House Gaubert

The coat of arms of House Gaubert and their kingdom.

**House Gaubert** is the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Lauchette (Formerly: The Lauch Empire). They are known for their pride as well as their wealth, and influence.

## History

### Foundation

House Gaubriel-Berthelot was founded when Lord Climent Gaubriel and Lady Katelin Berthelot married, uniting the two largest Lauch Houses and their lands with it. Which was eventually shortened down to "Gaubert".

The original crest was just the checkered pattern on the left side (The original coat of arms of House Gaubert), with the three golden lions on the right (The family crest of the Berthelots), originally the colors were limited to yellow and white, as those were the only ones associated with Lauch people in Latora.

The House would grow in influence and power over the years, to the point where they would gain a permanent seat in the Latoran court, to represent the Lauch population.

### The Latoran Civil War

During the Latoran era, many supported the idea of a reformation, in hopes of achieving equality between Egrilians and Lauchmen. On the other hand, manyinfluencial nobles turned to revisionism and hoped to reintroduce absolute Egrilian control the Latoran isle. The most powerful revisionist being Huebert Von Wickten, the younger brother of the king.

Times only hardened when an epidemic broke out in the capital claiming the lives of most members from the Von Wickten dynasty, as well as over half of the Egrilian population of its city. Huebert succeeded to the throne as he was away from the island at that time.

The new king was quick to deem the disease a curse, and put the blame on the Lauch people, declaring war. Most people turned to Lord Jehan of Houst Gaubert for protection. The lord, however chose to ignore the threats as he wouldn't believe they were valid. Only after Huebert and his private army, "The Sons of Old Egrilia" burned down three of the seven major Lauch populated towns would House Gaubert officially wage war against the king.

The battles were swift and the king was defeated, as more people rose up against the king's genocide than it was expected, outnumbering them three to one. After it was over, people called the encrownment of Jehan, who accepted, marrying the eldest Von Wickten heir, in hopes of preventing Egrilian unrest, adding the Von Wickten crest  (a golden castle on a blue field) to the coat of arms and renaming the island nation to "The Kingdom of Lauchette",

### Contact with The Hale Empire

While the Latorans knew about the existence of other islands and civilizations, it was widely believed that they are inferior and should be left alone, as it would upset their gods otherwise. After a religious reform, andophists were now encouraged to travel and convert others. While it wasn't very succesful on The Hales, what it resulted in Latorans carrying over their diseases to which they weren't resistant to, resulting in an epidemic in the southern end of the island.

The grandchief of The Hale Empire requested their aid, as the Lauch epidemiology was more advanced, in exchange of the southern caves that now laid near abandoned, as most tribesmen have fled north in fear of catching the disease. King Jacob happily accepted the offer, as while The Hales offered many rich caves, Latora had few mountains.

As the mines were full of ores that the Latoran isle was in dire need for, immigrating became a mad race for wealth and power. While the population of Pierre Harbor was growing rapidly, the Gauberts were permitted from owning land on it themselves. This law was set up to fuel an old Gaubert idea to decrease the influence and power of other Latoran noble houses, in favor of their own.

### Contact with The Empire of Winterlands

After The Hales was fully mapped, it didn't take long for the Lauch explorers to sail north of The Hale Empire, to be met with the icy shores of The Winterlands. The Gauberts were surprisingly fond of House Winters' strict, yet loyal governance, leading them to try to make an alliance multiple times, however the Lauch diplomats were unable to break the Winterlander isolationist traditions.

The White War pushed the two nations further apart, but even with the extinction of House Winters, House Gaubert is still trying to form an alliance. Some even theorize that their true aim is a personal union.

### The Gaubert-Mornebert Crysis

After The Great Divide and the fall of the Lauch Empire, many Gauberts were unhappy about Simmonet's decision to sign a peace treaty early, and thought that Lauchette couldha ve still won. An assassin was hired to kill the emperor, however the attempt was a failure, as the reuslt Simmonet lost trust in many of the family branches, denounce the rights of those he thought to be traitorous. As a response, the now titleless lords elected a new emperor of their own and founded House Mornebert.

The Morneberts and their supporters easily outnumbered the loyalists, easily ceasing the capital from the old emperor, however the war was cut short when The Hale Alliance agreed to aid Simmonet back to the throne. The lords of House Mornebert were executed and Lauchette once again returned under Gaubert rule.

## Present

In exchange for their help, the length of the treaty was extended from the original ten years to forty, it also prevented any Lauch lord or Gaubert to enter The Hales (excluding Ostar). The expiration date of this very treaty marks the starting point of the beta.

The first contact after the expiration, was a group of merchant-lards, accompanied by a Gaubert diplomat-in-training, Cecile; who demanded reparations for their trade fleets that a pirates raided, not far from Aedwin's shores. The aedwinians complied to their demands.

Cecile, now the official diplomat of the Aedwinian-Lauch relations only returned for the second time after the death of King Marick Haberford, who was infamous for his anti-lauch policies and still held a grudge against them for their deeds during the imperial era and The Great Divide. Although she was sent to discuss the political relation between the two nations, she has receieved a letter from the Lauch court, requesting her to stay on The Hales.

She has stated that the reason behind it and the plans of Lauchette are unknown to her, and only the Lauch council knows what's next to come.

## Unique traits and traditions

Gauberts are known to often be arrogant, as they follow the old Egrilian philosophers' theory, which states that you cannot defeat something you fear. They are also much more likely to use fear tactics and psychological warfare than actually engaging in battle.

Despite their history of sacrificing lives and massacring innocents in wars, Gauberts actually rarely order an execution, they are more likely to torture or mutilate the victim before letting them go.

Gaubert children are taught that nothing is more honorable than dying for their kingdom from the age of two.

Gauberts have a history of assimilating other Lauch dynasties, this makes them the most spread out and diverse known dynasty, for this reason the sense of family is very weak and competition is much more common among siblings and cousins than cooperation.

It's common for Gauberts to simply use their children as regular workers.