House of Ravenshadow

The house of Ravenshdow rules the Duchy of Alabaster Valley.

Current Head - Hellissa Brisby

History
The name Ravenshadow is an interesting one. The history of the name comes from a time when family names were new, when clans were beginning to become parts of kingdoms. The first Ravenshadow was a proud military man by the name of Assar. Assar made his way to military fame from the interesting way he gathered information about the enemy’s whereabouts. His raven pet shadowed him throughout any skirmish with the trolls, giving its signal whenever an enemy happened to be nearby. The eyes in the sky brought Assar many advantages, turning a simple footman into a fearsome warrior. Assar was praised, renowned! For this, the man was granted land to do with it as they saw fit. The Ravenshadows as they became known, took the Raven as a seal and made their estate high up in the Arathi mountains.

It wasn’t many generations later that mining away at some of the mountain discovered a rare and beautiful substance. Marble. The almost pure white stone, precious by nature, was a fantastic discovery. The family quickly hired fellow Arathorians to mine marble, creating the beautiful Alabaster Valley, a white quarry that appears breathtaking in the sunlight. The polished finished product was sold off as flooring for the rich, or as statues or busts for those who could afford it. The taxes the small town brought in boosted Strom’s economy as well as putting them on the map. The town was named Aschundsul (Meaning White Splendid Stone), and it grew to fuel the mining population.

The Ravenshadow family now had money to add to their noble title. They continued to buy land south of the original town in hopes of finding more valuable marble. The founding of Arotha was another marble success. Located south of the land, the new town had it’s own precious quarry. A rose colored marble, pale like its sister marble to the north, mined for its rare beauty. From there, the Ravenshadow family had become a large landowner, prosperous, and were among the highest nobles in the land. The land eventually was named a duchy, and the actions of the Ravenshadow family gave them the royal title of Duke. The contributions of the Ravenshadow family brought luxury and richness to the land, and with it, they gained power and a vote on the Strom council of nobles.

The current head of house, Hellissa, has broken tradition of a male heir leading the house. Saving the House from overspending and near bankruptcy in current day, Hellissa has returned the house to power, waiting for the moment when Strom once more is the powerful city it once was. Her desire to return Arathi and her house to greatness has proved that it was not a wrong choice to break tradition.