The End of Heawick

The alliance the Sixth House held with House Heawick was one of convenience and camaraderie with the Kingdom. The Sixth house never held as passionate religious zeal King Arryn I or II so strongly advocated for. However, much political sway and clout was gained being tied with House Heawick, rulers of Banteave, and through loyalty the house prospered slowly, both in gaining gold and gaining holdings.
However, those benefits crumbled alongside the reputation of Arryn II, when one of his renowned knights called an audience with the heads of the houses, and put forth every detail Arryn II had put into murdering his own father for the crown. Any political ties held between the Sixth House and the now disgraced Heawicks needed to be severed. The Sixth House slunk away from their former ally, and joined the ever increasing crowd of dissenters calling for Heawicks abdication. While not the most vocal or most prominent of the lot, the Sixth House made many inroads with fellow dissenters, forming valuable trade alliances with the surrounding houses of Antyre, Dillestone, and Oake.
From the seat of their power, in Rhythavn , the trading ships lifted their sails and spread out from the Rhyver Bay, bringing the trade goods of Marchel  and Urre , as well as the goods of the Sixth House itself, to markets up and down the Kingdom of Bantreave, as well as across the waves to the originator kingdom of Norvalled. The pockets of our nobility grew fat on the tithes and tolls of this grand trading city, a resource that allowed our political machinations to stay steady, forever lurking and slowly building our strength.
Such rude callings against the king were not only for the creation of alliances with the Banteavian kingdoms though. Antarians, who so often suffered under the bootheels of House Heawick and their religious zeal, were more than happy to border a barony who spoke much ill against their oppressors. The Sixth house brokered many peace and trade deals with the original people of these lands, many of which signed away in the sacred lights of The Treaty Hall  in the Barony of Farran . Prosperity followed, as these two peoples exchanged culture, trade, innovations and further knowledge to help their peoples survive and thrive in these once more hostile lands.
However, with this burgeoning alliance between two disparate people, some of the houses in the south thought lowly of the house that sought to ally themselves with who was once considered the enemy to the original Norvalled settlers of the lands. A betrayal to the crown and to the legacy of this kingdom, they might say? Only the whispers of fools and braggarts.
Slowly but surely, Antarians were married into the families of the Sixth House, and while Banteavians still make up the majority of the populace, the Sixth House became known as a bastion between these two peoples. The snaking barony through the Warblewise forest between Farran and Urre constitute these blended peoples, where Antarians and Bantevians live in relative harmony. These borders skirt right past the true heart of the forest, the Emerald Dream, as even though their people may be incorporated, the Sixth House knows better than to tread or claim such revered lands. The warblers that live in flocks within the forest are known to gather in the Emerald Dream, and only the high shamans of the Three Sisters are permitted to listen to the wise warbling secrets of such birds.

Written by Albert R.