House Hramuthvar

==HOUSE HRAMUTHVAR, THE BEAST DEVOURED==
House Hramuthvar is a recent but mostly defunct Lycian noble house. Their house words are “waves topple the Mountain”, and their emblem is a young tree sprouting through the skull of a tyrannosaur.  
House Hramuthvar first existed as House Hramuth, a prestigious noble house centred around a powerful frost giant clan and its allies. In the Giant tongue Hramuth translates literally to “The Mountain”, however this refers less to any specific mountain and more to the concept of a mountain- gigantic, domineering and everlasting. A closer translation to common would probably be “apex” or “peak”. In some offshoot dialects it is also used to refer to the apex predators of an ecosystem. 
House Hramuth were infamous slavers, capturing all sorts of monstrous and humanoid thralls for their bodies and labour. Their appalling enthusiasm for slavery came from a place of entitlement rather than malice, similar to how a humanoid settlement might feel entitled to the bodies and labour of its livestock. The House had great relations with other giant houses, who simply saw Hramuth as their traditionalist, strongly conservative neighbour with reliable wares for sale. In their prime, the giants of Hramuth were said to be capable of stealing entire towns and tribes without permanently damaging a single useful body. 
This success lead House Hramuth to incredible ill-gotten riches and power, but it didn’t last forever. Over decades and in some cases centuries, those enslaved by Hramuth waited for brief windows into their masters’ hubris. A weakened brick in a pillar here, a soft link in a chain there, a rare message passed between settlements. Small acts of sabotage and disobedience were passed down between the old and fresh blood like family heirlooms. 
The enslaved of Hramuth struck during a time of political upheaval, when House leaders were distracted by infighting and greed. Families, allies and even former sworn enemies alike all banded together to exact a brutal, bloody vengeance upon their mutual oppressors. Many died in the coup, including every last member of Hramuth. Together the survivors founded their own house from the bones of their jailors, House Hramuthvar (the addition “var” simply adding a past tense to the name). Whenever asked for a translation though, a member of Hramuthvar will instead offer the phrase “The Beast Devoured”, which could be correct if one did the linguistic equivalent of squinting at it from far away and at an angle.
House Hramuthvar held some significant power during its time, trading with the tainted riches it inherited from its masters, or even donating them for political capital. It also traded the services of small bands of soldiers well-practised in engaging with opponents much larger than themselves. General life was comfortable but not without its challenges. Without armies of slaves constantly tending to the soil, the craggy territory of Hramuthvar was not very fertile, especially when compared to the rest of Lycia. Giant-sized buildings, furniture, goods and tools all needed significant re-tooling before any proper use could be made of them, slowing down most tasks. And occasionally roving bands of giants would occasionally try to reclaim an old fort, especially in winter.
But the greatest challenge the members of the House faced was, with no homes or towns to return to, having to make an everyday living within the site of their shared traumas. Many found empowerment in shaping the land and settlements to their suiting, working for themselves rather than masters. But plenty did not, instead finding themselves haunted by their pain years and decades afterwards. As the decades passed and the stockpile of riches grew ever smaller, most members of Hramuthvar dispersed far from Lycia, leaving the House technically alive but very, very dormant.
House Hramuthvar highly values the idea of adopted family, that the bonds of shared hardship and work can be just as strong as any blood tie. Of all the noble houses of Lycia, it is quite possibly the easiest to gain membership into, as long as the potential candidate has the correct mindset. For someone like Professor Chumley, being a member of a people who have historically been a slave class in their own home, the induction process was quite smooth.