House Hrafn

House Hrafn is a noble house of the Simulami Empire with its primary lands consisting of Stormgova, Carthus, and various other towns spread across the Eldham colonies of Simulami. At its conception, all members followed the now dead religion of Stormgovan guardian. After a long period of dormancy, the house eventually returned when Ornn Ludwig proclaimed his ambition to bring the house back and changed his name to Hrafn.

## History

### Conception

House Hrafn was created thousands of years ago, and is believed to be the direct evolution to the ancient house Svarkor with the legendary figure of tales, Schmäggerd von Skarvor as its founder and the Patriak who first lead Stormgovans to the island.

The Svarkors were initially the royal house of Stormgova, which would occasionally fade in and out of relevance due to their attitude of "Things are going well, let's step down and isolate ourselves." and returning only to save Stormgova several years later. This particular pattern seemed to happen many times in Stormgovan history.

House Svarkor is very consistent due to the respect they gain from being the descendants of äggerd and they all understand that they must act in the best interest of Stormgova.

### Famine and Chaos

After a long time of general wellbeing and growth within Stormgova, House Hrafns held the crown of Stormgova and thus reigned without competition, the island was met with a severe and intense famine that destroyed approximately 70% of the island's population. During this famine, the Härskare at the time, Olaf Hrafn died which led to a 25 year long period of chaos, wars and anarchy sweeping through Stormgova.

During these trying times, the leftover Hrafns would isolated themselves to the jungles and mountains of the Notusa region, where some would fight as mercenaries and others would live as scavengers. When the island was reunited under Härskare Halvard, the Hrafns became the Streysman family of the Hüvod region, partly due to their reputation remaining strong throughout the famine.

### Stormgovan Collapse

Leif Hrafn II was the Streysman of Hüvod during the Stormgovan collapse. He fought alongside Schmäggerd, whom returned upon hearing of the dire state his island was in. Whilst Schmäggerd lived, Leif II sadly passed away during the battle of Stormgova which was a major victory for Schmaggerd's army and brought peace back to the island.

After the conflicts, Hrafn was met with a period of stagnation with only Birgir Hrafn, Lief's son, carrying the name. Birgir was a weak person and preferred the life of a nomad over the life of a ruler. Stories tell of Birgir passing through the villages of the Vetr wasteland on a horse and the people of the villages being shocked that he was descended from the Hrafn family as he did not look like a mighty figure. Yet he acted mighty, he would give gifts to the citizens and act as a messenger between towns. Everyone within Stormgova grew to respect him.

There, Birgir met a woman by the name of Ximena, whom gave birth to their son Seal Hrafn. Due to his unwillingness to rule, Birgir settled down as a blacksmith. He would continue this life until his death at the hands of some great storms that hit Stormgova.

### After the storm

Surviving the storms, Seal Hrafn, his only son and last remaining Hrafn, roamed around the island and met a woman with the name of Onix Khione who he promptly married and had a child with. This child, Ornn Hrafn, would later travel around all of Eldham alongside Schmäggerd to learn about the world.

Seal, with Stormgova now under Simulami control, grew to become the Eldham regent for the colonies, being one of the moist impactful and most loved regents in the history of the colonies. Him and Onix built the city of Seal\_Cove and it became one of the two capitals in the empire, growing almost exponentially.

### Ornn's return to Stormgova

Ornn Hrafn returned to his homeland. When he arrived back to Stormgova, he met a woman with the name of Lady Notusa, of a once mighty noble house, whom gave birth to three biological children, Janet Hrafn, Jay Hrafn and Birgir II Hrafn.

However, Lady Notusa would die instantly after their birth and Ornn was now a father with 3 children. He thought long and hard about what to do with them and came to the conclusion that the 3 would be sent to Rathnir to study in the University of Müviel-Osundir and to one day return with even greater knowledge.

Ornn would take over a town from one of his relatives, Green Lion II, who was famously an architect. He looked through his plans and came across a blueprint for a castle in the very centre of Stormgova, which he followed and with a team of experienced builders, Ornn would build Hrafn Castle.

One day, seal mysteriously disappeared. Rumours say he decided to follow into his fathers footsteps and become a nomad, whilst others say Seal simply died without his body ever being recovered. There are also more sinister rumours as to him following the Solea god, Caligo, and becoming one with him.

However, a few years after the disappearance of Seal and Onix, Ornn would be adopted into House Ludwig. Perhaps out of grief or loneliness, House Hrafn was now declared dead with Ornn's ascension into Ludwig. It is there that Ornn learned to be a proper noble as he was surrounded by the most Elite members of the Simulami Empire. It is also there that Ornn would adopt two 3 children; Melody, Abyss and Otto. The first of which disappearing shortly before adopting Abyss.

### The Legacy of the Rose

Whilst Stormgova grew under Ludwig rule, it was not without its faults. Under Ludwig's reign, the old Stormgovan Guardian temple was destroyed by the hands of Victoria Maestro, Ornn Ludwig and Abyss Ludwig, alongside various other Soleviel believers. This became known as the "Fire Festival" where the last Guardian follower, Ali was executed in front of the temple.

Janet and Jay returned back to Stormgova and began re-building their mother's old castle in the south in the ancient city of Veruta.

Alongside this, Birgir II would, shortly after his sibling Janet and Jay Ludwig reunited with their father, visit his father and raid various towns of Stormgova. Birgir would speak against the Ludwigs, Soleviel, and his father being an important figure to Stormgovans, however losing a lot of his credibility after killing several Munio residents and attempting to murder Otto's son, Fwyn Ludwig until being thrown out of a window by Abyss and disappearing for a few years. Most famously, Birgir would massacre and publicly execute people during a Soleviel ceremony at Pissevirke in the name of the Stormgovan Guardian. After this tragedy, Abyss Ludwig would hunt down Birgir II, disappearing like their lost half-sibling Melody did.

After the death of Robb Ludwig and Maximelian Ludwig, head of the family at the time, and after Abyss's return to Stormgova without Birgir II's head, Ornn and most of his children would bring back the dead House Hrafn in an attempt to become closer to their ancestor's spirit.

### The Return of Hrafn

After the death of Robb and Maximelian, Ornn and his children felt disconnected from House Ludwig and recreated House Hrafn.

With a newly rediscovered history and culture, House Hrafn was very centred around Strormgova. Due to this, Members of House Hrafn living in Carthus chose not to join it straight away and remained Ludwig for a few extra years.

These years of tension were not very peaceful, House Hrafn barely avoided war with House Ludwig over who controls the Barony of Carthus. In the end, Otto Hrafn and his children returned to the House of the Seas.

Hrafn would grow, more children would be born and Abyss would end up marrying a noble within a neighbouring nation: Stabbr Silvertouge. This lead to them having a child, Felöks Zeno Hrafn, who would be the new light of Stormgova.

### The War of Ice

Birgir Hrafn would end up Returning to Stormgova after several years away. He was happy with the progress of the nation as people stopped worshipping Soleviel and were free of Ludwig rule, but after an argument with Ornn he demanded the Stormgovan throne.

Birgir got control of the island of Vetrmin and soon, he would launch an invasion on the cultural capital of Samhälle.

##### The Battle of Samhälle

Troops supporting Ornn from all over the Empire rallied in the town square of Samhälle.

Ornn, fearing for his own safety escaped back home and let Abyss handle the battle.

Birgir's troops prepared ships on the cost of Vetrmin and started sailing to the south.

They did not want a costal battle as it would be more predictable, so they travelled on land.

Birgir's army was spotted by Leopold C. Ludwig in the East, and they were outnumbered by Ornn's loyalists.

Due to Abyss' tactics, Birgir's army was separated. Many were killed and some escaped.

##### The Battle of Vetrmin

As Birgir's troops reorganised on the island of Vetrmin, suspecting an invasion they prepared a fort on the island with only one entrance.

Ornn's army arrived a day after the battle of Samhällein the morning. Many of them left due to it seeming like an easy battle at first.

A large number of Ornn's forces land in southern Vetrmin but are unable to break through the wall.

Birgir sends small groups of experienced soldiers out into the North of the island to catch Ornn's army off guard and split them up.

A small group of Ornn's army went inside the town after a section of the wall was left unprotected but they were quickly surrounded by Birgir's raider groups and surrendered or got killed.

Ornn's army retreat from Vetrmin and attempt peace negotiations.

##### The Battle of Vellodel Bridge

Birgir refuses peace and launches an offensive on Fort Vellodel in the South of Stormgova.

Spies leak this information to Ornn and a large army assembles to protect the Fort.

Birgir's army arrives in Veruta, a town supporting him on the mainland after the Vetrmin victory.

As the Army march on Vellodel, there is only one small bridge connecting it to the mainland, which is heavily fortified by bowmen.

Despite the rain of arrows, Birgir's army separates, shields and waits for the Storm to calm.

While Birgir is outnumbered, The defenders begin to retreat into the inner fort and by using brute force, Birgir forces his army onto the island itself.

After catching several stragglers, with many people escaping through under ground tunnels the fort is drained and the defenders surrender.

Birgir captures Fort Vellodel, the largest victory in the war.

##### The Battle of Castle Hrafn

As Birgir controls much of southern Stormgova, his army marches north and occupies southern NewJellhem. His final march was destined to be on the residence of his father and therefore, Birgir's army decides to siege The Castle.

Birgir's army are small as many decided to leave and go home, knowing that a march on the capital would be almost impossible.

Due to their lack of numbers, Birgir's army is unable to make it up the stairs to the castle and scatter throughout the capital, raiding many buildings in it.

Birgir himself decides to climb up the back of the mountain and enter the castle through a window in Fwyn Hrafn's bedroom, where he once got knocked out of by Abyss. He attempts to make it into the throne room but is captured and put in prison along with many other Birgir supporters found around New Jellhem.

### Post Ice War Period

As soon as the Ice War ended, The voices within Ornn's head started getting louder and louder. They were always there, but Ornn was fortunately able to ignore it. The voices grew in power and they lured Ornn to Muviel where he visited an old excavation site.

It turned out that the voices were in fact controlled by Ni'Us and they wanted to take control of him. Ornn had grown weak, he was 60 years old after all, but he was not ready to die just yet. So Ni'Us gave him an offer: His freedom for Immortality.

The next morning, Ornn was back in NewJellhem right before the Trials of Birgir. Abyss found him guilty and he was to be executed later.

"No."

Ornn jumped down from the balcony above the Court room and sliced of Birgirs head in a single swing. The voices are starting to get more powerful and could now fully take over Ornn's body for short periods of time. He didn't know what happened, and he was shocked that he killed his own son. But he was immortal, so does it really matter what he did?