The Clan of Volrath

In Bisclavret country, along the river Nith, south of Harrowgate, stands a seemingly innocent and insignificant castle. It appears to be low and functional, and it's built tastefully into the surrounding nature. It's hard to believe that this castle would have anything to do with the course of history. But once you get inside, you immediately notice the difference. The very air hums with dreams, plans and glorious destiny. You have come to the dwelling of the Volrath.

In comparison with other wolf clans, Volrath is a very young group of wolves, with only a few generations of history. The other, more established clans look upon these upstarts with disdain, but they should rather regard the Volrath with worry. Like many others, the Volrath seek power and influence, but they are not afraid of resorting to rather shady methods, even towards their own kind. Blackmail, extortion, torture, fraud, kidnapping and of course weaving a complicated political tangle of alliances and schisms among other clans and houses of Calabria, these are all standard methods of the Volrath clan. Sometimes, they can get outright nasty.

Thinking of the Volrath clan as evil is not right, though. They may be ruthless and selfish at times, but they're also industrious, intelligent and productive. They see a great waste of resources, people and land, and of course they want to change that. Modernization is the key to end this dark age. Inventors and alchemists are employed by the Volrath; they have a great library (part of which has been burned down by adventuring PCs), and new war inventions are traded to other Bisclavret wolves for services and political influence.

Important members

Ralf is the head of the clan, and the lord of the land around Volrath Castle. He's ruling his little realm with iron paw, but when it comes to diplomacy and matters of state, he's cunning and full of trickery. All in all, he's the right wolf for the job, and dreams of a glorious future for his clan.

Reo is the nephew of Ralf, and obviously the future head of Volrath, a position that doesn't suit him at all. Reo is a very lonely wolf, but friendly in nature, and have no ambitions on behalf of the Volrath. Other clansmembers are plotting againt Reo, but so far, their assassination attempts and other family tree trimmings have failed, due to Ralf's extensive network of spies.

Kerrel has for a long time supported Ralf in his endeavors and is the most trusted of the Volrath officials. He always appears extremely efficient and methodical in everything he does, and with patience and planning, he slowly moves his way up the Volrath pack hierarchy.

Affiliates

Akiron's services have been required by the Volrath on many an occasion. Though Akiron himself is not a member of the clan, he gladly works for them, for money of course, and other... services. His contributions are precisely of the kind that the Volrath demand.

Army of Purity is a faction that's unfortuntely quite invaluable to the Volrath, as they have a wide-spanning contact net with considerable political point influences. Ralf absolutely despises these people and their narrow-minded policies, but he'll never reveal his true emotions on this subject, of course.

The Circus was originally a project of the Volrath to gather intelligence in various parts of Calabria. Most of the circus members are just normal entertainers, but others were trained as spies and informers. However, the circus has long operated on their own without any contact with the Volrath, and it seems that a takeover with complete change in policy has taken place. The Volrath are currently trying to figure out what happened.