House Silvacce History: Malacrux Veilsworn-Silvacce

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

Malacrux Veilsworn-Silvacce
The ceremony for Vladimyr Silvacce was highly attended, and while many disagreed with his politics on a global scale, they still attended to pay their respects. With the House in a state of both mourning and chaos, it was becoming unclear who would be named the new prince. Tiergan, Vladimyr's younger brother was a minor and considered by many to be too weak in personality to hold the position. Tiareth, his sister, was suspected of intending to return and claim the position for herself. Elani, as Seneschal, worked to hold the House in some semblance of order but her efforts would be in vain.

Malacrux, still recognized as the Archon of the House, began an investigation of Vladimyr's personal quarters with the claim that perhaps there would be more to explain the full extent of what happened with Vladimyr. What he actually discovered rocked the very foundations of House Silvacce. A small box was discovered among Vladimyr's personal items. Inside were documents that not only served in many ways as a Will, but a series of forged lineage documents that traced Vladimyr and his siblings to a rival merchant House that was seeking to infiltrate Silvacce from the inside out. Given the timeline on the documents, Vladimyr and his siblings had no idea that their lineage was something completely different than the Silvacce bloodline they claimed.

Alongside these genealogy documents was a statement from Vladimyr that detailed his wishes upon his untimely death. In a shocking turn of events, Vladimyr's last edict as prince of House Silvacce was to place it in the hands of Malacrux, naming him prince. The impact of this devastated the foundations of the House. Tiareth, rather than claiming the title as her own in direct opposition to Malacrux, quietly collected her brother, Tiergan, and left the estate.

Malacrux immediately dropped his surname and used only the Silvacce name, calling the House together to formally make his rightful claim known. In what would become known as Pery'alta, or the Great Divide, members of the House were forced to choose between their loyalties. Knight General Keirlak refused to accept Malacrux as the Silvacce prince, and several others agreed that it should be a Blood member. Malacrux, with documents in hand and the support of loyalists to the wishes of Vladimyr, advanced on Keirlak and moved to arrest him.

Notable at this moment was the positioning of several members of the House. With the Knight General in clear opposition, and Malacrux's forces advancing on the Blood Knight, both Elani and Khyrza moved to defend Keirlak while Ariellea and Haz'taer moved to defend Malacrux. Xanni, in complete rejection of a non-Blood Silvacce at the Head, took Imlell with her and quit the Silvacce. Keirlak stated that he did not wish to harm members of the House and in what could only be described as a gut-turning moment, called upon his sphere of protection, bid both Elani and Khyrza farewell, and hearthed to an undisclosed location.

Malacrux immediately condemned the Blood Knight and labeled him a traitor. Malacrux's first official act of office was to place a bounty on Keirlak's head for his perceived treason. Sensing the divided loyalties in the House, Malacrux turned his attention to those who stood in defense of Keirlak and established an iron-fisted rule of the House. Where Vladimyr had been a smooth-talker, Malacrux was a man of physical dominance. Elani was taken aside and re-educated on where her loyalties should be. Khyrza, through her growing friendship with Ariellea, was forced to bow her head to Malacrux. Olieane Silvacce followed Keirlak while his own siblings, Haedrian and Carathyn, remained behind, though at a distance from the House proper.

In the wake of such events, Malacrux sought to replace the Knight General and reorganize the House under his rule. In an unprecedented move, Malacrux elevated Haz'taer Kolvingar to the position of Commander as a means to replace the position of Knight General. Haz'taer was the first Orc in Silvacce history to achieve such a position of honor. This marked the first of several changes that Malacrux would bring to the House. The House was re-organized into the three branches that exist today with the help of Elani, Khyrza, Ariellea and Haz'taer. As a consequence of past actions and current thinking, Malacrux ordered the termination of the November Configuration.

Khyrza, who was the recognized leader of this organization of Balance and Chaos, attempted to argue against this decision. She was ultimately over-ruled by Malacrux and the power of his ever-present mace. Khyrza, in an underground step, dissolved the November Configuration and reformed them into simply The Configuration. This was done without Malacrux's knowledge and the members took vows of secrecy and loyalty that would bind them to death itself. This would be the first of many acts of defiance Khyrza would initiate.

Shortly after Malacrux took over the House, the Regent of Silvermoon sent word via courier that he was requisitioning the current prince for a mission in Outlands. Malacrux took his mace, joined several other Heads of Houses, and went to Outlands to spy on Kael'thas. The purpose was for the Regent to gain the support of undecided Houses on Prince Kael'thas's sanity. Malacrux returned a changed man. The mace he carried, created from a demon's skull and pounded spikes, seemed to have grown in size and importance. Malacrux was rarely without it and often used it as a direct tool to threaten not only would-be upstarts, but his own House members.

In the months following, Malacrux appointed Aaisha and Hywel to senatorship. The two had no love for the other and their political fights drove many members to the other end of the Estate. Agnatius, a mage with the House, ingratiated himself with Malacrux at this time to attempt to break into the Silvacce arcane vault. The attempt went horribly wrong, causing the leystones that surround the House and serve as a means to keep the Scourge out, went down. The nearby Scourge, sensing a change in the environment, attempted to invade the Estate. Among the wounded in the attack was Thrauk, an Orcling whom Ariellea felt a certain fondness for.

The House rallied under Haz'taer's battlecall and the Scourge were driven back from the Estate. The magisters of the House worked to repair the damaged leystones, but not before the ultimate price had been paid by some members. Ariellea moved into the Infirmary to care for the Orcling while the rest of the House attempted to repair the damage done.

Elani soon received word from her father, Lord Pyralis, that she was to fulfill her marriage contract with the Blood Knight Thaelon. This was met with resistance from Elani who ultimately caved into the wishes of her father and allowed Khyrza to perform the ceremony. Shortly after the wedding, Elani left the House to return to the Pyralis Estate with her new husband to attend to her family's grounds. With the Seneschal now gone, Malacrux turned to Khyrza to step into that position.

With his sanity slipping to the point where Malacrux suffered from powerfully intense mood swings, all eyes were on the mace he carried day and night. At times coherent, Malacrux oversaw the arranged wedding of Fiorelyn Dawnstrider to Solihn Silvacce and seemed a reflection of his happier self. It was, unfortunately, a little too late for Ariellea. Malacrux's instability and his unwillingness to help her avenge little Thrauk became the dividing wedge that drove the two apart. Ariellea, angry for a variety of reasons, left in search of revenge. She was, unfortunately, grievously wounded and Kaula, Thrauk's mother, took the Senator and her son to Durotar for healing.

The loss of Ariellea's presence seemed to send Malacrux ultimately over the edge. Mad, Malacrux called for Khyrza and explained that he wanted her to join the mace's head to where his left hand would be. Khyrza refused, and Malacrux went into a rage. He forced her into the act, going so far as to be the one who cut off his own hand. The extent of what happened behind those closed doors is still unknown. What is known is that the Seneschal called for individuals that were shrouded and lacked definition or shape. These, people whispered, were the remnants of the November Configuration.

Angered by the realization that Khyrza had essentially undermined previous wishes, Malacrux couldn't argue against their use as they worked to do as he demanded. The next day, Malacrux's fate was tied to the mace's head. In that moment, the members of the House saw the full possession of the man that was their prince.

The demonic possession nearly destroyed the House in the weeks that followed, and Khyrza was often picking up the pieces. In the middle of the night, a scream tore through the Estate, sending her rushing to the prince's rooms. Malacrux was thrashing on the floor, clutching the bloody stump of his left hand. There was no sign of the mace's head. The prince continued to mutter over and over "They took it..." and despite Khyrza's attempts to being him to a state of peace and awareness, Malacrux would not stop.

In that moment, the Silvacce history would turn in a direction no one expected. Khyrza stood over Malacrux and ordered him bound in chains. A declaration of his instability was issued, along with her seizing of power for the good of the House until the matter of rule could be re-established. In effect, Khyrza used Malacrux's apparent insanity as a means to stage a coup and take control of the House. Few resisted this move as most had seen what Malacrux had become. The Blood of the House did not take issue with her doing so as Khyrza made no attempt to give herself a title that belonged to another.

What she would do, however, was create a position of power and prestige that never presumed to be titled in a Head of House manner. She would remain, for the moment, Seneschal of House Silvacce, guardian and protector of the Silver-Voiced, as she had once sworn to be.

Part Three:
 * House Silvacce History: Khyrza Embersong