Graves Family

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History of the Graves

The Graves Family, though recent in its rise to fame, can trace its roots back far in the annuls of history. Prominent family members include, or have included: Kanali, Jai, Erwin-- with Kanali, just recently dead and the two others, cousins to the dead hero, living. The family spans several continents, several realms, and has many nobles of little consequence living unheard of and unsung-- in obscurity, waiting to make their marks on the world. The family also possesses several bastards, two of any repute whatsoever, who have been raised as awkward black sheep of the well-blooded family. Daniel of Graves, an Adventurer with no claim to the title of noble-born, has decided to try to earn the right to be a Graves through his deeds and battles with the undead of the land. Alinys, however, his half-sister (who Daniel is closer to in status than any other of his "family") has little desire to ever be known for her deeds, though may for all her wishing be known nonetheless.

In the Beginning

The House of Graves, like many other noble houses, has roots that can be, if so desired, traced back to the dirt of the earth and the peasants who lived upon it. From those peasants it could furthermore be traced back further-- to the very beginnings of time itself, but for simplicity's sake the House of Graves generally claims that the first of their line was a man by the name of Jake Parson who earned his keep on his lord's manor by burying the dead and making sure the graveyard was in good repair. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and a barreled chest that he was wont to throw out at times to accentuate his speech. Though common born he had a noble bearing and was often the subject of much gossip for the lord of the manor was fond of him and had him taught well, gave him a decent plot of land near the woods and even license to hunt in the wood at times if he so desired. Life was decent, even if difficult, and Jake grew into full manhood with the status of a noble's bastard son: given certain attentions by his liege-lord, the best of scraps, but ultimately left alone to live out his life among those who plowed the earth.

Several years into his prime, Jake heard rumors of an impending war between his lord and of another lesser noble over poaching in the woods. His lord's sons, all of them knighted except for the youngest, who was squired off to a family in the north, returned home from abroad to aid their father in the campaign and groups of serfs, bringing what rudimentary weapons they possessed, were organized under them into four groups, the fifth group (of which Jake was a part of) being organized directly under the lord himself. Jake was given loose control over the group in the abscence of his liege as he was considered most able, having become proficient with the hunting bow during his time hunting in the woods, and his lord leaned towards meritocracy in that regard. The campaign itself was straightforward and relatively simple, especially on paper. Three of the groups of peasants-- that of two sons and the lord of the manor-- would circle around the woods, cut onto the other lord's fief, and meet with the enemy east of a gently sloped hill. The other two groups would cut through the woods on foot and hope to surprise the enemy by an attack from the side.

They met with the enemy as planned and began a steady advance forwards after firing off a short, poorly aimed arrow volley. Jake, who wore a padded tunic and carried a battered wooden shield on his left arm, took up his dull, rust-bitten sword in his right and proceeded with the rest of the serfs across the field, to clash with those serfs who were also coming across the field towards him. The groups met noisy and hectic; Jake's clumsy shield was shorn in half just above the plank attached to his arm and rendered useless by an axe swipe meant for his face. Another stroke gashed his arm deeply but Jake by then had regained his wits and countered with a slash that disembowled the axe wielding man who had just previously rushed him like a maniac. This would later be proved to have been the enemy lord himself who, thinking Jake was noble born by his stature and bearing, had rushed forward to kill him. The battle broke quickly after the rival lord was slain and further ended by the surprise attack from the woods on part of the other two groups.

After the fight, Jake found himself knighted by an overly eager lord and given a small holding on what had been part of the rival noble's land. He settled down and took as his shield a solid blue field, a black stripe running diagonal across it, with a broken shield off center of the stripe itself. (This was later simplified to a solid blue field, diagonal black strip, and an off center circle.) Several years passed and, though he bore scars to the end of his life and had the hands of a peasant, he married a young girl from the town, who's father had made a small fortune as a merchant, buying and selling among the various noblemen. He gave his house the name Graves after his first profession-- that of the undertaker and gravedigger.

His wife, Katlian, bore him two sons and a sickly daughter who died only days after her fourth birthday. Jake never got over the death of his precious girl, but his sons grew up strong and strapping-- the picture of their father in his youth, but educated and brought up as young noble men ought to be, even if only poor noble men of birth. Youngest was Keith and after him, two years his elder, was John. John would grow into manhood and become a priest in service of a local pagan cult; it would be Keith, the youngest, who would carry on the fledgingly House and keep it from ruin in the days ahead.

Kieth would have several sons, his most prominent being his firstborn: Jacob.

Notable Members of the House of Graves

Deceased

Kanali

Kanali Graves sought her fame in Minas Ithil, near where her family had, under the guidance of her father Jacob, relocated their estate. She spent much of her early career as a soldier, seeking fortune and honor but ultimately fufilling the role of what normally the eldest son would have-- upholding the honor of the family through duty to the realm, etc. As the only child of Jacob she was not only entrusted with the family line but with taught much in the way of swords and men. She began to follow the path of the Hero, for before or worse, and survived several wars. Still young, though not as young as she had been when she began, she was appointed as Marchioness of Amdor. Kanali fell in love with Amdor quickly and was never the same afterwards, as Amdor was soon to be given away to the northern realms as appeasement. When Norland attacked and war came regardless, Kanali was Countess of Lothruin. She, with most of the realm, gathered faithfully in Winwich. The first few skirmishes her men, called faithfully The Dogs, did well with no dead and she herself fared fine. Soon, though, her luck turned. She took a wound when a relatively small force of northerners moved across the border in attack and continued to fight. She died, along with twenty three of her men.

Description

Kanali was of average height, slim and had dark, expressive brown eyes. Her hair, also brown, fell in an unruly mass down her shoulders and, as a result, was often tied back by a leather thong, or piece of cloth, or shredded tatter of green silk. Though slim, she was hardly scrawny and built boyishly. Her calves were toned, and arms toned-- though her chest was hardly flat and served most often as a dead giveaway as to her gender, unless she was wearing armor. At her hip rode a plain, unadorned longsword of good iron, kept in a fine scabbard set with a single, rough-cut ruby. Her shield, gouged and nicked, bore the sigil of her House-- the blue field, black diagonal striping, and the off-center circle. Her armor, mostly chain, was well-kept but often patched and the tunic had silver rings riveted between its iron ones so that she was often set apart from the otherwise dull outfit of her own men as she fought alongside them, on foot.

Erwin, son of Hrothal

At the age of thirty-five, Erwin is the heir to the Graves family name and the eldest in his immediate family. He is often a bitter man who shuns both his family and his peers, and even the men who serve under him. Despite this bitterness, though, there is at times a genuinely charming streak to him, though it is often overlooked; he was not always so sullen and angry. In his youth he was raised loosely, his mother dead and father often away on business or war, by a nursemaid who was hardly more than a child herself.

His younger sister, Jai, was born when he was seven and at first he tried to include her in all his war games; as he aged, though, he lost interest in his sister (though loved her dearly) and they drifted apart. And he was a happy child. He was sent off as another knight's squire, then knighted on his eighteenth birthday without much happening in between-- and upon returning to his family's estate, found several things amiss. His sister, only eleven years old, had gone to stay with another noble family, this one living on the Oligarchian border of Fontan. She had been forbidden permission to try, like her brother, to fight by her father and so had decided to leave. The noble family that accepted her as their own daughter (having had none, the lady barren) was considered, at least by Erwin, to be uncouth and crude. His sister, in his mind, had betrayed him and his family, and never forgave her. The rift only worsened when she went on to fight against him for Oligarch.

His father died when he was twenty-six, a quiet affair, and left the Graves fortune to a cousin nearly a continent away on Atamara. This rankled Erwin who, despite not wanting responsibility, desperately wanted the power and prestige and respect he thought he would receive for being head of the Graves. And, to his horror, he realized the cousin who was heir over him was a woman. Still, he did not dwell on this too long; several years later he received a letter from an old uncle, requesting one of the Graves children go to Atamara to bury his dead daughter. Also in this letter, it revealed since Erwin's cousin, Kanali, had died that he had regained his rightful place as heir and head of the Graves family. After bickering with his sister, neither particularly wanting to leave Fontan, he left on a ship and came to Minas Ithil-- a place he hated from the start, unable to in his mind compare it to Fontan. He buried his cousin and, as he went through her things, found a letter her scribe had been dictated to write on her behalf. It bade him (or whomever put her to rest) to fight on Minas Ithil's behalf until her death was avenged. The letter also charged him, when she had been avenged, to quest for a bastard Kanali called, simply, "Daniel."

Hating her even more, but honor-bound, Erwin swore an oath to the land of Winwich in Minas Ithil, where he built a small estate, and took up both sword and dagger. His anger, though, makes him reckless-- he cares nothing for most things, not even his own skin. And this proved to be his downfall; he attempted to stab an enemy noble in the back, while the man slept, but a guard overpowered him and, a few days later, Erwin paid with his life.

Description

He had always been tall for his age and had dark brown hair, leaning towards black, and dark green eyes that contrast remarkably with his otherwise pale countenance. He is muscular, though somewhat on the thin side-- his body more lank than bulk, his hands calloused and palms hard. He wears no beard, though at times his face is stubbled the same dark color of his hair and gives him a low-born look, an almost cruel look coupled with his hawkish nose and the slight slant to his eyes.

Jai, daughter of Hrothal

Brief background/summary.

Description

This relatively young woman is tall and lanky, with blonde-streaked brown hair and the eyes to match; the color of jade against her well tanned skin. Her hair hangs past her shoulders, normally straight though at times (in the damp and humid summers) can tangle into quite a wavy mess. Her cheekbones are prominent; her entire frame looks almost fragile, but there is an aura of nobility about her that halts any weakness one might imagine there: everything down to the tilt of her chin exudes confidence and lazy contempt for things beneath her, though her eyes are kind, if not also withdrawn and somewhat sad.

Her armor, when she fights, is surprisingly plain for a hero's harness. Most often she wears a simple shirt of mail, iron and unadorned, cinched around the waist by a studded, brown leather belt. Where the long tunic ends, above her knees, she has a pair of light black leather leggings, hardly even able to be considered armor in itself save for the thin iron bands that wrap about parts of her calf and lower leg. Her boots, which come only to mid-calf, are of hard leather and studded by bronze. Perhaps the only piece of her armor not truly plain is her helmet: it is of iron and covers the back of the neck and sides of her face completely, looking almost Corinthian with its wide and long cheek-plates and stumpy iron nose-guard. This helmet has a bristly, horse-hair plume attached to it-- dyed forest green-- and scenes of battles and of hunts have been etched along it. Her sword is plain and often taken from the same armory that holds those swords of her men; it is quality but nothing unique in itself, just a sword.

Alinys

...Graves_Family/Alinys

Retired

Ronald of Graves

NEEDS UPDATING.

Ronald of Graves is one of the younger nobles of the house and one with, perhaps, the least acclaim. Though raised for much of his life on the coasts of Fontan, Ronald came of age on a war-galley, headed to Toren to find his fortune there. He fought for a time against the other two nations on that warring continent but, after being wounded twice and forced to desert his men after a disasterous campaign he travelled to a nearby port city. There, his blood singing, he convinced a merchant to allow him passage on an old trade ship bound for a land called Mesh. Though he had never heard of the land before, he had heard of strange rumors of monsters, demons and walking dead and magnificent invasions to rival the tales of any bard-- and fell in love with the idea of that kind of glory and fame.

Description

Ronald does not fit the typical look of most of the Graves-- slender and dark and haughty. Instead he is surprisingly fair-skinned, prone to burning and most often sun-burnt, with a mop of shaggy, ruddy-red hair hiding the rounded tips of his ears. He has the beginnings of a bristly red-brown beard marring his cheeks, chin and jaw-- kept shortly trimmed for it is scraggly in places and thick in others when given the chance to grow at all. He is not tall but of rather average height with broad shoulders, a thick chest, and muscular arms; there is, however, a spry ranginess to him, a pliancy that seems to contradict his bulky strength.

His armor is that of his troops with a few modifications. While most of his troops wear chainmail tunics, Ronald wears a scalemail vest of bronze and leather, and a single iron pauldron to protect his right arm. His shield, a heavy wood-and-iron scutum, is painted in the colors of his cavalry unit and all his men bear it also on their smaller shields: the green and gold on black. His helmet is iron and plumed by a rope of horse hair, so he can be identified in battle. His sword is styled after a spatha-- long, made for slashing, but tapering also to a wicked point.

Mokut

Ronald came to Mesh and quickly swore an oath to the lord of Mokut, becoming the region's only knight. Soon after, for reasons unknown to Ronald, the lord of Mokut fell into decline and into a stupor and was removed from his lordship after failing to get out of bed for several days. In the three referendums that followed, Ronald won lordship of Mokut unofficially-- each time. Still, several weeks would pass before this was made official, due to a sudden invasion of monsters and a few upcroppings of undead. When he did come into possession of the region, he quickly set about to altering the taxes and taking a new knight under him, as well as calming the peasant's concerns. Though young, he wanted to prove to those commoners that he was easily capable of managing them.