House Ulfsverd is young: born of steel, not of blood. It has no ancient line, no inherited crests, no old songs sung by the hearth. It began with one man: Erak, a Rathgari warrior without a surname, but with enough honor to shame ten jarls.
For decades, Erak served the House of Rivacheg, not as a noble, but as a sword-arm, a shield, a sentinel in shadow and storm. He was the sworn blade of Arnolf von Rivacheg, standing beside him through the blood-wet marches of Araluen, through famine, rebellion, and the long dread of the Slumberblight. In time, Arnolf came to call him brother in all but name.
When Arnolf passed and Tristan von Rivacheg ascended as Head of the House, he carried his father’s memories, and his father’s debts of honor. In a gesture both political and profoundly personal, Tristan granted Erak the right to found a cadet house of Rivacheg, not bound by blood, but by unwavering loyalty. To seal this new lineage, Tristan offered Erak the hand of a second cousin, thus binding honor to kin, and oath to blood.
Thus was born House Ulfsverd, the Wolf-Sword, named for the beast Erak wore into battle and the blade that never broke. Its sigil bears a silver wolf rampant on a split field of black and deep red, eyes alight with the fire of oath. Its words echo not from scroll or scripture, but from the mouths of men who remember:
“Bound by Oath, Proven by Steel.”
House Ulfsverd holds no ancient claim, no ancestral hall. But it bears a deeper truth: that honor, once earned, can forge a name strong enough to endure, even among the proud bloodlines of Araluen.