House of Hartcold

House de Hartcold Surge surge et apud eundem, Leones Usque victima fieri Rise and Rise Again, Until Lambs Become Lions Country: N/A Titles: Duke of Riviä Baron of Adylith Lord of Blackden Founder: Hugh de Hartcold Current Head: Thomas de Hartcold Ethnicity: Heartlander House Motto: "Rise and Rise Again, Until Lambs Become Lions" Cadet Branches: House de Hartcold-Yorke House Harken (extinct) House de Hartcold-Fille House de Hartcold-Saxron

The House of de Hartcold (Common: de Hartcold; High Imperial: de Hartcold) is the current ruling family of the Barony of Adylith and the Duchy of Riviä. Before that, it was the royal family of the Kingdom of Adylith, which was founded by its first patriarch Thomas I.

History

Establishment

After the death of the patriarch of House Hartcold, George Hartcold, the alive children would then decide to refound house Hartcold as House de Hartcold, as a new, prestigious house. The three children would then change their surname to "de Hartcold". Edwin de Hartcold, Thomas de Hartcold and Merion de Hartcold would make a meeting with the family members, to discuss the ethics and morals of the new and refounded house. Formed from many, now as one.

Once the family was re-founded, the made an article at the family council about the values of the family, which are: Loyalty & unity, friendship & brotherhood, honor, prestige, and ambition.

Axios

House de Hartcold found its first home in the Duchy of Curon. Joining in due to their distaste for the Kingdom of Santegia, they stood out as one of the three noble houses of Curon. For the remainder of their time in Axios, they continued to serve Curon, until the leader Thomas de Hartcold would leave them, breaking his oath, joining the Order of Saint Lucien in the middle of the Third Crusade, and upon the destruction of Axios.

Atlas

Upon arriving in Atlas, House de Hartcold once again found itself in the Duchy of Curon. However, soon it was announced that the Duchy would be stripping all of its noble houses of their status, and demoting them to gentry status, since the same was being done in the Kingdom of Marna. Although Curon did not end up joining Marna, as was planned, this remained in effect. Disgruntled by the stripping of their noble status, tensions rose between House de Hartcold. Upon hearing of plans to leave Curon, breaking his second oath, the leader of Curon and other members of the gentry captured and tortured Thomas I, nearly killing him before he managed to escape. This ultimately leads to House de Hartcold leaving the Duchy of Curon and seeking asylum in the Order of Saint Lucien. After this failed to achieve anything, the members of House de Hartcold began building their own place. Upon its construction, they founded the Kingdom of Adylith, declaring themselves the royalty of this newly founded kingdom, thus leaving behind Thomas's oaths to the Order of Saint Lucien.

However, Curon was not done with the de Hartcold family yet. Thomas I went missing, and his wife Auralia de Hartcold took over running the Kingdom. However, soon she found herself berated by other nations, who claimed the Kingdom of Adylith was a false Kingdom and showed great hostility. The War Nation of Krugmar attacked and attempted to vassalise the Kingdom. Right around the time of Thomas's return, in 1654, the global assembly summoned Adylith before the other human nations in the assembly. After threatening to declare war on the Kingdom, Auralia surrendered the Kingdom to the Principality of Curon, then becoming the Barony of Adylith. However, not yet done with the Hartcolds, Ser Sylvestre II levied charges against Thomas I, in an attempt bring him to trial which ultimately failed with the trial being called off as Curon never turned up. This was not the end of the de Hartcold's troubles, however, as in 1658, Thomas was arrested in Curon for insubordination and disrespect towards the current leader of the Principality, Princess Linette. In what would be known as "The Adylith Compromise", the former patriarch was stripped of all titles and made Baron-Consort of Adylith. His wife, Auralia, would subsequently be made Baroness of Adylith with full authority over the barony, and Matriarch of House de Hartcold under Linette's decree.

Controversy

House de Hartcold has continually been trialled with modern controversies. The patriarch, Thomas de Hartcold, broke several oaths to various human sovereigns, therefore staining his image and honor. His name is an ill-spoken one across the bastions of humanity, spread by much of the contemporary Marantine society and clergy. His betrayals, cowardice and delusions of grandeur through claiming a false crown have berated his public image.

Auralia de Hartcold, his wife, has also faced plenty of hardship due to heinous sin and courtly affair. The Church of the Canon had founded Auralia for the crime of adultery, and therefore the woman was sentenced to a total of seven years of a sororal postulancy with The Order of Blessed Catherine. Stripped of her vanities, riches and lustful mannerisms, Auralia remained in the habit of a nun for an extended period of time. It was simply days after she was relieved of her tenure that she claimed her false crown as Queen-Consort of Adylith, which made a blaze of backlash and hate rise from communities all over Southern Atlas. Auralia was forced to relieve the crown and fall into submission to the Principality of Curon.

The bastard daughter of Thomas de Hartcold, Ariana, was yet another figure of the bloodline to disgrace herself and her house. Ariana continued to disrespect the Church and her family, therefore resulting in a disciplined postulancy with the sisters of The Order of Blessed Catherine. However, wild and deranged, Ariana drew her weapon on Holy Mother Judith I and her own father, then fleeing from the grand abbey. This resulted in a severe and heinous stain on the bastard's name.

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms for House de Hartcold consists of 4 quarterings, with each quarter symbolising their History. With the purple and Lorraine cross being their former coat of arms with the purple lion being their war flag.

The blazon is as follows:

Quarterly: first and fourth quarter are Purpure (purple) with a Or (gold) Lorraine cross, and second and third quarter are Argent (white) with a Purpure (purple) lion rampant.

Notable Figures

de Hartcold

Name	Portrait	Arms	Birth	Marriages	Death	Titles
Thomas I Thomas de Hartcold 1659 -			13th of the Suns Smile, 1619 Firstborn son of George de Hartcold and Eleanor de Hartcold	Auralia de Hartcold Antoinette de Hartcold	-	Duke of Riviä, Baron of Adylith, Lord of Blackden
Lilac de Hartcold			Unknown Bastard daughter of Thomas I	-	-	-
Theresa Elizabeth de Hartcold			1644 Daughter of Thomas I and Auralia de Hartcold	-	-	-
James Frederick de Hartcold			1648 Son of Thomas I and Auralia de Hartcold	-	-	Heir of the Duchy of Riviä, Heir of the Barony of Adylith, Heir of Blackden
Henry Fitzroy de Hartcold			10th of the Snows Maiden, 1659 Son of Thomas I and Auralia de Hartcold	-	-	-
Opal Louise de Hartcold			10th of the Snows Maiden, 1659 Daughter of Thomas I and Auralia de Hartcold	-	-	-

de Hartcold-Yorke

Name	Portrait	Arms	Birth	Marriages	Death	Titles
Richard I Richard de Hartcold-Yorke -			1626 Second Son of George de Hartcold and Eleanor de Hartcold	Annabeth de Hartcold	-	Count of Yorke
Wilhelmus de Hartcold-Yorke			10th of the Snows Maiden, 1659 Firsborn son to Richard I and Annabeth de Hartcold	-	-	Heir to the County of York

de Hartcold-Fille

Name	Portrait	Arms	Birth	Marriages	Death	Titles
Belle de Hartcold-Fille			1626 Recognised bastard daughter of Thomas de Hartcold	-	-	N/A
Ashton de Hartcold-Fille	100px		14th of the Amber Cold, 1664 Recognised bastard son of Belle de Hartcold-Fille	-	-	N/A
Abrielle de Hartcold-Fille	100px		14th of the Amber Cold, 1664 Recognised bastard daughter of Belle de Hartcold-Fille	-	-	N/A

Vassals

House de Hartcold currently maintains a small number of vassals directly sworn to their domain, being the following:

House de Fourtnoy, Baron of Koliningburg.

House of Tarly, Baron of Ibelin.

House de Hartcold-Yorke, Count of Yorke.