Gregor's Crossing

Gregor's Crossing is a Gilnean city in the Ashen Coast. It is a walled off city and is currently led by House of Gregor, who are sworn to House Grayblade. The city has maintained healthy relations with other Ashen Coast towns and is one of the few to not have been destroyed when the Orcish Horde invaded the Kingdom of Gilneas.

History
Gregor's Crossing was founded by Lord Jeran Gregor and his family following the discovery of a rich gold mine in the area of Bannhurst and after the establishment of the Kingdom of Gilneas. Settling in the area due to the rich soil, Gregor's Crossing was mostly focused on a agrarian lifestyle and maintained a healthy following of the Old Ways.

Gregor's Crossing was a relatively small community in its creation, having a handful of families to its name, but a plentiful amount of fields and livestock.

War in the Ashen Coast
Following the establishment of the Kingdom of Gilneas, the area of the Ashen Coast experienced a mix of religions. Cobal's Hold and Karnsburg were strong worshipers of the Holy Light, while such towns as Rosefield and Gregor's Crossing, were strong supporters of the Old Ways and refused to pick up the practices of the Light. To add further religious confusion, worship of the god Deus was adopted in Brandon's Stead and Keel Harbor. Religious tension broke out within the area, especially in the neighboring town of Bannhurst who, despite being under the House of Cobalstant, had the biggest mix of these followings. As the strongest family in the area, the Cobalstants believed that Bannhurst should be kept to Light worship, seeking to oust Old Ways worship and especially worship of the god Deus.

Chapels to the Light were established in the areas of Cobal's Hold and Karnsburg, and a small cathedral was to be built in Bannhurst. After assassinations and stealthy attacks on the Deus worshiping towns of the Ashen Coast by the Cobalstants, war broke out in the area.

Fearing for their people, the towns of Rosefield and Gregor's Crossing banded together in an alliance of their own named the Rose Pact, laying siege to Bannhurst in order to displace both the Cobalstants and the Ashen Coast Coalition. The three way war in the town led to a severe decline of Bannhurst's prosperity, with the Cathedral's construction site destroyed and the great gold mine of Bannhurst being left unmanned. Unable to reap the benefits of the Ashen Coast, the armies of Greymane marched into the region, occupying the wreckage of Bannhurst and effectively ending the war. By the end of the strife, Keel Harbor and Brandon's Stead were left in ruins.

The Cobalstants funded the rebuilding of these two towns, establishing chapels of the Light, while Gregor's Crossing and Rosefield were permitted to continue their practices of the Old ways, and worship of the light was adopted in the area as well. Ultimately, Deus worship was effectively destroyed in the area as most practitioners were either slain or were converted to the ways of the light.

Turn from Agrarianism
Years after the war had taken a toll on Gregor's Crossing, as most of the fields of the town had been torched by a mix of Cobalstant and Ashen Coast Coalition men. While their practicing of the old ways allowed them to regrow some of their crop fields, most of their livestock had been slaughtered and the town was near bankrupt, the majority of their sustenance coming from fishing.

Turning to other areas for aid, House Gregor struck up a bargain with another struggling house by the name of House Grayblade, in the Northern Ashen Coast. By opening trade across the river to allow the two to prosper. Unfortunately, this did not last long as the Grayblades lost most of their land following a skirmish in the Northern Ashen Coast between Gilneas and Lordaeron.

Looking to other sources for income, the people of Gregor's Crossing mined out parts of their fields with hopes of running into a resource mine such as Bannhurst's. Their gambit paid off as they hit a rather large vein of silver, turning the focus of the town from agrarianism to a mix of farming, fishing, and mining.

Demise of House Cobalstant
By the time the Second War began, the Cobalstants had all but left their town of Bannhurst to rot, having imposed overly high taxes and demands of the people that left most families starving. Led by Galen Hallowfield, the citizens of Bannhurst stormed Cobalstant Manor in a rage, slaughtering the lord Balferd Cobalstant and his family. With no Cobalstants remaining, House Grayblade, House Gregor's old ally, came into power in Bannhurst, Cobal's Hold and Karnsburg.

While Lord Grayblade revitalized the Bite, Lord Xavier Gregor came into power in Gregor's Crossing. Seeking to revive their pact with the Grayblade family, Gregor's Crossing underwent changes to industrialize it as Bannhurst was. This allowed the two towns to form a trade coalition for the betterment of both of their economies.

Bannhurst would design and create the means for various machinations and Gregor's Crossing would finalize and improve on the designs then export them en masse with split profits going to each town. The coalition provided various sorts of crop harvesters to the rebuilding nation of Stormwind, while also improving on various gun designs.

Arrival of the Seventh Skull
Following the end of the Second War and the closing off of Gilneas from the rest of Azeroth, a group of Lordaeronian deserters turned bandits became trapped behind the wall. Originally just harassing small towns such as Emberstone Village, the Seventh Skull sought to grip Gilneas' economy under its fist. Laying siege to several towns across the Ashen Coast, such as Rosefield and the like, the Seventh Skull gripped the southern Ashen Coast economy. While Gregor's Crossing was on the Seventh Skull's list, it ultimately did not see the Skull's wrath, as they passed over the town in favor of Bannhurst. After assassinating the Grayblade family and laying siege to the town, Gregor's Crossing took in some of the fleeing caravans of children before sending them off to Keel Harbor.

In the aftermath of the attack, Bannhurst was left completely ruined and the Ashen Coast in disarray. Cobal's Hold was given to House Darkoak of Rosefield, and Karnsburg to House Cloverfield, only for the Cloverfields to eventually die of mysterious circumstances, and Karnsburg to go under the Darkoak's lordship. In the years that followed, House Gregor of Gregor's Crossing and House Greyfield of Brandon's Stead to become extremely wary of the Darkoaks, following the sudden destruction of House Cloverfield and House Grayblade.

Death of the Darkoaks and the Worgen
While on a visit to Gilneas City to visit his son and sole heir, Galin Darkoak, Lord Balaforth Darkoak was slain, alongside his son, by Berenal Grayblade, the heir to Bannhurst and true heir to Cobal's Hold and Karnsburg. The man was arrested, though was later released on the grounds that he was framed. With no other heirs to the land, Cobal's Hold, Karnsburg, and the Ruins of Bannhurst once again found themselves under the name of House Grayblade, though it was short lived.

While the young Lord Berenal Grayblade sought out a military life and left minor lords to run the towns in his stead, the Worgen curse swept across Gilneas in the years to come. While the Ashen Coast were mostly unaffected, Bannhurst became the site of hunting parties, seeking out the wolfmen in the ruins. After a large pack of Worgen were found in the ruins, and Gilneas City had been lost, the people of the Ashen Coast destroyed the bridge connecting the Ashen Coast to the rest of Gilneas.

Being one of the only industrial towns in the area following Bannhurst's destruction, Gregor's Crossing made a large amount of guns and weaponry to fight off the Worgen, often leading purges across the Ashen Coast.

Arrival of the Horde
The final blow to the Ashen Coast was struck by the hands of the Orcish Horde that had arrived near the end of the first invason of Gilneas. During this time, Rosefield, Cobal's Hold, Karnsburg, and Brandon's Stead were destroyed by the Horde. The people of Gregor's Crossing held fast against the Orcish Horde, and provided an evacuation route for the families fleeing from the Ashen Coast. The town was later abandoned when the evacuation was nearing its end. During this time, the ruins of Bannhurst along with most of the Ashen Coast were the site of battle between the Gilneans and their Night elven allies, and the Orcish Horde that was invading.

By the end of the siege, the Greyfield family was neary wiped out, having been butchered when Brandon's Stead was ransacked. Thanks to the timely intervention of Lord Xavier Gregor and his sons, Lady Greyfield was saved just before the orcs could kill her. The people of House Gregor and House Greyfield followed Lord Berenal Grayblade and lent their men to the banner of the Blades of Greymane. Gregor's Crossing now operates as a militant base in the Ashen Coast, having sustained minimal damage during the assault.

Mercenary Assault
Shortly after the Second Battle of Andorhal, Gregor's Crossing was invaded by a group of mercenaries in the dead of night. Lord Xavier Gregor, who had been dying from poor health theorized due to his age, passed away before the invasion began. Unable to handle the sudden surge of mercenaries, the Gregor family evacuated the town, unable to even bury Lord Xavier before they departed.

The Gregors set up a small encampment on the outskirts of Gregor's Crossing by the name of Gregor's Holdout, where the Blades arrived in order to reclaim the town. The town currently remains in the hands of the mercenaries, and Xavier's eldest son, Adrian, has become the new lord of the town with his death.

Assault on the Overlook
In order to retake Gregor's Crossing, the fort over looking the town was to be re-secured first. Leading a small elite group in, Lord Grayblade and Lord Adrian Gregor led a daring assault on the damaged fort, with one of the garrisons having been burnt down before their arrival.

Rather than mercenaries, the ghosts of the slaughtered Blades of Greymane men under Lord Xavier Gregor had risen from the dead and resumed their posts, living out the final hours of their lives as they prepared for the mercenaries to siege the fort. However, unlike in their final days, they were neatly organized and ready for the siege, which proved to be a great detriment to the Blades forces, as the dead could not tell their living kin apart from their enemies. Wrenching their way through the fortress, the inner courtyard and tower was taken by the living, forcing the dead to fall back to the main tower in the overlook.

After destroying the last bit of Undead were slain, a heartbreaking sight was found by the Blades. Unable to find peace in death, Lord Xavier Gregor, the source of the organization of the undead, had risen from the dead and faced the Blades head on, he too unable to tell his former friends from the bastards that had claimed his town. His sights fixed during the battle on his own son, Adrian, and after begging his father to stop, he was forced to run his father through on his blade.

With his dying breaths, the haze cleared from the undead Gregor's eyes, giving a few final words of wisdom to his son before passing from the plane of Azeroth, and with him whatever ghastly soldiers remained. The Blades quickly reclaimed the Overlook following his demise and prepared to siege the town.

Currently
Gregor's Crossing operates as the capitol of the Range and continues to aid in whatever way possible. Following the Range Rebellion, the city shifted focus from heavy mining back to agrarianism, taking advantage of the Range's long rolling plains. It still maintains a large silver mine, though years of mining it have led many to suspect it may run dry in time.

Culture
Gregor's Crossing has a diverse mix of cultures within the town. Keeping their roots, the people of Gregor's Crossing have a deep seeded respect for druidism and the earth, as well as a fervent belief in the light. It was known that Gregor's Crossing housed one of the few areas of Gilneas that one could train to become a paladin, with several Gregors actually being paladins themselves.

The architecture of Gregor's Crossing also differs from most of Gilneas as of its re-inclusion into the Alliance, having adopted an odd mix of Gilnean buildings and newer alliance building styles, especially those used in Northrend.

Gregor's Crossing has bred a strong society of honorable and loyal men, having sworn to House Grayblade and the Blades immediately after the call went out for men to carry up the fallen order's banners. Since then, the men and women of Gregor's Crossing have faithfully served the Blades with unwavering devotion to them, the Alliance and Gilneas.