This article is about the family line. For other uses, see Gassenarl (disambiguation).
House Gassenarl was a noble house that controlled vast swathes of land in southern Gallia, rivaling House Randgriz in power. Their coat of arms features a lion.
Overview[]
House Gassenarl had apparently been a major player in national politics but due to a falling out with House Randgriz had been ejected from Gallia's capital. Since then, House Gassenarl had concentrated on maintaining its power in the south. It remained one of the most conservative families in Gallia, always eager to maintain the power of the nobility over commoners.
During the Imperial invasion of Gallia following the outbreak of the Second Europan War, several members of House Gassenarl served in the Gallian army. Gilbert Gassenarl commanded Gallian forces in the south as a general while his children, Baldren and Audrey served as a lieutenant colonel and major respectively. All three proved competent officers, unlike other nobles holding command positions.
Southern Gallia escaped much of the destruction the Empire wrought upon central and northern Gallia and thus House Gassenarl's power survived mostly intact. After the newly crowned Archduchess Cordelia Gi Randgriz revealed her family's Darcsen heritage, Gilbert saw an opportunity to seize control of Gallia for his family. Tapping into deep-seated anti-Darcsen prejudice, Gilbert rallied conservative nobles and commoners and formed the Gallian Revolutionary Army and initialed a rebellion against the Gallian government. Command of the GRA's military assets were given to Gilbert's children, with Baldren leading the infantry divisions while Audrey led the armored corps. Gilbert also used research done by Clementia Förster to create Artificial Valkyria to supplement the GRA's ranks and placed a second, heretofore unknown son named Dirk Gassenarl in command.
Despite some major successes including the capture of the capital Randgriz and the Archduchess Cordelia, the GRA was unable to hold its gains. House Gassenarl also suffered some internal strife, with Gilbert being executed by his son for ostensibly selling out Gallia to the GRA's Federation backers. Neither Baldren nor Audrey survived their father for much longer, both falling to Lanseal forces during the battles in the city of Anthold. Dirk was also revealed to be a false identity with no relation to the Gassenarl family.
By the end of the civil war, House Gassenarl had been effectively destroyed. Whether any relatives survived to make a claim to the family's assets, and whether such a claim would even be accepted by the Gallian government, remains unknown.