Origins of the Current Lineage
Dating back some time in the Imperial Calendar, during the time of the Von Draks, a small hamlet existed near the dwarfen stronghold known as Zhufbar called Neinabent (Nine-Are-Ben). This hamlet was a prosperous place enjoying the protection of the Dwarfs nearby paying them a levy of thanks whilst still directly reporting to the Von Draks in the castle of Drakenhof. The people of Neinabent were a happy people fuelled by help from the nearby dwarfs and prospered under the rule of the now defunct House of Valda.
The House of Valda disappeared from Imperial records just before the rise of Konrad Von Carstein. The few facts which have been recorded about the House of Valda was that they were a diligent house that treasured diversity and lavished in the richest of things as a reward for their ongoing support of the local dwarfs, and their welcoming of all traders great and small. One of the only recurring notes on record was that the Castle Valda was one of the few places in Slyvania which had not been hit terribly by the Great Plague or by raiding Skaven. Whether or not this is because the Skaven chose to attack the more tactically sound space of Zhufbar, or that the House of Valda were simply lucky, is a matter of conjecture.
Lord Valde
The last remaining records of the House of Valda also indicated several other interesting facts, including a strange occurrence in the Houses family history. The head of the house requisitioned a network of tunnels be dug connecting the Castle to the Dwarfen stronghold shortly after the arrival of Vlad Von Carstein and the appearance of another few small towns around the Black Lake. These tunnels were denied by the Dwarfs as they saw the need to strengthen Zhufbar after losing it to Goblins before and having to rely on Sigmar to help bring it back for them. This happened to occur at the same time as one of the Houses heads returned from paying homage to Vlad Von Carstein and his bride Isabella. Interestingly, the head who returned was burned at the stake upon his return for dabbling in the Black Arts. His burning was supervised by a strange young woman, a lover of the youngest noble of the House of Valda, known as Genevieve.
This is where the records of the House of Valda finish and the real conjecture on the rest of history begins. The most prominent tale is that of the youth, the bat, the dwarf and the knight
Supposedly, this was not the last anyone saw of the burnt Valda. Three whole years passed and nothing remained of the site but reports kept coming in of empty grave sites and large packs of dead wolves appearing where there should have been the howling of the night. The locals simply put it down to the wolfs slowly moving nearer to the Lake because of the new towns appearing. A fourth year passed and people began to notice villagers were disappearing too. At first it was not noticed as the people in question were nothing more than local vagabonds, however a small group of Dwarf Rangers disappeared while doing a routine patrol and search for treasure from Zhufbar and the wrath of Zhufbar fell sharply onto the people of Neinabent. The dwarfs withdrew their support of the hamlet and began to divide their riches and trade between the smaller villages developing on the outskirts of the Black Lake. The House of Valda could tolerate this no longer and the now ageing head of the house felt that there was nothing left to do but try and protect their family heritage by finding out what it was that had caused despair in his town and killed so much. The dwarfs of Zhufbar agreed to this on the basis that they be the first to see the results of the hunt, even sending along one of their Thanes, Rahrak Loadsmasher, the only survivor of the attack on the Rangers.
Two whole weeks passed in the Worlds Edge Mountains as Loadsmasher and the House of Valda felt they were chasing ghosts around. The House of Valda was fully prepared to give in and it was only the Thane that really kept them going. On the fifteenth day of the exploration, the search party believed they had struck lucky when they came across what appeared to be a battle going on. To the House of Valda, it appeared that a noble Knight of Bretonnia was battling against an immense and terrible creature, a large bat of descriptions that one they would have seen in their nightmares. Indeed, the mere sight of the bat brought the word 'Varghulf' to the mouth of one of the party. Watching in awe as the knight fought the bat, the great monstrous creature appeared to be getting the better of the virtuous warrior when they decided it would be best to intervene. In a peculiar twist, the dwarf shouted to the attacking party that they should beware the Knight more than the Bat, but it was too late.
Dispatching the bat with the simplest of dispatch, the Knight turned on the party and mercilessly struck down each of them in turn, only sparing the youngest of the current house because he had held back his attack for a few moments to see the outcome. The knight was one of the infamous Blood Dragons and had come in search of the great bat to hone his skills. It was during this time that the boy noticed as well that the bat was not a mere creature of the night, but it had his grandfathers heraldry on a small piece of clothing hanging from its back. It was then that Blood Dragon spoke to the teenager.
"You, child, are worthy and should not die in this manner."
The Knight had not seen Loadsmasher who struck like lightning and beheaded the vampire in one swift decisive blow, spraying the last of the House of Valda in blood. Loadsmasher approached the bat and examined its body, declaring it quite dead and attempted to leave. It was at this point he was shocked to see the last of the search party cradling the Bat in his arms. The youth knew that he had witnessed the Knight destroy his Grandfather and still felt a shred of loyalty to the beast. Infuriated the dwarf threatened to make the boy the same way if he did not follow Loadsmasher back to Neinabent immediately. The boy took his challenge. It was his last mortal act. The dwarf struck the boy cleanly, knocking him to the ground with a blow from the heft of his sword, then beat him with the hilt in the face cursing the Bat and the Dragon, whichever had killed his former squadron of Rangers. Feeling heavy, the dwarf left the youth and began to make his way back to Zhufbar to make them aware of what had transpired.
As the youth lay dying with his eyes transfixed on the sky, he heard a small sigh from his left, turning his head with his remaining strength, the youth noticed that the Bat was not there anymore, it was gone. Returning his gaze to the sky, the snout of the great beast was in his face and it picked him up by the scruff of his neck and bit into the youth slightly. A small wound appeared next to the ones caused by the Dwarfen sword and the Varghulf gave the youth a perved form of what Imperial Records came to know as the Blood Kiss. Not knowing what was going on, the youth passed out and believed it was the last thing he would ever do.
Three days later he was unceremoniously proved wrong when he awoke, cold as death and filled with the joy of the night. A great thirst gripped his heart and in one fell swoop he turned his attention to the only food supply readily available to him, the Blood Dragon. Its cold bitter tang still held the Dhar the youth needed to be able to gain strength and a strange vigour filled him, yet it was a cold vigour and this needed to be rectified. Searching for a way, the youth was greeted by the Bat once more, and in its maw it held the Dwarf, Loadshammer, who was struggling against the beasts great might. Dropping it, the boy noticed that the Dwarf was crippled by the Bat. Loadshammer burst into a flurry of curses in all the languages known to him, the only one the youth recognised was the word 'vampire' in his native tongue, to which he simply acknowledged and drank the dwarfen blood. Once again, the tang of blood was cold yet it was more fulfilling than last time, and the youth simply smiled as he saw the fallen sword, the same sword which had killed him. A grim smile crossed the youths features as he felt the swords easy weight in his hands. It was then that he beheaded the dwarfs corpse as the dwarf had done to the knight. With this act, the youth accepted his fate and returned to the town, leaving the Bat in the mountains for a few days.
Legend says that upon returning to Neinabent, the youth took up his seat as the head of the house and had ruled as his family always did ever since, not caring for the favour of the Dwarfs and letting the castle fall into decay. Anytime an emissary has come to the castle looking for a tithe or to try and negotiate with the House of Valde, the Emissary has been paid and had lavish dinners thrown in their honour. After five days the same thing would happen as they were wished on their way home with the Lord Valde (the very same youth) saying the following words on their departure;
"Please, go and see Grandfather, he would be most pleased to meet you."
Ninja Edit: More to come!
Dating back some time in the Imperial Calendar, during the time of the Von Draks, a small hamlet existed near the dwarfen stronghold known as Zhufbar called Neinabent (Nine-Are-Ben). This hamlet was a prosperous place enjoying the protection of the Dwarfs nearby paying them a levy of thanks whilst still directly reporting to the Von Draks in the castle of Drakenhof. The people of Neinabent were a happy people fuelled by help from the nearby dwarfs and prospered under the rule of the now defunct House of Valda.
The House of Valda disappeared from Imperial records just before the rise of Konrad Von Carstein. The few facts which have been recorded about the House of Valda was that they were a diligent house that treasured diversity and lavished in the richest of things as a reward for their ongoing support of the local dwarfs, and their welcoming of all traders great and small. One of the only recurring notes on record was that the Castle Valda was one of the few places in Slyvania which had not been hit terribly by the Great Plague or by raiding Skaven. Whether or not this is because the Skaven chose to attack the more tactically sound space of Zhufbar, or that the House of Valda were simply lucky, is a matter of conjecture.
Lord Valde
The last remaining records of the House of Valda also indicated several other interesting facts, including a strange occurrence in the Houses family history. The head of the house requisitioned a network of tunnels be dug connecting the Castle to the Dwarfen stronghold shortly after the arrival of Vlad Von Carstein and the appearance of another few small towns around the Black Lake. These tunnels were denied by the Dwarfs as they saw the need to strengthen Zhufbar after losing it to Goblins before and having to rely on Sigmar to help bring it back for them. This happened to occur at the same time as one of the Houses heads returned from paying homage to Vlad Von Carstein and his bride Isabella. Interestingly, the head who returned was burned at the stake upon his return for dabbling in the Black Arts. His burning was supervised by a strange young woman, a lover of the youngest noble of the House of Valda, known as Genevieve.
This is where the records of the House of Valda finish and the real conjecture on the rest of history begins. The most prominent tale is that of the youth, the bat, the dwarf and the knight
Supposedly, this was not the last anyone saw of the burnt Valda. Three whole years passed and nothing remained of the site but reports kept coming in of empty grave sites and large packs of dead wolves appearing where there should have been the howling of the night. The locals simply put it down to the wolfs slowly moving nearer to the Lake because of the new towns appearing. A fourth year passed and people began to notice villagers were disappearing too. At first it was not noticed as the people in question were nothing more than local vagabonds, however a small group of Dwarf Rangers disappeared while doing a routine patrol and search for treasure from Zhufbar and the wrath of Zhufbar fell sharply onto the people of Neinabent. The dwarfs withdrew their support of the hamlet and began to divide their riches and trade between the smaller villages developing on the outskirts of the Black Lake. The House of Valda could tolerate this no longer and the now ageing head of the house felt that there was nothing left to do but try and protect their family heritage by finding out what it was that had caused despair in his town and killed so much. The dwarfs of Zhufbar agreed to this on the basis that they be the first to see the results of the hunt, even sending along one of their Thanes, Rahrak Loadsmasher, the only survivor of the attack on the Rangers.
Two whole weeks passed in the Worlds Edge Mountains as Loadsmasher and the House of Valda felt they were chasing ghosts around. The House of Valda was fully prepared to give in and it was only the Thane that really kept them going. On the fifteenth day of the exploration, the search party believed they had struck lucky when they came across what appeared to be a battle going on. To the House of Valda, it appeared that a noble Knight of Bretonnia was battling against an immense and terrible creature, a large bat of descriptions that one they would have seen in their nightmares. Indeed, the mere sight of the bat brought the word 'Varghulf' to the mouth of one of the party. Watching in awe as the knight fought the bat, the great monstrous creature appeared to be getting the better of the virtuous warrior when they decided it would be best to intervene. In a peculiar twist, the dwarf shouted to the attacking party that they should beware the Knight more than the Bat, but it was too late.
Dispatching the bat with the simplest of dispatch, the Knight turned on the party and mercilessly struck down each of them in turn, only sparing the youngest of the current house because he had held back his attack for a few moments to see the outcome. The knight was one of the infamous Blood Dragons and had come in search of the great bat to hone his skills. It was during this time that the boy noticed as well that the bat was not a mere creature of the night, but it had his grandfathers heraldry on a small piece of clothing hanging from its back. It was then that Blood Dragon spoke to the teenager.
"You, child, are worthy and should not die in this manner."
The Knight had not seen Loadsmasher who struck like lightning and beheaded the vampire in one swift decisive blow, spraying the last of the House of Valda in blood. Loadsmasher approached the bat and examined its body, declaring it quite dead and attempted to leave. It was at this point he was shocked to see the last of the search party cradling the Bat in his arms. The youth knew that he had witnessed the Knight destroy his Grandfather and still felt a shred of loyalty to the beast. Infuriated the dwarf threatened to make the boy the same way if he did not follow Loadsmasher back to Neinabent immediately. The boy took his challenge. It was his last mortal act. The dwarf struck the boy cleanly, knocking him to the ground with a blow from the heft of his sword, then beat him with the hilt in the face cursing the Bat and the Dragon, whichever had killed his former squadron of Rangers. Feeling heavy, the dwarf left the youth and began to make his way back to Zhufbar to make them aware of what had transpired.
As the youth lay dying with his eyes transfixed on the sky, he heard a small sigh from his left, turning his head with his remaining strength, the youth noticed that the Bat was not there anymore, it was gone. Returning his gaze to the sky, the snout of the great beast was in his face and it picked him up by the scruff of his neck and bit into the youth slightly. A small wound appeared next to the ones caused by the Dwarfen sword and the Varghulf gave the youth a perved form of what Imperial Records came to know as the Blood Kiss. Not knowing what was going on, the youth passed out and believed it was the last thing he would ever do.
Three days later he was unceremoniously proved wrong when he awoke, cold as death and filled with the joy of the night. A great thirst gripped his heart and in one fell swoop he turned his attention to the only food supply readily available to him, the Blood Dragon. Its cold bitter tang still held the Dhar the youth needed to be able to gain strength and a strange vigour filled him, yet it was a cold vigour and this needed to be rectified. Searching for a way, the youth was greeted by the Bat once more, and in its maw it held the Dwarf, Loadshammer, who was struggling against the beasts great might. Dropping it, the boy noticed that the Dwarf was crippled by the Bat. Loadshammer burst into a flurry of curses in all the languages known to him, the only one the youth recognised was the word 'vampire' in his native tongue, to which he simply acknowledged and drank the dwarfen blood. Once again, the tang of blood was cold yet it was more fulfilling than last time, and the youth simply smiled as he saw the fallen sword, the same sword which had killed him. A grim smile crossed the youths features as he felt the swords easy weight in his hands. It was then that he beheaded the dwarfs corpse as the dwarf had done to the knight. With this act, the youth accepted his fate and returned to the town, leaving the Bat in the mountains for a few days.
Legend says that upon returning to Neinabent, the youth took up his seat as the head of the house and had ruled as his family always did ever since, not caring for the favour of the Dwarfs and letting the castle fall into decay. Anytime an emissary has come to the castle looking for a tithe or to try and negotiate with the House of Valde, the Emissary has been paid and had lavish dinners thrown in their honour. After five days the same thing would happen as they were wished on their way home with the Lord Valde (the very same youth) saying the following words on their departure;
"Please, go and see Grandfather, he would be most pleased to meet you."
Ninja Edit: More to come!