House Aegis

Principal House of House Vaele, House Aegis holds Lucius Hall in the Heartlands. The Aegis banner is an argent silver holding a deep blue shield made of lightning with a large X of the same type across the shield's center, dividing the shield into four equal segments of silver.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Lord Walter Aegis, Lord of Lucius Hall. Younger brother to Dawend Aegis and leader of House Aegis. Was a part of the ploy that made Roderick III give up heirship to Lucius Hall. Known as Wily Walter after the Battle of Blood. Great-great-grandson of Alden the Defender, Founder of House Aegis.

• Calla Aegis, of House Skelsmith. Wife of Wily Walter. She is the granddaughter of Wulfric Skelsmith II, and great-granddaughter of Wulfric Skelsmith I. Sister to Tiberius Skelsmith, famous Bloodsteel smith.
• Sir Gideon 'the Mighty' Aegis, husband to Prylen Vaele and eldest son of Walter. Prylen is a daughter of Arice and Jorrel Vaele. Gideon wields the Storm Aegis in his father's place.
• Alden Aegis, second son of Walter and Calla. Named after Alden the Defender, founder of the House. Despite Alden's namesake, his older brother wields the Storm Aegis, shield of the original Alden.
• Lorelay Aegis, an ancient woman, mother of Dawend and Walter alongside her deceased husband Rocco Aegis. She is senile and cannot leave Lucius Hall. Many claim she is kept alive as a Lost, locked beneath the Hall and fed souls to sustain her, even though her mind is long gone.
• Sir Dawend Aegis, older brother of Walter. Dawend married into the Sentel family through Cayle Sentel X. He was once Lord of Lucius Hall but was upended by his younger brother and son.
• Sir Roderick Sentel IV, Dawend and Cayle’s son. A member of House Sentel instead of Aegis, forgoing heirship to Lucius Hall in favor of the Gold Grottos of the Stone Labyrinth.
• Eltath Sentel, of House Blackthall, Wife of Roderick IV.
• Roderick Sentel V, Roderick and Eltath's son.
• Raina Sentel, Roderick and Eltath's daughter.
• Yara Blackthall, of House Aegis. Sister to Walter and Dawend. Married to Solleus the Kicked, Lord of Goodsoul.

Alden the Defender, Wielder of the Storm Aegis, hero during the Burning War. Brother-in-law to the Second Godsmith, Xandros. Took the name Aegis and split from his original House, House Fenn.

• Kaida Aegis/Fenn, sister of Alden.
• Xandros, the Godsmith. Husband of Kaida Aegis. Creator of Xandrian Artifacts.
• Webbestre 'Webb' Aegis, daughter of Xandros and Kaida. Died from absorbing souls.

Culture

House Aegis is known for one of two things. Their mythical Xandrian shield, the Storm Aegis, or the betrayal of Wily Walter. Positive or negative. Some commonfolk claim that the rumors about what Walter did to his brother and nephew in the chaos of the Taint of Devotion are simply that, rumors. Walter is a good man that is trying to lead his House best he can. The others claim he is evil and the once noble Aegis House has fallen. None can refute their history and power though. Although they are a Principal House of Vaele, they are their least loyal subjects. House Fenn , House Rangor and House Ghostwood are all loyal to Vaele, but Aegis is more up in the air. They follow the rules and serve Vaele, but they are a Principal House only of circumstance, after the emperor gave them Lucius Hall they became servants of Vaele because of the Hall's location, within the Heartlands . Alden the Defender was also a member of House Fenn before he founded Aegis, and Fenn are closely aligned to Vaele. Aegis remain close allies with Fenn as well.

History

The Origin of Aegis and the Soulweaver. One of the two Soulweavers that have ever existed in the Empire's history was a member of the Aegis House. He was common born, but when his creations lead to the founding of the Aegis House through Alden the Defender, he was made a noble. The second Soulweaver, Xandros, was a born Soulomancer that partook in the Burning War alongside such people as The Last King, Iqhawe of No Tribe, Biselis Vanth, and Makarios the Elementalist. He created the more harsh and crude God-Iron artifacts that are either lost or kept as prized possessions in the modern day. The more elegant ones which focus less on battle and more on elegance or convenience or pure wonder belong to the First Soulweaver. Xandros' works of pure violence became known as 'Xandrian', in his honor. Xandros' was best known for his creation of the Storm Aegis, a God-Iron shield wielded by his sister's husband, Sir Alden the Defender. The Aegis became Alden and Xandros' House name after Biselis Vanth retired the Vanth House and Lucius Hall. Many believe that Xandros must have been a bastard of House Glore, since the First Soulsworn, Priscilla was of House Glore. Unfortunately, Xandros met an early death because of his craft, overreaching and losing control of the amount of souls inside him. Because of this, he only had one child, Webb Aegis. The hope was to pass on the art of Soulweaving, but Webb did not possess even basic Soulomancy, and perished after absorbing souls, sure she could expel them like her famous father.
The Taint of Devotion - A Battle of Blood The Taint of Devotion can be summarised as House Sentel infighting that caused great ripples through all the Houses of Iron. It started when Roderick Sentel III married Aislin, a lowborn commoner and turned his cousins Markas, Brunn, and Nyra against him. He fought back for his right to marry whoever he wished and thus, the Stone Labyrinth was divided by blood. The Witnesses came down on Roderick and called him marrying a lowborn as tainting the divine blood of Sentel, descendants of the First Witness.
During this time, Dawend Aegis ruled House Aegis. He was happily married to Cayle Sentel X, who was roped into the Taint of Devotion due to her Sentel blood. Markas Sentel demanded House Aegis take part in the Battle of Blood. Wily Walter hungered for his older brother's seat. He went to Dawend and persuaded him to help his wife's family. Then Walter talked to Roderick IV, his nephew. He persuaded Roderick IV that taking the Sentel name from his mother would bolster his claim to the Gold Grotto's in the Stone Labyrinth in the aftermath of the Battle, as Roderick III was the previous Lord of the Grotto's and his claim is forfeit now. Roderick took the Sentel name and fought for Sentel, without realizing that this would forfeit his claim to Lucius Hall. Then, Walter orchestrated his brother's unfortunate accident during the Battle, where a stray arrow pierced Dawend's privates and ruined him. Dawend barely survived the ordeal. Afterwards, as Roderick IV settled into the Grotto's, and Dawend came home to the Hall, Walter proclaimed to his people his brother's uselessness. He had no heirs of the Aegis name, and his cock and balls were destroyed. There would be no heir to Aegis and they need a strong 'man' to sit the Hall's seat, and Walter had two healthy sons. He was voted in as the new Lord of Lucius Hall. Roderick IV assumed he still had heirship to the Hall, or failing that, that his son would, but Walter fought back and claimed that an Aegis had to sit the seat. Dawend and Cayle later disappeared, killed or on the run, nobody knows.
Lucius Hall The Hall and current seat of the Aegis House. The Hall is less of a Hall itself, and more of a Hall-sized town. It is so vast and encompassing, that the population of Lucius Hall all dwell inside. It is a strong defensive position that was established in the Southern part of the Heartlands during the settling of Iron before the Burning War, before the Empire had expanded to the Thundering Flats, and they wanted a strong defensible position to protect them from the South. Lucius Hall was built by Lucius Vanth, a general of the failed invasion of the Highlands while Glore's Iron Kingdom had settled to the south. Lucius Vanth had been defeated by the great Highland Titan, Ivarr Bloodwolf . Vanth returned to his Hall a failure. Lucius obsessed himself over the truth of Titans, and how they were capable of holding an infinite number of souls with no repercussions. He had children with many different women and put them through torturous, horrible experiments, intent on creating his own Titan. It is said that the walls of Lucius Hall are built on the dozens of children's bones that Lucius killed in his quest. However, he finally succeeded. One surviving son lived and became a Titan. Lucius' theory, as he wrote in his memoirs at the time (books that would haunt even the most stalwart reader) was that the extreme mental duress and horror that Biselis experienced as a child caused his mind to fragment as a coping mechanism, and these split personalities hold the souls, allowing his body and soul to hold an infinite number. Biselis fought in the Burning War, his head bald and moustache white even though he was a young man from his upbringing (or some claim that his mother was a Vaele), 30 years after his fathers defeat. Biselis slew Ivarr and aided the Empire he had been raised to fight for claim the Highlands. However, afterwards, he was different. He traveled back to Lucius Hall, slew his father in the Hall's Seat in front of everyone and walked out. He traveled back to the Highlands and settled in one of their isolated towns, spending the rest of his supernaturally long life aiding the people of the town and keeping a low profile. He fell in love with the Highland culture, people and land, even though he was part of their conquerors.

With Lightning and Valor, We Defend

Wily Walter, Lord of Lucius Hall

Type

Political, Family

Leader

Walter Aegis

Ruling Organization

House Vaele

Leader Title

Lord

Parent Organization

Iron Empire

Location

Lucius Hall