Duskfall

His face drawn in anger, Darius stormed from the room with an expression of pure fury on his face. His hand sits on the hilt his blade, and grips it with white-knuckling strength.

“Darius, calm yourself!” A voice called from inside, and out stepped a Hand of Mundus. His visage tense, his lips drew tightly as he noted the surrounding adventurers. “This isn’t the time, nor the place.” He spoke slow, as though to pacify a raging beast. “We can continue this elsewhere, away from these vagrants.”

Darius’ reaction was one of incredulity. “Vagrants? Vagrants?!. Looks closer, oh mighty Hand of Mundus.” He gestured sharply. “You speak of reliance on adventurers like these in one breath, and practically denounce them the next. Yet another example of the type of duplicitous behavior I have seen from Sundren as of late. Bemoaning the hardship that befalls its people, while decrying those who would aid them.” Darius shook his head slowly. “No, I will not bend in this. I will seek out H--”

The Hand’s face sharpened to a degree that teetered dangerously close to violence. As it did, Darius cuts himself off.

“Fine. I’ll not speak the name and reveal your little ‘problem.’ But neither will I stand by and allow such. . .” Darius’ handsome face twisted in disgust and his voice dripped with hate, “. . . such a monstrosity continue.”

“You will do no such thing, Darius.” The Hand countered. “Else there be consequences beyond what you’re prepared to handle.” This last sentence weighed heavily in the small room, hanging over the onlookers.

Darius’ hand had never left his sword, but at this his grip lessened. His eyes darted downward, as though looking for an answer written on the worn wooden floor. His gaze slowly moved up, and seemingly looked through the Hand to something else. Something larger. “A wiser man than I once said that the mantle of responsibility hangs heaviest on those who are strong enough to bear it. I have always strived to be such a man, and I shall not disappoint my god, my fallen brothers and sisters, or myself by not accepting it.” With those words, Darius turned on his heel and straightened his back before striding towards the door, the cloak bearing the symbol of his god fluttering gently among the floorboards.

With a gust of wind, the door slammed shut behind him.

-Recounting of Duskfall, by the gentleman bard Felix Locii

The fall of the Hellstrom family has had many tales told of it over the years, each more outlandish than the last. Some claim that it was a power play by the LaCroix, revealing Harold Hellstrom's vampirism to the Emperor in order to gain an upper hand. Others claim that House Zenten manipulated events so that Lord Darius Blackwell, champion of Torm, learned of his curse and sought out the undead noble to settle old scores. Whatever the case, all agree that Lord Blackwell learned of the House's unsavory origins, and sought to right the valley of a wrong he saw as too long untouched.

Darius, enraged that such a creature has been embedded within Sundarian nobility for so long, quested to Castle Nactura to ambush the creature and kill it. Accompanied by adventurers, Darius killed Harold van Hellstrom in a battle that shook the very foundations of the Spine. Most are unsure how he came to claim such abilities, but most agreed that Torm must have had His hand on the champion. Once dead, Harold and his family quickly fell apart.

Emperor Verinus quickly bought out the majority of House Hellstrom's shares in Exigo, crippling the family financially and gaining a significant boost to his own holdings and reach across the valley. This coup alarms the other nobles, and acts as a impetus to band them together with a common enemy: Verinus. The greater noble families (Veritas, Aurelianus, Ulsteris, Meriadoc, etc.) go to the Emperor with an ultimatum: Relinquish power, or face civil war that the country had not seen in centuries.

The Emperor, thinking quickly, offered an alternative. A Senate, composed of the noble families, who will join him in governing the nation of Sundren and the lands already claimed by Meriadoc and Pendraig. In return for this concession, the Emperor retains absolute power in times of war, voted upon by the families and retains a vote, as well as veto powers in the Senate during times of peace.

In addition, he created of a Regional Council that included the independent powers of Meriadoc and Aquor, and even that of Sestra in governing the valley as a whole. This established the Silent Peace in Aquor, and the protection of the roads.

Forced into exile, the Hellstrom family retreats to its grounds. Slowly, but surely, the Hellstrom family begins to throw more and more bloodthirsty games in the arena, attracting warriors from near and far. The Hellstrom family becomes a financier for bets, and grows increasingly wealthy from the games, restoring some of its fortune. However, their recovered wealth was no cure for the social stigma of their origins. House Hellstrom is turned away from most reputable establishments and organizations, and find themselves without allies.

With the death of Harold, and the promise of regular trade in Sestra, the vampiric presence within vanishes, banished to the Spine. The vampires are hunted across the valley in a wave of adventuring death, rewards offered by practically any major power. As a result, Colibrus worship vanishes and the vampires flee to the Spine and beyond, into the shadows.