You are Andrew Ravenblood, a Scion of your house eligible to one day inherit it as Patriarch, though you are not currently the designated heir. You were born and raised on the planet of Halia, a world dominated by tumultuous seas and island chains. Your upbringing was rather conventional, as far as the upbringing of the potential rulers of worlds go. You were well educated in the basic sciences, etiquette, mathematics, and in classical culture, receiving tutorship from the best scholars, priests and guildsmen that your world could offer.
The Ravenblood family has had high ambitions for a long time however, and long before you were born it was decided that yours would be the generation that would see the family rise to greater station. The current head of the House is Matriarch Alma, though she is more often referred to as the Matriarch Ravenblood. She is a cunning old woman who has spent many years ensuring that this generation of Ravenbloods would be particularly numerous and diverse, you were only one of many siblings and cousins that were ejected from your own home world the moment that a use was found for you. She has been very explicit, and even public with her intention, she wants each of you to compete with one another to determine who will inherit the house when she dies, by distinguishing yourselves abroad as worthy contenders for the household seat, and in so doing increasing the influence of the House as a whole.
You were fifteen when you were first sent to begin learning under the tutelage of various merchants, brokers and industrialists, and then twenty one when you were named as your House's representative with the Guild Combine. A young age for such weighty duties, but you took well to the dual role of diplomat and deal broker between your House and the Combine. You travelled throughout the stars, spending far more time on aging star-ships and sprawling space-ports than on solid ground. You encountered technological wonders that would make even the most puritanical of orthodox priests gape in awe, you met with dozens of varieties of gene modified humans that you never even knew existed. You even encountered the rare Xeno in your travels.
Indulging curiosities was never your primary pursuit however, though it did open your mind to the many wonders that exist in the Empire. No, most of your time was spent securing trade contracts, acquiring the schematics for factory machines, investing family assets, and acquiring commodities that your homeworld cannot produce on its own. You spent five years in such work, never managing to return home in that time, too mired in your dealings with the people of far off worlds.
So cut off from home, it comes as a shock when you receive word from a cousin alerting you that the Matriarch has fallen badly ill due to lung problems. In fact, the cousin seems to have been under the impression that you already knew, and is petitioning you for support on their own claim to the House Seat, should it come to that. You've been out of touch for a long time, but it's the wake up call you needed to turn your attention home again.
After some thought, you realize that you know frustratingly little about the political climate at home, a problem you will really need to rectify, though you consider what you do know. The cousin who is petitioning your aid is named Adam, three years your senior and an only child, something which frustrated the Matriarch. He seemed a headstrong sort back when you knew him, idealistic and a little naive, but well meaning. You seem to recall that he had signed on with a Knightly order in order to win glory, with the full intention of being Knighted and swearing allegiance to the currently seated Emperor. Now Adam is asking you for funds, and to help him open a line of credit with the Bankers Guild, something you could probably arrange if you wanted to sink a considerable portion of your own resources into the venture. He does not specify what he wants so much money for exactly.
Before you get too deep down any line of thought, it's worth considering where your loyalties lie. Perhaps you intend to stand behind the Matriarch and her wishes for your House, or perhaps you have grown to resent her from keeping you from home for so long. Perhaps you even intend to save her from her illness, or to speed her demise. Perhaps you are loyal to the wellbeing of your House as a whole, or perhaps you desire personal power. Perhaps you want to be the Patriarch of your own house, or at least the De Facto power behind it. Or perhaps you have even higher ambitions.
You take a night to absorb all this, to consider what you know, and finally, to decide how you are going to approach your family.
GM Note
And here's where we give Andrew Ravenblood his initial motivation as a charachter. This isn't something locked in stone, but it will give us a good jumping off point to go from here, before more story is established. Feel free to ask questions about the setting and situation, and i'll try to answer to the best of Andrew's knowledge.
Author
Topic: Fading Empire (SG) (Read 5990 times)