NHo Noir

The Noble House of Noir is known for being very insular and a little bit mad. They are specialists in dark rituals, curse magic, astronomy, and astrology. Some say that their business empire is the result of their Lord's ability to see the future based off the stars, others say its based on cursing business rivals but that has never been proven in court. The Noir madness is famous for showing up in roughly 1/3 children. For this reason the Lord of the family is required to have at least 2 male heirs, in case one goes mad and is unfit to inherit.

Their symbol is three ravens under a golden skull, Wisdom, Foresight, and Anathema are the three ravens. Under the skull to show that even with these gifts, none are above death. Three ravens are always kept in the thrown room or council chamber of Chateau Noir. All members of House Noir have black hair.

Meet The Family

Lord Asteryel Noir. The Lord of the Household has a bloody history, he had a younger brother who was jealous of his heir status and inflicted with the Noir madness. His father forced to publicly kill the brother for getting Asteryel kicked out of school and the shame he brought on the family. Asteryel was never the same after that, when he was younger he was known at Talon to be friendly. Now he is a recluse, he hasn't been seen in public for decades. He still goes to the Tower of Mizzet but he doesn't socialize or belong to any of the factions within.

Lady Ascella Noir. 2nd cousin and wife of Lord Noir, Ascella is thought to have a bit of Noir madness. She attends events in place of her husband and is known for being vindictive and never letting a slight pass unanswered. She has been challenged to over a dozen duels for minor curses she has placed on nobles who annoyed her, those opponents that survived did so with permanent madness.

Scion Antares Noir. He is not the first child born to Lord Noir but all his earlier siblings died, either in the womb or before the age of 2, possibly because of his mother's penchant for dark magic. He has been raised in isolation, he hasn’t met most of the other heirs of Zirdy. Because of this very little is known about him other than that he is a wizard. Gossip states that he has trained a small army of ravens.

Lady Aludra Montague nee Noir. The older sister of Lord Asteryel Noir, she grew up engaged to the future Lord Montague and married on her hundredth birthday. She and Lord Montague get along but clearly don't love each other, more like friendly business partners. She is rather cold to nearly everyone but family but is a doting mother to her children, especially Cygnus.

Cygnus Montague-Noir. Cygnus Montague is the second son of Lady Aludra's union with Lord Montague, which is a rare occurrence for the Montagues. But Lord Montague was convinced by his wife to have another boy because of Lady Noir's difficulty conceiving. Cygnus is an acknowledged 2nd heir of The Noble House of Noir, if something happens to Antares before he has kids Cygnus is next in line, at which point his name will change to Cygnus Noir-Montague.

Structure

Only death allows for the passage of Lordship within this family. When that happens little is known about how the family successor is chosen. The house charter dictates that any and all hopeful male heirs with the surname Noir enter the Room of Reckoning in Chateau Noir, when they leave one member will have the Lord's Ring, it isn't uncommon for some of the other hopefuls to die in this process.

Culture

The family charter dictates that all full blooded children be named after stars, comets, or other heavenly bodies. The fascination does not end there, House Noir is known to practice ancient divination magics using the stars, though the exact workings of this magic are a closly kept secret and rarely taught to anyone but the lord and hier. They are also very insular rarely marrying into other families, they are distrusted by many and few are eager to introduce the Noir madness to their family line. This has lead a few members over the years to marry 1st, 2nd, or 3rd cousins. All Noirs from the main branch are given star or constellation names.

Assets

The Noble House of Noir is very wealthy, they have a penchant for buying or seizing businesses that have recently suffered a great loss such as the loss of a leader or large cargo. Over three thousand years of predatory business practices has built up the family fortune to rival those of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses. They also have absorbed 2 other lines over the years and thus have 3 seats in the house of lords, but since the Noirs don't care for politics they have named Lord Montague their proxy.

History

House Noir has originally an offshoot of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Ostoroth and the Noble House of Moondancer, this is reflected in their crest by the combination of a skull and ravens. As a Moondancer offshoot they are considered to be experts on dark magic, specifically curses and dark rituals. In modern times the curse expertise of House Noir perhaps eclipses House Moondancer due to their constant research and focus on that discipline over the other dark arts. Do to their unapolagetic nature and questionable research House Noir has been excomunicated and banned from the Elven Church for the last 2000 years.

Mors Est Omnium

Type

Geopolitical, Great house

Alternative Names

Noble House of Black

Leader Title

Lord{Zirdy}

Parent Organization

Zirdy

Location

Château Noir

Related Species

• Elf

Related Ethnicities

• Zirdian