Jor Kvall
Ain't found a way to kill me yet
K V A L L
"Honor Thy Roots"
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To establish the history of House Kvall, a Mandalorian House.
- Image Credit: blackenedwilderness.bandcamp.com
- Links: Full Circle [Jor Kvall assumes leadership of House Kvall]
- Company Submission: N/A
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Organization Name: House Kvall
- Classification: Mandalorian Clan/House
- Loyalties: Jor Kvall, Mandalorian Empire (nominally)
- Organization Symbol: White trident on a black banner, representing worship and reverence for the ancients in the sky, over inverted white trident, representing deep roots in one's time and place. Connected by a jagged swirl, representing both the sun and the eternity of the Mandalorian people and Clan Kvall.
- Description: House Kvall is a Mandalorian House. They have been present for thousands of years in Mandalorian space, with a rich history. The fortunes of House Kvall have ebbed and flowed over the centuries, but despite their most recent tribulations, they are beginning to resurface.
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
- Headquarters: Krownest
- Realm: Krownest [HQ]
- Domain: House Kvall, in older times, once shared occupancy of the planet Krownest with Clan Wren, another influential Mandalorian clan, but House Kvall are currently the only known dwellers on the planet at present.
- Notable Assets: Several villages spread throughout Krownest, a mountain domain in which Jor and his immediate family resides.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
- Hierarchy: The Alor (Jor Kvall) is the leader of the Clan and House, and it is a hereditary title. The Alor of House Kvall also surrounds himself with a council of Clan nobles drawn from each village under the Kvall domain, who decide upon all matters of the House's direction. The council is comprised of esteemed landowning men, who have typically proven their merit in battles or raids. Council membership is also an inherited title, though it can be passed to others outside of the immediate family. If a Councillor's leadership is called into question, the village may call upon a vote of all landowning males for him to be removed and replaced. Likewise, although all major decisions ultimately rest upon the Alor's shoulders, the council may vote to remove him from power if his leadership skills are called into question. This process is usually decided by combat. House Kvall's hierarchy is patriarchal. If a woman inherits the title of Alor or a seat at the council, she must pass it to a man. Below the Alor and his council in the social pyramid are other landowning men and their families, and below them are all others who are not influential enough to own land. At the bottom of the social hierarchy are slaves.
- Membership: The population of Clan Kvall has been estimated at under one hundred thousand. In their prime years they could muster a total number of 15-20,000 warriors to fight for Mand'alor, though the current number would be smaller than this. Membership is open to any of Mandalorian heritage, though House Kvall is notoriously suspicious of outsiders, especially non-Mandalorian foreigners. Clan Kvall can trace their descent back thousands of years to the first humans on Mandalore, and this is a source of great pride for them. Thus, membership in House Kvall is almost entirely decided by birth, as they operate within a tribal mindset. The House has always been viewed as a tribal bond of blood and kinship, thus adopting outsiders as their own would be a foreign concept to them. Perhaps the only way to gain entry to House Kvall besides slavery is through marriage, and such marriages are only between other Mandalorians, typically those of other old Clans or Houses. Unlike some modern Mandalorian Clans, there are no non-humans within their ranks.
- Influence: Their influence does not extend past the planet Krownest, as they have abandoned their previous settlements on Kalevala.
- Climate: House Kvall has the feel of any close-knit tribal community. The populations of the villages are small enough that most of the populace in each village are well-acquainted with each other. Members of House Kvall are known for their relative reservedness; they are a people of few words and lovers of both nature and isolation. The people are also known for their sexual propriety; mating is monogamous and typically for life, and unfaithfulness by either man or woman is an offense that carries with it a heavy punishment. Outsiders might perceive them as "cold" or "prudish". Like all Mandalorians, there is a heavy emphasis on martial prowess and combat. Though this had waned in recent years, the re-emphasis on martial heroism has returned under Jor Kvall's leadership. All members of the Kvall are expected to be able to defend themselves, their communities, and greater Mandalore. Additionally, simple, harsh living is prized, perhaps due to Krownest's, and later Kalevala's, harsh atmospheres. The people of House Kvall do not favor luxuries of any sort; being able to live a simple life with few provisions and comforts is seen as noble and virtuous. Physical hardship, and sometimes violence, are sought after to improve the spirit. This again is an old Mandalorian tradition that has been revitalized under Jor Kvall.
- Reputation: House Kvall was once a well-respected and honored House, though their reputation has suffered as of late, with other Mandalorians perceiving their recent years of inaction as weakness, or even cowardice. This reputation has improved somewhat after Jor Kvall fought alongside Ra Vizsla's Death Watch in the Seven Day War.
- Rules: The very basic tenets of the Resol'nare apply to House Kvall (although some, specifically rallying to Mand'alor's cause, have been interpreted rather liberally by several recent Alors, resulting in House Kvall's absence from Mandalore's more recent wars). In addition to the Resol'nare, House Kvall follows a tribal law system. The difference between this Mandalorian tribal law and other systems throughout the galaxy is that its primary purpose is recompense for the wronged, rather than punishment. In general, first offenses for a crime, such as vandalism or theft, carry the penalty of paying a price in credits to the aggrieved party. Penalties for the first offense of more serious crimes, such as murder and adultery, include being labeled dar'manda and banished from the House for a period of one year and one day, in addition to the payment of compensation to the family of the victim. Monetary compensation is also to be paid if one kills another House member in a duel, even if the victim was the initiator. Second offenses for murder and adultery are punishable by execution. Running away from battle, or murdering more than one person at a time is also grounds for immediate execution, and murdering a woman carries twice the monetary recompense as the murder of a man. If one has debt that cannot be paid, one must serve as a slave to those they are indebted to. Disobedient slaves may face execution.
- Doctrines: The principles of House Kvall are not based around a dualistic good vs. evil view of morality, but rather follow the tribal concept of being in frith with one's family, clan, and the greater people of Mandalore. As such, the laws of the tribe are centered more around balance and restoring balance, rather than moral condemnation for evil deeds. Acting in ways that respects the values of the House, and contributing to the House's well-being, are considered righteous. As with all Mandalorians, personal honor is the ultimate virtue; this can mean serving bravely in battle to upholding one's personal oaths at all times. Accordingly, slights to one's honor could be met with the challenge of a duel, although these duels are very rarely to the death. Most of the time, the drawing of first blood means the end of a duel. Duels do not always take the shape of physical combat. Other challenges of a physical nature, such as swimming or stone lifting, or duels of knowledge or poetry, are not uncommon. Ultimately, the most important thing is to act in ways that uphold truth and honor's one's connections to their fellow House members. This of course is merely an expounding upon the basic philosophy of the Resol'nare. This means that the religion of House Kvall, like all Mandalorians, is orthopraxic rather than orthodoxic. Acting honorably and in accordance with the principles of the House ensure one's place in the afterlife and avoidance of dar'manda status. All religious rituals serve the purpose of of fostering community with one's kin, and the greater House as a whole, who are one's extended family bound by the ties of blood. A form of sun worship is also present amongst the Kvall. Religious rituals often focus on the veneration of Mandalore, the primary star of the Mandalore system (not to be confused with the planet of the same name). The sun is important because it is the giver of life, and it is seen as a symbol of purity and divine power. Alors of the House are thought to be gifted with this divine power, and religious rituals are held in order to strengthen this connection. Gold, the color of sunlight, is present in many objects, clothes and trinkets of the Alor and functions as a symbol of his divinity. Alors that are particularly loved and well-respected are often gifted or buried with gold items for this reason.
- Goals: After assuming leadership, Jor Kvall has recently led his people on a pilgrimage back to their ancestral homeland, Krownest. Jor has taken a back-to-basics approach, returning the House to their ancestral ways by instilling a new sense of martial discipline into the Kvall once again, as well as forgoing mass agriculture and crop rotation in favor of permaculture and living in tune with the planet's natural ecosystem. The people of House Kvall have begun to live simply again, on few provisions. Jor wishes to see his clan promote this way of life to the rest of his people, believing tribalism and permaculture to be the only sustainable solutions to the Mandalorian people, who have seen terrible destruction wrought upon their homeplanets throughout their brutal history.
MEMBERS
Jor Kvall
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
House Kvall has a long and storied history, dating back thousands of years to the original warrior people of Mandalore. Their first attestation was as a small Clan that participated in the raids of the Mandalorian Crusaders, taking part in ravaging the planet Ubduria. They were also present during the events of the Mandalorian cataclysm, the final act in the prolonged war against the Jedi which saw much of Mandalore's surface devastated. This action caused much resentment towards the Jedi amongst Clan Kvall, which remains to this day. After their defeat in the Mandalorian-Jedi War, Clan Kvall left war-torn Mandalore and took root in the icy snowscape of the nearby planet Krownest.
Several centuries later during the Clone Wars, Clan Kvall were seen once again, this time subordinate to House Vizsla, offering military support to the Death Watch takeover of Mandalore under Pre Vizsla. When Pre Vizsla was killed by Maul and the Death Watch fragmented in another Mandalorian civil war, Clan Kvall were among the many who refused to support Maul's leadership due to his status as a foreigner, instead throwing their lot in with Clan Wren and the Nite Owls. Little is known of their activities in the Clone Wars after this.
In the four centuries between the Clone Wars and the onset of the Mandalorian Resource Wars, Clan Kvall grew in power and numbers on Krownest, eventually reaching House status and encompassing a number of smaller Mandalorian Clans. Their influenced waxed during these years until the Resource Wars began in earnest. House Kvall participated in the First and Second Mandalorian Civil Wars against Sansa Corda's brutal regime, which slowly decimated House Kvall's populace and resources along with the Gulag Plague. After this destructive time, House Kvall adopted a policy of neutrality in greater Mandalorian conflicts, which coincided with a weakening of their warrior values. The civil wars had so devastated House Kvall that they notably did not participate in the Vong-Mandalorian war, instead remaining neutral and focusing on protecting their planetary borders and rebuilding their settlements. However, these actions were interpreted as cowardice by their fellow Mandalorians, and House Kvall was shamed and exiled to the wasteland planet of Kalevala after the conclusion of the war.
There they remained for many generations, until leadership passed to Jor Kvall, who had fought under Ra Vizsla's revamped Death Watch against the Mandalorian Insurrectionists in the Seven Day War. After victory in the war, Jor returned home, assumed leadership of House Kvall, and decreed that the House would move back to its ancestral settlements on Krownest. This they did, abandoning Kalevala and reestablishing their settlements and villages in their ancestral terrain, where they exist to this day.
