The name is used loosely, as some of these are very informal, however, they all have a 'group purpose' and can be found across the region. This is all common knowledge that is known my most people in the region, and that newcomers can find out fairly easily.

During the early days, the church of Iomedae supplied troops with military leadership under Sir Borric and Lady Miriam. Their reward was the keep at Edgemoor, which now houses The Abbey of Iomedae, under the command of the blind paladin, Sir Kendrick. Sir Kendrick is 'mayor' of Edgemoor, but also has responsibility for frontier wide taxes, road patrols, the Frontier Guard and the Golden Billet contract. Sir Borric retired to Knightshome, a suburb of Northold, where he has an orchard and produces a local country wine.

Edgemoor Abbey maintains a unit of light cavalry, renowned as the best military unit in the frontier, to carry out road patrols, carry messages, and act as a fast response unit. It also contains a large chapel dedicated to Iomedae, and a number of foot soldiers who act as part of the town guard, but can also be deployed to other areas as required. Some serve turns in the frontier watchtowers.

House Yitis started off as a family of mercenaries, with an Aldori background – and more senior members of the family still train as Aldori. Never big house, they moved into water transport for other Mercenary groups, and then developed as a small merchant house. They have docks in Tusk, as well as smaller piers at Skids and Edgemoor – they use local Jetties at Reedham and Halfling's Cove. They also have a shop (selling imported items) and a small mercenary base at Edgemoor, that provides personal, caravan and marine guards.

Because of the size restrictions at The Vallani Canal, the Yitis use Keelers (Rather than the more efficient Sailing Barges) for trading between Tusk and The Frontier. Some of the rowers assigned to each Keeler are trained mercenaries, tasked with protecting the vessel if it is attacked. The mercenaries all wear Studded Leather armour and carry Cutlass, LXB and Buckler. They rotate between Frontier watch towers, keeler and mercenary duty in Edgemoor and time in Tusk. They all have experience of both land and waterborne combat.

Swordlord Dragos Yitis-Aldori leads the house in The Frontier. He is the son of the renowned Yasmin Yitis-Aldori (Tusk, overall leader), and nephew of Yermek Yitis-Aldori (Sunsmarch). Dragos fought alongside his mother and uncle during the later stages of the fighting, and took command of the Edgemoor contingent when the fighting came to a close. He carries an Aldori Duelling Sword, and wears a Mithril Shirt under normal clothing. Most of the troops rotate out, but Dragos is based here long-term as he learns to manage the business side of the family enterprise.

DELEM are a land based merchant house that is wholly owned by House leMaistre, one of the most powerful nobles in Tusk. Now led by Lady Bao, House leMaistre were instrumental in the development of Tusk, and still provide many leaders and most of the land based trade. DELEM has a reputation for developing new trade routes, and assisted in the settlement of both Sunsmarch and Oldkeep, before they brought their expertise to this frontier. They built the main road that runs all the way from Eastgate (in Tusk) up to Northold, and have trade posts all along the route enabling safe travel between the two. In towns, they build conventional inns (called The Cob of Corn) rather than the better defended Trade Posts. Each of their trade caravans (they mainly use pack Oxen) are protected by a unit of their own caravan guards - who also serve occasional stints in the frontier guard. Travellers are always welcome to accompany their trade caravans.

They have no formal leader in any of the frontier settlements, other than the innkeeper/trader that you will find in each inn or trade post. They can help you with messages and small cargoes, but large, or regular, contracts are all handled by their main office in Tusk.

The Ironguard Dwarves are not really a clan, or even a guild, in the traditional sense. They aren't all related to each other, nor do they all have the same skill set, however they are united in their desire to better their place in the world, and their reverence for the teachings of Torag. Most come from surface dwarf families, and want to find a place for their own dwarven community. They have banded together, sworn oaths and signed contracts to find a new place for dwarves on this frontier, that they can call home. They come from all across The Tannery States, and beyond, and originally served as a mercenary company in some of the earlier campaigns - now they are spreading out and starting to claim pockets of land for themselves. Some of the Dwarves had other skills before they got here, but most have military training as well.

They hope, at some point, to develop a holding for themselves, along the line between Dverg Tower and, perhaps, The Quarry. So far they have marked out a trail (The Dwarf Road) that runs via Ironkeep, and cleared enough vegetation that it is passable on foot, or by mules train. They have even widened and reinforced some sections of the road surface between Dverg Tower and Ironkeep, and it is rumoured that some of the dwarves of The Quarry will soon move west, to a potential new quarry, which should speed up developments. They are occasionally attacked by Kobolds and Goblins as they transport the small stones from The Quarry to Iron Keep - but fortunately the little pests are often too busy fighting amongst themselves to be more than a nuisance.

• Leaders
• -
• Jagit Stigmar - Priest of Torag and a decent Smith. She is the overall leader of The Ironguard and runs Ironkeep. She can make magical Weapons and Armour. In the early days, she served as a military armourer.
• Lt Burok Ironheart - is the commander of Dverg Tower, a skilled commander, overall 2/ic of The Ironguard, and their military commander. He started off as a foot soldier and worked his way up through the ranks, and is respected by the other military leaders.
• Thorhilda Brightstone worked in a quarry, before she joined The Ironguard and now leads the miners at The Quarry.
• Tudra Dorola - is the Stable Keeper at Edgemoor and acts as the trade outlet for The Ironguard. Originally a trader and merchant, she came to the frontier to act as supply manager for the dwarves, and is still filling that role.

The Order of the Golden Billet provides some of the security for the old frontier. Back when everyone was keen and organized, some of the leaders got together to fund placement of Golden Billet Towers to defence the supply stations, but since then they have developed into towns. The three towers are located in Edgemoor, Granton and Northolt. Note (they were funded by The Roths, Lady Pipre and Lord Cyrus by respectively.)

Sir Kendrick controls the contract, although the guards report to their local commanders on day-to-day matters. Should anything conflict with their codes of conduct, Sir Kendrick is their initial contact, then their Knight-Lieutenant, Sir Tome, who is based in Tusk.

Lord Falke has invested wisely, some might say. He has a Military Training School and the Mace and Sabre Tavern in Edgemoor, as well as farms, each with a mill, at Granton and Northold. Lt Jamis Shamar is the leader of the Military School, and is the nearest thing that Lord Falke has to a representative on the frontier, although his responsibly (in that sense) is restricted to escorting Lord Falke’s accountants around the businesses

The Frontier Guard is a grand title for a mishmash of troops from across the region. Units from Edgemoor Abbey, House Yitis, the Northhold Garrison and DELEM take turns to staff the towers. Moving around between towers, they serve three weeks on and then get a week off. Duties are generally light, with time to repair gear, hunt and forage, etc. While it isn't seen as an onerous duty, it can be boring - and (or course) there is always the risk of an organised attack. While each unit can deal with minor incursions, for larger attacks their orders are to move out, pass the word and harry the opposition, if possible.

Many towns and villages have a herbalist as their main healer, and they have informal arrangement to exchange herbs and remedies between themselves. They all provide mundane healing, and will take care of patients in their settlement - although they expect a reasonable donation from outsiders (such as adventurers). They also have a selection of alchemical and magical healing items for sale (at book prices).