House Kane
- History -
The Kane name was resurrected from obscurity through the efforts of Alistair Kane. He was the son of a northern nobleman whose influence burned out before he had a chance to grow the family name. In time, Alistair surpassed his father’s reach through dealings with various governments throughout the Northern Kingdoms. Upon his marriage to Niah Kane, formerly Niah Dacar, the pair quietly worked toward the same goals of furthering the House’s influence, particularly in the North.
Together they founded The Iron Lands, bringing smaller houses in as their vassals and working together to be a unified northern power. Work would begin on Queensport, and Irongate, and they would have two children - Alison and Victor Kane.
With time however, despite their efforts, House Kane became quiet and the Northern vassals quieter still. The children were still relatively young, when Lady Niah died to a sudden illness, and Lord Alistair traveled north and held himself up in the fortress of Blackmount, not to be seen for many years. Victor Kane, the only son, vanished some time after, never to be seen again. The bonds they once had with the Fuvurs grew distant, despite the familial ties. Alison was alone for a time, remaining within the Black Manor of Tambry.
After hearing about and later attending a tourney in Reignfall, Alison Kane accepted a political marriage to Prince Edmund Hallon, with promises of uniting their lands, and allowing her to take Queensport under her own rule rather than that of her Father. There was ambitions to later take Blackmount, as well, but plans never got that far.
The Lord of de Courtnay, Sebastien, was overseer of Queensport for her Father, though later vowed his allegiance to Edmund and Alison instead, and served as regent in their absence. He became a trusted ally to Alison as time passed, but their future plans for Queensport would not come to fruition, as a new threat made itself present - The dead.
The armies of Anhald fought and fended off waves of the dead for as long as they could, but it was not to no avail despite their efforts. The threat of the undead later took the lands Alison Kane had fought to retake, and she joined her husband and his people to abandon their homes and flee east, to new lands. A mass exodus, the trip was a long one and it was not without its perils. Sickness and great creatures threatened the lives of all on the voyage, but they prevailed, and would reach land almost two months later. The times after were dull, a unified feeling of loss - For their homes, for the things they’d worked for. Months would pass without progress.
It was however in this transition that Alison bore a son, Aleksandar Josef Hallon, though the marriage would later become strained with the growing distance as each parent focused on a new place they’d hope to call home. Queensport, and Mariensburg.
Time would pass, but with her own determination and support of Sebastien de Courtnay, she recreated Queensport and was made governess of the lands of Kaltstaat - encompassing all northern regions of Anhald in the new lands.
Governess was eventually changed to Queen of Kaltstaat, when Alison was given permission from the Kaiser to bring in her vassals and become an independent state, just as the Kincaids had done before her. While she planned for her coronation, war broke out between Anhald and Fuvur, which included those sworn to serve her under threat of treason if they did not. Ultimately she had no choice in the matter, and so the coronation was delayed. Many months would pass until she attempted again, but yet it was once more delayed with the sudden death of her husband, Edmund I, after his war efforts. A time of mourning lasted for three months, with all flags raised black. Edmund was cremated on a grand pyre, and his remains kept within the Queensport crypts.
Portals opened to give the world monstrous abominations, demons, in the months after Edmund's passing. More men of Kaltstaat were killed or harmed in this time, and if it were not enough, a foreign army would then take over part of the lands Kane would so strongly declare as their own.
In time, Alison Kane aligned herself with a prominent mage by the name of Brennard Westmay and secured a marriage between them. The kingdom waned for a time, until it became a duchy under their joint rule as Duke and Duchess. The pair became increasingly isolationist, and the cities grew quieter. Alison bore twin children to Duke Brennard, Elizabeth Evelyn Kane and Charles Sebastien Kane. It was not long after their birth before dark stirrings began to make themselves known. A cult of spider worshipers had fostered chaos underneath the frozen snow until the ground was ripped apart and chasm grew through the city of Queensport. While the cultist were slain and the city cleansed, the terrible scar remains within the city even to this day.
As time passed, Duke Brennard Westmay solidified his place as the continent's most prolific Evicist and recruited apprentices to study under him. Unfortunately, peace was not in store for the Kalstaat as dissent began to grow on the continent against various actions taken by Kane, Westmay, and Varyn. While Alison had managed to acquire additional lands through dealings with the Asrakosian people, it was a spark that grew into full declarations of war from Southern powers against the Kanes and Varyns for their dealings and perceived threats against the realm.
The city of Queensport was bombarded during a surprise attack, with the naval capabilities crippled and warehouses with much of the supplies destroyed. A tumultuous time for the family, which led to Alison and Elizabeth going into hiding, while Brennard, Charles, and Aleksandar moved to focus on the warfront. However, stalemates led to eventual treaties being made and signed in the neutral city of Arget and the Kanes secluded themselves once more to repair the damage done.
Even though the war had come to its conclusion, Kane would still not know peace. It came to pass that Alison Kane grew quickly ill due to a blood sickness, and the family was in a time of upheaval resulting from her death. The Kaltstaat was given to her eldest, Aleksandar Josef Kane in a series of willed letters. Before any of her children had been given time to grieve, they were greeted by yet another tragedy as Brennard Westmay was brutally murdered by a man of Hawklight during a visit to Storm's Landing. His body was delivered in a casket and interred in Queensport's crypts beside his wife, Alison.
The remaining members of the Kane family rallied together, as many saw their crippled state as opportunity. Many came to the city to offer condolences and proposals. It was not until Arthur Hallon stepped forward as claimant as the new Kaiser that the Kanes felt any real threat. In secret, Brennard Westmay had named another heir to the Westmay name, and the Kanes had to adjust accordingly to their father's names being used to support a foreign crown. Without allies, without an army, and without support, Aleksandar, Elizabeth, and Charles decided to bend the knee to the new Anhald crown and join under Arthur's banners.
Aleksandar's tenure as Duke of Kalstaat was short lived, however. Not long after joining under Anhald, Aleksandar abdicated duties to his sister, Elizabeth. And while Queensport began to grow and show promise, the family was faced with a tragedy once again when Elizabeth came to an untimely death outside the walls of the city. Alone, and with the future of the realm on his shoulder, Charles moved forward to bring Queensport into a new era of production and industry.
A year passed quietly for the duchy, which under Duke Charles's purview shifted toward the name of Kalstaat. Thanks to the efforts of the Sisterhood, both Alison Kane and Elizabeth were returned in time. After a brief tenure away from the duchy due to the Ashen Blight overtaking the realms, Elizabeth and Charles combined their efforts to further the Kalstaat's growth. Even though Alison walked the realms once more, she retired for the seclusion of Blackfall towards the east while the twins carried the weight of their family name. With the former Kaiser vanished from the word, the Kanes purused independence and autonomy of their lands, with great value placed on the strength and aptitude of their people.
The Kalstaat experienced a boom in industry with new blacksmithing and mining operations, as well as briefly becoming an oft used respite for the Rangers. The growth of Eastwatch brought in new sources of agriculture. However, in the wake of discord and betrayal, the city shut its gates to all visitors and the twins fell into quiet isolation.
In the following years, Duchess Elizabeth Kane reemerged into the public eye with a young daughter to now care for as the heir to their legacy, while her brother kept to himself in one of their northern cities. Elizabeth oversees most day to day life within Queensport and the surrounding cities for the time being, and slowly aims to push the Kalstaat into a state that fully embraces industry, the arcane, and meritocratic ideals like she and her brother had strove for for many years.
(Credit to Elz for writing most of this. I added the more recent bits.)
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