Clan Asarn

Crest:	Vert, Two Horses Rampent, Ors, Langued Gules
Motto:	Who Catches the Wind
Registry:	Place of Gules, 712TR
Holdings:	Coranan Province, Coranan district. Eidel Province, Kuseme district
Sources:	Thardic Republican Module, Jonathan M. Davidson's Alternate Army, Registry of Attendance of the Thardic Senate by Jerry Holland-Hibbert.

Clan Asarn is older than its registry. For a long time the clan suffered under the idea that they were Autarchists. The clan is the remainder of two older clans who lost almost all their holdings when the Thardic League fell. These clans, the Transhar and the Atrian, intermarried to form Clan Asarn. They were fortunate during the wars with Kaldor and managed to survive the fall of the Thardic League, but only barely.

The new clan is seen as arrogant and pushy. Its leaders are disliked by most of the senators primarily because they use every chance they get to push the Monarchist ideas forward. They act no different than any other senator or faction, but they are seen as lacking class because of their youth as a clan. Clan Asarn is heavily divided outside the senate. A full third of its non-land holding members are outcasts or un-acknowledged bastards who have taken up the name because they know they will not be called upon to defend their rights. Many Asarn families wear a lesser variation of the clan's heraldry without license.

Clan History

The Transhar was one of the eight Corani tribes united under Corthir in 300TR. In several stories the Transhar were the Corani Empire's elite troops of legionnaires. There are a few names that survived the ages, but the Transhar legends are all alike. They tell of a dark company of men who were mercenaries devoted to following a contract. They were seen as moralistic, always choosing the wining/right side, and often troubled by the evil acts their goals forced them to commit. The Transhar clan received its registry in 602TR, but there is no motto or land claim attached to the registry. Its banner was Vert, Horse Rampent, Langued Gules.

The Transhar were a mercenary clan that acted with the Weijiks and other powerful clans as bodyguards and caravan security from 600-700TR. A few border settlements were founded with their help, and their presence is mentioned in each and every battle fought for Tharda during this time period. The Transhar owned no land and traded little with the merchants who are, regularly, the only source of names and details in Thardic history.

A common legend is that it was the Transhar who were the Autarch Guard and that it was they who killed Algir the last Autarch in 673TR without any assistance from other clans. While unlikely, this tale provides a level of security for the other clans that may have been involved in the unauthorized assassination of Algir of Telen. These stories are also the last mention of the Transhar in Thardic history.

In 621TR, just after the end of the Grey Blight, which destroyed 3/4 of the crops grown in Tharda, Vitan, Cictrutius and Audinius are believed to have nurtured the first truly healthy crops through a season. While not credited with curing the Grey Blight, they are said to be the saviors of Tharda at the time. Vitian apples, the most common type grown in Western Tharda, pay tribute to the man who created a strain of apples immune to the Blight.

In thanks for their works and their donation of food to the city of Coranan, the three men were given land in what is now the Coranan District of Coranan Province. were all Atrians. References to the Atrian clan are few, most are sayings like:

As firm as the logic of an Atrian.
Straight-forward Atrian thinking.
As reliable as Atrian Crops.

The Atrian clan was primarily interested in agriculture and settlement. What few records that exist of the Atrian clan deal primarily with grain and apple production, sale and import. The Atrian clan supported the Thardic League and the Autarch in 636TR, and paid their taxes that year in grain delivered to the Autarch guard personally. The Atrian Senator, Ammia Troter Atrian, spoke long and eloquently over the necessity to divide the matters of defense and foreign relations from those of internal policies and taxation the year prior. It would seem his policies were adopted as the basis for the Thardic League.

The Atrian clan lost land to the conquest of Arlun when he conquered Menekai in 642TR. The clan further found itself regularly dealing with the Transhar for protection against bandit s from 640 through 661TR. This close association led to several marriages between the two clans.

The Atrian clan disappears from the chronicles of history only to reappear as strong supporters of Aglir of Telen when again a Atrian senator spoke eloquently in defense of the last Autarch's treason trials in 673TR. Clan Atrian was one of the many supporters who suffered greatly when Algir was assassinated by his own Autarch Guard. The clan was disbanded and all of its lands were seized.

However, within six months the clan Asarn appears. The clan's earliest members were the most influential of the young Atrian and Transhar clans. Combined, they create a powerful mercenary force that aids in the reconstruction of the Thardic League into the Thardic Republic. For 25 years the Asarn clan built a reputation for flawless devotion to duty. They founded the Golden Dagger Mercenary Association in Coranan who's reputation today provides brutal swiftness to whatever cause it takes as its own.

Often the Golden Daggers took land instead of money, and thus this clan who had so recently lost all their holdings began to regain land quickly.

In 704, the first Senator, Orvi Asarn, is elected to the senate. He creates the Monarchist faction in an already divided Senate. His ideas, at first ignored then later listened to with amusement, have been slowly gaining converts over the years. Orvi is a dramatic, if at times overly-imaginative speaker.

In 708 at the cost of thousands of drachma the Asarn clan received their second senatorial seat through election. Tierga Asarn is a careful and patient man who reminds most of a mercenary on holiday. His speeches tend to be dry, but his points are always clearly and well made. Few wonder if his only reason for being a Monarchist is due to his clan's political leanings. In the same year both Asarns demanded war be brought to the order of the Red Shadows of Herpa when they crossed the Gomizen River and seized Themeson Keep. The debate was long, but the Asarns lost and nothing was immediately done to retrieve the land from Rethem.

In the war of 712 with Kanday the Asarns were again on their feet, but this time their call for war won support. The Expansionists joined in with the new Monarchists and Reformists, and the vote was passed 63 to 0. The war was decisive and quick. Rumors abounded that the only reason the Asarns wanted war was so that the Golden Daggers could collect them more land, and indeed the clan gained several new territories before this six months skirmish ended.

Current Events

The Asarns remained the constant agitators for war. In the Senate Orvi Asarn works himself up to a frothing fit each time someone mentions trade sanctions or legion corruption. His views are the central aspects of the Monarchist faction. His silence when the Reds Shadows of Herpa split and formed the Cohorts of Gashang was shocking to his fellow senators. He was more interested in assuring that the crop disasters of 714TR and again in 716TR did not starve the people the following year.

Tierga Asarn supports his brother's speeches and motions, but only half-hearted. The few times the senate examined mercenary troupe legality and rights over the past few years were the only times Tierga spoke with any passion. He has suggested regularly that the only way to regain Themeson keep would be to have the legion enter the area and route out the cowardly Rethemi. Many correct him saying the keep and surrounding lands are in the hands of an Agrikan order, and not the Rethemi crown. Tiegra's response is always that the two are the same to him.

The clan supports occasional Wytel and Weijik motions towards cleaning out corruption in the legion, or military actions against various tribes. They believe both the motion to build Cestor or Chakro are a waste of money, manpower and time. Asarn is a wealthy clan, thanks in part to the Golden Daggers. They are slowly spreading the idea that a Monarchist Tharda might be the best way to create a safe and secure environment. There have been whispers of a Pax Tharda, but these rumors can never be attributed directly to the Clan Asarn.

Clan Religion

The clan is split evenly between supporting the Laranian/Peonian and the Halean religions. Officially they are not religious, with both Senators preferring to worship in private, as is traditional in Tharda. All villages have at least one priest of Peoni living in the region. A few of the larger towns (Guinp, and Hikel) also have a small temple to Halea. The clan has no religious aspirations and is happiest when religious stay out of politics.

The clan pays service to Halea, and gives generously to her temples. Many believe this is the only reason the Asarns are permitted to remain. Still they have loyal clients and are seen as generous patrons despite their politics. The clan takes Halea’s guidelines towards business contracts to heart. They have "removed" members from their clan who regularly break contracts, claiming the clan is stronger without them.

Clan Holdings

Settlement	District	Province	Acres	LQ	H/ holds	Net d
1.Guinp	Coranan	Coranan	1920	1.05	41	2016
2.Habek	Coranan	Coranan	1480	1.05	27	1554
3.Hikel	Coranan	Coranan	1440	1.06	31	1526
4.Kennin	Coranan	Coranan	1530	1.07	29	1637
5.Milis	Coranan	Coranan	1450	1.07	28	1552
6.Swhen	Coranan	Coranan	1290	1.08	24	1393
7.Tus	Coranan	Coranan	1170	1.08	25	1264
8.Tuwora	Coranan	Coranan	1150	1.08	23	1242
9.Gevul	Kuseme	Eidel	1410	1.02	24	1438
10.Relimn	Kuseme	Eidel	1230	1.03	21	1267
11Sule	Kuseme	Eidel	1290	1.02	19	1316

Clan Asarn holds a total of 15, 360 acres of prime land that is well above average quality on the island of Hârn (LQ 1.00). They owe 11 knights, 7 light horsemen, 11 medium footmen and 35 light footmen (64 men in total) to the legion out of a total of 391 households. The Clan believes strongly in the legion, but fear it is corrupt. Any Asarn wishing to rise through the political structure of the clan must have served at least 4 years in the legion and/or four years as an aide-de-camp.

Clan Politics

Clan Arsarn are the leaders of the Monarchists faction in the senate. They don't believe in the great Republic, but instead see the country best ruled by a hereditary Senate. The King of Tharda would be the General of the Armies and would bow to the wisdom of the Senate. Only the Senate would be able to select and crown the King. While they persist at insisting this is not a return to the Autarchy of days past, they can offer no differences between the Autarchy and their version of a Monarchy except that their king would rule for life, and not seven years. The Senate would maintain a tight grip on the treasury and only they could issue laws dealing with money (taxes, trade tariffs, and the like).

Clan Asarn strongly supports the idea that Marshal/Magistrate Kronas is a serious threat to the security of Tharda. They see him as too strong to be a King and too weak to be a Senator. They often refer to him as Autarch-Desiring, a reference that reminds many of the last days of the Autarchy and the near destruction of the Senate. They want to see Tharda expand. Algir the Autarch had the right idea in bringing the war to Kaldor, but he was wrong in the way it occurred. The Clan believes that the legion could route the tribesmen and press them north-east towards Kaldor, fleeing the legion. That way they could solve two problems with one solution. The tribesmen would flee before the advancing legions and, so long as the legion used every means necessary to assure the tribesmen could not get behind their lines, they would have no place to go but in the direction they were driven.

To swell the ranks of the legion, every Freeman or woman in the Republic would be forced to serve four years. Each person, regardless of their rank in society or their physical or mental capability would be forced into service and drilled until they could perform. The Monarchists have some support from the legion because of their belief that experience in the legion should be rewarded with rank and pay advancements. Clan Asarn regularly insists that, if an equestrian is not a good leader then he should not lead. There is a constant need for Tala in the legion that could be better filled by such bad leaders. This idea makes the clan very unpopular with the older clans in the senate.

Clan Asarn believes legion reform to be more pressing. They are all for the legion land grant, but many believe their support is half the legion's problem.

Clan Persona

July 9, 2001

This page was last updated on January 23, 2002
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