Generations of Rooks |
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Seven Generation of Rooks 1. There is not much known about very first generation of Rooks except for a few loose mentions in the history books and even then, most of the time indirectly. Apparently very first time Rooks turned up in the history was around 235 GA, in the middle of Continent War. History book known as “Almanach of Battle” by D'rghb Med'ne offers such quote in Tome 4, Page 754: “And among those [who] struck at the tower with renewed [vigor] a small band stood out with raven as the symbol, huddled in the defensive against the soldiers”. It is nothing solid to go from but its usually agreed that they were infact very first Rooks, band of mercenaries and/or revolutionaries. Time for how long the First Generation existed is arguable, ranging from 5 to 15 years. Most widely accepted time period is 11 years because of Serel Delavar mentioning mysterious person with the raven in flight on their armor saving him in the Second Siege of Ashmount. As he also pointed out in the later years most of tennets and ideology of the Second Generation was mainly from the conversation he had with that mysterious person while they were both recovering from battle. (235 - 246 GA) 2. Second generation of Rooks and first one to actually follow the gang format and hierarchy was established in 250 GA by Serel Delavar following the Aftermath of Continent War. First established in the coastal town of Manta Bay as the group to protect simple people against remains of marauding sellswords from all the armies that participated in the most recent conflict. What started as the group of around ten people steadily grew to contain around 40-50 members and that was one of the main reasons why Serel introduced the gang like structure and hierarchy for the first time which was still kept in the next few generations although with few minor changes. Around the same time Serel started writing the Book of Rooks which was in essence massive book of rules, tips and memories. One of the first rules he established was that Rooks should always be led by two most proficient gang members, male and female usually. That was the start of generational ranks of Ringleader and Queen being passed down the different generations with Serel and his fiancee being the very first couple to hold those ranks. (250 - 265 GA) 3. Third generation of Rooks officially started after Serel decided that Manta Bay (alongside other coastal cities) was on its way to recovery well enough and was not under any immediate danger of stragglers from war. Following that decision, newly expanded Rooks moved closer to the middle of the Continent, to the city of Mertvold. While in the city, one of the gang members managed to win the title deed for a start of currently iconic headquarters location. Situated in the Artisans Quarter, Tavern of Candle Way was quite a run down building before it was refined and rechristened into the Feather tavern in which headquarters were established. Few years after moving towns (approximately 270 GA) some of the gang members started being unhappy with the amount of control they had over the gang and what followed in the next few years was both the first coup and one of the most important event in the history of Rooks. A good dozen of members led by T'rael Vulf, the Rook who established the connections with others gangs of the city and was swayed by the promises of power which were most likely fake. But without knowing that, he challenged current Ringleader, rank that Serel Delavar still held, to fight him and his men for the full control of the gang. The duel was just the beginning and a metaphorical floodgate opening for underground deals, betrayals and similar kind of shady stuff that kept happening for half of a year until it all culminated in T'rael and his supporters getting exiled from the Rooks after which they created their own offshoot of a gang, Rooks of Hangman Tree. Despite the dropping off, Serel continued to run Rooks alone (Lenard, his wife and former Queen left on a journey at approximately 267 GA) with the remaining members of gang sometimes refering to gang as the Rooks of Freedom. And from then on now, name have stuck. (265 – 282 GA) 4. Fourth generation of Rooks is most famous for a Queen of that generation, Carena the Cruel who took over the rank by force following Serel Delavar resigning as the Ringleader because of his old age. Current Ringleader, Medard Flemont could not really argue against the takeover because there was no clear way to describe the most proficient member of the gang with description as wide as this. Ruling with the iron fist, Carena tried her best to spread the influence of the Rooks all over the city of Mertvold by the virtue of brute force but that was not going as successfully as she planned and quite a few members of the gang were unhappy with the way things were going but did not really had enough voice to talk about it because Carena also had full control over the elite fighters of Rooks she used as her personal guard. Because of situation going worse and worse by the day, one person stood up for the tyranny and invoked the unwritten rule that only those of Delavar blood knew about. Beryl Delavar, grandaughter of Serel and very successful lockpick challenged the Queen for the rank in two part duel involving agility and with and proficiency with tools of war. After dust cleared after them two squaring off against each other, Beryl was the one who stood tall and received the rank in official ceremony afterwards. She was the one Queen who actually added few rules into Book that Serel left in the headquarters for all to see, the most famous being that Queen should be elected by the gang based on her merit and contributions. This was also the generation that have seen the numbers of Rooks returning to normal average of around 50-60 gang members. It was also the very first time when all the fighters of Rooks were allowed to function independently without authority of any kind except in special scenarios. (282 – 300 GA) 5. Fifth generation of Rooks was rare almost momentual generation of peace and actually good times. Because of new rules and regulations set in the previous generation situation went for the most part smooth enough for gang to have a breather and renovate the Feather second time that is the current look of the tavern headquarters. Apart from that, enough gangs and other outfits in town and surrounding areas actually started to recognise Rooks as successful and actually having some weight around gang. Current Ringleader and Queen couple have not had much of any diplomatical or proficiency related mentions and were mostly remembered for successfully leading the Rooks through the generation that will be always remembered as the Splendor Generation. That was also highlighted in the title of next generation Queen because Tilera was born and lived some of her life during this particular time period. Other and one of the only few standout moments for this generation was the fact that some of the Rooks managed to secure the deal for more advanced weaponry which was now easier to acquire because ones who inhabited Northern Ash Mountains now could do their business journeys and trade routes much more easily thanks to forts of Continent War in the Ashmount Passage being fully demolished. (300 – 316 GA) 6. Sixth generation of Rooks is mainly known for their pursuits of fun to the point that their unofficial slogan was “Combat Awkwardness With Maximum Ridiculosity” (obviously stolen from somewhere too) because after Splendor they were sufficient enough to have increased ways to gain needed money for gang to run smoothly so the only thing left was to mainly have fun. Even the way how Queen of this generation got this rank would probably sound a little bit whimsical because original Queen of that Generation was Telera, twin sister of Tilera and next half of the twins did not like it. So as the best she went and broke into vault of Eternal Darkness, the most tightly guarded place of safekeeping for the powerful artifacts and stole the Crown of Raharn, which he sold for “finders fee” back to priests of Order whose main work was to keep artefacts safe. After that she became a Queen with no questions asked because she was only one of two people who managed to successfully thieve from that place. Size of the gang dropped slightly to around 30-40 members but at that point they were so confident and known to people around the middle of Continent that it was like almost no one ever left. Times were reasonably calm both for Continent and for the Rooks during the sixth generation apart from the number of plates and cups being mysteriously broken in all the taverns Rooks would usually go to. And as most people claim it is very hard to tell the line at which 6th ended and 7th, the current one have begun most of them agree to mark the change date at 332 GA, when Ithil Moonsilver took the rank of Ringleader officially. (316 – 332 GA) 7. Seventh and current generation of Rooks was the most silent to start but after that managed to attract a fair number of quite famous names to be honored and valued part of the gang some of them taking very specific roles, for example, prison wardens and leaders for Rooks fighting force. At the current moment in time, there is not really much to tell about what might happen and how this generation will be different from all the others. From the times of Splendor and calm into the times more turbulent but we are all ready for whatever comes. Let it come. For good with good, for bad with worse. I do have a feeling it will be lots of events to wite about in here. (332 GA – Current) Ithil Silvermoon, current Ringleader of the Rooks |