House Golden Antler was a wood elven house in the southern Shattered Continent during the Elvish Wars.

Structure

Politics

House Golden Antler was ruled by Patriarch Tymahe. He held absolute, uncontested power in the house. There was no noble family around him, and accordingly no planned succession. Instead, the house was organized in a military structure reminiscent of how Mystraleth organized its martial dominions. The Patriarch, who doubled as Lord Protector of the Woodland Greens, was the commander; he had a small cadre of officers under him, who commanded the house's small army and took care of day-to-day administration; and local control, such as ruling a village or governing trade, were left in the hands of petty officers and whoever else had enough power to impose their own rule. There was no legal structure; the only thing that counted was that orders were followed.

Officially, House Golden Antler did seek to legitimize its claims. Its foundation out of three wood elven houses was legitimized by Mystraleth, a great house; and the Patriarch engaged in a minimum of diplomacy with his neighbors so that the borders stayed open. Thanks to trade and its alliance with Mystraleth, the house had a sizeable amount of resources and equipment at its disposal.

Demographics

The vast majority of Golden Antler's population was formed by around 500'000 wood elves. Most of these lived in small, autonomous forest villages, but with time they were increasingly relocated to larger, high-elven-style farming communities.

There was only one major city in the Woodland Greens area: Mossy-Growth Grove, the house's capital. The Patriarch even built a small palace there, out of what had been the wood elves' community hall.

Military

When Golden Antler was established, it had very limited military capabilities at its disposal. Its predecessor houses did not have any soldiers; Tymahe only had around 900 badly trained and marginally loyal wood elven levies and a Principle of 100 Mystraleth soldiers at his disposal. By 4'145, the levy force - called the Stag Guard - had grown to 3'000 strong.

The Stag Guard was composed solely out of local wood elves. Some were volunteers, and some had prior experience as hunters or scouts. Many were levied by force, and initially treated more as slaves than soldiers. However, the house did not train them with the veteran Mystraleth soldiers; after all, the primary purpose of the Stag Guard was simply to keep the population under control. New recruits underwent basic physical training, were told to obey orders without question, and were sent out in small squads to police villages, extract taxes, force people to relocate into new villages, guard those villages, and execute traitors. The Stag Guard was a force of bullies, not an army. However, House Golden Antler did equip its troops with good plate armor and weapons. Mystraleth, meanwhile, was mostly used to protect Mossy-Green Grove and assist the Stag Guard in larger operations.

The palace and Patriarch were protected by a small group of elite mercenary fighter who were known as the White Devils. The chief commanders of the forces were two Generals, who Tymahe called his "two antlers".

In addition, starting in 4'147 b. OW, the house had access to 300 decently capable mercenaries called the Thousand Sons. They were hired to help suppress an attempted uprising and escape in some villages.

Stag Guard Structure

History

House Mystraleth's occupation of the Woodland Greens area ended in 4'154 b. OW, when it pulled out most of its troops. Before leaving, it made sure to keep control of the area, and thus executed the leaders of all three local houses and gave the auxiliary officer Tymahe Hunter-Seer Mermmeney control of Mossy-Green Grove. Tymahe decided to found his own noble house, adding the title of Patriarch Golden Antler to that of Lord Protector.

Golden Antler's regime was widely criticized for its excessive brutality and oppression. The population was regularly persecuted and forcibly relocated to villages where they could be more easily controlled. People were arbitrarily labeled as traitors and executed.

The house's armies were routed during the One Antler War against House Suuyne. Tymahe died and House Golden Antler was disbanded.