Struthionis Family
House Struthionis is a small noble family of modest wealth and influence, located in the region of South Bakker within the colonies.
Family History LIES AND SLANDER
From the journal of Forwin Clarke, scribe in the employ of the Struthionis family, "borrowed" during one of many nights of heavy drinking. I apologize, portions of the text were removed or rendered illegible when I tore them out. Noted by ellipses (...).
A relatively young family with a history of questionable actions and periods of suspicious fluctuations in wealth, many members simply do not maintain the social graces typically associated with the noble caste. Nevertheless, they pay well, and are decently amicable with their help, so I have no qualms serving under the strange troupe.
The House's origins, once investigated, take on something of a sinister tone, and may be traced to Lord Aves Struthionis naught but four generations ago. However, and this is the important part: my investigations have lead to the conclusion that Lord Aves was most likely born Aldus Audley, a frontiersman and explorer with a reputation for being a malicious racketeer. After a long life of hoarding his ill-gotten wealth, Aldus disappeared. Not long after, Lord Aves appeared.
Settling down in South Bakker, Lord Aves utilized an impressive vault of wealth to establish himself within the nobility, afterward taking a modest wife and beginning distribution of self-authored encyclopaedic...topics of topography and biology, the latter with a heavy emphasis on various bird species. He never gave any explanation...suggesting it was a claimed inheritance, and the texts he authored matched Aldus' travels. Aldus also was known to keep journals...avian species he had...
... Not absolutely solid evidence, I suppose, but...
Rumors of foul play would follow the Struthionis family for the next couple of generations, though no evidence would ever appear to verify such claims. ... The next generation saw a significant movement to shape up its public image to something more respectable. However, many of the House's actions remain quite blatantly illegal...
That's all I've got. Mr. Clarke is part of my regular drinking circle, though, so perhaps I can grab more on some other occasion. He doesn't seem to have noticed - I doubt he goes back and reads that thing much.
Names
From Lord Aves' children onward, everyone born or brought into the Struthionis family has been named after a species of bird. Women who marry into the family are assigned new names. Struthionis women who wish to marry are pressured to find men poor or crazy enough to leave behind their family names to adopt the Struthionis name and naming conventions. Every name is pulled from the "technical name" given to the desired species by Lord Aves in his books.
Those who reject these customs are considered to have betrayed the family, and most are cast forever from family history and memory.
Active Members
The three children of Sasia and Lurocalis Struthionis:
Aepyornis Struthionis: Eldest of the siblings, Count of South Bakker.
Ren Struthionis: Twin sister of Coturnix; headstrong warrior.
Coturnix Struthionis: Twin brother of Ren; idealistic and self-sacrificing.
