Region: North
Seat: @Eisenruh Castle
Crest: A Silver Ram on a Black Field
Motto: "The silence holds."
Reputation: Cultural counterweight to southern flamboyance; known for restraint and quiet power
Notable NPCs: @Lady Mechthild Rochefort (Eisenruh by blood, Rochefort by marriage), @Lord Waldemar Eisenruh @Gertrud Eisenruh @Leofric Eisenruh @Kilian Eisenruh
Region: Central
Seat: @Falkenhayn Castle
Crest: A black falcon grasping and pecking at a songbird as if it were prey
Motto: "Mercy is the first betrayal."
Reputation: Merciless, feared; enforcers of imperial will
Notable NPCs: @Sir Wilhelm Falkenhayn, @Dorian Falkenhayn, @Ysabet Falkenhayn, @Lysa Falkenhayn
Region: North
Seat: @Fluchtrager Castle
Crest: A tall, gold tower rising from stone, symmetrical and austere. Beneath it, reflected in shadow, grows a dark twin—a jagged, root-bound tower inverted underground.
Motto: “We bear what others flee."
Reputation: A major northern house, overshadowed by Eisenruh and Hohenfels, but strategically vital due to its proximity to Drachenburg and the mountain passes
Region: North
Crest: A chalice of blood flanked by black lilies
Seat: @Hohenfels Castle
Motto: “Let no blood be wasted.”
Reputation: Ironclad loyalty and ruthless cultural purity
Notable NPCs: @Elisabeth Hohenfels, @Lord Viktor Hohenfels, @Adelheid Hohenfels, @Sir Siegfried Hohenfels
Region: South
Seat: @Kesselmark Castle
Crest: A gilded stag before a gate
Motto: “We ride for what was written.”
Reputation: Influential southern house; maintains elite cavalry traditions
Notable NPCs: @Lord Dietrich Kesselmark , @Sir Maximilian Kesselmark , @Lady Anneliese Kesselmark, @Sir Ortwin Kesselmark, @Freyna Kesselmark
Region: South, Central
Seat: @Rochefort Castle
Crest: Firebird or Phoenix
Motto: “We do not rise. We burn.”
Reputation: Known for martial discipline and fiery endurance
Notable NPCs: @Sir Otto Rochefort , @Sir Alaric Rochefort, @Sir Lorenz Rochefort, @Lady Mechthild Rochefort, @Swanhild Rochefort, @Bernhard Rochefort
Region: South
Seat: @Stahlbrand Castle
Crest: A crowned sword splitting a mountain in two
Motto: "We were forged to rule."
Reputation: Martial, doctrinal, sacrificial; heirs of a stolen crown
Notable NPCs: @Emperor Isen IV, @Marshal Erwin Stahlbrand, @Dame Ottelinde Stahlbrand
Region: small lands within @Stahlbrand
Crest: A cleft mountain surmounted by a baton, surrounded by a chain
Motto: “Fear binds, honor endures.”
Notable NPCs: @Marshal Vexhelm Draunt, @Sir Wolf Draunt
Region: @Eckehard, small province in south Hesa near rough coastline
Seat: @Falkenau Hall
Crest: a gull volant over a deep-red sea cliffs
Motto: “By Wind and Stone.”
Notable NPCs: @Irmelin Eckehard, @Sir Bernhard Eckehard
Region: Small lands in @Ismark
Notable NPCs: @Hildegard Eismantel
Region: @Fichtenhain, south east Hesan, south of @Stahlbrand
Notable NPCs: @Sir Dietmar Fichtenhain, @Lady Bathild Fichtenhain(married into the family)
Region: small lands within @Eisenruh
Notable NPCs: @Johann Flammenhart
Region: Small lands within @Hohenfels
Notable NPCs: @Heide Froste, @Reinolt Froste
Region: small lands within @Nebelgestat
Notable NPCs: @Magistrate Jarl Gerverg, @Hilda Gerverg
Region: Small lands within @Hohenfels
Notable NPCs: @Ewald Graumesser
Region: No lands. Small patches of Kronehains live around @Konigsheim and @Stahlbrand
Reputation: Ancient house, now a byword. Once ruled central Hesa long before the Empire.
Notable NPCs: @Leopold Kronehain
Region: @Nebelgestat, far east Hesa
Seat: @Oststein
Crest: A Vanishing Ship in Black Fog. Displayed in a clasp or ring, never on a banner.
Motto: "What is lost may guide."
Backstory:
Once a rising star of imperial nobility, Haus Nachtspiegel now walks the knife’s edge between exile and indispensability. Their only seat lies in @Oststein in @Nebelgestat, a fogbound coastal region on Hesa’s eastern shore, bordered by the Stahlbrandter mountains to the west and the storm-laced sea to the east. Though technically minor, Nachtspiegel once held imperial glory through Emperor Isen III, a naval reformer and mystic whose reign (117–165) transformed the empire’s maritime doctrine and introduced the Runenkiel system—a fusion of arcane navigation and tactical illusion. His rule marked the golden age of Nachtspiegel influence, and his death left behind a legacy of reverence and unease.
That legacy shattered roughly 100 years ago (Year of the Emperor 189), when Lord Halbrecht Nachtspiegel attempted a ritual-backed coup in @Konigsheim. The plot—meant to remove the then Emperor Gerwalt I of Falkenhayn stock—was foiled by Haus Stahlbrandt. After this, Haus Nachtspiegal suffered Erbbruch, and was stripped of many of its holdings and court privileges. Only their coastal manor in Oststein remains in family hands—more lighthouse and watchtower than palace, its halls lined with salt-stained maps and sealed doors.
It is rumored that The Council of the Wound had wanted total name erasure of Haus Nachtspiegal, but Haus Stahlbrandt's plea for restraint along with Gerwalt I's unpopular reign stopped this from happening. Today Nachtspiegal remains a quiet pulse in the east, whispered in the pragmatic of necessity and asymmetrical intrigue.
Notable NPCs: @Admiral Veyran Nachtspiegel, @Rune Nachtspiegel
Region: small lands in Rochefort
Notable NPCs: @Sir Meinfried Reuch
Region: @Steinlaut located in south west Hesa near the frontiers
Seat: @Hochbrink Bastion
Crest: An iron helm split by a jagged fracture across the brow
Motto: "We wear the break."
Backstory: House Steinlaut is a young noble line forged in the Empire’s frontier wars, its name carved into the cliffs of Hochbrink Bastion. Once praised by Emperor Matthias I, it fell into disgrace under Sigmar II, accused of stolen valor and testing Erbbruch, and left to weather suspicion. Now, through Lady Bathild’s rise in court and secret dealings with Grimzog’s goblins, Steinlaut claws its way back toward imperial favor—fractured, ambitious, and unafraid to bleed for glory. Their sigil: a cracked helm on ash gray.
Whispers persist that their true name is not Steinlaut but Steinlaudt—a lesser lineage, provincial and unremarkable. During the reign of Sigmar II, a claim of Erbbruch surfaced: that Steinlaut had falsified their inheritance, stealing the name and honors of a defunct noble line. The accusation was never proven, and no formal judgment was passed. Yet the damage was done. Invitations ceased. Alliances frayed. The cracked helm became a mark of suspicion.
Notable NPCs: @Sir Hagan Steinlaut, @Lady Bathild Fichtenhain (Steinlaut by birth, Fichtenain by marriage), @Lady Ilsa Steinlaut
Region: Small lands within Falkenhayn
Notable NPCs: @Volkhard Strenge
Region: @Weiss , small impoverished province in northern Hesa
Crest: A golden stag’s antler crossed with a black quill, set against a snowfield.
Motto: “Through Quiet Strength, We Endure.”
Notable NPCs: @Clara Weiss, @Agnes Weiss, @Kurt Weiss
Region: @Weiland, small south west province between Falkenhayn and Rochefort
Seat: @Wehrheim Keep
Crest: A heron with spiral wings
Motto: "We return."
Notable NPCs: @Ida Wieland, @Ulrich Wieland