House of Foenaxas

Structure

The House of Foenaxas is structured as most Arkheran noble houses are; with a lord at the top, his firstborn son being his heir, and surrounding relatives being used as marriage assets, influential figures such as knights, wisdoms, or councilors (depending on what they train in), and a set of councilmen and advisors beneath this noble-blooded group that act as governors for numerous civic projects, such as building, military, et cetera.
Like most Elarondian houses, they consider it important to have a wisdom on their payroll, and while they're happy to train spare children to be wisdoms, they prefer to allow the currently serving wisdom to train their own novices, meaning in theory they are capable of having common-born wisdoms. In practice, the most common minor noble houses they fish their wisdoms from are the local seerish House of Veritas, as well as the minor noble human houses of Crystalglass and Oswyk.

Culture

The Foenaxases, being from the second major Elarondian settlement wave (a considerably more peaceful wave than the first invasive Sanguinas/Yagaska/Selenia wave), consider themselves much more part of Arkheran culture rather than above it, while still holding a dear place in their heart for the Isle of Elves they hailed from. Most notable of all with the Foenaxases, however, is their immediate embrace of Peregrinian Renewalism, a variant of Renewalism started by the Great Oasis ascetic known as Peregrine, whose efforts to convert the fire-worshiping locals of the Ashpeaks led to a fused, complex sect.
While it is unclear exactly why the founder, Saloryx Foenaxas, embraced Peregrinian Renewalism so thoroughly, one would wager it had to do with his circumstances. Unlike their fellow second-wave Elarondian noble house, the Safiroses, the Foenaxases' intended journey to Ghoulwater Bay was foiled by harsh storms that veered their ships' course northward, destroying many in the process. When they landed on the north-eastern coast of Arkhera, the Ashpeaks standing between them and any worthwhile land, Saloryx and his men had no choice but to accept the hospitality of the local fire worshippers. In conjunction with his sigil being a phoenix and the Ashpeakers' wholehearted generosity, it would be understandable to interpret such fortunate events as divine intervention with the hopes of conversion.
At any rate, Saloryx Foenaxas's conversion to Peregrinian Renewalism and subsequent construction of Ashglass from the abundant supply of obsidian through the Ashpeaks led to a culture inextricably linked to the once-obscure sect of Renewalism. Their execution methods are generally associated with fire (as death by fire is said to be the ultimate karmic nullifier), regular worship bonfires are set up at night, and more lightly, barbecues are popular in the city regardless of the time of year. Though people of differing faiths have since settled in Ashglass, Foenaxas culture is notably exclusionary to these other faiths, likely because of the strong ties to Ashpeaker culture within the city.

Public Agenda

Under the governance of Mor'kha Foenaxas, the current agenda of House Foenaxas appears to be restoration of Ashglass to its devoted Peregrinian roots; her father, while respectful enough of his daughter to do away with male-first succession, differed with her on numerous points. One such point was execution of criminals by fire; Lord Moragar Foenaxas was brave enough to outlaw the practice, only for Mor'kha to bring it back. She is also, through blatant tax favouritism, driving other faiths into financial infeasibility, while funding Renewalist ceremonies, events, and temples personally.
Due to the recent rapeworm outbreak in Ashglass, another major component of Mor'kha's public agenda is to make it through this crisis, and once the horror is over, renew in population as one would renew between lives. Her personal heartfelt speeches, songs, and prayers have, for the most part, united Ashglass against a common, existential threat.

Assets

As the noble house with the most diplomatic and military ties to the Ashpeaks, as well as being responsible for introducing mining tools to the mountain men, House Foenaxas has considerable amounts of obsidian, iron, tin, and copper, along with numerous craft ales and whiskys unique to Ashglass and the Ashpeaks.
While the Houses of Selenia and Gemfire have an aloof relationship to their 'fanatical' fellow Forests of Winter noble house, they cannot afford to permanently alienate themselves from them, as it is only through their control of the Ashpeaks that access to non-wooded structural materials such as volcanic rock and metal is possible.

History

957 BGA (Before Garlan's Ascension): During the second major Elarondian immigration to Arkhera, a former smith for the Elarondian Royal House of Morello, Saloryx, saves enough money to afford a fleet and encourages others to join him on his emigration, dubbing himself Saloryx Foenaxas and promising to sail with the Safiroses to Ghoulwater Bay, from which they'll spy out new, fertile lands within the Sanguinases' domain.
956 BGA: The journey goes awry, with a storm destroying a third of Saloryx's fleet and blowing the rest far north of the intended course, forcing them to anchor by the eastern coast of the northern mountain range of Arkhera, the Ashpeaks. There, he and his men are taken in by the fire-worshiping locals, who appear to have been educated by a Madaki philosopher known as Peregrine. In exchange for their kindness, Saloryx converted from Eternalism to Renewalism, and introduced wondrous Elarondian mining tools to better exploit the mountainous terrain around them.
954 BGA: After years of cooperation and exploitation of the land, the Elarondian immigrants of Saloryx and Peregrine's mountain men work together to found their own city, and Saloryx Foenaxas declared himself the lord of the city and the Ashpeaks alike, dubbing his project 'Ashglass', after the glassy obsidian used to create the walls. Not long after, the necromantic lords of the Plains of Death officially recognised his city as a taxable subordinate to the local paramount nobility, the House of Selenia, bringing Ashglass into the kingdom's fold.
939 BGA: Recognising the achievement of the windswept, but resourceful former smith, King Aronyx Morello of Elarond secures a long-term alliance with the Foenaxases despite their newfound religious difference by sending his second daughter, Lexana, to Arkhera to marry Saloryx's eldest son, Alexander. This would begin a precedent of minor Morello daughters being sent to Arkhera when suitable Elarondian matches weren't found.
855 BGA: The Selenias, emboldened by the recent weakening of the necromantic establishment, attempts to flex their dominance over the Foenaxases by demanding the city convert to Eternalism. To their surprise, the Foenaxases called upon overseas help in the form of the Morellos, and despite being Eternalist themselves, they take their Foenaxas kin's side, leading to a brief Elarondian occupation that places the Foenaxases as the rulers of the Forests of Winter. The Selenias, desperate to regain their control, begged the necromantic families of Aranael and Khanas for help, and ultimately, a peace treaty was arranged; the Selenias would maintain control, but respect the Foenaxases' religious autonomy, in exchange for the Elarondian army's retreat.
403 BGA: An immigrant community of Malassaian humans arrive in the Forests of Winter. While the Selenias were predictably unwilling to house them, Lord Maronax Foenaxas commanded all local villages, Ashpeaks settlements and Ashglass itself to welcome all humans willing to forsake their paganistic island god and worship the God of Renewal. This led to a great majority opting to instead move onto the Rainbow Fort and Winter Harbour, but also added to the diversity of their human populations.
40 BGA: Mad Lord Gadus Aranael, ruler of Arkhera, grows paranoid enough to revoke the noble status of all non-necromancers, leading to temporary chaos regarding kingdom-wide goods and taxes. While the Selenias, Gemfires and Foenaxases ultimately held together and formed a temporary autonomous province together, they would live in perpetual fear of the necromantic armies from the south marching north.
3 BGA: Lord Aldrix Foenaxas, like his overlord, Lumeron Selenia, receives a letter from a rebel leader named Garlan the Great, requesting their assistance putting the Mad Lord Gadus Aranael out of power and scouring the necromantic establishment to form a newer, better Arkhera. Aldrix and Lumeron alike agree to fight with Garlan, and successfully overthrow local necromantic overseers.
0 AGA (After Garlan's Ascension): Aldrix Foenaxas attends the coronation of Garlan the Great and witnesses the formation of the Royal Electorate of Arkhera. He is granted a position as a nobleman beneath Lumeron Selenia, as he expected, and the friendship the former rivals formed over the war would lead to Aldrix naming his firstborn Lumero, after his overlord.
72 AGA: Lord Lumero Foenaxas, at the request of King Yal'miroen Boathis, assists in quashing a necromantic-seerish rebellion, largely contributing to the Sanguinas-Yagaska efforts in the Sanguinas Territories, bringing the Houses of Veritas and Alcule to heel. The House of Veritas would lose its lands (which would be gifted to a Selenia bastard, Lewyn Moonchild, and renamed Moonrock) and become local vassal-hostages within Ashglass.
73 AGA: In the aftermath of the Abraxas Revolutionary War, Lord Lumero Foenaxas is asked to provide his second son, Morantar, as a reward for the efforts of the common-born Master Torturer Elrax, leading to the founding of the House of Kazaros. Though initially insulted, Lord Lumero would come to appreciate the symbiotic relationship between Ashglass and the formerly Khanas-owned Flowerfields, trading ores and rock for food and perfumes at family rates for generations to come.
499 AGA: The House of Abraxas rises in rebellion against King Yal'gerar Boathis, prompting the Foenaxases to assist due to their cousin house, the Kazaroses, joining the war on the Crown's side. They almost successfully wipe out the contingent of Khanas supporters of the rebellion, leaving the fractured remnants to live out their days as beggar patricians in Moonstone.
517 AGA: The current Lady of Ashglass, Mor'kha, is born as Strakha Foenaxas to Lord Moragar Foenaxas and Lady Onyxia Foenaxas nee Kazaros.
533 AGA: Against regular succession rules, Strakha Foenaxas is granted the title of Heir to Ashglass on her sixteenth naming day, in addition being granted the symbolic 'Mor' prefix to her name, to metaphorically grant her the power of her lord father. This leads to tensions with her mother, who wished for her younger brother and former heir apparent, Irikhos, to succeed his father.
535 AGA: Due to the sudden death of her aunt and uncle in the Flowerfields, Mor'kha's cousin, Gelth Kazaros, ascends and uses her newfound power to forsake a betrothal to Solyx Solerro. Not wishing to spurn the fellow Elarondian House of Solerro, Mor'kha agrees to marry Solyx in Gelth's place.
541 AGA: Moragar Foenaxas successfully brokers a marriage between Irikhos and Yarawyn Selenia, ensuring, as far as he sees, a means of continued Foenaxas influence through having both of his grandchildren's lineages being the two most powerful houses in the Forests of Winter.
543 AGA: Lord Moragar Foenaxas dies of a shaking fit and Mor'kha ascends to become Lady of Ashglass, implementing numerous pro-Renewalism reforms undoing her father's progressivism and leading to multiple emigrations of non-Renewalists. Meanwhile, with both Nemeron Selenia and Moragar Foenaxas, the two brokers of Irikhos and Yarawyn's match, dead, Lady Kagura Selenia proceeds to annul the Foenaxas-Selenia marriage pact, sending Torawyn and Yarawyn to Elarond just barely before the latter would be old enough to marry Irikhos.
551 AGA: A rapeworm pandemic hits Ashglass, leading to a political crisis and numerous necessary burnings of city districts. Due to the severity, Lady Mor'kha has recruited Melancholy of Thornwrit Heath for her epidemiology experience.

Demography and Population

Dark Elves (40%)
High Elves (18%)
Humans (14%)
Goblins (10%)
Seers (8%)
Orcs (5%)
Gnomes (3%)
Spellbinders and Necromancers (2%)

Territories

Ashglass (main city)
The Black Valley (town)
Ashton (town)
Greyshale Port (town)
Darkmouth (town)
Wendigo's Ridge (village)
Blackmont (village)
Crescent Ford (village)
Other eastern villages in the Forests of Winter

Religion

Peregrinian Renewalism (vast majority)
Elarondian Eternalism
Chromatism

Fires Renew All

Founding Date

954 BGA

Type

Political, Family

Alternative Names

The Foenaxases
The Foenaxas Family

Leader

Mor'kha Foenaxas

Leader Title

Lord

Power Structure

Dependent territory

Economic System

Mixed economy

Major Exports

Obsidian
Copper
Tin
Iron
Shale
Slate
Wood

Major Imports

Grains
Fruit
Vegetables
Semiprecious stones

Legislative Body

King Landon Shearwater
Lady Mor'kha Foenaxas

Judicial Body

Holy Magistrates of Ashglass

Parent Organization

Forests of Winter

Location

Ashglass

Official Languages

• Common Tongue
• Elarondian
• Madaki

Notable Members

• Mor'kha Foenaxas

Related Ethnicities

• Arkheran
• Elarondian

Family Tree