House of Ravenshield

The Ravenshield family has been in the north since Arathor was founded and has played a part in many major conflicts in human history. The Ravenshield noble family had once been its own kingdom in the mountains, it later joined the Lordaeron Alliance in an effort to make themselves known. Their words were "By The Winds We Fly" until they pledged fealty to the kings and queens of Lordaeron to the destruction of the entire kingdom during the Third War, it was then changed to "Strong and Few" by Dilan Ravenshield in honor of his family.

Fiefdoms:
House Ravenshield had held lordship over two castles and three small villages that populated the mountains above Lordaeron, though its dominion had been small, the family had provided several armies on many occasions for Lordaeron and Arathor to utilize, most during the Troll Wars and for minor, domestic campaigns.

Ravenshield Keep:
A stronghold up in the mountains of Lordaeron, this mighty keep had seen its fair share of conflicts. The keep had been built by Lord Alerwyn the Raven in the years when Arathor had been young, and apparently still holds records of Arathorian history within the depths of its tombs and libraries.

Alerwyn Castle:
Said to have been built by Lord Hullen Ravenshield in response to the Troll Wars, it had been constructed on an island and only accessible by boat. Since its initial construction, the castle, much like Ravenshield Keep, has expanded and became a small city all its own, giving humanity hope yet for revitalizating the Northern Kingdoms.

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. Even during times of war he would fly his banners proudly. Upon every battlefield that he had gone to, the heraldic raven upon a black shield would flap in the wind; Alerwyn's Ravens were known, and they were both respected as well as feared.

Alerwyn had later found a wife and desired a home, but looking around him, Alerwyn had noticed one thing about the many lords: they all built their fortresses and keeps upon the ground or on shallow hills, none build where none could reach; so Alerwyn marched on, searching for the perfect place to begin building his great hold. It would be months until he marched up the northernmost mountains of Tirisfal Glades and chose a place to build.

It had taken Alerwyn fifteen years to fully construct his home, following its completion, Alerwyn had seceded from the Kingdom of Arathor and instituded his own Kingdom known as Santora. The kingdom would not be apart of the Arathorian Empire, but it would lend aid in the Troll Wars until the collapse of Arathor. During the Troll Wars, Lord Hullen Ravenshield pledged fealty to the Royal House of Menethil and surrendered all their land to them for reasons still unknown today, some say it was as a means to make sure that Ravenshield would be kept safe if the Troll Wars went awry.

The Ravenshield House, striking at a fair bit of luck finding valueable minerals in the mountains (one of the most common being gold), have funded many affairs that Lordaeron has conducted. Lord Hullen Ravenshield expanded a lot of the holdings of the fiefdom and built villages for refugees of domestic wars, in the end, the Ravenshield family had been loved, prosperous, and strong, until Lord Marcus Ravenshield I disowned his son, Marcus Ravenshield II, for attempting to marry a Thalassian noble woman. Marcus Ravenshield II was the heir to the Ravenshield name and fortune, his brother, Dilan Ravenshield the first had died of a sickness sometime prior to the dis-owning; and thus started the slow decline of the Ravenshield family. It was not until the Third war that the Ravenshields would come fall into a major decline and to near extinction.

During the events of the Third War and the sacking of the Capital City, many kept records and historical pieces were lost in the fires that took the city and reduced it to what it is today, records that even held the locations of Ravenshield Keep and Alerwyn Castle, thus leading to the reasons why these two safe havens were spared from the horrors of the Forsaken undead.

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". Dilan has come to work his way up from being a poor soldier, cut off from his family's holdings, and traveled north to find his ancestral home. Dilan had found his home, and discovered it had expanded into a rather small city along with Alerwyn Castle upon its secluded island on the sea. To his suprise, it was untouched by the ravages of the Scourge's plague, and high enough in the mountains to avoid the shambling Forsaken of Sylvanas. Upon finding the keep, Dilan had also found surviving decendents of the mountain farmers, miners and hunters that made a home for themselves, as well as harbor any who had escaped the original plague. Veros Gradwin, acting head of the Ravenshield family following their decline, was an old friend of the family and gave the title of "Lord" over to Dilan after he had proved his worth as a leader, and his lineage.

It is thought that Dilan has 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.

Now ruling over Ravenshield Keep and Alerwyn Castle, Dilan has established strong ties with his people and family. Luck does shine on the family's potential future, for 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.