Franklin Brent IV.

Franklin Brent is the son of Marjia, and Frank Brent making him a form of House Brent. Franklin Brent has two siblings in the form of Thomas, and Fionna Brent of whome his brother Thomas is ruling over the castle of Castle Stragnarax and has become very powerful in this role, while his sister Fionna is 13 at the end of the Rise of Lucerne and is being prepared for marriage. Franklin Brent is married to Karyl Reyne of whom is one of only a handful of people that knows he suffers from a serious disability where he cannot be touched by people he doesn't know. Together the two have one child in the form of Davin Brent of whom is barely six months old at the time of the end of the Rise of Lucerne.

Franklin Brent was only four years old when his entire life would become defined by something when his father Frank took him riding with him. Following this young Franklin came to love everything about horses, and was very rarely away from the house's stables, and this love caused his parents at the age of nine to get him a baby horse which Franklin was to raise, and train to be his future mount. Franklin named his horse Sparrow after the manner in which he chirped like a sparrow bird, and as the years past he never drifted in his adortion for his horse Sparrow. When he reached the age of seventeen he was skilled enough on the horse that his father gave him command of several servents of whom showed promise in arms. Franklin would take these men and turn them into the first members of his cavalry platoon. This platoon became defined by the name of the Unwashed because he only recruited from the poorest segments of his village and by taking these men off the streets and treating them well he earned a massive amount of loyalty from them. Franklin Brent would be sent by his father eastward with his Unwashed to get his first piece of action alongside the forces of House Greymane of whom were dealing with a powerful banditry force that had captured a castle and was becoming a real nuisance. Fighting in the conflict was his first test of leadership, and he was fully capable of leading his unwashed during the fighting and would be given great compliments by Liam Greymane of whom was leading the Greymane forces, and alongside this he gained a friend with the dark Dexter Hill. Everything for him was going perfectly but his life would turn upside down when his father married him off to Karyl Reyne. In the early days Franklin appeared the perfect gentlemen but she couldn't get him to be phyically intimate with her, and this caused her a great amount of frustration. Eventually she came to understand him, and in this understanding she found that he had a debilitating problem where he got extremely uncomfortable if touched by anyone he didn't fully trust. She came to earn his trust over time and despite the fact that he continued to suffer through this she found him finally able to physically become intimate with her leading to the birth of their first child midway through the Rise of Lucerne. Following the Battle of Castle Stragnarax Frankin would be knighted alongside his brother Thomas for their actions during the battle by Martin Ordos. Franklin would lead the reconstruction of the Eyes, and during this time he would found a series of smaller caves located around each of the Eyes so that when those defending the Eyes were forced to retreat they would have a place to go to that would keep them safe for a time. Franklin would be sent northwest when the colonization of the Westerlands came underway, and he would lead a force of some six hundred men and women of House Brent to the Westerlands where they came to reside in Greengarden.

Early History
Franklin Brent was only four years old when his entire life would become defined by something when his father Frank took him riding with him. Following this young Franklin came to love everything about horses, and was very rarely away from the house's stables, and this love caused his parents at the age of nine to get him a baby horse which Franklin was to raise, and train to be his future mount. Franklin named his horse Sparrow after the manner in which he chirped like a sparrow bird, and as the years past he never drifted in his adortion for his horse Sparrow.

Horse Commander
When he reached the age of seventeen he was skilled enough on the horse that his father gave him command of several servents of whom showed promise in arms. Franklin would take these men and turn them into the first members of his cavalry platoon. This platoon became defined by the name of the Unwashed because he only recruited from the poorest segments of his village and by taking these men off the streets and treating them well he earned a massive amount of loyalty from them.

Badgers of Lucerne


Following the destruction of Tree Hill, it was the continued attempt by Bill Lovie to further destabilize the region and unable to understand why the Orcs hadn't destroyed Tree Hill completely and unable to meet with them he begin going back to his old trickery of creating bandits and using them to attack his own people. The Badgers of Lucerne were one of the many banditry groups he created, and they were especially dangerous as Bill Lovie sent Kieth Schwartz specifically to lead them, and he was a truly dangerous man. The Badgers were able to quickly gather forces through bribary, and intimidation of the small villages south of Castle Garfield, and from there begin raiding merchants and noblemen all across the province of Northern Hillsbrad. At first it fell under the responsiblity of House Garfeild to deal with this problem and they went about this by calling in nearly all of their personal forces, and vassal forces and moving into the smaller villages searching for the Badgers. This would have great effect as they were able to find their way to the Badgers main hideout in the hills where they would attack it and kill many members of the Badgers, but unknown to them was the fact that the Badgers had been tipped off about the attack and most had fled including Kieth Schwartz.

Now realizing that House Garfield was an immediate threat to their movements the Badgers under the command of Kieth Schwartz would prepare to capture Castle Tollsen that was the seat of the small House Tollsen. Kieth would use deception, and bribary to bring about the capture of Rosomund Garfield, of whom he executed quickly after and left her broken body at the site of Castle Tollsen. This led to Jeydon Garfield the heir to the house, and the leader of their forces to travel to Castle Tollsen with a small force of men to retrieve his mother and find out what had happened. Jeydon would be ambushed on the road into the castle and killed, and following this he and his men's clothes were taken, and the Badgers used them to infiltrate Castle Tollsen. Inside the castle they allowed in the rest of the bandits and took control of the castle, with little to no resistence. Once in control of Castle Tollsen they put the Lord of House Tollsen to the sword alongside one of his sons of whom resisted, and then begin restarting their raids on the surrounding region.

Counter Attack


With the fall of Castle Tollsen the entire forces of House Greymane were aware of the attack, and Liam Greymane would lead the charge to eradicate the Badgers. Calling for all the vassals of which were many tens thousands of men at arms and thousands of knights was not needed so he called on House Crowley, and several other houses to travel with him and deal with the bandits. As the army was growing Frank Brent would send his son Franklin Brent to join the army with his force of Unwashed of whom he wanted Franklin to better understand the rigors of combat. The army camped south of Tollsen a month after the castle had fallen, and by this time the area around it and the southern section of Northern Hillsbrad was in flames from the work of the Bandits. House Garfield had made attempts to stop them now under the command of Andrew Garfield, but the Badgers had begun forceably recruiting men from the villages, and had armed most of Castle Tollsen into their forces, and were using hostages to maintain their loyalty if needed. Finding themselves up against a little more then a thousand troops the forces of Liam Greymane spent another two weeks waiting for reinforcements from House Lerman of whom unexpectaly were sent northward to assist with the action. Dexter Hill, and Franklin Brent led their personal forces first in the vangaurd and would be used as a lure for a large group of bandits that was burning across the province. The lure worked and they were brought into battle where they were overwhelmed by the entire army of Greymane of which now moved into a siege of Castle Tollsen.

As the Badgers were sieged in Castle Tollsen, they were damaged as a single man stood on the tallest tower and used Magi to torment the siegers with whispering in their minds causing many to be unable to sleep, and others to be forced to leave the battle completely. When this did not end the siege though Kieth Schwartz understood clearly he couldn't hold, and talks were starting amongst the forced men fighting for him that they should storm the dungeons and regain their hostages of which would allow them to turn on the Badgers. With this happening, Kieth Schartz would send some two hundred men of his forces (mainly the forced members of his forces) outside of the castle and he begin planning a full scale retreat. As this happened the two hundred men sent out of the castle would begin infighting as the Bandits were bullied by the forced members, and this led to some sixty of the two hundred (all of the true bandits) heading westward trying to retreat away from the siege. Seeing this Franklin Brent, and Dexter Hill would lead a charge of their forces into the sixty, while Liam moved the main army to attempt to stop a full retreat. Franklin Brent's Unwashed would wipe out the sixty bandits, while Dexter Hill killed many of the outriders that were retreating from the broken force. Liam reached the castle to late to stop the retreat, and Kieth Schwarts was able to pull out of Castle Tollsen with some two hundred men, while the remainder of the loyal Bandits were dead during the revolt that had taken place within the castle.

With the Badgers defeated with their number mainly dead, and a small amount retreating northward with Kieth Schwartz, the threat was all but gone. Liam would send the Lerman's after the retreating forces, while he led the main army into Castle Tollsen where he planned to spend several weeks rebuilding what was lost, and adding what he could to the area. Dexter Hill, and Franklin Brent would meet on the battlefield, and Dexter learned that Kieth Schwartz was leading the Badgers, and told this information to Franklin Brent of whom didn't fully believe him yet, but begin to seriously suspect Bill Lovie of nefarious actions, and also begin to further trust Dexter Hill. Logan Lerman, his two brothers, and his father would lead the Lerman forces into a fake chase of the Badgers, and Logan and his younger brother were shocked when they stopped their forces to camp, and were met while camped by the remaining Badgers. Logan attempted to fight them, but was laughed at by both his older brother and father and the Badgers, and came to understand that they were working together. Several dead bodies were passed across, and a mass grave was shown to Logan of which would be identified in case they needed to as the place they burried the remaining Badgers.

I pulled my sword out of the poor man infront of me and collected myself around the rest of my men. A quick look told me we had lost very few if anyone in the charge, but looking to Edric Maul I knew my anwser would come quicker. "Edric what were our losses?"

"Simon took an arrow to the face, and Tohmen was slashed on the neck." Only two casualties wasn't terrible considering how many of them we had just overrun, but as I looked out onto the field and saw how many were in retreat I knew this was just the beggining."Probably more injuries, but we won't know that until after the battle Milord." As he spoke I spotted the personal banner of Dexter on the hill before us, and knew I wanted to have a chat with Dexter about what was the next plan for the complete defeat of the Badgers.

"Thank you Edric."He bowed his bloodied face at me and I turned towards the rest of my men. "Follow me men." As quickly as I said it I could hear the men trotting behind me as I made my way towards Dexter Hill of whom was stopped on a hill nearbye watching the retreat of the Badgers. Nearing him several of his men rode up the hill ahead of us, and spoke to him, of which the conversation was still going as I finally reached Dexter.

"A cousin of the man identified him."

"That will make for an interesting story. Where is this cousin now?"

"He was struck down by an arrow, but with his dying words he told me Milord."

"Then I suppose this information shall remain with us."

"What information shall remain with you Dexter?" I wanted to trust Dexter. He had never given me reason to think he was a liar, but the simple fact was that everyone I met made a special point to tell me not to trust him, and that had unfortunatly seeped into my thinking.

"Look out at the retreating Badgers Frank. Do you see the man carrying the banner? " 

"Yes. I see him."

"Beside him is the man leading the Badgers."

"It seems obvious that the commander would be near the banner. What sort of..."

"Yes this would be obvious Franklin, but its the identity of the man that is interesting. I have learned from a dying man that the man leading the Badgers was none other then Kieth Schwartz."

"I do not know that name."

"Kieth Schwarts is the best friend of our glorious king my friend."

"How could that be." There had never been any real truth to Dexter's story that our King had been the cause of the destruction of Tree Hill, but if his best friend was truly here then that would be damning.

"I have a feeling that the anwser to that question is further truth to what I told you of Tree Hill."

"But it just doesn't make any sence. Why would the King of Lucerne go to such lengths to destroy his own land." I saw briefly a look of disapointment across Dexter's face as I once again resisted what he was telling me.

"I told you the truth back in Hillsbrad Lord Brent. I told you the truth and it is up to you whether you choose to believe me and the facts I bring to the table. I'm not forcing anything. Believe what you will." With that he waved at his men, and they went riding down the hill towards the main force now entering the castle. I didn't know what to think right now, but I know that my father would have a better understanding of what was going on in the world.

Karyl Reyne
Following this she would be married off to Franklin Brent the reclusive second son of House Brent. In the early days Franklin appeared the perfect gentlemen but she couldn't get him to be phyically intimate with her, and this caused her a great amount of frustration. Eventually she came to understand him, and in this understanding she found that he had a debilitating problem where he got extremely uncomfortable if touched by anyone he didn't fully trust. She came to earn his trust over time and despite the fact that he continued to suffer through this she found him finally able to physically become intimate with her leading to the birth of their first child midway through the Rise of Lucerne.

Hillsbrad Meeting
Main Article : The Journey



With William Lovie III. leaving Lucerne for the event that has become known as The Journey the rest of the Kingdom became increasingly positive about his actions. In the city of Hillsbrad the Arch Lord in House Greymane would call an assembly of all of his vassals of which included even the powerful House Ordos. Arriving in Hillsbrad the meetings began with Genn Greymane talking of the continued consequences of them allowing the current King to wield unending power, and that their only chance of survival was to find this William Lovie III. and help him achieve victory. Vincent Godfrey would openly support King Bill Lovie and said as a warning to all those around that the last time anyone tried to resist him they were destroyed in The Plague. Demi Snow would stand up during this fighting and state that her family was one hundred percent behind William and was going to send forces to assist him immediatly, and this information shocked the other houses as everyone had assumed that they were not going to do anything like they always did. Still without her Lord father`s support she would during the meeting commit to sending one hundred men immediatly with the larger force being sent by the Greymane`s and after this promice there was little that her father could do to turn against it.

Entering the hall early allowed me time to think about what I planned to do. I had come to the understanding sometime during the trip here that there was no way I could ever return to the Crowley Estates, or Crowley Hold or elce I was dead. My brother would eventually get his wish and be left alone without my father, and when that happened his madness would be unleashed. Andrew entered shortly after I did, and I felt terrible as he smiled at me so enthusiastically. I loved him, surely I did, but today my main purpose for him was menipulation, and that made me feel lower then ever.

Slowly the other lords entered the hall. The lithe Gregor Voner entered flanked by several of his vassals, and squatted on the seat to my right. Gregor Voner had always been friendly with our house, and my father always told me to be as nice to him as possible as he hated the Godfreys. Apparently when Gregor was young his little sister had been raped and murdered, and the only person that appeared to be guilty was Groevin Godfrey and he too escaped justice after winning and killing Gregor`s older brother Aron in a duel. The Godfrey`s had after this exiled Groevin, but this was followed by insults from the Godfrey`s which basically have created a distinct hatred between the two houses.

When Leyton Mountain entered being escorted by his heir Baelor and his frightening looking daughter Malora. I had heard that she and Leyton spent nearly all of their days locked away in their hightower, and from the looks of her she hadn`t seen the outside world very much of late.

Franklin Brent entered flanked by his little wife Karyl Reyne of whom held onto him as if he was the last thing in ths world. Franklin brought in tow with him Benjemin, and Dennis Ordos of which I along with everyone elce in the room found beyond hilarious. Dennis had long been the Lord of House Ordos, but the wealth possessed by House Brent always meant that the kind of diplomatic insults that might doom another vassal were simply ignored for fear of what House Brent might do.

The final Lords to enter were Laehera Rholler, Vincent Godfrey, and Kieth Darkwood of whom waited at the door and when the four Greymane gaurds walked in holding the door I knew we were in for Genn Greymane. Held to his feet by Liam Greymane the Elderly Lord of Hillsbrad was seated at the Arch Lord table and when he raised his hand to speak the meeting would begin. ``My Lords...``Liam whispered to him briefly, and he continued.``My Lords, and Ladies I thank you all for arriving so promptly.`` The ever present grovelling begin with Kieth Darkwood of whom bowed his head from the table and thanked Genn for his hospotality of which when Genn did not anwser or look it was clear he hadn`t heard and so Liam said the your welcomes neccessary.

Genn appeared to enter some kind of trance, and when this happened Liam moved himself away from his father as if to avery people`s eyes and begin speaking`` '''My honored Lords and Ladies we are here today to speak of the direction that the lands of Hillsbrad shall move in when it comes to the issue of William Lovie III. I, alongside my family have come to the conclusion that we shall support the young prince in his endevors. I do come here commanding the support of our vassals, instead I ask that we all make a decision and let it be known that all were heard.'''`` Liam sat back down beside his father of whom he put his hand onto the top of his fathers hand before raising his other hand to direct others to speak.

Vincent Godfrey spoke first. ``'''I may offer but one small issue. While I do not disagree that what we have heard of this young prince is atleast more promicing then his father, I do wish to point out that others have attempted to move against Bill and they now sit in shallow graves.'''``

``'''That is no reason not to support William. We all must die at some point, so why not die supporting the rightful king.'''`` Franklin spoke with a conviction and a admiration that was promicing when it came to my hope that the Greymane`s would get much support.

``The fanatism of youth is something that brings about its own host of dangers young Brent.`` Osbert Konie the vassal of Godfrey spoke in support of his liege. It was interesting to see the Kronies sitting with Vincent Godfrey while the Godfrey`s other vassal in the Voner`s was on the other side of the table. Clearly the long history of conflict between the two houses was alive and well.

Franklin made the right choice when he ignored the attempted goating by Osbert. ``'''I come with the words of my father and thus all of House Brent behind me that we shall support the crown prince William Lovie III. Any who do also follow I beg to ask. How can you accept a king that murders your family. Just a few short years ago he murdered hundreds in targeted assasinations. Our Liege Lord lost many members of his family for doing nothing more then what everyone at this table should be jumping at doing.'''`` Franklin`s words were met by smacks on the table of support by many of the Lords at the table.

``'''You speak as if you understand the world so greatly child. You have been alive for less summers then anyone at this table and yet you speak for all of us now.'''``

``I speak for my liege Lord Genn Greymane, who has led us wisely and justly for years and was forced to endure the deaths of so much of his family for just asking questions.`` He looked around the table at each person before continueing. ``Lord Godfrey I think you forget to much that you are the vassal of House Greymane.``

Demi Snow following the ending of the meeting would take to staying near Andrew Garfield of whom accompanied her back to her families estate. Spending some time there getting the one hundred men she had promiced she would leave shortly after and return with Andrew to the assembling party outside of the eastern gate. By this point hours later her father learned of what she had done, and left the Crowley castle hours west of Hillsbrad and attempted to return to Hillsbrad. Demi realizing that her father was going to do something like that left with the hundred men of House Crowley ahead of the main Hillsbrad force heading for Forks.

Demi Snow Marries


Following the arrival of the Hillsbrad force in Forks Demi Snow would continue with the next step of her plan when she handed a letter of forged consent of marriage to Andrew`s father Harron Garfield of whom knew that his son desperatly wanted to marry Demi, and knew that the match was perfect for his house so he jumped at the oppurtunity. Realizing that she couldn`t return unmarried or elce her father would put an end to her scheming she persuaded Andrew and his father to have the ceremony in Forks so that she could truly be a part of their family during The Journey. Following her persuasion the marraige happened with the large Dragon Temple of Forks and Demi Snow became Demi Garfield and was now protected so she believed from the actions of her brother Dexter.

Return to Lucerne
Janos Flynt was in a position that was only a step beneath his brother Tavin Flynt of whom was running the city watch as the commander. On the days following the liberation of Tree Hill news begin to filter into the city that William was on his way to Lucerne and was planning on removing his father from power. While during this time Bill Lovie made no effort to control the city watch so that they would defend the city, his young son Sean Lovie did attempt to stop his entry. The liberation of Tree Hill was the moment that Sean understood that Andrew would return to Lucerne and attempt to remove his father, and most likely kill him. This wasn't something Sean could allow so he begin ordering the gaurds of the city to stop Andrew from entering the city. He mainly was giving these orders to Tavin Flynt of whom had always retained the belief that he was loyal to House Lovie first and then the Kingdom thus he made the choice to stand beside Sean Lovie, and Bill Lovie. This decision was met with rumblings throughout the city watch as most wanted William to be victorious but his control over the top echolons was powerful, and most believed he had the support of his brother Janos Flynt of whom was the most influencial member of the city watch. As William was one day away from Lucerne Janos Flynt would approach his brother and attempt to talk him out of his decision.

City Watch Coup

 * "I had the commanders in my ear. I had the men on my side. I thought I knew who my brother was. I guess that was the only part of the equation that I had wrong."


 * -Janos Flynt

Janos Flynt had the support of the vast majority of the city watch when he approached his brother with the idea of doing what was right and allowing William Lovie into the city. Janos expected that his brother would listen to his advise and everything would be fine but instead Tavin called on men of his gaurd to arrest Janos for treason, and when he did this Janos realized that there wasn't going to be any convinsing him, so before he was put under arrest from the gaurds he unsheathed his sword and slashed his brother across the neck killing him almost instantly. At the death of Tavin the gaurds stood down and basically switched loyalties almost immediatly. Following this Janos would go throughout the various city watch commanders and make sure everyone was with him, and when he was sure they were he gave the command for William to be allowed into the city. William would enter through the vast gates of Lucerne alongside his force, and Sean Lovie would watch from the first gate as his brother approached a position he believed was blocked to him. Sean ran to the city watch command and demanded to see Tavin, but found information that Tavin had been murdered and Janos was now in charge of the city watch. Realizing he had failed to resist the entry of William Lovie he fled to the Sky Towers where he planned to use the Sky Tower forces to hold off William while he hoped his father would gather supporters. Finding that none of the supposed loyal vassals of House Lovie remained on Bill`s side despite his fathers belief that they would have supported his rule over his upstart son, and thus Sean panicked and begin abusing the few remaining lower ranked nobles that had come to the Sky Towers to show their support.

Entering the Sky Tower

 * "I knew William my whole life, and I had known Sean Lovie my whole life. Both of them were who they were, and the problem for Sean was that he was a terrible human being. The time for honor was later, I needed to protect William."


 * -Barrett Ahren

As William Lovie attempted to enter the Sky Towers Sean Lovie gave the House Lovie forces the command to stop him at all costs but by this point noone was listening to him, and the order wasn't accepted by the head of the House Lovie Sky Tower gaurds in Barrett Ahren. Sean discovered that they too were unwilling to stop the prince from coming, and begged his father to tell him how they were going to get out of this but his father just sat at his desk waiting for William to enter the room. When William entered the room he did so flanked by Hedrik, Franklin, Edward, Jasper, and Emmett and they found his father sitting at his desk writing on papers, while Sean stood in the corner of the room looking very uncomfortable. William would acuse Bill Lovie of treason and make him very much aware that he was now the King in everything but name, to which Bill Lovie stood up and responded with the following.

My brother held for a moment holding the door, and as he stood their transfixed on the door handle I put my hand to his arm. Feeling my hand on his he looked back and smiled back at me before pulling the door open to reveal the contents of the room I had never been allowed to enter in my entire life. My father sat behind a massive desk, while the pathetic image of my brother Sean leaning in the corner of the room looking like a small child. Sean looked like the same pathetic boy he had been on the last day I had seen him, and it pained me to remember now all he had done. On a scale of evil he was up there with the worst monsters, and yet somehow when you looked at him now he looked so small.

William entered the room flanked to his left by Jasper, and Hedrik, while on his right Edward, and Emmett moved forward. I stood transfixed staring into the room until finally Franklin gently grabbed my arm and led me into the room to stand behind William. If he noticed that I had entered he didn`t make any signs of caring he just stared at William. Sean on the other hand saw me and a twisted smirk moved across his face to the point that I moved closer to William looking for the protection that he offered me.

``'''My victorious son returns with his brave Lords. I rejoice at your great victory at Tree Hill son.'''`` My father was anything if not a brilliant menipulater of men, but even that seemed foolish. My brother`s victory left him in a position of little hope, and yet when you looked at his face he did look genuinly proud to see his son.

``'''The time for your lies is long past its end. I have learned the truth about what you have done father, and the time has come to pay for crimes.'''``

``So you come as a gaurdian of the realm then.`` He rose from the desk and moved in front of it to sit gently on the front. Seeing him closer he wore the armor of his father James, and even his madness you could see the royal look he carried.

``'''I`ve come for justice for the thousands of people you have either killed or terrorized. I come to avenge the wrongs you have done to this Kingdom. I come make you pay for everything you`ve ever done.'''``

``And yet your point is sullied by bringing that bastard girl.``

``You will never speak of her again do you hear me.`` William stepped forward and I grabbed at his cloak to keep him close while Jasper and the others also stepped forward to protect their prince. I actually couldn`t believe it still hurt me to hear the distain in his voice towards me, but it still hurt my heart to be so unloved by my father. A tear fell down my cheek and I grabbed again at his cloak and he turned as if realizing I was crying. Gently wiping his hand on my face he smiled at me conveying the love he held for me, and how much he was capable of I felt safer.

``That will be your undoing my son.`` The words from my father turned William back towards him, and as pathetic as it was I moved closer behind him nearly hugging his back.

``What do you blather on now.``

``'''Your love for that girl is going to be the one thing your enemies will use to their advantage. Don`t you understand that I sent her away because she was weakening you.'''`` He spoke as if it was the most honorable act he could have ever done, and yet the sheer scope of what he had was beyond grasping.

``'''Use whatever excuses you want but this ends here. Your time here is at an end murderer.'''`` The moment William said murderer it was as if Bill had been struck with the most painful strike in the history of mankind. Falling back onto his desk he looked back with a horrified look on his face.

"I’ve seen horrors. Horrors that you’ve seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that, but you have no right to judge me…It’s impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies…" It was the sad ramblings of a man with nothing left, but as the tears flowed from my father`s face I felt a tinge of empathy for the sadness that must have driven this once great man to fall so far as to hate his children, and turn the Kingdom into a hellish place.

``'''The time for your talking is over. Jasper, Hedrik please take my father into custody and Sean it is...'''`` Before he could finish my father broke out into hysterical crying and fell to his knees before William. Moving that close to William Jasper grabbed ahold of him almost immediatly and shielded William.

"'''There they were in a pile, a pile of arms, and I remember, I…I…I cried, I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want to forget. And then I realized like I was shot, like I was shot with a diamond, a diamond arrow right through my forehead. And I thought, ‘My God, the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than me because they could stand it. These were not monsters. These were orcs — trained warriors. These orcs who fought with their hearts who have families, who have children, who are filled with lust for battle – that they had the strength, the strength to do that. If I had ten divisions of those Orcs, then our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill – without feeling, without passion, without judgment – without judgment. Because it’s judgment that defeats us.'''" After that madness filled rant Bill recoiled from Jaspers grasp and ran behind the desk.

``There`s nowhere to go...its over father.``You could tell this was breaking William as he watched the man that had been his father for his entire life fall apart. This wasn`t like it was for me or Sean as father had never loved or cared for us in any real way, this was true pain. For his entire life his father had loved and cared for him, and now was the final moment of his time with him, and I felt his pain wash over me.

``'''The day may come son, when this is at an end. I see my end in the stars son, but know that while it is my blood that lays the final blow, it will not be you. You will be far far away when I finally get the judgement that you wish of me.'''``He stopped for a moment and looked briefly at Sean, and then William before stopping at me. ``'''I`m sorry that my plan failed in the end. I`m sorry that everytime I looked at you I couldn`t find any feeling but resentment. He always loved you in a way that he never did me, and I...I just...I just hated you for it. I see now that you were never my daughter in the end. I see now that you William were the only child I was ever meant to love...and I failed even that.'''``

``'''Its time father. Take him away...'''``As he finished Bill took a blue stone out of his pocket, and with another look at his children he clasped the blue stone and disapeared into nothing. Too shocked to say anything we were knocked out of our shock by Sean stepping forward holding a green stone. Sean stared at William laughing and as William lunged forward at him Sean too clasped the stone, and disapeared into nothing.



Bill went on a series of rants and Andrew rejected this logic, and prepared to arrest Bill and place him in jail, when all of a sudden Bill broke out into histerical crying. After litterly crying for nearly a minute Bill finally begin blabbering about different things of which none appeared to make sense until finally Bill begin discussing the Battle of Lyons. Bill told Andrew of how there were piles upon piles of bodies, and he knew that the Orcs were greater then he was. With that speach done Bill took out of his pocket a blue stone, and told Andrew that the day he might bring justice against him would come at some point but it wasn't today as today he was going to leave to the safety that the stone provided. In a single moment Bill disappeared and teleported to the location the stone sent the user. With Bill gone it was just Andrew and Sean and the two stood transfixed at eachother, and then as suddenly as a man shot with an arrow dies, Sean went to his pocket and pulled out a green stone and then disappeared into nothing.

Civil War in Lucerne
Main Article : Lucerne Civil War



With the valley clear of Bill, and Sean Lovie, William went about attempting to gain control by eliminating those that were loyal to his father, but most of all he declared war on his father's supporters and very soon after doing this he came to understand that Sean Lovie had taken control of the city of Berne which he didn't even know existed. Under Alistair Bedroogen the loyalists loyal to William were sending word to William outside Berne for the first bit of the control by Sean and thus for this early time they knew many of those loyal to Sean or at least to afraid to resist Sean. With this knowledge William rallied the Order of the Red Dragon, alongside a large force of House Lovie and sent this large force to besiege Berne. When his forces arrived there he they saw that Berne was a death trap, and that while they could feasibly attack the city the casualties would be horrendous and on top of that they might not even succeed. Knowing this William ordered them to dig in, and make sure no assistance came from land, and they were forced to live off the small parcel of land within Berne, and to burn their internal supplies. With the front door shut for the moment William went about his plan to take control of Berne which would revolve around building a tunnel from Lucerne into the rear of Berne and fighting inside from that direction, while also hoping to starve out the defenders so that they would surrender. As William devised his plan where they would complete the underway in its route to Berne and thus they would break in behind the defences and take the city from within, the Order of the Red Dragon begin having difficulties holding the main entrance as the Orcs in the region were a constant problem. Knowing they needed to be somewhat quick with their seige they were in trouble as unfortunately the tunneling behind Berne would take some time, and so he needed to block the front of Berne without having his army sitting there for the four years the underway would take to complete.

In order to do this William sent emissaries from the Order of the Green Dragon to meet with the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas whose forest extended close to the boundaries of Berne and thus would be able to assist in blocking them in if they so chose to do. The Order of the Green Dragon was sent and led by Demi Hill of whom was accompanied by Franklin Brent and his wife who led a force of some six hundred House Brent forces to act as guards for the mission. When his emissaries arrived they were greeted by Legolas, and Alleria Windrunner of whom were accompanied by nearly three hundred Sindar Elves, and they would greet them with friendship and take them to Darnassus. In Darnassus they would be treated to a beautiful feast and Alleria took Franklin and his wife around the capital before they would have the meeting later that night. Seeing the size and beauty of Darnassus, and the kindness of the Windrunner siblings Franklin would have a very high opinion of the Sindar Elves, and he took this opinion into the meeting that night. At the meeting they found that Quel'Thalas was willing to do this in return for an alliance with them which Demi Hill was quick to give them, as William was more then willing to make an alliance with the Elves. Legalos would lead a force of some eight hundred men to a forward forest that they would fortify and from there they would be able to adequately block the Orcs from being able to interfere in any real way. So with the front door closed his forces returned to Lucerne while a small contingent remained along with a larger force of the Elves of Quel'Thalas. As they were leaving Alleria Windrunner also said that she would be joining them with some two hundred heavily trained and equipped Sentinels at the main Lucerne camp, and this was once again quickly accepted by Demi Hill.

Ezio Ederiz
See Also : Ezio Ederiz



As things were happening outside the city and making the siege move positevely inside the city there was chaos as Sean Lovie lost his mind and was the source of madness and chaos for the citizens. Ezio after saving the life of Thomas Lovie and watching Allison Arryn die would decide to move agressively to allow William into the city, and thus would make his way to the western tower and prepare to send a message to the Lucernians sieging the city. Ezio enclosed in the message the entirety that he knew about the defences of Berne, and a message that the city was ready to be joined with William's forces. He had hoped that if he gave as much information that William would still attack even if he didn't believe Ezio, but he also understood the distinct possiblity that William wouldn't believe him and would just continue to siege the city. Ezio waited at the tower for some time alongside the rebels that he had gained control of, and waited patiently for a response. He got his anwser when a Lucernian messenger approached the tower, and sent a letter up to Ezio. In the letter William told Ezio that he needed to come down from the tower so that they could discuss this, and that no harm would come to him if he did this. For all Ezio knew William had become his fathers son since the last time he had seen him, and thus suffering from the same madness as his brother, but he knew he had to do something so he trusted the devil he didn't know over the mad man that he did. Ezio gave command of the tower over to his top man in the form of Martin Arryn of whom had snuck his way into the tower and convinsed the men to join the rebellion.



When Ezio got to the bottom of the tower he was grabbed by some five men all clad in golden armor, and these men escorted him to the Lucernians camp. One of the men idetified himself as James Junnsworth and told Ezio that if he planned to harm the king he would be doing it over all of their bodies. When he arrived at the camp he immediatly knew which one William was when he saw the golden haired boy walking up to him in his magnificant armor. Restrained by the men around him he saw how little he was trusted by the arranged forces, but he wasn't bitter as he could understand their fear. He spoke as best he could and told William of what was happening inside the fortress, and that every day they delayed the citizens inside were being killed in ever increasing numbers. As the conversation continued Ezio accompanied William inside his tent with Jasper, Leven, Marcel Lovie II., and Draco Highmore and then spoke openly of the murder of Allison, the rapes, and for Andrew the most horrifying news that Amber Heard was captured and now held in a cage beside Sean's throne. Ezio would at this point tell William about much of the things he had done for his father, and would make William understand that he had done all he could to help him after he had learned how brilliant and how much potential William had. Leven would suggest that during their initial attempts to clear the gatehouse that much of what Ezio suggested he did made sence as to why they found it so easy in certain places to get what they wanted.

Infiltrating the Tower


With Ezio done telling him what was happening William told him he needed some time to think and that while he trusted him, he needed to plan on the best way forward. Ezio told him that he had control of the first tower, and thus he could get some of William's men inside that tower if that would make him feel better about the whole thing. William liked this plan, and it was then that he asked whether or not Hanna Arryn, and her sister Aria were safe inside the city, and Ezio told him that House Arryn was now in hiding in the city outside of Byron Arryn who was being forced to sit and watch Allison's body be violated by Sean Lovie. Andrew was thankful that Hanna was fine, and because of this he told Ezio that he would have his anwser in an hour. With that William called in his commanders and they discussed their options about how to move forward. After talking for some time it became clear that they needed to gather more troops, and especially Andrew wanted to have some of his up and coming leadership involved so that they would feel important to him. He planned to travel to Forks where he would meet with these leaders and make them aware of their involvement and then they would launch the attack. He got Ezio back in the tent, and he told him that he needed to allow his men to take control of the first tower, and that this would amount to his test of loyalty. Ezio agreed without hesitation and left with Jasper, and Leven to make the arrangements of which Franklin Brent would volunteer to command the first forces into the tower. Emmett was left in command of the siege while William was gone alongside the commanders, and this would be the situation that was left as William left for Forks. Franklin Brent would lead a force of men alongside his friend Dexter Hill, and several others of whom they would enter the first tower using massive ropes hung down by the loyalist Arryn rebels within the tower.

Meeting in Forks


After talking to Ezio and having silently infiltrated the first tower with his help William accepted that this was the only plan that had any quick hope of success, and he now felt incredibly rushed due to the threat to the people inside the city of which there were many that he cared for on a deep level. In order to do this he needed the most elite force he could get, so he begin calling his banner houses in, as well as commanding several houses travel to Forks to meet him. All the houses that had been called clearly had to send representitives but when they arrived this mission clearly could be seen as a silent attack that didn't require huge numbers. House Clegane, House Swan, House Scarlet, and House Lovie were the houses that would be leading the attack along with leadership from many other houses in Lucerne. Alongside this House Skane, and House Starke were sending numbers led by Robb Starke, and Torgon Skane of whom would join the other forces in entering through the main courtyard once the towers had fallen, or in the worst case even if they didn't fall. As William waited for Bella to arrive so that he could see her, he spent many hours talking with the leadership of the houses that were going to be involved of which included Hedrik Clegane of whom he wanted to one day be a very important figure in the Kingdom of Lucerne, and he made this very clear to Hedrik as they talked. In his talk with Hedrik Clegane he and Hedrik discussed how William was trusting heavily in this traitor of the True Sons of Lucerne, and also discussed how his older lover Amber Heard had been captured likely as a last minute threat to William in order to make him turn back. It was late when Bella arrived in Forks, accompanied by Freddie Highmore, and Wilhem Martell - alongside a large force of House Martell, and House Shephard of whom were also sending forces to join the attack - and when they did he said his quick hellos to Freddie and Wilhem before he and Bella made their way to stay in room in the House Swan estate of which he was technically a member of House Swan. After being together romantically he talked openly about how scared he was of seeing Sean there, and also he feared that he was going to be made to make a choice in that final room between killing Sean and keeping his old friend Amber alive. Bella already knew of the old relationship between the two, as Alice had told her of this long ago, and because of this she understood that he didn't simply care for this girl, but he in fact loved her. Bella tried to make him feel better about it, but there really wasn't much you could say to that horrible of a situation so she just held him while he went through it all with her. That night he left Bella who was sleeping and went outside to speak with Leven of whom brought him a responce letter from Brooke of whom had quickly sent a letter after William's had reached her. William would read the letter with Leven and Brooke sent her emotional support and told him how much she loved him, of which Leven at that moment didn't believe but didn't want to upset William. The next day he had to leave, and he said his goodbye to Bella before travelling with the main force back to Berne where upon his arrival the Lucerne Civil War would end one way or another.

Sneaking Inside


When William Lovie arrived back at Berne flanked by the forces of House Swan, Scarlet, Clegane, Starke, Martell, Skane, and many of their vassals he entered the command tent and prepared alongside his commanders the method by which they would do this. Ezio told them that the only real way into the valley of Berne was to take control of the towers defending the passes, and this was possible since they controlled the first tower. From the first tower they would attack the second tower, and then the third, and fourth control towers which would allow them to bring the entire army into the Valley where the defenders would be unprepared for their entry. Once this was achieved they must take control of the fifth tower which was inside the City of Berne itself and was connected through a long tunnel which could be locked from the inside meaning if they failed to take it before they were noticed it would be shut and they would have to attack the main walls.

With this plan in place William Lovie would send the forces of House Scarlet led by Darion, and Saiden Scarlet to enter the First Tower where they would push their full forces and they alone would be responsible for working alongside the rebels in order to take control of the towers. They would be assisted by the Order of the Golden Dragon of whom was forced to follow William Lovie of whom was going to assist here alongside Edward Cullen and several members of the Order of the Blue Dragon, as well Hedrik Clegane would convinse Andrew to let him join the forces attacking the towers. Entering the tower and joining the Arryn loyalists, and Franklin Brent and his forces that had initially taken control of the tower from the rebels and had held it while the main forces gathered. At that final moment Robb, and Jon Starke joined the assault group and this would force William to also take Wilheim alongside with him as Wilheim now wouldn't take no for an anwser.

Battle of Berne
Main Article : Battle of Berne



With the main force now preparing to enter the first pass into Berne they only needed to see the responce from the second tower to know when to move in, and they would get that call the first night as they would be signaled by a flag hanging from the wall set out by the tower forces. The Tower forces would wait until night, and that night as they moved forward the few gaurds meant to make sure such infiltration of the towers were not possible were rebels and thus they allowed the tower forces to infiltrate the towers, and within they found the mercenary forces of Sean Lovie in the form of the Stormblown. The fight for the tower was swift as with most of their forces asleep the few on sentry duty found themselves being attacked by a huge number of troops flooding into the tower. As the Stormblown moved to raise the alarm they found the alarm room locked, and when they finally broke inside they found inside several rebels of whom killed the Stormblown that tried to enter the room. With the tower taken Hedrik Clegane III. would raise the flag thus giving the main force the safe call to enter the first pass. Torgon Skane alongside the other commanders would move their forces alongside the Elves and reached the very edge of the first pass as the attack move forward, and during this they also moved forward with the siege machines that everyone hoped they would have no need of using. At the third tower they would basically be allowed in as the rebels had taken complete control over this tower, and the few members of the Stormblown that were present inside the tower were barely able to get out of their beds before they were killed by the vengeful rebels and the incoming Lucernians.



The fourth tower was the true test of the attack as while it was held by the forces of House Krinner who was a member of the rebellion the tower held the largest contingent of the Stormblown outside of the city itself. Robb Starke, and Wilheim Martell alongside Jon Snow would lead a contingent of forces east of the tower to cut off any kind of relief once the main attack went forward, and with that the main assault could begin on the fourth tower. As the Lucernians made their way into the tunnels approaching the fourth tower they were spotted by a Stormblown soldier of whom alerted the rest of the force to a betrayal, and with this becoming clear the forces of House Krinner would assemble under the command of Danzal, and Benjamin Krinner of whom defended the tunnel route heading towards the fifth tower so that none of the Stormblown could warn their comrades, and inside the tower House Krinner under the command of Oskar Kinner the defenders would block the gate into the alarm room thus preventing for a time the forces of the Stormblown from gaining entry to the alarm. A fierce battle would commense between the defenders in House Krinner and the Stormblown. As the forces of Lucerne attempted to enter the fight they were forced to attack through defended barriers quickly set up by the forces of the Stormblown in order to resist the attackers. During the fighting here Davion Scarlet would become famous for defeating the Stormblown second in command in single combat after they entered the last room of the tower and it was held by the Stormblown second in command. With his death the rest of the Stormblown slowly surrendered, and with that the flag was raised and the main army understood that the way into the valley was clear.

The Final Tower


As the main army moved into the valley silently in the darkness of the night the tower forces moved into the tunnels approaching the fifth and final tower. Ezio had told them that they had to get to the other end without being stopped or else the way would be blocked and there would be no way in except a truly viscous fight for the valley. As they entered the tunnel and were only two minutes away everyone including the main force heard a massive horn go off, and the rebels told William that someone had set off one of the alarms of the towers. With this all sense of stealth went out the window and the tower force charged into the tunnel in the hopes of reaching the gate controls before it was shut. As they ran down the tunnel they watched as the massive portcullis gate was slowly shutting, and then suddenly as they were getting closer it slowed and then stopped and they could hear the cries of battle at the other side, and as they reached it they entered a brutal battle between members of House Arryn and the Stormblown who were trying to shut the gate. With the entry of the Lucernians the battle went away from them, but the Stormblown survivors were able to retreat in good form and make their way towards the Berne Keep where they would blow the alarm horn again and the Stormblown throughout Berne would retreat to the keep alongside those still loyal to Sean Lovie although that number was very slight now that House Arryn was in full rebellion. With the stormblown in full retreat the defenders that were on the wall moved completely into the rebellion allowing the main force to enter through the front gate, as the rebels opened the gate letting them inside. The rebels, and the tower forces would move throughout the city, and kill or capture anyone still flying the colors of the Stormblown and as well as this making sure that everyone knew that the city was Lucernian again and they had nothing to fear.

Duel with Sean Lovie


With the civil war all but over the moment had come for the final confrontation with his brother. There wasn't really a doubt in anyone's mind who would win in a fight the difficult part of the coming fight was the fact that Sean had the emotional advantage through his capture and hostage taking of Amber Heard the first love of Andrew. The room before the throne room was gaurded by James Nighting II. of whom laughed at them for not realizing that House Nighting was truly on the side of the True Sons of Lucerne. James and the three House Nighting men that were with him charged William and his group, and after a brief fight the four were killed by the far superior forces of William. Jasper held James down, and with a wave William commanded his death and Jasper ended his life. Surveying the rest of the room there were bodies stacked in the corner, of which not all were adults, and the the scope of the atrocities in this city were becoming clear. William before entering the throne room ordered Wilheim Martell to return to the camp at all speed and send word that House Nighting had betrayed them. They all knew that if House Nighting turned then who knew what sort of alliance might be present outside of Berne and with a large quantity of the loyalist forces besieging Lucerne they could be open for a betrayal. Before entering the final room William would also command Robb, and Jon Starke to lead forces to make sure that no holdouts would cause them any problems, while he briefly met with Alleria Windrunner of whom would wish him the best in the next room as she knew something about fighting siblings. She attempted to one last time make sure he understood that his brother had made his choice and that no amount of sympathy from his side would change what Sean had become. When Andrew entered the throne room of Berne flanked by Jasper, Edward, Emmett, and his elite guard they found Sean standing alone with nothing but the bound and strapped form of Amber Heard keeping him company. Looking around the room briefly he could see the ruined corpse of what he assumed from the words of Ezio was the poor Allison Arryn, and all along the wall he could see broken corpses of men and women that had obviously fallen victim to Sean's madness.

As he entered the room Sean remained silent but the look on his face told Andrew that Sean had a plan and whatever happened this plan was something he believed could work. Amber Heard never thought she was going to survive to see William again, and the sight of him caused her to leap up and this led to great pain as the chain around her neck kept her stationary. Laughing at what had happened to Amber through the fact that she was crying and holding her neck the situation turned as William charged forward only stopped by Sean holding his sword to Amber`s neck.

Death is the End


Watching his brother implode in front of him, and basically throw him in front of the bus for everything that had ever gone wrong for him in his life, wasn`t something that William was able to accept. William would begin badgering Sean and insulting him to the point that his brother begin to reveal to him certain darker acts then anything anyone had ever thought he was possibly involved in. Sean told him how he had become obsessed with seeing the death of this particulary noble girl of whom he refused to name but said she unimportant in the grand scheme of things, and that this obsession had followed him for years. Finally one night he had been invited to dinner for the first time in months and was told by Bill to not criticize anything throughout the meal or else he was never eating with them again. Tasting something horrible in the meal he ignored it and kept eating, and following this he said that a dark entity would offer him assistance and when he accepted he begin hearing terrifying voices in his mind. After going through all the terrible things he had done throughout this time he finally got to Berne where he told William that he just wanted to die. He just wanted to escape all the pain that he was constantly bombarded with, but that as time went by nothing he seemed to do incited anyone to kill him, and this annoyed him even more. Sean would tell him that he had broken and abused Hedrik Clegane's now wife in Rachel Wood, and that he was responsible for the rape of countless other noble girls, and that he was specifically attempting to escalate it so that he could die, but no matter what he did he continued to escape justice. Sean would reveal to him how that night he had attempted to kill Alice it was as if this voice in his head was literally screaming, and it was screaming to ravish Alice. He had honestly been incapable of stopping himself, and despite trying he found himself constantly moving towards her room, and he had been glad that William had assaulted him. He told William that he had been forgotten by their father when he made the spell removing Alice and that he had followed her to Forks where he had watched her for months but was stopped by men of Bills from revealing anything to her.

William watched as Sean devolved and saw Jasper kill one of the archers in the window thus revealing to him that they had found a way into the windows. Seeing there were only three other windows he waved away Emmett`s offer to kill Sean from the window as he knew it would end with Amber`s death. Sean seeing the look on William`s face would demand to know what was so interesting that his brother was ignoring him, and when William couldn`t appease him enough Sean slashed Amber across the shoulder with a blade narrowly missing her head, but still causing serious damage. Seeing this Sean would pull a lever behind him which the moment after he did all the windows slammed shut with Stone porticulls, and the gate they had entered from also was barred with porticuls. Rushing to Amber he knocked Sean to the ground, and picked up Amber. Picking her up he realized instantly how bad the wound to her shoulder was as it had cut far too deep for anyone there to heal her, and he panicked knowing she was going to die. She held him tight, but he could feel her grasp on him loosening as her life left her. Closing her eyes he let out a cry as he believed she had died, and he held her tight crying into her shoulder before kissing her hard on the lips and then gently laying her down before moving towards Sean who was slumped against a post nearbye.

Grabbing Sean by the shoulders he found his brother crying, and Sean grasped onto Williams arms as if to try and hold onto him. There was no resistence, and as William held the sword to his chest he held a moment and looked into Sean`s eyes waiting for his last words. Sean in that moment would tell William that Bill still lived and had gone west to France, and would begin to start an apology when William stabbed him through the chest and covered his mouth with his hand. Looking behind him at the lifeless body of Amber he would proceede to be overcome with rage and strangle Sean as the last of his life left him. Getting up he walked back over to Amber, and ignored the sounds of crashing as his men attempted to break there way through the gate, and the windows. Kneeling beside Amber he ripped some cloth from his turnic and covered her wound not wanting her to be seen like this. As he wiped her wound her arm would move up and grasp onto his.

First Battle of Castle Stragnarax
Main Article : Battle of Castle Stragnarax



Castle Stragnarax was designed as the center of the western defences of Lucerne, alongside the rebuilt Eyes, and the castles of Dragonhorn, and and it was during the period following the Invasion of Westbridge that its purpose and defences would be tested for the first time. Following the end of the invasion and with the armies of Lucerne retrurning to the valley after victory the Eyes caught sight of a large force of Orcs moving towards Castle Stragnarax. The Eyes immediatly sent ravens and a single scout to Castle Stragnarax, and from there they sent requests for assistence to Hilsbrad and House Greymane, as well as from the nearer forces of House Ordos and its vassals from Marburg.

With the Orcs incoming the defences were prepared and all troops were called in from the villages and farms nearby. This swelled the defenders of Castle Strangarax to a force of some 5,500 men at arms along with the twelve training members of the Order of the Violet Dragon that had remained in Castle Stragnarax under the command of Benjamin Bradfoot. The castle itself was commanded by Thomas Brent but his percieved inexperiance meant that he left the defence of the city to his honor gaurd commanders and Benjamin Bradfoot, along with the council of his military force. The Plan for the defence consisted of holding on for as long as they possibly could while they waited for the army of Hillsbrad to arrive and relieve them, alongside the rest of House Brent coming as well. As the Battle reached the point that everyone knew it was going happen they would drain the women, old, and young from the town and they would make there way eastward towards Marburg of which was the closest nearbye town. Fionna Brent would be one of the few women that didn't leave the Battle and she would lead a contingent of Dragon Priests of whom preached the power of Glaurung and tried to raise the moral of the forces. Knowing how long they had before the attack the defenders would send out some two hundred cavalry of whom were tasked with further scouting the incoming Orcs and giving them some extra amount of knowledge when they would attack.

While the scouts did this it the Rangers of the Eyes were continueing to harass the Orcish Hordeas they moved eastward. Special attention was paid by the Rangers to the dozen or so Gronn that had accompanied the Orcish army. As the Orcs continued to move they lost four of the Gronn to hit and run attacks as the Rangers used hidden caves and cliff tops to rain arrows down on the Orcish army while retreating once they had done the damage they could.

The Orcs Arrive


It was nearly two weeks after the Raven fortold of the coming Orcs they arrived west of the castle and begin chopping down the trees that were there to use to construct ladders, and siege towers. The Orcs spent an entire day doing this and as they worked the defenders of the towers were firing long range balista shots at them which were able to destory one of the towers before it was able to be used the following day. Also during this day the Orcs attempted to push forward siege machines in order to batter holes in the walls but they discovered the accurasy of the balistas was extreme as each siege machine pushed forward was destoryed in turn with only a few shots getting off and dowing little damage to the wall. When the final batch of catapults were brought up defended by large trenches and by blocks of wood meant to shield from the Balistas it was Alann, and Bran Voil that had the entire Order of the Blue Dragon force set the field ablaze destroying the remaining catapults and hundreds of Orcs manning the trenches, shiels, and catapults.

As the day wore on the forces of Franklin Brent arrived at the Battle, and he would make his forces move towards the southern wall where he arrayed against the large southern Orc host. Sending word into the castle that they had arrived, this would greatly uplift the defenders moral who knew they were in some amount of trouble. Franklin constructed a series of trenches lined with anti-cavalry poles of which he planned to retreat into in case the Orcs sent an army to deal with his forces. After spending all of the energy constructing the siege machines they found that the catapults and such were destroyed the moment they got into range, with only a few actually able to launch a real shot at the walls. The Orcs were forced to place more forces in the southern end as the arrival of Franklin Brent meant they were now threatened by somone outside the walls and the mainly cavalry force was of great danger to them. Without any hope of launching their catapults the Orcs would move their forces forward and their seige towers that had been hidden would be pushed forward for the first attack.

The First Attack


With their seige machines set up the Orcs attacked in a vast wave of upwards of 25,000 of which the vast majority attacked the main gate while some 7,000 attacked the southern section defended by Marbrand Keep. The northern wall also had some two thousand Orcs attack it but these were extremely disorganized and the least of the problems of the Castle. Outside of the seven thousand sent towards the southern wall four thousand Orcs were sent against the army of Franklin Brent in order to keep them away from the fighting. Mainly Worgs this force would chase Franklin's forces into the trenches they had constructed, and suffered many casualties to this traps before fighting broke out between the two forces. As the Orcs advanced they were devestated by the massive array of archer, and balista fire by the time they reached the wall they had lost significant numbers.

Attack on the main gate
The attack on the main gate went disasterasly with all four of the Siege towers destroyed, and with the huge array of archers present the Orcs that massed on the ground trying to get up the ladders were caught in a killing zone and lost huge numbers before the Orcs retreated leaving behind the ruins of much of their force alongside the destroyed siege towers. The Balistas that sat on the towers continued to destroy anything that even resebled a battering ram, and because of the hoardings all along the wall the few Orcish archers that were on the ground found very few targets, and the few they did were unable to be struck because of the hoarding. The Magi of the Order of the Blue Dragon had been completely concentrated along this defence and had been responsble for two of the towers going down as they lit them on fire using spells.

Attack on the Tower of James the Vigilanat


The Orcs attacked the three areas and it was only at the tower of James the Vigilant that they had any real success. The Orcs were able to keep their seige tower alive in this section and with its survival they were able to mass over the wall, and this caused the beggining of an intense fight over the tower. The Orcs slowly pushed them back into the tower, and forced the defenders to lock the gates into the tower, and block them outside. The Orcs attemtped to break through the gate, and during this time the Orcs begin to take fire from the inner wall as they were free to fire on them now that the defenders were gone. As they took heavy casualties they found themselves unable to break into the tower itself, and begin spreading throughout the walls of the western walls to the point that they attempted to break into the main forces at the main tower itself. During this time Thomas Brent would order the main reserve forces sneaking out through the more southern tower and behind the Orcs of whom were busy sprawling all over the walls. Now behind their lines the relief force set the siege tower alight and then was able to get back through the tower with minimal casualties. As the siege tower burned down the Orcs found their reinforcements ended and they were slowly wittled away at by the massive number of archers all along the James Towers.

Attack on Marbrand Keep


Marbrand Keep was defended by Domeric Marbrand of whom defended the large keep with some three hundred men, while the main wall was defended by another three hunded. The men on the walls were designed to hit them with as many arrow barrages as they could, but the moment the Orcs manned the walls the force was to enter the heavily fortified gates and make their way into the keep. The Orcs would attack with some two thousand forces against the wall, and at first for the Orcs the Attack on Marbrand keep went well at first with the Orcs able to climb over the walls after suffering some three hundred losses to the defenders on the walls. With the ladders against the walls the defenders retreated into the towers and through the tunnels allowing the Orcs to get into the actual castle but once there the design plan went into affect with the Orcs now stuck in no mans land with no ability to get over the next defences. The Orcs attempted to follow the retreating defenders through the tunnels into Mabrand Keep but discovered the tunnels filled with nearly twenty feet deep gates that would be nearly impossible to break through without Magi, or some sort of explosive. The Orcs then attempted to charge across the field but the defenders of the keep were able to fire acurate shots into them and caused horrible casulties against them. By this point the Orcs were in panic, but begin to run past the Keep and into the city proper where the nearly five hundred remaining Orcs were confronted by a force led by Thomas Brent himself. Leading his most elite troops they would battle against the Orcs and defeat them causing them to retreat back as they came, and they were basically anihilated with very few returning to camp.

The Second Attack


The Orc army was still massive but it had suffered heavy casulaties accomplishing nothing the first day, and in even worse news for the Orcish army was the fact that the reinforcements of the defenders had begun to arrive in heavy numbers. The full army of House Mountain led by Baelor Mountain had arrived alongside the forces of House Garfeild and they were camped northwest of the battle moving in behind the Orc forces. House Greymane had now joined the army of Franklin Brent bringing the southern army to more then ten thousand, and that number grew throughout the day as the southern vassals came north and more of the army filtered in. Realizing the main gate was a killing zone he didn't have the force to take down the Orc commander would move nearly his entire force to the southern wall of which caused most of the defenders to shift to the same wall. With this in motion the relief armies would move into place, and House Mountain was nearly completely behind them and was actually destroying the reargaurd of the Orc army as the Orcs attacked the Tower of James the Vigilant.

The Orcs charged the walls using three new siege towers and were this time unable to get any to the walls as the casulties of the previous attack, and the heavily increased defender numbers meant the three new towers took far too long to reach the walls. Stuck again with no towers the ladders went up and a great amount of fighting went all along the walls as the Orcs massed onto the ramparts. The defenders were hard up to resist, but as the battle reached a turning point the Orcs begin screaming as the forces of Franklin Brent, and Liam Greymane's army of House Greymane smashed into their rear. The commander of the Orcs would die during the inital assault, and as mass panic spread amongst the Orcs they begin retreating despite still outnumbering the human attackers, and nearly overwhelming the defenders at the tower. As they retreated westward they came directly in the path of the army of House Mountain and were cut down in their hundreds as the Mountain forces had entered the previously constructed Orc trenches and were in a great defence position.

Victory
With the Orcish army completely routed and most of the army destroyed the remaining elements were chased down by the cavalry force of Greymane, and Ordos and thus the victory was completed. Damage was heavy in the James the Vigilant region of the castle, but elsewhere the losses and damage was nearly non-excistence but hours were spent burning the bodies of the Orcs so that they would not send out spores and cause a real problem for the humans of the area.

With the clean up beggining the relief armies would camp, while the leadership all met within the castle. Thomas Brent was by this point hailed as a hero and became known as Thomas "The Orc Killer" in honor for what people saw as his great victory. The story of the battle that had not been seen through the eyes of Franklin Brent were told at dinner, and the next day the armies prepared to return home. Franklin and Thomas would say one last goodbye as Franklin told his brother that he was going to take forces and lead expansion in the Westerlands alongside House Arryn. The two brothers who had constantly battled eachother for position understood that Franklin was accepting defeat and they hugged goodbye knowing they would probably not be meeting any time soon.

I had been trained alongside the noble elite in the Lucernian Academy for a year, and during this time I had specialized in siege warfare. That was the problem with the Orcs. I was trained to fight against diciplined troops using strategies, but the Orcs just flew out of the forest in this massive wave. They had a level of shock value to them but in the chaos they were seemingly charging at random. Easy pickings for the methodic fire from the walls. The sadest part of the charge was the fact that they had four siege towers, and then a huge number of ladders which they didn't realize till they reached the walls weren't tall enough to reach them. Watching the army run around at the base of the wall after ninety percent of their ladders weren't tall enough was one of the most shocking sights I've ever seen.

Frank Brent
See Also : Frank Brent



Franklin Brent, and Frank Brent would be extremely close to one another, and in most ways Frank treated his third child Franklin as the heir to House Brent despite being the second in line. During this time Frank was warned by many of his vassals and commanders that it was growing in talk that many believed that Franklin was under the belief that he was going to be named the heir to House Brent, and since this was untrue Frank was forced to act to remedy this. Firstly he would name Thomas the Lord of Castle Stragnarax instead of Franklin of whom even Thomas believed was going to be given command. There relationship finally soured completely after Frank decided to send him to the Westerlands, and Franklin took this as an insult as he had wanted to be named lord of Castle Stragnarax and had never really gotten over this persieved slight. Franklin upon his arrival in Greengarden would famously state to Harrold Hardyng that he had been sent by Lord Thomas Brent of Castle Stragnarax in order to serve however he could, and this was the final point that showed the destruction of their relationship. Following this insult, there would be several letters sent by Frank Brent to his namesake, but all of these were burned, and the only communication that Frank had about his favored son was from Karyl Reyne of whom did what she knew her husband couldn't and sent him letters about what was happening in Franklin's life.

Karyl Reyne
See Also : Karyl Reyne



Karyl Reyne, and Franklin Brent start off as bethrothed, and Karyl came quite excited as she was only told about the handsome young knight she was bethrothed too, and the whispers about his inability to touch anyone was something that was hidden from her. In the early days Franklin appeared the perfect gentlemen but she couldn't get him to be phyically intimate with her, and this caused her a great amount of frustration. Eventually she came to understand him, and in this understanding she found that he had a debilitating problem where he got extremely uncomfortable if touched by anyone he didn't fully trust. She came to earn his trust over time and despite the fact that he continued to suffer through this she found him finally able to physically become intimate with her leading to the birth of their first child midway through the Rise of Lucerne. As she was basically the only person he felt comfortable touching their relationship exploded, and he showered her with love and devotion, and as his power grew he showered her with an increasing amount of devotion, and she loved him with a deeper and deeper amount of affection as well. When the decision of Castle Stragnarax's lordship was decided and Franklin came to understand his place, it was Karyl that he decided with that he would leave his families province and go west with his knights and try and create a living for himself and his wife and children.

Demi Hill
See Also : Demi Hill

Thomas Brent
See Also : Thomas Brent



Franklin Brent, and Thomas Brent would have a strange relationship for much of their youth as Franklin despite being younger always acted as if he was the noble heir of House Brent due to the favortism that he recieved from their father. This continued for their entire childhood, and thus their relationship did a dramatic flip when Thomas was given command of Castle Stragnarax following the planned construction of the castle. Franklin would seek his brother out before he left for the castle's construction and the two would argue but for the first time they argued as equals and Thomas finally told Franklin the way he had made him feel for all the years he had treated him as dirt. During the Battle of Castle of Stragnarax it was Franklin that came to Thomas's rescue, and during the climax of the battle they were both knighted by Martin Ordos, and looking at eachother they finally for maybe the first time in their lives saw eachother as the brothers that they were. When Franklin left for the Westerlands it was only Thomas that he was willing to see from his family outside of course for his sister Fionna Brent of whom was his closest friend.