le Sang Dubois
The le Sang Dubois is a small yet powerful family & clan in the Frankish Empire. They are notoriously insular & secretive, keeping themselves covered in dark shrouds & black coloured armour when in the presence of outsiders. This includes in the presence of other Frankish nobility and even the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. They rarely speak, and when they do, they sound either lke a deathly quiet whisper or a powerful booming voice. Either way it has an unearthly cold malice behind it. What skin that is seen is pale and appears almost cold to the touch, with little hair (though black in colour) and a feeling of something similar to small scales or bumps below it at times. A few times it has been mentioned that their eyes are black & hollow, or bright red & with a slight internal glow.
Overall, many others find le Sang Dubois family members sinister & off-putting.
Structure
The family is led by a Count, with three other counts that can fill in when needed. A few dukes & lords also fill out lower ranks and usually have a number of specific duties to each rank. These can randomly change as needed. The rest of the family (even overall clan) generally back up each of the ranks.
Culture
The le Sang Dubois are highly secretive, covering themselves at all times when & where they can. They have a dislike of light, and rarely deal with others in direct sunlight. Regularly doing business in their own domains the le Sang Dubois will have heavy drapes and low light in these places.
Those that have seen their pure black or blood red eyes, and pale skin & black hair, talk of them appearing physically cold to the touch. This has led the le Sang Dubois to avoid touch by outsiders for any reason. Their voices are deathly whispers or booming in nature with a sharp emotionless aspect. This they use to their advantage by rarely speaking, and only when needed. Those that do hear them are regularly shocked or taken aback. The family will happilly let slip secrets of other families to affect the latters standing. One thing that has been noticed, is their accents seem to have a slight Slavic streak & can be spotted in the pronoucations of certain words.
The le Sang Dubois seem to deal in secrets, but how they get these are something altogether.
They seem to deal in magical items and spells, many of them imported from foriegn lands especially those of Eastern European design. Why this is is a constant source of speculation in court. Their houses & other buildings follow slight designs too of Slavic elements, along with their clothing.
Though saying this, very few have ever been in any of their properties or lands to get a good look. Those that have are quickly escorted out when possible, and never get to see the full building inside & out. They report that the properties as cold & dour with little bright colours or ostentacious, and fires rarely lit.
Public Agenda
Secrets & to a degree lies, as well as magic items, that are traded regularly in public. This is especially true in the latter instance, and they own a few trade caravans, and experts in such items, spread throughout the Frankish Empire. It appears that a number of these also have contacts in the east of Europe.
Most people approach them for the magic items, and the odd tidbit of information if the price is right. Nobody seems to actively approach them to work, and those that do, regularly disappear never seen again. A few families seem to work as servants for them and are generally pallid, dour, thin sorts who regularly do any external business at the very start or very end of the day, usually at dawn or dusk.
They appear to use these as a way to control other nobility, and keeping everyone at arms reach. Most believe that something incredibly sinsiter lies at the centre of the clan, and that the le Sang Dubois does not want it discovered.
Assets
The le Sang Dubois owns a large estate in or near most of the larger cities of the Frankish Empire. Parisius, Orleans, Aachen, Salzburg, Wien and Verdun have these such estates. A few smaller estates are spread throughout the empire, and most larger towns & these cities also contain rare item shops, and trade wagons & related warehouses. A few of the smaller towns & villages have the latter too.
They have their own military that is affliated to the larger Frankish army. Spies & scouts are regulars in the military, and answer directly to him. They seem to make use of specific magic items or abilities to carry out their jobs. All are known to follow the fully covered looks of the clan. All are dour, gaunt, and pallid, with a cold touch.
History
The le Sang Dubois family is an unknown in the Frankish Empire. Eactly when they were founded is one thing, and where too. Some of the first records seem to be based around Wien i Austria, saying that they had ties to the locals in or near the border to the east. They appeared here as having strong Slavic ancestry & ties to the Slavs that lived just over the border.
Mentioned in the records is a story that many of these Slavs had a story saying that some of the local tribes were cursed by a blood red dragon, after they had started to worship gods of death. Many of those thrown out of the tribes had been raiders attacking & killing others looking for magic items. They also supposedly drank the blood & ate the hearts of enemies. They also raided a tribe of local kobolds killing every one of them, and taking their idol to a red dragon that they worshipped.
The dragon was incensed that it wasn't getting what it deserved and cursed the tribe that they may only live of the blood of the living & that they can never bear to see the light again. Also, they will know the secrets of he dead much like their gods. That night, a creature of humanoid appearance swept into their makeshift camp, and feasting on as much of the living as possible.
After a few nights, many of those bitten came back from near death, and started to feast on the living. Fearing this, those that remained fled west to get away from the blood drinking creatures. Many took to the city of Wien and a few to Salzburg.
They themselves started to change and found they had a thirst for blood and a weakness to sunlight. They kept to the darkness and slowly built up a reputation of information, secrets & lies. They started to sell these and eventually getting to a position where they were useful to the leadership of the Franks and they were raised to the level of Counts. There they were in a position to search for magic items to find a possible cure for themselves, or just a way to control it.
For the past 250 odd years they have spread out through the Empire and extended through most communities in one form or another. Originally taking their name as le Sang Dubois to remind themselves of their past, it is now a byword for suspicious sinister people.
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