House Silvacce History: Vladimyr Silvacce

The following is part one of a three-part account of the history of the House of Silvacce, written by Seneschal Khyrza Embersong.

Vladimyr Silvacce
House Silvacce began as a minor noble House that produced a bloodline that seemed to be focused in diplomacy. Because of their status compared to other Houses, the Silvacce found themselves with many of the less-than-savory diplomacy missions. These were embraced by the Silvacce and used as a means for the determined bloodline to methodically work their way up the social ladder. Minor diplomacy gave way to political diplomacy and economic manipulation. House Silvacce, or the Silver-Voice’d, began to infiltrate rival Houses and eventually subsume them into the Silvacce holdings. By the time Vladimyr Silvacce became Prince of the House, the Silvacce had become a major player in not only Silvermoon politics, but also within the Horde as a whole.

Vladimyr Silvacce, and his two siblings, Tiareth and Tiergan, were the accepted heirs to the mantle of ‘Prince of House Silvacce’ at the time of the Scourge Invasion. A word might be interjected here that the title of “Prince” does not mean royalty; nor does it equate a level of peerage remotely close to that of the Regent, or the former Prince Kael’thas. ‘Prince’, as it is used in House Silvacce, is more akin to the term ‘Head’ or ‘Patriarch’, but has its roots in a Human influence from the merchant Houses that people Azeroth. ‘Prince’, therefore, is a title that equate to the peerage of the Lord and Master of any House in the Sin’dorei culture. No Silvacce prince would even intimate that their title is on the same level as that of the Regent, or the former Prince Kael’thas.

At the time, Vladimyr was in love with a commoner name Anyera. His sister disapproved of the relationship and it was the source of frequent arguments between the two of them. It was his intention to marry her, despite family disapproval, and raise her to nobility. However, during the Invasion, both Vladimyr and Anyera were captured by the Scourge, lead by the Death Knight Vassago. In Vladimyr Vassago saw potential for infiltrating and corrupting aspects of Sin’dorei society. He wanted to break Vladimyr and he concocted a horrific plan that required Vladimyr to resort to cannibalizing Anyera in order to both prevent her from becoming fodder for an Abomination, and to prevent his own starvation. By the time Tiareth arrived with Silvacce forces to rescue her brother, Anyera was dead and Vladimyr was forever changed. Lord Vassago, as well, swore revenge on the fleeing Vladimyr.

Vladimyr took over House Silvacce, assuming the mantle of Prince, and began to regroup and restrengthen. The Invasion was unkind to all, and the losses House Silvacce suffered were comparable. With Vladimyr now as Prince, the Silvacce looked beyond diplomacy towards domination and warfare. Vladimyr began a campaign within the Horde that was a call to the Horde’s domination via the extermination of races such as the Humans. He and the House traveled from city to city to attempt to sway public opinion towards this goal while in secret he formed what he dubbed the November Configuration.

This organization was peopled with mages, warlocks, and priests that focused their energies into examining chaos, subterfuge, and social experimentation. Typically, members of this group did not share their findings with other members of the House, and they were viewed with great suspicion. This was partly earned due to their supposed interference in events and relationships as a means to study chaos. Some of the current Silvacce still hold ties to the group, such as Khyrza Embersong, who was a founding member of the November Configuration.

While these summits of warfare were being conducted, Vladimyr attacked by a warlock named Kristoff. This Blood Elf was a practitioner of chaos theory as well, and saw in Vladimyr a vessel in which to dominate and essentially spread the seeds of chaos. Suspected as an agent of Yogg Saron, Kristoff and his followers sent Vladimyr into a spiraling, nightmare-infested coma that left the healers of the House baffled. It was only upon Archon Malacrux’s murder of one of Kristoff’s agents that the warlock relented enough to remove the affliction from Vladimyr. This came via the price that several Silvacce had to submit themselves to Kristoff to allow him to separate their souls from their bodies. Once done, they were sent into Deathholme on an astral plane level, with Knight General Keirlak Silvacce leading the charge, to retrieve the imprisoned soul of Vladimyr. The Silvacce escaped Deathholme and managed to make it back to Kristoff, who upheld his end of the bargain and returned both Vladimyr and all the rescuing Silvacce to their bodies. While on the astral plane, Vladimyr discovered that Anyera’s spirit was still drifting and he resolved to do the impossible, bring her back. He left them as a parting gift a tome that contains much of his musings on chaos theory and the power of apparent madness. It was, however, more of a curse than a gift, for the writings were designed to seduce the reader into chaotic madness. This tome was handed over Khyrza Embersong for study within the November Configuration, and was stored in the Vault of the House to prevent others from succumbing to the curse.

In the wake of such events, Vladimyr realized the lack of support he was receiving from within the Horde for full-scale war and changed his tactics. War summits shifted into peace summits and a call for the Horde to unite together without the confines of race and beliefs to achieve a common goal. Make no mistake, Vladimyr still favored domination, but he recognized the need to change his tactics. During this time, Elani Pyralis became Seneschal and realized that there was something going on with Vladimyr that the rest of the House overlooked.

On a frequent basis, women were seen entering his chambers late in the evening. This was perhaps not as strange as one might think given the prince’s apparent interest in the female figure. What was strange was that many of the women left, under the healing hand of Elani, with what seemed to be horrific bite marks all over their bodies. Some, it is said, simply never left. Tiareth, ever supportive of her brother, left the House during this time and aligned herself elsewhere in pursuit of her warlock interests. Before she left, however, there was a warning issued by her to both Vladimyr and his closest followers.

Largely ignoring such warnings, Vladimyr continued his pursuit of power and domination during the day while taxing even the reserves of even the diligent Elani with his penchant for female flesh. He assigned the November Configuration to the task of pursuing the possibility of harnessing lost souls and transferring them between living objects. With resources flowing freely, Khyrza worked closely with a Forsaken by the name of Elwes to make such a thought reality.

Shortly after this, Khyrza learned of her father’s grave illness and left the House to see to him in those final moments. She arrived, however, far too late. Vladimyr, in typical Silvacce fashion, had under his employment a physician that saw to Lord Embersong. When the failing health was realized, the prince was notified. Vladimyr, who had grown up with the Khyrza and the Embersongs, saw potential in a dying estate. With Khyrza already under his control via arranged contract, Vladimyr forced Lord Embersong to alter his will so that Khyrza would inherit the Estate with Vladimyr as an Executor. Once this final act was finished, Vladimyr smothered Lord Embersong.

Vladimyr left the Estate with Tera, the daughter of the long-time gardener of the Estate, as his hostage. He sent Malacrux back to kill not only the remaining servants, but also the three representatives of the Regent of Silvermoon who had arrived to accept the donation of Embersong land as per the original wishes of Khyrza’s father. Malacrux buried the bodies in the dead orchard and left as Khyrza and her brother’s long-time friend arrived. Khyrza returned from the Embersong Estate with a Forsaken named Vass who quietly filed into the ranks of the Silvacce under the promise that he would reveal the truth of her father’s death in due time.

Vladimyr now had access to sunstones, rocks that had been infused with the small amounts of leaked arcane energy from the cracked resevoires of the Sunwell. With power at his fingertips, he sent in the Knight General Keirlak Silvacce to secure the sunstones with the help of people such as Haz’taer Kolvington, Ariellea Ambralily, Imlell Leyadorei, and Xanni Vennray. These stones, once harvested much to Khyrza’s annoyance at the destruction of her property, were transported to the November Configuration. They became the catalyst that allowed for the location lost souls and the source of power for the potential transfer.

With the November Configuration in tow, Vladimyr now had everything he needed in order to achieve his hidden agenda: to bring back Anyera from the dead. Tera was handed over to the organization to be torturously reshaped under his guidance to look like Anyera. Tera was alive through this entire procedure, and because the November Configuration was kept far underground, no one heard her screaming. While she was being reshaped, Vladimyr sent the House out, under the guidance of members of the November Configuration to locate Anyera’s soul which was being held in Raven Hill along with countless others. After the near-loss of Ranger General Kalitara, Anyera’s spirit was brought back to the House.

Using the sunstones, Anyera’s soul was broken from its prison and transported back to the House. It was only a matter of time before Tera’s body was fully reshaped as he wished. Late in the evening at some point after the completion of Tera’s change, Vladimyr gathered with Khyrza, Elwes and a small portion of November Configuration devotees. With Tera’s unconscious form on the altar, Khyrza and Elwes served as focal points of power while Vladimyr placed the sunstone on Tera’s chest. Those that slept above on the Estate would only hear the distant sound of thunder as the first stages of Vladimyr’s spell-weaving took place as he read from an ancient tome.

Before the ritual could be completed, however, Vass entered the chamber and interrupted the ritual. With Khyrza and Elwes locked in place due to their role in the ceremony, they could only watch while the unthinkable happened. Vass corrupted the spell to the point that the sunstones misfired their transfers, sending Anyera into the lurking Abomination in the corner, Vladimyr into Tera’s body, Vass into Vladimyr’s body, and Tera into Vass’s crumbling form. With the transfer complete, Khyrza and Elwes moved to try and subdue each person. However, Vass, in Vladimyr’s body, turned on the then-Senator and revealed that it had been Vladimyr that had killed her father.

Khyrza then stopped Elwes from interfering, and both watched as Vass killed Vladimyr in Tera’s body, drove the sword through the head of the Abomination where Anyera now resided, and beheaded the Forsaken shell that housed a confused Tera. Both realized that Vass was Lord Vassago and watched as he went up into the night air of the Silvacce grounds, wreaking havoc. Vass, in Vladimyr’s body, began to systematically kill any that drew close enough, razing enough noise that several awoke.

Malacrux, as Archon of the House, was the first to truly confront Vass in Vladimyr’s body. Ariellea Ambralily, Malacrux’s intended at the time, watched like so many others as Malacrux was forced to do what seemed the impossible. Vass taunted the Archon for death, and with a mixture of regret and resolve, Malacrux took his spiked mace to Vass’s head, killing him with a true strike. In the shadows of the evening, Khyrza and Elwes watched while the alarms started sounding. They knew the truth, however, many who witnessed the final act of death had no idea of what had truly happened. For many, like Keirlak, it seemed that Malacrux had murdered Vladimyr. As the alarms screamed, one order was given to Elwes from Khyrza: dispose of the evidence by any means necessary.

And in the shadow of the night, while the rest of the House screamed murder, he did just that…

A memorial was held for Vladimyr soon after, and the question of succession came forward with the presentation of a document that would shake the House to its core…

House Silvacce History: Malacrux Veilsworn-Silvacce