House Safton

• County of Safton
• Sworn to the Duke of Arilan
• Crest: The Safton Crest is a red bulls’ head over a white circle on a field of green.
• Motto of House Safton: “Burn for Leather.”
  • Meaning: To be reckless in one’s pursuit of cattle, or to be bold in one’s endeavors.

House Safton is sometimes known as ‘House Beef,’ because their County is home to the majority of the Dutchy’s cattle farms.  The so-called ‘Safton steers’ are a breed of bovine unique to the House’s cow herders.  Their cows are somewhat larger and meatier than most others, and are said to produce a more flavorful meat.  

As a consequence of their cattle based economy and long history of cattle-rearing, the members of the House are considered to be among the best horsemen in the realm.  They also have skill with a device made of weighted rope that can be thrown up to forty yards with accuracy, in a design that allows it to wrap around a cow’s legs.  Knights of the House carry these devices, called ‘Rope Stars,’ and use them in battle to force enemy horses to stumble and fall.  

The capital of Safton County is at Whitehill, a massive hill nearly 2,000 feet tall which spends half of the year dusted with snow.  A grand fortified manor house tops the hill, surrounded by a town with extensive leatherworking, butchery, and meat curing facilities.  Whitehill sits between the Blue and Green rivers, which run down into the Sapphire Sea where their freshwater mixes with saltwater to give the Sapphire Sea its briny nature.

Culture of House Safton

House Safton are proud of their cattle-raising tradition, this has led them to consider horsemanship the finest of virtues.  They believe that someone who ‘rides herds’ and lives in the wilds with the cattle, managing them as they are moved from field to field, is a true man.  Their Knighthoods tend to be heritable, with long-standing cattle-raising Knightly families.  These Knights are in charge of large ranches of hundreds of cows, and are perhaps the hardest-working Knights of the realm.  They are proud of this, and consider other knights to be lazy or even effete.

Martial Traditions

House Safton Knights often wear treated leather hides in combat instead of heavy metal armors, and are experts with their unique Rope Stars, as well as maintaining competence with traditional Knightly implements of sword and lance.  They are sometimes employed in warfare to break the charge of enemy cavalry by disabling the horses with Rope Stars so that infantry can advance and finish off the downed, disoriented, and disabled enemy horsemen.

Dark Secrets of House Safton

Fifty years ago, House Safton was in deep competition with neighboring House Cambrin in the business of cattle farming.  They secretly seeded the Cambrin fields in the Fall with the seeds of ‘Widowgrass’ a grass weed poisonous to cattle.  The following Spring saw the grass sprouting everywhere their cattle grazed, resulting in the almost complete destruction of their cattle industry.  The incident forced House Cambrin to abandon cattle production altogether, switching their industry to crop farming.  The ‘Plague of Widowgrass’ resulted in mass poverty within House Cambrin, and if the truth was ever learned, it would cause great enmity between the Houses.