House Brigatta/History

From the old Brigatta.com site:

Told by the Legendary Lord Cerulean...

[House Brigatta, Common Room]
The main room of the house is large but cozy. A pair of leather settees with matching footstools sit before a massive rough-hewn stone fireplace. Along one wall, tall bookcases stand alternately with weapons racks, each holding a goodly assortment of their proper objects. Thickly woven tapestries cover the windows, enhancing the room's feelings of privacy and intimacy. Also in the room: Lord Cerulean who is seated, Luky who is seated.
Obvious exits: south, east.

Cerulean plops down and settles into one of the leather settees, facing the house's Mistress, the warm glow of the fireplace filling the common room. As Cerulean gestures, a well worn tome floats from the bookcase to his hand, "Let me relate to you the birth of House of Brigatta as scribed by my family. My clan has walked these lands well before the ice age. When my great grandfather adventured to the landing, the town was small. Adventurers had only explored the kobold forest, the grasslands, the mine road and the old mine beyond the road. The most fierce creature we had discovered were cave trolls. As the years passed, our town grew, more citizens arrived and adventurers needing to expand their horizons discovered and attempted to tame new areas.

The next generation of my family, my father Gardner, a sorcerer, and his 3 brothers Sterling, an empath; Garion, a mage; and Tory, a cleric spent their entire lives in Kelfour's. This was the ice age. The lands were still small and almost every citizen knew each other. Over the years my family married into one of the most well-known and respected families in the lands, that of Lady Taarna and Alhana Waayfinder. Lady Taarna was at the time the eldest residing cleric in the lands. Even as a mere mortal she had the gift for communing with the gods. The union of my father Gardner, a little known sorcerer who studied the black arts of pain and the legendary Lady Taarna, a giver of life seemed to be a mis-match, but as my father notes in the tome, they were very happy together. My uncle Sterling gave up his practice as a healer and used his gifted touch as a thief, a much more lucrative profession. My uncle writes, 'Alhana and I would have weekly contests, running rampant across the lands seeing who could accumulate the most wealth... I usually lost. I really think her victims gave up more loot for her because she had nicer legs than me.'"

Cerulean shifts in his seat, "Brigatta... Brigatta... ah here is where the entries for the house begin. Originally the house was built for our immediate family, it was to be our home, with only a few close friends residing there too. That was why Lady Taarna designed such a small house. We wanted a small, cozy place. The town bylaws called for 3 house officers so Zinderin, Lady Taarna's student was invited to join and become a founding member. Brigatta was chosen as the name, in a foreign language it stands for defender. The house colors were white and blue. White for purity, truth, honesty; and blue for loyalty and inner strength.

My father writes, Over the years Gardner and Taarna drifted apart. Taarna who always had the gift of communing with the gods became discontent with Kelfours/Elanthia. During her travels to other lands she discovered a place that was new and exciting once again. Taarna would eventually relocate to this new land and even though I would travel there too, I found Elanthia to be my home and would decide to remain here. So special was this elven cleric that the town named a street after her... as long as our town exists, so will the memory of Lady Taarna."

Cerulean stretches and reminisces about the stories Taarna and Gardner and Alhana and Sterling would tell him as he grew up. "The following years were uneventful, my father and uncles eventually retired and the reins of House Brigatta were handed down to me, the eldest son. Before Lady Taarna moved on she hand picked Lady Dara and Lord Carrentheon to replace the other founders. From a house of less than 20 members, our roster has grown to over 300, with more members finding us every week. Even as we expand, my goal is to keep the atmosphere of Brigatta cozy and friendly. A home away from home. A place where our members can rest and gather with friends and companions. A place free from conflicts and politics. I've been to other houses in the landing, and they are more like castles, keeps, mansions... large and cold. I would rarely see their members gathering inside those walls. On a personal note, members of my family have been nobodies, coming to this land with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs and the change in their pockets. I know what it's like to be looked down upon by Lords and Ladies who think they are better. In Brigatta, I try and treat everyone as equal, lord or commoner, rich or poor, under our roof all are equal in my eyes. I like to expect the same of all house members."

Cerulean beams, "And as our members grow and mature, they begin to leave our house, to start their own houses or just to follow their own destinies. Hopefully their lives have been improved and if they learned anything, they will pass it on to the next generation. Even as these words are scribed, new lands are being discovered and new towns are being settled and new citizens are being born. No matter how large and how far we expand in the name of progress, House Brigatta will always be... just a home."