House de Baudelaire

Crest: A dark raven with a wilting rose in its beak (formerly a raven on top of a skull)
Motto:
Relations: Came to power during Black Hand take over
Head of Household: Lord Klaus de Baudelaire

History

Nothing was so foul as the rise of House de Baudelaire, who was perhaps the only noble who celebrated the Black Hand take over. Lord Ashar de Baudelaire was a practitioner of the dark arts and his tower became a popular stop for trade by all sorts of wizards looking for wicked oddities. His family was one of the first to gain a license in Sestra to practice necromancy both publicly and privately, a license that is no longer valid. These days House de Baudelaire denies all associations with animating the dead. Yet local stories tell of a small island surrounded by fog where Lord Ashar’s ghost still practices foul magics on children who misbehave. Most dismiss the story as just that, as a story. One meant to scare children and keep them away from Sestra’s dangerous shoreline, especially during foggy and stormy nights.

Though Lord Ashar had eighteen children with thirteen different wives, all of which mysteriously disappeared, he had but one son. Klaus de Baudelaire, son of Ashar de Baudelaire, had very little in common with his farther. In fact, some were surprised that he was named heir due to their differences and the distance between the two. Klaus looked more fondly to the arts, spending most his time hidden away with ink and quill writing tales and poems. When Klaus became head of the house, it was seen as a moment celebrated by those who wanted change. Yet it was greeted with great fear by those loyal to the house as Klaus was just expected to be a failure of a leader, a precedence set by his farther.

And initially that was very true as he took to wine to deal with the stress of his new role and would often delegate the most important of responsibilities to those just willing to take them on. This did bring a decline in power, wealth, and stature to House de Baudelaire. But it also seemed to adapt to the direction Sestra was taking politically, as unintentional as it may have been, losing once loyal servants of whom had a more fanatical stance on religion. And while the house was once known to be devote to the dark gods, it continued to be devote. Devotion just now leaned heavier into that of the arts and scholarly studies, not as much as religion. And though Klaus never would speak ill of the dark divine, he just often failed to react the way some would want and expect.

After writing what he considered his masterpiece, Klaus’ focus on his noble duties not only increased but excelled. Most of de Baudelaire’s wealth was in Sestra proper, magics and mines, and Klaus started visiting his estates taking great interest and control over his assets. He also started to support some of the more traditional ways, backing that of the Black Cloaks, and looking to old alliances his farther once formed. His so called ‘masterpiece’ became a fairly popular book in back allies and by those who enjoy the macabre, dark humor, and the occult. It also placed a fear into those who don’t, some demands arose begging it to be banned or burnt, and some starting to see Klaus more like his farther than thought.