Alright, first post on the forum... be gentle, please. My muse ran off in the direction of Elyria last night and I woke up with the thoughtful muse on the surface of my thoughts so I wrote down as much as I could before feeling comfortable enough to post it here. Anyway... Forward onto dawn!
A Historical Genealogy of the Old Houses
“...Whilst in the current Age it may not be hard to trace one's family line back to the individual that gave your surname the distinction of becoming a House of varying renown in its own right. However, if one’s House is far older than the average common House, it shall be increasingly difficult to trace one’s lineage back into another Age entirely. If your House is far enough removed from the main branch of the family to be considered a Cadet House, with its own separate surname without being hyphenated, one could spend a lifetime within the archives of a settlement, barony, county, duchy or however unlikely the kingdom itself and still not be able to trace back the lineage far enough to have any significant impact on one’s lives. Unless one takes great personal risk with their own life to wander in the wilderness, to discover the remnants of the defunct Old Houses and possibly be able to trace through those Houses to their current descendants, whose surname may well have changed since the previous Age.
I took that risk myself while exploring a region which was once a county in its own right and has belonged to the duchy since the beginning of the current Age. What I eventually found there was an old manor in much disrepair which was once the very seat of the old county. When inside the manor I discovered a rather tattered tapestry which was motheaten and at one point had been burned, so that the House crest and name were near unrecognizable as well as a vast majority of the given names of the family members. I left the old manor after stowing the old tapestry carefully into my pack and made my way back to my home within the barony. Upon my return after a week of exploring and resting for a time, I then carefully cleaned and examined the old tapestry with as much skill as I could muster and was able to ascertain that the given name of Lavender was the most visible and that the surname of the House began with ‘Dun’ and ended with the letter Y. That at least was a starting point from where to begin looking in the archives.
As it so happened it took many weeks to find anything relating to a Lavender Dun-----y within the archives and by then I was looking through the Duchy’s own archives. House Dunleavy was of the nobility which had gained the lands and titles therein of a County. Countess Lavender Dunleavy had three children, two sons as well as a daughter and was the last person to hold the title without dispute as her children fought amongst themselves despite her Will on who was to inherit her title, lands and money. An interesting detail I found in my research was that House Dunleavy had another House on retainer and that House was eventually bestowed the lands and titles of a Barony which was House Jenkins. It is curious to note that both House Dunleavy and House Jenkins went defunct around the same time and that there are hints that the last remaining members of both families on record may have had secreted away children, yet both the County tied to House Dunleavy and the Barony tied to House Jenkins have long since been made lands of the Duchy…”
Excerpt of ‘A Historical Genealogy of the Old Houses’ page 11
By Dame Scarlet Telynx, Chief Genealogist of Baroness Jacqueline Cloverleaf
“...The Eye's return has come and gone, yet even at these times I wonder if my hands are being guided by the Two-Fold Queen whilst I delve deeper into the Old House of Dunleavy. It has taken many months to find sufficient surviving records and accounts of the defunct County of Crystal Vale, I needed to go into further detail on Countess Lavender Dunleavy's children. My search within the archives of the Duchy has now bourne fruit to go into adequate detail on her eldest son, Julian, one of the Heirs Apparent.
Julian Dunleavy was born roughly thirty-four years before his mother`s death would destabilize the foundations of the County into a state of disarray therein bringing the fate of the County into question. According to zodiac records of the celestial bodies upon the time of Julian's birth, it was during the House of the Conifer Rat with both The Eye and Gulain in the heavens. For those unfamiliar with the terms, this is a curious blend of astronomy, which deals with the study and understanding the characteristics and the movement of the celestial bodies of Elyria. As well as astrology, which seeks to interpret the relationship between astronomical phenomena, such as the identified Houses of the Zodiac, and events and developments in the world of Elyria. Furthermore, the House of the Conifer Rat is the House of Family and the house influences are family, resources, obligation and wealth. There is also meaning behind the celestial bodies, The Eye is said to focus on family, death, judgement and other things that are still being researched, and Gulain is said to focus on ambition, wealth, great loss and reversals of fortune.
As a young boy, Julian was said to have great ambition beyond either of his siblings as he had his heart set upon obtaining a knighthood in the Order of the Sempnivose Knights. A few years later, that intention to be a knight hadn't gone away and he was sent off to be a Page under the tutelage of the then-Knight Companion of the Sempnivose Knights, Sir Rowland Mardel. By his mid teens, Julian graduated from being a Page and became a Squire for the then-Knight Champion of the Sempnivose Knights, Sir Darion Rochfort. Once Julian was age twenty-one, he achieved his childhood dream of earning a knighthood in the Order of the Sempnivose Knights.
Over the course of the next decade, Sir Julian proved to have an ideal mind for strategy as well as being an adept tactician whilst learning from the example of the then-Commander Sir Adrian Jenkins and seemed to have had a certain way with inspiring his fellow Knights. Sir Julian's rank within the Order of the Sempnivose Knights progressed during this time from Knight to Knight Lieutenant to Knight Captain to Knight Companion. By the time of his mother's death, Sir Julian was a Knight Champion of the Sempnivose Knights below two of his mentors, Commander Sir Rowland Mardel and Lieutenant Commander Sir Darion Rochfort…”
Excerpt of ‘A Historical Genealogy of the Old Houses’ page 17
