Legends of Belariath

Dark Elf Houses

House Ceor`Dynsho

House Ceor`Dynsho was one of the Houses first formed in the first Dark Elf city. Born of power and a lust for obscene magical rituals, the first Matron of the House was known for acts of supreme horror and majesty - even to her own House. Those acts not only led to the House's rise in power, but the downfall of the Matron. It actually seems a curse on the House that all of the Matrons are slain not by their daughters, but a child, stepchild, or adopted child by their daughters. The original daughter then steps to the side as the slayer rises to the House Matron level, while the mother of the Matron goes on to a well-deserved retirement elsewhere... normally far outside the realm of the third city.

Unlike many of the High Noble Dark Elf Houses, the Ceor`Dynsho did not move most of their holdings to the third dark elven city of Elghinnaft, but instead still remain in the second city. The original name is lost to history, but the new name is Xin`Hrath-Arui. None know where the residents of the city derived the new name from, but Kirva herself approves it - one can tell by the fact the city still remains to be viewed by any poor souls dragged to it by Dark Elf slavers.

The city of Elghinnaft, the city of Xin`Hrath-Arui, the first city... All of them have had their hidden pathways, their unlisted addresses, their tunnels beneath the spires. What none of the other Houses know of are the various corrupted souls whom were buried when the passages were finished. None but the Ceor`Dynsho, for they have a series of rituals which connect those souls to their House - as long as they were not claimed by Kirva already. This series of rituals have they called "the tragic undertow," in reference to the first time they used it - on the seas of Belariath to discover a human pirate's lair.

Unknown, save for it is deep below the same plains the Hammer barbarian tribe. Any dark elves the Hammer tribe has ever faced was not one of House Ceor`Dynsho. In fact, the House has an edict to never fight or enslave any of the barbarian tribes, under penalty of death. None of the other Houses know of this, but the higher ranking members of the House know precisely why this is. Somewhere along the way, a Troll Shaman discovered the secret of House Ceor`Dynsho, and by taking dark elven form, has joined House Ceor`Dynsho as its Weaponsmaster.

The House is known for its stubbornness and its diversity when it comes to its talents. Somehow, they have withstood three attempts so far to remove them from existence. None of the Five Archrival Houses have bothered to notice this survival mode of the Ceor`Dynsho, but the other minor Houses have. They want this secret for themselves, but have no idea to get it. That is very good, at least for those of House Ceor`Dynsho. After all, their Weaponmaster is not the only being of strange blood that roams the halls of NightSpire Tor-Shuoth.

This House has managed to earn most of its wealth the old fashioned way: theft. Raids on the surface have been very profitable to them. Blitzkrieg strikes on caravans and various towns give this House most of their financial firepower. Of course, that little talent of theirs to find the weaknesses of the structures they wish to infiltrate assists handily when it comes to lurking inside of fortresses and other strongholds of the surface races. Who knew the minotaurs made swords gorgeous enough to covet?

House Ceor`Dynsho is not a dying House, despite the claims by their detractors. The truth is, however, the House should already be dead, but it carries on as if it were alive and thriving. In its own way, it is undead - stealing the life from other Houses and well-established surface elements. If any discovered their entire existence relied on their interference with the outside, they could seriously be facing the end of over two thousand years of existence.

Unfriendly towards many of the other Houses, this House has decided to go in the opposite way when dealing with two of the dark elves more traditional racial enemies - the deep dwarves and the sylvan elves. Using guile and traditional skullduggery, they have engineered the ambush on various Houses by forces beyond their control. Concentrating solely on presenting the assailing forces with detailed plans of their targets, they give the troops free rein when it comes to how they use that information. It pays to let others do your dirty work.

They have no qualms about using slaves as bait for others to do their dirty work. In fact, one of their favorite tactics is to kidnap a well-to-do surface elf and threaten to enslave them and their entire families if a huge sum of properties is not given to them within a few days. Unlike many Dark Elf kidnappers, they return the elf alive and well if they properties are given up... not without some magical alteration, however. Manchurian candidates are made semi-regularly by the House in order to ensure a steady supply of information to them about the surface world.

They are far more powerful than House Tintoreda, whose very being they find a blight on Dark Elf civilization, but unwilling to risk going close to the ruined city in order to stomp them out. Still, very few Houses in the second city wish to test their might or their magic, for the few solo acts whom have duelled their bladesingers usually has fallen to the hard cavern ground in pieces.

Artifacts and Relics

This is one House whom is not reliant on artifacts for their continued existence. They have never invested in them, finding them unreliable and distinctly tedious to learn their attributes - time better spend stealing from others, studying new rituals, summoning various creatures from deep beneath the earth, subjugating random people, and assassinating their foes. And of course, making sure their own house is in order.

Matron

Currently, no one knows for whom Kirva whispers to in House Ceor`Dynsho. Most suspect it is Imogenea Princess Thornwhip, but a few have their bets in for Fie-Luo`Te Mikoda Tigerclaw. Either one of them would make for a perfect Matron, given their age and definite faith to Kirva. Still, there is a third dark horse in this "race," but not one known to the public. Only the members of the House know who she might be.