he Eshaenveurd. No man continues to be Eshaenveurd, except those who claim it directly as their ancestral legacy, but in truth, they are Ashford. Ashford is here dubbed a bloodline as well as an ethnicity due to its descendence from the Eshaenveurden, who themselves owe their origin to the Aegisian continent, though with great enough separation of time that they became distinct in language, customs, and religion. Peremonti, Leuuvard, Druscan, etc., are subcultures with a modern cultural point of origin, being Savoyard, but, like Savoyard, stemmed from Ashford Houses (de Bar to Peremonti, etc.). Subjects beneath the banners of these houses are not Ashford themselves, though they may claim to be Savoyard and Peremonti, Leuvaard, Druscan, etc. The blurring of the lines between Ashford and Savoyard has occurred because the Ashford Houses have so closely tied Savoy to themselves that in every concept in which it can exist, they are its permanent fixture by their leadership. This is to a certain detriment, for the people of Savoy have many times faded to diaspora in the absence of an Ashford ruler.

 

APPEARANCE

Though the modern Ashford carry very little of the original Eshaenveurd makeup, owed to centuries of intermarriage with heartland and highland folk, strong physical similarities remain prevalent in every generation, including sober black hair, tanned to olive skin, and colored but often muted eyes.

 

CONTEXT FOR THE MODERN ASHFORD

The Ashford are a curious amendment to recent human history due to their precipitous renaissance in the year 1814, an event that enlivened the life clock of Orenia, which then saw its absolute destruction coincide with the fall of the short lived Principality of Savoy. Contrasting what was considered by some to be unmerited extravagance in Orenia, Savoyards of this time prided themselves on hard military excellence and unwounded patriarchal aesthetics. After the Principality’s decline, they dispersed across the many heartland degenerations, as well as in part to Hanseti-Ruska, and were briefly revived under the Archduchy of Drusco, to later fall in religious defiance. As is evident by their constant nomadism, the Ashfords and therefore the Savoyards have faced land insecurity for some time, which has formed the better part of modern revisions to their cultural practices. 

 

DRUSCAN | The Druscans- alternatively referred to as the Rouennais -are physically homogeneous with their Savoyard progenitors, including the same dark hair, tanned olive skin and dark colored eyes- ranging from brown, green and hazel. However, they adopted key differences in visuals, tradition & belief systems due to a unique mercenary lifestyle and long-term residence of the Duchy of Adria - later the League of Veletz, following the decline of Savoy and Oren.

 

IN MEMORIAM | The customs of the Peremonti have long been dead, in concord with the death of House de Bar, and will not lay mention in this document beyond this here script. House de Aryn, another Savoyard house, was lost to time in the 16th century, though the line did continue in obscurity in the continent of Aeldin, where it briefly attempted a return and assumed the Auvergnat traditions of Banardia, but fell once more, and now the author of this document (Rosceline Ashford) is the last to bear this name, so it shall die with me. 

 

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The culture of the Savoyard vows loyalty to none but each other. A deep memory of the Ashford is the Dukes’ War, so they understand that there have been few alliances that they have exited without loss, except the unfettered alliance bound by blood. This belief is crucial to the understanding of the Ashford in the modern day - hence we dissect the structure of families that is most adhered to, being that of HOMESTEAD LOCALITIES. The Ashford have the adaptation of maintaining the existence of their children and grandchildren within a single homestead for as long as space and spoons allow, and they will gladly invest in expansions to their home lot to provide more space. The reason for the homesteading system is the CONTINUATION OF THE SURNAME. To monitor the surname is an important paranoia of the Ashford due to the history of their ebbs and flows; where there once existed dozens of Eshaenveurd houses, there remain few. 

 

The pairing of husband and wife then becomes like the lord and lady of the household: impermeable, with absolute power over the decisions of the home and the generations they will house beneath it. The inheritance of the home follows the typical primogeniture succession. The firstborn is thus enumerated with the responsibility to continue the name and line of their forebears via fruitful marriage.

 

SUCCESSION TO THE HOMESTEAD

The male line has historically been preferred due to religious limitations against women’s ability to pass on their father’s surname (see: Faith). However, the gradual easement of religious attitudes towards women’s emancipation has given some leeway for female inheritance, with examples being the succession of Renata de Savoie to the crown of Savoy, as well as the genesis of house de/van Leuven through the line of Emelie de Falstaff. Despite this, it remains rare for daughters that are not in the direct line of succession to choose to remain within the homestead, and they often exit out via marriage into other families. As a consequence, the Ashford did not see fit to adopt Rosemoor-et-Karenina successions (1830-1860s)¹ in the era of their emergence. The male line continues to be the norm, and a matrilineal marriage performed by any daughter except the legitimate² female heir is socially shunned.

 

Footnote:

1. Cognatic Primogeniture succession laws adopted by the nobility of the Orenian Empire & Haeseni Kingdom.

2. According to the draft lex sabaudiae, a first born daughter inherits at least a sufficient right to her father’s bloodline, with it being diluted in each sister born after her. Hence, a daughter may only inherit if she is the first born of all her siblings, excluding younger daughters and any female cousins. Sons are seen to inherit the full right of their father’s bloodline. This often leads to brothers contesting their eldest sister, and explains why Ashford houses continue to practice male-preference.

 

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Childhood to Adulthood; the quotidian conventions of an Ashford’s upbringing.

 

I. HOMESTEADS: the extended family under one roof. | It is stressed by Savoyard wise women that children be raised by the shared responsibility of all adults in the homestead to help strengthen family relationships. It is the hope that children would laud their aunts, uncles, and grandparents with as much love and respect as they would their own parents. This solidifies the importance of sons continuing to live within the homestead after marriage. 

 

II. OBEDIENCE: to love is to obey. | Boys and girls are treated much the same until the age of their pubescence, when their paths diverge and roles are defined by the engenderment of clothing, etiquette, and skills. This pubescence, ranging from ages 10-14, marks the beginning of their subjectivity to the hierarchy of obedience in the home, as the child is now considered ‘able of mind’ and so deemed capable of willful disrespect, misjudgement, and ignorance. In this age, they are expected to listen and obey to advice given in the interest of their self-betterment. The free-spirited who chooses themself over the wishes of the family is intolerable, and often punished. This overbearance on the group identity is the progenitor of the Savoyard’s values towards steadfastness, unapologetic idealism and above all, the idea of one’s honor as sacred.

 

III. ON GENDER: the duality of the masculine and feminine. |  The Ashford cherish the duality of the sexes. When one cuts through rage and vengeance out of beastly impulse, the other uses careful deliberation to transform rage and vengeance into connivance. The Savoyard woman is spoken of with reverence for her tactfulness, skill in persuasion, and a bevy of traits associated with the soft power of the feminine. Machiavellian tactics, while critiqued in many other cultures, are accepted as a different kind of strength to the physical, especially considering the brutalistic nature of the Ashford male. The extravagance of Savoyard architecture, dress, and armor all emphasize the consideration of sex, wherein women donn merry-making colors while men donn black, greys and reds in observance of temperance. Palaces are often named for women, to honor beauty, whilst Keeps and Forts are reserved to men’s strength.

 

IV. WARDSHIPS: the test of the global theater.  | The modern Savoyard knows the importance of global consciousness to their development of political acumen, a thing they pride themselves on as rolling stones. The education of a child is given ample thought, as in many cases, it delivers children from the arms of their family and into the wardship of a tutor in a foreign land. This wardship begins when their parents determine them to be faultless witnesses of Savoyard customs, promising that they will not falter from their Ashborn ways when stood against the global theater. This hardly ever occurs before the age of 14. Their tutors may be masters of a skill, noble lords, or ministers of government, and are chosen according to the type of education the parents wish for their child, with an expected exchange of funds or social capital on the parents’ end. The rite of wardship is considered a challenge of resilience, tolerance and conviction in the face of change, and can last into the child’s early adulthood, ages 18-21, until they are summoned to return home and be a voice for the schemes of the next phase of their life.

 

TRADITION OF UPBRINGING - THE BANDS OF ASHFORD 

As the child makes ready to exit the home for their wardship, a special item is prepared for them: a wristband forged of varying material, molded in a shape meant to be inaustere, for it is merely a foundation to build upon. On every stage of life that the child encounters henceforth, a penchant or charm is commissioned on their behalf by their family, and hooked to this band. Be it mastery of a new skill, a battle won, a career entered into, a marriage united or a child born, etc. At the end of life, it is said that this band should be heavy and noisy, announcing the presence of an elder of experience. A life without these charms is wasted, as all should strive to honor their names in history’s annals.

When a person becomes disembodied from their family as a consequence of some or another action, their elders are obliged to continue to support the individual via the provisioning of these penchants forevermore. This is a thing which serves as an olive branch for their return, as the Savoyard family is above all, thus it is emphasized that no family should allow disunion and malagreements to fester into complete estrangement.

 

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The Ashford relationship to the faith is defined by its descendancy from High Pontiff St. Lucien I, Prince-Archbishop and founder of Savoie, Master and Commander of the White Rose¹, and icon of LUCIENISM. Derived from the Holy Order of St. Lucien, created by Pontiff Lucien II as a device to empower the position of his church, Lucienism embodies staunch endorsement of church power, specifically the power of the Pontiff as vicar of GOD, and the preservation of the virtues of honor, strength, temperance, and justice. 

 

Before Lucien, the ancient Eshaenveurd practiced sun worship, which informs the solar iconography of the Ashford Houses, but all traces of this worship- except what could be retrofitted into canonist tradition -have been scrubbed from the zeitgeist. The modern Ashford have committed to a complete reinvigoration of Lucienism in penitence for the Owynist conversion of Olivier I of Savoy, a thing which acted as a catalyst for the balkanization of humanity in the later half of the 19th century. Most Ashford are unrelenting defenders of the Canon, recognizing their legitimacy as derivative of such, and therefore see sects and splintering as hostile to their belief.

 

Distinct Elements of Faith in Savoyard Households.

 

I. PRESERVATION OF THE OLD FAITH | Boasting a history intertwined with religious orders, high stations of priesthood, and crusading fervor, the Ashford pride themselves on the intensity of their faith, contrasting heartland sentimentalities with unsparing religious views. This is because they adhere to an original interpretation of the scrolls, wherein GOD’s intent upon the ancient societies of Aegis is carried into the present. Aegis was shackled by the threat of Ibleesian influence unbinding the threads of the world, and so men were tasked with championing purity, sanctity, and untainted legacy above all. As such, Savoyard faith rejects modernity, such as the acceptance of sects, tolerance of magic, non-celibate and wedded priests, female priesthood and inheritance, the immodesty of dress, the secular practice of law, and etc. Hence, Savoyard religiosity may read as archaic, but folk priests proselytize this true path to the seven. 

 

II. SOCIAL POWER TO THE PREACHER | Moreover, the Ashford grant significant social power to the local preacher, understanding him as a community leader that intimately weaves faith, medicinal healing, and spiritual guidance into personalized and general instruction, under strict oath of confidentiality. The Savoyard depend on the word of the preacher for nearly all high-stakes decisions, and so many noble families choose to preserve a space in their home for a personal chaplain. This particular practice retains elements of the ancient Eshaenveurd shamans.

 

III. STRENGTH OF THE HOLY CHURCH | The Savoyards prefer a church that expresses its power in terms of military strength and conversion of heretics. They offer patronage to all Holy Orders so long as they are not of a sect, and seek to remain in good standing with the canon. Second sons are often vowed to squireship within a holy order, or directly to the priesthood.

 

TRADITIONS OF FAITH

Public Confession | The Ashford hold the marked tradition of asking the local preacher to grant them blessings by announcing their aspirations or achievements before the congregation of a sermon or mass. In practicing the virtue of humility, this tradition also takes on the form of public confession. It is said that to confess your sins out loud before your poor-fellows is the strongest indication of repentance, where one makes themselves vulnerable and accepting of judgement and scorn. Family members and friends cognizant of others’ sins may also suggest them for confession as a pure and canonist attempt to safeguard their salvation. However, issues of familial strife are widely held as inappropriate for public confession, as the sanctity of the homestead is a matter for the private realm.

 

Holy Flame | The Ashford keep a holy flame ignited in their temple. The fire is tended day and night, never allowed to falter, for it is regarded as a sentinel, a living emblem of their faith, and the undying vigilance of God. Its light is said to carry the prayers of the devout to God, to burn away the shadows of doubt, and to remind all who enter that the house of Ashford is a place of sanctity.

 

The Godstead | The Ashford consecrate the ground of their Great Halls with the same divine air as holds a holy temple, inviting GOD to look closely into this space so he might give mercy and faith into the heart of the ruler. Hence they extend amnesty for criminals in this place, and dare not bring a man to death within its walls. Should this occur, the place is tainted, and will have to be re-consecrated before any man can breach its threshold.

 

Footnote:

1. A Kaedrini holy order of the late 14th to early 15th century known for its enforcement of human supremacy, founded by Sir Peter Chivay, later Peter I, Holy Orenian Emperor.

 

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STEADFASTNESS | The Virtue of the Unyielding Will

The Ashford hold steadfastness as the highest proof of character, for constancy is the only shield against immorality. To waver is to invite dissolution; to bend is to fracture the spine of legacy. Thus, the Ashford are raised to endure, to persist, and to stand resolute in belief, allegiance, and purpose, regardless of hardship, exile, or ruin. They are a people acquainted with collapse and rebirth, and it is through unyielding perseverance that they have survived the long winters of history. Steadfastness is therefore not merely stubbornness, but a sacred defiance of fate itself, the refusal to yield one’s name, faith, or blood to the eroding passage of time.

 

UNAPOLOGETIC IDEALISM | The Doctrine of Unashamed Conviction

To the Ashford, ideals are not ornaments of philosophy, but weapons of identity. They do not temper belief for comfort, nor soften conviction for diplomacy. What is held to be righteous must be pursued in its purest form. Compromise is understood as a polite word for surrender, and moderation as the coward’s refuge from moral clarity. Thus, the Ashford walk openly in their extremity, scorning the safety of ambiguity, and proclaiming their principles with unflinching candor. In this lies both their greatest strength and their greatest peril, for they would rather perish than survive as something lesser than themselves.

 

SACRED HONOUR | The Sanctity of Name and Deed

Honour is the living soul of the Ashford, woven inseparably into blood and remembrance. Every action undertaken reflects not merely upon the individual, but upon the entire ancestral chain from which they spring. To dishonor oneself is to stain the dead and endanger the unborn. Hence, honour is guarded with reverence, enforced with severity, and redeemed only through suffering. Words spoken in falsehood, oaths broken in secrecy, or cowardice concealed in survival are all affronts against the sacred order. Honour is not reputation, nor glory alone, it is immutable.

 

FORGIVENESS AFTER RETRIBUTION | The Law of Balanced Mercy

The Ashford do not deny mercy, but neither do they grant it cheaply. Forgiveness untempered by retribution is viewed as indulgence, breeding impunity and moral decay. Justice must first be rendered before forgiveness may be rewarded, cleansing the remnants of bitterness and restoring balance. In this way, retribution becomes a necessary crucible through which repentance is proven. Thus, the Ashford practice mercy as a sacred conclusion, never as an evasion of righteous consequence.

 

MILITARY EXCELLENCE | The Cult of Martial Supremacy

War is the truest theatre of Ashford virtue, and martial mastery its highest sacrament. From youth, sons are shaped into blades, honed through the discipline of exertion. Swordsmanship is exalted above all arts of prowess, demanding precision, while the doctrine of light foot warfare emphasizes speed and adaptive brutality. Ashford armies favor swift advance and merciless pursuit, striking before withdrawing into terrain. To fight well is to honor GOD, blood, and lineage; to fight poorly is to profane them. Thus, military excellence is not merely a craft, but a holy obligation binding every Ashford warrior. Failure is a rebuke of their ways, and may lead to transformative reprisal.

 

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BLOOD NOBILITY

It is important to uphold noble houses rather than let them fade into obscurity. This is the principle behind Ashford family units being so dedicated to continuity, stability & domestic obedience. This principle is extended to any noble houses beneath the banners of the Sun; the vassals of Ashford lieges are comforted by the promise that rather than create dysfunction by destroying houses upon loss of strength, the liege’s job is to ensure the longevity of those nobles beholden to his protection. Should a line end in name, its blood is made to continue flowing, if any of its daughters are surviving, by a final marriage into another house. Because of this assurance of longevity, liege lords are wise to keep nobility off the hands of fledgeling houses who have not shown the promise of self-sustenance. Otherwise, it is impossible for new houses to be created from a peasant standing, as nobility is reserved for the already highborn.

 

A loop-hole often used to promulgate nobility among the peasantry, if a particularly affluent peasant wishes to be ennobled, is to first become knighted and so invited to the class of gentry, then to be married into a noble family in a way that their noble spouse tolerates the taking on of their lowerborn name. Only then can they hope to create their own branch of nobility via the blood of an established tree. After two generations of marrying like this is the family deemed truly noble.

 

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Religious Rites

 

I. BAPTISM: Anointing in Oil | In Ashford practice, children are not baptised on birth. Baptism is not performed until a member of the flock has suffered a trial of faith, administered by their family’s favored priest. On completing this are they then eligible for their baptism, conducted according to canonist rites, except for the addition of an anointment of black oil onto the person’s forehead meant to symbolize the accumulation of their sins up to this moment, which is kissed by the priest in forgiveness, and then washed off by the ritual cleansing in water.

 

II. MATRIMONY |  Ashford matrimony does not stray far from Canonist Ritual except in its spirit of execution, which greatly exalts the exchange of the bride as an object of her family’s aggrandisement. Outside the formalities of arranged marriage, if a man seeks to court an Ashford woman, it is custom that he offers wine to the lady’s mother, as a token of his intent. Should the wine be found wanting, whether it be too sweet or too bitter, the man is either denied forthwith or bidden to bring forth another vintage. Once it pleases them, the match is considered struck, and an engagement is made.

Once an engagement has been settled, a marriage contract ((RP Object)) is drafted between the families confirming the bride’s settled dowry, marriage tithes, securities of widowhood, and other considerations. A tradition revived from the eshaenveurd is sequestering the bride from public life until the event of the wedding; in this time, she is instructed in her domestic duties by an elder married woman, often a grandmother, but priests may also substitute. On the day of the procession, the head of her homestead delivers her to the altar, symbolizing the handover into her husband’s house. In preparation for this event, the bride’s father will also mint jule tokens, favors printed on gold coins which anyone may lay claim to for up to a year after the ceremony, be they friend or foe. These are worn as brooches, reminders of their favors.

 

Jule tokens are named for St. Julia, bastardized from her name in the Eshaenveurd tongue: Juleil.

 

III. DEATH & BURIAL: Return to Ash |  Unlike many other cultures, death is not made a great spectacle by the Ashford; death disrupts the sacred idea of legacy and marks the end of a pursuit of glory. The common reference to death is ‘to return to ash’. This originated in an ancient eshaenveurd tradition of cremation, which held that the body’s inner life was made from flame, and its natural conclusion would be in ash. 

Following death, the body is embalmed. In the process of embalming, the heart of the deceased is preserved in a vase enriched with a thick oil-and-sang mixture. The body then rests on a podium, where a kiln of clay is erected around it. The kiln is lit by flame, the body cremated in a ceremony witnessed only by the household, and thereafter it is taboo to speak of it. The hearts are kept as artifacts, or in the event of the death of a ruler, are made public for the viewing of the people. When someone has returned to ash, they continue to be referred to as if they were alive, even when their death is universally acknowledged.

 

IV. PRIVATE CONFESSION: Ablution of the Soul |  Retained unchanged from the teachings put to ink in 1611 by St. Humbert de Bar, the giving of confessions to GOD by proxy of a priest is a cherished and utterly sacred Savoyard rite. By examining one’s conscience and coming before an ordained clergyman acting in person of most merciful GOD, the lay folk of Savoy are entitled to the confessing of their sins in pursuit of penance, advice and reflection, then finally absolution. Within the physical or metaphysical confines of the confessional, there exists the greatest privacy; as if - by design - one were praying silently to the Lord Himself. From this spawns the Seal of Confession, safeguarding all words - no matter how grave, no matter how terrible - shared in the act of Confession as secret and sacred, demanding the priest’s utmost silence at the penitent’s discretion.

 

Rites of Battle & Brawn

 

V. THE LOVER’S GAMBESON | Before battle, the Ashford warrior sit in the hush before dawn, sowing collected threads of a lover’s hair into the quilted folds of their gambeson. Each pale or dark strand tells a story of battles survived, of nights returned from, of love that endured the waiting; the more abundant the weaving, the greater the reverence bestowed upon its wearer. Such a garment bears not only protection, but memory and promise, binding flesh to home with every careful stitch. Yet to mingle different hues within that sacred cloth was a perilous scandal, whispering of divided devotion and fractured loyalty, and no blade cuts more cruelly than the judgment of one’s own people.

 

VI. DEFEAT IN BATTLE: The Smirking Effigies  | A battle lost is a great ordeal to the Ashford, for they have great faith in their martial prowess. When defeat is encountered, a rite is orchestrated with the intention of humbling the soldiers from what is assumed to be a sickness of ‘too much pride’ that led to this loss of life and glory. Before each battle, a pyre is erected in the center of town, a looming reminder of the possibility of defeat. Should defeat be announced, it is the task of married women to begin the sewing of a great effigy of wool: a corpse with a pronounced smirk and eyes of empty black stones. When a defeat is declared, this effigy is mounted on a pyre and burned by the folk below the cold of night.

 

VII. PUNISHMENT FOR THE VILE: Gouging of the Eyes |  Eyes are gouged from criminals, that they should not be able to see the face of GOD himself.

 

Rites of Rule

 

VIII. ALLIANCES: Blood Pact of Peace |  An Ashford alliance is bound by a blood pact of peace that binds two men as kin until death, with promises to never incite conflict against one another, and to follow each other into all strife. At the scale of nations, a diplomatic alliance is cemented exclusively via blood pact. This kinship is seen as an extension of the ruler’s blood, hence Ashford do not offer diplomatic pleasantries to just anyone, opting to select alliances based on principles and longevity rather than short-term gain.

 

A loophole is known where the ruler’s highest advisor performs the pact in his stead. Should the alliance falter, the advisor knows he shall be slain to sever it. Being a significant political sacrifice, this decision still wields considerable weight upon the head, and is not taken lightly.

 

IX. DECLARATION OF WAR: Husk of Sacrifice | When an Ashford ruler declares war unto another or has battle declared unto him, he does not shy behind words on parchment; not words, but deeds. The ruler seeks out a sacrifice from among his own lands, typically a sizable hog, that will send a message of his readiness to spill blood and place himself at the forefront of battle. This animal is shaved to its skin, burned into a husk of black bones, and delivered by a neutral party to the rival ruler with no other context.

 

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“NOT WITH WORDS, BUT DEEDS” or otherwise: “NOT WORDS, BUT DEEDS” 

Origin: King Helvegen of Ancient Esheveurd

 

The Ashford see the man who writes or speaks in absence of action as a fool of mottled strength, and are known for their unrelenting incitements. They are a direct and uncompromising people, preferring to bite rather than bark, and often biting as a warning shot before the mawing begins.

 

“BLOOD FOR ASHFORD”

Origin: The Taxman's Conspiracy, Johannesburg

 

Because the Ashford place the survival of their honour above all else, vengeance is a ritual consecrated into legacy. For each injustice borne unto them, they call for blood to be shed tenfold. This phrase is carried as a dynastic hymn of Ashford, and is often a call to war.

 

“ASH AFTER FIRE” or otherwise: “LET FIRE, THEN ASH, and “ESHE JOROUNDI OUNTE TAMM” in the ancient tongue.

Origin: The Black Sun Tapestries

 

A saying of reassurance in which the Ashford are reminded that greatness follows suffering. Reminiscent of the many revivals of Ashford, this term lauds Ashford above all, and is a portent of good-omens.

 

 

Fin.

 

[mojanghunter 566]

Spoiler

srsly good formatting

 

[Kholibrii 1211]

In the dead of night, deep within the archives of the Court of Glasgon, a lone Alstion wandered the long and ordered rows of scrolls, a single candle borne aloft in her hand, its trembling light dancing across the darkened vault. Philippa of Alstion finally came to a section marked Ashford de Rouen. There she lingered, unbinding scroll after scroll, her eyes passing over accounts of Roger’s coming to the lands of Alba, of his marriage to Rosceline within the Alban Cathedral, and of the many grave missives born of Saint Lucien’s War.

Finally, her hand found a scroll tucked far back from the rest. Drawing it free and loosening the cord wound tight about it, she discovered not words, but a painting, one of Elizabeth and Rosceline rendered together amid the gardens of Morvelyn Castle. @amyselia@brujera

 

[truelarper 593]

Spoiler

fire

 

[MonteGiant 891]

Goated

 

Spoiler

Im Sorry for Killing you like that. . .

[Ben40K 62]

Constantin Ashford de Savoie smirked. "Based."