The Northern Realms

Between Metrix to the west and Aria to the east lies the Northern Realms, a chain of plateaus, high valleys, and guarded passes held by rival noble houses. In Solana's earliest days, northern chieftains allied to Solana and subdued their shadowsworn rivals, then bent the knee in the Solarium and were anointed as knights. From those oaths came houses that still shape the region.

These noble families jockey for position as the dominant power of the province, contests often concerning trade accords and mining claims. Yet in the mountainous Northern Realms, an accord or claim is worth little without passage and so roads have become the most valuable asset of all.

Barthimont estate became powerful through trading routes and heavy tolls, notorious under Lady Barthimont's Shadow rites. Though Lady Barthimont fell, the House did not; a successor tenuously holds what remains and inherits both the title and the suspicion it carries.

House Redmoor, by contrast, has long traded in loyalty and service as its currency. It is from Redmoor stock that Boltyn was born, raised with the expectation of inheritance and duty. Yet, in a land where Solana's gaze is watchful but distant, even "service" has teeth. Redmoor's most trusted hands are often the ones willing to do what others will not by means that are not always fit for the golden city. Their reputation is steadier than most, but it is not spotless.

Each noble house is wealthy in its own right, yet all are eclipsed by the immense fortune held by House Goldmane. Their mines are worked high in the coldest climes, and the house has long sold the notion that their metal is not merely abundant, but finer: a purer gold, fit for Solana's hands and worthy of Solanian craft. But their power is not simply in what they own, but in what they can open and deny: roads made safe, resources kept secret, debts called in at the worst possible season.

In recent memory, House Goldmane has proven its reach by breaking House Ashwood's army and slaughtering its people after the house refused to pay their dues. Several noble houses have been subsumed or utterly destroyed in this manner, with House Ashwood being only the latest.