House Bluestone

Principal House of House Sentel that live in a town of the same name, Bluestone within the vast Stone Labyrinth. Sometimes called the Fool's Gold, copper is the ore mined by House Bluestone, or to be more accurate, mined by the bannermen sworn to House Bluestone and overseen by the nobles employees. Members of Bluestone wear lots of blue and gold coloring, despite being known for the production of the copper mineral and its associated color. During the settling of Iron, when bronze was still the prime metal for weapons and tools, Bluestone was one of the most powerful Houses in the entire Empire. They controlled the mining and export of copper and its alloy, bronze. The Bluestone banner is a dark grayish-blue (Azure) with a faded-gold pickaxe symbol.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Brerides Bluestone, Lord of Bluestone. When he dies, the Bluestone name dies with him besides his son and daughters, who will all take their partners names.

• Chelda Bluestone, Brerides’ wife
• Sir Blarat Bluestone, firstborn and only male heir of the last Stone Labyrinth House other than Sentel. Betrothed to Shalen Sentel and to take the Sentel name. Called the incestuous. Shalen Sentel is the daughter of Markas Sentel, Duke of Stone Labyrinth, and Elivance Sentel, who was once Elivance Bluestone and sister to Brerides, Blarat's father.
• Cheldi Bluestone, daughter of Brerides and Chelda. Betrothed to Kars Sentel.
• Alssa Bluestone, daughter of Brerides and Chelda. Betrothed to Kardath Sentel.
• Grisada Bluestone, daughter of Brerides and Chelda. Betrothed to Kenrick Sentel.
• Seia Bluestone, daughter of Brerides and Chelda. Betrothed to a young Myke Sentel II.
• Elivance Sentel, younger sister to Brerides and dead wife to Markas Sentel

Kars Sentel, the Blue. Father of Bluestone. Kars was a younger brother of the main Sentel family line that split off on his own to venture deeper into the Stone Labyrinth. His is a tale of greed, seeking greater glory than the great iron stores already found by Sentel that would set the Empire up for generations to come. He thought there must be more within the Labyrinth, and although he became a hero for his findings, they were not equivalent to pure iron, and Kars Sentel became known as a Fool.

Culture

The people of Bluestone have become wary over the years, finding themselves slowly but surely pulled into the schemes of House Sentel to completely rule over all of the Stone Labyrinth under one name. Now, members of Bluestone are abrasive and prickly, extremely proud of their surviving culture and importance in mining copper for the entire Empire. When they are made fun of they do not take it well, and constantly push on others just how important the other minerals are, and not just iron. Blasphemous in the Iron Empire. They are a quashed, oppressed people, completely dominated by House Sentel like all its other previous Principal Houses, but Bluestone is still a noble House of Iron. They hold great power in their own town, but unfortunately because of the constant oppression and bleak future of their family line, they are known to take frustrations out on poor workers and townsfolk, who in turn look forward to the Sentel takeover so that they are no longer under the Bluestone thumb.

Assets

Mining and exporting copper for the production of bronze.

History

The town of Bluestone first appears in history as a great Sentel hero was venturing through the Stone labyrinth. A Minotaur villain named Rkargh used to prowl the Labyrinth during this more primal time and kill any who dare set foot in his domain. Rkargh the Wanderer would find small children that strayed from the Labyrinth's passages and eat them, bones and all. It is said that the Minotaurs were a surviving species of horrible creations akin to those that destroyed the world outside, creations of Ydall, God of Life. This great hero, the first Bluestone whose name was Kars Sentel, or the Blue, went deep into the Labyrinth seeking the origin of all the unique bronze weapons wielded by the tribes and Minotaurs dwelling in the labyrinth. His kin had found the great iron stores in Old Iron, and were starting mining in the Stone Labyrinth for iron, but Kars the Blue saw wealth and power in finding great copper stores as well. Iron was expensive and immensely important for the Iron Legion, equipped to each soldier with full plate and weapons. But commonfolk needed to protect themselves as well, and how were they to do such a thing when all iron was being used in the conquering and therefore settling of Iron. He also thought that the Minotaurs might have been protecting some great treasure, a hoard of gold or even more iron. In an epic battle where Kars used his wits to trap Rkargh in his own maze, Kars slew the beast and followed its tracks back to its lair. Within, Kars found what he sought, great stores of natural copper veins diving deep into the mountains with a faint blue hue. He brought some of the copper and forged bronze alongside the Minotaurs head back to his Sentel kin, who laughed at him for using such a weaker material. Kars, resentful, broke from the family and started his own House in the fashion of what his family had taken to calling him, the Blue Fool. He took the name Bluestone and made enough money from selling and forging bronze tools for the commonfolk that he was able to make the Bluestone House legitimate, and even thrive, although palely compared to Sentel and their iron. Bluestone is still covered in ancient cave carvings telling the tale of the first Bluestone in increasingly dire situations. Of how Kars fought an entire legion of Minotaurs, or how he single-handedly defeated the entire species.
Members of House Bluestone backed Sir Roderick Sentel III during The Taint of Devotion, and were defeated by the rest of House Sentel. As a form of surrender, the heirs to Bluestone are forced to marry into Sentel, thus erasing Bluestone in the next generation like the other Principal Houses of Sentel.

Blue Blood, Copper Veins: Our Golden Ore

Type

Political, Family

Alternative Names

Fool's Gold

Leader

Brerides Bluestone

Ruling Organization

House Sentel

Leader Title

Lord

Parent Organization

Iron Empire

Location

Bluestone