Willems Family
Contents
Note: this page is not entirely up to date anymore. However efforts are made to keep it up to date.
The Family
The beginning
As long as families exist, so long does the Willems Family. Original from Dayr az Zawr, now Zawr, where they began as farmers. The peasants of the family are loyal servants of Ibladesh. They have always been loyal to Ibladesh, and they will always be. Or those who still live there, are at least loyal...
It all started centuries ago, when histories weren't written down yet. The family had many local heroes, and were powerfull among the local politicians. They well mananged the region, in days that the Ruler of Ibladesh was their leader. But when others invaded the region, they mostly fled and lived undercover. The Willems Family doesn't like to be ordered around. The like more to order, and Ibladesh gave them the possibility to do what they like to do. In return, the family offers much wealth and loyality, and even brave warriors. In the early times, the family could only offer normal soldiers, who ended up in the Family's Tomb.
The revolution
For the following story, you should know that Dayr az Zawr was a region seperated in the Zawr and the Dayr part. The Zawrians, living in the East of the region, were more civilized then the Dayr people in the West. Already since the foundation of Ibladesh, Dayr and Zawr were united under the name Dayr az Zawr. This was not what the people of Dayr and Zawr prefered, but what Ibladesh wanted. The people of Dayr az Zawr didn't mind really, in fact, as long as they could keep their fields, they were happy.
But as always, something happens in history. It was somewhere in the dark months of the winter. It was cold. There was a war with Perdan going on. Ibladesh was slightly loosing, however they had just retaken an important region. But then, without any good reason, there were strange things happening. Cows died, animals in the forest turned crazy, the grass turned purple, there were tsunami's, earthquakes, erruptions of vulcanos... The world was going crazy. And that's where the civil war of Dayr az Zawr begins. There were tensions between the Dayr and the Zawr people. They both blamed eachother for the recent happenings in the world. They went even so far, that both sides decided to fight eachother.
Both sides gathered at a dark night or day. There was no difference between day and night anymore. Simon, the then-being count of Dayr az Zawr, didn't knew of it. He had visited his family, who are from Dayr az Zawr, just a few hours before. It all happened so quickly. Both sides gathered, the Dayr side being slightly outnumbered to the Zawr side. But the Dayr side had strong pikemen, which made the Zawr cavalry virtually useless. The Zawr side charged first, after dropping some arrows on the Dayrians. Many Dayrians died, and the Zawr side killed many more. But the Dayrians fought bravely, and could resist the Zawrian charge. After some more hours of arrow shooting and bashing onto eachothers head, something very strange happened, that ended the battle.
A giant Earthquake shooked the battlefield. Almost every men fell on the ground. Both Dayrian and Zawrian side were in panic. Both sides retreated quickly to their own regions. The Earthquake kept going on for two hours. After the Earthquake, it was obvious that the gods didn't wanted a fight. So both sides decided to send diplomats for negotiation. It took 2 days, before Dayr and Zawr were seperated again. The Dayr side mainly exists out of Badlands, while the Zawr side was Rural land.
The Zawr side would stay under the command of Simon, because the Willems Family decided to stay in Zawr. The Dayr side would be very small, about 600 civilians, while the Zawr side would get the other 6000 civilians.
Both sides are living back in peace again now.
The Willems Residence
!This story is written trough the eyes of an unknown character!
It is already dark when I reach a mansion in Dayr az Zawr, called the Willems Residence. I knock on the door and a female servants welcomes me. When she asks me what brings me to this mansion, I tell her that I am travelling and looking for a place to stay for a few days. She told me that she would ask the head of the house if I could have a rest here. She returned quickly with a positive answer. Even more, the head of the house was so kind that he would give me a tour trough the house in the comming days.
So I headed to my room. My first impression of the house was nice. It is an old, Roman Styled mansion, build of stone. Stone is very rare, you should know. The frontdoor of the house is very big and massive. It is made of oak, with a golden door bell. The entrance hall has a marble floor, with on the left a big wooden stair and on the right a big, burning, hearth. It was warm in the hall, however it was huge.
Soldiers of the family
Lately, the family offers leaders, strong and fit men, warriors who are worth to say they are from the Family Willems. Who do not fear the enemy's blade, dagger or arrow. Warriors who do not mind dying for their realm. Yes, many were leaders of a unit, but not all. The first born son was named "Simon". Simon was the name of the first warrior of the family, and the meaning of Simon is: The Brave Warrior who Does not Fear. At an age of 30, when Simon was well trained by the locals, he took his horse and headed towards Ibladesh City. He arrived in this magnificant city, and was sure to join the army, or serve the realm in any possible way. He signed up, and was send to the battlefield straight away. His first contact with war was sweet, and he wanted more.
-- Not finished yet --
Simon's Life
It was Spring, when Simon signed up at the Ibladesh Recruitement Center. He was founded strong and fit, and got the command of a small unit. His first contact with war indeed was sweet, and he couldn't get enough. He was fighting all day, wasting blood of his friends. Until he got wounded himself, seriously. After that, he calmed down a bit. He was still fighting for Ibladesh, but calm, not slaughtering all he sees.
But Ibladesh wasn't doing well. Dayr az Zawr was already in the hands of the mutual enemy. And Ibladesh was getting smaller and smaller. Until one day Simon had to leave his beloved realm to join Itorunt. He had a good time in Itorunt, but the fun was already long gone.
So he decided to emmigrate, exploring other worlds. He emmigrated to South-East Island, and joined the realm of Sandalak. There he got, unexpected, the position of ruler. However that was just a short-term career. He was forced to step down, because he couldn't handle it all. After that, things got even worse. He became (one of the first) infiltrators. He was succesful, but the Judge of Sandalak, Cirion, saw a danger in him.
He ordered him to class back to normal soldier. When Simon refused, he got banned several times, but everytime there was a divine intervention that punished Cirion. However Simon had the message, and he emmigrated again. He went back to Ibladesh, because his family told him that it was safe once more. He became a hero, and is still fighting for The Church of Ibladesh.
The Ibladeshian Era.
Fighting for Ibladesh, against Perdan, Simon has find his way into the higher ranks of the realm. After becoming a hero, he was appointed count of Dayr az Zawr. Being appointed as count is not a big deal, but it is if you are the count of the regions where you grew up. And this was the goal of Simon: becoming count of Dayr az Zawr. After Simon became count, he had reached all his goals in his life. He started to think, and meditated. And then, after some hours in front of the furnace bridge, he made a decission: his next and last goal would be death. Simon does not think that death is the end of life, but just another stage. And death is not something to be feared by him, because death is honourable. And on his quest to death, that is sure, he will get wounded several times. He will suffer a lot, before he finds peace in the afterlife. And another reason why he does not fear death, is that he will be remembered. Remembered and honoured by his family, and hopefully by his friends. He can only hope that the whole world will know that he died, so all can visit him.
This all was before Simon began a dispute with the Ibladeshian Governement. You see, Perdan and Ibladesh are in a war, and Ibladesh was loosing this war rather terribly. So Simon decided to undertake some action, to make sure Ibladesh would be restored into old power. However, Sorcha's secret police found out what happened and Simon got banned. He then joined Perdan and he can't wait to have Sorcha's head.
The Perdanese Era
After that the Ibladeshian Governement has spoken a ban on Simon, he decided to look for a new home. He joined Perdan, and fought for the Perdanese Army. However, the Perdanese Era was a very hard one for him. The Generals from the Perdanese Army continuously ordered the Army to loot Zawr, which is the region where the Willems Family is located.
Simon always disobeyed these orders, and he once protested publicly against the General's action. Many people of the realm heard him, and had compassion. Since then, the looting of Zawr became a rare deed. He did everything to protect his family, even when he fight the realm to which he naturally belongs to.
Prins Simon's Career
Not long after Simon left the Willems Residence, Prins Simon was grown up. He emmidiatly decided to emmigrate, since he wouldn't like to fight side a side with his brother. He began in Eston, but made a big mistake there and got captured. The foolish Eston Ruler Zathans Bane banned him like he was was a piece of trash. (no offense, however it was like banning a complete n00b!)
But Prins Simon continued his journey through life, and he joined Falasan. Not long he had been there, or he left again to join Southasland. He had a good time in Southasland, but not for long really. He emmigrated again to the New World and joined the realm Grehk. He fought there for a long time, but unrest was rising. He joined a group of well organised rebels and seceeded with the city of Gethsemene, creating a new Grehk: Old Grehk. He had a succesfull career there, being appointed duke several times and even became Judge and General. Now, he is the duke of Vatrona.
But the 'ordinary' life of a Duke was nothing for Prins Simon. After the second invasion was over, Old Grehk ended up being very boring. And just at the moment he would have decided to quit fighting for Old Grehk, the Gods appeared to him (that's what he says). He knew that his family had also a long tradition of a religion, but kinda forgotten it. He wrote to his family emmidiatly though, and they sent him the books of the religion. Then he builded a temple of a new religion: The Church of Estahsism, which is based on The Spiritual Guide to Estahs. He now has dedicated his life to his gods, and is preaching everywhere in Old Grehk. He is reappointed as Duke too, because he couldn't endure the life without being duke from his beloved city Vatrona.
Dark Moon's Life
Beginning in Southasland, the day that Prins Simon arrived at Beluaterra (then the New World). He took up his sword but not for long. Southasland was in a sort of crisis and he was almost forced to join Ash Sea Islands. It was kinda boring there, so he quickly got emmigrated again. Dark Moon served for a while in West-Sirion, but that realm was almost dead. Again, indeed, he emmigrated. This time back to Atamara. But he joined not Southasland of Ash Sea Island, but Darka. He had a great time there, having a lot of fights and seeing much blood. However, it got boring when he was assigned to maintain the regions in the North. It was too much for him and he got emmigrated again, to Beluaterra this time. He joined the new born realm Midas Chia, and got the ruler position after Dikc was taken into custody. Of course, family curse, he stepped down again. And Midas Chia died, too. So Dark Moon joined Riombara.
After he left Midas Chia, he had enough of the fighting. However, he isn't a guy who sits on his back all day long. He wanted some more actions, some more adventure. So he became infiltrator. His training was funded by the realm of Riombara, but since they have a war with Enweil and Luz de Bia, his training stopped.
Other Characters
More comming soon!
Books of the Family
Beluaterra Travel Guide
Check the Beluaterra Travel Guide to get more detailed information of Beluaterra. The Beluaterra Travel Guide tries to give you a -human- view on the continent. It does not talk about war, but about the normal life of a farmer or a trader. What makes the book so special, is that the writer gets into some trouble from time to time.
The book is written by a member of the Willems Family, however he has no name yet.
The Spiritual Guide to Estahs
The Spiritual Guide to Estahs is a book written by an old priest of the family, who died centuries ago. His books remained undiscovered until Prins Simon and Lorgan retrieved them a few months ago. The book is a spiritual guide to reach Estahs and the river Ziksor.
