Van Hoensbroeck Family/Henk

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Henk Van Hoensbroeck, The Heroïc Guardian of Tor

Henk is the middle brother of the Van Hoensbroeck Family. He left the Far East Continent as a young adult of only 17 years old to fight on the South East Continent in the realm of Toren.

Tor

The Hammer of Tor

It was in Toren that he came in contact with Tor, the god of the Thunder & Lightning, and the god of war for the Torenites. Though nobody has ever seen Tor in his true form, besides the fallen heroes who have become immortal, everyone knows his symbol: The Hammer of Tor.

Henk was almost immediately intruiged by this divine power that blessed the men before going into battle. And it was only a matter of time before Henk started following the path of the heroïc warrior who leads his men into battle for Tor sees it as a great value of a man on a path to become a living legend.

Followers of Tor are bond to act honourable, fair, fearless and search for wisdom. Therefor respect, for the monarch and arch priest are self-evident. Though that does not mean one could not state his own opinion, in fact, it was even encouraged, because it would give a variaty in opinions and views so no aspect would be missed.

While Tor is the Supreme God and the 'Divine Father' of the Torenites, he is not the only known god. There is a small number of gods, each with their own qualities. When Henk isn't fighting a battle he would favour another god to help and guide him on his path. A path which hidden for his eyes, so that he should take every step very careful.

Toren

Arrival in Toren

Henk arrived in Toren at the third mooncycle of the Last Era, just before the great King Phettish of Toren died in battle. At that time Henk became a knight of Toren Stronghold and fought in great battles on mainly the fields in Lesthem. It was with his good advice to the High Council as with his cunning fightingskills he drawed the attention of the High Council itself.

Making Career

It was the Council, but also Duke Cyperus of Toren Stronghold and Count Arylon of Dakan who gave Henk the chance to serve the realm as a region lord. Henk was the first of the three brothers to become a landed noble. This made the Van Hoensbroeck Family better known acros the continents and especially the South East Island.

Soon Henk was appointed as Count of Kail, a region which directly bordered the great Toren Stronghold. Henk maximised the taxation of the peasents living in this region and took 5 knights in to serve under him and have their estates controlling the peasentry as well.

Count of Kail

Henk became known as the brilliant and just hero of Kail who gave good advice, made wise decisions and was victorious on the battlefield. On a side note he did a great job in getting the region of Kail, which was retaken from Ikalak, back into shape and ready to support the great war mechanism of Toren. During his time as Count, he ordered the construction of 2 recruitment centers, a scouting guild and a houses of healing. Henk stayed count till the island began to sink into the ocean.

The High Council of Toren

When the Government of Toren was reformed by the 4th rebellion during his time on the South East Continent, Henk was given a seat in The High Council of Toren. The council consisted of the monarch, the arch priest, the royal banker, the high marshal, the Duke of Toren Stronghold and a few landed and non-landed nobles whos advice on matters would be a deciding factor in the course of Toren. Ofcourse Henk treated this position with great respect and strong dedication.

2nd in Command

For a short while, in the final weeks of the Last Era of the South East Island, Henk was appointed as second-in-command of one of the mighty armies of Toren. While this was merely a ceremonial position, he would have taken command if the first marshal was seriously wounded, captured or killed in battle.

The Flood

In the last three mooncycles of the Last Era there were coming reports in that the unthinkable was happening. The South East Continent was slowly disappearing into sea. There wasn't anything that could be done against it, so Henk saved up the gold required to leave the island per boat and set sail for Dwilight. Inagon II, son of Inagon, had already arrived on that island, but Henk was truly the first of the Elder Torenites to arrive on the continent.

His mission was to wait for a signal from Tor himself. Tor would show Henk when, where and how to help starting a new realm dedicated to Tor and the enlighted path of honour and glory. Henk would meet the others in the realm of Springdale in the north-east of the map. While finally other Torenites started to arrive, amoung them was his close friend Fisc, he was asked to lead a rebellion against King Attius. Though the rebellion, especially with Henk leading it, would have succeeded he declined with a list of arguments that he wouldn't lower himself to such a dishonourable act.

The lords were somewhat insulted by this abrupt decline and pushed Neel Arya to the front instead. Henk who didn't want to pick sides stayed neutral during the first rebellion in Springdale.

Struck By The Lightning

When he was camping in Coldspring for the night, just three days before the rebellion started. Henk and Fisc were discussing matters for a new settlement when they were struck by the lightning. This was clearly a sign of Tor. And the two men started plotting a plan. The new realm which was to be found shortly would be called 'Everguard' and the new state religion would be 'Torenism'. Both men left for the capital Springdale to recruit a great number of men to get the peasents under control. Fisc would be supporting the Take Over Unit while Henk would be focussing on scouting and navigation.

Shortly after that the number of participating nobles increased as more nobles signed up for the quest of starting a new realm called Everguard.

Mt. Black Nastrond

Henk travelled with his men in the direction of Mt. Black Nastrond. He was ahead of the other nobles, since he would scout for them. On his approach of the mountain he felt some sort of energy presence, one that he could not explain. So he reported this to the other nobles who would help creating Everguard and Henk would climb the mountain to seek for the source.

Henk ordered his men to make camp at the foot of the mountaintop while he would climb further and further alone. It was a long climb to the top, it took him a few hours to reach it. Meanwhile he felt the energy getting stronger and stronger while he approached the summit. It was there at the top of Mt. Black Nastrond where he grasped his sword Anathar and hold it in front of him ready to strike.

But he didn't strike, instead his sword began to glow and to vibrate. What was this kind of witchcraft or wizardry? Henk hadn't a single clue what or who to expect. Suddenly there was a white bright light and within that light a dark shadow ascended from the sky. Henk recognised the figure from one of the drawings he had seen ones in the library of Toren Stronghold. It was no more than the divine Tor himself!

Henk immediately lowered his sword, pinched it into the snow and kneeled before the divine spirit of the noble war heroes. He waited until the spirit spoke to him:

Greetings Henk,

I am Tor, the God of War and the master of Thunder and Lightning. I come before you to brief you on a very important task. As you are undoubtly aware that it is the task of the fellowship to find a new home for brave warriors and as soon as they have settled they will require a king to rule them. To avoid hostilities between nobles within that realm to prevent it from destruction, there shall be somebody who has to appoint the King. That person who has to choose, will be you. Hereby I grant you my special pendant, which can be worn beneath ones clothes so that it shall not be noticed by others and that it can be showed to whom he desires. Hand it to the person who is wise, cunning and eloquent, for he shall be King.

The amulet appeared in the sky and Henk stretched out both his arms to catch it. Softly the amulet dropped in his hands and for a moment Henk staired at the symbol of Tor. The entire amulet was made out of gold and diamonds. As soon as the divine Tor came he also disappeared leaving Henk behind with the amulet in his in his hands. He hung the pendant around his neck and let it slip under his clothes, so nobody would notice him wearing Tor's Medaillon.

Henk climbed down the mountain and rallied his men to move on to Valkyrja. The stronghold from where Everguard would grow.

The Lost Literature

What many Torenites didn't know was that before the island sank into the ocean that Henk descended down to the older dungeons where the ancient scrolls were kept. It was there where he ordered his servants to empty the dungeon and load all the books, pictures and scrolls on the boat which would take him to Dwilight. Thousands of years old knowledge about laying down infrastructure, going into battle, waging war, region maintenaince, ceremonies and many more.

Henk did keep it for safekeeping and let his servants store everything in his estate in Rye till Everguard was established. Then he would ordered to move the valuable information about their history.



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