House Laurent

**Head of House**
 **Heir**
 **Seat**
 **Lands**
 **Overlords**
 **Vassals**
* House Montelius
* House Peronell
 **Founder**

**House Laurent** is a Stormwindian noble house that rules over the Duchy of Alcestenne on Balor Isle. Sir Trant Laurent is the current head of the house, and his brother Bohemond Laurent currently serves as the heir-presumptive.

With a legacy stretching back to the struggle for Stormwindian independence, House Laurent proudly serves as a marine, military and clerical institution on the isle of Balor, faithfully dedicating the lives of themselves and their vassals to service in the Grand Alliance.

## History

### Founding

House Laurent was officially founded centuries ago in 0 K.Y. when House Wrynn elevated Adelard Laurent to nobility at the advent of the founding of the House of Nobles of the Kingdom of Stormwind, following the Laurent family's faithful service in the armed struggle against the armies of Arathor as the people of Stormwind fought for their independence.

Their original territory was a small barony on the northern shore of Balor Isle, known as Alcestenne, which was surrounded by greater and more powerful neighbors, other families from Balor given land from now-displaced loyalist aristocrats of the Arathorian Empire.

Eventually, under the reign of Logan Wrynn II, Balor was fully conquered integrated into the Kingdom of Stormwind, and the borders of Alcestenne grew as reward for their loyalty.

### Before the Dark Portal

In the time between the foundation of the independent Kingdom of Stormwind and the opening of the Dark Portal that ravaged it, many civil and minor conflicts raged across Stormwind, and political upheaval typical of fresh polities was not uncommon. While Balor was spared much of it by virtue of being off the coast rather than being on the mainland, there were struggles on the isle as well, mostly of a political nature, with the various houses of Balor forming complex chains of alliances and marriages as they all worked to undermine one another.

As it happened, it would be the House of Laurent that found victory in some of these struggles, achieving marriages with their neighbors who were soon thereafter ravaged by enemies not shared, with so many of their neighbors lineages decimated, House Laurent would pick up the slack, funding the revitalization of their ravaged lands, and then, annexing them outright with claims established through marriage.

This status quo would remain as the realm consolidated and calmed in the years leading up to the First War, House Laurent made the Duchy of Alcestenne into a prosperous realm in the north of Balor.

### First War

House Laurent was decimated by the horrors of the First War, with Ignace Laurent, the head of the house at the time, giving his life in the defense of Alcestenne during a Blackrock assault on Auritoise Keep. In the resulting battle, the Orcs ravaged the isle, including Alcestenne, sending the members of House Laurent scattering, with most remaining on the isle or in the Kingdom at large in order to resist the occupation by the Orcish Horde, which would only further thin their numbers.

Following the restitution of the Kingdom of Stormwind by the Alliance of Lordaeron, House Laurent was left to pick up the pieces as much of the effort of recuperating was focused on the mainland territories of Stormwind, and with the young Trant Laurent serving as the head of the House.

### Present Day

In the modern day, House Laurent still rules Alcestenne, finally crawling out of the depths of poverty they fell into following the sack of their holdings by the Orcish Horde, and with their lands finally knowing prosperity once more, Sir Trant Laurent still reigning as the Duke of Alcestenne.

In the modern day, the Duchy of Alcestenne is known for the Knights of Balor, an order of Paladinic knights comprised entirely of Balor natives, that is a force of militarism and conservatism in the Kingdom of Stormwind, even taking an active role in politics where they can.

## Notable Members

### Trant Laurent

Sir Trant Laurent is the current head of House Laurent, a long-time knight and Paladin of Stormwind.

### Bohemond Laurent

Bohemond is the current heir-presumptive to House Laurent, a fellow knight, known for being a man of many vices with a taste for opulence, Bohemond is perhaps renowned for his *corruption,* in stark contrast to his older brother's stern and militaristic nature.

## Lands and Vassals

### Alcestenne

House Laurent claims ownership of the Duchy of Alcestenne, a territory on the north of Balor with various smaller islands under their control as well, it is a land known for martial and maritime tradition, home to an order of Knights and a unit of the Stormwind Army.

### Vassals

A series of noble houses and theocratic institutions swear fealty to House Laurent, all within or bordering the territory of Alcestenne, some of them having minor vassals of their own:

* House Allaire
	+ House Demaret
	+ House Marchand
	+ House Vaugrenard
* House Montelius
* Bishopric of Tourroux
* Abbacy of Nedare

## Coat of Arms

**Crest:** Sunkissed Eagle

**Colors:** Black, Cyan, Indigo, Gold, Orange, White

**Symbology** Perched golden eagles, anchors and stars.

**Description of Shield:** A cyan field with a black frame and an upwards-pointing white echelon. A roosting eagle with indigo ribbons around it's talons sits below a sun with waving rays, a golden anchor with indigo fabric wrapped around it sits in the top left corner.

**Orders:** Stormwind Military, Knighthood, Navy and Clergy

**Motto:** In service, is salvation