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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thornir Alekeg" data-source="post: 3928373" data-attributes="member: 15651">Oh yeah, I can see this is a party that will be powered by good and loyalty to each other  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/paranoid.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":uhoh:" title="Paranoid    :uhoh:" data-shortname=":uhoh:" /> OK, one more to add:Count Borald MartisThe rise of the Martis family was remarkable in how quickly it happened, and the lack of fanfare as it rose.  The Martis family used to be very minor nobility, most noted for the way they kept to themselves.  Rarely speaking at court, never showing for the many social gatherings, just maintaining the small number of vineyards they owned, the family was never considered to be anything for others to concern themselves with.Then, about 20 years ago, something happened.  The family was suddenly acquiring more lands for their vineyards, and Count Borald was frequently seen in the private company of the King.  Something unusual was happening and it made the rest of the nobility curious.  To date nobody has been able to confirm how exactly the Martis family achieved their ascension to the higher levels of nobility.  The best they have been able to establish is that somehow Count Borald managed to gather information on much of the nobility, even the royal family itself and used it to leverage the family standing upwards.  They see him as a spider sitting in the center of an invisible web.  The nobility both fear and respect Count Borald as at least two families who tried to assert themselves over his saw their fortunes turn terribly.The dark secret behind Count Borald is that there really is no dark secret at all.  His family vineyards produced a spectacular vintage one year. Count Borald sent all of it to the King.  This led to an invitation for a private audience.  The King was so impressed by Count Borald's down-to-earth attitude and the way he stayed out of the politics so rampant among the nobility that they became friends.  Knowing that he would be unable to withstand any jealous efforts by the rest of the nobility to take him down, and that they would never believe anyone could rise so without some scandalous reason, the King had stories and rumors spread about Count Borald's ability to gather secrets and had the Crown's own agents secretly work to take down the families that tried to move against Count Borald.</blockquote>

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