The Wardens of the Old Wood.

House Verdant

"The forest remembers."

The House Verdant Chronicle

The Story

Four scenes from a war they intend to win.

Scene 1

The Old Wood

Older than the kingdom. Older than the language it was named in. Verdant walks its paths without torches, because the trees know them.

Scene 2

The Closed Roads

Since the Sundering not one wagon has crossed the Verdant Wood without a green rider's leave. Trade thins. Prices rise. Verdant does not care.

Scene 3

The Woodmother

Her name is a secret. Her word is law from the northern rivers to the southern falls. She has never left the forest, and yet she has never lost a battle within it.

Scene 4

The Quiet War

Verdant does not march in columns. Verdant loses a keep and takes a valley. Verdant loses a season and takes a generation. Verdant is winning, and no one has noticed.

The Claim

Before Ironhold, before the Iron Kings, before the black keep and the crown of forged steel, there was the Old Wood, and there were those who spoke for it. Verdant does not claim the throne. Verdant claims that the throne was theirs before it existed, and that they permitted the Iron Kings to sit upon it. That permission has been withdrawn.

What Drives Them

Restoration. To the green banners, the last four hundred years were an interruption — a long, blood-soaked misunderstanding. The Sundering did not break the kingdom. It ended a borrowed one.

Their Origin

No founder. No first lord. Verdant traces its lineage through matriarchs — Woodmothers — chosen by council of the deep groves. The name of the current Woodmother is not spoken outside the forest.

Where They Stand Now

Verdant holds the great forest, every road that crosses it, and the water that feeds three of the four Houses. They have closed the roads. They will re-open them for the right crown, or none.

The Creed of House Verdant

"Every tree we plant outlasts a king."

"A road is a promise. We do not lightly make one."

"The forest is not our home. We are its dwelling."

"We remembered before you were born. We will remember after."

Sworn Enemy

House Azure, who calls the forest a cage between its ports.

Uneasy Ally

House Vermil, warily, for both remember the old wounds.

Will you swear the Verdant banner?

Choose your House in the game and fight for their claim.

SWEAR THE BANNER