Einhart Family

The Einharts have been known by many names during their history, stretching back farther than many of the current kingdoms rules, time stretched forth by undeath and necromantic practices. Graverobber and Defiler are favorites among priests of the Shepards flock, who even at the Einharts highest and lowest of times serving the Tsars have had a tenuous relationship with them at best. High House of Helgrad, Frostguard, Defender of Northwestern Reaches among the boot lickers, the wretches hanging in darkened castle doors trading gossip for favour and information for gold. The Red-Eye among their former citizens, telling not only of the banner of the family, a sideways, purely red eye but also alluding to the bloody red of many family members and servants have taken in undeath. To the Einharts, they have always been the same. Necromancers, Scions of death and its mysteries, proud of their craft and their ways and "unrepentant" to the last.

## Ancient History

The House of Einhart does not stake its claim in founding a country or pretending that its roots were always nobility, somehow better than the masses by birth. They are quite open with their origin, as unpalatable as it is to many. House Einharts progenitor was the man who would become Lord of the Frozen Depths, the Lich Taril Einhart, now known as the First as the family continued on. This, possibly still living, monster did much to cement the rule of Helgrads Tsars and the Churches need to crack down on what they saw as 'Heretical' use of undead. While even his family isn't sure of Tarils birth place, what all agree on is the man had an unnatural grasp of magical arts, focused heavily upon trespassing the borders between life and death. This roving natural disaster came through budding Helgrad, leaving the land behind him empty of creatures he found 'interesting.' For the Crown and the Villages it was a blessing as monsters and beasts all but disappeared into thin air at his passing, joining the parade of death behind him, freeing them from yet another burden and becoming a yet wider net to catch more and allow them to expand. To the church he was a profaner of life, a demon given human form and a monster that should have been wiped out immediately.

The Tsar at the time, his name lost with the history that was destroyed in the arcane revolution, would make a decision that would be praised by generations of his descendants, taking the risk of inviting this monster despite the churches protests. Taril seemed to have little interaction with anything not trying to kill him, and to a man who was used to traversing a political landscape this naive, if horrifyingly powerful, man was quite easily lead by the nose. Within a month, Taril would find himself 'Lord' of Northwestern Helgrad, Married to a woman of the Tsars family who he had known for perhaps two weeks, yet was assured it was love at first sight, men of a church he had never heard of glaring at him and speaking harshly of him when they thought he would not see or notice, yet speaking respectfully to his face. It was all too much for the man to handle, finding himself timid and incapable in the face of words instead of threats. Taril would leave the governance of his Fief to his wife, who quite enjoyed this outcome and reveled in her power, while he himself continued to delve into his magical discovery, often disappearing for weeks at a time past the frontier villages into the mountains and forests of Helgrads farthest reaches only to come back with some new idea or undiscovered, reanimated creature. Begrudgingly, it is during these trips that the church would find cause to entreat Tarils knowledge. Helgadri winters are extreme even for northern landscapes, turning healthy men into corpses and beasts of burden into carcasses within a days work. Tarils northwestern fief however, had none of these problems. With Taril gone on his trips, the priests consulted his wife who proudly crowed about her convincing the man to use his creatures to build and work for the people. Workers while also being constant guardians, the idea was met with.. Mixed approval at best. It's unknown what kind of deal they made there that day yet the Church gained much of Taril's written works, messy and sometimes outright confusing journals and diaries that had been created and gifted to her at her request, so that she may know what her husband experienced.

Time would beat on, Tarils expeditions becoming longer and longer. Normally this would not be a problem, what with his hands being taken firmly off the rule of his fief.. The problem comes with his age. Although few saw him as he came and left again, staying only long enough to greet his wife and descendants and hand off his writing and tell tales of his adventures until he could handle the interactions with others no longer, whispers abounded of unnatural youth and his refusal to go into the shepherds embrace. One hundred and twenty years after his wifes death, when the current House Einhart had long assumed their 'Honoured Ancestor' dead of old age within the mountains Taril returned, as young as the day he left bringing a stack of books that would later become the basis upon which all of House Einharts scions were trained. Taril had indeed returned, to the shock of all who were allowed to know, but for the last time. Taril had become a Lich, skin peeling off to reveal white bone and frozen muscle beneath, the man unconcerned with his appearance in the slightest. What offer Taril gave his descendants no one is sure of, as it was never recorded and officially, Taril never returned after his wifes death, but his descendants refused him. Taril gifted the current house head his texts and left without retribution or complaint, disappearing into the depths of Helgrads wilderness for one last time. At least, the man named Taril Einhart did. Rumours still abound even during the current Arcane Congress of a 'Thing' within the northern wastes. A terror of bone that came and left at random turning hopeless monster hunts into terrifying tales of survival and driving off monsters who would take pieces of the frozen underground as their own. A myth for most, a monster to scare children into behaving, and an excuse for adventurers who bit off more than they could chew and ran.

## Modern History

The Einharts have not exactly flourished since the self imposed exiled of their honored ancestor. Isolationist both from their own preference and due to the harsh, in accessible area of their lordship, they had been similarly kept at arms length by the other nobles and Lord houses. With House Einhart being at loggerheads with the Church at nearly every event due to their use of the dead and with their more.. liberal views on how serfs should be treated, Einharts citizens being given the option to have an easier, supported life in exchange for allowing their body to be turned into an undead for labour, it was prudent to keep themselves apart. Furthermore, when your court life depends on information and deception, a house that employs creatures such as vampires with keen hearing and hypnotic abilities, and Shadows who may stretch and skulk along unseen, it is best to avoid their presence entirely.

Unfortunately for the lords of Helgrad, the end of the Einharts rule over the northwestern border would not come by their hands nor by the hands of the church but rather over their own bodies, the Arcane revolution taking even the most vigilant of houses unaware. Needless to say however, House Einhart was unwilling to be ground to dust under the gears of 'progress', and even less so willing to let others have the last laugh, but the Congress had prepared for war while the noble houses were still on the backfoot, having not even mustered their armies while their opponents were advancing on them. While the Arcane Congress pushed through from the capital to outer lands, House Einhart took everything and left, leaving an empty castle and vacated lands.. At least, so they appeared. Within an deep passage below the castle, shadows roiled and waited, primed by the necromancers before they fled the coming tide. Villains, criminals, those who had earned a death sentence or simply fought to the death to avoid imprisonment, unusable as servants or as guards, raised as a kind of last ditch measure for the Einharts should their castle be overrun. Instead, they were to be used as a hidden dagger in the night. With the castle occupied peacefully, who could resist celebrations? There was no tide of undead, no grisly fates awaiting them, only an empty castle and the cold land of Helgrad they all knew as home awaiting them and victory as heroes of war. All hell would break loose by night. Shadows poured from the castles gates as night fell, washing across the unwary and the terrified alike as a tide of silent death that let none rest in their end. While the Congress and the Church would eventually scour this hellish place clean in their next offensive, more than prepared for the horde when warned, the Einharts had made their point over the betrayal that the lords of Helgrad had suffered, quite unaware that they were heading towards a similar fate themselves.

Khodvia. The Cursewoods had long been known to the Einharts, yet considering what leaked over their borders was horrid but not over the top they felt their reputation had been expanded through fear rather than truth and let their gaze wander elsewhere, leaving them woefully under prepared for an exodus they had never expected to take. The marshes were not a great issue to the necromancers, having long been used to fetid and unwelcoming places where monsters and terrors lurk. Their inhabitants were more a boon, trolls incensed by the intrusion making excellent guards, Witches and Hag covens becoming sources of disposable supplies and magical equipment. Then, She came. Witch-Queen Bas, alerted finally of Einharts intrusion and incensed by the slaughter of her children. Tribute and recompense was demanded. No one quite knows what was the response, but all of Einhart agrees that it was only their main bloodline traveling in separate packs for safety kept the family alive as it clearly wasn't an answer the Witch-Queen accepted. A hell on earth like no other erupted within the swamps that night, scattering the Einharts and their servants to the wind only for the Fey and creatures of the Nightmare court to hunt and prey upon them. The swamp is still littered with the remains of much of the family, both their literal corpses and ghosts which haunt the areas upon which they died, and the treasure that they had brought with them from their native Helgrad. Pockets of magical and monetary power just waiting to be unearthed by some lucky, stupid fool who sought their fortune deep within the Baslands. They only need to hope they do not find their former owners still attached to their things.

The Einharts would survive, if barely. What remained of the family would flee south and to the east, diving into the dense mountain ranges of Khodvias east to avoid the last of their pursuers. Sheltered within a mountain valley the former noble house would lick its wounds sullenly. The new patriarch of the house, as the previous one more than likely breathed his last speaking foolishly to the Witch-Queen, Tyrion Einhart the fourth, would make the decision for the remnants. Remnants that were essentially himself, his wife Magnolia Einhart the third, a son by the name of Taril Einhart the Fifth, and a cadre of servants and badly mauled guardians. Since they were obviously in no shape to continue on, this would be their new home. Nestled within the grey mountains the necromancers would patch up their remaining guardians, while the able among them would work to shelter themselves within this glade hollow. The town they would build before tunneling into the mountain still exists to this day, open to those who are willing to settle down under the Einharts guard as well as housing an outpost for Khodvias Curse Wardens.

Bent and bloodied, this 'new' House Einhart would tentatively venture forth from their secluded glade in the coming years, if only to learn of their new surroundings and replenish their losses. To the Fey, they would keep a respectful but firmly distant stance. One would think that what they had suffered at the hands of the Nightmare Court would drive them towards the other two, but there would be no revenge sworn or plans made. When the difference between sides is too much, one may only swallow their losses and move on, and the Einharts would embody this, treating the massacre as a natural disaster and leaving it where it lay. Their relationship with Laidir is far more relaxed and simple, however House Einharts accepting nature of all 'Black Blood' races and that they view the shadow filled City of Summer as a place to avoid on the level of the Baslands are always points of contention when the two sides meet. The Elves and Drow are equally accepted, and the Einhart family has gone to lengths to make sure that their accommodations inside of their mountain fortress are completely separate and perfectly the same to avoid lighting any kind of powder keg. It is to the dwarves that House Einhart has the greatest connection, both as the family rests technically within the rule of Cnuic Oir and much of the construction within the houses fortress was done by their artisans. The dwarves were more than happy to help, not out of the goodness of their hearts or the ideal of a new work force, House Einhart's outer, non-blood related necromancers would often bring undead with special abilities or incredible carry weights to assist the dwarves mining operations across the mountains in later years, but what lay beneath. Einharts struggles had landed them on top of a nexus of minerals, seams running back and forth through their 'domain.' Most noticeably was a massive pair of Mithral and Gold that dredged through the mountain to their back that would become the basis upon which they would stand once more. The main veins would be completely consumed by the pair, becoming a massive gulf between Einharts castle and the now named Hollow Town as the dwarves and undead would strike down and deep. With the Einharts fortifying the location themselves and the veins open to them, the Council of Gold saw no reason to run them out, turning the 'Singing Trench', after the amount of Singing Steel the two metals could create, into an important landmark between the two and Hollow Town into a merchants rest like no other.

## Current Day

The current House Einhart looks more like a fortress than a family's manor. Massive, stone and metal gates clasped between the peaks block the way to Hollow Town, though rarely do the Einharts have any reason to close them other than the night of the Witch Moon, leaving them unbarred for travelers, merchants and the Einharts own returning mages, who are often sent to deal with roving creatures harassing villages nearby or to assist the Curse Wardens hunts with disposable troops. Hollow Town itself is nearly more a bazaar than a town, the center having been carved out for a marketplace that flows with metals. A great bridge stretches across the Singing Trench, connecting Hollow Town to the yawning cavern of the Einhart Castles entrance. Frost encrusted portcullis of magically treated stone flanked by the massive red banners bearing the families crest. The gate is guarded, openly, at all times by at least two Dullahan, the so called Red-Eye, living guards who have either asked to be re-animated after earning a reward or died in the families interest; As well as the gates watcher, Nikolai [Advanced Deathweb], who has taken to calling himself Nikko due to the trouble in saying the name through mandibles. Shortly past these guardians lie the entrance to the guardhouses, which despite the name are more like tomb tunnels which stretch through the battlements, allowing access to them and underneath them where murder-holes and arrow slits await. The main bulk of what is 'open' to visitors is a cavernous expanse, reminiscent of dwarf-holds where pillars strike from the floor to hold up the mountain and acts much like a massive, ornately decorated hallway filled with doors leading to side rooms filled with clerks and administrators working the great amount of paper that the house runs through every day.

The places allowed to 'Non-important' visitors generally stretch between two areas, the first of four hallways within the main leading to the Forge, a massive stretch of ventilated workshops and ironworks where much of the processing of the ores from the Trench is done. Few choose to go here without purpose for obvious reasons, and even less go without some form of ear protection, the hallway leading to it being magically protected to prevent the sound from ringing through the rest of the castle. Directly across to the right leads to a much more peaceful commons area, a cultivated garden that stretches behind the battlements in a gap between the mountain peaks, being the only place within castle Einhart that is open to the sky. Snow capped trees covering benches and tables, set out for rest and contemplation as winding paths run through beautiful flowers and useful, sometimes magical plants laid out to be harvested when in need or to be replanted. Beyond these two openings, most people not accompanied by a member of the houses main bloodline will be turned away by Red-Eye guards. Those who resist overly much, or repeat offenders, generally find themselves punished with a few hours within Nikolais lair above the main gate. The Einharts have yet to receive a return from those who have partaken of his hospitality, though the Deathweb assures that he was a gracious host as he introduced them to his family.

## Physical Information

#### **Head of the Einhart Family, Taril Einhart The Eighth**

Current Family Head of the Einhart family and a powerful necromancer in his own right. As well as being the de-facto leader of the familys Red-Eye Guard, Taril is also responsible for the screening and re-animation of all the living guards who apply or earn the right in death. Which has more than likely made him the foremost practitioner on the re-animation of Dullahan. Despite this, Taril is truthfully an expert on Incorporeal undead, not those with fleshly bodies, and his own personal guard is made up of such horrors that creep through solid walls to keep their master and his family safe.

Nearing his sixties, this severe old man refuses to let the weight of age bear down on him, standing at an intimidating height of nearly six and a half feet with an iron wrought back and a strict air of importance and sincerity that rarely drops, even around his own two children. While he cares deeply for the two, Taril carries much of the families administration upon his back, as well as dealing with their relationship with the other powers of Khodvia, taking up much of his time. What little he can spend, trying his best to avoid being an absent father, is relegated to teaching and supervising his two daughters in their pursuits.

Despite his attempts as providing a stable, gentle experience for his children as his father did him, Tarils limited time and high expectations for his children tends to leave him with the impression of a man with impossible, exacting standards and little patience for failure.

## Physical Information

### Eyes

Dull green

Ancient butler of the Einhart family, Antons service to the family ranges far enough back to have met the great grandchildren of Taril Einhart the First, only missing meeting the Grand Necromancer himself by a few years. Anton began his service to the Einhart family as a Hall Boy. An orphan picked up out of a snow covered embankment by a patrol so long ago that even Anton no longer remembers his own age, the guards took a passing fancy to the frozen boy, bringing him back to the former Castle Einhart where he was accepted as a servant on a whim, planted amongst the others and promptly forgotten about by the butler of the time. Anton would quickly stand out regardless, picking up the tasks given to him all but as soon as they were explained and working with great vigour that often had to be tempered by the older staff, lest the boy work himself to exhaustion or stay out in the cold long past what was safe. This kind of nearly suicidal work ethic would quickly bring the boy into contact with the upper level servants and members of the house more than his station would normally allow. Antons reasoning was quite pure, if horrifying to the family who had become used to his presence by now. Having gone to kill himself in the snow, only to be saved, this would be his new family, to replace the one he had never met. By the time the boy had become a man, Anton had already become the house heads valet, responsible for his appearance and wardrobe.. Yet this never stopped him from 'pitching in' wherever was needed, or just possible.

Anton would go on to outlive his master.. And not by a short time either. While the house head was ready to die, saying that he had spent so long playing with death he was ready to meet his old friend face to face rather than become undead, Anton had not yet felt he was done with the Einharts. Probably the hardest decision Anton had to make was what kind of undead he would continue to serve as. Ghouls had no place within the walls of the castle with their stench as far as he was concerned, and Ghasts were not much better. Becoming a Wraith or a Shadow would prevent him from doing many of the chores he had come to shoulder, and he lacked the martial skills to become something like a Dullahan. Becoming a Lich or a Graveknight never even occurred to him, the thought of such powerful creatures were more befitting of his masters. Eventually the man would go and consult the various necromancers and undead of the house.. only to learn that the options open to him were far more various than he had thought, both in the types of undead there were and that the family had long since prepared for his re-animation. Anton would eventually 'decide' upon becoming a Vampire, when the aging lady of the house took the choice away from the fretting man and chose something that would, in her words, let him work the nights away like he always wanted to do. Work he did, for untold years Anton became a fixture within House Einhart that was more iconic to its members than the actual members of the house itself.

Anton had served as Chief of Staff for well over a hundred years by the time of the Arcane revolution, packing up and leaving with his masters without the smallest bit of hesitation. To him, Helgrad held no memories worth anything other than the ones within the castle, so why would he worry about anything other than the people within it? The trek and the massacre that would erupt within the swamp would horrify and infuriate Anton, who would come to the secluded glade of what would become Hollow Town nearly in half, guarding Tyrion very literally with his own body as he lacked any kind of martial training. Although Anton is well aware that no one within the family stood a chance against Bas, perhaps only the Grand Necromancer himself, the thought of what he could have done to protect or save more still chews at him to this day and has long since brought the butler to train his fists.. A talent that has more than once become useful as he watches over the two children of the current head. Most noticeably with the youngest daughter of the house head, Magnolia Einhart, who had the misfortune to be attacked by another Vampire, one of the Nightmare courts, on the Witch Moon. No one is quite sure how the man made it inside the guarded courtyard of the commons area, but when Anton returned with a plate of sweets for the girl only to find her being tackled and bitten, his fate was sealed. While the Red-Eye guards took the unconscious noble to safety and healed her Anton would break the man, very literally, twisting him at the waist until his spine snapped as they tore at each other on the ground in the bloodthirsty, bestial way only vampires can. Anton still has his fangs, nestled in the pocket on his breast, as another reminder of being lax in ones duties.

## Physical Information

### Eyes

Brown

Taking after his great height, but not his nature is Tarils eldest daughter, Nikita. Nikita's wildfire-like temper is perhaps held back only by her teachings at Tarils knee, as despite her brutal and domineering approach to most subjects the woman has a firm respect for law and order, seeing them both as the cornerstone and the objective of civilization. This does not, however, stop her from biting at the bit when said laws stop her from obtaining what she wants, meaning the woman is often absent from the Einhart castle, leading Red-Eye guards and necromancers out to cleanse her annoyance in a bloody wake of monsters. Her refreshed, if blood splattered, return is often spent in a repeating order. A long, scented bath, assisting her father in his duties and supervising the living guards around Hollow Town and its gate for anywhere between a day to a few months depending on the next step, being infuriated by something, and launching on yet another one of her crusades into the darkness of Khodvia. These fits of anger are sometimes shared by her father, as many of them are caused by the towns influx of bards, brought by the promise of Singing Steel. Nikita finds dealing with her singing admirers beneath her however, and lets what she views as insults to her person lie. These rages have come to the point that Taril has began preparing for Nikita's Re-animation, offering to be her Patron to fufill the requirements of becoming a Graveknight. Though the two argue on what it should be about, as Taril refuses to allow her to target her own admirers.

When not considering how to brutalize the men and women trying to crawl into her good graces or working with her father and younger sister on the numerous approvals and paperwork that is needed to keep a noble family running, Nikita spends much of her time to herself. Lovingly taking care of her equipment and mount, a Fiendish Dire Lion from her boon she has taken to calling Aleksei while she still has him.