The noble House of Ashcaster is a now defunct noble House situated near Lake Elrendar. The house was known for its service to the kingdom as well as providing fine warriors through their academy of war.
History[]
Ancient History[]
House Ashcaster has been around longer than even the Quel’dorei themselves. It’s said that they began as a group of low-born granted access into the Moon Guard due to their talent with wielding the arcane. Their name comes from their unique black flame, even though it is merely an illusion cast over typical arcane magic to make it seem more intimidating. Nevertheless, this is exactly what drew the attention of several Highborne families, who bought their service as bodyguards.
During the War of the Ancients the company turned noble house was kept within Zin Azshari, cracking down on rebellion and making sure that the general populace didn’t know what the Highborne were scheming. Despite their service, the Ashcasters were kept in the dark just as much as those they were being forced to oppress. They began to question what they were doing, and with that wavering loyalty they caught wind that Dath’Remar intended to escape the city with a group of dissident Highborne. In their flight they narrowly avoided being caught in the Sundering, though their lives became even harder from there.
With the outlaw of arcane magic the family struggled to make a living. Given their history in the Highborne the general Kaldorei military refused their assistance in all but the most dire conflicts. Eventually they took part in the act of rebellion alongside Dath’Remar, lending their aid in the arcane storm that ravaged Ashenvale. And like the rest of the Highborne they were exiled from their ancestral lands, finally making a settlement in Quel’Thalas.
Establishing Quel'Thalas[]
The Ashcasters established their lands on the southern coast of Lake Elrendar, opting to be closer to the Amani Empire to better protect its people. Because of this, and the military nature of the family, it’s said that the House bought their favor with Silvermoon with troll heads, even though the nobility up north did not agree with their roughness and generally ignoble tendencies. Despite this the Ashcasters gave their service to the land and guarded it through nearly every conflict in its long history.
Approximately three thousand years before the opening of the Dark Portal the family decided to move away from purely mercenary work and built their estate into a fully functional school for war. Their specialty was in training rangers and marines, as well as giving students a good grasp on anti-troll tactics. Graduates from the academy usually went straight into the Thalassian military, stationed in the southern forests or the border with the lands of the human tribes.
The main family of House Ashcaster has also been seen as either an official Thalassian military unit or a mercenary company under rent in conflicts across the Eastern Kingdoms. Their lands were mostly ravaged in the Troll Wars, but the main estate never fell due to the skill of both the family and the students protecting it. They were hired out to fight alongside the Wildhammer on the ground during the War of Three Hammers, and more recently their most lucrative deal was being rented as personal bodyguards during the goblin Trade Wars.
Downfall[]
After the War of Three Hammers ended with the destruction of Blackrock Mountain, Matriarch Vanidair Ashcaster was worried about the longevity of the House during extended periods of peace. She began to branch out in her approach, sending her children off to several different disciplines in order to gain a foothold in a peace-time market. Reaching from Dalaran, to the clergy, and even to the Thalassian Imperial Court, over the next two hundred years the House began to steadily grow in political power.
This helped them little, however, when the orcs and the trolls laid waste to the surrounding forests. For the first time since its founding the fortress-estate of the Ashcasters burned to its foundations. During the fighting the Matriarch was killed in an ambush by trolls, forcing the House upon Veleth Ashcaster. Although the new patriarch wanted to keep strong ties to the weakening Alliance, the family thought it was within its best interests to rebuild their lands and return to the business of training elves for war. Within a year the school was reopened, due in no small part to the indentured servitude of orcish laborers. The only remaining ties the family had to the Alliance for the next decade were through Veleth, who remained in touch with Lordaeron’s Church of the Holy Light, and the occasional rental of orcs from the internment camps for use in training exercises.
The Scourge caught the family unprepared despite Veleth’s warnings after he returned from studying the Plague in Hearthglen. The warriors of the family rallied to defend the First Elfgate, intending to stop the undead war party in its tracks before ever setting foot in Quel’Thalas. They were killed to the last man. With nobody but greenhorn students to defend their land the Scourge roamed freely, killing everyone in their path. Veleth, having seen them in Hearthglen and after following Arthas to Stratholme, abandoned his home and retreated to Silvermoon, urging his wife and daughter to teleport themselves to Dalaran before the undead took them.
Recent History[]
At this point the House, reduced to merely three people, split into two separate ways of life while both believing they were the sole inheritors. Veleth went on to uphold the House’s military traditions, swearing to defend the Sin’dorei to his dying breath. Meanwhile, Lindrasong and her daughter Seliice joined the Kirin Tor, using the family’s resources to train Silver Covenant Battle Magi. It wasn’t until the Northrend War that the two reunited, and after some explanation on the actual values of the Sin’dorei Veleth was able to reconcile and the three of them returned to live in Quel’Thalas.
The estate itself had survived the Scourge, so the family chose to have it cleaned and restored for use in special occasions. However, during their Pilgrim’s Bounty feast in 28 ADP, the Shattering created an earthquake that caused the building to collapse. Although the three attempted to escape, only Veleth was able to make it out of the home. Lindrasong had been crushed and impaled by debris, while Seliice was pinned. Panicking and in shock, Veleth saw that he could not remove Seliice from the rubble and freed her by amputating her legs at the thigh.
For years this incident had caused him to go into a self-destructive blood rage, but during the Pandaria campaign he was forced to come to his senses. He has since dedicated himself to the family’s original intention to defend the kingdom, joining the Blood Knights and intending to one day restore the House to what it once was.
Vassal Houses[]
The Ashen Groves sported several administrative houses that the Ashcasters used to control the more mundane responsibilities of nobility, allowing the House to focus their efforts on the company and the school.
House Ashborne[]
House Ashborne were the vassals overseeing Blackwatch and the surrounding territories. The House first split from the Ashcasters after the Troll Wars as civilians began migrating south into the Ashen Groves in numbers beyond the means of the Ashcasters to effectively govern. They were known for their unwavering loyalty to the House, actively incentivizing their constituents to join the garrison and take up the name of Ashcaster.
When the First Horde invaded the Ashen Groves however they saw how the Ashcasters were utterly unprepared to protect those under their care. Although tensions cooled with the use of orcish labor to rebuild what had been burned things came to a head when news arrived that the Ashcasters had been destroyed at the Elfgate. Their patriarch marched forth to meet the oncoming Scourge before they invaded the Groves and offered to open the gates if it meant that more lives could be saved.
House Ashborne now commands the Scourge based in the Ashen Groves, their patriarch a death knight with no loyalty save to himself. Their army now controls Blackwatch, a city of the dead.
House Emberrose[]
House Emberrose were the vassals overseeing Silverlane and the surrounding territories. As the city began to grow in political importance the Ashcasters relinquished control over the province to an up and coming family of merchants in exchange for loyalty and taxes. They signed on quickly, and within ten years had invested in over half the Ashen Groves and owned every corner of their home in Silverlane.
The House further gained political political power by investing in Matriarch Vanidair's attempts to diversify the Ashcasters. As they owned every business operating within Silverlane the Emberroses quickly set up a system where nobles from the Silvermoon Court could hire the nobility in the Ashen Groves to produce heirs for them. With blood ties to an increasing number of families throughout the kingdom Silverlane further became the icon for elven culture in spite of the martial tendencies of the territories to the south.
When the Scourge marched on Silverlane the Emberroses locked themselves within their fortress, a vestigial holdover from when the Ashcasters were the sole power in the region. None have heard from the House in years, and forays into the Scourge occupied cities are rare enough that nobody has tried to contact them.