Max

As rumors go, in the human realm at least, the Barghest went by many names depending on the region though regardless of what exactly they were called, the mighty black beasts were always claimed to be one thing: omens of death. Not a one would dispute that fact, albeit not entirely accurate; be them true Barghests, spectral black dogs, shucks, church grims, or otherwise. Some are simply omens, while others more serve the purpose if scaring people straight. The Barghest, however, serve both purposes and then some.

In the beginning, the Barghest were much the same as every other black hound, in appearance at least. Unlike the others, which manifested in the human realm by various means, the Barghests were born in the darkest reaches of the faerie realm as lesser beings to serve under some of the more frightful fae, to aid them in what they did best; fear. Those fae, typically sluagh, taught them their terrifying ways and return the Barghests would loom in the human realm in the most eerie of places; taking their canine form of monstrous black beasts, something the sluagh were unable to do, to ignite fear and plant seeds for nightmares to come if the fear alone wasn't enough.

As the years went on, though, the Barghests grew more powerful and desired more than simply serving others; they too were fae, afterall, and as such they wanted their own houses, their own territories to rule over in the fae realm. At first their demands were ignored, much to the dismay of the dark beasts whom were in no position to fight for their cause; the barghests were creatures born of dark magic, just as those whom ruled them. Fighting darkness, fear, and death against one in the same was a lost cause.

Instead the Barghest attempted to seek out other means of power and territory; while they didn't exactly find what they were seeking, they had in fact found... something. Something interesting that would ultimately aid them in their conquest; a wormhole of sorts, leading into the bowels of the otherrealm, a dark middle realm of mystery and terrifying beings.

Within the otherrealm, the Barghests found other openings, too. Some leading to various parts of the faerie realm, and a few leading to entirely different realms; such as the realms of the dead, and one that lead to the fiery pits of hell. It was there, in the birthplace of evil itself, the Barghest had made an alliance with the Hellhounds that resided there. From this, betrothals were made and within a few short years, the blood of the Barghest was mixed with that of the hellhound; with it bringing the terrifying powers of fire, manipulation, and death itself. None of which was ever made mention of, a well guarded secret of the largest Barghest family; the Von Abendroths. They would, in time, make this fact known, but for now it would wait as they did; for the situation to arise, that would bring them to true power.

Eventually, by the time the first of the new bloodline grew into adulthood, their time came-- when those they served for so many years, had grown so powerful that the other faerie races began to fear their very existence. The sluagh had been slaughter in mass; hanged, burned, and any survivors given a powerful curse before exiled to the far reaches of Arcadia to die in barren lands. The family of Von Abendroth had not taken part in any of this, in fact they had even aided in a few families, those whom had never been against the Barghest’s becoming more equal than lessers, escape the fate of their race. That isn't to say, though, that they helped anyone who had shunned them so many years ago, nor that they supported their once rulers. Instead they simply helped a few escape with their lives, and then laid their claim to the abandoned territory of Shadowfell.

Many of the noble houses that sat in either the Seelie or Unseelie Courts hadn't exactly been keen to the new claim of power, after all Barghest were a lowborn fae; they had no right to either claim territory nor the power that came with it. The ruling houses didn't want them to pledge to a Court, for the Con Abendroth to have a seat amongst the highborn such as themselves. However, the other houses weren't the powers that decided such matters, that would be for two ancient creature's to decide; the two beings hand chosen by the King of faeries himself, Oberon, one to reign over each of the faerie courts with minds free of .

And these two beings upon learning of how much the Barghest house had grown in power and size, as well of the destructive beings they had somehow brought into their bloodlines, had decided to allow the House of Von Abendroth to both keep the territory they had claimed as their own-- as well as allow them to pledge their allegiance to a Court, and claim the seat within it.

It has long been suspected that these two ruling beings had allowed this not because they feared how powerful the Barghest had become, nor because they believed it was deserved, but because of what the Courts had done to one of their own without the concept to do so. The noble houses all presumed that this was their punishment for what they had done to the last family that had reigned in Shadowfell; a punishment that not only hurt their pride, but brought them an entirely different level of fear.