Cyrellian Frey

**Nation**
 **Born**
 **Titles**
* Knight of the Silver Hand
 **Beliefs**
 **Signature**
 **Relatives**
* Taela Frey (Mother)
* Ember Prescott (Wife)
* Arianne Grover (Daughter)
* Dominic Frey (Son)
* Riannon Frey (Daughter)
* Ara'mae Frey (Daughter)
* William Frey (Son)
* Anders Frey (Son)
 **Coat of Arms**

Duke **Cyrellian Frey** is the current ruler of the Duchy of Highmarch, and Veteran of many of the Wars that have taken place across the face of Azeroth. Originally a commoner of the northern Kingdoms, he has been labelled as a 'brigand', 'upstart', and 'general rogue lacking the finer graces of noble blood' by some of the more traditional houses of Redridge and greater Kingdom. In spite of this initial reputation, he and his House have been charged with the defense of some strategic holdings nestled in the connected mountain pathways of Redridge and Elwynn bordering the Burning Steppes.

## Personality & Beliefs

Duke Frey is said to be a stern pragmatist that has only grown more stoic as he has aged and taken to his duties as a liege to his people and vassal to the House of Wrynn. Though a patient man, he doesn't let it bring him to a standstill in his duty. He subscribes to a principle of unrelenting diligence, believing that unwavering perseverance will win out against most all odds, especially when paired with a calculating mind. As a result, he often hones in on the issues before him to the detriment of other functions around him. Some within his lands have remarked that he often seems absent when partaking in feasts, or constantly shuffling about from meeting to meeting and lacking in a gregariousness and formality that many other nobles enjoy and partake in.

## Biography

Cyrellian Frey was born a few short years before the First War and formation of the Alliance of Lordaeron. The earliest years of his life escape him, though he vaguely recalls being from Strahnbrad. He spent many years as a refugee in the wake of the Second War, sheltering within Lordaeron's Capitol where, like everyone else, he had to eke out a rough and tumble existence until the threat of the Horde was dealt with.

When the Capitol came under siege he gained the attention of a Knight of the Silver Hand through his sense of charity towards ill-begotten gains and a desire to arm himself and assist in their fight against the Orcs. When the siege was lifted, the Lordaeronian Paladin took Cyrellian under his wing and began the process of making him a Squire. For the remainder of the war, Cyrellian spent his time following the Knight, tending to his horse, looking after his armor, and learning what it meant to be a Paladin. This tutelage was made official following the conclusion of the war and continued during Stormwind's reconstruction effort.

Shortly before the outbreak of the Third War, Cyrellian was made a Knight of the Silver Hand and dispatched to Lordaeron to assist in investigating rumors of growing plague. When such rumors turned out to be true, he participated in several battles alongside his fellow Knights, the Alliance of Lordaeron, and worked beneath his former master to assist in evacuation efforts after the Culling of Stratholme. During the evacuation effort, his master unfortunately perished and Cyrellian eventually made his way back south after further evacuation efforts were deemed too dangerous. Distraught with events, the young man struggled with his direction in life and began doubting his own abilities and beliefs.

Many years later the 'Knight', now separated from the remnants of the Silver Hand, took up with the Valorwind Regiment and joined them in their campaigns into Silithus, the Outlands, the Barrens and Northrend, inevitably becoming a Knight of the Brotherhood of the Horse for his service. He reunited with a handful of faces from his past, and lost many a friend in his service alongside the Regiment. Following the Cataclysm he left the Regiment and joined the Blackstone Order - an Order founded by a woman that Cyrellian considered a sister-in-arms and had bled alongside throughout his service within the Valorwind Regiment - in pursuit of assisting the Argent Crusade and reordering land within the Plaguelands.

When the Blackstone Order was at last put to rest he found himself adrift and addled with many unpleasant memories to drink to. He developed an addiction that eventually delivered unto him destitution. Newly returned to Stormwind with a need to forget and a lack of coin to do so, he was swept up by unsavory figures among the criminal element. He met his first Wife here who gave to him his son Dominic and helped lift him away from alcoholism. With sobriety came a desire to start anew, and so he broke away from many of those he'd acquainted within the undergrown. Unfortunately, such a life doesn't come without a price, and his Wife was murdered, leaving him and her son behind.

He turned to selling his blade to provide for his son, and after a number of years he met an Argent Priestess that he worked alongside. They fell for one another and married after a year, taking to wild adventures across Azeroth in search of artifacts for her collection and coin for him. More children were born of their union and they were forced to settle down within Stormwind where Cyrellian took local jobs and formed his own band until he discovered a large plot of land within the mountains of Redridge that had yet to fully recover from the First War and subsequent calamities that took the Kingdom by storm.

The Duchy of Highmarch, split between the two primary regions of Highroad and Rustfall, was largely ungoverned with struggling townships and extreme lack of security against the neighboring Orcs of the Burning Steppes, Gnolls of Redridge, and general banditry of the Kingdom. Minor barons were left within Highroad, struggling to fend for themselves and provide for their people. Seeing opportunity, Cyrellian took what coin he'd amassed during his ventures and what he and his band had made and took to Highroad. They went to work securing the regions supply routes, pushing out the foreign threats, and putting local leaders in contact with outside suppliers to help revitalize communities. For his unsolicited service, and with a need for a strong governing body in the area, the Crown bestowed Cyrellian with the Barony of Highreach, much to the chagrin of other noble Houses of the County.

House Traehaern of Redridge, ruling over the neighboring County of Rustfall, took an interest with the new Lord Frey and together they formed a loose alliance dedicated to bringing the Duchy back to the way things used to be. The Baron's of Redhaven and Whitehold formed an alliance of their own, meant to combat the expansion of Trahaern and Frey, and when an assassination attempt was made on Cyrellian's eldest son the Duchy as a whole went to war with itself. The violence was resolved swiftly, with the Baron's of Redhaven and Whitehold held within the custody of Trahaern and Frey. With the offensive side seized and the hostilities ended, a plea was made to the Crown that resulted in the revocation of Redhaven and Whitehold. Cyrellian was elevated to the title of Marquis and took over each holding. Shortly following the end of the conflict, Cyrellian and his second wife divorced, recognizing that what they desired out of life going forward was drastically different.

The loose alliance of House Frey and House Trahaern was quickly abandoned, and the duo quickly became rivals for the Duchy as a whole. A mutual respect resided between them, and they assisted one another where was needed to further serve the Kingdom and keep the border secure, but each kept a careful eye on one another. For near a year this went on, until the houses met for talks and came to a proposal to put forward to the crown. Cyrellian's eldest son was to squire beneath Trahaern and wed his eldest daughter to unite the houses, and the title of Duke would fall to Cyrellian. With tensions at an end in the region, and an agreement put to paper, the Crown granted their request and the Duchy of Highmarch officially fell from the Crown to the House of Frey.

Duke Frey committed himself wholly to the perseverance of the Duchy and quickly went to work alongside the Trahaern's in drafting local policy and the formation of various organizations meant to benefit the Duchy and it's peoples. They fought alongside one another many times in the conflicts that both the Duchy and the Kingdom at large faced until the Scourge Invasion of the Kingdom that swept through the defenses of Highmarch and decimated a large portion of the Ducal holdings. At the end of the onslaught, Cyrellian's friend and partner in elevating the duchy was deceased and his lands were left in ruin. While Cyrellian holds the title of Duke, very little remains to speak towards the prestige of the title and he finds the land in a place far worse than it had been even before he and Trahaern sculpted it into what it had been. Now, he looks for allies and is doing all he can to reclaim and rebuild what was lost.

## Titles

### Duke of Highmarch

Cyrellian Frey is the ruling Duke of Highmarch, a Duchy nestled in the mountainous region between Redridge, Elwynn, and the Burning Steppes.

### Knight of the Silver Hand

Earned in Cyrellian's youth, it has been many years since the man has done anything in his capacity of a Knight of this Order and has not associated as a Knight or Paladin in any of it's further iterations or branching Knightly Orders and Organizations.

### Knight of the Brotherhood of the Horse

A title bestowed upon him following multiple years of Service to the Kingdom of Stormwind and for dozens of Campaigns while within the Valorwind Regiment in service of the Crown of Stormwind and the House of Wrynn.

## House

Cyrellian Frey is the head of House Frey of Redridge, a relatively new Noble House that is determined to forge a bright and prosperous future within the Redridge Mountains and preserve the legacy of Stormwind against threats to the north of the Kingdom.