House Baenre
House Baenre stands as an example to those of our society who do not strive for power and success. We will push harder and go further than any of our brethren. This is why we succeed when houses fall to their death around us.House Baenre, a house of immense power that has survived the trials of the ruling council in the city of Eryndlyn for centuries, no small feat for the matrons of this house. The name rings throughout the halls and arching caves of the Underdark, from friend and foe alike, before drifting to the surface to be spoken of as great traders and business people. A house that is spoken of so highly in the Underdark, especially with the cities of the Drow, are not without their secrets and scandals, without a history blackened by blood as dark as their skin. Under the rule of Matron Xune Baenre, House Baenre ascended to the ruling council, becoming a force to be reckoned with in the depths of the Underdark. Her ascension was quick, scandalous in its speed even when the noble houses rose and fell constantly. She rose to power young, surviving the trials of the council and the Underdark for centuries. Even with the long lives of the Drow, many had forgotten a world where Matron Xune Baenre did not rule with an iron fist. House Baenre was a well-known name in Eryndlyn, but the night of The Matron Murders brought greater recognition and greater fear. Zilvra Baenre was not the same type of leader as her mother, and this showed in the house's relentless attempts to rise further and usurp anyone in their way.
House Baenre Family Tree by RiverFang
Assets
House Baenre is known for being one of the biggest trading hubs in the Underdark. While other noble houses move goods between each other within a city or possibly one other city, House Baenre has a network of traders and mercenaries that work throughout the Great Tunnel and on the surface. Their greatest trade good are weapons made by the Duergar of the special metals of the Underdark.
A large export of the Baenres within the Underdark is there well-trained Riding Lizards. These creatures are often trained for tracking and combat. One of the only creatures that can easily survive the Underdark and its climate, Riding Lizards are extremely valuable to Drow guards and others that venture beyond the walls of the city. In Eryndlyn, these creatures can only be gotten from House Baenre.
This house is also extremely wealthy in terms of soldiers, weapons masters, and priestesses. Matron Zilvra has a large family and has used her numerous children to gain her a better position within the ruling council. The standing guard of House Baenre cannot be rivaled by any other house except for the ruling House.
History
The history of House Baenre is as old as Eryndlyn, but most of that history is written in quiet whispers and secrets left hidden behind closed doors and tight lips. The Eldritch War that so ravaged the surface world, decimating large areas and removing whole species from the continent of Vóreios, is seen as just another small instance of horror and death in the long history of House Baenre. Its women have always been ruthless, searching for a power far beyond their status; its men, simple pawns in the matron mother's games.
Eryndlyn rests at the end of the Great Tunnel that is closest to the Spine of Kallex. This fact and the position of House Baenre's quarters within the city allowed the matrons to begin trading and utilizing that position long before the need for mercenaries was realized. The matrons prayed to the Huntress, calling their trade missions their goddess-given quest. In the earliest days of trading, their goods moved between the noble houses and through the city, but the matrons of House Baenre wanted so much more when the other house began trading as well.
With a nearly overzealous ideal, the matrons of House Baenre began trading with other cities further down the Great Tunnel. Their Riding Lizards were soon known far and wide, but their aggressive attitude towards business is what gained them clout. A matron mother of a drow house means nothing to the other sentient creatures that live within the Underdark. But a sharp business sense and a willingness to get blook on their hands helped them expand far beyond anything ever seen.
Great Tunnel by Landscape via Artbreeder, created by RiverFang
Sharp blades gain more power than dull ones, but burning blades, ones that glow with a deep-seated heat, will always succeed when a sharp blade would fail.After the Eldritch War, opportunities to trade with the surface opened to the Underdark. House Baenre was the first to capitalize on this change, quickly employing barbarians like the Llanowar Clan and others who made their homes in the Spine of Kallex to safely move their goods. It was a necessary relationship to grow the trading empire that House Baenre had become. This trade allowed Matron Zilvra to begin her ascent to power.
Notable Scandals
Rise to Power
House Baenre strives for power more than the others. That is why they will rise when others fall.
The death of a noble house is a shame, but death is the way of life in Eryndlyn. Others will rise up in their place.
House Baenre hides its secrets and intentions better than most. It's unsettling, even for a drow.
The exact dates of Matron Xune Baenre's ascension to power are skewed, as it is another instance of the dark history of Eryndlyn that is only kept behind tight lips and closed doors. No one dared write down the date of such a rise to power, of the fall of two noble houses. Two of the lesser houses fell on the same day, something attributed to a house war between the two fallen houses. Matron Baenre emerged from the rubble of those fallen houses and took her place on the ruling council, without so much as a thought to those that had fallen.
The ways of the Drow are ruthless, failing to punish those that commit great crimes unless there is evidence that proves guilt. When a house falls, a member of the fallen house must survive to make a claim against their attackers, but without that, no punishment will ever be carried out. Before the rise of Xune Baenre, there had been relative peace in Eryndlyn. There had been no house wars or small skirmishes. The city was at peace, or as much as drow could ever be. But whispers arose about the truth of what happened. Whispers blamed House Baenre for the breach of relative peace.
The two houses that fell that day were peaceful, almost allies. There had been no talk of a war or of any disagreement. It seemed that their demise was too quick and quiet, House Baenre's ascension too flawless and smooth. Men baring the crest of House Baenre on their armor, even though wrapped with dark cloth, were seen returning to their quarters from the scenes of the fallen houses, but there was no one left to make a claim against them. Matron Xune Baenre was young, one of the youngest matrons ever, but her cunning would lead her far.
The Matron Murders
Matron Zilvra would not be above killing her own mother! She's as vicious as they come for a drow. But you didn't hear this from me. She turns those who speak against her into driders!
House Baenre and House T'sarran were getting too strong. The ruling house of the city must have put an end to the desires of the lesser houses.
After an unheard of rise to power, it was the death of Matron Xune Baenre that marked the next notable scandal of House Baenre. The even known as The Matron Murders is a story that will forever be told throughout the Underdark as never before had two matrons died on the same night with their houses left intact. The whispers spoke of various outcomes and about those who had done it, but the answers could be found in the details.
Matron Xune Baenre died bowed over her alter to The Huntress, a dagger etched with the symbol of her house embedded in her back. The grey stone of the floor at the foot of the stairs was pooled with blood, but the dark garments of the Matron were fresh, untouched by the blood from her back. She wore her ceremonial robe, head bowed in prayer, hands spread palms upward to the vaulted ceiling. Not a single drop of blood could be found staining the pristine black finish of the alter, nor could the Matron's young handmaiden be found.
The whispers blamed House T'sarran, the other house that lost their matron that night. Others blamed the ruling council as the two houses were becoming too strong. For decades after, there once again was a quiet peace in Eryndlyn as all were afraid to bring the wrath of whatever had so easily removed two matron mothers.
The Traitor, Miz'ri Baenre
There is no place in Matron Zilvra's world for a drow that chooses the ways of the light over the dark. She has no need for a daughter that does not fall into place in the intricate puzzle that she has built.
A child should obey their mother no less than a drow should obey a matron mother. That wretched child has lost the favor of the Huntress and will be returned to her house for her punishment. The surface elves have tainted her pure blood and cold heart.
The reign of Zilvra Baenre over House Baenre had been nearly perfect, with their trading empire spreading to the surface and far into the Great Tunnel. Her three eldest daughters served as high priestesses of The Huntress as was expected of daughters of noble houses. Her two eldest sons had taken their places as important members of the house's military force alongside their father Nalfein Baenre. The third son had died while on a scouting mission further into the Great Tunnel. The goal was to have another daughter take on the role of high priestess and finally bring House Baenre into an era of glory beyond history.
Miz'ri Baenre was the exact opposite of what was wanted in the daughter of a drow noble house. She lacked proficiency in the arcane ways that were so important to drow but had unmatched skill when it came to the ways of the blade. She trained with her father who served as the house's weapons master and defied her mother's wishes at every opportunity. When her time came to attend the drow academy, her failure with magic was spectacular, so much so that through the work of her father, she was granted entrance to the martial academy that was often only for males. This was just the beginning of what would be one of the greatest scandals of House Baenre.
After years of her mother's torment, Miz'ri Baenre fled Eryndlyn and the Underdark, a feat unheard of in the noble houses. The children of drow noble houses never left the Underdark, fulfilling the roles assigned to them in the house since birth. With the blessing of her father and a newly bestowed title of weapons master, Miz'ri fled to the Spine of Kallex where she joined her friend Khalsinn Llanowar and became a member of the Llanowar Clan. Due to her actions, she was cast from her family and lost her status if she were to ever return to the Underdark. Zilvra Baenre has ordered that Miz'ri be captured and returned to her, but that has yet to happen.
Burning Blades Never Die.
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The Baenre Legacy
The legacy of House Baenre is still young in terms of the lifespan of drow noble houses. As a member of the ruling council, the house has only existed in its current state for over seven centuries, but its full history reaches back to the creation of the city of Eryndlyn. House Baenre was one of the original noble houses established within the city, but it was still very recently in the city's history that the house rose in power enough to claim a seat on the ruling council. Matron Xune was a rather ruthless strategist that made calculated moves, like pieces on a dragon chessboard, manipulating as many elements as possible to reach the outcome that she wished. Her perchance for ignoring the needs of her children and choosing the best courses of action to benefit her house as a whole is what may have caused her downfall.Matron Xune gained us a place on the ruling council, but her want for power was not enough to take House Baenre to its rightful place. She was weak in her wants, I am not. I will not allow anyone to get in the way of House Baenre achieving greatness, even a traitor in our midst.Whereas Xune Baenre gained power through reaching the ruling council, Zilvra Baenre took a much different approach, creating a trading empire that reached nearly all corners of Vóreios. The only empire that could better House Baenre was Fire & Gold, Inc., a trading company from the Little Greenwood, a location far beyond the reaches of the Great Tunnel. Dealing mostly in weapons forged by the Duegar of the deepest parts of the Underdark and trained Riding Lizards, the trading empire expanded to the point of needing mercenaries for protection. This need created a relationship between House Baenre and the Llanowar Clan that has stood for nearly three centuries. Beyond the rise to power, the legacy of House Baenre is marked by the various scandals that have plagued it, with many of them occurring in the centuries that either Matron Xune or Matron Zilvra led the house. Most of Eryndlyn stay away from the house and its towering spires as the scandals and whispers have given an air of mystery to the house that is far from normal, even for a drow noble house. House Baenre is in a state of relative peace with the other noble houses on the council and those noble houses that are lower in status do not dare make an attack against the house of Matron Zilvra Baenre.
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