Ravencrest

The Royal family Ravencrest Once the undisputed rulers of the city, the Royal Family Ravencrest were feared as much as they were revered. Cloaked in shadow and secrecy, they ruled from Ravens Hold (now the Crimson Citadel) with an iron grip, their power woven into the city’s deepest foundations. For generations, they maintained control through a network of spies, assassins, and dark pacts whispered in the dead of night.
The Ravencrests were not mere monarchs; they were master manipulators, orchestrating conflicts and political feuds from the safety of their grand, dimly lit halls. Those who opposed them vanished without a trace—sometimes found floating in the harbor days later, their lips stitched shut, a raven feather tucked into their palm as a grim warning. They did not rule through brute force alone but through fear, coercion, and a mastery of deception.
At the height of their reign, they were said to consort with warlocks and necromancers, striking forbidden bargains to extend their rule beyond mortal means. Some whispered that the very walls of Ravens Hold were imbued with dark enchantments, allowing the Ravencrests to eavesdrop on any conversation within the city. Whether these were mere rumors or terrible truths, few dared to test the limits of their reach.
The last ruler of the Ravencrest line, King Vaedric Ravencrest, was perhaps the most feared of them all. A cunning tyrant with a sharp mind and a ruthless heart, he played his enemies against one another, ensuring no faction grew strong enough to challenge his rule. He had little patience for rebellion, and those who defied him were made examples of—burned alive in the city square or left to rot in the dungeons beneath the citadel, where their screams could be heard at night.
However, their dominion was not eternal. From the distant jungles of Chult, Narri Castlereagh arrived with her Vermilion Guard, an elite force of hardened warriors trained in brutal warfare. With the swiftness of a storm, she laid siege to the city, toppling the Ravencrest reign in a bloody conquest. Unlike past rebellions that had been snuffed out in secrecy, Narri’s campaign was a declaration of war—her forces cutting through the Ravencrest loyalists, leaving the streets painted in crimson.
The Castlemere War saw the fall of House Ravencrest, their banners torn down, their bodies left to hang from the walls they once ruled. Some say some members of the Ravencrest family did not die in the siege and that one day, the shadow of the Ravencrest family might return to reclaim what was once theirs.
For now, the Ravencrest name is a curse spoken in hushed voices—a reminder of tyranny, of the dangers of unchecked power, and of a time when darkness reigned over the city. But the past has a way of refusing to stay buried, and the legacy of the Raven Lords may yet rise from the ashes.
Lou Ravencrest: The Last Shadow of a Fallen Dynasty

Lou Ravencrest is the last known surviving member of the once-feared Ravencrest family, though he is a far cry from the ruthless rulers of his bloodline. Unlike his ancestors, who ruled with calculated terror and shadowed cunning, Lou is a spoiled and arrogant noble, clinging to the tattered remnants of his family’s former glory.
Born into wealth and excess, Lou was raised in the opulent halls of Ravens Hold, surrounded by luxury and sycophants who indulged his every whim. While his ancestors cultivated fear and respect, Lou basked in privilege, more interested in extravagant feasts, fine silks, and exotic pleasures than the art of ruling. Even as the city simmered with unrest, he remained oblivious, believing his family’s power was eternal—a belief that shattered when Narri Castlereagh’s Vermillion Guard stormed the citadel.
When the Castlemere War ended and House Ravencrest was destroyed, Lou barely escaped with his life. Some say he fled in the chaos of the final siege, slipping away through the hidden tunnels beneath the citadel, while others whisper that he was spared intentionally—left alive as a cruel reminder of his family’s downfall. Whatever the truth, he is now a disgraced noble, wandering from estate to estate, begging favor from old allies and sympathizers who still whisper of restoring his family’s throne.
Despite his arrogance, Lou is no warrior, no tactician, and certainly no leader. He speaks of vengeance but does little to achieve it, drowning his humiliation in wine and hollow boasts. He surrounds himself with mercenaries and schemers, but his inability to command true loyalty leaves him a prince without a kingdom, a ruler without a crown.
Yet, for all his faults, Lou Ravencrest remains dangerous—not because of his own abilities, but because of the name he bears. There are still those who remember the Ravencrests, who long for the days when power lurked in the shadows rather than marched through the streets in open conquest. If he were to find the right allies, the right patrons, or unearth the darker secrets of his bloodline, Lou Ravencrest could yet rise beyond the spoiled noble he appears to be—and become the vessel for something far more sinister.