House Ascania

**Founder**
 **Head of House**
 **Heir**
 **Seat**
 **Cadet Houses**

When the schism of civil war erupted between the various provinces of the Arathorian Empire and its central authority, many provencials took up arms in a quest for independence from the rule Empire's dominion. Marcus, a relatively unknown warrior within the province of Azeroth and first generation son of a migrant from Arathor, was one of many men who rose up and took arms under Logan Wrynn I in the rebellion. Although not much is known of what occurred, it is thought that Marcus excelled on the battlefield, and in return for his bravery was granted a small barony within the high mountains east of Stormwind. Such was born the House of Ascania.

## History

The House ruled over the lands of Barony of Faulkenburg for many generations and was generally reclusive in nature, preferring the quiet pleasures of hard work to the rousing politics of Stormwind City. As the decades passed, however, vast veins of gold and silver were found within the dusty mountains of Faulkenburg and the family quickly found itself pushed into the center of Stormwind's aristocratic society. Adapting well to their newfound wealth and role within Stormwind's nobility, the family prospered, with many of its sons serving honorably in Stormwind's military, the King's ministries, and the Church of the Holy Light whilst its daughters found respectable marriage within the great Houses of Stormwind such as Ridgewell, Montclair, Farnay, and Wrynn. It was not until the First War and the arrival of the orcs that the family would face its greatest challenge; the complete destruction of its ancestral lands and near annihilation of its members.

The defeat of the Kingdom of Azeroth after the First War forced the family to flee its isolated holdings to Lordaeron, leaving the lands of the Barony of Faulkenburg to be savaged by the orcs of the Horde. Upon returning to their homes in the aftermath of the Horde's defeat at the end of the Second War the family was found that the orcs had industriously mined out the entirety of the House's gold and silver mines, leaving what little land and wealth the family had in complete ruin.

## Post Second War

Never a family known for a great deal of prodigy, the House has yet to fully recover from the calamity of the First War.

Although the numbers within the family have dwindled to a radically endangered level, the family has managed to lay claim to a truly vast amount of wealth. The marriage of Duchess Terez's father to Wilhelmina Cartres (dec.), daughter of the Count of Northdale, and his subsequent skill in managing to evacuate the Cartres family's extraordinary wealth from Lordaeron before the kingdom's total fall to the Scourge,  left the House financially sound in the wake of its initial harship.

Using the wealth of the Cartres family, the Lord managed to grow the House's wealth to that of enormous, and strangely undocumented, proportions. Records within the House of Nobles taxation rolls show that the primary source of his magnificent wealth may have involved several investment ventures undertaken by the House of Ascania via subsidary organizations; including the mason's guild involved in the reconstruction of Stormwind Harbor, a number of investment banks heavily involved in the loaning of money and the lucrative shipping company known as Faulkenburg Enterprises.

## Acquisition of the County of Eastvale

On January 31, 623 K.C., the House of Ascania was given the responsibility of governing the County of Eastvale with its current head crowned the Count of Eastvale.

With the King's attentions focused away from the kingdom and upon the conflict in Pandaria, administering the Kingdom became increasingly difficult. As a result, many of the lands that had been under the direct control of the crown began to be delegated to the nobility for proper administration. It was in this manner that the Lord of the neighboring Barony of Faulkenburg was granted the responsibility of overseeing the County and thusly named the Count of Eastvale.

## Acquisition of the Duchy of Eastburg

On August 3, 623 K.C. the House of Ascania was rewarded by King Varian Wrynn for the efforts of its head, Duchess Terez's father, by the elevation and reconstitution of its constituent lands -the County of Eastvale and Barony of Faulkenburg- into the combined Duchy of Eastburg.