Friday, 12 August 2016
To ca 25/9/1021 AC War with the Giants
From Castellan Keep the PCs raid the giant plateau fortress several times. inflicting casualties including a pristess of Urgathoa. As the first snows of winter begin to fall unnaturally early the giant armies are assembling. The PCs attack and destroy a squadron of 20 frost giants west of the Freestead valley.
Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Roseanna Origins
House Halathius and Count Wolfram
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Wolfram Halathius was born as the sole heir of House Halathius and its county in 860. This country had been gifted to the Halathius family hundreds of years ago by the Imperial Royal family due to their military service. While the Halathius family at first felt cheated due to their landing being nothing more than mountains, this changed when they discovered by to their surprise that these mountains where rich in minerals and ores. To this day the County of Halathius still supplies the Empire of Thyatis with the majority of minerals and ores used in everyday life. However, what the County of Halathius was truly know for was its gold mines. Over the centuries a seemly endless amount of gold had been mined from the mountains of Halathius. Within the capital city of Goldleaf, many of the finest jewellers and goldsmiths in all of Thyatis can be found crafting exquisite jewellery which is sought after by many wealthy family all over the Empire. Due to the vast trade in mineral, ores, and especially gold, House Halathius quickly became the wealthiest family in all of the Empire, matched only by the Imperial Royal family. As such many other nobles thought the Empires history has tried to marry into House Halathius in order to get a stab at the families’ famed wealth. However, the Halathius family proved to be fairly reclusive in their dealings with other noble Thyatcian families, becoming reticent to marry off members of their family to other noble houses due fear of their greed. As such, by the time of Wolfram’s birth House Halathius had stagnated, and leaving his branch of the family the sole heirs to the County of Halathius and the family’s vast wealth. Despite pressure from his father to marry into another noble family, Wolfram instead made it his occupation in life to spend his days traveling the world and learning about its different cultures. From a young age Wolfram had gained this interested from both his families own insular habits, but also out of a dislike for Thyatcian culture in general. The County of Halathius had no coliseums of their own and even when the young Wolfram had been brought to the great coliseums in Thyatis, he found the sport repugnant and barbarous. Instead of trained in the classical manner of a fighter, Wolfram
instead sought to understand the mysteries of magic and master this arcane art. Wolfram spent the better part of his first forty years of life traveling the world as an adventurer and going out on many famed expeditions and quests. Through his time abroad Wolfram became very worldly and culturally refined, fancying himself a scholar and a gentlemen. The famed wealth of his family could buy Wolfram virtually anything he could desire in Thyatis, yet he fancied more exotic wonders from around the world as he felt own such things made himself seem more sophisticated and refined then his noble contemporaries. However, more than anything else, Wolfram sought to one day own an estate on the famed Protectorate of Sciaras, for it was on this island that Wolfram believed the truly enlightened and cultured folks of Thyatis lived. Wolfram’s dream and travels where put on a halt when in 902 his father died, leaving him the count of Halathius and thus responsible for running the county. It took Wolfram several years to get used to this position and by this point in his life he was middle aged and unmarried with no heirs. Even still his dream of becoming a estate owning member of Sciaras continued to burn in his heart, and Wolfram still went adventuring at any available opportunity he could. Wolfram even restored to using potions of longevity to maintain keep his physical age at around 35, which he believed made him still look young and handsome, but old enough to be cultured and wise. It was not until 948 that Wolfram finally achieved his dream and got an estate on Sciaras that he began to seriously think about getting married. Despite being 88 at this time, many noble families still wished to marry their daughter to Wolfram due to his money and youthful appearance produced thanks to his powerful magic. Finally in 950, after several decade of putting it off, Count Wolfram Halathius was engaged and married at the age of 90, much to the chagrin of many of noble houses in Thyatis based upon whom he had decided to marry.
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A Strange Paring
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Amongst his many travels, the one land that Wolfram had found most interesting of all was the elfish kingdom of Alfheim. To Wolfram, the culture of the elves was truly fascinating, especially do to their interest in a simple life in tune with Mother Nature. To most of the Alfheim elves Wolfram was nothing more than a wealthy and ostentatious lord from a powerfully human empire, and they tried as best they could to pay little attention to him. Out of all the ruling clans in Alfheim, only one greeted Wolfram with open arms, that being the Clan Chossum. The members of Clan Chossum had always been fond of dealing with wealthy foreigners, for they thought it would be a great opportunity for them to get elfish products into the world. As the merchants of Alfheim, Clan Chossum sought greater economic expansion beyond simply Alfheim and to line their own pockets with the world’s gold. As such, the Chossum elves welcomed Wolfram into their fold and became very friendly with him over the years. Wolfram even became close friends with the enigmatic clanmaster of Chossum, Lynnwyl, due to Wolfram’s interest in elvish products and his families’ mercantile connections all over Thyatis.
However, what really ensnared the young Wolfram’s heart was Lona Chossum, the beautiful niece of Lynnwyl. Unlike most of the Chossum elves who had dark hair, Lona had snow white locks that she had gotten from her mother who was a Callarii elf from the land that would eventually became known as the Grandy Duchy of Karamekios. Even amongst the Chossum Lona’s longing for material wealth was highly strange, for she did not like how little in terms of wealthy her clan could provide her. While she was only 250 years old by the time Wolfram was formerly met her in 894, Lona had become infamous amongst for her expensive tastes and high opinion of herself, making her gain the name of the Lady Dwarf by many of the other elves. Lona had even spent many years adventuring solely so she could fund her extravagant lifestyle and to intermingle with lords and ladies who had the lifestyle she sought. Despite her natural beauty even amongst elfish standards, her
personality made even Chossum elves raise their eyebrows and shake their heads. And when Lona met the heir to the wealthiest family in all of the Empire of Thyatis, she jumped on the opportunity to go adventuring with him. While at first motivated by her own self-interests, Wolfram and Lona became very close over the many decades they went adventuring together. Both where often noted for flirting with each other on adventures and taking the piss out of each other. This comradery eventually blossomed into love, for it was Lona whom Wolfram announced that he wanted to marry in 949, which confused many noble families in Thyatis. Wolfram believed that only Lona was good enough to be his wife, for he know her better than anyone else thanks to their decades of experience, and he could also affair her expensive tastes thanks to his families’ wealth. Lynnwyl blessed the marriage, seeing that it was a very lucrative business deal for his clan, and in 950 Wolfram finally got married.
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The Children of Wolfram and Lona Halathius and the Expansion of House
Halathius
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Over the course of the first decade of their marriage Lona gave birth to four children, Arathana (952), Yenrry (954), Ricamros (956), and Alistana (958). The children of House Halathius where known throughout the Empire due to their strange elvish beauty and snow white hair thanks to their mother. Wolfram knew that it was difficult marrying off his children in Thyatis due to their strange appearances due to the fear of his house stagnating again, but he got the opportunity thanks in part to the Alphatian Spike of 960. Wolfram saw this event as a great name for his family to gain recognition in the Empire, and he and Lona used their experience from decade of adventuring to help the champion of the people, Thincol the Brave. Their fighting prowess, especially Wolfram mastery of magic, proved invaluable to the young Thyatcian gladiator in driving out the Alphtian invaders. When Thincol was crowned emperor of Thyatis Wolfram continued to support him as an advisor and fighter during the two years it took to reclaim the territory that the Empire had lost during the assault. With the repute of a great hero, the respect of the new emperor, the wealth of House Halathius and the massive shift of the political landscape thanks to the Alphatian Spike, Wolfram made his move to gain political power in the empire for his family. Wolfram set up his oldest son Yennry to inherit the county from him and made an arrangement with another powerful merchant family for Yennry to marry one of their daughters. For his second oldest son Ricamros, Wolfram sent him to train in the military in order to be a great general and also arranged a marriage with the neighbouring House Kantrium to marry the eldest daughter who was to be the next duchess so that he would be the Duke of Katrium. Wolfram had his youngster daughter Alistana marry a member of the ruling Retebius family to get into the good graces of another neighbouring duchy to the County of Halathius and also due to the Duchy of Retebius progression in using winged beasts to increase the military might of Thyatis. However, his biggest political move came about with the
marriage of his eldest daughter Arathana.
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The First Granddaughter and the Tragedy at Sea
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Wolfram had set his sights on marrying Arathana off to the Alexander Kerendas, the new Duke of Kerendas. Alexander’s father had died during the Spike, and due to him being the eldest son it was his duty to one day inherit the Duchy of Kerendas. Wolfram saw this situation as a great motivator in marrying of his eldest daughter off to Alexander, due to the Duchy of Kerendas’ position in the Empire as one of the largest and most profitable duchess in all the land. As such in 970, Alarthana got married to Duke Alexander Kerendas, becoming the Duchess in the process. Two years later, their first and only daughter, Julia Kerendas was born. Much like her mother, aunts, and uncles, Julia was noted for her white hair, although her elvish features where not as strong as her mothers. Wolfram and Lona where delighted with the birth of their first grandchild and made any excuses they could to come to Castle Kerendas to visit. With everything going to plan, Wolfram convinced the young Duke Alexander to meet with Grand Duke Stefan in the newly founded Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Wolfram reasoned that it would be a good idea to set up a trade agreement with the new country, for Stefan would need a strong cavalierly if he wanted to tame the wild land and it would be a lucrative deal for decades to come. So in 973 Duke Alexander boarded a boat bound to Specularum with his wife and daughter, much to his own chagrin. Alexander had wanted to go alone, but Arathana had insisted that she wanted to go, wishing to see the world and experience its wonders much like the stories her mother and father told her when she was growing up. Julia would also come for every time she was without her mother she would continually cry and cause the maids of Castle Kerendas much grief. Alexander had raised his concerns with Wolfram, but the count had stated it would wise to take his beloved eldest daughter and their child, not only to make Arathana happy, but to also make Stefan believe that Alexander was good family man and was serious enough about the talks that he would be willing to take his family with him to Specularum as the negotiations would take some time. Thus the boat carrying the Kerendas family left for
Specularum in 973. The boat was at first gone for a few weeks as schedule, and then those weeks stretched into months with word from Specularum that the Duke and Duchess of Kerendas never arrived. Even after a great search and the use of Wolfram’s impressive magical abilities, the mystery of the missing vessel still persisted. After an exhausted 6 month search, the ship was labelled lost, and its crew and passengers presumed dead. This tragedy hit brought great sadness to House Halathius, even more so to Wolfram who had insisted on Alexander taking both Arathana and Julia for the ride. Even with this tragedy, the rest of Wolfram marriages went off without a hitch, and by the end of the century his family had gained even more political power and wealth then even he could have predicted. So much so, that Ricamros, who had become close to Imperial Prince Eusebius during his military days, had his son marry Eusebius’ eldest daughter. With this and Yenrry taking over the County in his stead, Lona and Wolfram retired to their estate on the Protectorate of Sclaras, where they still live to this day. Even with all these great accomplishments added to the many accolades famed Wolfram had gained during his long life, the loss of his eldest daughter and first granddaughter is said to still burn in his heart.
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The White Haired Maiden and the Baron in Black
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In 973, fisherman from what would become known as the Black Eagle Barony found a strange site while at sea. It was a foggy day at first, but it was not the fog that was strange, instead the sound of a child crying in the middle of the ocean. As they got closure to the sound they found a young child wrapped in the blanket onto of a panel of wood adrift at sea. Confused the fisherman picked up the child only to notice her white hair. Not knowing what to make of this and with no responses from any other vessels in the as they called into the fog, they took the strange girl back to them to a remote village. There the Traldarian priest listened to the fisherman’s story, and due to the superstitious nature of these people, that it was a miracle that this child had survived at sea for the Immortals know how long, and was thus seen as a good omen. The young girl was eventually adopted by a local tavern keeper and his family, who saw an increase in the client base with this adoption. People from nearby villages came to see the whited haired child, and it did not take long for her to become famous in the local area as a result. The white haired girl was given the name Anya, and as she when she grew up she became a barmaid at her family’s tavern. Her fame was such that many wealthy local men sought her hand in marriage, although the shy Anya always would say no, preferring to stay with her family. However, this all changed in 990 when Grand Duke Stefan announced that his cousin, Ludwig von Hendriks, would become the baron in charge of the land in which Anya lived. All of a sudden people became less cheerful as the Barons soldiers came in demanding money or the citizens would face death. The people of the Barony became scared as random people would go missing and that the Ludwig didn’t do anything about. One night while walking home from an errand Anya herself was ambushed and capture by members of the Iron Ring. Anya’s captors had heard about the famed White Maiden and saw first-hand that her beauty would make them good money. However, with such a unique prize, they feared that Anya would somehow be damaged on the difficult path back to Thyatis, and instead sought to make their money
quickly.
As such, the first customer that they had in mind was the Baron himself, Ludwig. When they presented the Baron with their prize, Ludwig beckon instantly smitten with this exotic beauty, taking in her rich Thyatician features. Ludwig paid a large amount of gold to have her, and set Anya to work as his personal maid. As the months went on the staff employed to work in Ludwig’s estate came to see a strange change in their lord when he was around Anya. Instead of the horrible creature he usually was like around them, when he went to see Anya he would actually make a concerted effort to make himself look and would try to talk to her at every chance he could get. Anya, while at first terrified of her new master, started to spend less time working around the estate and more time talking Ludwig. The black baron didn’t even seem to care as not cleaning the estate would be a death sentence to anybody, yet Anya somehow got away with it. The staff while curious said nothing about it for fear of incurring Ludwig’s infamous ire, instead simply doing the Anya’s duties in conjunction with their own.
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Ludwig’s First Marriage and His First Child
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Something had change in Ludwig since the first time he laid eyes on Anya and he knew it. Despite his better judgement he would find himself talking to strange girl more often than he really should. Although the girl at first was strange and confused to be around him, she had seemly gotten used to and an after a few months even seemed too started to enjoy his company. Ludwig had even confided in her his darkest secrets, that his cousin Stefan was actually his father, and always been seen as a nuisance by his mother and father. And instead of the ridicule and other negative comments that Ludwig had become all too familiar with, Anya had replied by with sympathy and care. Ludwig tried to rationalize these confusing feelings that he had for this common girl that stating she must be someone special, for who in their right mind would leave a good Thyatician girl like her amongst all the horrible Traldarian filth? Ludwig continued to struggle with these feelings until he learned that Anya was pregnant with his child. At that point Ludwig determined that he could not live without this special Thyatician girl and married her in secret. After the marriage he had Anya moved at to a house far away from the prying eyes of others. Ludwig didn’t want his subjects to think that he was going soft on them with his marriage, and still wanted to maintain that he was the one in charge. He even went too far as to have his court mage Bargle construct a barrier around the house so that Anya couldn’t leave house. And if anyone asked any questions Ludwig could just have such people killed, for he was the law of this land.
It was at this private estate in 992 that Ludwig and Anya’s first child was born, Gunther Edman Hendricks. Ludwig became overjoyed at having his first male heir and would spent as much time as he could at the estate with his son and Anya. He often told others that during this time he was hunting, even when it was the middle of winter. People were confused as to why their Baron
would spend so much time by himself hunting in the woods, but then again Ludwig was a strange man and those who asked questions were quickly killed. And so Ludwig’s life continued like this for several blissful years until Anya said that she was pregnant with their second child in 999. At this point Ludwig had become concerned that eventually, despite his best efforts somebody would figure out that he was married. He fear that the persona he put forth as a tyrant would be destroyed, and that even his soldiers would think less of him as a result. Ludwig couldn’t stand that thought, and sought to doing research about who Anya truly was. She was Thyatician, so that was a good start, and she had to be someone important if she meant so much to him. Anya just had to be.
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Ludwig’s Second Child and Bargle’s Scheme
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By the time of his daughter’s birth in early 1000, Ludwig had put all the pieces together. He had known of Count Wolfram and his strange children, never thought that Anya could have been one of his own kin. But after consulting the Karamekian records about the missing Duke Alexander, Duchess Arathana and their missing daughter Julia it all made sense. Anya be around the same age as Julia, and both had strong Thyatician features, but most damning of all the evidence was Anya’s white hair! She had to be the missing granddaughter of Wolfram, and after beating the answers out of people from Anya’s village about how they found her, Ludwig was convinced by this fact. What luck he had, marrying the daughter from such a powerful and wealthy Thyatician family! It was with such joy that he proclaimed shortly after his daughter’s birth that he was going to make their marriage public and that Anya could move back to his estate! Ludwig even told Anya and his son Gunther that her real name was Julia although he was careful not to go into many specifics. Ludwig was so happy that he even let Julia name their second child, Roseanna, for she was going to usher in a new life for them. With hiss marriage to Julia Ludwig knew that he would gain support from House Halathius, support enough to even be able to strong arm Stefan, his father into making him the heir of the Duchy. It was perfect, Ludwig was going to make this happen. Bargle, on the other hand, was not so sure about this.
In fact, Bargle greatly fear that this new alliance would make it harder for him to control Ludwig. He had let the Baron have his decade of happiness because it made him happy and thus easier to control, but this was going too far! He could compete with the famed Count Wolfram of Thyatis, even if Bargle was loath to admit, and feared that he would fall out of favour with Ludwig as a result. As such something had to happen and fast! Bargle was one of the only people who know
about Anya and Ludwigs family, thus let it slip to several members of the Iron Ring where she was located. Giving these men what they needed to dispel the barrier, he said if they kidnapped Julia and her children that they could ransom them to House Halathius and live like kings for the rest of their lives. And so it was that during early 1000 that these captors did just that and kidnapped Julia and her children. The captors made for the border of the Black Eagle Barony quickly so that they could get their prizes to a secure when they were attacked by orcs that Bargle had enchanted. The slaughter was brutal and quick, and when Bargle came to the site in the early hours of the morning he found the not only the captors dead, but also several of the orcs. Among their corpses he found Julia’s dead body, which he would later present to Ludwig as evidence of the treason of the captors. He would say that these men had broken into his lab and stolen what they needed to capture Julia and her children after overhearing Ludwig for years. Bargle would then say that the captors stumbled upon a party of orcs, which proceeded to kill them all. What would be troublesome was that Gunther and Roseanna’s bodies where nowhere to be found in this massacre. Oh well. Even if they did survive the cold would kill the boy and the girl. Gunther was only 8, so he could gone far with his baby sister. Whether by more orcs or the freezing cold, Ludwig’s children would die either way.
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Edman and Roseanna’s Life
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One night in early 1000 a merchant caravan stumbled upon a strange sight on the road. The caravan had been on its way to Luin and as such had many guards to ward off any attacks from the Black Eagle Barony, when one of the guards noticed movement in a ditch. It was a small boy holding a sleeping baby in his hands, covered in dirt with his clothes torn, and a look of fear in his eyes. The children were picked up and taken to Luin in the belief that they like some many others were part of a family trying to escape the Black Baron’s lands. Fearing that these children had lost their parents in a raid, the leader of the caravan took the frightened boy and his baby sister to the local Traladarian priest in Luin, who when he saw that the children had white hair, was convinced that they were a bad omen due to their strange appearances. When the priest asked the boy what his name, he responded by saying his name was Edman, and that his sister was named Roseanna.
Over the next several years both Edman and Roseanna where moved all over the Grand Duchy, from one orphanage or foster home to the next. At first people would be welcoming towards these two sad orphans who had escaped the Black Eagle Barony, but it would never last long. The fact that the children looked different with their strange white hair (in conjunction with looking more Thyacian then Traladarian) always led people to eventually drift away from both Edman and Roseanna. It also didn’t help that the stigma of the two of them being labelled a bad omen by the priest in Luin continued to haunt Edman and Roseanna, for the Traladarain people are a superstitious lot. Even when Edman had entered young teenage hood he never thought about going back to the Black Eagle Barony to see his father Ludwig. The captors on the night that they were taken from their old house had harassed both Julia and Edman by stating that the Baron no longer wanted them. Edman couldn’t understand why his father would just abandon his family like this, but because of the trauma he had gained while being captured, and the fact that his father never came looking for them
led Edman to truly believe the captor’s lies. Edman never told Roseanna who their father was or that her full name was Roseanna Hilda Hendricks, only that her name was simply Roseanna, and that their mother had been named Julia.
By 1006, when Edman was 14 and Roseanna was 6, both of them moved to Specularum with the hope that Edman could get decent work from a Thyacian employer. Although Edman did eventually find work, the only place in Specularum he could afford to live with his sister was the Nest, the poorest part of the city. Over the next 4 years Edman worked as hard as he could to save up money to get Roseanna and himself out of the Nest and into a nicer part of the city. Meanwhile, Roseanna would play by herself in the streets, fancying herself a noble princess stolen from a faraway land spurred on by the bedtime stories Edman would tell her at night. The two siblings never ran into much trouble from the residences of the Nest due to their strange appearances and people’s fear of them being bad omens. As such Edman was Roseanna’s only real friend in the world, due to the other kids not wanting to play with her. In 1010, to celebrate the marriage between Prince Justin Karameikos and Lady Joanna Vorloi, Edman at his job was tasked with moving and setting up several of the fireworks that the magic’s guild had prepared for the accompany the celebrations. However, when trying to set up one of the displays, a freak accident occurred and the magical fireworks went haywire, killing Edman in the process.
What little money Edman had saved up over the last several years had to go into paying for the damages his little accident had caused, leaving Roseanna destitute in the process. As a result, Roseanna couldn’t even afford to give Edman a proper burial. Roseanna and a priest from the Church of Karameikos where the only people at Edman’s funeral, where Roseanna spent most of the time crying. The grave diggers had dug a huge hole, because Roseanna couldn’t afford even a coffin, Edman’s badly burnt corpse was wrapped up in old sheets instead. When the diggers threw Edman’s body into the hole, it landed in such a way that the old rages came undone, and Roseanna
show first hand her dead bother’s charred corpse. The 10 year old Roseanna became hysterical upon seeing this horrible site, as the grave diggers discretely started to fill in the hole. Afterwards after the hole had been filled and the grave diggers left, Roseanna sat crying in front of the unmarked grave as the priest said his final words. Feeling great sympathy for these poor lost girl, and because of the clear Thyacian ancestry in her face, the priest took Roseanna to the Great Church of Karameikos. The priest was able to convince Patriarch Olliver Jowet to let Roseanna join the seminary held at the Great Church, due to Jowet’s sympathy for this poor girl’s plight and the horrible experiences Roseanna had been through. And so with nowhere else to go Roseanna became a member of Church of Karameikos.
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Wolfram Halathius was born as the sole heir of House Halathius and its county in 860. This country had been gifted to the Halathius family hundreds of years ago by the Imperial Royal family due to their military service. While the Halathius family at first felt cheated due to their landing being nothing more than mountains, this changed when they discovered by to their surprise that these mountains where rich in minerals and ores. To this day the County of Halathius still supplies the Empire of Thyatis with the majority of minerals and ores used in everyday life. However, what the County of Halathius was truly know for was its gold mines. Over the centuries a seemly endless amount of gold had been mined from the mountains of Halathius. Within the capital city of Goldleaf, many of the finest jewellers and goldsmiths in all of Thyatis can be found crafting exquisite jewellery which is sought after by many wealthy family all over the Empire. Due to the vast trade in mineral, ores, and especially gold, House Halathius quickly became the wealthiest family in all of the Empire, matched only by the Imperial Royal family. As such many other nobles thought the Empires history has tried to marry into House Halathius in order to get a stab at the families’ famed wealth. However, the Halathius family proved to be fairly reclusive in their dealings with other noble Thyatcian families, becoming reticent to marry off members of their family to other noble houses due fear of their greed. As such, by the time of Wolfram’s birth House Halathius had stagnated, and leaving his branch of the family the sole heirs to the County of Halathius and the family’s vast wealth. Despite pressure from his father to marry into another noble family, Wolfram instead made it his occupation in life to spend his days traveling the world and learning about its different cultures. From a young age Wolfram had gained this interested from both his families own insular habits, but also out of a dislike for Thyatcian culture in general. The County of Halathius had no coliseums of their own and even when the young Wolfram had been brought to the great coliseums in Thyatis, he found the sport repugnant and barbarous. Instead of trained in the classical manner of a fighter, Wolfram
instead sought to understand the mysteries of magic and master this arcane art. Wolfram spent the better part of his first forty years of life traveling the world as an adventurer and going out on many famed expeditions and quests. Through his time abroad Wolfram became very worldly and culturally refined, fancying himself a scholar and a gentlemen. The famed wealth of his family could buy Wolfram virtually anything he could desire in Thyatis, yet he fancied more exotic wonders from around the world as he felt own such things made himself seem more sophisticated and refined then his noble contemporaries. However, more than anything else, Wolfram sought to one day own an estate on the famed Protectorate of Sciaras, for it was on this island that Wolfram believed the truly enlightened and cultured folks of Thyatis lived. Wolfram’s dream and travels where put on a halt when in 902 his father died, leaving him the count of Halathius and thus responsible for running the county. It took Wolfram several years to get used to this position and by this point in his life he was middle aged and unmarried with no heirs. Even still his dream of becoming a estate owning member of Sciaras continued to burn in his heart, and Wolfram still went adventuring at any available opportunity he could. Wolfram even restored to using potions of longevity to maintain keep his physical age at around 35, which he believed made him still look young and handsome, but old enough to be cultured and wise. It was not until 948 that Wolfram finally achieved his dream and got an estate on Sciaras that he began to seriously think about getting married. Despite being 88 at this time, many noble families still wished to marry their daughter to Wolfram due to his money and youthful appearance produced thanks to his powerful magic. Finally in 950, after several decade of putting it off, Count Wolfram Halathius was engaged and married at the age of 90, much to the chagrin of many of noble houses in Thyatis based upon whom he had decided to marry.
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A Strange Paring
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Amongst his many travels, the one land that Wolfram had found most interesting of all was the elfish kingdom of Alfheim. To Wolfram, the culture of the elves was truly fascinating, especially do to their interest in a simple life in tune with Mother Nature. To most of the Alfheim elves Wolfram was nothing more than a wealthy and ostentatious lord from a powerfully human empire, and they tried as best they could to pay little attention to him. Out of all the ruling clans in Alfheim, only one greeted Wolfram with open arms, that being the Clan Chossum. The members of Clan Chossum had always been fond of dealing with wealthy foreigners, for they thought it would be a great opportunity for them to get elfish products into the world. As the merchants of Alfheim, Clan Chossum sought greater economic expansion beyond simply Alfheim and to line their own pockets with the world’s gold. As such, the Chossum elves welcomed Wolfram into their fold and became very friendly with him over the years. Wolfram even became close friends with the enigmatic clanmaster of Chossum, Lynnwyl, due to Wolfram’s interest in elvish products and his families’ mercantile connections all over Thyatis.
However, what really ensnared the young Wolfram’s heart was Lona Chossum, the beautiful niece of Lynnwyl. Unlike most of the Chossum elves who had dark hair, Lona had snow white locks that she had gotten from her mother who was a Callarii elf from the land that would eventually became known as the Grandy Duchy of Karamekios. Even amongst the Chossum Lona’s longing for material wealth was highly strange, for she did not like how little in terms of wealthy her clan could provide her. While she was only 250 years old by the time Wolfram was formerly met her in 894, Lona had become infamous amongst for her expensive tastes and high opinion of herself, making her gain the name of the Lady Dwarf by many of the other elves. Lona had even spent many years adventuring solely so she could fund her extravagant lifestyle and to intermingle with lords and ladies who had the lifestyle she sought. Despite her natural beauty even amongst elfish standards, her
personality made even Chossum elves raise their eyebrows and shake their heads. And when Lona met the heir to the wealthiest family in all of the Empire of Thyatis, she jumped on the opportunity to go adventuring with him. While at first motivated by her own self-interests, Wolfram and Lona became very close over the many decades they went adventuring together. Both where often noted for flirting with each other on adventures and taking the piss out of each other. This comradery eventually blossomed into love, for it was Lona whom Wolfram announced that he wanted to marry in 949, which confused many noble families in Thyatis. Wolfram believed that only Lona was good enough to be his wife, for he know her better than anyone else thanks to their decades of experience, and he could also affair her expensive tastes thanks to his families’ wealth. Lynnwyl blessed the marriage, seeing that it was a very lucrative business deal for his clan, and in 950 Wolfram finally got married.
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The Children of Wolfram and Lona Halathius and the Expansion of House
Halathius
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Over the course of the first decade of their marriage Lona gave birth to four children, Arathana (952), Yenrry (954), Ricamros (956), and Alistana (958). The children of House Halathius where known throughout the Empire due to their strange elvish beauty and snow white hair thanks to their mother. Wolfram knew that it was difficult marrying off his children in Thyatis due to their strange appearances due to the fear of his house stagnating again, but he got the opportunity thanks in part to the Alphatian Spike of 960. Wolfram saw this event as a great name for his family to gain recognition in the Empire, and he and Lona used their experience from decade of adventuring to help the champion of the people, Thincol the Brave. Their fighting prowess, especially Wolfram mastery of magic, proved invaluable to the young Thyatcian gladiator in driving out the Alphtian invaders. When Thincol was crowned emperor of Thyatis Wolfram continued to support him as an advisor and fighter during the two years it took to reclaim the territory that the Empire had lost during the assault. With the repute of a great hero, the respect of the new emperor, the wealth of House Halathius and the massive shift of the political landscape thanks to the Alphatian Spike, Wolfram made his move to gain political power in the empire for his family. Wolfram set up his oldest son Yennry to inherit the county from him and made an arrangement with another powerful merchant family for Yennry to marry one of their daughters. For his second oldest son Ricamros, Wolfram sent him to train in the military in order to be a great general and also arranged a marriage with the neighbouring House Kantrium to marry the eldest daughter who was to be the next duchess so that he would be the Duke of Katrium. Wolfram had his youngster daughter Alistana marry a member of the ruling Retebius family to get into the good graces of another neighbouring duchy to the County of Halathius and also due to the Duchy of Retebius progression in using winged beasts to increase the military might of Thyatis. However, his biggest political move came about with the
marriage of his eldest daughter Arathana.
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The First Granddaughter and the Tragedy at Sea
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Wolfram had set his sights on marrying Arathana off to the Alexander Kerendas, the new Duke of Kerendas. Alexander’s father had died during the Spike, and due to him being the eldest son it was his duty to one day inherit the Duchy of Kerendas. Wolfram saw this situation as a great motivator in marrying of his eldest daughter off to Alexander, due to the Duchy of Kerendas’ position in the Empire as one of the largest and most profitable duchess in all the land. As such in 970, Alarthana got married to Duke Alexander Kerendas, becoming the Duchess in the process. Two years later, their first and only daughter, Julia Kerendas was born. Much like her mother, aunts, and uncles, Julia was noted for her white hair, although her elvish features where not as strong as her mothers. Wolfram and Lona where delighted with the birth of their first grandchild and made any excuses they could to come to Castle Kerendas to visit. With everything going to plan, Wolfram convinced the young Duke Alexander to meet with Grand Duke Stefan in the newly founded Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Wolfram reasoned that it would be a good idea to set up a trade agreement with the new country, for Stefan would need a strong cavalierly if he wanted to tame the wild land and it would be a lucrative deal for decades to come. So in 973 Duke Alexander boarded a boat bound to Specularum with his wife and daughter, much to his own chagrin. Alexander had wanted to go alone, but Arathana had insisted that she wanted to go, wishing to see the world and experience its wonders much like the stories her mother and father told her when she was growing up. Julia would also come for every time she was without her mother she would continually cry and cause the maids of Castle Kerendas much grief. Alexander had raised his concerns with Wolfram, but the count had stated it would wise to take his beloved eldest daughter and their child, not only to make Arathana happy, but to also make Stefan believe that Alexander was good family man and was serious enough about the talks that he would be willing to take his family with him to Specularum as the negotiations would take some time. Thus the boat carrying the Kerendas family left for
Specularum in 973. The boat was at first gone for a few weeks as schedule, and then those weeks stretched into months with word from Specularum that the Duke and Duchess of Kerendas never arrived. Even after a great search and the use of Wolfram’s impressive magical abilities, the mystery of the missing vessel still persisted. After an exhausted 6 month search, the ship was labelled lost, and its crew and passengers presumed dead. This tragedy hit brought great sadness to House Halathius, even more so to Wolfram who had insisted on Alexander taking both Arathana and Julia for the ride. Even with this tragedy, the rest of Wolfram marriages went off without a hitch, and by the end of the century his family had gained even more political power and wealth then even he could have predicted. So much so, that Ricamros, who had become close to Imperial Prince Eusebius during his military days, had his son marry Eusebius’ eldest daughter. With this and Yenrry taking over the County in his stead, Lona and Wolfram retired to their estate on the Protectorate of Sclaras, where they still live to this day. Even with all these great accomplishments added to the many accolades famed Wolfram had gained during his long life, the loss of his eldest daughter and first granddaughter is said to still burn in his heart.
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The White Haired Maiden and the Baron in Black
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In 973, fisherman from what would become known as the Black Eagle Barony found a strange site while at sea. It was a foggy day at first, but it was not the fog that was strange, instead the sound of a child crying in the middle of the ocean. As they got closure to the sound they found a young child wrapped in the blanket onto of a panel of wood adrift at sea. Confused the fisherman picked up the child only to notice her white hair. Not knowing what to make of this and with no responses from any other vessels in the as they called into the fog, they took the strange girl back to them to a remote village. There the Traldarian priest listened to the fisherman’s story, and due to the superstitious nature of these people, that it was a miracle that this child had survived at sea for the Immortals know how long, and was thus seen as a good omen. The young girl was eventually adopted by a local tavern keeper and his family, who saw an increase in the client base with this adoption. People from nearby villages came to see the whited haired child, and it did not take long for her to become famous in the local area as a result. The white haired girl was given the name Anya, and as she when she grew up she became a barmaid at her family’s tavern. Her fame was such that many wealthy local men sought her hand in marriage, although the shy Anya always would say no, preferring to stay with her family. However, this all changed in 990 when Grand Duke Stefan announced that his cousin, Ludwig von Hendriks, would become the baron in charge of the land in which Anya lived. All of a sudden people became less cheerful as the Barons soldiers came in demanding money or the citizens would face death. The people of the Barony became scared as random people would go missing and that the Ludwig didn’t do anything about. One night while walking home from an errand Anya herself was ambushed and capture by members of the Iron Ring. Anya’s captors had heard about the famed White Maiden and saw first-hand that her beauty would make them good money. However, with such a unique prize, they feared that Anya would somehow be damaged on the difficult path back to Thyatis, and instead sought to make their money
quickly.
As such, the first customer that they had in mind was the Baron himself, Ludwig. When they presented the Baron with their prize, Ludwig beckon instantly smitten with this exotic beauty, taking in her rich Thyatician features. Ludwig paid a large amount of gold to have her, and set Anya to work as his personal maid. As the months went on the staff employed to work in Ludwig’s estate came to see a strange change in their lord when he was around Anya. Instead of the horrible creature he usually was like around them, when he went to see Anya he would actually make a concerted effort to make himself look and would try to talk to her at every chance he could get. Anya, while at first terrified of her new master, started to spend less time working around the estate and more time talking Ludwig. The black baron didn’t even seem to care as not cleaning the estate would be a death sentence to anybody, yet Anya somehow got away with it. The staff while curious said nothing about it for fear of incurring Ludwig’s infamous ire, instead simply doing the Anya’s duties in conjunction with their own.
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Ludwig’s First Marriage and His First Child
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Something had change in Ludwig since the first time he laid eyes on Anya and he knew it. Despite his better judgement he would find himself talking to strange girl more often than he really should. Although the girl at first was strange and confused to be around him, she had seemly gotten used to and an after a few months even seemed too started to enjoy his company. Ludwig had even confided in her his darkest secrets, that his cousin Stefan was actually his father, and always been seen as a nuisance by his mother and father. And instead of the ridicule and other negative comments that Ludwig had become all too familiar with, Anya had replied by with sympathy and care. Ludwig tried to rationalize these confusing feelings that he had for this common girl that stating she must be someone special, for who in their right mind would leave a good Thyatician girl like her amongst all the horrible Traldarian filth? Ludwig continued to struggle with these feelings until he learned that Anya was pregnant with his child. At that point Ludwig determined that he could not live without this special Thyatician girl and married her in secret. After the marriage he had Anya moved at to a house far away from the prying eyes of others. Ludwig didn’t want his subjects to think that he was going soft on them with his marriage, and still wanted to maintain that he was the one in charge. He even went too far as to have his court mage Bargle construct a barrier around the house so that Anya couldn’t leave house. And if anyone asked any questions Ludwig could just have such people killed, for he was the law of this land.
It was at this private estate in 992 that Ludwig and Anya’s first child was born, Gunther Edman Hendricks. Ludwig became overjoyed at having his first male heir and would spent as much time as he could at the estate with his son and Anya. He often told others that during this time he was hunting, even when it was the middle of winter. People were confused as to why their Baron
would spend so much time by himself hunting in the woods, but then again Ludwig was a strange man and those who asked questions were quickly killed. And so Ludwig’s life continued like this for several blissful years until Anya said that she was pregnant with their second child in 999. At this point Ludwig had become concerned that eventually, despite his best efforts somebody would figure out that he was married. He fear that the persona he put forth as a tyrant would be destroyed, and that even his soldiers would think less of him as a result. Ludwig couldn’t stand that thought, and sought to doing research about who Anya truly was. She was Thyatician, so that was a good start, and she had to be someone important if she meant so much to him. Anya just had to be.
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Ludwig’s Second Child and Bargle’s Scheme
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By the time of his daughter’s birth in early 1000, Ludwig had put all the pieces together. He had known of Count Wolfram and his strange children, never thought that Anya could have been one of his own kin. But after consulting the Karamekian records about the missing Duke Alexander, Duchess Arathana and their missing daughter Julia it all made sense. Anya be around the same age as Julia, and both had strong Thyatician features, but most damning of all the evidence was Anya’s white hair! She had to be the missing granddaughter of Wolfram, and after beating the answers out of people from Anya’s village about how they found her, Ludwig was convinced by this fact. What luck he had, marrying the daughter from such a powerful and wealthy Thyatician family! It was with such joy that he proclaimed shortly after his daughter’s birth that he was going to make their marriage public and that Anya could move back to his estate! Ludwig even told Anya and his son Gunther that her real name was Julia although he was careful not to go into many specifics. Ludwig was so happy that he even let Julia name their second child, Roseanna, for she was going to usher in a new life for them. With hiss marriage to Julia Ludwig knew that he would gain support from House Halathius, support enough to even be able to strong arm Stefan, his father into making him the heir of the Duchy. It was perfect, Ludwig was going to make this happen. Bargle, on the other hand, was not so sure about this.
In fact, Bargle greatly fear that this new alliance would make it harder for him to control Ludwig. He had let the Baron have his decade of happiness because it made him happy and thus easier to control, but this was going too far! He could compete with the famed Count Wolfram of Thyatis, even if Bargle was loath to admit, and feared that he would fall out of favour with Ludwig as a result. As such something had to happen and fast! Bargle was one of the only people who know
about Anya and Ludwigs family, thus let it slip to several members of the Iron Ring where she was located. Giving these men what they needed to dispel the barrier, he said if they kidnapped Julia and her children that they could ransom them to House Halathius and live like kings for the rest of their lives. And so it was that during early 1000 that these captors did just that and kidnapped Julia and her children. The captors made for the border of the Black Eagle Barony quickly so that they could get their prizes to a secure when they were attacked by orcs that Bargle had enchanted. The slaughter was brutal and quick, and when Bargle came to the site in the early hours of the morning he found the not only the captors dead, but also several of the orcs. Among their corpses he found Julia’s dead body, which he would later present to Ludwig as evidence of the treason of the captors. He would say that these men had broken into his lab and stolen what they needed to capture Julia and her children after overhearing Ludwig for years. Bargle would then say that the captors stumbled upon a party of orcs, which proceeded to kill them all. What would be troublesome was that Gunther and Roseanna’s bodies where nowhere to be found in this massacre. Oh well. Even if they did survive the cold would kill the boy and the girl. Gunther was only 8, so he could gone far with his baby sister. Whether by more orcs or the freezing cold, Ludwig’s children would die either way.
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Edman and Roseanna’s Life
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One night in early 1000 a merchant caravan stumbled upon a strange sight on the road. The caravan had been on its way to Luin and as such had many guards to ward off any attacks from the Black Eagle Barony, when one of the guards noticed movement in a ditch. It was a small boy holding a sleeping baby in his hands, covered in dirt with his clothes torn, and a look of fear in his eyes. The children were picked up and taken to Luin in the belief that they like some many others were part of a family trying to escape the Black Baron’s lands. Fearing that these children had lost their parents in a raid, the leader of the caravan took the frightened boy and his baby sister to the local Traladarian priest in Luin, who when he saw that the children had white hair, was convinced that they were a bad omen due to their strange appearances. When the priest asked the boy what his name, he responded by saying his name was Edman, and that his sister was named Roseanna.
Over the next several years both Edman and Roseanna where moved all over the Grand Duchy, from one orphanage or foster home to the next. At first people would be welcoming towards these two sad orphans who had escaped the Black Eagle Barony, but it would never last long. The fact that the children looked different with their strange white hair (in conjunction with looking more Thyacian then Traladarian) always led people to eventually drift away from both Edman and Roseanna. It also didn’t help that the stigma of the two of them being labelled a bad omen by the priest in Luin continued to haunt Edman and Roseanna, for the Traladarain people are a superstitious lot. Even when Edman had entered young teenage hood he never thought about going back to the Black Eagle Barony to see his father Ludwig. The captors on the night that they were taken from their old house had harassed both Julia and Edman by stating that the Baron no longer wanted them. Edman couldn’t understand why his father would just abandon his family like this, but because of the trauma he had gained while being captured, and the fact that his father never came looking for them
led Edman to truly believe the captor’s lies. Edman never told Roseanna who their father was or that her full name was Roseanna Hilda Hendricks, only that her name was simply Roseanna, and that their mother had been named Julia.
By 1006, when Edman was 14 and Roseanna was 6, both of them moved to Specularum with the hope that Edman could get decent work from a Thyacian employer. Although Edman did eventually find work, the only place in Specularum he could afford to live with his sister was the Nest, the poorest part of the city. Over the next 4 years Edman worked as hard as he could to save up money to get Roseanna and himself out of the Nest and into a nicer part of the city. Meanwhile, Roseanna would play by herself in the streets, fancying herself a noble princess stolen from a faraway land spurred on by the bedtime stories Edman would tell her at night. The two siblings never ran into much trouble from the residences of the Nest due to their strange appearances and people’s fear of them being bad omens. As such Edman was Roseanna’s only real friend in the world, due to the other kids not wanting to play with her. In 1010, to celebrate the marriage between Prince Justin Karameikos and Lady Joanna Vorloi, Edman at his job was tasked with moving and setting up several of the fireworks that the magic’s guild had prepared for the accompany the celebrations. However, when trying to set up one of the displays, a freak accident occurred and the magical fireworks went haywire, killing Edman in the process.
What little money Edman had saved up over the last several years had to go into paying for the damages his little accident had caused, leaving Roseanna destitute in the process. As a result, Roseanna couldn’t even afford to give Edman a proper burial. Roseanna and a priest from the Church of Karameikos where the only people at Edman’s funeral, where Roseanna spent most of the time crying. The grave diggers had dug a huge hole, because Roseanna couldn’t afford even a coffin, Edman’s badly burnt corpse was wrapped up in old sheets instead. When the diggers threw Edman’s body into the hole, it landed in such a way that the old rages came undone, and Roseanna
show first hand her dead bother’s charred corpse. The 10 year old Roseanna became hysterical upon seeing this horrible site, as the grave diggers discretely started to fill in the hole. Afterwards after the hole had been filled and the grave diggers left, Roseanna sat crying in front of the unmarked grave as the priest said his final words. Feeling great sympathy for these poor lost girl, and because of the clear Thyacian ancestry in her face, the priest took Roseanna to the Great Church of Karameikos. The priest was able to convince Patriarch Olliver Jowet to let Roseanna join the seminary held at the Great Church, due to Jowet’s sympathy for this poor girl’s plight and the horrible experiences Roseanna had been through. And so with nowhere else to go Roseanna became a member of Church of Karameikos.
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