To the general public, this letter addresses in full why I disowned myself from Noble House Kreiburg,
When in the course of a man's life it becomes obligatory to dissolve the familiar and political bands which have connected them with another, a decent deference to the opinions of the peerage requires that one should declare the causes which have compelled his decision.
Thus, in this missive to the general public, I seek to fully and thoroughly explain my reasoning for revoking all of my ties to the Noble House Kreiburg.
Much of the following information has already been revealed to the Imperial Lord Vhilomir Kade and has been kept secret and silent until this publication. Reading the rest of this missive to the end is sufficient enough to understand the latest secrecies of a noble family, even if there is much to read.
I first became affiliated with House Kreiburg in Genevaud during my early adolescence. As early as I could afford to swing a blade, I provided my martial skill and loyalty to House Kreiburg, and for the defense of my homeland, Genevaud. During this time, Theopold, the current Baron of Kreiburg, was not the patriarch of the family, but rather, his father Diepold Kreiburg was. As to such, in the past and in the current time, there is no greater purpose to me than the protection of my homeland, and the protection of my fellow people.
Into my adulthood, I came to hold a leadership position within the Kreiguard, a Genevaud mercenary company that was centerfold during its rise to prominence in Regalia. As the Kreiguard merged into the Inquisition, my ties to House Kreiburg remained unbreakable and my position developed to become the High Inquisitor. In spite of my commitment to Kreiburg, I soon saw the first signs of it being unreciprocated. Theopold Kreiburg accepted a bribe from a treasonous Noble House in order to end an ongoing investigation related to them. Offering to end the inquiry for cheaper wine prices in the Wunderbar, corruption charges were expected to unfold. To show the truth that the Inquisition had no say in this, Theopold Kreiburg was immediately expunged from the Inquisition's ranks. Furthermore, the contract was revealed to the Lord Chancellor Delmotte by the Inquisition leadership.
Following the dissolving of the Inquisition, I continued to hold a number of respected positions, namely Captain of the Noble House od Albion House Guard and Commander of one of House Harhold's retinues. During this time, Theopold Kreiburg came to me, questioning my allegiance to House Kreiburg and Genevaud. When I reasserted my undying loyalty to Genevaud, and House Kreiburg, Theopold demanded I immediately resign from all positions I held and work for him. I refused initially, and was soon met with a pathetic attempt at bargaining for my allegiance. Theopold promised me the moon and the stars, and seeing the man's desperation to have me on his staff, I eventually caved. I gave up my positions for Theopold, and joined his staff, hoping that the family would retain its conservative atmosphere that I had known for so long. This is one of my life's greatest regrets, that I was unable to identify the multitude of obvious signs in front of me, and was instead beguiled by Theopold's promises.
In truth, the signs had existed for some time. Were I to list them all, this would be a few novels rather than a long letter. Nonetheless, I shall strive to name a few quickly in summary form. To begin, as known to many, Theopold warded Isidoro Playero, a man charged with high treason against the Empire, a man who would later be once again charged with treason and executed. This scandal led to the first inquest against House Kreiburg, a time in which all Kreiburg family members were sent to Krakenburg for treason. At another point, a scandal came to light of the family Kreiguard holding vampires within its ranks. In another instance, Amory Kreiburg was known to have engaged in sadistic, masochistic relations with the Captain of the Kreiguard. Clarisse Kreiburg engaged in intimate relationships with non-noble Nelfin, and considered the Lich Lord to be a friendly face.
As Theopold brought me into his House Staff, I became Palest for a Kreiburg woman. Theopold soon deemed her too conservative, simply for her efforts to maintain modesty, in high contrast to her family. She was placed on house arrest and returned to Genevaud, never to be seen again. I was soon after re-assigned as Captain of the Kreiguard, at the recommendation of the Family. What I was met with was a worse sight than I could have ever imagined. The family House Guard was a rabble, entirely incompetent of even the most basic tasks. As it was seen and noted, had they been tasked with guarding a Kreiburg from a group of beggar children, they likely would have surrendered and fled. Naturally, I did what I knew how to do, and I did my duty. I reformed the Kreiguard to the best of my ability, and attempted to make them an even remotely organized armed force.
In recognition of my decades of faithful, unending, unquestioning service to House Kreiburg, Theopold made the decision to adopt me, much to the ire of some family members.
Afterwards, I brought a handful of good men onto my staff in the Kreiguard in order to continue the necessary reformations. These men and these changes, particularly the introduction of proper discipline, were immediately met with absolute disrespect by the members of the Kreiguard. Rather than allowing me to handle this situation as I was entrusted to as Captain of the Kreiguard, Theopold took it upon himself to micromanage nearly every aspect of the Kreiguard, forcing me to grow some sort of suspicion.
Things worsened soon when I learned of the scandalous behavior of Clarisse Kreiburg, the sister of the family patriarch, Theopold Kreiburg. Far from behaving as a Noble Woman should, began to involve herself in the world of the sewers, aberrants, criminals, and Kathar. Due to her past conversations and enjoyment of Xilthruum the Lich Lord, this was even more so concerning. Clarisse, I found as a result of this, surrounded herself constantly with a group of people so unsavory that they could be nothing but a detrimental influence to the young Noblewoman, most of which were scoured from the deepest depths of the underground. Noticeably, around the same time as this, the Lich Lord began to bomb the borders of Genevaud near enemy Drachenburg lands, which I found to be rather odd given the circumstances. It could not be random.
In an attempt to curtail this unacceptable behavior, I assigned a trusted Kreiguard Officer to monitor Clarisse around the clock, to which Theopold authorized. She promptly found a way to escape him, and fled to join her criminal and aberrant 'friends'. Following, I received reports that Clarisse had been abducted upon her escape, and assembled the Kreiguard for a city-wide manhunt. Clarisse was found after several hours, in the company of a particularly chaotic and lawless Sihai, Arien Pavise, with Clarisse wearing Sihai apparel. Upon the Kreiguard's attempt to recover Clarisse from this wretched woman, both Clarisse and Arien assaulted the Kreiguard.
Theopold then authorized Clarisse being placed on house arrest, which was cut short by her release from the Kreiburg Estate by other members of House Kreiburg, and Theopold subsequently lifted the house arrest with no further action. The day after her release, Clarisse returned to her gang of misfits, turning the entirety of the patrons of the Wunderbar against a loyal Kreiguard officer and driving him out under threats of reporting him to the Guard for fabricated crimes. The Guard ignored her cries. Some days later, I found myself at a Noble Estate with Clarisse, when she was witnessed by myself, members of the Kreiguard, and other members of the Peerage conversing with an enchanted mirror. This mirror responded to her questions as if there was a person on the other end, though at the current moment, the identity of who exactly is unknown.
Before I could even bring the latest issues of Clarisse to Theopold, she had falsely accused a member of the Kreiguard of assaulting her. Immediately, Theopold was at Clarisse's side, until I was able to point out the blatant lies in Clarisse's accusation. Soon enough, the entirety of the Kreiguard attested to Clarisse's heinous behavior, and Theopold ordered her under house arrest, stating that she would be disowned if she left the Estate grounds. In response to this, Clarisse attempted to jump from the Estate window and flee. Soon enough, Arien Pavise emerged from the body of Clarisse, having possessed the girl for the duration of the meeting. Clarisse then tossed a paper out of the window from her own free will, Arien now out of her body. We found that Clarisse had been consulting with Arien during the meeting by using the paper, showing the possession did not alter her inappropriate behavior.
While on house arrest, Clarisse at one point came to my office to meet with me. During the meeting, Clarisse moved behind my desk to violently attack me, outraged that I had been the one discovering her criminalities. A Kreiguard Initiate non-violently removed Clarisse from myself and my office, followed by Clarisse then authorizing her Palest, an aberrant Sihndar, to strike the Kreiguard in the head with a metal gauntlet. This strike, having broken the self defense laws already, resulted in the death of the Kreiguard Initiate, an act which Clarisse, her Palest, Theopold, nor any Kreiburg showed any remorse for. Oddly enough, in response to this, Theopold let Clarisse off of house arrest out of the dear love that his sibling would repent to the Spirit.
After this, Theopold came to speak with me privately. We discussed in depth my concerns, and he promised action to rectify it. Promising that loyal members of the House such as I and the Kreiguard would never be met with any backroar from him, I was left with a feeling that Theopold was at last coming to his senses. I assumed he finally wanted to protect his House from Imperial Punishment, but indeed, I was wrong. The next day, Theopold called together the entirety of the Kreiguard, including members I had previously suspended for horrible incompetence. Theopold, taking full control of the Kreiguard, stated that I was no longer Captain, and that I was under house arrest. He ordered the Kreiguard to remove the armor from those loyal Kreiguard Officers who had served faithfully before a crowd of onlookers, including Arien Pavise and other such hooligans.
In response to this, I realized that Theopold and the rest of the family cared not for the Empire, but for their own family ties. Nobility are served their right due to the sole reason that they are the ruling figures for House Kade's behalf. Onto this note, days before the disownment, Theopold had approached me, speaking of his plans to withdraw from Genevaud. He wished for me and my cabinet to prepare plans to invade Slumberwood and abandon the burning wreck he had made of Genevaud. However, after the rest of the story's detail, I disowned myself from the family. Seeing this, Theopold decided to return to Genevaud, hoping that these words would not unmask the incompetence of Kreiburg leadership.
Only two days after my self-disowning, and my founding of the Ivory Company alongside other loyal former Kreiguard, Theopold penned me a letter requesting I meet with him. In response, I rallied my men and took to this meeting. As he spoke to me, he described the state of Genevaud, noting that he required Genevaud mercenaries to back him against House Drachenburg and some form of dragon. Desperately, he asked me to uncover my sense of patriotism, and forget about all of his offenses against me and my cabinet in order to help him. He then offered land on behalf of the Emperor, saying that if he made it through the war, that my company would have its own land in Regalia. We made our stance clear. We would not hire out our mercenaries to him unless he resolved the rampant issues within House Kreiburg. Immediately, Theopold took note of this and it was apparent he had almost given in. However, after pondering, Theopold decided that his family's internal relations mattered more than the standing of the House and Genevaud, to which I called my men to depart for after.
Theopold then knew that he would never meet our conditions for allowing him to hire my loyal men, and so went behind my back to speak to individual members of my Ivory Company. He attempted, and was nearly successful, in convincing a number of my Officers to mutiny against me. Ironic, seeing as mutiny is the same false charge he had formerly accused me of. In a desperate effort, he attempted to persuade my men to leave me with empty promises of money, land, and patriotism in the "country" of Genevaud.
To conclude this methodically, it is best to state that incompetent rulers in Regalia's foothold should not be given the right to rule, and that Theopold is one such ruler. That, this man is of unfit mind, susceptible to the most deceptive of words from any within his family, willing to turn a blind eye towards and even be complacent in the criminal and heretical actions of his family members. House Kreiburg, for all its claims of Nobility, behaves as commoners, and as such are incapable of governing their land, a land they threatened to abandon in time of revolution.
I do not write this letter out of backlash, but to show the incapabilities of House Kreiburg in its current standing. I was a loyal man to Diepold Kreiburg and the family, but as the family began to form over newfound liberalism and criminality, this information was best to be given to the rightful citizenry of Regalia.
May the Spirit provide a capable and worthy leadership to Genevaud. May the Emperor and the Spirit have mercy on House Kreiburg.
Spirit's Blessing to all,
Alaric Keen of Genevaud,
High Oberst of the Ivory Company
Alaric Keen of Genevaud,
High Oberst of the Ivory Company
