[center][h3][b]HOUSE CARLISLE[/b][/h3]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/HUIMrVX.png[/img]
[i]"From Duty Runs Rivers of Gold"[/i]

[b]House Specialty:[/b] The Carlisles see themselves as custodians of their land. Certainly, they demand absolute obedience from the rest of their countrymen, but it is for the sake of mutual prosperity. Life in the highlands is rough and short, and thus the Carlisles have no particular love for war, unlike many of the other noble houses. Instead, they seek to endure the hardships of their land, and more: To not only endure, but thrive.

[b]Ancestral Weapons:[/b] The Carlisle Kings have passed down for centuries the magnificent claymore [i]Ragenclau[/i], an ancient mythril sword rumored to be forged by magic, lighter than a blade its size has any right to be. On its flat end is inscribed in the old tongue of the highlands the words of House Carlisle, which gleam with coated gold.

[Hider=Important Members]
[h2][b]Maendon Carlisle, King of Erayis[/b][/h2]
[img]http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/237x/8a/5c/94/8a5c9478ce39d1c76880737ac8642e1a.jpg[/img]

[b]Age:[/b] 54

[b]Appearance & Personality:[/b] The reign of King Maendon of Erayis has been long and prosperous, his name toasted across the realm, his reputation one of wisdom and kindness. Few rulers have the love of their people the way Maendon does. Yet he is a deeply unhappy man, who has had to watch as his family suffered tragedy after tragedy. At 54 years of age, he seems a man a decade older, his hair a tangled grey mess, his face sagging and unsmiling, and where he once had a great beard, now there remains only a sad remnant.

[b]Talents:[/b] Due to his age, Maendon is no longer the swordsman he once was. Luckily for him, he is still sharp-minded, if prone to lethargy and depression. Throughout his reign, he has provided abundant proof of his far-sightedness and his cleverness with coin, and due to his efficient administration his kingdom is more prosperous than anytime before in living memory.

[b]Friends & Rivals:[/b] The King's main rival is his own brother, the Earl of Trethclyde. Their dislike for one another largely stems from the former's response to the latter's dark deeds, notably the banishment of the Earl from his own homeland.

[b]Background:[/b] See the "Recent Family History" section.

[b]Other information:[/b] N/A

[h2][b]Targan Carlisle, Earl of Trethclyde[/b][/h2]
[img]http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/237x/a9/e3/9f/a9e39f4912b6a15ad3e5625133afddc7.jpg[/img]

[b]Age:[/b] 39

[b]Appearance & Personality:[/b] The Black Dog of Trethclyde, as he is known, is a handsome man, tall, fit, with bright blue eyes which cause much discomfort among others. He is usually smiling, and laughs and jests a great deal. This merry demeanor is a trap, however: he is a cruel man, who is never as happy as when he is torturing others. He is prone to fits of rage, and his wroth is truly frightening to behold. To his countrymen, he is a hero, a valiant warrior and fearless leader of men, while to his enemies, he is a beast in human flesh, the stuff of nightmares.

[b]Talents:[/b] When one considers the Earl of Trethclyde, the first talent one thinks of is his prodigious skill in the art of torture. In this, he is considered one of the finest- if that word may be used- in Orlandis, as his countless victims can attest. He is also quite skilled in the art of violence in general, and as a swordsman, he is among the greatest of this age. For all his faults, none can deny his valor in battle, or his courage. Yet he also possesses a cunning mind, though he prefers to think of the here and now, than the distant future.

[b]Friends & Rivals:[/b] As stated previously, the Earl's most bitter rival is his brother, King Maendon of Erayis, who banished Targan after the latter murdered his own son in a fit of rage.

[b]Background:[/b] See the "Recent Family History" section.

[b]Other information:[/b] Currently serving abroad as a mercenary, due to his banishment from Erayis. Nicknamed 'The Black Dog of Trethclyde'. Heir to the throne of Erayis.

[h2][b]Malcolm Carlisle[/b][/h2]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/4eozVn8.png[/img]

[b]Age:[/b] 17

[b]Appearance & Personality:[/b] When one considers Malcolm Carlisle, one is struck by the difference between him and his father, the wild Earl of Trethclyde. Where his father is bold and valiant, Malcolm is meek and weak, and prefers the solitude of reading to the chaos of battle. He is but an adequate swordsman, and has professed a dislike for the art of the blade. Though considered handsome, he is also gaunt and always displays a certain anxiety. 

[b]Talents:[/b]

[b]Friends & Rivals:[/b] Malcolm is too young to have any true rivals. 

[b]Background:[/b] Malcolm Carlisle was born in Trethclyde Castle in 882.6.14, to his father's first wife, Lady Issa Maelfon, the second child after his older brother Fergus. Before he could walk, however, his mother was murdered while ridding through the forest. Though the Stormborn were officially blamed for her assassination, men whispered that it was the Earl himself who had killed his wife, though the why of it varied from teller to teller. Needless to say, Malcolm and his brother had a strained relationship with their father in their childhood.

Their father remarried before his wife's corpse was cold, with the new bride suffering an equally suspicious death seven years later. Through his various wives, Targan would go on to sire five children, in addition to his two oldest sons, with two younger daughters, and a boy the youngest. Growing up, Malcolm was revealed to be the opposite of his father: where his father was mercurial and prone to fits of both rage and merriness, his son was a shy, anxious youth, who shunned the art of the blade his father so loved in favor of the scholary pursuits. It was his older brother, Rudolf, who had the temperament of their father, yet it seemed like this resemblance only served to earn Rudolf the dislike of Targan.

They heard and saw all the terrible deeds their father would commit, and it was Rudolf who would always try to rein the wild Earl in. This would inevitably only make Targan more angry and more unpredictable. One day, he returned to Trethclyde from a raid in Stormtir with a train of captives in tow. He gave the women to his garrison, and had their throats slit afterwards. He was not so merciful to the men; Declaring them all to be pillagers and savages, he erected wooden stakes in the castle courtyard, and had the captives nailed hand and foot to them, before leaving them to slowly starve to death under the burning sun.

Their dying cries proved to be too much for Rudolf, who confronted his father in the Great Hall, in front of the entire court. He berated the Earl for his cruelty, and demanded the prisoners be put out of their misery. Outraged at his son's defiance, Targan grabbed an iron candlestick and beat him to death, as his younger siblings could only watch. When he was done making a bloody mess of Rudolf's face, he ordered Malcolm to toss his dead brother into the river. Malcolm did as he was bid, dragging the corpse out of the castle.

However, when Malcolm's uncle, King Maendon Carlisle, heard about his brother's kinslaying, he was outraged, and sent a courier to Trethclyde to inform the Earl that he was no longer welcome within the kingdom. Leaving with his retinue of loyal followers, the Black Dog of Trethclyde began his exile, and would go on to serve as a sellsword in foreign lands. Malcolm was thus left in charge of the castle and earldom. 

[b]Other information:[/b] Heir to the Earldom of Trethclyde.
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[b]Vassals:[/b] There are eleven principle duchies which, in addition to the lands of the crown, administer the kingdom:

[b]+[/b] The Duchy of Elgin 
[b]+[/b] The Duchy of Mar 
[b]+[/b] The Duchy of Eglinton 
[b]+[/b] The Duchy of Rothes [b][M][/b]
[b]+[/b] The Duchy of Terrisford [b][M][/b]
[b]+[/b] The Duchy of Roden 
[b]+[/b] The Duchy of Wexford 
[b]+[/b] The Duchy of Lauderdale [b][M][/b]
[b]+[/b] The Duchy of Stormont 
[b]+[/b] The Duchy of Reay 
[b]+[/b] The Duchy of Cavan

**[b][M][/b]: These duchies are considered Royal Marches, and their holders are titled Mormaer, a prestigious title.**

[hider=Duchy Borders][img]http://i.imgur.com/KJ631zI.png[/img][/hider]

[b]Courtiers & Retainers:[/b] [To be determined with possible Vassal players]

[b]Realm:[/b] House Carlisle is the royal family of Erayis.

[b]Primary Holding:[/b] 
[hider=Image][img]http://i.imgur.com/Rr3qjIK.jpg[/img][/hider]

The Carlisle seat, and the capital of the Kingdom, is the fortress of Galenave, a half-ruined citadel said to have been built by the old Highlanders a millenia ago, nestled into the mountainside. Every King of the Highlands since those days has been crowned in and ruled from Galenave, and it has become a symbol of the Erayan people themselves.

The fortress sprawls over a great region, though most of it is ruined beyond use. Now, only the New Keep is garrisoned, a deceivingly-named castle built over a hundred years ago, which nevertheless stands taller than any of the other abandoned sections of Galenave. To reach the New Keep, one must follow a winding path through the ruins, and many an invader have lost themselves there.

The castle ruins are overgrown with vegetation, and infested by honey bees; one needs only take apart bricks in a wall to find honey snuck in by the creatures. These hives are tended by the Carlisles, who harvest large quantities of honey from their uninvited yet welcome guests.

[b]Vassal Holdings:[/b] [To be determined with possible Vassal players]

[b]Influence & Relations:[/b]

[b]Exports & Imports:[/b] The Carlisles, like other highlander families, are not a rich people. They inhabit a rough land, unsuitable for intensive agriculture. Instead, the highlanders of Erayis are primarily fishermen and sheep-herders.

[b]Recent History:[/b] The reign of King Maendon of Erayis has been long and prosperous, his name toasted across the realm, his reputation one of wisdom and kindness. Few rulers have the love of their people the way Maendon does. Yet he is a deeply unhappy man, who has had to watch as his family suffered tragedy after tragedy. At 54 years of age, he seems a man a decade older, his hair a tangled grey mess, his face sagging and unsmiling, and where he once had a great beard, now there remains only a sad remnant.

Born to the throne, he was a single child, his mother suffering from countless miscarriages. He grew up alone, lonely in the vastness of Galenave without children of his age to play with, his father always battling some rebellious earl, with only his mother to entertain him. Because of this, he grew very close to her. Unfortunately, when he was fifteen, his mother died in childbirth after a long period of suffering. Yet this time, the babe survived, and was given the name Targan by their father.

By then, however, the age difference was too great, and Maendon mostly ignored his brother, feeling something of bitterness towards the latter for the death of their mother. He duly inherited the throne at the death of father. Faced with a dangerous faction of discontent earls, he married the daughter of one of their peers, Eilidh of Mar, to keep the peace. Contrary to his expectations, she proved to be both beautiful and clever, and they quickly came to love one another. Many say that it was she who ran the kingdom, and not him.

Unfortunately, Eilidh also proved to be infertile, and produced stillborn after stillborn, with none of their children surviving past the first year of their life. This took a toll on her, and less than a decade after their marriage, she died of a fever. Maendon was devastated, and never fully recovered. Despite the urging of his vassals, he refused to take another wife, and became more and more reclusive.

It was at this time that his young brother Targan, before now living under his elder's shadow, began to build his reputation, for better or worse. At the age of 21, Targan led a royal force against the rebellious Earl of Trethclyde, earning victory in a bloody storming of the castle. He hung the Earl from the ramparts upside-down, with the Earl dying only after the sixth day of this torment. For this victory, he was granted the defunct rebel's titles, and became the new Earl of Trethclyde. His renown only grew from there, and he became known for his fierce hatred of the Stormbroken, taking every opportunity to smash their raiding parties. He flayed every stormbroken he could get his hands on, and posted their skins on posts all along the western coast of his fiefdom as a warning to their kin.

Yet for all his heroisms, news of his sadistic deeds began to spread, and King Maendon grew increasingly displeased with his behavior. Targan went through wife after wife, whose deaths, it was rumored, were not accidental. He had an icy relationship with his children, the oldest of whom were his sons Fergus and Malcolm. Matters finally came to a head when Fergus, his 19-year old heir, confronted him over another burst of violence on Targan's part. The argument grew heated, and, angered by his son's insolence, Targan beat him to death with an iron rod as his wife, his children, and his entire court watched. He then made his now oldest son Malcolm drag his dead brother out of his sight. This ended whatever patience the King had for his brother, and he banished the earl from Erayis. Now, Targan is 41 years old, and is currenty serving in a mercenary company in a foreign land.

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