House Wolvendale, ruling house of County Dale, part of Kingdom of Nirath - EU

”Knowledge is power, knowledge brings wisdom and prosperity, power brings freedom and protection!”

Purpure, one wolf Or queue fourchy armed Argent, on a chief embattled Argent two billets Gules.

Wisdom, Knowledge, Scholarship

The three main pillars of virtue of House Wolvendale, the undying desire for knowledge, the experience and wisdom to make wise decisions, the unbreakable will and might to protect our lands and people.

House Wolvendale & County Dale is a European based community. However we welcome people from all over the world who wishes to join us.

(Coat of arms subject to change, please note until further information have been given as the Silver barred helmet represents the rank of Count, if available at a later date then a Count coronet will be added)

The desire for knowledge have been the driving force behind many great minds and House Wolvendale continues this tradition as all of its members have always strived towards the goal of learning all there is to know and unlock the secrets and mysteries of the world, especially the arcane arts.

Within the lands of House Wolvendale the ruling members of the house encourage their vassals and subjects to study, research and learn, all in the name of progression! Libraries, universities and schools are not an uncommon sight in County Dale and with its official policy to make education free for everyone it encourages people from all over the continent to travel to County Dale to study and learn.

The main focus of County Dale is commence, scholarship and the arcane arts as the main goal of the county is to become a central nexus of knowledge and business, with the commence allowing the financing of the free education system and to allow development of new businesses which seeks to incorporate the new knowledge, technologies and magic invented in County Dale, where the next decades knowledge is available today.

By decree of House Wolvendale the study of the arcane arts are allowed and encouraged, as magic is scarce throughout the land it is the dream of House Wolvendale to create a place where magic can strive and prosper, and perhaps one day even become abundant. The council of Sages lead by the Court Magician governs the laws, polices and usage of magic and the arcane arts throughout the County of Dale.

Commence is one of the core focuses of County Dale and serves as the backbone of the infrastructure in the county. Universities will teach advanced mathematics and business to allow merchants to develop their business strategies better or teach specialised skills to contractors and labourers to allow them to offer skills normally unobtainable for most. By decree of House Wolvendale the tax rates will always remain low to encourage business within the county.

The court council governs the policies and laws of County Dale with the exception of any decisions regarding the arcane arts or magic as this falls under the jurisdiction of the council of Sages. The court council will consist of members of the Nobility, Aristocracy, Scholars and representatives of the Gentry. Any policies or law changes will be required to be approved by the court council in order to be passed and instated as by decree of House Wolvendale in order to ensure all voices are heard and accounted for.

Ruling House

Main house of House Wolvendale

Patriarch: Count Magtaius Wolvendale of Dale, the First of his name, the Honourable, Lord Commander of the company of Wolves. ((OOC Name: Magtaius)

Court council of County Dale – Positions of Power

Viscount: TBA (Appointed by liege, if any, is granted the title of Viscount in addition to any held titles, is not hereditary. Serves as a direct assistant to the Count and act as Count while the house ruler is not present, must be of nobility)

Chancellor: TBA (Granted the title of ‘Chancellor’ for as long as they remain in the position, also granted the honorary ‘Master of the Council’, serves the role as the Administrative leader of the court council and is elected from within the court council by a majority vote, if a tie then it is determined by the Count)

Steward: TBA (Granted the title of ‘Steward’ as long as they remain in the position, also granted the honorary title of ‘Master of the Vaults’, serves the role as treasurer, land manager and infrastructural advisor, the position of Steward is always appointed by the Count)

Financial Advisor: TBA (Granted the title of ‘Court Advisor’ and is granted the honorary title of ‘High Almoner’, serves the role of a Financial Advisor to the council. Can be of the Gentry)

Elder Scholar: TBA (Granted the title of ‘Elder Scholar’ as long as they remain in the position and is granted the honorary title ‘the Wise’, serves an educational, the voice of the scholars and infrastructural advisor. Can be of the Gentry)

Representative of the Nobility: TBA (Granted the title of ‘the Noble’ in addition to any other held titles, serves as the voice of the nobility within County Dale and is elected among the Nobles by a majority vote and if a tie then they are elected by the county liege)

Representative of the Aristocracy: TBA (Granted the title of ‘High Advisor” as long as they remain in the position, serves as the voice of the Aristocracy within County Dale and is elected among the Barons, Mayors & Magistrates by a majority vote and will continue to vote until a victor is determined.)

Representative of the Gentry: TBA (Granted the title of ‘High Commoner’ as long as they remain in the position, serves as the voice of the Gentry of County Dale and is elected among the commoners and aristocrats by a majority vote and will continue to vote until a victor is determined)

Marshal: TBA (Granted the title of ‘High Commander’ as long as they remain in the position and is granted the honorary title of ‘Commander of the company of Wolves’, serves the role as the military advisor and second highest commanding officer next to High Commander which is held by default by the House ruler of House Wolvendale. Can be of the Gentry)

High Librarian: TBA (Granted the title of 'High Librarian' as long as they remain in the position and is granted the honorary title of 'Keeper of Knowledge' and is tasked with the perseverance of all knowledge in County Dale and administrating the Great Library of Dale. Can be of the Gentry but my be a learnt person)

Court Diviner: TBA (Granted the title of ‘the Holy’ in addition to any other held titles, serves as the religious advisor of the council. The Court Diviner is not allowed to vote on any matters relating to the arcane arts but their voice is to be heard in the matter. Appointed by the Court Council, can be of the Gentry)

Court Magician: TBA (Granted the title of 'Arch Sage' and is granted the honoary title ‘the Magical’ in addition to any other held titles, serves as the advisor for the arcane arts, education and magic. The Court Magician is the administrative leader of the Council of Sages and is elected from among its members. The Court Magician is not allowed to vote on any matters relating to religion but their voice is to be heard in the matter. Can be of the Gentry)

As a precaution the Count of County Dale holds the right of veto for any policies or laws being discussed by the Court Council and the Council of Sages but serves only as a last resort. Should a veto be deemed necessary then a valid reasoning must be presented and the veto can be appealed to the liege of the Count.

Court of House Wolvendale

The court of House Wolvendale consists of any barons, courtiers, mayors or other prominent members of the community who are invited to court either by birth right or by position. Anyone who is part of the court is granted the honorary title of ‘Courtier’ in addition to any other held titles as long as they remain part of the court.

Court Physician: TBA (Granted the title of ‘Court Physician’ as long as they remain in the position, serves as the prime medical advisor and doctor for the members of the court and House Wolvendale. This position is appointed by the Count or Viscount to whomever they deem skilled and trustworthy)

Courtiers:

Oli Wolvendale

(Please see above, if a Baron or Mayor is listed as a courtier then they are not a pledged vassal of House Wolvendale but are granted a seat in the court as per their birth right)

The Council of Sages

The council of Sages consists of the 7 of the most knowledgeable and experienced members of the Scholars and Arch Mages in magical community, they are elected by their peers and remain in their position until death or willing retirement. All members of the Council of Sages are granted the title of ‘Sage’.

The position of Court Magician is elected among the 7 council members and in case of a tie then a tribunal of peers is gathered and they will vote by a majority vote until a single victor is elected.

Court Magician: TBA (Please see entry under Court Council for more information.)

Council of Sages member: Sium Wolvendale, the Scholar.

Council of Sages member: TBA

Council of Sages member: TBA

Council of Sages member: TBA

Council of Sages member: TBA

Council of Sages member: TBA

Vassals of House Wolvendale

Barons or other members of nobility who offer their fealty to House Wolvendale are considered a pledged vassal of House Wolvendale and is generally held in higher esteem and regards than other members of the court and will enjoy the favour of the ruler of House Wolvendale.

By pledging your fealty to House Wolvendale you offer your services and loyalty in exchange for protection and the benefits the County can provide. You will be expected to remain loyal even in the event of an uprising or usurpation and heed the call to arms or aid by the ruler of House Wolvendale. In return House Wolvendale will heed your call to arms or aid.

Pledged vassals of House Wolvendale: TBA – (If you wish to pledge your fealty to House Wolvendale, please contact Magtaius to make arrangements.)

Vassals:

Baroness Iola Wolvendale

Sium Wolvendale

Oli Wolvendale

Allegiances

All allegiances, alliances, treaties, coalitions and the liege of House Wolvendale to whom we have sworn our fealty to will be listed here.

Liege: Loyal vassal of King Dragor of Kingdom of Nirath, under vassalage of Duke Magnus in Duchy Gaudenth.

Allegiances: TBA (If you wish to ally your house, county, guild, organisation etc. with either the County of Dale or House Wolvendale then please contact Magtaius for more information and to make arrangements.)

Places of interest

Manor of House Wolvendale

The manor of the ruling house of County Dale and resides in the County Capital of Wolfstram. Home of the Wolvendale family.

The Great Library of Dale

Located in the county captial of Wolfstram; the Great Library of Dale collects all the combined knowledge of County Dale and serves as a central point of study, research and scholarship. The library contains the largest book and knowledge collection available in County Dale and rivals even that of the national libraries. Featuring study halls, lecture halls, scribing stations and meeting rooms it is the perfect place to learn and study, it is also in close proximity of Dale University. OOC info: the library is inspired by the Library of Alexandria and aims to achieve the same success.

Dale University

The Dale University is open to everyone who wishes to study and learn on all subjects to which only your imagination is the limit. Dale University offers its students a place of residence and study for free. Featuring lecture halls, scribing stations, study halls, meeting rooms, residential and social areas for the students to reside during their stay at the University, by being in close proximity of the Great Library of Dale it allows the students easy access to all available information in County Dale and all while being located in Wolfstram the county capital.

Dale Central Market

Located on the main trade and most direct route through County Dale is the the Dale Central Market where merchants from all around Elyria can gather and trade their goods while enjoying the protection and service of the Company of Wolves. The market will feature a governed auction house and also features a very limted list of restricted trade goods; mainly highly illegal goods such as Slaves are banned from sale. *OOC Info: If the Elyrian Trade Alliance wishes to create a Office in the market then they will be given the land plot for free, paid by Count Magtaius Wolvendale)

Master Scriber's Guild

As County Dale aims to be on the forefront of research and knowledge throughout the land of Elyria a Master Scriber's Guild will be established in the County capital of Wolfstram and will feature a large guild hall with Scriber's crafting stations and other crafting stations required. Members of the Master Scriber's Guild will be able to use the facilities for free and financial aid will be given to those who lack the funding to craft their works in form of basic crafting materials will be provided.

OOC – Out of Character information

House Wolvendale is a heavy roleplay oriented house and our aim is to create a strong community of likeminded people. Our primary goal is to become a commercial and magical hub where anyone will have a chance to earn their place in the community by featuring a Court Council which contains people from every aspect of the community.

What inspired the idea of County Dale? The first spark came when it was stated by the CoE developers the game itself will be set in a low fantasy setting where magic is sparse and only 5% of the population will have ‘magic’ genes/talents at any given time, furthermore the fact magic is inherited generation by generation and is required to be unlocked via study to become available to your character which means there is a tremendous potential in creating a collective community where everyone focuses on unlocking magic and create a safe haven for those who wishes to help build the community. If I had to give an example of the concept where it was successful then I would say Dalaran from World of Warcraft during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion is a perfect example as it served as gathering hub both for the location, auction house, trading and questing.

Now wait a minute, didn’t you start out by saying you wanted to create a commercial hub? That is indeed correct and the reasoning behind that is the fact in order to build a community where study and magic is present then it will require a strong and stable infrastructure as Rome wasn’t built in a day nor do I have any expectations that County Dale will be either, which means building a strong financial backbone from the start is of utmost importance and will allow the community to strive and persist through the time, furthermore it will benefit the duchy/kingdom where County Dale resides and encourage strong Dukes/Kings to integrate us into their territory and grant our base requirements which includes allowing County Dale to be central location located close to the Capital. (Please see list under the ‘Allegiances’ section and the ‘Liege’ entry.)

Overall the aim is for County Dale to become the go-to place if you want to learn magic, want to get your hands on the latest technology, get ideas on how to best improve your business via new technologies or perhaps you want to learn a new skill such as how to alloy certain metals, how to train beasts etc. And all the while you will have access to a striving business hub where you can buy, sell and trade everything you could possibly need all the while being conveniently close to the Capital of the Duchy/Kingdom. The reasoning behind the perhaps ‘rather complicated’ court council system is set in place for the future to help us reach the end goal and to help manage the community after the goals have been reached as I realise a single person cannot possibly hope to accomplish this alone nor manage it alone, neither can I be online all the time.

Now what are MY own personal goals? Well I’ll quite frankly say; it is to be part of building the community as the Count of County Dale, I do not have the ambition to go out and conquer or usurp titles to raise higher up in the noble hierarchy as I feel very comfortable at my current level of responsibility and to others who might say I sound unambitious then I dare say; have a look at the goals I’ve set, they are quite tall and once completed they will be complicated enough to maintain.

Who are we looking for? And why should I join?

First of all, if you have read all of the above information then I would to thank you for taking the time to do so, as I feel it would have provided a good insight as to why you should join and who we’re looking for, but alas we need a TL;DR summary.

If you are interested in the magical or business aspects of CoE then we will be able to provide a solid starting point where you can grow into whomever or whatever you wish to be as there will be a place for all sorts of characters, you might not fancy heavy roleplaying which is quite alright and you can easily play and have a place in the community, we only ask you respect the choices and opinion of other players.

Perhaps you are interested in the heavy roleplay / full immersion experience then I can assure you this is grand place to start as you will have all the freedom to be whoever you want to be without restrictions as you can adopt the persona you feel most in character with, without the fear of getting nick picked upon.

You wish to PvP? Then we have the Company of Wolves, the army of County Dale which will serve under the command of the liege of House Wolvendale and under the command of the Lord Commander and High Commander of the company of Wolves.

You’re all about profit, commence and business? Looking for a place to set up your merchant shop? Why not consider doing so in a travel hub where there is a constant flow of people and customers all the time? Need to sell exotic wares or materials used in the arcane arts? Then this most definitely is the place to go.

Discord & Contact

Discord server: Join us here

Website: http://forums.nirath.org/

Contact: If you wish to contact me please feel free to do so either by posting a comment below, send me a private message on the forums or by reaching out to me on Discord. (Easiest means of contact as I have the app enabled for @mentions)

If you wish to offer your assistance with designing any material such as banners, coat of arms or etc please do feel free to contact me.

Sincerely, Magtaius.

The above information is subject to change as more information is released by Soulbound Studios