House Paratus

Lords of Midcross, a town in the Thundering Flats. This House is renowned for their defence against the Soleri tribesmen of the South, and the iconic Midcross tower which sits at the southern border of the Empire. The crest of Paratus is a faded pink banner with a device of a tall, lone tower of grey stone.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Sir Aradiel Paratus, Lord of Midcross. Sir Aradiel currently sits the crossing, and is looked down upon by many of his bannermen for his lack of contribution to the Bone Road. Aradiel is more peaceful than his predecessors, and is attempting to make the most of the new Ivory Age, pushing for trade and peace between peoples for both their betterments.

• Sir Ventarion Paratus, the Sonslayer. Ashamed. Uncle of Sir Aradiel. Accidentally slew his son, Nelanus Paratus in a friendly tourney joust in Emerald Falls.
• Soren Paratus, Sir Soren the Bonelayer. After Midcross was resettled, he restarted the construction of the Bone Road. The Bone Road connects Midcross to its most nearby towns and is made out of the bones of dead Soleri tribesmen that the southern fringes of the Empire fought during the Great Settling, and later, The Burning War.
• Gwyneva Paratus. First wife of the Lord of Banes, Ri Drevyn Tarbor II. Sister of Sir Aradiel.
• Lyno Paratus. Daughter.
• Seliah Paratus. Daughter.

Paratus Blackblade, this House's namesake. Her parents were the Black Blade and Pantensus Glore. Paratus would marry a lowborn man named Jaze, and together they had two sons. Paratus was named for her mother, Pantensus.

• Algar Paratus. Firstborn son of Paratus and Jaze.
Alongside his brother, he resettled Midcross and continued the conflict with the Soleri.
• Atillus Paratus. Secondborn son of Paratus and Jaze.

Roland the Resolute. Established and built Midcross during the Great Settling, before the south was abandoned. Roland is one of the few figures from Midcross' abandoned past that has survived in knowledge to the present. He led the useless defense of Midcross against the Soleri 'savages', and created the Bone Road as a border of which no Soleri would cross.

Culture

Due to the history of House Paratus, they are an untrusting lot. Since the beginning of the Ivory Age, they have been against trade with the Soleri that they call savages. They have been warring with the Soleri tribes for generations and their land is fundamentally built on that blood spilled. They do not trust the Soleri and view them as less than human. Paratus have also been hardened by generations of expected attack, and even though the Soleri have stopped trying to roam their ancestral lands now claimed by Iron, Paratus knights must be at attention and watchful of their lands, for their emperor. They are keen in sight and great with ranged weapons, firing from high in the Midcross tower.

History

The history of House Paratus is a bloody one rife with miscommunication and belief.  During the Great Settling, a massive host of Iron Pilgrims ventured further south than the Heartlands, intent on setting up a far away southern border for their growing Kingdom.  A group of Iron travelers that went further south than any other begin construction of Midcross, a lone tower that tells of the Kingdom's border. Unaware that the rest of the Kingdom abandons the south towards the end of the Great Settling, this host of travelers stake their lives upon this tower and swear to defend the Kingdom from all threats of the south. These 'threats' were Soleri tribesmen who traveled into this land each year as a part of their ancestral migration, to travel with their herds and find sources of water as others dried out. Inevitably, fighting erupted between the tribesmen and the Ironers, and Midcross became the site of bloody combat between two sides that did not understand or trust each other. Occupation of the constructed Midcross tower would change hands often, but would not stay with one side for long.
These pilgrims-turned-warriors fought tooth and nail to protect the abandoned Thundering Flats from falling into the hands of the Soleri, who merely wished to travel through with their herd during their own land's dry season. One such pilgrim, who was said to be knighted by Ethos himself as no other knights lived in Midcross, started the construction of the Bone Road. This man was Sir Roland the Resolute. The tale of Sir Roland is a gory one. From the perspective of the Empire, he is a man unparalleled in glory. He, alongside his reaver's, who named themselves Roland's Reavers, slew countless Soleri savages from getting into the lands that belonged to the great Iron Kingdom. They protected holy land with righteous steel against all kinds of threats. A Battle of Blood and bone, the Resolution was where Sir Roland the Resolute made a name for himself in defence of Midcross, which was tragically abandoned by the rest of the Kingdom unbeknownst to the people of Midcross, in an all-out battle with a Soleri tribe, the Miisai. These red robed spear-experts fought tooth and nail for their ancestral grazing lands but were eventually repelled by Sir Roland and his Reavers. The bones of dead Miisai and other tribesmen were laid in a barrier stretching to either side of Midcross as a warning. The truth of this battle is that Sir Roland knew the Soleri traveled as a large tribe, so when the battle begun, some of Roland's troops slipped around the Soleri force to attack their defenceless tribe. The warriors saw the smoke during the battle and half split to help their families, while the other half fought on, but their force was divided and thus easily defeated by the Iron forces. This is still a mark of distrust on Soleri's end, remembering the hundreds of women and children that were slaughtered by Ironers. Skirmishes would constantly berate Midcross for the centuries to come, leaving Midcross in the same state until The Burning War, forming of the Empire, and later re-settling of the Thundering Flats during the Ashenblight plague.
House Paratus was started by the half-blood sons of Paratus Blackblade during the rule of Emperor Calavius Glore, the Demon. They held little sway within the new Empire, and were often discarded in their attempts to rise in the ranks. However, when the Thundering Flats were being settled again, the two sons of The Black Blade wished to prove themselves and saw opportunity abundant. They, alongside their bannermen, traveled past the newly settled town of Banes (the first settled town in the Thundering Flats), to seek out their own land. Blessed by the emperor, House Paratus traveled with their close allies, House Blackblade, to travel south. The Blackblade's settled along the coast in Rumblehood, while the two brothers of Paratus (and their much smaller force of bannermen) found the remnants of Midcross. Midcross had been decimated by the constant fighting and supernatural storms of the Thundering Flats. The settlement was focused on defence, and they severely lacked any real agriculture, or connection to the farawar Iron Kingdom that had left them abandoned nearly 100 years before. All that remained, amongst the bones of starved men and women, were a couply scrawny survivors of one family. They survived by eating rats and grass, and the occasional Soleri tribesman when they could. But the Paratus brothers could see remnants of great warriors in Midcross and decided to settle here, making a name for themselves as the new defenders of the southern border of the Iron Empire. In the following years, when the rest of the Thundering Flats were settled, Midcross would become increasingly important, and Paratus would rise within the Empire as one of glory, known amongst the commonfolk of the Empire as the House that defends them from the Soleri 'savages' of the south that want to eat their children. In truth, the Soleri no longer stray close to Midcross, altering their nomadic routes.

Type

Political, Family

Leader

Aradiel Paratus

Leader Title

Lord

Parent Organization

Iron Empire

Location

Midcross