Through the nineteen hundreds many truths regarding the Torakaylin family and their connection to the Frozen North surfaced and were investigated, leading the Golden Table to understand some of the horrors that were being perpetrated. During the Cataclysm further alterations to the control of Ironstone Bay occurred as the Torakaylin family attempted to manipulate the Silverlight family through marriage and murder. This sparked a mutiny of power among their followers as the Silverlights became embroiled in politics to protect their borders and found unlikely allies among the Kuldisar of Rockholme, The Lord Plaguemantle of the Fae, and the Ghuls as they emerged from the shadows of the world.
During this saga the Silverlights discovered a lineage with the rogue Angelus that were shifting the outline of the world and that their ancestors were responsible for setting a course that would allow later generations to tumble the stranglehold that the Torakaylins had over faith and set things right. The East of the Royal Basin gathered their banners, largely ignorant of what was happening in the other five Duchies, and prepared to take their might against their overlords. Their vassal houses of Soundvig, Wellby, Livermore, Addison, Saverlille, Korth, Hartwell and Gallows all rose up to march against the capitol of Ironstone Bay, Port Carmine. This is the identified moment when Varken Silverlight, who proclaimed himself Duke and his armies took a pivotal action that would ignite the fires that would burn through the Soul Anchor Incident and then The Shadow War.
The Silverlights were met with power rather than physical resistance, small troop numbers and vast swathes of the souls of the dead were deployed to stop them and the casualties were high. However a guildic charter led by the Duke’s daughter Amelia Silverlight and nephew Garrus Silverlight managed to penetrate the heart of the Torakaylin stronghold in Carmine and there discovered a hideous altar to their own power on which, it was later believed, the souls of millions had been butchered and ‘manced to keep the Divinity of the Deities where they were, and to deny the afterlife that the Gillieabad had intended for the people of the world.
The Silverlight family and their allies are closed-lipped about the exact happenings in that moment but it is certain that both Ghulish and Fae magics were involved as the altar was destroyed. Here Carmine and the surrounding area was drawn into the sea as the power of the altar was split open and some form of leviathan from the sea consumed the temple. Few escaped, thousands perished, and the Torakaylin main family were either killed or forced into hiding. There was celebration among the people of Ironstone Bay as a palpable sense of evil was lifted, but the strongholds along the Drakenvold still remained as deadly as ever. The families that served the Torakaylin also appeared to have been freed from some malign influence and were keen to swear their fealty to the house of Silverlight.
Meanwhile a Basin, reeling from the aftermath of the Codex War, were discovering Fae and Dragon Empire alliances at the heart of the new Rhygharean woodlands. Daemonic activity also sparked concerns for the once Harthalian lands and the appointed Lionsgold ruler of the day Dieron Shadowmane, the legendary Holy Warrior of Tiberius, was soon embroiled in open warfare with the Yuirfarvallen and their allies. This would lead to the emergence of the Lycan community. Indeed, these wars of around 2010 were referred to as the Lycan Wars and would establish Lycanthropes as a people. Saldy, Dieron’s reign was short lived as religious duties and the eventuality of Soul Anchor would take him away. However, during the latter days of his tenure the head of the Lionsgold family, Killbain, was slaughtered and his son Quintus was appointed head.
The child who would be King, the folly, Duchybane were all titles that dogged a ruler who, although a proven soldier, was a petulant and manipulative man who held none of the values or morality that were held by the people of the Basin. Throughout his reign he was shaped and controlled by members of the Blackwood, Pinwheel and Kingsword families but all of these were given direction by the Torakaylin. All evidence points to Quintus having the knowledge of the masters that he served and this can only be underlined by his marriage to Rosie Blackwood, whose influence provided the Torakaylin with what they always wanted: An amalgamation of the three blood lineages that would give control over Essence, People and Land.
His reign dragged from one disaster to another: The Rhygahrean Wars ended with the Rhygahreans gaining an annexation of land, and then he was personally responsible for the murder of fellow guildsfolk and the near destruction of the Tharinos. During his reign he was present in the Soul Anchor Crisis in which Dieron Shadowmane, who many still considered to be the true monarch of the 6 Duchies, gave his life to save us all. This action, many consider should have been taken by the “Boy King” and this was vocally made. At meetings with foreign powers he gave away the Basanic claim to its own waters to the Free Trade Alliance.
In revenge for his family he committed genocide against the Incanta people of the Mountains who were indentured to the Blackwoods that had seen to the death of his Father and his Sister. He lost control of half of the Western Marches when he abandoned them to starvation and disease, and almost destroyed the idea of the Eleven and introduced concentration camps from Lycans. Eventually, at trial, he was stripped of his title and made a Kane-Lionsgold and even attempted suicide rather than face his punishment. Even as a private soldier he caused war with the Iskarani peoples by insulting and threatening their leaders.
More information about the Aristocracy can be found in The Rise of Dazak North.
Holly Goodall
Leave a Reply