The Hounds of von Ulmer are a Sercian-born warband forged under Ser Leon von Ulmer Mercius, uniting the noble discipline of the golden plains with the ruthless survivalism of the Wargrounds. Rising from abandoned forts and lawless frontiers, they drew their earliest strength from plains riders, hardened levies, and the broken remnants of old armies, forging them into a single, purpose-driven brotherhood. Their legend was sealed at Redmark Coast, where they held a doomed outpost for fourteen days against three pirate clans, earning their name through endurance and unbreakable unity. Rebuilt with recruits from Alveris and Western Arebnak, they now march beneath a wolf-skull banner of red and yellow, bound by oaths such as the Grey Ring and the Iron Pact.
Western Arebnak became the Hounds’ second cradle. Its people, riverfolk, quarrymen, iron-smelters, and border farmers, had long suffered under raiders and deserter bands and when Ser Leon with the Hounds restored order to the frontier roads, Arebnaki villages answered in force. Sons and daughters enlisted not only for coin, but for protection, stability, and vengeance. Arebnak’s forges supply their steel, its tanners their leathers, and its grain lords their wagons, while the Hounds in return guard trade routes, break bandit holds, and enforce Imperial law where no magistrate dares ride.
To the Empire, the Hounds are noble command made manifest; to Sercia, chivalry proven in hardship; and to the Wargrounds, a relentless storm reclaiming the frontier. But to Arebnak, they are something more, protectors, judges, and executioners bound to the land itself. Among the western valleys it is said, “When the wolf rides, the road is safe.” A militia by decree, a warband by reputation, and a people’s army by reality, the Hounds of von Ulmer do not merely occupy the frontier, they belong to it.