The House of Bruges

[MCVDK 2830]

Penned by Charles de Montmercy,

on the 2nd of Horen's Calling, in the Year of Our Lord, 2074.

 

Spoiler

Thank you to @mojanghunter for the formatting and significant contributions to the writing.

Thank you to the phenomenal quint8 for the wonderful coat of arms. You can find their commissions page here.

If you're interested in contributing to, or being part of, the story of the House of Bruges, don't hesitate to join our Discord.

 

To the studious mind, the history of the House de Bruges reveals itself not as a mere catalogue of persons and events, but as a continuous line of martial, ecclesial, and administrative bearing, reaching unbroken into the present age. The family, settled for generations within the heartlands of Druscan governance, demonstrates those enduring qualities by which nobility sustains itself: gravity of conduct, austerity of custom, and a persistent adherence to principle rather than to fashion.    Their memory, though softened by time, yet endures in the chronicles and the chamber walls alike. Theirs is a legacy not of flamboyant ascendency, but of enduring duty. The records suggest a line more inclined to stewardship than spectacle, and to piety rather than pomp.   This volume, compiled in faithful diligence, concerns itself with such matters as may illustrate the character and continuance of the House. The present subject must not be confined to one individual, however distinguished. For it is the House entire which is here examined: its forebears, whose service fortified the foundations of the realm, and its descendants, in whom such service may yet find renewal.

 

 

The House of Ashford de Bruges traces its origins back to Prince Louis the Mad, second son of Prince Olivier the Restorer. Of his life, little is preserved with certainty, and what remains is drawn from chroniclers whose accounts are often at variance with one another. Some speak of a youth marked by splendour and refinement, befitting his station. Others recall a man given over to excess, whose vanity and erratic humours inclined him ever nearer to madness. 

 

In the most frequently recounted of these disturbances, and the last to be reliably set to record, the Prince is said to have seized a courtier and forced him beneath the waters of a garden pond, all while crying out prayers and fragments of sacred hymns. Not long after this episode, he withdrew from court, whether of his own will or by quiet compulsion is not agreed. He took up residence upon a modest demesne on the outskirts of Ulmsbottom, entered into contemporary ledgers as the Villa de Bruges, from which his line thereafter drew its name. 

 

From this seat arose one among several lesser Ashford houses established in Ulmsbottom. For generations, the House de Bruges remained of modest standing, its members employed as ministers, clerks, and burghers in service to the municipality, and thereby the wider apparatus of state. 

 

By the twentieth century, the House had attained a more settled place within the civic administration of Ulmsbottom, and with it a measure of quiet renown. This was sufficient to attract the attention of Robert of Ulmsbottom, a man of martial inclination and considerable ambition, who sought to extend his authority over the lesser Ashford lines. He demanded the submission of the House de Bruges, and they, lacking the strength to resist, rendered fealty. The accord was formalised by marriage, Robert taking to wife Jacquetta of Ulmsbottom, and thus joining the lines of Rouen and Bruges. 

 

In the years that followed, little is recorded of any close dealing between these houses, each attending chiefly to its own concerns. This quiet endured until the year 2033, when Roger de Rouen, having succeeded to his father’s station and established himself firmly in his rule, received a letter concerning his kinsman, Faustin the Elder. 

 

At that time, Faustin, then nearing his eighteenth year, had been dismissed from the seminary of Saint Judith of Czena. The causes of his expulsion are variously recorded, though there is agreement that he had engaged in the practice of private rites of uncertain orthodoxy, imposed unlawful penance upon his fellows, and disrupted the Feast of Saint Judith in a manner judged neither harmless nor reverent. He was thereafter escorted from the institution and conveyed by carriage to the lands of his kin. 

 

Being thus removed from the clerical life, Faustin turned his mind toward secular advancement. He entered the service of his cousin within the Palatium of Drusco, at first holding no greater station than that of a soldier in his retinue. Yet by a combination of evident ability and the advantage of his connections, he rose with uncommon speed. In time, he was elevated to the dignity of Palsgrave, and is recorded as the only man to have held that office under the newly styled Archduke. In this role, he concerned himself chiefly with the matters of council, contributing to the diplomatic course of his lord and attending to affairs of governance within the Archduchy. 

 

This period of advancement was brought to an end by the growing discord between the Archduchy of Drusco and vassals of the Imperial Coronet, which gave rise to the conflict known as Saint Lucien’s War. Though the war was declared concluded by Emperor Tiberias I, the Archduke Roger refused to submit, and so provoked the rebellion later called the Defiance of Drusco, or the Waldemer Uprising. The struggle that followed was severe. Though the Imperial forces prevailed at Waldemer, their victory was dearly bought, with some three thousand soldiers lost. It was remarked among them that for every Druscan slain, two of their own had fallen. 

 

In the aftermath, the lands of Drusco were subdued, and those who held office within its governance came under suspicion. Though Faustin the Elder had not taken a prominent part in the conflict itself, he was not spared from the general reproach that followed. It is also recorded that in these same years his disposition grew increasingly unsettled, his behaviour marked by a disorder of mind that drew unfavourable notice. In consequence, he withdrew from public life and returned with his household to Aeldin, the land of his family’s origin. 

 

There he established a modest mercantile enterprise upon a small farmstead, and passed the remainder of his years removed from the affairs of court. His son, Faustin the Younger, was raised in this quieter setting, and in due course took up his father’s trade. Upon the elder Faustin’s death, the son succeeded him in full, and strengthened his position by marriage to Lady Ermengard de Brionnes, a lady come from the continent some years prior. 

 

As unrest grew across Aeldin, the security of trade declined, and new measures became necessary. In response, there was formed the Bataillon de Bruges, a small company raised for the protection of merchant caravans. Though modest in size and loosely ordered, it came to serve as a practical arm of the House’s interests. Faustin the Younger assumed the rank of Capitaine, and the company employed chiefly in the escort of goods across uncertain territories. 

 

As conflict endures, commerce diminished, and the prospects of Aeldin grew increasingly uncertain. Trade, once the chief support of the House, could no longer be relied upon with the same constancy, and the conditions that had sustained their modest fortunes began to fail. In this decline, attention turned once more towards the Imperial Crownlands, where stability and opportunity were said to be more readily found, and where reports of newly opened territories promised the prospect of renewal. It was therefore resolved, not in haste but by gradual necessity, that the younger members of the House de Bruges should remove themselves from Aeldin and re-establish their fortunes abroad. 

 

 

In this present age, the young Faustin Guisbert renovates his dynasty with ambitions much larger than his predecessors. While maintaining their mercantile services, the founding of the Bataillon de Bruges partook under his design. While his sister, for her part, has made herself useful at court, where her tact and charm have proven no small asset. Bruges stands as its own House, apart of the Rouennais, made distinct by their zealous temperament and by the mark of their golden eyes and golden tresses, a likeness not found among the other branches of Ashford.

 

The senior most dynast of the House Ashford de Bruges, holding authority over all its members, as well as full possession of all lands, titles, and rightful claims to the Eshæveurd House de Bruges.

	Born to Lord FAUSTIN EMILE ASHFORD DE BRUGES and Lady ERMENGARD ASHFORD DE BRIONNES in the year of Our Lord, 2057.    Golden of Eye, Golden of Hair.

 

The kinsmen who are of the Lord’s household, related to him either by blood or matrimony, who serve, counsel, and accompany him in all affairs, and who, by their nearness to his person, partake in the dignity, protection, and authority of the House Ashford de Bruges.

 

Born to Lord LUCIEN ASHFORD DE BRIONNES and Lady MAUD EMMELINDE HELVETS in the year of Our Lord, 2038; wed to Lord FAUSTIN EMILE ASHFORD DE BRUGES in the year of Our Lord, 2056; mother of the Lord FAUSTIN GUISBERT ASHFORD DE BRUGES.   Brown of Eye, Golden of Hair.

 

Born to Lord FAUSTIN EMILE ASHFORD DE BRUGES and Lady ERMENGARDE ASHFORD DE BRUGES in the year of Our Lord, 2059; sister of the Lord FAUSTIN GUISBERT ASHFORD DE BRUGES.   Golden of Eye, Golden of Hair.

 

Those kinsmen, be they sibling, cousin, or more removed in blood, given in wedlock unto foreign lords and dignitaries, that the designs of the House of Ashford de Bruges might be advanced.

 

JACQUETTA DE BRUGES Born to Lord ALFONS ASHFORD DE BRUGES and Lady OLIVE-VICTOIRE DIEUXMONT in the year of Our Lord, 1976; wed to Margrave ROBERT OF DRUSCO in the year of Our Lord, 2000; great-great-aunt of the Lord FAUSTIN GUISBERT ASHFORD DE BRUGES.   Golden of Eye, Golden of Hair.

 

ALIÉNOR DE BRUGES Born to Lord GAUTSELIN ASHFORD DE BRUGES and Lady JOHANNA PREUSSENS in the year of Our Lord, 2017; wed to Prince CAROLUS TIBER in the year of Our Lord, 2048; first cousin twice removed of the Lord FAUSTIN GUISBERT ASHFORD DE BRUGES.   Golden of Eye, Golden of Hair.

 

LECELINA DE BRUGES  Born to Lord GAUTSELIN ASHFORD DE BRUGES and Lady JOHANNA PREUSSENS in the year of Our Lord, 2019; wed to Prince MAXIMILIAN OF AVAR in the year of Our Lord, 2045; first cousin twice removed of the Lord FAUSTIN GUISBERT ASHFORD DE BRUGES.   Golden of Eye, Golden of Hair.

 

GUILLEM DE BRUGES Born to Lord FAUSTIN ASHFORD DE BRUGES and Lady ADELAIDE HALCOURT in the year of Our Lord, 2040; uncle of the Lord FAUSTIN GUISBERT ASHFORD DE BRUGES.   Golden of Eye, Golden of Hair.

 

JEANNE DE BRUGES Born to Lord FAUSTIN ASHFORD DE BRUGES and Lady ADELAIDE HALCOURT in the year of Our Lord, 2042; aunt of the Lord FAUSTIN GUISBERT ASHFORD DE BRUGES.   Golden of Eye, Golden of Hair.

 

FERRAND DE BRUGES Born to Lord FAUSTIN ASHFORD DE BRUGES and Lady ADELAIDE HALCOURT in the year of Our Lord, 2042; uncle of the Lord FAUSTIN GUISBERT ASHFORD DE BRUGES.   Golden of Eye, Golden of Hair.

 

BEATRIZ DE BRUGES Born to Lord GUILLEM ASHFORD DE BRUGES in the year of Our Lord, 2059; cousin of the Lord FAUSTIN GUISBERT ASHFORD DE BRUGES.   Golden of Eye, Golden of Hair.

 

  

To the undiscerning eye, the House de Bruges is like to appear the very picture of Savoyard nobility; yet to those of sharper discernment, their fashions and bearing are found more akin to the settlers of Hanestian Ulmsbottom as compared to their more Auvergnian-esque forebearers of Savoie, or their more Peremonti cousins of Bar. This likeness, most assuredly, is owed to their settling in Aeldin, where their blood and name have endured a great many generations. Oft, those of the House de Bruges are named in the Savoyard fashion, if even bearing names possessing inflections nearer the Auvergnian tongue. Their dialect similarly carries discernible traces of the classic Savoyard tongue, albeit inflected further by the sharper and more nasal articulations peculiar to the inhabitants of Ulmsbottom. In its cadence and pronunciation there remains something of the older courtly speech, though softened in places and made uneven by local usage, so that it is at once familiar to the Savoyard ear and yet marked as provincial. Certain turns of phrase, long fallen out of favour elsewhere, are retained among them, while others have been altered in form or meaning through common speech, lending their manner of speaking a character both antiquated and distinct. Their attire, in form, adheres generally to the prevailing Savoyard fashions, following the broader customs of cut and presentation observed across the region.
What little there is that distinguishes the lords and ladies of Bruges in this regard is a marked preference for modesty and restraint. In matters of disposition, those of the House de Bruges are notably set apart from their cousins, not by fashion or bearing alone, but by a fervour of spirit most uncommon. Their zeal, which neither wanes with time nor yields with counsel, is of such an intensity as to approach the utmost bounds of piety and at times may even be thought to pass beyond them. By this temper are they marked apart from the rest of the Savoyard nobility, even those of their own Ashford dynasty. This devotion is not confined solely to words of prayer alone, though it remains naturally an exceedingly common expression of zeal within their household. Rather, their devotion is expressed through the wounds and bruises of self-flagellation, the hungers wrought through prolonged fasting, and the various acts of mortification through which they subject themselves for the purity of the soul.

 

 

Though the House de Bruges stands yet among the younger lines of Ashford, and may not be reckoned alongside those elder houses whose branches have endured across many centuries, it is not without its own established customs and usages. For although but a few generations have passed since the time of Prince Louis the Mad, certain manners and traditions, particular to their blood, have already taken root and are observed among them with some constancy.

 

Lost upon much of the nobility of this newer age, the House de Bruges holds still to the ancient custom of alliances by matrimony. To wed for the fleeting vanity of love is a conceit unknown to their kith. Thus are the sons and daughters of Bruges wed for the profit of the House, not the pleasure of the heart. Furthermore, those wed into their household are sought chiefly from Savoyard stock, or peoples akin thereto, such as Auvergnian or Illatian. Strangers of other kindreds are baptised into the Lucienist faith, and dressed in the names and garb of a Savoyard, that they may be made one with the House and fashioned after its custom.

 

In the ordering of succession, the House de Bruges follows for the most part the common law of primogeniture, as is practiced by all Ashford Houses. Yet in certain points their custom inclines towards gavelkind, for while the firstborn son, as heir apparent, claims the greater proportion of his father’s estate, it is the right of the younger sons to receive some lesser share, be it in coin, possessions, or estate. Daughters are altogether barred from inheritance of title or estate, but are allowed the right to certain properties should the Lord Patriarch will it. Further, in those rare unions where the line is not continued through the male, a daughter may bear the arms of Bruges in part, dimidiated or quartered with those of her consort. 

 

It is the custom of the House de Bruges that the firstborn male heir shall bear the very name of his father, and in like manner each successor in the direct line is so named. By this practice, the name itself serves as a mark of continuance, passing unaltered from one generation to the next, and standing as a sign of descent and right. For the avoidance of confusion within the affairs of the House, it is permitted that such an heir take a second given name, set after the first. This addition is not held to diminish the hereditary name, but rather to distinguish the individual from his forebear, while preserving the succession entire. Outside of this custom, it is not the manner of those of Bruges blood to bear more than a single given name, such excess being accounted unnecessary.

 

Among the House de Bruges, it is held that the blood of their line is of uncommon strength, prevailing above all lesser strains. By long tradition, they are said to have been blessed by God with the aspect of sunlight, and are thus marked by hair of gold and eyes of the same. These signs are not taken for mere ornament, but as the outward token of the true line. For this cause, any born of Bruges blood who does not bear these marks is held to lack the full measure of that inheritance. Though such a one may retain the name of de Bruges, it is accounted that the line in them is diminished, and not carried in its purest form. Accordingly, any child fathered by a male of the House who is not possessed of this solar aspect is set aside from the order of succession, the blood being judged as mingled with foreign influence.

 

MALE NAMES Aimeric, Antoine, Alfons, Arnaut, Amalric; Bernart, Bertran, Baudoïs, Bonifaci; Clamenç, Constans, Chabert; Enric, Edgar; Faustin, Ferrand, Fèlix, Frédèric; Gautselin, Guisbert, Guillém, Gausfred, Gaston, Guiraut, Guilhem; Jaques, Jaufré, Jean; Olivier, Orland, Odò; Pierre, Pons.

FEMALE NAMES Adelais, Agnes, Aliénor; Beatriz, Blanca, Bertrada; Clemença, Constança; Ermengarda; Faustina, Francesia; Garsenda, Guillemetta; Isabela; Jacquetta, Jeanne; Lecelina; Margarida, Melisende; Roselinde; Sança.

 

[MonteGiant 891]

Spoiler

This is an amazing post, I remember seeing parts of it some time back, but this looks even better now then previous. Amazing formatting. 

↢ ⊰ ☼ ⊱ ↣

There within the chapel of Lorraine did that Cesari de Savoie, blood of Eshaenveurd, pray. His prayers sought for all of his kith, especially those newfound friends of Ashford de Bruges, that golden corona a thought constant within his mind. He prayed for their success, and he prayed for their everlasting shine, like all those of the lineage of Ashford.

↢ ⊰ ☼ ⊱ ↣

[celina 145]

The young Guillemetta read the document at least four times over, whittling away at her thumb's nail with a grin. Ambitions were high in her heart, and there wasn't a cloud above her head.

[sanriu 734]

A flaxen-haired Beatriz de Bruges smiled as she gazed over the missive, tapping at her cheek as her eyes glossed over the words. 

[brujera 1152]

The harbor of Alba lay shrouded in a thick pall of early morning gray, the salt sea restless as the waves crashed against the Blackclyffes with a hollow and mournful cadence. A lone vessel, weather-worn and salt-scarred, crept slowly into port against the morning tide. Her sails hung slack like a veil of mourning. High in the morning dawn, and stirred by the winds of wisp, flew a sable banner charged by an eclipsed sun-by-moon.

 

From the gangway descended a solitary figure, cloaked wholly in black, a shroud heavy as her heart. A veil obscured her face, as she moved slowly, creeping across the threshold of land and sea. Then came the sound, breaking the ceasefire of quiet and turmoil, familiar and hollow thumps raged against the salt-clad wooden boards beneath her feet. Slowed and steadied were the rhythms of her cane, striking hard in tandem with the waves. Each step advanced–CLACK!, CLACK!–toward a new world, unseen by her war-torn gaze.

 

No retinue followed, no voice called out in welcome. Murmurs stirred at last, as realization fell upon them as tolls upon a bell,

 

Jacquetta of Bruges has returned.