Bannhurst

**Location**
 **Affiliation**
 **Status**

**Bannhurst** was a Gilnean city in the northwestern regions of the Headlands that was destroyed several years after the end of the Second War by a group of bandits by the name of the Seventh Skull Legion. Bannhurst and the surrounding lands were once under the rule of the House of Cobalstant, but the lands were later given to House Grayblade following the murder of the Cobalstant family.

## History

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During Strom's colonization of the peninsula known as Gilneas, two families by the names of Cobal and Stanton had established themselves and their followers in the northern most regions of the Headlands, the Cobals establishing Cobal's Hold and the Stantons establishing Karnsburg. Rivalry for land and power in the area caused a vicious blood feud to break out amongst the two families that waged on for generations. After the near destruction of both family's holds, a fragile truce was made by the marriage of a Cobal son and a Stanton daughter. With Cobal's Hold and Karnsburg left in a poor state, the two united families combined what remained of their people and wealth and established a town within the Blood Fields, which gained its name from being the main site of battle between the two families and the driving reason why many dared not risk venturing past what would later become the Range.

The city of Bannhurst was established on the Blood Fields in -20 A.C. and experienced a very lucky start. Shortly after colonization of the area, a large gold mine filled with rich precious minerals was discovered. The discovery of the mine revived the coffers of both families and caused Bannhurst to prosper. The discovery of the mine and the rich natural resources of the Headlands also attracted a large amount of attention, drawing in many families to settle in the Headlands as well, establishing towns such as Keel Harbor, Brandon's Stead, and Rosefield.

Bannhurst continued to prosper under the Cobals and Stantons as the Headlands became the center of commerce in the area. The area's population boomed as a result of the incoming amount of wealth to the area, leading to a rapid growth and expansion of Bannhurst's borders. Unfortunately, the rapid growth of Bannhurst also caused a strain on the two families as tensions rose over control of Bannhurst, each family trying to establish themselves as the head family.

When the call went out across Gilneas for succession from Arathor, the families' truce was starting to wane, as old hatreds for who should have the most power over the bustling Bannhurst began to grow. In order to stave off this inevitable war, the families united under one name, Cobalstant. This was done in order to brand those that went to war with one another as kin-slayer, a great dishonor in their society that would forever destroy the repute of those with its brand. A risky gambit that succeeded would lead the Cobalstants to the forefront of Gilnean nobility as one of the largest families in Gilneas, establishing Cobalstant Manor in the town of Bannhurst. As a sign of their prestige, the Cobalstants all carried black Hearthstones with brown runes, made by their kinsmen.

### Seat of a Kingdom

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Just before 300 A.C., the reigning lord of the House of Cobalstant and Duke of the Headlands, Beauforth Cobalstant II, had noticed a considerable lack of interest in the management of the Headlands region by the House of Greymane. Seizing the opportunity, Beauforth began to amass a large standing army within the region. After word had reached King Greymane of the alarming amount of armed men, Beauforth merely put it off as being a precautionary measure against roaming hordes of bandits that had sprung up due to a lack of centralized guard forces; yet even then the king remained suspicious as the amount of men rallied was far more than what would be necessary to quell bandit problems. On the eve of 300 A.C., Beauforth declared himself King of the Headlands, invading the Northern Headlands and occupying lands that belonged to various families such as the House of Grayblade and a few others. Behind him were the local families of the House of Greyfield and House of Gregor, the two most prominent families in the region. With the exception of the House of Blackmist and the various natives that still made their home amongst the Dark Woods, the Headlands were united under the Cobalstant banner with the promises of power, wealth, and prosperity. Conquering the Northern Headlands quite easily, the new born kingdom caused a rift in Gilneas for years as they attempted to take more and more land as they stretched towards the northern Silverpine border, at one point even absorbing the region that would later become Pyrewood Village under it's grasp.

Refusing to allow an upstart to destroy what his ancestors had created, King Greymane rallied an army of faithful with him to begin liberating and laying siege to the Headlands. Initial battles were disastrous for the Greymane host, as the choke point of the river that separated the Headlands from the rest of Gilneas was heavily defended, and the Northern Headlands still hosted a large portion of the military amongst the various settlements that dotted the region. After several years of war, it appeared that the Headlands would become a separate kingdom on their own right, as Greymane was unable to dislodge them or capture their leadership. It was not until Greymane received contact from the ruling lord of House Gregor that the King had a shot at dismantling this new threat. Displeased with the war mongering of King Cobalstant and the lack to make good on his promises made of prosperity (in truth, the Headlands had suffered as the farms were left unattended due to the sheer amount of levies that were raised for the King's armies.) and the King's refusal to marry his youngest son to one of the Gregor's daughters, Lord Gregor approached King Greymane with a proposition. By the graveyard of Aderic's Repose, which was treated by both sides as neutral ground, the Gregors proposed a passageway that led from Gilneas City to the Range. Disguised as Gregor men returning from the front, King Greymane would have been given permission to rampage across the Headlands under the rule that those in Lord Gregor's protection would remain untouched.

The deal was made and Greymane's host was unleashed onto the Headlands. Rather than pillage or ransack the area, Greymane occupied the city of Bannhurst and captured King Cobalstant in his own home. Bringing him to Gilneas City to answer for his crimes of treason, the King was executed and the kingdom disbanded 10 years after its forming. Though his son was allowed to succeed him as Lord of the house, as punishment the House of Cobalstant's previous title as lords of the Duchy of the Headlands was dismissed, breaking the Headlands into the March of the Bite, and the Range and Reach as separate counties outside of the Cobalstant's jurisdiction. Granted the title of Marcher Lord to prevent any potential uprisings as a result of this split, the Cobalstant family suffered an enormous blow to their prestige.

### War in the Headlands

Following the establishment of the Kingdom of Gilneas, the area of the Headlands experienced a mix of religions. The Bite was full of strong worshipers of the Holy Light, while the northern portion of the Range and the Reach, which were mostly agrarian, were strong supporters of the Old Ways and refused to worship the light. To add further religious confusion, worship of the god Deus was adopted the southern portions of the Range and the Reach. With Bannhurst caught in the center, religious tension broke out within the area. As the strongest family in the area, the Cobalstants believed that Bannhurst should be kept to Light worship, seeking to oust Old Ways worship and especially worship of the god Deus who they believed an extreme affront to their ways and a foreign god with no right to the region.

Chapels to the Light were established in the areas of Cobal's Hold and Karnsburg, and a small cathedral was to be built in Bannhurst. Using stealth tactics and foreign mercenaries, the Cobalstants focused destruction on the towns of Keel Harbor and Brandon's Stead in order to cut down on Deus worship. By 600 A.C., the Headlands' dominant religion was becoming Light worship due to the under handed methods of the Cobalstants and their ruthless behavior towards all who opposed their religion.

In retaliation, an alliance was formed between the two towns by the name of the Headlands Coalition, and rather than pushing for stealthy methods, a direct siege on Bannhurst was preformed in order to severely hurt the Cobalstant's wealth. The assault attracted a large amount of attention to the Headlands by the rest of Gilneas, with other houses silently supporting the Deus worshipers with hopes of displacing the wealthy Cobalstants and establishing some hold in the area for their own gain.

Fearing for their people, who were being caught in the middle of it all, the towns of Rosefield and Gregor's Crossing banded together in an alliance of their own named the Rose Pact, laying siege to Bannhurst in order to displace both the Cobalstants and the Headlands Coalition. The three way war in the city led to a severe decline of Bannhurst's prosperity, with the Cathedral's construction site destroyed and the great gold mine of Bannhurst being left unmanned. Unable to reap the benefits of the Headlands, the armies of Greymane marched into the region, occupying the wreckage of Bannhurst and effectively ending the war. By the end of the strife, Keel Harbor and Brandon's Stead were left in ruins.

The Cobalstants funded the rebuilding of these two towns, establishing chapels of the Light, while the followers of the Old Ways in Rosefield had remained firm in their settlements, even as the Holy Light began to spread. However, in Gregor's Crossing, fearing for their safety, a large amount of the followers of the Old Ways departed from the region. Led by a knightly house under the House of Gregor by the name of House Darkwater, the Old Ways followers departed into the Dusk Thicket. In the aftermath, a faction known as the Wickers were formed by the ousted Old Ways followers. Tracing their bloodlines back to the original pagan peoples of the Headlands, the Wickers refused to acknowledge any of the lords of the land and retreated into the various forests of the Headlands. The only exceptions to this were House Darkoak, House Darkwater, and House Blackmist who all retained their autonomy while recognizing the reigning nobility.

### Marsh's Rebellion

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For centuries after the destruction of Brandon's Stead and its rebuilding, the lords of the town, House Greyfield, plotted against the Cobalstants. With the Headlands Coalition's failure echoing in their history for hundreds of years and the family having been degraded down to the lowest rung of the noble chain, the Greyfields hired Alteraci assassins to destroy House Cobalstant around 943 A.C.. For the most part, it was successful, being a large house and its members spread wide, Cobalstants began turning up dead for months following the contract given. Fearing for their lives, most of the Cobalstants attempted to flee to Bannhurst to Cobalstant Manor, where Lord Hendrick Cobalstant ruled over the town.

Unable to house the influx of his relatives, Hendrick sent them away from Bannhurst, giving them refuge on small holds and minor farms, the majority of them setting up in Cobal's Hold and Karnsburg, which both housed a keep and manse respectively, both that had been relatively unoccupied for quite some time. However, before restoration could be completed, most of the Cobalstants were slain in their sleep aside from one, Jackson Cobalstant. Jackson was hunted down by the mercenaries and captured. Promising the men wealth beyond their reason if they aided him, the Alteraci mercenaries discarded their Greyfield banners and went under Jackson's employ. Feigning his demise, Jackson took on the persona of Harrison Marsh, who wooed and married Elisa of the Greyfields of Brandon's Stead. The mercenaries then assassinated the entire Greyfield family, bringing the town under Marsh's command.

Infuriated with his kin for having turned his family away and in his eyes leading to their deaths, Jackson led his band into Bannhurst under the guise of marauding bandits of unknown origin. After sacking half of the town, Jackson and Hendrick faced off in single combat, where Marsh was beheaded and House Greyfield was made nearly defunct with the murder of Elisa. Jackson's son, Kendrick Greyfield (given his mother's surname to hide Harrison's true origins), was adopted by the Cobalstants and later groomed to be their puppet as the effectively gained control over yet another town in the Headlands.

During this time, a large amount of Cobalstant Hearthstones were destroyed, and the secrets of how to make them were lost to time, becoming an extremely rare object and the sign of a true Cobalstant.

### Demise of House Cobalstant

Following Marsh's Rebellion, Bannhurst was left mostly untouched, the constant wars in the area having prevented it from becoming a true city of Gilneas once again, the poor management of the town under House Cobalstant stunted its growth further. From the years of the Rebellion onward, House Cobalstant's care for its towns waned and by the time of the First War, Bannhurst was a husk of the city it was once in history.

By the time the Second War began near 1120 A.C., the Cobalstants had all but left the area to rot, having imposed overly high taxes and demands of the people that left most families starving. Led by Galen Hallowfield, the citizens of Bannhurst stormed Cobalstant Manor in a rage, slaughtering the lord Balferd Cobalstant and his family. With no Cobalstants remaining, House Grayblade, a North Headlands family that had been without land for quite sometime, was placed as the head of Bannhurst and given control of Cobal's Hold and Karnsburg as well as their minor holds.

Lord Haverin Grayblade had been a loyal servant of the crown, as had the rest of his family, for generations, and his economic and political savy ways secured crucial contracts for Bannhurst and its holdings. Focusing Cobal's Hold as the mining production town of the area, and Karnsburg as the agrarian center, the two stayed out of competition with each other, allowing both towns to flourish, while Bannhurst resumed its position as commerce capital of the Headlands, having been industrialized to maintain a large holding of factories. The town was brought to the forefront by clever workings of contracts with specialists in the area, such as contracting the people of Rosefield to work in Karnsburg with their agrarian and druidic knowledge, while the hearty people of Brandon's Stead were contracted to work the plentiful mines near Cobal's Hold.

Following Bannhurst's example, Gregor's Crossing industrialized and formed a trade coalition with Bannhurst. Bannhurst would design and create the means for various machinations and Gregor's Crossing would finalize and improve on the designs then export them en mass with split profits going to each town. The coalition provided various sorts of crop harvesters to the rebuilding nation of Stormwind, while also improving on various gun designs.

Under Lord Grayblade, Bannhurst was revitalized in a short amount of years, and Cobalstant Manor was renamed to Grayblade Manor in their honor. As a gift, Galen Hallowfield gave the Lord Grayblade the last remaining Cobalstant Hearthstone, the signet of the ruler of Bannhurst, as a show of good faith from the people to their new leader.

### Arrival of the Seventh Skull

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Following the end of the Second War and the closing off of Gilneas from the rest of Azeroth, a group of Lordaeronian deserters turned bandits became trapped behind the wall. Originally just harassing small towns such as Emberstone Village, the Seventh Skull sought to grip Gilneas' economy under its fist. Laying siege to several towns across the Headlands, such as Rosefield and Keel Harbor, the Seventh Skull gripped the southern Headlands economy. Seeking to gain full control over the Headlands, the Skull's leader, Sven Lanyda, sent out missives to the Lord Grayblade, telling him to forfeit half of Bannhurst's profits to the Skull as tribute. Denying the man out right, Sven's men infiltrated Grayblade Manor later on in the evening.

In a vicious battle between Lord Haverin and Lady Erleia against their assassins, the Grayblades were slain, having been wounded severely and the manor set ablaze before the family hound took down the final assassin. Through a stroke of luck, the Grayblade children, Berenal Grayblade and Ereden Grayblade had snuck out of the house moments before the assassins arrived. They were whisked away to safety by a family friend by the name of James Lanworth.

The blazing manor acted as a signal as the Seventh Skull ravaged the town, sacking it and slaughtering thousands. Rallying the people of Bannhurst together in the town square James sent the children of Bannhurst away by carriage to Keel Harbor. Unfortunately, several carriages were destroyed and the children within butchered. Rather than submitting to the Skull as they planned, the people of Bannhurst took up arms against the marauders, leading to a bloodbath that would eventually kill both forces completely. Of the thousands that lived in Bannhurst, the only survivors were the adults that drove the carriages to Keel Harbor, led by the town's Runemaster Elderic.

In the aftermath of the attack, Bannhurst was left completely ruined and the Headlands in disarray. Cobal's Hold was given to House Darkoak of Rosefield, and Karnsburg to House Cloverfield, only for the Cloverfields to eventually die of mysterious circumstances, and Karnsburg to go under the Darkoak's lordship. For years after Bannhurst's destruction, noone dared to attempt rebuilding the town, allowing it to wear away down to little more than a ruined husk, and the unity of the Headlands wore away over the years. In the years that followed, House Gregor of Gregor's Crossing and House Greyfield of Brandon's Stead to become extremely wary of the Darkoaks, following the sudden destruction of House Cloverfield and House Grayblade.

### Death of the Darkoaks and the Worgen

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While on a visit to Gilneas City to visit his son and sole heir, Galin Darkoak, Lord Balaforth Darkoak was slain, alongside his son, by Berenal Grayblade, the heir to Bannhurst and true heir to Cobal's Hold and Karnsburg. The man was arrested, though was later released on the grounds that he was framed. With no other heirs to the land, Cobal's Hold, Karnsburg, and the Ruins of Bannhurst once again found themselves under the name of House Grayblade, though it was short lived.

While the young Lord Berenal Grayblade sought out a military life and left minor lords to run the towns in his stead, the Worgen curse swept across Gilneas in the years to come. While the Headlands were mostly unaffected, Bannhurst became the site of hunting parties, seeking out the wolfmen in the ruins. After a large pack of Worgen were found in the ruins, and Gilneas City had been lost, the people of the Headlands destroyed the bridge connecting the Headlands to the rest of Gilneas.

### Arrival of the Horde

The final blow to the Headlands was struck by the hands of the Orcish Horde that had arrived near the end of the first invason of Gilneas. During this time, Rosefield, Cobal's Hold, Karnsburg, and Brandon's Stead were destroyed by the Horde. The people of Gregor's Crossing held fast against the Orcish Horde, and provided an evacuation route for the families fleeing from the Headlands. The town was later abandoned when the evacuation was nearing its end. During this time, the ruins of Bannhurst along with most of the Headlands were the site of battle between the Gilneans and their Night elven allies, and the Orcish Horde that was invading.

By the end of the siege, the Greyfield family was neary wiped out, having been butchered when Brandon's Stead was ransacked. The people of House Gregor and the Lady of House Greyfield followed Lord Berenal Grayblade and lent their men to the banner of The Blades of Greymane. Gregor's Crossing now operates as a militant base in the Headlands, having sustained minimal damage during the assault.

### Currently

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Bannhurst is currently under reconstruction alongside Wolfstone Castle, which shall serve as the proper seat for House Grayblade. The city's damage was severe enough that it shall not be complete for some time, unlike the rest of the Headlands, but some of the city has already been restored. As such, it currently serves as little more than a small trading post town until construction is completed.

## Culture

The people of Bannhurst and the Headlands shared a unique culture with Gilneas, having a blend of various beliefs from their origins as well as keeping strongly to the old ways and the light. Bannhurst maintained a Runemaster at all times who would serve as an adviser and guide the Lord of the town, the last one being Elderic, who served as Berenal Grayblade's mentor and advised both the Cobalstants and Grayblades.

In its early days, the people of Bannhurst were known for creating Hearthstones, magical runed stones that could return its user to the area it was bound. The hearthstones of Bannhurst were known for being black with brown runes, and they were traditionally created by the town's Runemaster and his students. However, the secrets of creating these hearthstones were lost to time during Jackson's Rebellion, as Bannhurst's Runemaster was slain defending the town, as were most of his students.

The people of Bannhurst had a fervent belief in the light, something carried from their Cobalstant leaders. Practice of the Old Ways was common as well in the city, though less so during its industrialization, when most practitioners preferred the serene environment of Rosefield over the hustle and bustle of Bannhurst, leading in a mass migration of them to the area when the industrialization of the town was at its prime.

The people of Bannhurst were often described as being hearty folk with paled skin and black or brown hair. Blonde hair was rare in the town, while red hair was uncommon but present.