PC characters go here. Please use the template and post your character with modified background here. Please secret to me everything, but role, name, race, picture, and what other players would know if they were in the same house.
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Last edited by Eviltedzies; Jan 13th, 2014 at 01:19 PM.
House Harkon is an ancient one among the races of men. It predates even the rule of the KaBall dynasty over Balona, no small feat given the, at times, fickle rise and fall of houses at the reigning Master's whim. Precious few records remain of the fateful rise of the KaBalls thousands of years ago. Of what has not been lost to the millennia is that the otherwise honorable lord Walach Harkon abandoned his allies and threw in his lot with the Master against his former allies still resisting the Master's iron fist. The remainder of the eventual triumph of the Master's alliance of men, drow, and greenskin is history. House Harkon has served as a loyal enforcer of the Master's reign ever since, for which the Masters have allowed their faithful sword to thrive unmolested.
The name of House Harkon has always been indelibly linked with force of arms. Whether imposing mounted knights or unyielding ranks of soldiery, the ancient house may not boast rich coffers nor a great host, but it certainly trains and fields the finest quality heavy soldiery in the realm, both in prowess and equipment. Tempered steel and iron discipline form the backbone of House Harkon's military and, to large extent, even civilian life, for the lands of House Harkon include mines of iron ore.
The ruling house itself is no less schooled in rigor and arms. The scions of the house are drilled from a young age in battle and the command of men, along with the more typical arts of statecraft. But the most telling tribute of the house's prizing of martial perfection is their rules of succession. The Harkon heir is not allowed to take up his inheritance without first defeating the head of the house in battle. In ancient times, it was a sporting duel where head and heir walked from the trial together. Ever since Walach Harkon, however, the fight became to the death, and no head of House Harkon has seen old age in generations.
In light of their martial discipline, it is no surprise that House Harkon's austerity affects other facets of its scions' lives. The lords of House Harkon suffer little revelry for themselves whether food, drink, drugs, women, or any other sort. For the most part, they regard cruelty as a matter of however, loosely they may presently define itnecessity, not a matter of indulgence or fits of anger. Their codes of honor and protocol (however little its forebears may recognize them in their present draconian state) are kept to a punctilio by House Harkon.
Under the self-rule permitted by the Masters, House Harkon's tradition of the rule of law continued, albeit with grimmer, more cruel twists. Still, it is a cherished contrast for guildsmen and peasant to the more capricious trials by cunning or by force of the drow and greenskins, respectively. Even if the law is hard and often draconian, it is at least consistent, and men know what to expect. Incompetent, disloyal servants are strictly punished and not long tolerated. Loyal servants are consistently rewarded and encouraged, though moderately that they may remember whence this beneficence comes.
__________________ Happy Pentecost!
"The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon."
-G.K. Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles (1909), XVII: "The Red Angel"