SummaryNoble FamilyFalwoodAeliel Blackbriar@Ardryll Blackbriar Lilette Blackbriar
Godewyn(deceased)
Godfrey(deceased)
Lyewyn(deceased) And others, MissingGeographyTir'RhosynNorthern FalwoodOut-of-character informationBy @Hrefna1/1/26
Once the guardians of the Northern-Falwood, the Blackbriar family has since been scattered and broken by an unsolved massacre.
Hierarchy
Lyewyn Blackbriar, or the "Lioness of Tir'Rhosyn" to some, was the last renowned ruler of her house and only child of Fraeya. Following her death at the siege of Tir'Rhosyn, the burden of rule briefly fell to her husband, Godfrey.
Godfrey Blackbriar ruled over a period of peace following the death of his wife until the infamous massacre. His eldest son, Godewyn Blackbriar, had perished of a mysterious illness some years prior, blurring the line of succession.
At present, leadership of the house has fallen to the Lyewyn's mother, Aeliel Blackbriar. But she is ancient and not long for this world, having now summoned the last of her strength to establish order in the north.
Rules
Until the death of Lyewyn Blackbriar, the house had traditionally been a matriarchy in which the elven matron would, over the course of centuries, take many husbands from among the humans and half-elves whom she would naturally outlive and therefore consolidate their power for her own.
This tradition was broken in wake of the last matriarch's death, and the house adopted a simple rule of the eldest heirs soon after. In lieu of their matron's living guidance, the house honors her lesson;
Family cometh first
Surrender not thine home
Respect thou beast and fae
Intent
It had always been the duty of House Blackbriar to defend the northern woods from invasion, but it was under Lyewyn's rule the house lost it's way. It was her ambition to rule the whole of the north herself where her grandmother had been content to merely patrol it's borders.
Leaderless and in decline, the forces of Aeliel Blackbriar search far and wide the missing heirs in a desperate gamble to restore the house before her inevitable demise.
If not, then perhaps the briarlands will finally fall.
Lore
The story of House Blackbriar began with love. It had once been the name of a half-elven bastard, a common practice in the lands of Tir'Rhosyn, itself known for it's native black roses. Abandoned by the human who fathered him, the bastard boy learned to fend for himself in the woods.
In time he met others like him in the wake of war between Vel'anir and Falwood, and they grew into a force of highwaymen and mercenaries dubbed; "The Blackbriar Company."
The band was eventually caught by elves and taken to the lady of Tir'Rhosyn. Legend has it that his defense at trial was so moving, the lady freed him and his men, withholding only their weapons.
A year and many secret nights later they were married, the lady taking on her husband's name: Blackbriar.
People called them, The House of Roses.
Their daughter, Aeliel Blackbriar, would inherit her father's legacy. Under her rule the north was protected by pacts with neighboring houses and Tir'Rhosyn slowly grew. In time she too married, raising her daughter Lyewyn to one day succeed her.
Her rule lasted only a few hundred years, leaving House Blackbriar in the care of her only heir to live the rest of her days in peace with her husband.
Lyewyn's rule marked the beginning of slow but irrevocable change.
Where Aeliel had been content to protect the north, Lyewyn would use her gifts to rule, seducing the leaders of neighboring half-elven settlements built by her grandfather, to gift them with heirs who would conviently outlive them, preseved by their three-quarter elven blood.
Lyewyn ruled for nearly a thousand years, during which time she took many husbands whose lands she controlled through her children.
It all ended at the siege of Tir'Rhosyn, when war broke between man and elf.
Her matchmaking had earned her more enemies than friends, leaving her pleas for aid unanswered. Seeing no choice, Lyewyn sacrificed herself to complete a powerful ritual that ensnared the besieging army in a labyrinth of briars, for which the enemy dubbed her family,
The House of Thorns.
Lyewyn's tomb in Tir'Rhosyn
The House of Thorns was willed to Lyewyn's favorite son, Sir Godewyn, himself a proud knight and dutiful enforcer of his mother's will, but a mysterious illness took him and swept through the family, calling to question the line of succession.
Rule briefly fell to his father, Godfrey, who convened a court of all Blackbriars to determine a new successor.
Godfrey and his house were slaughtered in their home, the culprit unknown.
Rumors speak of monsters, rival houses and even fae, but none know for certain the fate of House Blackbriar nor who remains, save old Aeliel, who will join her daughter soon.
Friend and foe alike have taken to calling what remains, The House in Mourning.
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