The Haaraldrians were once counted among the Traysians, until the age when Lord Haarald the First led his followers eastward from their ancestral western homeland to fight in the civil war of the Clay Lands. After the conflict, King Brendain the First, grateful for Haarald’s loyalty and service, granted the exiled Traysians a vast fiefdom of ancient woodland in which to settle and rebuild their lives.

Since that time, the Haaraldrians have become a people inseparable from the forests they inhabit. They live in careful harmony with the woodland, taking from it only what nature freely offers. Their homes are fashioned from the trunks of trees that have fallen naturally, and only in times of genuine desperation will living timber ever be cut. Many families spend years gathering and preserving wood, storing it carefully until the day their children are ready to build homes of their own.

The craftsmanship of the Haaraldrians is renowned throughout Marcia. Their mastery of woodworking is said to be unmatched, their structures requiring neither nails nor bindings to stand. Through intricate joinery and patient artistry alone, they raise halls and homes capable of enduring for generations. Nearly every surface is adorned with elaborate carvings depicting family histories, spirits of the forest, and scenes from ancient legend.

During the harvest season, the forests come alive with celebration. Great carving festivals are held beneath lantern-lit canopies, where artisans compete to create works of astonishing beauty while mead flows freely among the gathered clans. Music, storytelling, and craftsmanship are treated not merely as entertainment, but as sacred expressions of communal memory and identity.

Among the Haaraldrians, grief too carries sacred meaning. Mothers who have lost a child bear the Vilohsar Mark—a red tattoo placed upon the face as a visible sign of mourning and remembrance. The word Vilohsar itself has no true equivalent in Mernamarc, for no translation can fully encompass the depth, permanence, and sorrow of a mother’s grief.