House Ebonmaw
What we build will outlast us all. We pour everything into our craft, and it will stay forever, even if our mortal coils do not. We live on in our construction.
Perhaps the most ancient and yet forgotten of the Fallen Houses, House Ebonmaw were the builders of the Goliath race. They were the ones who built the impenetrable iron and stone fortress cities, built to last for eternity, even if the people do not. They built cities and forts to outlast the test of time, but failed to keep themselves alive in the process.
House Ebonmaw Origins
House Ebonmaw is the oldest of all the Noble Houses, springing into existence when Goliaths were still roaming around as nomadic tribes. In fact, based on runic carvings and ancient texts found by scholars looking through archaic libraries, House Ebonmaw was the first Noble House to exist. Scholars believe this house sprung into existence in the year 900 ADW, when Shogrush and his dark armies were being beaten back. They built the foundation, metaphorically, that all other tribes would become, not yet for hundreds of years.
What made this house a Noble House at the time was that they were the only true organized tribe, or family. Since every other Goliath was still in their phase of nomadic tribes, these Goliaths were able to roam and reign freely over the lands. Scholars consider them the first house, but this house never decreed any rules or laws. However, they did claim land to be theirs officially, where House Drathos currently resides over close to the years of the Bloody Seven.
The Goliaths of this house came into a time where ruins were scattered across Jotunrath from an unknown civilization. These Goliaths revered whoever created these mostly untouched abandoned cities. Even though they were mostly ruins, it was the foundations and the walls of these ancient cities that remained. The Goliaths of House Ebonmaw scoured through these ruins and found old text, that they could read, that were instructions on how to build these impenetrable cities. So, with the limitless resources that this house had at their disposal, they began to build these marvelous and impenetrable fortress-cities. Taking inspiration from the fortitude and sturdiness of the Orcs, and the beauty of the Elves, the Goliaths of this house created the great cities that stretch across Jotunrath to this day. Those cities have never fallen and never saw a single crack in them. If the Goliaths had a kingdom at the time, they could have been seen as a world power with their indestructible walls and cities to defend from. This very architecture could have put them above the rest of the world, but since the rest of Jotunrath was a wasteland of snow and ice with nomadic tribes still in existence, these creations were squandered, unused.
The Goliaths of House Ebonmaw were obsessed with these ancient texts that they found within their homeland. Some ancient empire existed before they did, in these lands. Becoming more and more dangerously obsessed, House Ebonmaw continued to make these cities, thinking that this empire would return, and want to rule over their subjects.
House Ebonmaw was small at the time, but employed tribal Goliaths into their fold and working party to construct these marvels. Over the course of tens of years, they quickly constructed these powerful cities, but soon turned abandoned, as the tribal Goliaths did not want to live in one place. House Ebonmaw couldn't afford to live in all these cities, as they were too small to do so. They remained in an area of Jotunrath known as The Summit, one of the highest peaks in the land, but not as high as the Frostback Mountains.
This house was eagerly and patiently waiting for this ancient empire that they discovered to return, thinking that they merely left rather than died off. They believed that an empire with this level of understanding and building could not have died off, they simply left. House Ebonmaw was hoping that they would return, and rule over the chaotic and nomadic tribes that are their kin. They were so obsessed that they would lock themselves in their own creations, desperately waiting for this empire to return and rule them.
While scavenging these ruins, a member of House Ebonmaw discovered a truth about the civilization before them. The members of the house, only 105 strong, interpreted this truth as a message, instead of an omen. The members, who were crazed obsessives, prophesized that they were destined to become immortalized in the works and the buildings that they made. And that when the empire would return, their house would come to life as the first subjects to serve and be ruled over. This insane prophecy led to a mass suicide event, where all members of House Ebonmaw sealed themselves away in locked vaults within their cities, never to be heard from again. Some say they literally built themselves into the concrete, and buried their dead in the pavement. This part was true, as they were known to place their dead in cement as a ritual to keep themselves immortalized in their buildings.
By the year 1009 ADW, all of House Ebonmaw was gone, buried within their own cities. When the Goliaths formed their own Noble Houses and took over these still-standing cities, not a single trace of this ancient house was found. No records, no texts, nothing. The only trace that was left was in The Summit, the hold that this house had claimed, was haunted with whispering walls and talking stone. Goliaths, being incredibly superstitious, never set foot in this hold. It wouldn't be until later, in the year 1548 ADW, that House Drathos would lay claim to this hold.
It is said that, in the most quiet of times, you can hear the stone of these great cities whispering to you.