House Kragh

Coat of Arms of House Kragh

Reimar Kragh

The oldest and most venerable of the houses of the Northern provinces, House Kragh descends from the line of kings that once ruled the region that comprises Viken, Ranrike, and Torghas in the modern day as the Iron Kings until the coming of Arathor the Conquerer forced the last king in the north, King Lothar III, to bend the knee to the Empirios. Now, House Kragh is seen as a pillar of ensured imperial stability within the northern regions as many of the great houses of the north defer to the wisdom of Kragh's rulers. House Kragh's ancestral home is the castle-town of Dragonpeak.

## History

### Iron Kings of the North

Throughout much of the reign of the First Empire led by the Elves, the North had been divided amongst itself into numerous petty realms squabbling amongst one another, but always united in the event of attempted incursions from the south. In this time, House Kragh could only be considered to have been heads of a jarldom that spanned Dragonpeak and its immediate surroundings and was often overlooked from its larger neighbors. This changed with the military alliance and union formed between Jarl Sigurd Kragh through marriage to their long-time friends of Ranrike. This allowed an influx of not only manpower but also wealth to flood the halls of Dragonpeak through the iron and silver of Viken, and paved the way for Sigurd's future conquests.

One by one he would conquer and bring others into his fold, steadily growing in strength and causing great worry among the other various northern houses. Yet this consolidation came at an opportune moment as the elves prepared a campaign to finally subjugate the north into their empire and House Kragh was able to rally the north to their banners to repel the invaders in the Great Retreat, forcing the elves permanently out of the north and causing irreversible damage to its military power that led to its eventual decline. With this great victory Sigurd the Mighty, or Sigurd the Elf-Slayer, took to proclaim himself as King to unite all the houses under the rule of his house.

### Expansion and Decline

In the centuries following the Great Retreat of the elves, the northmen led by House Kragh would expand southwards into present-day Tarth and the Riverlands, further pushing the elves back and damaging their empire until its eventual collapse. This coincided with the many great raids that the northmen would embark on against the Kingdom of the Isles and the Southron Realms further south of the elves, bringing about great riches to their lands and striking fear into the hearts of many.

But fortune's would soon turn as a string of weak kings emboldened the jarls to reclaim authority and power among their holdings and to fight amongst one another in land disputes that destabilized and weakened the realm significantly, paving the way for a new invader to arrive in the early centuries of the Second Era.

### Defeat and Subjugation

In the second century of the Second Era, Arathor the Conquerer expanded his empire to encompass most of Northern Aakos and had his sights set on the ailing North as it bled and fought one another. Although battered through infighting, the north rallied once more behind King Lothar III of House Kragh to fend off the invaders, invoking the Great Retreat as a rallying cry. Yet it would not be enough as the decisive Battle of the Red Fork saw the northern army crushed at the hands of Arathor's emboldened forces.

Faced with nothing short of ruin should they have continued to resist Lothar did the only good move available to him and bent the knee to Arathor, a controversial decision that sparked continued resistance from various other houses but ultimately won the favor of the Emperor towards House Kragh, allowing them to retain Viken and Dragonpeak as their domain. In the centuries following, House Kragh remained a stalwart ally and servant of the Empirios to ensure stability in the northern regions of the empire and continues to do so to this day.

## Members and Servants

* Lord Uchtred Kragh - Current Head and Lord
* Riseig Kragh - Heir to House Kragh
* Reimar Kragh - Bastard of Lothar Kragh
* Enya Kragh - Lady of the Castle
* Ser Harald Okil - Man at Arms
* Jomner Kolpas - Squire
* Rodrik Krobt - Court Seer