History of House Krollnar
Willem Krollnar
Willem Krollnar was a Flaemish soldier who was tired of fighting and who wished to live in peace and start a family. After the historic defeat of the Flaems at Braastar in AC 788, Willem married Johanna Madhorsen, a woman he had met in the army, settled in Kopstar.
Unfortunately, Halzunthram's coup meant war again. Willem left immediately, leaving his pregnant wife at home. Johanna remained with their son Namoor until AC 791, and then she joined the front again, leaving the child with her Uncle Jorg, Keeper of the Flaemish Library in Kopstar. Willem and Johanna were ironically killed by the plague.
Namoor Krollnar
The young boy Namoor grew up with his granduncle, Jorg Madhorsen, at the Flaemish Library in Kopstar. Becoming the mascot of the library, he was tended and cared by all the librarians. Namoor quickly learned how to read and amidst the books he was king.
And Namoor read many of those books. He was especially fascinated by the geography books that described exotic faraway places. The boy dreamt that one day, he would adventured in those places.
One place in particular caught Namoor's imagination: the Arch of Fire in Norworld. The Arch of Fire was already known to Flaems, and some Flaemish sages even studied the place (although not in loco). According to those studies, the Arch of Fire was supposed to be an endless source of magic, probably related to the Plane of Fire by a vortex and a gate.
But the continuing war in the Highlands meant Namoor would have eventually joined the Flaemish army. Wishing to avoid this fate, Namoor planned to escape Kopstar and travel to Norworld on the eve of his sixteenth birthday. Unfortunately for the boy, his Uncle Jorg discovered this and confronted him, eventually convincing him to change his mind.
In AC 805 Namoor finally joined the Flaemish Army though things were very difficult at the start. The young man could not bear the strict discipline of Flaemish Army since he had always been used to do everything he wished to. Despite of this, Namoor became skilled as a military scout, his foolhardiness and his curiosity made him capable of undertaking the most dangerous missions. Other soldiers came to respect him and hold him in high regard.
The Expedition to the Arch of Fire
When war was over, Namoor left the Army and he petitioned some Flaemish nobles to finance an expedition to the Arch of Fire in Norworld but to no avail (After many years of war, there was a lot of rebuilding to do.).
Determined to earn the money by himself, Namoor went adventuring in Darokin for some years. He only returned once to Kopstar when he received the news of the death of his beloved Uncle Jorg.
By AC 838, after ten years or so of adventuring, Namoor's reputation as an adventurer and explorer had greatly increased. Moreover the rebuilding had been quite completed, and the Flaemish lords—including Lord Leopold Rjevens, Count of Kopstar—were more than willing to fund Namoor's expeditions.
After a year and a half of preparations, a group composed by Namoor's adventuring group, some Flaemish scholars and an escort of Flaemish soldiers (amongst these there were Lord Rjevens' own constituents from the Order of the Flaem), departed the Highlands for the Arch of Fire in Norworld. Once there, the expedition explored the two volcanoes, using magic to study the fiery denizens who lived there. Two observatories were built far within each volcano, serving as a base camp. During their stay, Namoor's mate, a Darokinian fighter named Milena Dawn, gave birth to three children: Frederick, Fredericka and Ruudgart.
Eventually, the fire elementals living in the Arch of Fire discovered the Flaemish expedition, and the great part of the party, including Namoor himself, succumbed during the following mass attack. Milena escaped and decided the mission over. She collected the notes and the studies done during the mission and returned to Glantri with the survivors and her three children.
Milena presented the results of the mission to Count Rjevens and other Flaemish nobles, and bequeathed them to the Library of Kopstar. Only the nobles' resolution to keep their mission secret prevented Milena and the other explorers to be hailed as heroes by the Flaemish population.
Great expectations were laid on her three children. And deeds of the Krollnar deeds had even gained the attentions of Jacob Vlaardoen, Viscount of Linden, and the Flaemish representative of the ruling Council.
The Children of Namoor Krollnar
The eldest child of Namoor Krollnar was Frederick, an adventurer who traveled to Ierendi in AC 872, determined to become the King of Ierendi. Once there, he learned of the Fire Mages of Honor Island and eventually joined them. Nobody ever heard of him again.
During the tenth century, the Princes of Bergdhoven send expeditions to Ierendi to determine the fate of Frederick Krollnar (also, with the aim of collecting more information about Honor Island), but none of them was successful.
The second child, Fredericka Krollnar, began a diplomatic career, working at the service of foreign ambassadors in Glantri City, and secretly as a spy for the Council of Princes. She married a Darokinian diplomat and settled in Glantri City. She eventually became the personal secretary of the Chancellor of the Princes, Willem IV Vlaardoen, in AC 889. When Prince Willem stood for charges of treason in AC 896 AC, she left his service and retired in Corunglain with her husband.
The youngest child, Ruudgart Krollnar, remained in the service of House Rjevens, first as Lord Leopold's pupil, then as a scholar of ancient Flaemish magic and lore. He married a respectable Flaemish lady, Susana Jonsen, and had two sons, Jan and Horst. Ruudgart died in AC 892, triggering an ancient magical trap on a Flaemish spellbook.
Jan and Horst Krollnar
Jan and Horst Krollnar hold the distinction to be two of the first Flaemish children to enter the Great School of Magic, when it was completed in AC 878. (Many of the Flaems were resistant to the idea of their children associating with non-Flaems!)
Jan Krollnar was a poor mage of sickly constitution. Because of this, he took longer than the prescribed number of years studying at the Great School of Magic to graduate (Many Flaemish wizards took this to mean the still developing curriculum was inferior and unsuitable for proper magical education!). When he eventually did, he unfortunately died of fever a few years later at the age of 28. He was survived by his wife, Margretha Vandeeker, and his son, Johann.
Horst Krollnar, on the other hand, had great magical prowess and was a young prodigy at the Great School of Magic. He gained the attention of Prince Willem IV Vlaardoen of Bergdhoven, and started working for the Prince very young, soon after graduating.
The Heart of Flaem Project
Horst Krollnar was part of a project, named Heart of Flaem, meant to study everything connected with the Elemental Plane of Fire. Its initial stages were to develop easier methods of travel to and within the Plane. Since Horst was of the adventuring kind, as his grandfather Namoor, he loved to adventure in the Plane of Fire himself. His only flaw was that he could not stand being with anyone during a mission, so he often ventured alone. However, he was the main proponent of the project because of his great abilities, and under his enlightened guidance, the Heart of Flaem Project advanced greatly.
Many of the ancient Flaemish fire spells were adapted for survival and protection within the Plane of Fire, and the Plane was extensively studied and mapped. Many new spells and magical items based on fire magic were introduced and invented, amongst these, the legendary Chariot of Horst Krollnar.
The products and results of the Heart of Flaems are spread across three great Flaemish libraries: the private library of the Prince of Bergdhoven in Linden, the Flaemish Library in Kopstar, and the Krollnar Library at the Museum of Planar Lore in Bergen. All of these works bear the name of Horst Krollnar for his irreplaceable great contributions to the project.
In AC 953, in the process of exploring the outermost borders of the Plane of Fire, Horst departed for his last mission into the Plane of Fire. He and his Chariot did not return.
Johann and Jol Krollnar
Jan Krollnar's son, Johann, lived in perpetual admiration of his Uncle Horst. He had little magical talent and spent his life at the Flaemish Library in Kopstar, where he contributed in reorganizing the Map Section. Johann married a Flaemish lady, Jol Deegaer, and had two sons, Hena and Haak. He died of a heart attack in AC 954.
Jol Krollnar was famous Flaemish novelist. She spent her life writing books about Flaemish heroes and legends. Her style was more romantic and sensationalized rather than loyal representation of historical truth, and she was well aware that her association with the Krollnars made her work more believable, if not sellable. Nonetheless, the Flaemish nobles and aristocrats loved her work, since it contributed to the glory of the Flaems without revealing their inner secrets. The copies of her most famous books, The Arch To Our Past, Heart of Fire, and Horst's Travels, are part of every true Flaemish library.
Hena and Haak Krollnar
The elder son of Johann Krollnar, Hena, died at a young age in AC 949, from falling off a horse. At that time, his younger brother, Haak, was already a good student at the Great School of Magic. There, Haak had met Vanserie Vlaardoen, heir to the Principality of Bergdhoven, and they became great friends, sharing a genuine passion for planar travels.
In AC 966, under Vanserie's insistence, Haak married Nejla de Wajden, a Flaemish beauty and an adventuress herself, despite being ten years younger than him. Their only daughter, Rowena was born two years after their marriage. But Haak Krollnar was not a good father; his interests lay only in traveling and adventuring, and a daughter only meant too many responsibilities. Haak started neglecting his family, by organizing mission after mission with his friend Vanserie. It was during one of such missions, they recovered the treasure of Duke Ernst van Agt, which included one of the Seven Legendary Brooches of the Flaem, the Brooch of Fiery Travels.
When Nejla died in AC 981, he felt much guilt and grief. But instead of taking care of Rowena, he left her with his wife's relatives in Vystaar, in the Viscounty of Bergen. Haak decided to distract himself from his wife's death, by entering in politics and competing for the Barony of Alderturm with the support of House Linden. Haak lost the position to Lord John Beaumarys-Moorkroft.
Still not wishing to face his family and the memories of his wife, Haak began an secret affair with Lady Sinaria Verlien, Countess of High Sonden, which lasted for three years.
In AC 984, Lord Jan Aposan, Viscount of Redstone and trusted ally of House Linden died. With the ensuing Awards Festival, the Barony of Alderturm was open once more. With the insistence and the backing of Prince Vanserie Vlaardoen (who faced a greater loss of voting power), Haak Krollnar vied for the position and won.
Haak then attempted to reestablish his relationship with his daughter, but Rowena, a student at the Great School of Magic at the time, refused to join him in Alderturm. Haak finally realized how bad a father he had been and spent the remaining years of his life trying to win back his daughter's love.
Haak Krollnar was killed by a planar fiend while trying to recover the legendary Chariot of Horst Krollnar in AC 990.
Rowena Krollnar
Rowena Krollnar succeeded her father as Baroness of Alderturm and in AC 992 became the ruler of her birthplace, the Viscounty of Bergen. Rowena accomplished much for the advancement of planar lore, updating the Heart of the Flaem project, teaching planar magic at the Great School of Magic, established the Library and Museum of Planar Lore in Bergen, and founding the Planar Circle, a group dedicated to sharing knowledge about the Planes.
Rowena's greatest achievement perhaps is uncovering the demonic curse laid on the Chariot of Horst Krollnar in AC 990, and vanquishing the demon Hzuk'ndyaaeth in AC 1012. This final task unfortunately cost Rowena her life. She was succeeded by her son, Mirn.
The Noble Line of Krollnar
Willem Krollnar b. 765 d. 804
Namoor Krollnar, son of Willem and Johanna Madhorsen. b. 789 d. 850
Frederick Krollnar, son of Namoor and Milena Dawn. b. 845 d. ?
Fredericka Krollnar, daughter of Namoor and Milena Dawn. b. 847 d. 900
Ruudgart Krollnar, son of Namoor and Milena Dawn. b. 848 d. 892
Jan Krollnar, son of Ruudgart and Susana Jonsen. b. 871 d. 899
Horst Krollnar, son of Ruudgart and Susana Jonsen. b. 874 d. 953
Johann Krollnar, son of Jan and Margretha Vandeeker. b. 897 d. 954
Hena Krollnar, son of Johann and Jol Deegaer. b. 934 d. 949
Haak Krollnar, son of Johann and Jol Deegaer. b. 937 d. 990
Rowena Krollnar, daughter of Haak and Nejla de Wajden. b. 968 d. 1012
Mirn Krollnar, son of Rowena and Maximilian Hiltier. b. 990
Author: Giovanni Porpora