The Brightheart family is one of the so called blessed families in Rivermond who married into one of the sacred lineages of Rivermond. Only a handful of lineages in Rivermond are considered sacred due to being a founding family of Rivermond and their well known extended lifespan.
The name Brightheart was first recorded in the year 461 of the fourth age. A young lady called Faith Brightheart married William V Wilds after his previous wife had passed. He had a son and heir with her named after the him; William IV. In the year 477 he had another son with Faith, they named him Frederick and with permission he was given his mother's family name of Brightheart. At a young age he proved himself honorable before his parents and other lords which led to him being granted Knighthood at the age of 18, making the Brightheart a noble family. Faith passed away in the year 499 at the age of 56.
At the age of 28 Frederick married a distant cousin of his in an arranged marriage. In the year 574 he married Fiona Wilds to strengthen the bond with the Wilds family and together they gave life to a son in the year 567. They named him Bartimaeus Brightheart. A fine boy who grew up in his father's footsteps to become a even finer knight. He did plenty of charity work in the Capital city and helped out with the guard when able. At the age of 19 he was Knighted and served along side his father for many years. During these years Bartimaeus saw what the Dominion was doing to the population, especially on the countryside of Rivermond which he had not seen much of in his younger years. It rubbed him the wrong way and his father urged him to do the right thing when he saw something or someone being wronged. There was an order of Knight that took things upon themselves to fight the wrongs the Church had done. He joined the holy Order of the Grail Knights in the year 586. He took an oath with his new brothers in arms to defend Rivermond and its people against all things wicked and corrupt. This included the oppressive Church of the Dominion.
In the year 603 Bartimaeus was 36 when he married a young but strong lady he met while outside of the Capital city, her name was Cassandra Flowers and openly stood up against the men of the Church who pushed over the country folk. Unfortunately almost a year later he would go missing in battle after the Grail Knights were annihilate in a last battle with the military arm of the Church, The Dominus Chain. Unknown to Bartimaeus, his wife Cassandra was pregnant and gave birth to twins in the year 605. They were named Caitlin and Rupert. Years later in the year 611 Frederick Brightheart passed away at the age of 134. He had fallen into a great depression after receiving the news of his son however he got some comfort when Cassandra informed him of the twins. The Brightheart family would live on.
In the year 707 Rupert married Laura Holmes in an arranged marriage, she was from another noble family in Rivermond. He was 84 at the time while she was 18, despite his age he appeared to be in his early 30s. He was no Knight like his father or grandfather before him. Rupert was a man of intellect which he got from his mother. He helped people through his charisma and could talk nobles into many ventures to help the people of Rivermond. Spoke highly about keeping the land safe from outside ventures coming from the Vache Kingdom. With his new wife he had a son in the year 709 and they called him Laurence Brightheart.
Caitlin Brightheart went through a scandal in the year 628 when she gave birth to her son Simon. The father of the child was never discovered and she did everything she could to give him her name, with the lack of proof of a father he son was granted the family name. In the year 694 she married Nathaniel, an old half-elf who had been a squire to her father. They had bonded over his tales of her father. In the year 695 they had a daugther named Lucinda Brightheart. She was mainly raised by her father and in the year 730 Caitlin passed away. She was 125 years old.
In the year 662 Simon Brightheart married a commoner named Melena Bridgehall. A year lafter they gave life to a son they named after the father, Simon II. Few years later in 667 they had a daugther they called Isabella Brightheart. Unfortunately she was killed in the year 679 by a wild wyvern attack. She was only 12 years old. Simon II grew up hating wyverns and their kin, this extended to all dragonkind. He helped the Lord of Windelcrest with inventions and deadly tricks of how to deal with their kind. His ambition caused a great divide between the dragons and men of Windelcrest. In the year 700 entered a marriage with a lady called Bellathorn Hilltower, she was a commoner but she was facinated with his ambition to bring down the reign of dragons and wyverns.
There was little love in that marriage however they did have a son in the year 743, a boy they called Hal Brightheart. He grew up in his father's shadow while his mother tried to make him into another Simon. He tried to be the best he could in his father's eyes but it was never enough, instead of trying to invent something to kill the dragons, Hal decided to look through his father's studies about how dragons lived. He grew an interest in learning what made them special, what put each kind apart from another. His mother despised this new interest of his and tried to make him stop while his father refused to intervene. Decades later in the year 787, Bellathorn passed away and became forgotten. Simon II never loved her in the first place and Hal was only raised to hate her. He was rather pleased with the peace her death had brought him. It was only after her death that Simon II would let Hal know that he had always admired Hal's passion to learn about Dragons. He told Hal that he might find something that Simon himself had been too angry to see. He had spent most of his life hating something. Eventually they bonded however Hal had a hard time letting go of the early years of neglect. At the year 831, Simon II passed away and gave everything to Hal. He became a famous Dragonologist in Windelcrest and was instrumental in making peace with the Dragons in the region.