House of Ravenshield

History
The Ravenshield family was founded a short time prior to the Troll Wars and played a role in many major conflicts in human history. The Ravenshield noble family was once been its own kingdom in the mountains, but later joined the Lordaeron Alliance in an effort to keep from any unecessary conflicts. Their words were "By The Winds We Fly" until they pledged fealty to the kings and queens of Lordaeron. Their words then changed to "Strong and Few" by Dilan Ravenshield in honor of his dwindling, but resiliant family. The noble house, having their keeps and homes in the mountains would keep in contact via raven, but while being a trust-worthy messanger, the ravens also represented House Ravenshield on their banners and during battle. The family, following the decline of the Arathi Empire, claimed the mountains of Western Tirisfal for their own, cultivating it and making it into a manageable enviroment.

[[File:1477898.jpg|thumb|left|320px|Lord Dilan Ravenshield as a Lieutenant in the Argent Crusade

Art by: Avannteth]]

Fiefdoms
House Ravenshield holds lordship over several smaller houses and many castles. The noble house and it's cadet houses populate the western mountains above Lordaeron, though its dominion was minor, the family provided several armies on many occasions for Lordaeron and Arathor to utilize, but mostly during the Troll Wars and for minor domestic campaigns. There was a time when a third castle thrived under Lord Alerwyn Tyrocious' rule, but it fell out of the graces of history when it fell to ruin.



Ravenshield Keep:
A stronghold located up in the westernmost mountains of Lordaeron, above the farmlands of Tirisfal, west of Deathknell. The mighty keep had seen its fair share of inner conflicts.The keep was built by Lord Alerwyn in the years when Arathor was young. It apparently still holds records of Lordaeronian and Arathorian history within the depths of its tombs and libraries.

Alerwyn Castle:
Resting upon the high peaks of the Western Tirisfal Mountains with the other castles under the Ravenshield house, Alerwyn Castle was built by Hullen Ravenshield after Alerwyn Tyrocious' death and grew into a small city. Prior to the third war, the Selzan Family inheirited the castle-city and made it their home, but the recent lord of the Selzan house, Asher Selzan, betrayed the other nobles and was discovered as being a cultist for the Cult of the Damned. Dilan Ravenshield led a siege on the city that lasted for three days before the gates finally fell and the inhabitants were found slaughtered and raised as undead, Selzan had escaped, but the city itself and the villages surrounding it are now corrupted and bare the taint of the plague that poison the Plaguelands to this very day.



Tyroholde:
The true "first home" of Alerwyn "The Raven". Tyroholde was the home of the original Tyrocious family when their ancestors landed in the Arathi Highlands from Northrend. The fortress was once stone and wood, but it was taken during a violent raid and razed to the ground, prompting Alerwyn to leave his hilly homeland for greener pastures in the mountains.

Brightseat Keep:
The Fortress of the Paelor Family, the first  cousins of the Ravenshield House. It was gifted to the Paelor family by  Lord Hullen Ravenshield and sits in the mountains with  Ravenshield Keep ; it sided with Gilneas during the Second War and stands today, proudly following its ruling house once again.

Highrest:

Highrest was a small town under the command of the House of Paelor, but once they rebelled and asked for independence, Baron Paelor subdued the rebels and spoke with their leader. After much debate, the two came to an agreement. Baron Paelor gave Highrest to the rebel leader and gave birth to the house of Gradwin.

Clan Tyro:
A clan of humans that was established before the Kingdom of Strom and conqured by it, Clan Tyro slowly but surely changed into the House of Tyrocious and aided in some of the most important human struggles up until after the Troll Wars. Following the Troll Wars, the lord of House Tyrocious fled the lands of Arathi in spite of the other lords mocking his house's sigil, a white raven clad on an opal colored banner with an onyx boarder. He renamed the House Tyrocious into the House of Ravenshield and lived in the mountains where his family grew, protected by strange magics of the forests around his castle.

House of Hightower:
The most loyal, but smallest house under the Ravenshield banner is the House of Hightower. The house of Hightower is responsible for Lord Dilan Ravenshield's assention to Lordship and for saving his life during the Northrend campaign. Currently, it is led by the aged paladin and Knight of the Silver Hand, Aurious Hightower, who serves his lord and the Argent Crusade with honor.

House of Gradwin:

Veros humbly lords over the small house of Gradwin. They are the oldest and wisest house under Dilan's banner and are the most light-fearing of the houses yet are far from zealous. In his old age, Veros Gradwin attemptes to teach Dilan everything a lord needs to know about ruling his house before he passes away.

House of Paelor:
The second strongest house next to the Lord's very own, House Paelor is lorded by Allastor Paelor, a master warrior who preaches that strong militant influence is truly the key to order. Because of his military preachings, Dilan and the other lords keep a close eye on Paelor, even if he has proven his loyalty lies with Dilan.

House of Selzan:
Known to have been the most relusive and mysterious house, the House of Selzan did little to help when the Ravenshield family was dying off, instead it turned away and shut its gates. It was later revealed that house Selzan's lord was a servant of the Cult of the Damned and bombed his castle with plaguebombs, leaving the land in a state of inhospitality. Selzan now hide's from Dilan's wrath, slowly but surely biding his time for his next scheme.

House of Withersteel:
Not exactly a house that serves the House of Ravenshield, instead it is under the command of Lord Marcus Withersteel, the once true heir, Marcus Ravenshield. Simply pledging to aid the house because of the Ashen Verdict, Marcus seeks to rid House Ravenshield of all its enemies and preserve the Ashen Verdict's ideals.

Origins
The Ravenshield noble house was founded by the long dead Lord Alerwyn Tyrocious, the Raven of Arathor. Lord Alerwyn had been named "The Raven" by his fellow lords for his use of the raven as a scout, messanger, or pet. Upon being named a lord, Alerwyn adopted the raven as his sygil and wore it with pride, even chagning his surename to Ravenshield, during times of war he would fly his banners proudly in spite of his fellow lords. Upon every battlefield that he had gone to, the white, heraldic raven upon an ebon and orange shield would flap in the wind; Alerwyn's Ravens were known, and they slowly because respected as well as feared.

Alerwyn grew tired of his crumbling home of Tyroholde and found a wife, desiring a home away from the Arathi Highlands. However, looking around him, Alerwyn noticed one thing about the many lords: they all built their fortresses and keeps upon the ground or on shallow hills, none built where none could reach; so, Alerwyn made an exodus to the North, being one of the first lords of the Arathi Empire to leave the Kingdom of Strom and settle in what would become the Kingdom of Lordaeron. Searching for the perfect place to begin building his great hold, Alerwyn knew it would be many years before his home was finished. He and a large group of people, who he convinced to join him, marched up the westernmost mountains of what would come to be known as the Tirisfal Glades, and chose a place to set his foundations.

It had taken Alerwyn fifteen years to fully construct his home. Following its completion, Alerwyn decided to secede from the Kingdom of Strom and instituded his own Kingdom known as Santora, but would not be recognized as a ruler. The kingdom would not be apart of the Arathorian Empire, but it would lend aid in the Troll Wars. However, the Noble house did not claim much glory from the conflict. Following the Troll Wars and Alerwyn's death, his son, Cargy Ravenshield, cut off ties to the rest of Humanity. It was not until the Kingdom of Lordaeron was established that Cargy's son, Hullen Ravenshield, pledged feilty to Lordaeron and surrendered all his land to the mighty kingdom for reasons still unknown today. Some say it was as a means to make sure that Lord Hullen and his people would be kept safe if from any future conflicts, while others suggest it was to keep in the Lordearonian lords' good graces. The truth died with Hullen.

It was after Lord Hullen Ravenshield re-opened ties with humanity that the the Ravenshield House struck rich; finding valueable minerals in the mountains, one of the most common being gold, and using their wealth to fund many endevours. Their gold reserves also funded many affairs that Lordaeron conducted; Lord Hullen expanded a lot of the holdings of the fiefdom and built villages for refugees of domestic wars, as well as constructed the island stronghold of Alerwyn Castle, in honor of his grandfather. In the end, the Ravenshield family (under Hullen) was loved, prosperous, and strong. It wasn't until Hullen's son, Lord Marcus Ravenshield the first, disowned his son, Marcus Ravenshield the second, for attempting to marry a Thalassian noble woman. Marcus Ravenshield the second was the heir to the Ravenshield name and fortune, his brother, Dilan Ravenshield the first died of sickness sometime prior to the disowning; thus started the slow decline of the Ravenshield family. It was not until the Third war that the Ravenshields would fall into a major decline and to near extinction.

It was during the events of the Third War that the histories of many nobel houses dissapeared; the sacking of the Capital City by Arthas Menethil caused many kept records and historical pieces to be lost in the fires that took the city. Records that held the locations of Ravenshield Keep and Alerwyn Castle were lost and their memories faded from mind. So, by an ironic twist of fate, Arthas Menetil saved the citizens of the Ravenshield holdings from utter obliteration at the hands of his Scourge.

Current Status
The house of Ravenshield had fallen into decline, the last surviving member is Dilan Ravenshield II. Only by technicality is Marcus Ravenshield III a surviving member as well, but only because he is undead, making him barely able to call himself a surviving heir to the title of "Lord".

After finding a document and map that detailed a small keep in the mountains, Dilan traveled through hostile territory and discovered that his ancestral home had expanded, with greater news that Alerwyn Castle still stood untouched by war to this very day. To further his surprise, Ravenshield Keep was untouched by the ravages of the Scourge's plague, and high enough in the mountains to avoid the shambling Forsaken of Sylvanas (Coupled with the fact that nearly all documentation of its existance was obliterated in the Capital's fall). Dilan also found surviving descendants of orignal settlers within the keep, as well as survivors of the plague who managed to escape through the mountains.

In the absence of a Ravenshield heir Veros Gradwin acted as head of the Ravenshield family following their decline, and supposed extinction. Veros was an old friend of the family and gave the title of "Lord" over to Dilan after he had proven his worth as a leader, and for his heritage.

It is thought that Dilan had bastards born to him as a result of him sleeping around during many of the wars he had participated in, but he knows nothing of the children he may or may not have, thus making that rumor inconclusive.

Dilan recently left Hearthglen to seek out his holdings once again to bring his house into the Argent Crusade. Dilan established strong ties with his people and remaining family, hoping to turn them easily from the Alliance. However, most of the dukes and earls took months to convince, and one duke, Lord Selzan, nearly seceeded and sparked civil war between the factions. Luckily enough, Dilan managed to change their minds, bringing the heads of the house to sign a formal document to relinquish their ties to the Alliance. Through all of the suffering that the Ravenshield family has gone through, luck shines upon the family's potential future at last. Dilan has found love with a woman by the name of Scarlet LeClaire, a member of the Argent Crusade. This union is paramount the survival of the Ravenshield Noble Family, and in such difficult times, much is uncertain in what could happen.

Geography
WIP

Legends in the Forest
WIP

Religion
WIP