House van Aert
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History
The van Aert bloodline is notable for its strong male seed, a result of their direct descendance from the House of Horen. The history of the newly established house is new and inspiring with mystery to their unique origin. The lands which the Middelanders hail from can not be pin-pointed on a map but it is imagined that they descend partially from the middle mountains of Aeldin, hence their namesake. Although their famous ancestors can be traced back to as far as two hundred years it is noted that their divergence from Renatus proper and its Imperial culture can be as a direct result of Martius’ famed sea voyages. Martius, the Corsair Prince notoriously raided the northern coasts of Aeldin after his exile from Renatus and sired many bastard sons and daughters among the local populace. In particular, when his son Georgius joined his raids he too sired sons and daughters with the most notable being his son Avgust, who became an astute man of martial character and captained various mercenary companies in the foreign continent.
In his travels, Avgust met a woman from the lands where the Middelanders settled and he sired five sons and one daughter. His wife, known by no name other than that she was a woman of profound taste for exquisite items, was rumored to be the daughter of the local lord. In an unfortunate turn of events, the local lord was invaded by a rival and Avgust was obligated to defend his lands. He met a gruesome fate, impaled directly through the gut by a stout dwarf. The lord and his daughter were banished from the lands and the oldest son Casper, named Gaspard by his mother, fled with his siblings to a nearby port town. From there, they sailed to the lands of Almaris and established themselves as a small but decently competent band-for-hire. They were no strong company at arms but with experience and renown they grew to have a reliable reputation enough to the point where they eventually housed a company of two hundred men.
Gaspard organized his family into a position of strength and courted the various powers of the Almaris continent. There, much like his father, he advertised his expertise and was eventually welcomed at the court of Emperor Philip II, the monarch of the Holy Orenian Empire. A treaty was signed that agreed upon favorable terms, providing provisions of military assistance in the aid of war in return for land which Gaspard could settle and establish political control. The land was surrounded by swamps, hills and curtained by a mountain that blocked any possible expansion. Eventually, to make matters worse, the land which he had settled was the site of a holy place of worship for the people of Yong Ping. The unfavorable land worth cultivating and the ensuing headache of foreign pilgrims saw Gaspard depart from the lands and instead travel to the lands of Urguan’s sons. He entered into a treaty similar to the one he had signed with Oren, which saw him bestowed a large fief in the mountain valley named the Blackvale.
Culture
The men and women which owe allegiance to the van Aert family are simply known as Middelanders and form an odd culture much different from the settled peoples of Almaris. They share a very strong cultural similarity with the Imperials, but differ on naming conventions and a foreign tongue. Their accent, to the unknown ear, could be mistaken for a Lodenlander, or mayhaps a Santegian, but they stand out comparably when spoken side by side. They dress themselves in flamboyant garments with bright colors, most recognisably their flared pantaloons and their distinct appreciation for the color of burgundy which is adorned on the shield of the van Aert family. They are chiefly made up of stocky folk who practice warfare as their main source of income, but also take up various other crafts during times of peace and prosperity.
