Clan Muirdech was an important family in the Free Marches, which notably ruled the Greater Marches. The family was also known as House Muirdech in the Ochebana Empire.

History

Ernest Muirdech

Tarra Muirdech was an officer in the Marcher Brigades. She died in 619 b. OW of disease and the weakness of old age. Her younger husband, Ernest Muirdech, had long served as an adjutant in her unit and commanded the respect of his men. Three farming villages in the southeastern Free Marches named him their protector. In 617 b. OW, he heroically defended the villages against a cling-clang raiding party, and in the process was named Marcher Lord.

Four years later, the Muirdech settlements had expanded to five villages, and Marcher Lord Errka Tatteyn had sworn her banner to Muirdech. The clan built a small Bergfried on its southernmost hill, to both watch for cling-clang and better defend the Muirdech Marches. In 611, Ernest noticed the growing Faithhorn clan, which lied a short distance north of his own, and offered an alliance. Together, they were the two largest clans in the area and could probably bring some more bannermen under their wing. The Faithhorns agreed and decided to form the Eastmarch; Muirdech became the Eastmarch's first bannermen. The large state saw itself quickly grow in economic power and popularity, and Muirdech rode the wave to become Eastmarch's second-largest clan.

The Green Wedding

In 606 b. OW, Bolton Hohngrass - the new Lord of the Upper Marches, whose Lord brother had died shortly after his wife died at childbirth - sought a suitable bride to marry. The Upper Marches were a very scattered state, on the verge of collapse because the Hohngrass's bannermen questioned Bolton's ability to properly lead them in battle. Few of the great clans wanted to risk an alliance with such a contested and undoubtedly soon ousted man, but Tatya Muirdech, first daughter of Clan Muirdech, bravely decided to offer her hand. A grand wedding was held, called "green" because of the large number of bannerman flags and plain green war banners flown during the event. Shortly after, to consolidate the marriage, all the clans of the Upper Marches and Muirdech's bannermen marched south together. Most Lords of the Upper Marches heeded the call because Muirdech was a venerable and reliable clan, and they trusted them to keep Bolton in check. In fact, the expedition was a brilliant success, and a sizeable stretch of coast was conquered for Clan Muirdech and the Eastmarch. In exchange, Muirdech sent a sizeable dowager and 100 of their own Marchers as a gift to the Upper Marches.

Tatya, who had ably led troops during the war, was now very popular. Though Bolton's performance had been mediocre as expected, she'd triumphed on the battlefield, and many people called her Marcher Lord for it. The Upper Marches held together mostly thanks to her. Bolton died of liver issues while she was pregnant, and - in accordance with tradition - of her two sons, one was given the name Hohngrass, and one the name Muirdech.

A Great March and the Greater Marches

In 591 b. OW, the six great clans controlled most of the Marches among them, and clan Muirdech - the bannermen of both Eastmarch's Faithhorns and the Upper Marches' Hohngrasses - had reached a size and influence warranting a dominion of their own. So the six great clans and Muirdech decided to form a single, united army between all of them - something never seen before - and march south. The expedition was a flamboyant success, and the major cling-clang fortress now called Moat Clailin was taken. The Lords agreed to federate under the Free Marchers' Table, and Muirdech - arguably the strongest of them all - was given the new territory to rule, under the name Greater Marches.

Muirdech's Marches became the emblem of Marcher Lord unity. Many hundreds of people across the Marches moved to the new territory, to cultivate it and make sure it didn't fall into enemy hands, and because Muirdech's name was legendary. The Muirdechs of the Upper Marches all went south, either taking their bannermen with them and giving their domains to new lords, or stripping bannermen of their obligations. The Muirdechs of Eastmarch meanwhile were freed from their obligations as the Faithhorns' bannermen and received sovereignty over their territories. The Greater Marches, under Lord Faen Muirdech of the Eastmarch, became the state with the strongest army and the most loyal culture. The name Muirdech was almost set equal to living gods.

Ochebanians

The Ochebana Empire invaded the Lespen Alliance, which had no relations with Muirdech, in 565. When its invasion of Brimmer was imminent, Clan Muirdech was spoke against intervention at the Table: "The Kindom of Brimmers does not lie in the Marches. Our duty as Marchers is to shield the realms of the good folk from the menace in the south. Which kingdom lies to our north does not matter." The Brimmers fell quickly in any case, but soon after, Ochebana's intention to annex or invade the Marches was clear. Muirdeth, like all other great clans, refused to surrender to Ochebana. So it came to war, and the main Muirdech army fought a pitched battle against Ochebana's larger army, and won.

However, the Marchers were not united in their fight for sovereignty: many Lords, nearly half, believed that fighting "fellow good folk" was a pointless undertaking when the threat lied to the south, and accordingly sided with Ochebana - though few of them also supplied the Ochebanians with troops. The united enemy army, supported by several turncoat Marcher Lords, was heading south - and the remaining Free Marchers decided to unite under one ruler, Bioeren Muirdech, the First Marcher. So the Marcher army, to a large part consisting of the Greater Marches' men, faced the Ochebanians - and lost. Bioeren died on the battlefield, as did most of his family, except for his 16 year old son, Thauen Muirdech, now Lord of the Greater Marches.

In order to properly incorporate their new subjects, the Ochebanians took a very accepting approach, placing their Warden of the Marches in Moat Cailin but otherwise leaving the clan system mostly untouched. Clan Muirdech, officially called Muirdech family of House Muirdech by the Ochebanians, had lost its glorious luster, but it was still the most important house in the Marches. Thus, Thauen's relatives made sure that Thauen was the one to marry the Warden's sister. The Muirdechs' close alliance to the Ochebanians saved their status of primacy, and allowed them to continue being a great clan in the Ochebanian Marches.

Fall

With the rise and fall of noble families more in line with the Ochebanian style, Marcher culture slowly disappeared, and so did the Muirdech name. Though several families in the region, distant descendants from Clan Muirdech, had that name, Muirdech as a true strong family disappeared after the killing of Jon Muirdech, a noble landowner in the Marches area, in 394 b. OW.