Changes: House Greymane

House Greymane
	;
	;
Power Level	Lord House
Kingdom of Loyalty	Kingdom of Lucerne
House Banner
Coat of Arms	A Wolf's Head clasped overtop a shield with two candles to light the way.
Words	"The Pack Survives where the individual fades."
Vital statistics
Founder	Unknown Founder during the Driving Tide
Current Leader	Genn Greymane
Current Heir	Liam Greymane
Date of Founding	Placeholder
Headquarters	Hillsbrad
Level of Control
Level of Control	Control the city of Hillsbrad as well as large tracts of land outside the city.
Loyal Houses	House Crowley House Godfrey
Demographics
Race	Human
Ethnicity	Vandal

Revision as of 20:03, 24 January 2014

House Greymane is a large Vandal House in the Kingdom of Lucerne that operates out of the town of Hillsbrad. The House in in a position of controlling the Yarl position of Hillsbrad, and has grown to be quite influencial throughout the Kingdom. All of this has been accomplished despite the family suffering from a disease which turns them into a kind of werewolf. The family could not ever seem to shake the affliction and no matter who they partner with the offspring of their unions always is born with disease. With the hope of ending their curse over, they have embraced it through the use of medition, and the acceptance that they need to be able to control the disease.

House Greymane's sigil is their personal heraldry clasped onto a shield of which holds up the skull of a wolf. The wolf's head is obviously their personal demon in which they suffer from the degenative disease which leaves them part wolf for periods of time. The words of House Greymane are "The Pack survives, where the individual fades." and this is an omen to both their Worgen way of living and the fact that they honor loyalty, and trust much higher then many other houses, and this is supposed to be a foundation in the way they move forward.

House Greymane rose to prominence during the days that followed the Driving Tide, and this followed a dark time for the family as they were stuck in Denmark for some time after they couldn't pay the fees the Germans were being forced to pay during the Great Migration. Following the victory of the humans during this conflict the members of House Greymane moved westward where they created a small farming home in the foothills of what today is Hillsbrad. During this time they were attacked and nearly killed by a group of mysterious men that had been hunting a man that they had allowed to stay with them. Following this they were infected with the Worgen curse which turned them into a wolflike hybrid of humans, and meant that they had a severe weakeness when it came to the rest of the valley that was extremely superstitious. Despite these weakenesses they would also gain greatly and there home would become the centerpiece for the town of Hillsbrad which they would take control of. They would survive the Fall of Tree Hill without much damage luckily, but they found themselves seperated from the rest of the valley of Lucerne due to the fact that communication had desintigrated because of the actions of the leader of House Lovie in the form of BIll Lovie. During the Plague they would be damaged heavily by their supposed involvement in the Plague, and following this they would remain in isolation until the prince of Lucerne went on his Journey and they became heavily involved in his rise to prominence. Genn Greymane came to believe that William Lovie III. was an honorable king and in complete rejection to the advise of everyone in the family would travel to Lucerne where he told William of the condition they suffered from. William would accept their condition but would make sure to point out that the Greymane's musn't advance the population of Worgen lest he be forced to intervene, and thus the king had made sure their numbers would remain low.

History

Early History

“Our ancestors supported House Lovie and it ended up getting us command of this entire Grand State. Never question the rewards that come with loyalty.”
— Liam Greymane

The House is originally made up of a tribe of Vandals that entered The Empire during the Great Migration. They were able to enter Denmark during the Great Migration after selling valuable family heirlooms in order to pay the fees the Teutons demanded to pass Copenhagen, and following this they were too poor to make their way further south. They like many others did not like the strict and religious behavior of The Empire and thus planned constantly to continue moving southward, but found their lack of funds to be a massive problem. Eventually their movements took them to the small town of Forks, where they lived for several generations.

Driving Tide

With theDriving Tide , the majority of the family moved westward from Forks, and begin settling the farming region. It is unknown what happened to the elements that remained in Forks but it is assumed they died off.

Worgen

It is believed by the House, and their legends that during their time farming in the present day Hillsbrad region, that they were approached by a man. This man is said to have wanted to stay with the family for a time so that he could hide from some men that were hunting him. The family offered him protection for almost two weeks until one day a group of grey hooded men arrived at their farm and said they knew the man was there and they wanted him. The leader of the Greymane's at the time is said to have rejected this and so they killed him on the spot. With his death the mysterious man came out of hiding but was now a wolf standing on its back legs. The man proceeded to kill all the grey hooded men, and then before he left he is said to have bitten all the members of House Greymane in his bloodlust. His love for the Greymane's saved the House but it doomed them all to the curse of the Wolf.

Hillsbrad

Main Article : Hillsbrad

With their House now suffering from the Curse of the Worgen the family would have chosen to remain isolated on their farm, but the expansion of the Kingdom of Lucerne during the time of William Lovie meant that the area where their farm was became very close, and eventually inside of the new town of Hillsbrad. The family's curse allowed them to have a drastic increase in strength, and endurance which meant a lot of their endevors were increasingly skilled. Members of their House took control over the military of Hillsbrad, and in this position they would have no idea what was coming with the Fall of Tree Hill.

The Plague

Main Article : The Plague

“He had been in that damn library without exiting for nearly a week before we left for the tournament, and it showed in his state of mind.”
— Carlisle Cullen

The Rebellion within Lucerene begin after Bill Lovie travelled southward to Gulltown and hosted the fated Tournament of 5110 in Gulltown. The tournament itself went off without much a hitch, but after several of the fated knights of Bill Lovie lost Bill became openly hostile to everyone that wasn`t his sole remaining knight at the tournament in James Nighting. As the tournament went on and as all the Arch Lords of the land were there he begin shouting and acting as if insane during the dinner before the final bout of the tournament. Surrounded by loyalists to him in the Nighting`s, Jestifes, and Scorpians noone dared speak as he continued to scream, but the effects of this were terrible on his Lords who lost complete faith in him. It was only when Carlisle Cullen tricked Bill into leaving under the lie that William was nearbye would Bill Lovie stumble out of the dining hall and carried by his sworn knights pass out in his room.

“Halys was a good man, and for his entire life he had lived an honorable life undeserving of the end he met. Bill needed to pay for what happened that day, and if I was the only one brave enough to do it then so be it.”
— Walter Jackson

Despite the horrible ranting by Bill he demanded the tournament continue, and all did this as they were loyal and Carlisle had worked hard to say that the king was just exhausted. At the final joust James Nighting was defeated by the Hedge Knight Halys Forend of whom was a knight of House Jackson, and following this Bill Lovie would leave his seat and travel to where Hayls was celebrating and while everyone bowed before their king Bill Lovie would walk up to him and decapitate the man. Causing screaming amongst the crowd as his family watched him die the place went crazy and only the calling in of the House Lovie gaurds there would stop a riot from starting. Dozens of Smallfolk were killed during the riot as the violent Nighting`s unleased rage on those they felt insulent enough to riot in the presence of the king. Outside of the smallfolk the hedge knights family were rounded up as well and executed alongside several of the other noblemen who had dared to speak out against the violence. Watching all of this transpire from behind the stands was Walter Jackson of whom stood beside his old friend Tywin Lannister of whom also watched the King go mad. Looking at eachother they both then left the tournament as everyone had been commanded to leave.

Rise and Fall of a Rebel

Major Rebels	Major Loyalists
House Jackson - Would found the rebellion under the direction of Walter Jackson. House Jackson would become used by the Loyalists as the major force that led the Rebellion once it was discovered.	House Nighting - House Nighting would be the major elements of the forces of Bill Lovie and supported him fully.
House Swan - House Swan funded much of the rebellion in terms of money, but out of fear for his children Charlie was not adding martial strength until the last moments.	House Jestife - House Jestife would fully support Bill Lovie and made Bill aware of House Swan`s betrayal but he couldn`t do anything because of their size and power.
House Tyrell - House Tyrell became one of the most vocal of the supporters and brought the entire reach behind them. They supported it all and also kept House Scott out of the loop.	House Scorpian - House Scorpian and especially Maron Scorpian became dire hard loyalists and stayed constantly near Bill as one of the few he trusted.
	House Lannister - Despite realizing the insanity of the king Tywin betrayed his oldest friend Walter Jackson and told the king about the rebellion of which instigated the Plague.

“I knew what was right and I knew what was wrong. If I sat by and let him continue that was wrong. That evil could not be allowed to fester on the world. As I looked at the young baby that my wife had just brought into the world I couldn`t bare the thought of him living in a kingdom that was a wasteland of morals. Sometimes you had to take a stand even when it was dangerous.”
— Walter Jackson

Following the disasterous tournament most of the Lords went back to their holdings and tried to return to life as usual, but the simply fact was that all knew their king was mad. One who didn`t sit idle was Walter Jackson and Charlie Swan of whom met together in Forks several times and begin forming the first elements of the Rebels in Lucerne. Staying very silent about their leanings the two would expand themselves, and found huge support amongst the Lords of the north, and the Reach. The Tyrells became a serious supporter hoping as they always did to gain more power and perhaps their own Arch Lord position if they were able to take Bill from the throne and replace him with his son. As the rebellion itself was growing in strength the sanity of Bill Lovie was decling to newer levels as he had now had debased his one true relationship with Carlisle Cullen after he tricked Esme Portmane into betraying Carlisle and having several of his bastards.

“We all warned him that Tywin Lannister could not be trusted, but all he could remember was the boy he knew back in the academy. He should have known that boy died when he burned Castamere during his rebellion.”
— Mace Tyrell II.

The movement reached its end following Walter Jackson attempting to gain the support of House Lannister when he contacted Tywin Lannister. Walter had known Tywin as a child and when he knew him back then he belived he knew Tywin to be an honorable man who would know what the right thing to do was and what the wrong thing was. When Walter first told the other rebels what he planned to do they all were combined in telling Walter that he should not tell Tywin as Tywin was not trustworthy, and they didn't need his sort of person involved in the rebellion. Walter was arrogant in his belief that he could convinse Tywin so he ignored the rest of them and travelled to Stormwind where he met first with Eddard Starke who was on board with the action although he was busy dealing with conflicts east of the city so he wouldn't be able to assist in any way other then once the actual rebellion went down. Once he was done talking to Eddard he met with Tywin and the two talked for some time before Walter believed that he had turned Tywin to his way of thinking. Tywin said goodbye and told Walter that House Lannister was fully behind the plan, and that he would rally his banner houses when the time was right. And thus Walter left Stormwind believing that he had completed his dream of seeing the madness of King Bill Lovie removed.

Tywin Lannister Wide1 — Tywin Lannister was best friends with Walter Jackson for many years, but in that final moment when he had to choose he chose family, and betrayed the only friend he had ever had.

“I took me until I had no family left that loved me to realize William, that I made the wrong choice. I caused the deaths of thousands because I was afraid for my family. I see now that all I did was push us further into isolation and that is a threat greater then any mad king.”
— Tywin Lannister to William Lovie III.

The moment that Walter left the room Tywin ordered his gaurd to call Cersei and Jamie to him. When his children arrived he told them to take the children, and to find their brother and leave for Lannistane. Once there they were to make sure that none entered the city as he was about to tell the king about a rebellion and knowing the king there was going to be a lot of violence and he didn't want his family or the banner houses damaged by it. Jamie wondered outloud to him whether or not it might be more prudent to assist the rebels since the king was mad, but Tywin simply reminded him of what they had done to their rebels and said there was a high price to pay for rebellion. Following this Tywin left Stormwind and travelled to Lucerne where he immediatly was given audiance with King Bill Lovie.

“It was the first moment I sat back and said that I could no longer serve this king. I made a mistake in the days that followed because his violence had its effect when it feared me into silence.”
— Eddard Starke

House Greymane had the extremely unlucky time of having several of their members in the Lucerne Palace when Tywin told Bill Lovie about the rebellion. Bill was so enraged at the news that when he remembered that House Greymane member Darius Greymane was waiting so that his family could meet their king. Bill in his enraged state turned to Tywin Lannister and asked him whether House Greymane could be invovled and in that moment Tywin remembered the anger he had towards Archibold Greymane about the way he had treated Tywin's father. In that moment Tywin lied and told Bill that House Greymane had been involved. With this lie Bill left the throne room with his personal gaurd and as Darius and his family bowed before there king Bill raised his sword and started slashing at Darius while his gaurd killed the rest of the family. Its said that Bill slashed at Darius for so long that there was nothing left of him but a bloody mess on the ground.

Death of the Rebellion

“The sudden speed at which everything in my life was destroyed left me without the time necessary to understand the scope of everything. My wife lay butchered in the other room as all I could do was resist the man holding a bag over my head and pulling me out of the house. I could only pray to god that somehow one of my children had survived the destruction of my life.”
— Walter Jackson

House Jackson was painted very early on as the ringleader of the rebellion and for this reason their destruction was made to be paramount but also Bill wanted to know the true extent of the movement and for this reason the operation had to make sure that they captured Walter Jackson alive so that he could be tortured for information. It was decided that assasins from Ravenholdt would join members of House Nighting, and House Jestife in the destroying the rebels completely and utterly. Brandon Von Gruger would accompany the dark and twisted Terrorblade alongside some fifty men at arms from House Nighting of whom had been commanded to destroy House Jackson completely outside of the Patriarch of whom was to be captured alive. Brandon had killed innocent's before but something about the way in which this was going didn't sit well in his stomach. When they captured Walter, one of the assasins went back into the house in the pretents of making sure everyone was dead. When the assasin Brandon Von Gruger entered the room where Josh's mother had been killed he found Joshua rubbing his mother's back trying to get her to wake up. The assasin in this moment moved to the child, and whispered for him to be very quiet if he wanted to live. The assasin then proceeded to put the child behind him attatched to a rope, and hidden behind his cloak. This was how Joshua travelled to Lucerne, and when they arrived the assasin brought him to the steps of the Lucerne orphanage and left him there.

Survival of Joshua Jackson

“I had to watch him to make sure everything went alright. There would have been no point to everything that I did if they discovered him alive later. He had to live. He just had to live.”
— Brandon Von Gruger

Brandon stayed with Joshua for two weeks in order to make sure that he wasn't going to be attacked or found out about. He knew though eventually Joshua would be discovered and when this happened he knew the assasins would be forced to attack him again in order to not fail their mission.

Destruction of House Heard

Amber Heard Large4 — In his recklessness Bill almost commanded the death of the mother of his future grandson.

“For a guy who spoke everyday about how much he loved me, and how much he prided himself off looking after me. He sure went to great measures to kill the girl that would give him his first grandchild.”
— William Lovie III.

In the same way that House Jackson had led the rebellion House Heard was one of the greater supporters and for this reason Bill made sure that their punishment was severe. At the time several of the sons of House Heard were located in Lucerne as they were serving inside the actual gaurd of Lucerne. The heir to the throne of House Heard in Martin Heard, along with his brother Telvin Heard were located in Lucerne and they were both summoned to their commanders office where when they entered they were attacked by the gaurds inside and killed. Their bodies were hung from the rafters of the Lucerne wall. Following this assassins entered the actual house heard home in Forks where they proceeded to butcher the entire family. The wife and children of Telvin were destroyed along with the patriarch of the house in Hektor Heard who was forced to be dragged throughout the house and look at the sene of his entire family destroyed. In a mistake by the assasins the other side of House Heard was left alive because they were on a trip west to visit the city of Hillsbrad when the attacks were underway.

Continued Destruction

“Hundreds of Nobles Died in a few nights of murder and chaos. The King was meant to protect not to destroy.”
— Carlisle Cullen

Following the departure of Tywin Lannister Nedrick Baratheon who was the Patriarch of the house at the time went to Lucerne with his daughter Sarah and his son Edward and hoped to make the point of the rebels known to Bill Lovie. His arrival though was misunderstood by Bill Lovie and instead of seeing it as the peace offering that it was he saw the coming of Nedrick and his children as a hostile act, and had the three executed in the main square of Lucerne. Following this act he went about dealing with Tywin`s next hint in House Hale who he said had great involvement. When Tywin had come to Bill and told him the extent of the rebellion Bill had been shocked and terrified about the involvement of House Hale. Firstly he had once been close to Tarnide Hale, and for this reason he didn't know what to make of his betrayal and for the second reason House Hale had made themselves so important financially that Bill couldn't just destroy them as he did all the other rebels invovled. In order to make sure Tarnide Hale understood he went personally alongside his personal gaurd during the night of the attacks and forced the entire house to watch as his gaurds murdered Tarnide Hale II. who was the heir to House Hale. Bill Lovie and Tarnide Hale would have the following conversation following the murder and it would be the last true time they spoke as friends.

Look at the world father. You were born into this land. You grew up here. These people swore their lives to you. How could you have done all of this? Look at everything you have done. You destroyed a city. Killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. Don't end it all here. Don't do this. For me father. For everything I supposedly mean to you. Don't do this.

"Understand that this was nothing more then a warning. Don't involve yourself in rebellions again or you'll find it won't matter how much money you control I'll just take it all. You better understand what happened her because if this has to be explained again there won't be any of you alive to tell me that they understand."

In Northern Lucerne where the smallfolk had turned on the authority with gusto it was the actions of House Scorpian and House Jestife that sealed the ending of the Plague. Rounding up hundreds of rebels supporters through the use of traitors wihtin their ranks they would execute hundreds in penguin courts held in the forests. Eventually they just targeted whoever they wanted and after weeks of this they had killed thousands across the north.

Fall of Tree Hill

Main Article :First Battle of Tree Hill

Badgers of Lucerne

“After Tree Hill Sophia, nothing made sence. Why had the Orcs failed to complete the task? The orcs were meant to destroy Tree Hill, and then from there ransack southern Lucerne and hopefully damaging if not destroying Forks. When that went to hell I was forced to destabilize the region in other ways.”
— Bill Lovie to Sophia Lovie

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.

“We all had heard how the Garfield's were dealing with a bandit problem, and we were all overjoyed that we heard they had destroyed the bandits after sieging their camp. Then to hear that Jedyon, and his mother were dead and a castle taken by the bandits led to a massive counter assault by the vengeful Hillsbrad forces.”
— Liam Greymane

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

“I'm not sure what their endgame was. Did they not know that the moment they attacked that castle the entire state would be moving against them? Did they not know that several hundred bandits was going to be no match for thousands of loyal Lucernian soldiers? I guess what do I care why they acted like idiots.”
— Liam Greymane

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.

“The Battle of Castle Tollsen was quick due to the fact that there was no actual battle. The Badgers didn't actually want to fight, they simply were cowards playing at the edges of society. There first taste of real fighting had been a bitter one.”
— Franklin Brent

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.

“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.”
— Dexter Hill

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.

Look at the world father. You were born into this land. You grew up here. These people swore their lives to you. How could you have done all of this? Look at everything you have done. You destroyed a city. Killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. Don't end it all here. Don't do this. For me father. For everything I supposedly mean to you. Don't do this.

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.

Hillsbrad Meeting

Main Article : The Journey

“My father made sure I knew three things going into that meeting. Firstly I was to be as rude to the Greymane`s as I could. Secondly I was to try and talk to the Brents and get a diologue going between our two houses. Finally I was to make it extremely clear that we would under no curcumstances assist William. Well atleast I talked to Franklin Brent.”
— Demi Snow

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.

Look at the world father. You were born into this land. You grew up here. These people swore their lives to you. How could you have done all of this? Look at everything you have done. You destroyed a city. Killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. Don't end it all here. Don't do this. For me father. For everything I supposedly mean to you. Don't do this.

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.``

Decision on Support of William	Name of Major People
Full Support of William Lovie III.	Genn Greymane Demi Snow Franklin Brent Andrew Garfield Benjemin Ordos Gregor Voner
Full Support of Bill Lovie	Vincent Godfrey Kieth Darkwood Leyton Mountain
Only Verbal Support (Either Side)	Darius Crowley Dennis Ordos Laehera Rholler

“I realized that I wasn`t going to be able to return home to my father after what I had done, so I had to make another choice. As the meeting broke up I went immediatly to Andrew Garfield and stayed near him. He would protect me from all the dangerous things.”
— Demi Snow

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

“I love my father. He was a brilliant, and just man. He was a man that would suport, and love me when it came to almost anything that I did. So did I feel bad when I betrayed him. Of course I did. But I had to live in this world. If I stayed in Hillsbrad with my brother and my father, I was going to die. There wasn`t anything he could do to stop that.”
— Demi Snow

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.

Battle of Hillsbrad

Main Article : Battle of Hillsbrad

Liam Greymane and House Greymane had not taken part in the first part of the Journey as they had been involved in a small battle against a marauding Orc force that often split off from the army in Tree Hill. The Battle itself was long simply because the Orcs were led by a suprisingly intelligent Orc that refused to engage in a battle that didn't favor his troops. Eventually the Orcs lack of knowledge of the land led him to be ambushed outside of the northern end of the Lucerne river dangerously near the Temple of the Dragon, and during the ambush the entire Orc force was destroyed.

Second battle of Tree Hill

Main Article : Second battle of Tree Hill

With their victory in this they were able to meet up with the army as it moved south across the Lucerne River. House Greymane was led by Genn Greymane, with Liam Greymane in charge of the cavalry unit that was going to be the support attackers. With the command in place they asked for the lead on the western front so that they would be able to change into their stronger Worgen forms and thus be able to more effectivly assist. Andrew was confused at first but was convinsed that if they felt this was wise for them that they could do this.

House Greymane moved to the forests west of the invaders and prepared for the night attack. When night came and they attacke the Orcs were no match for the Worgen attack that was launched by House Greymane, and thus the 900 strong House Greymane defeated the nearly 2 thousand Orcs with few casualties.

Control of Hillsbrad

When Andrew Lovie and his

Expansion

Andrew Lovie

Meeting Andrew Lovie

As a Lord of Lucerne it wasn't difficult for Archibold to gain an audiance with the King, and when he finally was able to talk to Andrew the two met in the Kings Keep.

Archibold told him of how he was a Worgen and that everyone else in his House were Worgen, and also several loyal members of the House. He made sure Andrew knew they were Dragon Worshippers still, and extremely loyal to the Kingdom. Archibold was shocked when Andrew chuckled before getting up and reaching his hand out. Andrew's quote when Archibold returned was framed and is used as one of their sayings.

"Your loyalty to the Kingdom is the only thing that matters to me. Turn into a wolf as many times as you want, just make sure your town just keeps growing."

-Andrew Lovie

Andrew did make sure Archibold understood that noone outside of House Greymane

First Battle of Castle Stragnarax

Main Article : Battle of Castle Stragnarax

First Battle of Castle Stragnarax

Main Article : Battle of Castle Stragnarax

Battle of Castle Stragnarax
Everyone was moving on Westbridge when the monsters came to our doors. We were horribly outnumbered, but we had strength of our own. I would be damned if I let these monsters beat us.

“The construction crews of the Order of the Grey Dragon still lined the streets, and nearly seventy percent of the towers were incomplete when we got news that the Orcs were crossing the line and heading towards us.”
— Thomas Brent

Castle Stragnarax was designed as the center of the western defenses 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. Commander Lothar Wornwayne would realize the severity of the coming attack, and thus The Eyes immediatly sent ravens and a single scout to Castle Stragnarax. Learning of the attack the defenders under the command of Thomas Brent would send out dozens of scouts and runners to the surrounding region both warning them of the coming attack, and also requesting immediate assistance at the castle. The two main places that they sent requests for assistance were to Hilsbrad and House Greymane, as well as from the nearer forces of House Ordos and its vassals from Marburg.

Alongside this it was Karyl Reyne the loyal wife to Franklin Brent that went to work when she travelled to Castle Greentail to convinse Lord Deitrik Greentail to lend his forces to the defence of Castle Stragnarax. At her words Deitrik Greentail would once again lend his support to Franklin Brent during the Battle of Castle Stragnarax but this time his infatuation with Karyl Reyne would become a problem when her convincing set him over the edge and he tried to rape her only stopped by the arrival of his son Estmar Greentail who stopped him from raping Karyl. Stopping this Estmar would take Karyl alongside the Greentail forces and she was able to force him to promise to her that he would never say a word of what had happened to Franklin and he agreed despite his growing friendship with Franklin Brent. Alongside these two though the very powerful House Mountain would be sent word, and while they were not expected they would eventually prove to be one of the most steadfast comers into the conflict.

“We knew we could never hold them off, but every Orc we killed with an arrow was one less the defenders would have to deal with.”
— Lothar Wornwayne

For his own part Lothar Wornwayne was forced to deal with the Orcs overruning the Eyes, and this forced him to recall many of his troops into the cave systems they had long set up. Lothar would send word to his second in command Rolly Reyne of whom would be commanded to follow as closely as humanly possible to the forces of the Orcs, and find out as much as possible about their numbers, while the rest of the Rangers either defended themselves or in the case of Lothar prepared to make the rest of the journey for the Orcs as miserable as he possibly could.

Lucernian Forces	Strength
Castle Stragnarax	The defenders of the castle were swelled to some 5,500 men and held very few women and children as they had been cleared from the castle. The castle itself was nearing fully completed but the southern and northern approach did not contain the proper defences that were meant to be in place, but the main gate was a killing zone.
House Ordos	House Ordos would send some eleven thousand troops of mainly cavalry led by Franklin Brent, and Kieth, and Jamie Darkwood, as well as four thousand troops from House Greentail led by Estmar Greentail.
House Greymane	House Greymane sent some eight thousand of split cavalry and infantry to the defence but only three thousand would arrive in time to do anything.
House Mountain	House Mountain sent some four thousand men at arms, and cavalry of whom would arrive a day before the second attack.
House Darkmore and House Darkwood	House Mountain sent some four thousand men at arms, and cavalry of whom would arrive a day before the second attac
Others	The Order of the Violet Dragon commited all of their available forces that were in Lucerne as the castle was their headquarters The Order of the Blue Dragon had several Magi in the vicinity of which Alann Roil, and Brann Voil would lead these forces to great effect during the Battle. The Rangers of the Eyes had some four hundred men of whom caused horrible damage to the Orcish Horde over the course of the week they travelled towards Castle Stragnarax The Order of the Red Dragon sent ten Griffins to assist in scouting of the Orcish forces but they didn't arrive in time to greatly assist in this task. The Knights of the Summerwall had some sixty Knights, and four hundred men at arms and formed an elite guard at the main gate.

“Hundreds flowed into the gates of the castle, and from these our defenders swelled. We prepared as best we could for what we believed was our deaths. When the Orcs arrived they would find a well defended Castle that was not going to die easily.”
— Blake Dinton

With the Orcs incoming the defenses 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. One of the other premier commanders of the castle was the recently arrived Edric Summerwall, and his Knights of the Summerwall of whom had been commanded to move themselves from their previous home in Forks to Castle Stragnarax where they would be the official Knightly Order of the castle. 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. As the old, women, and children were withdrawn, and in their place came wagon after wagon of supplies from the surrounding region they knew there preperation was about to end as the Orcs were nearly at the castle. 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. In Hohenstein the leadership of House Mountain would make the decision to assist Castle Stragnarax after Baelor Mountain stated that he believed this would help to uplift them in the eyes of Lucerne, and specifically the King in Lucerne of whom was not exactly shy about his distain for those who sat on the sidelines. As the furthest away of those who cold come to the aid of Castle Stragnarax, there assistence unknown by most and they were going to arrive later then the others anyway. By this point Franklin Brent would marshal his personal knightly order, and while he did this his father would gather the forces of House Brent, of whom would meet with House Ordos outside of Marburg and prepare themselves to also assist Castle Stragnarax. Franklin Brent would lead his forces seperate from his father Frank, as he was still unwilling to forgive his father for being passed over, and while making the trip the sickly Frank Brent would be forced to return to the Brent Seat and thus left command to Franklin. The Knights of the Gilded Fell would also mount themselves and leave their seat at White Hill led by Desmond Hill and make their way southward, and their location meant that they would arrive hours before the Orcish army did and they were thus able to enter the castle before the Orcs blocked the routes in. One of the final arrivals was the unexpected forces of House Darkmore, and House Darkwood of whom had been meeting in the Darkwood of seat of

“The eyes had done their part for sure. Rangers of the western approach had caused casulties to the Orcish horde, while we knew every piece of strength they had coming at us.”
— Baelor Mountain

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. Lothar Wornwayne was constantly harrassing the Orcish force, and this only increased in intensity when he and Rolly Reyne finally met up days away from Castle Stragnarax, and in a join ambush during the night they killed some four hundred Orcs before they were forced to retreat southward and into Dragonhorn while the Orc army had finally reached the outskirts of the Castle Stragnarax.

The Orcs Arrive

Orcs Incoming — Orcs had once again overrun the western border, but this time there numbers had been detailed by the scouts of the west, and their movement carefully tacked.

“The first sign of the Orcs was the massive stream of screaming and shouting that came from them. They were definetly not going for stealth because they just wandered into the open and those stragglers were shot by our archers, while the remainder of the army chopped down trees in the forest.”
— Benjamin Bradfoot

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.

“Arriving at the castle it was nearly completely surrounded with only the southern wall not having a massive crowd of Orcs miling about.”
— Franklin Brent

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

“An undesiplioned mess. Sometimes numbers can make up for mistakes in leadership, but there has to be even a semblence of leadership for that logic to work.”
— Thomas Brent

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. Franklin Brent was forced to battle against a large Orc of which had killed two other men, and finally reaching the Orc he and the Orc dueled for several minutes until he shot the Orc with a hand crossbow he was finally able to reach off his back. Staggered by the shot the Orc would be sliced across the chest fatally by Franklin as he attempted to pull the crossbow from his neck. Following the large Orc's death the other Worgs became less threatening but there numbers still meant that Franklin could not advance agains the southern forces and aid the defenders. 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

“If a wall is forty feet high and your ladder is twenty feet tall, I really don't see the value of even bringing the ladder. ”
— Thomas Brent

The attack on the main gate went disastrously 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 resembled 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. Along the main gate though despite this horrifying aray of weapons the Orcs did manage to get several of their number onto the walls where the Knights of the Gilded Fell under the command of Orival Black would stand in the breaks and kill them as they climbed over the walls. The Magi of the Order of the Blue Dragon had been completely concentrated along this defence and had been responsible for two of the towers going down as they lit them on fire using spells.

Attack on the Tower of James the Vigilant

“When I got word that we lost control of the Tower of James I felt my first trickle of fear into my heart. I thought for a brief moment of the deaths of the entire castle, and in that moment I nearly paused. Benjamin grabbed my arm as if he knew what I was feeling, and with that I shook my head and ordered the counter assault on the tower. ”
— Thomas Brent

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. The final holdouts were to be dealt with personally by Benjamin Bradfoot of whom was directed to the castle under the command of Thomas Brent of whom was worried over the prospect of Orcs within the walls.

Attack on Marbrand Keep

“The goal was to get them to cross the wall so when they did we weren't exactly worried that they had climbed the walls.”
— Domeric Marbrand

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

“Nearly all our reinforcements were now in the area, and their commander was so bloodthirsty by this point he just charged at the southern wall with his full force.”
— Thomas Brent

The Orc army was still massive but it had suffered heavy casualties 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 Garfield and they were camped northwest of the battle moving in behind the Orc forces. Andrew Garfield would lead the forces of House Garfield into the fray as he was joined by several of his loyal retainers including Edmund Frotenhood, Esla Tollsen, and several other important knights of the region north of Hillsbrad. 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 doomed charge of a doomed army.”
— Franklin Brent

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.

Total Victory

“I had defeated their army on the field, but as I entered the castle I found my brother was the hero. People were crying out his name, and he was truly beloved. I knew then and there that I was done here, and I would have to chart my own path somewhere else.”
— Franklin Brent

With the Orcish army completely routed and on top of this most of the army had been destroyed in the field leaving the remaining elements to move westward where they were chased down by the cavalry force of House Greymane, and House 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-existence 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 beginning 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, and this was in spite of the two larger armies led by the Mountains, and Franklin Brent moving in and being the true changer of the battle. 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.

The Rise of Lucerne
I saw the destruction of the world, and knew I had to stop it. There was nothing left to do but become bigger then everyone else. The Empire was never going to be the beacon the world needed it to be. Westros was on fire. The Bretonians had reached for the stars and been burned. And the old shadow of Numeron was fading far too quickly. It was left to us in Lucerne to change the fate of all those who wished to reject darkness. We were the last hope for a world who had long since given up on believing.

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.

I looked out over the rampart and saw them running about in the field out of range of all our firepower outside of the Balistas, and I was still taken back by their numbers. I could see the towers being pushed forward, and I heard Benjamin, and Orival Black barking out commands for the archers to prepare.

They were coming, and this would be the moment of either our salvation or our death. As I watched them pushing the towers forward, and watched as the first tower went up in flames I couldn't help but feel better. The second tower burned with the fire of Brann Voil of whom stood chanting on the top of the tower, and yet again even as they moved forward I couldn't help but harbor a growing level of optimism.

The saddest 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.

Death of Judith Krebs

Judith would follow Franklin into the Battle of Castle Stragnarax but it was during this conflict that she finally came face to face with her long time nemisis from the Circle of Magi in the form of Hartmut Ehrenfeld and the two would duel outside the castle but despite Franklin coming to her aid she was killed and Hartmut once again escaped.

“The construction crews of the Order of the Grey Dragon still lined the streets, and nearly seventy percent of the towers were incomplete when we got news that the Orcs were crossing the line and heading towards us.”
— Thomas Brent

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. Commander Lothar Wornwayne would realize the severity of the coming attack, and thus The Eyes immediatly sent ravens and a single scout to Castle Stragnarax. Learning of the attack the defenders under the command of Thomas Brent would send out dozens of scouts and runners to the surrounding region both warning them of the coming attack, and also requesting immeiate assistence at the castle. The two main places that they sent requests for assistence were to Hilsbrad and House Greymane, as well as from the nearer forces of House Ordos and its vassals from Marburg. Alongside these two though the very powerful House Mountain would be sent word, and while they were not expected they would eventually prove to be one of the most steadfast comers into the conflict.

“We knew we could never hold them off, but every Orc we killed with an arrow was one less the defenders would have to deal with.”
— Lothar Wornwayne

For his own part Lothar Wornwayne was forced to deal with the Orcs overruning the Eyes, and this forced him to recall many of his troops into the cave systems they had long set up. Lothar would send word to his second in command Rolly Reyne of whom would be commanded to follow as closely as humanly possible to the forces of the Orcs, and find out as much as possible about their numbers, while the rest of the Rangers either defended themselves or in the case of Lothar prepared to make the rest of the journey for the Orcs as miserable as he possibly could.

Lucernian Forces	Strength
Castle Stragnarax	The defenders of the castle were swelled to some 5,500 men and held very few women and children as they had been cleared from the castle. The castle itself was nearing fully completed but the southern and northern approach did not contain the proper defences that were meant to be in place, but the main gate was a killing zone.
House Ordos	House Ordos would send some six thousand troops of mainly cavalry led by Franklin Brent, and Kieth, and Jamie Darkwood.
House Greymane	House Greymane sent some eight thousand of split cavalry and infantry to the defence but only three thousand would arrive in time to do anything.
House Mountain	House Mountain sent some four thousand men at arms, and cavalry of whom would arrive a day before the second attack.
Others	The Order of the Violet Dragon commited all of their available forces that were in Lucerne as the castle was their headquarters The Order of the Blue Dragon had several Magi in the vicinity of which Alann Roil, and Brann Voil would lead these forces to great effect during the Battle. The Rangers of the Eyes had some four hundred men of whom caused horrible damage to the Orcish Horde over the course of the week they travelled towards Castle Stragnarax The Order of the Red Dragon sent ten Griffins to assist in scouting of the Orcish forces but they didn't arrive in time to greatly assist in this task. The Knights of the Summerwall had some sixty Knights, and four hundred men at arms and formed an elite guard at the main gate.

“Hundreds flowed into the gates of the castle, and from these our defenders swelled. We prepared as best we could for what we believed was our deaths. When the Orcs arrived they would find a well defended Castle that was not going to die easily.”
— Blake Dinton

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. One of the other premier commanders of the castle was the recently arrived Edric Summerwall, and his Knights of the Summerwall of whom had been commanded to move themselves from their previous home in Forks to Castle Stragnarax where they would be the official Knightly Order of the castle. 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. As the old, women, and children were withdrawn, and in their place came wagon after wagon of supplies from the surrounding region they knew there preperation was about to end as the Orcs were nearly at the castle. 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. In Hohenstein the leadership of House Mountain would make the decision to assist Castle Stragnarax after Baelor Mountain stated that he believed this would help to uplift them in the eyes of Lucerne, and specifically the King in Lucerne of whom was not exactly shy about his distain for those who sat on the sidelines. As the furthest away of those who cold come to the aid of Castle Stragnarax, there assistence unknown by most and they were going to arrive later then the others anyway. By this point Franklin Brent would marshal his personal knightly order, and while he did this his father would gather the forces of House Brent, of whom would meet with House Ordos outside of Marburg and prepare themselves to also assist Castle Stragnarax. Franklin Brent would lead his forces seperate from his father Frank, as he was still unwilling to forgive his father for being passed over, and while making the trip the sickly Frank Brent would be forced to return to the Brent Seat and thus left command to Franklin. The Knights of the Gilded Fell would also mount themselves and leave their seat at White Hill and make their way southward, and their location meant that they would arrive hours before the Orcish army did and they were thus able to enter the castle before the Orcs blocked the routes in.

“The eyes had done their part for sure. Rangers of the western approach had caused casulties to the Orcish horde, while we knew every piece of strength they had coming at us.”
— Baelor Mountain

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. Lothar Wornwayne was constantly harrassing the Orcish force, and this only increased in intensity when he and Rolly Reyne finally met up days away from Castle Stragnarax, and in a join ambush during the night they killed some four hundred Orcs before they were forced to retreat southward and into Dragonhorn while the Orc army had finally reached the outskirts of the Castle Stragnarax.

The Orcs Arrive

“The first sign of the Orcs was the massive stream of screaming and shouting that came from them. They were definetly not going for stealth because they just wandered into the open and those stragglers were shot by our archers, while the remainder of the army chopped down trees in the forest.”
— Benjamin Bradfoot

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.

“Arriving at the castle it was nearly completely surrounded with only the southern wall not having a massive crowd of Orcs miling about.”
— Franklin Brent

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

“An undesiplioned mess. Sometimes numbers can make up for mistakes in leadership, but there has to be even a semblence of leadership for that logic to work.”
— Thomas Brent

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. Franklin Brent was forced to battle against a large Orc of which had killed two other men, and finally reaching the Orc he and the Orc dueled for several minutes until he shot the Orc with a hand crossbow he was finally able to reach off his back. Staggered by the shot the Orc would be sliced across the chest fatally by Franklin as he attempted to pull the crossbow from his neck. Following the large Orc's death the other Worgs became less threatening but there numbers still meant that Franklin could not advance agains the southern forces and aid the defenders. 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

“If a wall is forty feet high and your ladder is twenty feet tall, I really don't see the value of even bringing the ladder. ”
— Thomas Brent

The attack on the main gate went disastrously 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 resembled 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. Along the main gate though despite this horrifying aray of weapons the Orcs did manage to get several of their number onto the walls where the Knights of the Gilded Fell under the command of Orival Black would stand in the breaks and kill them as they climbed over the walls. The Magi of the Order of the Blue Dragon had been completely concentrated along this defence and had been responsible for two of the towers going down as they lit them on fire using spells.

Attack on the Tower of James the Vigilant

“When I got word that we lost control of the Tower of James I felt my first trickle of fear into my heart. I thought for a brief moment of the deaths of the entire castle, and in that moment I nearly paused. Benjamin grabbed my arm as if he knew what I was feeling, and with that I shook my head and ordered the counter assault on the tower. ”
— Thomas Brent

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. The final holdouts were to be dealt with personally by Benjamin Bradfoot of whom was directed to the castle under the command of Thomas Brent of whom was worried over the prospect of Orcs within the walls.

Attack on Marbrand Keep

“The goal was to get them to cross the wall so when they did we weren't exactly worried that they had climbed the walls.”
— Domeric Marbrand

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

“Nearly all our reinforcements were now in the area, and their commander was so bloodthirsty by this point he just charged at the southern wall with his full force.”
— Thomas Brent

The Orc army was still massive but it had suffered heavy casualties 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 doomed charge of a doomed army.”
— Franklin Brent

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.

Total Victory

“I had defeated their army on the field, but as I entered the castle I found my brother was the hero. People were crying out his name, and he was truly beloved. I knew then and there that I was done here, and I would have to chart my own path somewhere else.”
— Franklin Brent

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.

The Rise of Lucerne
I saw the destruction of the world, and knew I had to stop it. There was nothing left to do but become bigger then everyone else. The Empire was never going to be the beacon the world needed it to be. Westros was on fire. The Bretonians had reached for the stars and been burned. And the old shadow of Numeron was fading far too quickly. It was left to us in Lucerne to change the fate of all those who wished to reject darkness. We were the last hope for a world who had long since given up on believing.

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.

I looked out over the rampart and saw them running about in the field out of range of all our firepower outside of the Balistas, and I was still taken back by their numbers. I could see the towers being pushed forward, and I heard Benjamin, and Orival Black barking out commands for the archers to prepare.

They were coming, and this would be the moment of either our salvation or our death. As I watched them pushing the towers forward, and watched as the first tower went up in flames I couldn't help but feel better. The second tower burned with the fire of Brann Voil of whom stood chanting on the top of the tower, and yet again even as they moved forward I couldn't help but harbor a growing level of optimism.

The saddest 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.

|}

Funeral of Genn Greymane

Noteable Members

Family Members

Archibold Greymane. Died during the battle of Lyons
- † Archibold Greymane II.. Drown after giving up on life following his brothers death
  - Heike Greymane
    - Walden Greymane
      - Anke Greymane
        Anke Greymane II.
        
        Archibold Greymane III.
    - Rodney Greymane
      - Jennifer Greymane
        Rodney Greymane II.
        
        Andrea Greymane
- † Genn Greymane. Died of a heart attack
  - Mia Greymane
    - Liam Greymane
      - Marsha Greymane
        Liam Greymane II.
        
        Lisa Greymane
    - Tess Greymane
- † Darius Greymane. Died during the Plague
  - † Tara Greymane. Died during the Plague
    - Bravin Greymane
      - Michelle Greymane (Michelle Plaup)
        Emily Greymane
    - † Alisson Greymane. Died during the Plague
    - † Hecktor Greymane. Died during the Plague
† Lysa Greymane. Died of Old Age
- Viktor Greymane
  - Aimee Greymane
    - Jon Greymane
    - Robb Greymane
    - Liara Greymane
- Clarke Greymane

@@ Line 294: / Line 294: @@
 Andrew did make sure Archibold understood that noone outside of House Greymane
-===First Battle of Castle Stragnarax===
+===<font size="6" face="Gadget" color="White">First Battle of Castle Stragnarax</font>===
 Main Article : [[Battle of Castle Stragnarax]]
+{{Template:Hidden Battle of Castle Stragnarax}}
 [[File:Castle_Stragnarax1.jpg|thumb|400px]]
 {{Quote(1)|The construction crews of the Order of the Grey Dragon still lined the streets, and nearly seventy percent of the towers were incomplete when we got news that the Orcs were crossing the line and heading towards us.|Thomas Brent}}
-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 [[Hillsbrad|Hilsbrad]] and House Greymane, as well as from the nearer forces of House Ordos and its vassals from [[Marburg]].
+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. Commander Lothar Wornwayne would realize the severity of the coming attack, and thus [[The Eyes]] immediatly sent ravens and a single scout to Castle Stragnarax. Learning of the attack the defenders under the command of Thomas Brent would send out dozens of scouts and runners to the surrounding region both warning them of the coming attack, and also requesting immeiate assistence at the castle.  The two main places that they sent requests for assistence were to [[Hillsbrad|Hilsbrad]] and House Greymane, as well as from the nearer forces of House Ordos and its vassals from [[Marburg]]. Alongside these two though the very powerful House Mountain would be sent word, and while they were not expected they would eventually prove to be one of the most steadfast comers into the conflict.
+{{Quote(1)|We knew we could never hold them off, but every Orc we killed with an arrow was one less the defenders would have to deal with.|Lothar Wornwayne}}
+For his own part [[Lothar Wornwayne]] was forced to deal with the Orcs overruning the Eyes, and this forced him to recall many of his troops into the cave systems they had long set up. Lothar would send word to his second in command [[Rolly Reyne]] of whom would be commanded to follow as closely as humanly possible to the forces of the Orcs, and find out as much as possible about their numbers, while the rest of the Rangers either defended themselves or in the case of Lothar prepared to make the rest of the journey for the Orcs as miserable as he possibly could.
-{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="article-table" style="float: right; width: 350px;"
+{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="article-table" style="float: right; width: 350px; color: #FFFFFF;"
 |-
 ! scope="col"|Lucernian Forces
@@ Line 312: / Line 317: @@
 |-
 |
-House Ordos
+[[House Ordos]]
 |House Ordos would send some six thousand troops of mainly cavalry led by Franklin Brent, and Kieth, and Jamie Darkwood.
 |-
-|House Greymane
+|[[House Greymane]]
 |House Greymane sent some eight thousand of split cavalry and infantry to the defence but only three thousand would arrive in time to do anything.
 |-
-|House Mountain
+|[[House Mountain]]
-|House Greymane sent some four thousand men at arms, and cavalry of whom would arrive a day before the second attack.
+|House Mountain sent some four thousand men at arms, and cavalry of whom would arrive a day before the second attack.
 |-
 |Others
 |
-:*The [[Order of the Violet Dragon]] commited all of their forces that were in Lucerne as the castle was their headquarters
+:*The [[Order of the Violet Dragon]] commited all of their available forces that were in Lucerne as the castle was their headquarters
 :*The [[Order of the Blue Dragon]] had several Magi in the vicinity of which   Alann Roil, and Brann Voil would lead these forces to great effect during the Battle.
-:*The [[Rangers of the Eyes]] had some three hundred men of whom caused horrible damage to the Orcish Horde over the course of the week they travelled towards Castle Stragnarax
+:*The [[Rangers of the Eyes]] had some four hundred men of whom caused horrible damage to the Orcish Horde over the course of the week they travelled towards Castle Stragnarax
 :*The [[Order of the Red Dragon]] sent ten Griffins to assist in scouting of the Orcish forces but they didn't arrive in time to greatly assist in this task.
+:*The [[Knights of the Summerwall]] had some sixty Knights, and four hundred men at arms and formed an elite guard at the main gate.
 |}
 {{Quote(1)|Hundreds flowed into the gates of the castle, and from these our defenders swelled. We prepared as best we could for what we believed was our deaths. When the Orcs arrived they would find a well defended Castle that was not going to die easily.|Blake Dinton}}
-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.
+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. One of the other premier commanders of the castle was the recently arrived Edric Summerwall, and his Knights of the Summerwall of whom had been commanded to move themselves from their previous home in Forks to Castle Stragnarax where they would be the official Knightly Order of the castle. 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. As the old, women, and children were withdrawn, and in their place came wagon after wagon of supplies from the surrounding region they knew there preperation was about to end as the Orcs were nearly at the castle. [[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. In Hohenstein the leadership of House Mountain would make the decision to assist Castle Stragnarax after Baelor Mountain stated that he believed this would help to uplift them in the eyes of Lucerne, and specifically the King in Lucerne of whom was not exactly shy about his distain for those who sat on the sidelines. As the furthest away of those who cold come to the aid of Castle Stragnarax, there assistence unknown by most and they were going to arrive later then the others anyway. By this point Franklin Brent would marshal his personal knightly order, and while he did this his father would gather the forces of House Brent, of whom would meet with House Ordos outside of Marburg and prepare themselves to also assist Castle Stragnarax. Franklin Brent would lead his forces seperate from his father Frank, as he was still unwilling to forgive his father for being passed over, and while making the trip the sickly [[Frank Brent]] would be forced to return to the Brent Seat and thus left command to Franklin. The [[Knights of the Gilded Fell]] would also mount themselves and leave their seat at White Hill and make their way southward, and their location meant that they would arrive hours before the Orcish army did and they were thus able to enter the castle before the Orcs blocked the routes in.
 {{Quote(1)|The eyes had done their part for sure. Rangers of the western approach had caused casulties to the Orcish horde, while we knew every piece of strength they had coming at us.|Baelor Mountain}}
-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.
+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 [[Orcs|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. Lothar Wornwayne was constantly harrassing the Orcish force, and this only increased in intensity when he and Rolly Reyne finally met up days away from Castle Stragnarax, and in a join ambush during the night they killed some four hundred Orcs before they were forced to retreat southward and into Dragonhorn while the Orc army had finally reached the outskirts of the Castle Stragnarax.
-====The Orcs Arrive====
+====<font size="5" face="Gadget" color="Black">The Orcs Arrive</font>====
-[[File:Orcs_Incoming.jpg|thumb|400px|Orcs had once again overrun the western border, but this time there numbers had been detailed by the scouts of the west, and their movement carefully tacked. ]]
+[[File:Orcs_Incoming.jpg|thumb|400px|<font size="3" face="Gadget" color="White">Orcs had once again overrun the western border, but this time there numbers had been detailed by the scouts of the west, and their movement carefully tacked. </font>]]
 {{Quote(1)|The first sign of the Orcs was the massive stream of screaming and shouting that came from them. They were definetly not going for stealth because they just wandered into the open and those stragglers were shot by our archers, while the remainder of the army chopped down trees in the forest.|Benjamin Bradfoot}}
@@ Line 346: / Line 354: @@
 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====
+====<font size="4" face="Gadget" color="Black">The First Attack</font>====
 [[File:Castle_StragnaraxFirstDay.png|thumb|400px]]
 {{Quote(1)|An undesiplioned mess. Sometimes numbers can make up for mistakes in leadership, but there has to be even a semblence of leadership for that logic to work.|Thomas Brent}}
-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.
+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. Franklin Brent was forced to battle against a large Orc of which had killed two other men, and finally reaching the Orc he and the Orc dueled for several minutes until he shot the Orc with a hand crossbow he was finally able to reach off his back. Staggered by the shot the Orc would be sliced across the chest fatally by Franklin as he attempted to pull the crossbow from his neck. Following the large Orc's death the other Worgs became less threatening but there numbers still meant that Franklin could not advance agains the southern forces and aid the defenders. 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.
-=====<span style="font-size:14px;">Attack on the main gate</span>=====
+=====<font size="4" face="Gadget" color="Black">Attack on the Main Gate</font>=====
-[[File:Tower_Balista.jpg|thumb|400px]]{{Quote(1)|If a wall is forty feet high and your ladder is twenty feet tall, I really don't see the value of even bringing the ladder. |Thomas Brent}}
+[[File:Tower_Balista.jpg|thumb|400px]]
-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.
+{{Quote(1)|If a wall is forty feet high and your ladder is twenty feet tall, I really don't see the value of even bringing the ladder. |Thomas Brent}}
-=====<span style="font-size:14px;">Attack on the Tower of James the Vigilanat</span>=====
+The attack on the main gate went disastrously 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 resembled 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. Along the main gate though despite this horrifying aray of weapons the Orcs did manage to get several of their number onto the walls where the Knights of the Gilded Fell under the command of [[Orival Black]] would stand in the breaks and kill them as they climbed over the walls. The Magi of the [[Order of the Blue Dragon]] had been completely concentrated along this defence and had been responsible for two of the towers going down as they lit them on fire using spells.
+=====<font size="4" face="Gadget" color="Black">Attack on the Tower of James the Vigilant</font>=====
 [[File:Attack_on_the_Tower_of_James_the_Vigilant.png|thumb|400px]]
@@ Line 364: / Line 377: @@
 {{Quote(1)|When I got word that we lost control of the Tower of James I felt my first trickle of fear into my heart. I thought for a brief moment of the deaths of the entire castle, and in that moment I nearly paused. Benjamin grabbed my arm as if he knew what I was feeling, and with that I shook my head and ordered the counter assault on the tower. |Thomas Brent}}
-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.
+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. The final holdouts were to be dealt with personally by Benjamin Bradfoot of whom was directed to the castle under the command of Thomas Brent of whom was worried over the prospect of Orcs within the walls.
-=====<span style="font-size:14px;">Attack on Marbrand Keep</span>=====
+=====<font size="4" face="Gadget" color="Black">Attack on Marbrand Keep</font>=====
-[[File:Castle_Stragnarax8.png|thumb|400px]]{{Quote(1)|The goal was to get them to cross the wall so when they did we weren't exactly worried that they had climbed the walls.|Domeric Marbrand}}
+[[File:Castle_Stragnarax8.png|thumb|400px]]
+{{Quote(1)|The goal was to get them to cross the wall so when they did we weren't exactly worried that they had climbed the walls.|Domeric Marbrand}}
-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.
+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====
-[[File:Orcs_Massacred.jpg|thumb|400px]]{{Quote(1)|Nearly all our reinforcements were now in the area, and their commander was so bloodthirsty by this point he just charged at the southern wall with his full force.|Thomas Brent}}
+====<font size="5" face="Gadget" color="Black">The Second Attack</font>====
-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.
+[[File:Orcs_Massacred.jpg|thumb|400px]]
-{{Quote(1)|The doomed charge of a doomed army.|Franklin Brent}}
+{{Quote(1)|Nearly all our reinforcements were now in the area, and their commander was so bloodthirsty by this point he just charged at the southern wall with his full force.|Thomas Brent}}
-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|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.
+The Orc army was still massive but it had suffered heavy casualties 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.
-=====<span style="font-size:14px;">Victory</span>=====
+{{Quote(1)|The doomed charge of a doomed army.|Franklin Brent}}
-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.
+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|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.
+=====<font size="4" face="Gadget" color="Black">Total Victory</font>=====
 {{Quote(1)|I had defeated their army on the field, but as I entered the castle I found my brother was the hero. People were crying out his name, and he was truly beloved. I knew then and there that I was done here, and I would have to chart my own path somewhere else.|Franklin Brent}}
-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.
+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.
 {{Conversations_-_Rise_of_Lucerne}}
+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.
+I looked out over the rampart and saw them running about in the field out of range of all our firepower outside of the Balistas, and I was still taken back by their numbers. I could see the towers being pushed forward, and I heard Benjamin, and Orival Black barking out commands for the archers to prepare.
+They were coming, and this would be the moment of either our salvation or our death. As I watched them pushing the towers forward, and watched as the first tower went up in flames I couldn't help but feel better. The second tower burned with the fire of Brann Voil of whom stood chanting on the top of the tower, and yet again even as they moved forward I couldn't help but harbor a growing level of optimism.
+The saddest 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.
+{{Lucerne_Spoiler_End}}
-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.
 {{Lucerne_Spoiler_End}}

House Greymane


Power Level	Lord House
Kingdom of Loyalty	Kingdom of Lucerne
House Banner
Coat of Arms	A Wolf's Head clasped overtop a shield with two candles to light the way.
Words	"The Pack Survives where the individual fades."
Vital statistics
Founder	Unknown Founder during the Driving Tide
Current Leader	Genn Greymane
Current Heir	Liam Greymane
Date of Founding	Placeholder
Headquarters	Hillsbrad
Level of Control
Level of Control	Control the city of Hillsbrad as well as large tracts of land outside the city.
Loyal Houses	House Crowley House Godfrey
Demographics
Race	Human
Ethnicity	Vandal

Changes: House Greymane

Revision as of 20:03, 24 January 2014

History

Early History

Driving Tide

Worgen

Hillsbrad

The Plague

Rise and Fall of a Rebel

Death of the Rebellion

Survival of Joshua Jackson

Destruction of House Heard

Continued Destruction

Fall of Tree Hill

Badgers of Lucerne

Counter Attack

Hillsbrad Meeting

Demi Snow Marries

Battle of Hillsbrad

Second battle of Tree Hill

Control of Hillsbrad

Expansion

Andrew Lovie

Meeting Andrew Lovie

First Battle of Castle Stragnarax

First Battle of Castle Stragnarax

The Orcs Arrive

The First Attack

Attack on the Main Gate

Attack on the Tower of James the Vigilant

Attack on Marbrand Keep

The Second Attack

Total Victory

Death of Judith Krebs

The Orcs Arrive

The First Attack

Attack on the Main Gate

Attack on the Tower of James the Vigilant

Attack on Marbrand Keep

The Second Attack

Total Victory

Funeral of Genn Greymane

Noteable Members

Family Members

Vassel Houses

House Crowley

House Godfrey