House Blackvale



Reigning Lady: Vienthe Blackvale

Primary Trade Product: Flametouched Rubies, Petrified Heartswood

History:

In all the histories of the Houses none were said ever to have a stranger beginning than House Blackvale, the first Lord Saire was the Earth born son of the Matriarch Felira Blackdawn and her sea-faring paramour Esendril Bloodvale, a renown privateer and pirate hunter. While Saire was not the only child of the pair, he was the one who took up the courage to raise a small army and immediately rid the deep, rich forests just near below the Sundered Peak of Amani and Scourge alike. Saire and his army swore their fealty to Felira Blackdawn and began mining as well as lumbering, creating the estate known as the Stone Spire. Over the years House Blackvale has traditionally been the highest birth rate of Earth aligned children and a significant supplier of rare gemstones and wood to the other Houses in the Flameborn Accord. While favor has waned and waxed over them throughout the years it was the ill named Saire Blackvale II that created a dark stain on the name of the House and it’s residents. Saire Blackvale II, an ash born leader, faltered and fled in cowardice after the Trolls rampaged through the lands and nearly broke the Stone Spire, many dead and many more grievously mutilated. The Hammer of the Witches was forced to take up the Blackguard and march on the lands with the amassed collective forces of the Flameborne Accord.

When the Trolls was pushed back with aid from what of the Blackvale’s remained it was found that Saire Blackvale II had ended his own life, and rather than pick from his children The Hammer and the Matriarch named Saire’s youngest sister Ailene Blackvale as Lady of the House on the promise that she marry a member of the Blackguard, and so it was that she did- often referred to as Ailene the Goldspinner, it was her vast efforts that lead to the repair, renewal and ultimately rise of House Blackvale. While some believe that the Stone Spire produces only jewelers, miners, wood workers and architects few know of the cruel military tactics the Blackvale’s are apt to using. Calculating acts of guerilla warfare often lead to traps or snipers, and it is rumored that when a man or woman takes their first kill they sew the teeth, nails, heart and blood into the soil they later plant or grow on. Some pervading rumors speak of Troll magic, but that may just be a whisper to scare children. House Blackvale also possess one of the very few specific regional units known as Oakcallers, these masters of Earthen magic summon Treants to fight for them and it is said in death their skin hardens into bark and they themselves become a tree among the land.