The longwinded history lesson

Okay, sorry for some of the confusion and the delay in responding. Hopefully this will clear up a few things.

Here is the history as it is commonly known:
Roughly one century ago the realm was enjoying the height of prosperity and trade and industry were booming. Several noble houses had clawed their way to power and with their rise so came stability and the promise of even more growth and power to come. A traveler could walk from village to town within the vale without fear of bandits or worse. Each noble house prided itself in fielding a personal guard that guaranteed the safety of all that crossed their properties and few places within the vale besides the deep forests were not claimed by one house or another. Hundreds of families intermarried and allied themselves together until only a double handful of houses found themselves at the top. heading that pack was house Jarvis. The next two large houses (Markelhay and Padraig) were distant 2nd and 3rd in terms of size and power. House Jarvis owned all of the lands that are now called the Harkenwold and it was here that the bloodspear war really began. A little known guardsman, Brannas, was later found to be the one that sold out Nentir Vale to the Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Gnolls. Rumors of poisoned mead and other treacherous acts as well as several of the guards turning sell sword are common to how the war got started. From the start, house Jarvis was taken out from betrayel within the house and never stood a chance to rally troops before being overrun by the Bloodspear horde. Markelhay and Padraig were able to marshal enough troops to fight the greenskins back but not before the lands of Jarvis were plundered and the keep was raised to the gound, a few ruins remain in the area but no real marker of house Jarvis remains.

For those that have spent some time studying the time of the war (most of the players) this is the specifics you would know:
House Jarvis was indeed the most powerful of the top three houses, however, Jarvis was jealous of Padraig and Markelhay, specifically Markelhay’s captain of his house watch, a young Brannas Trellmon. Brannas was the son of a house that was quickly gaining a name for itself due to its training of guardsmen and swordsmen. Markelhay saw the promise of house Trellmon and was helping them gain power (some say too quickly for the taste of house Jarvis), when Jarvis arranged to have the Trellmons transferred to his own watch. Some say that it was this transfer that led Trellmon to betray house Jarvis.

And now specifically what Andros has been told and found out:
Andros has spent his life growing up in Harkenwold in the care of the Trellsens, a hard working family that seemed to work as a public notary and lay clerk. Their work gave Andros some special opportunities at education that others his age did not receive, and the family also hired a swordsman to show him some basic skills. The patriarch of the family “Grandma Trellsen” led the family with a firm hand and moved the men of the family off into business at their earliest opportunity. Andros began to notice that he was being groomed for a different path than the other men living in the household and his queries to the house Mother always left him feeling that she was keeping something back from him. The most information he ever got out of her was a vague reference to finding a job working for the Markelhays in Falcrest. How the old Mother could think that their minor family could ever gain an audience with the rulers of Falcrest was more than Andros knew. As opportunities passed Andros by and the health of the old Mother waned Andros found that he could spend more unsupervised time in the archives and paper stacks that the clerks of the family kept. It was here that he noticed the sigil that the old Mother wore on the men’s signet around her neck. He was also surprised to discover that it was a match for Brannas Trellmon, the betrayer of the Bloodspear war. Andros quickly found that the records within the archive were not complete, and the old Mother’s health was flagging. Within days of falling ill, the old Mother passed, leaving more questions for Andros than answers. Among the questions were many “unsanctioned honors” and some strange changes of official markings that appear to change the assignments of house guards. Andros spent a lot of time searching through those records for more specifics about Trellmon, but found that all the records of Brannas Trellmon and in fact all references of house Trellmon were missing, even though he had heard rumors in the street about Trellmon that would have meant that they would appear in the records. Andros concluded that either those records were somewhere else or they must have been altered or destroyed. With the Mothers passing, Andros found his desire to travel to Falcrest and search for answers more pressing. Finally he decided that perhaps he would take the old Mother’s advice and see if he could gain an audience with Lord Markelhay.

Lady Amelieta
Lady Amelieta claims that she is a friend of Andros' house and that she specifically owed Andros' father a debt of gratitude for services that Andros' family rendered her elven house during the bloodspear war. Andros does not recall her mentioning her family's name though he did notice that she had an embroidered golden thistle on her outfit that could be a heraldric symbol.
Amelieta also claimed that the Trellmons were responsible for avoiding a civil war as the outcome of the bloodspear war. She claimed that the realm came out of the war much more segmented and devided and that there was a strong following of house Trellmon. Because of the lay of the noble landscape, there was no peaceful way for the realm to divide with the Trellmons in place. She claims that Brannas, then lord of the house agreed to take his house out of contention in a way that would guarantee peace and stability. What he did not forsee was the stagnation that the vale would fall into in the next 100 years. As part of the agreement Brannas’ seven male heirs were scattered and the name of house Tallmon was destroyed with the claim of treason (there was also a rumor of a daughter that was scattered to the 4 corners as well). The sons agreed to go off into exile rather than split the realm.

Also in the mix:
There are some interesting claims in the mix of things, not the least of which is a reference to a brother of Andros (Banthos), who evidently spent some time living in Harkenwold, and by some claims was also present during the bloodspear war which is well outside his normal lifespan. NOTE: I have to be honest here and let you know that some of this information did not come out exactly as it should have, as I was planning on your adventure out of the 7 pillar hall to lead to this adventure. I did not take excellent notes on what I told Rodney about his adventure and I don’t want to spoil any cliffhangers or intrigue so I will leave it at that unless I mentioned something else to Rodney that he would like to share. I believe the only other thing of note that may have gotten glossed over is Eriss, not much is known about how he came back to life, who paid, and why his eyes have changed colors. And if I have not mentioned it, he has grown much from his original hire as the bannerboy, he is much more likely to voice an opinion and his skills with weapons as well as his confidence has grown much in the last several weeks.

Sorry for the small novel here, and I wish I had more time to write it (our power was out most of the day today, not sure why). Anyway if you have questions let me know.