(Lore) Lineage of the Kane

Storymaster

Historic
Originally, the Kane were a Colovian house in Cyrodiil that comprised several distinguished branches, most notable of which were the Verius, Thorn, and Kane families. The insular clan was known for its distinctive appearance, peculiar customs, unusual family pride, and their contributions to various military campaigns in Western Tamriel. The men of the Kane are scattered and diminished following the massacre at Lionfall. Their sigil is an enraged white mountain lion wounded by arrow on a gray banner.

Revival
As of 2E 584, Simeria Kane has revived her family’s legacy as unified home for wayward adventurers from all walks of life, adopting much of her people’s customs and culture as a diverse clan, not a bloodline.

Lineage
The line of Kane settled in Cyrodiil during the fourth century, where their family progenitor, the mythical Kane of the Reach, sometimes referred to as Kjarn Kainen, brought his people to the Colovian Highlands from Skyrim. Their clan enjoyed a brief period of prominence in the Colovian Highlands of Cyrodiil where they established the city of Lionfall before being all but exterminated by the Longhouse Emperors during the Interregnum.

Family Appearance
Those who hail from the line of Kane typically possess striking blue eyes and colorless hair ranging from bright white, off white, to gray – the color of which does not decline with age. A child of the line without one of these features (either the colorless hair or blue eyes) is considered “Unfavored of the Lion” or “Unfavored of Colovia”, and may be used as a precedent for the parents to grant the right of succession to a younger child born with one or both of these physical qualities.

Family myth holds that upon arriving in the Colovian Highlands, Kane defeated a legendary white mountain lion named Cyre with his bare hands after wrestling with the beast until the point of exhaustion. The fable persists that Kane drew the lion’s power unto himself, turning his hair the color of the beast’s coat, and taking upon his eyes the burning blue of the cougar lord. Cyre then permitted Kane to settle his people in Colovia, sending his cougar sentries to patrol their village borders. Many descendants of Kane are named after the cougar lord in honor of this fable.

Historic Controversy
Recovered texts from Skyrim suggest that the eponymous Kane may have been a charismatic fourth century Reachman named Kjarn who led a failed uprising against several influential tribes in the Reach. It is said that, despite raising a substantial army and despite deploying underhanded tactics that won him a string of victories early on in the uprising, Kjarn’s forces were ultimately broken in a single decisive battle. Kjarn himself was said to have been “weakened and permanently diminished” in the final battle by Reachman hedge-magic that left his hair pale gray. Surrounded by his enemies and with two thirds of his forces dead or captured, Kjarn fled south into Cyrodiil with several hundred of his supporters rather than face certain death at the hands of his enemies. Kjarn received permission from Potentate Versidue-Shaie to settle his broken remnant in the northwestern highlands of Cyrodiil in exchange for hunting down several Colovian families suspected of plotting against the Akaviri Potentates.

If true, this account would greatly discredit many purported facts on which the honor of the line of Kane was founded. This would discount the family legend that Kane’s battle with the mountain lion Cyre was the source of the family’s hair color. This would also refute the claims the Kane remained undefeated in combat until his death at the hands of Cyrella the White Storm.

The descendants of Kane maintain that this account is nothing more than fiction spread by the Witchmen of High Rock to validate their unlawful purge of the Kane line during the reign of the Longhouse Emperors.


House Sigil
A house banner was not adopted until Cyrienne Kane (the White Lioness of Colovia) led one thousand volunteers to assist the Bretons in repelling the Reachmen in 2E 541. The banner was woven by her silksmiths to distinguish her regiment from the heavy dragoons fighting under Emeric of Wayrest in the final battle. She famously fought on despite being swept from her horse and despite taking an arrow in the ensuing melee. Afterwards, her battle standard was adopted as the family emblem, though it was altered to add an arrow protruding from the mountain lion’s shoulder.


Insular Nature and Unlikely Allies
Up until several decades before its fall, the Kane were known as an insular tribe of Imperials, mistrusting of outsiders. However, when young Cyron Kane was struck by wanderlust and formed the Companions of Many Colors, he forged an unlikely friendship with a young Orsimer warrioress named Reshka gra-Broghash. Later, when Reshka became the First Wife and eventually the bone witch shaman of Clan Mobaz in the Reach, the two tribes formed a trade alliance and later a military alliance. Most importantly, Clan Mobaz fostered over two hundred children and adolescents of the Kane during the events that eventually led to the destruction of Lionfall and the shattering of the Kane line. If not for the honor of Clan Mobaz, the Kane line would have all but vanished from the face of Nirn.


Known Contemporary Figures
Simeria Kane
Silius Kane
Atrian Kane
Felisa Sidero Kane
Cyron Kane