Vallenhall

The Margraviate of Vallenhall is the ancestral home of the Vallian family, having stood for nearly two millennia since its original foundations during the rise of Thoradin and the end of the Troll Wars.

History
In the closing weeks of the legendary Troll Wars, the thoughts of many Human tribal leaders began to turn towards the future. Could Elvenkind truly be trusted? Moreover, would the Amani remain subjugated and silent for very long at all? How would this fledgling experiment, this 'Kingdom of Arathor', defend itself in the future? Such questions demanded answers, or at the very least practical theories. In very large part, they led to the creation of Vallenhall.

The Chief of a small but clever, strategically-minded tribe saw the answer as quite simple. Taking his family and worldly posessions, he set his people to building walls and paving roads. Though he did not live to see its completion, within the next two generations his tribe had established a fortified castle, nestled away in the mountains. While hidden, it provided a position of excellent command over neighboring lands, serving as a hub for all walkable roads through the mountain range.

While this made Vallenhall, as it came to be known, a quite profitable hub of trade between men and elves, it also gave the owner of Vallenhall unprecedented capability to strike out at either and retreat to safety. Capitalizing on this advantage, this Chief's descendants became masters of the horse and saddle, training some of the best cavalry a Human Kingdom would ever have the pleasure of commanding.

Claiming to be the direct descendants of this ancient tribal Chief, the Vallians have overseen Vallenhall as its Margraves for as long as anyone could care to remember.

Culture
For many generations, the denizens of Vallenhall were an isolationist branch of Lordaeronian culture. They held to the same Church, knelt to the same King, fought in the same wars; but they were never quite integrated. Always, there has been an air of pretense about it all: Certainly a Vallian will pray in your church, kneel to your King, and fight in your wars. But you could never quite feel that he did it for anything more than convenience. This was simply the way of things, and would remain so even after heavy Vallian participation in the Second and Third Wars.

The truth is ultimately that men of the Vallian household, and the citizens of Vallenhall, have a deep-seated cultural identity all their own. While they hold all nations of Humanity as their brothers and sisters, they have never once truly seen themselves as subservient to any. Ask any man of Vallenhall, from the Margrave himself down to the average farming peasant, what he thinks of Lordaeron and you would surely hear fine stories of profitable trade, loyal allies, and golden years of plenty. Never once will you hear him refer to Vallenhall as part of Lordaeron, though. Or to the Menethils as their Kings.

In terms of cuisine, the people of Vallenhall consider venison a staple, and many traditional Vallian dishes include it prominently. Due to the mountainous seat of Vallenhall, their selection of vegetables has always been limited mostly to carrots and beets, though potatoes are almost as much a staple as venison. In very general terms, the food of Vallenhall is hardy and rustic. Very little luxury is afforded to the Margrave that could not be found just as easily in the home of an average soldier or workman; often, the men and women of House Vallian dine on the same dishes as their peasants, harboring a deep unity between the two, and an understanding that the position of the Margrave is one of necessity rather than wasteful power.