House Mason

House Mason is a large and influencial Numenorian house within the south eastern section of the Kingdom of Gondor, of whome dominate the town of Ethring. House Mason is the dominant house in south eastern Gondor, and this dominance extends as far north as the lands of House Koonie of whome controls the ancient fortress of Narvine . House Mason has always defined itself by the closeness that it feels towards its own, and in this way they attempt as a House to always join together. The motto of House Mason is "The Closeness of Blood is the only measure of Trust" and this goes to saying how much they value the trust you place in family over everyone else. House Mason in recent times has become known for their family naming becoming very germanic following its Patriarch spending time with the Germans of Highgarden in eastern Lucerne when he was a young man.

House Mason rose to dominance during the exodus east from the ancient lands of Atlantis where they had been a nothing house. When the Black Numenorians destroyed the world the Empire of Numeron had built on the island of Atlantis the members of House Mason became one of the loyalists that fled the island alongside their lords in House Elessar. When they arrived in Europe they came to live within the region north of Umbar, and as time went on they founded the town of Ethring which was became the hub of the trade network between the swamps to the south inside Umbar, and the green valleys of Gondor to the north. This splitting of the two cultures meant that during the Civil War in Gondor they were the focus of some serious casualties and they lost a lot of their power in the destruction of that conflict. Following this they had to deal with a nearly constant attempt to annexx them, and these attempts culminated with House Mason attempting to diplomatically end the conflict by marrying their daughter Sarah Mason into Umbar. This fell apart and since then they have been attempting to once again rebuild their position but have found themselves dramatically weakened from within by Sarah Mason who holds silent loyalty to Umbar.

History

Early History

House Mason rose to dominance during the exodus east from the ancient lands of Atlantis where they had been a nothing house. When the Black Numenorians destroyed the world the Empire of Numeron had built on the island of Atlantis the members of House Mason became one of the loyalists that fled the island alongside their lords in House Elessar.

Gondor

when they arrived in Europe they came to live within the region north of Umbar, and as time went on they founded the town of Ethring which was became the hub of the trade network between the swamps to the south inside Umbar, and the green valleys of Gondor to the north.

The Gondor Civil War

Main Article : The Gondor Civil War

This splitting of the two cultures meant that during the Civil War in Gondor they were the focus of some serious casualties and they lost a lot of their power in the destruction of that conflict.

Wilheims Attempted Suicide

Main Article : Suicide Attempt of Nu-Wilheim Mason

The Sadness of Wilheim It seemed like no matter what I did, I kept letting people down. I started thinking how everyone’s lives would be better without me. And what does that feel like? It feels like nothing. Like a deep, endless, always blank nothing. And for those of you who will now be looking for signs everywhere… What does it really look like? Here’s the scary thing. It looks like nothing.

“It seemed like no matter what I did, I kept letting people down. I started thinking how everyone’s lives would be better without me. And what does that feel like? It feels like nothing. Like a deep, endless, always blank nothing. And for those of you who will now be looking for signs everywhere… What does it really look like? Here’s the scary thing. It looks like nothing.” — Nu-Wilheim Mason As his relationship with his sister Sarha drifted away with her increasing popularity and the business of his brother Thomas it was Wilheim that begin to see his life as going to amount to nothing and in this feeling Wilheim begin to seriously contemplate the idea of ending his life. He spent a long period thinking about this and throughout this he would draw elaborate designs of the different ways he might go about ending his life. It was one of these drawings that his sister Sarah Mason would discover one day and it was through this discovery that his life would change for the positive for what may have been the first time. When Sarah discovered the plans she immediately confronted her brother who up until that point she had believed was happy with his life, and during this confrontation he consistently lied to her about the purpose of the drawings but she was not convinced. Realizing that she might tell on him he left their conversation and decided that he would just hang himself and ignore all the elaborate plans he had made for himself. He grabbed the rope and a chair and left his room for the valley of the town. If anyone had noticed him taking these items they made no mention of it, and they certainty did not attempt to stop him or find out what he was doing. As he attached the rope to the tree he thought one last time of the world and in that moment was completely lost in his sadness. Closing his eyes he attached the rope to his neck and then proceeded to push the chair away from himself. It was Sarha that had been on the walls of Ethring with her friends when Wilheim had fled the city for his suicide and seeing a young man fleeing the city she and her friends followed him and since he was wearing a cloak they didn't know who he was. Sarha and her friends would arrive as he was tying the rope and then as he jumped it was Sarha that would shoot an arrow through the rope releasing him from dangling from the rope. As he dangled their panic struck him and he wanted to live but it was too late, and he was passing out from the loss of oxygen. As he made his last gasps of air he felt a pressure release and himself fall to the ground. “I don't care what pain your feeling. I can help you. We can fix this.” — Sarah Mason He lay their gasping for air for what appeared to him to be a long time but only in actuality was enough time for his sister to throw the bow that she had used to shoot the rope he was hanging from to the ground and run towards him. When she reached him she helped him to regain his breathe and once he had somewhat regained himself he cried himself into her shoulder and she just sat there and let him release all his sadness in that moment. After some time of this he calmed down and looked at his older sister who up to this point had only a slight relationship with and saw his savior. The two talked and Sarah realized how little time she had spent with her younger brother, and realized that she had a lot of making up to do if she wanted to have her brother living a full life and not dying young. When they finally returned to the town it was far into the night and she took the blame for them being late and did not tell anyone what had happened. Discovering Truths “I don't care what pain your feeling. I can help you. We can fix this.” — Sarah Mason Following her brother falling asleep she leaves her room for the kitchen where she finds her mother, father, and uncle sitting and eating breakfest, but she finds herself unable to sit down and instead breaks down crying as the seriousness of what she has been dealing with finally overwhelms her. Her mother and father conosole her and eventually she reveals what happened last night and telling them why he did it (due to feeling left out of the family) her mother and father look to her uncle and the three have a sort of silent agreement and then her mother kisses her on the forehead before leaving the room with her father leaving her with just her uncle. Her uncle consoles her but tells her to be strong and follow him, and taking him by the hand he leads her down a hallway where they reach a dead end, and it is here where they wait for several minutes before her mother and father also arrive with Wilheim in tow. Her uncle moves a painting aside revealing a key lock which he puts a key into which then opens the wall, and without a word the group goes through the opening which leads to a large staircase going downward. After travelling deep by use of the stairs they reach a large room where she sees her brother Thomas sitting at a table reading scrolls and he jumps up at their arrival clearly shocked to see Wilheim and her. Her father tells her a story about his father and her grandfather fighting a border war with umbar and while Sarha knows about this conflict from her history lessons her father reveals the truth of how the conflict ended when he tells her about the treaty known as the Mason-Umbar deal. Revealing that House Mason is secretly working with Umbar it is Sarha that attempts to storm out unwilling to accept this as being true but she is stopped by her brother who argues why what they are doing is a noble thing and tells her all the good that comes from this arrangement.

Diplomatic Outreach

When Sarah Mason was fifteen her parents silently sent her to Umbar after making a series of deals with diplomats in Umbar behind the scenes. These deals led to them offering their daughter to the brother of the king of Umbar in order for Umbar to slow the attacks against southern Gondor. When Umbar became upset by this deal she was already there and she watched as she became a political prisoner that noone other then her family even knew was outside of Gondor. During this political prisoner phase she became close with the man that would have been her husband, and she silently begin to believe in the Umbar cause after seeing and reading so much about their culture. She and Damon became sexually intimate as Damon wanted her to give him a child so that he would have a claim to southern Gondor through House Mason, but in the last months of her stay there she never became pregnant.

Ildarion Elessar Arrives

When Ildarion Elessar arrived in the town of Ethring alongside his small force of two hundred men, along with a dozen retainers he was shocked at the state of the town. The defences were in a terrible state, and the situation of the moral of the city appeared briefly on his walkthrough to be one where the population was teetering on the edge of mutiny. Seeing this angered the young prince and so he prepared to meet with the leadership of the town which at the time was held by council. When he called the council to meet with him he was shocked that at the one corner of the table was a small girl somewhere around his physical age. As the meeting commensed and he was filled in on the constant raids that rocked the town he couldn't help but be completely enthraled in the beautiful young women that was so vocal in her opinions throughout the meeting. As they all begin to exit the meeting the Lord of House Haines approached Ildarion and told him that he had some things that he should know before he was willing to stay in the town.

Noteable Members

Family Members

• † Vu-Gohnin Mason. Commited Suicide
  • † Nu-Tolia Mason. Commited Suicide
    • Vu-Uleon Mason
      • Nu-Kimbra Mason
        • Ar-Issia Mason (Ar-Issia Elessar)
          • Tar-Vislen Elessar
            • Tar-Drehlen Elessar II.
            • Ar-Friella Elessar
        • Bur-Sarha Mason
        • Nu-Thomas Mason
        • Nu-Wilheim Mason
    • Cer-Lohn Mason
      • † Nu-Len Mason. Died of sickness
        • Nu-Len Mason II.
        • Cer-Lohn Mason II.

Vassal Houses

Name	Patriarch	Seat
House Intillion		Dithring