The branches and roots of the founding families can become a tad bit tangled and unclear, and so we’ve decided to put together some family trees for a better view of who’s who – and who’s ensnared with whom.
Alderhelm’s history runs deep, almost as deep as the sea beyond its bay. Since the town’s inception, it has been shaped and reshaped by three families who have collectively been recognized as its founders: Wolff, Penewait, and King. Over the years, the tides of power between them have ebbed and flowed, and each has had their turn at the helm with the most recent being the King family. Residents are waiting with bated breath to see what happens next—if the Kings will lead them to untold greatness or if the Wolffs and Penewaits will have something to say about it.
The Wolff Family
High up on the mist-shrouded edge of The Cliffs sits a gothic estate as old as the town of Alderhelm. With its stone skin webbed in vine and its neatly trimmed lawns flush with gardens, it gives the impression of old money—the poison kind. As poison as the flowers they keep on their glistering grounds. Like its inhabitants, the Wolff family manor is known to locals in only mysterious terms. Its venomous allure keening on every wind, whispering: how far will you go—what will you sacrifice—for your piece of the promised land?
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Generations and generations ago, THE WOLFF FAMILY sailed from Denmark aboard the Heimdall to stake their claim on the land of milk and honey. The cost of their eventual dominion, however, involved brutal tactics of settler colonial violence against the land once known as Wabanahkik and the peoples who inhabited it. Some say THE ABYSS was born of this very violence; that it slouched from said ruin and out into the world, demanding a biannual due of blood in exchange for bounty. Whether you believe or not, legend has it that the cult known as the TRUE BELIEVERS originated with members of the Wolff family who took it upon themselves to procure human sacrifices over the years to sate the beast.
While they enjoyed a little over a century of prosperity, the Wolffs have since diminished in name and renown, mostly due to their refusal to step out of their own mythos and evolve with the times. The present day finds them fractured; adrift from one another and ever at odds. Struggling to find their footing in a fast-moving world that looks nothing like the one from whence they’ve come.
They remain in competition with The PENEWAIT FAMILY, who has secured the love and appreciation of a town that was supposed to be theirs; and their relevance continues to dwindle with the encroachment of the THE KING FAMILY, who the Wolffs find themselves at the mercy of given the Kings’ purchase of Alderhelm and their threat to expose the Wolffs’ embezzling activities. Moreover, the family is looking to get ahead of THE INVESTIGATIONS to prevent notice of their involvement in THE SONS OF THE SEA at Alderhelm College. At least they have the college, the OLDE ALDER HOTEL, and one of theirs in the mayor’s seat…
CANONS CAN BE FOUND HERE
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The Penewait Family
Situated just beyond the lurching waves of Red Water Bay sits a covey of cape cod style houses whose almost plain appearance belies the prestige of its inhabitants. It stands warrior-like beyond a sprawling wharf, its people practiced mediators between Alderhelm and the sea. Everything about the Penewait family compound is wind-whipped, salt-stained, and rugged; a testament to the family’s doggedness and grit. It goes without saying: this is what survivance looks like. It implies without implying: this is what it means to provide and be provided for.
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Centuries ago, when Danish settlers first came to colonize Wabanahkik, they attempted to eliminate those who already called Dawnland home. Though they were somewhat successful in doing so, their tactics were innately flawed and life, as it does, found a way. THE PENEWAIT FAMILY are the result of that way, and is made up of the descendants of the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot people, as well as others of the Wabanaki Confederacy. Rooted by their ancestors in the land and waters of Alderhelm, they are highly esteemed for running the town’s fishing industry as Penewait Family Fishing Co. and for having a down-home, community oriented way of doing so that has earned them the favor of locals, especially that of the working class.
Though the Penewaits maintain intentional ties to the old ways, they have not gotten to where they are now without also embracing the new; however unsavory. The master’s tools cannot, after all, dismantle the master’s house. Not only does the family run a small time drug ring out of the backrooms of their warehouse on the docks, they are also in talks with members of THE KING FAMILY to merge their drug operations with theirs to avoid the Kings exposing their criminal dealings. Meanwhile, a few of them have begun to notice that the Wolff/Penewait they took in and raised hasn’t been around as much as usual. What they don’t yet know is that she has been visiting what remains of THE TRUE BELIEVERS and is pushing them to reassemble to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
CANONS CAN BE FOUND HERE
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The King Family
Within the depths of Alderhelm is a heart that shines spectacularly beneath dark waters and cascading trees. A heart that drew the King family to the town, encouraged by the prospects of renewal that Alderhelm offered. But they came from a world of learning and prosperity. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, the family got their start with small-time entrepreneurial endeavors and the selling of dreamy poetry to eccentric publications. A warm and loving family steeped in hardwork and determination gave birth to an empire that utilized technology, real estate, and politics to stamp themselves as a permanent fixture in the American financial landscape.
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Arriving in town with good intentions, the family started the Alderhelm Revitalization Project in an effort to provide jobs, housing, and prosperity to the once great town. The King family has not been shy about their intentions, much to the anger of some residents. Most pointedly, the Wolff and Penewait families, both renowned for their past contributions to the town despite their recent lack of stewardship for those that look to them for help.
In an effort to tip the balance of power, the King family decided early that shadier tactics might need to be employed for the sake of saving the town from inactive leadership and undeserved hardship. Seedy maneuvering and money well placed has been able to undercover acts of embezzlement committed by THE WOLFF FAMILY and a booming drug ring run through the docks by the THE PENEWAIT FAMILY. But the Kings are not without flaws, as they find themselves stooping to new lows to attain power within the town.
The Hinterlands was the perfect place to begin. The Kings have begun refurbishing the old sawmill, which they plan to turn into the KINGSHELM CASINO, its name a playful homage to the family and the town’s history. It was meant to be a lavish investment with the intention of providing options for those in the town, more so than stealing their earnings. But behind the well-placed ‘Under Construction’ signs are the inner workings of a slow started drug business specializing in the dealing of hard drugs like heroin, to which the head of the family either turns a blind eye or has no knowledge of. Either way, his hands are just as dirty as the rest.
