The Elder House of Hart: Clan of the Many-Pointed Stag
“Founders of the Esteemed Houses of the Realm”
According to the Elder Annals, the first human peoples to enter the Realm were Wyddic peoples from a land far over the western sea referred to as Atál an Teá. These were the ancestors of the Houses of Hart and Draech.
These early Wyddic peoples sailed up the Icen River and settled in the Valley of Mabon under the sigil of the Erwydd u Ddaeár, the 'Hart with 1,000 Points.' There they called themselves the Aelereddad and their city of Dumnonia flourished for several thousand years becoming the greatest city the Realm has ever known.
The ruin of Dumnonia by a timeless Sorrow was a tragedy that changed the Aelereddad forever. Many wise ones of their people fled to the north after the fall of Dumnonia and Mabon fell into a dark time of feuding and lawlessness. The great mountain sanctuaries that were created to honor the memory of Atál an Teá, the Bátreas, became dark fortresses for the families who holed up in them and fought with their neighbors. But unification of all feuding houses was eventually acheived in the almost miraculous formation of the first Esteemed House of the Realm: the House of Hart. The Esteemed Houses were meant to supplant the power of the feuding families over time.
But just as peace and prosperity returned to Mabon, the Iztani Empire arrived in the Realm and assailed the the people of the House of Hart who resisted subjugation for almost three centuries. During the Empire’s dwindling years the House of Hart destroyed the seven great citadels of Iztan and claimed the mantel of Empire for themselves. They moved the High Throne of Esteemed Houses to the City of Icénia, most propserous and cosmopolitan city of the Realm.
Many of the great families of Hart suffered grievously under the brutal regime of the Iztani Empire, and many in Hart's elite Bracelet of Knights were disfigured or publicly martyred. For this reason, though the Iztani Empire has now long passed into history, deep wounds remain between the Knights of Hart and the Paladins of A'quilah.
Harti Family Names: Dumnoni, Airigid, Rheghed, Elmet, Dagor, Morgaunt, Ghan, Nogen, Talon
Hart’s hue is gules.
Hart’s crest is sable two celestial crowns or, quarterly gules two stag salients or.
The points of the stag represent the eleven families of the House of Hart ruling in Mabon and Rhaétia . The five points of the crown in a sable field rep the five Bátreas connected to their ancient homeland far over the western sea.
Virtues most esteemed by the House of Hart are fortitude, grace and integrity.
