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House Wells
May 16, 2026 at 08:53 AM
Added Fortin cursed knight battle, Bloody Coronation survival narrative, and house posture table
House Wells is a Core faction based in Demeniss. The ducal house that governs southern Demeniss. A house that swears loyalty to the Royal House Thorel, they openly oppose Caliburn and Bastier, who seized Demeniss by force. They possess both the power and the cause to ignite a civil war at any moment, so Bastier pressured Wells by every means available, even resorting to the most underhanded tactics.
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Description | The ducal house that governs southern Demeniss. A house that swears loyalty to the Royal House Thorel, they openly oppose Caliburn and Bastier, who seized Demeniss by force. They possess both the power and the cause to ignite a civil war at any moment, so Bastier pressured Wells by every means available, even resorting to the most underhanded tactics. |
House Wells is the ducal house of southern Demeniss and is one of the Core factions that openly opposes both Caliburn and Grand General Bastier. Its leader, Duke Wells, is powerful enough that his political moves could ignite a full civil war, which keeps him at the heart of the kingdom's most tense political content. Players can find the Duke giving speeches to his soldiers at Fort Musket.
During the main story, Duke Wells confirms information about a mysterious figure whose actions tie together several of the plot threads in Demeniss. House Wells' quest content is therefore both military and political: clearing occupied locations in the south while also navigating the dangerous intersection of Demeniss's Politics quest chain.
House Wells is the southern ducal house of Demeniss and one of the few core houses to survive both the Blood Coronation and the wider conspiracy that Grand General Bastier and Duke Caliburn used to seize the kingdom. Duke Wells is one of those survivors: he was present during the slaughter and lived through it, which gives the house a personal grievance against Bastier on top of its established political opposition.
During the Demeniss arc, House Wells is the primary military partner the player draws on once Cliff and Damiane shift from infiltration work to open warfare. After Count George Byron is assassinated during Bloodied Invitation, the next push against Bastier sends Kliff to aid Duke Wells in retaking a Wells holding from a Bastier-aligned commander who is using Palune refugees as human shields. This is the battle that introduces Fortin the cursed knight and confirms Hex Marie's involvement on Bastier's side of the conspiracy.
Fortin, the cursed knight, was once a high-ranking warrior in the Wells estate. Like many other Demeniss noble retainers, he was won over by the ideology of Grand General Bastier and turned on his former lord. As part of his defection he was bestowed a power, or perhaps a curse, by Hex Marie, who was already working in league with the wider Demeniss conspiracy. Hex Marie's own experience with splitting a soul let her pass that technique on to Fortin, who could summon a dark double of himself to throw off the player's timing throughout the duel.
The cost is that the power turns on its host once he loses. When Cliff defeats Fortin during the assault on the occupied Wells holding, the dark double executes the original Fortin on the spot. This is one of the clearest in-game demonstrations of how the conspiracy used Hex Marie's magic to corrupt loyal officers from rival houses, weakening houses like Wells from within while Bastier moved against them politically. The Fortain, the Cursed Knight boss page and the related The Cursed Knight quest cover the fight in detail.
As thanks for Cliff's aid in retaking the Wells castle, Duke Wells reveals that he was a survivor of the Blood Coronation itself. He lived through the night Caliburn slaughtered the king's loyalist nobles, which is part of why he is both publicly loyal to the comatose King of Demeniss and personally committed to bringing down Bastier and Caliburn. By the time the Demeniss arc resolves, Duke Wells has shifted his base of operations to Fort Musket, where he gives speeches to his soldiers and prepares for the next phase of the war.
After the defeat of Caliburn and Bastier, Duke Wells issues a warning about the desert tribes to the north who, after the many battles fought in recent weeks, will be ready to attack at the first sign of weakness. House Wells is therefore left as one of the few intact noble powers carrying Demeniss's defence going into the post-Caliburn period, sitting alongside the surviving House Azerian and the weakened House Thorel royal line.
Faction | Posture Toward Wells | Notes |
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Hostile (pre-coronation conspirator) | George Byron was one of Bastier's co-conspirators; his assassination during Bloodied Invitation precedes Wells's open counterattack. | |
Hostile | Marshell is described as Bastier's primary financial backer, his Black Strongbox; opposing Bastier means opposing Marshell. | |
Allied | Countess Azerian and Wells are openly aligned against Caliburn and Bastier and coordinate the search for Beatrice Azerian. | |
Allied | Wealthy count's house friendly with House Azerian and broadly supportive of the loyalist faction. | |
Loyal to | Wells holds its ducal authority through loyalty to the royal house; the king's coma is why Wells cannot immediately push for executions of the surviving conspirators. |
Demeniss - the kingdom the house rules over in part.
Caliburn - political rival.
Grand General Bastier - the general Wells opposes.
House Azerian - allied opposition house.
House Elemore - wealthy allied count's house.
House Marshell - primary rival house backing Bastier.
Like every faction in Crimson Desert, this group sits inside the game's five-tier reputation system: War, Hostile, Neutral, Friendly, and Alliance. Most factions begin at Neutral when first encountered, and reputation shifts as the player completes faction quests, contracts, and related world content. Reaching Alliance unlocks three compounding benefits: allied troops that assist in combat inside the faction's territory, exclusive vendors carrying items not sold anywhere else, and restricted resource nodes such as mining deposits, ingredient patches, and hidden dungeons.
For a complete list of all factions in Crimson Desert, see the Factions overview page.
Core