House Salain
- March of Salain
- Sworn to the House of Kilane
- Crest: The Salain Crest is a White Castle over a blue bar on a black field. It is a depiction of the Saltfort, watching over the Chasm, keeping the surrounding darkness at bay.
- Motto of House Salain: “Worth Our Salt.”
‘Salain’ means ‘Salt’ in the old tongue, back from when the petty Kings were tribal chiefs, untold years before the unification of the realm under House Arilan. House Salain was once sworn to House Maccan, the King of the North. Salain have guarded the lands surrounding the Chasm for so long, it is not known if they are named for the Salt or the Salt is named for them. Their expertise in navigating and patrolling the waters of the Chasm and the Deepwater Rush is unparalleled.
When Arilan unified the Kingdoms under their rule, they gave Maccan’s Kingdom to Kilane, with Maccan taking Kilane’s Kingdom to the South. But their subordinate nobles remained in place. It was a move meant to weaken both former Kings and ensure they were too busy securing the allegiance of their new subordinate nobles to plan and execute a rebellion.
But Kilane quickly proved itself a worthy leader of the Dutchy, and earned House Salain’s respect when they organized the methodology for producing a formidable navy, and designated House Salain to lead it. This gesture of trust and support secured the loyalty of House Salain. Unfortunately, this auspicious beginning was not to last.
As the House’s so-called ‘Salt Fleet’ reached its pinnacle of power with enough ships to rival House Arilan, it all came crashing down. In 1170, 80 years ago, somehow, a group of raiders infiltrated the docks at Salt Bay and stole several trading vessels, using them to invade the dragon nests on Bassilith Island in the Burning Sea and steal dragon eggs. In retaliation, the dragons burned every human ship in the region and scorched the Salt docks and shipyards, laying ruin to everything House Salain had built.
House Kilane moved shipbuilding operations to the Bay of Crabs, and Salain’s participation in the grand navy of the Dutchy had largely come to a fiery end. They would eventually rebuild their docks and yards, but would never again be given primary responsibility for building and commanding the Dutchy’s navy.
Today, while House Salain still controls two war galleys and a dozen trading ships, it has primarily transformed itself into a land-power. They man fortifications along the Chasm, and hold a fort near the border to Tír Ceilte. Extra resources to offset their military expenditures are earned through the Evaporation Pools at Salt Bay, where many tons of salt are extracted each year and sold worldwide.
Culture of House Salain
The motto of House Salain perfectly encapsulates their view on life and their place in it. There is a great deal of social pressure in the House for each man and woman to prove that their existence on this planet is warranted. Anyone who is not perceived to be pulling their weight is seen as a failure who must remediate themselves. A servant is expected to devote themselves entirely to perfecting their function, even if it is something as simple as sweeping floors or polishing dishes. A warrior is expected to continuously perfect their skillset. A chef is meant to be continuously searching for improved recipes. Even a prostitute is expected to master her craft of pleasure. Anyone who fails to be a worthwhile person is expected to either redeem themselves or- if improvement is beyond their capacity- to end themselves.
Martial Traditions
Salain was once a House whose primary power was in its ships and naval warfare. The burning of the Salt Fleet changed their destiny forever. While the House remains proud of its naval heritage and maintains a symbolic navy, it has become primarily a land power with a specialty in siege artillery, which they use in unorthodox ways to defend areas as well as assault them. Their ground troops are trained as mounted infantry, using horses to quickly approach a position before dismounting to fight. Their knights typically wear heavy armors that grant maximum mobility at the joints, including chain with gambesons and brigandine coats, or chain with gambesons and breastplates. Knights train with two swords: one-handed straight-bladed arming swords and two-handed great swords. The great swords are designed to be mounted on six-foot poles when fighting against very large megafauna, wyverns, or dragons. Every knight is also trained with a type of metal-armed heavy crossbow which is pulled by a gear and lever-operated winch rather than a windlass, and can be fully cocked in four pulls of the lever. These heavy crossbows have a range of 80 yards to hit a man with accuracy, or up to 400 yards to hit a large target or formation of soldiers. .
Dark Secrets of House Salain
House Salain’s internal histories record that the Marquis who was in charge of the House 80 years ago when the Salt Fleet burned, Benovan, committed suicide to atone for the shame of the loss. This restored the House honor. His eldest son then took over the House. However, in reality Benovan ran away with a significant amount of the House’s treasure, believing the Duke would order his execution for losing the Dutchy’s navy.
Areas of Interest
The Chasm
The Chasm is a great canyon that cuts through the Northern portion of the March of Salain, just South of the border with Tír Ceilte, land of the Sidhe. The depth of The Chasm ranges from a hundred meters to nearly three-hundred meters, and its width ranges from a hundred meters to almost a thousand. A channel of water rests at its bottom, connecting the Burning Sea to the Deepwater Rush.
The Chasm’s shape serves to funnel winds such that a remarkably strong breeze always blows from the East or West, causing passage by sail to be nearly impossible. At its narrowest point, it is almost inconceivable that a sailing ship could tack close enough against the wind to get through safely. A few daredevils have managed it for sport, but it is exceedingly dangerous.
For this reason, rowed ships like Galleys are needed to safely pass The Chasm, as the rowed propulsion can force ships against the wind.
Various underwater creatures, including dangerous Krakens, cross the chasm to the Burning Sea and back again during spawning seasons.
House Salain has fortifications along The Chasm, and a huge number of well-maintained felldrakes that can shoot down into unauthorized ships. (Or up into the sky if desired.) There is also a bridge across the chasm close to its midpoint that can be quickly destroyed to prevent an invading army from crossing over it in a march to the South.
House Salain also keeps a pair of Galleys that patrol the coast on either end of The Chasm when they are not engaged in diplomatic functions, although most of the Dutchy’s navy belongs to Crogan County, and it is there, in the Bay of Crabs, that most sailing ships make their last stop.
The Chasm’s great natural walls are often referred to as the Salt Cliffs. Whether this is because House Salain owns them, or because of the vast salt deposits in them, is unknown. House Salain does mine the cliffs for salt occasionally, but more often uses miles of evaporation pools along the inner coast of the Burning Sea to harvest salt from those waters. This leaves the Salt Cliffs structurally intact.
The Deepwater Rush
A tidal bore, often simply given as bore in context, is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave of water that travels up a river or narrow bay, reversing the direction of the river or bay's current. It is a strong tide that pushes up the river, against the current.
West of Brydd and North of the Kraken Strait and Braebon Bay, the Deepwater Rush waits to destroy the unwary and challenge even the very brave. *The Deepwater Rush is plagued by mysterious eddies, currents, and vortexes that appear, disappear, and change with regularity but not predictability. When vortexes appear, the winds seem to conspire to blow ships into them while strong currents suck from below.
It is quite likely that the Sídhe have set powerful wards (spells of protection) on the Deepwater Rush to protect access to their main city, Annwyn High Court.
In addition to the strange currents and maelstroms that plague the Deepwater Rush, it is also beset by tidal bores twice a day. At certain times of the year when extra hide tides occur and during the Shrouds, the power of the ringed world Gwydion and Aereth's moon, Aine, conspire to create a massive bore with a mighty tidal wave that is capable of destroying some ships.
If all of that was not discouraging enough, a massively deep trench lies beneath the waters of the Rush. All manner of marine life lurks in these waters including kraken and massive sharks.
Sailing ships have navigated the rush successfully in the past, but are much more usually drawn into a vortex and consumed by the sea. Stout galleys with strong oarmen and experienced Captains are needed to resist the unnatural currents and navigate a ship safely away from hazardous waters. The last safe port of call before entering the rush proper is Crab Bay, where sailing ships often stop to unload their cargo. Then the cargo is transferred to a trading galley available under contract to make the final leg of the trade journey. Or else it is sold on the spot to the Count and he is left to trade it further on as he will.
Likewise, the Dutchy puts their own goods on such sailing ships, for delivery to the rest of the Kingdom or even other nations.