Chamberlain Family

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The Chamberlain Family

The Chamberlain's of Ashforth - Family Tree

See also Chamberlain Family RP log

Lords of The Marshes and Keepers of Lochenbaum

Origins

The Chamberlain Coat of Arms

The Chamberlains were a minor family whose fortunes had been attached to the Dukes of Ashforth for many generations. Distinguished initially as great gameskeepers, they ran many of the small holdings of the Duchy managing the game stocks of the knights of Ashforth and of the Duke himself. Their eventual and comparatively recent rise in status was entirely down to ambition and good fortune. Jared the second son of the gamekeeper of the minor small holding of Lochenbaum, broke with family tradition, becoming a squire to the ageing Duke of Ashforth, he was distinguished by replacing the Duke's son in a duel of honor, wearing more than 60 years he was severely maimed in this combat. His reward was marriage to a teenage heiress being named in jure uxoris Jared the First of his name - Lord of the Marshes. Alongside this he was granted ownership of the small-holding of Lochenbaum. The title of Keeper, he allowed to rest firstly with his elder brother, but on his death granted the title and the estate to his youngest son. Through marriage and alliances the family has survived its early travails and now stands ambitious on the edges of the older noble names, looking to establish their place by right in the annals of history.

Generations

Jared I - Lord of the Marshes

The first titular Lord Chamberlain of the Marshes through the claim of his wife Miranda Tor. He wedded and bedded the 16 year old Lady of the Marshes at the age of 64 following his maiming as a proxy in a duel in Ashforth. Despite their mutual hatred the marriage proved fertile, Miranda giving her husband four children who survived infancy. Jared had always been an active man and following his maiming, transferred his activity to the management of the Manor of the Marshes. From his work as a squire he had learned many of the qualities and duties of a Lord, but also, through his more 'earthy' roots he understood husbandry and management of the land. A keen apiarist he credited the Marsh honey with his longevity, surviving to his 83rd year.

For her part Miranda spent her married days confined within the east wing of The Marshes, her rights and power being wielded fully by her husband, though she had been Lady of the Marshes since her own fathers death in her 7th year. As an heiress described by many as a beauty and being of not inconsiderable means, she had been proposed as wife to many second sons in the area, being married to a crippled geriatric was not to her liking. At his death she made moves to restore herself as Lady of The Marshes, but her attempts met with failure and she lived out the last 35 years of her life in relative obscurity in a townhouse in Ashforth, supplied for her by her sons.

Hedge - Lord of the Marshes

The eldest surviving son of Jared and Miranda, he was 17 years old when his father died. Somewhat unconventionally, he was tutored from a young age by his father in the arts of husbandry and management of the lands. Though his fathers rule had been in the name of his mother. At his death, Miranda made claim as Lady of the Marshes. Hedge moved quickly, being betrothed to the daughter of one of the knights of Ashforth, he called on his prospective father-in-law's support to secure his ascendance to the seat of The Marshes. Miranda remained a threat, at 35 she still had prospects as a bride for someone with ambition, another child by another man could threaten all of their claims. She was kept under house arrest with her daughter Isobel as a companion for the next 15 years.

Hedge oversaw the growth of The Marshes, annexing more farmlands to the banners of the Chamberlains. He also oversaw the development of a property portfolio. He died at 52 years, survived by his 3 children.

Jared - Keeper of Lochenbaum

The second son of Jared and Miranda, assumed the title of keeper on the death of his uncle. He specialised as a hawker and falconer, supplying birds to the Dukes of Ashforth. He was survived by a single daughter, Caroline.

Mayim of Massilon

Regarded as a great beauty, Mayim was educated in Sirion, and at great expense, sent to Atamarra for finishing school. Jared appreciated the value of a good marriage match and Mayim was married to Typhus Valen, an elderly knight of Massilon. the match was productive and the line of the Valens continued strongly after her death.

Isobel Chamberlain

Isobel, styled the Maid of the Marshes, lived much of her young life in conefinement as her mothers companion. She yet maintains a household in Ashforth.

Jared II Lord of the Marshes

Jared was the eldest of the three sons of Lord Hedge and Catherine.

Jared enjoyed the fruits of his father and grandfathers labours having particular interest in the property portfolio in the city of Ashforth. Staying in the city he became close to his grandmother Marianne, before her death. Embittered toward her sons, Marianne supported Jared to explore his passions, specifically gambling, alcohol, and sexual depravity. He became notorious within the city for his proclivities and was unable to find a bride from even the most desperate of households. Worse still he developed siphylis which caused erratic and aggressive outbursts and seemed to enhance his penchant for violent activities.

At his ascension to the seat of Lord of the Marshes he became paranoid to his own security within his seat, focusing his paranoia on his younger brother Simeon whose marriage had been fertile. Using his command of the family assets he forced that his brother should divorce his wife and his children be bastardised. As a second punishment he had his brother married to an elderly prosititute from Ashforth, regarded by many as the ugliest woman within the city.

As his health declined rapidly, Jared looked to secure the succession to Marshes by looking to marry a distant cousin of his grandmother who already had three sons. Insisting that he ride to her village for the marriage he stopped at an alehouse en route for refreshment. It was here, alone that his temprament saw an end to his rule as he was killed in a ber brawl 3 days before his prospective marriage at the age of 48.

Hedge - Keeper of Lochenbaum and Caroline Chamberlain

The third son of Hedge senior and Catherine.

Seeing the damage being done to the family finances Hedge's mother arranged that he should be married to his cousin Caroline in order that the title of Keeper of Lochenbaum and the small holding attached remain in the family. Although she was 10 years his senior the marriage was agreed and solemnised in the family chapel at Marshes. The marriage was productive with the pair having 3 children, though Caroline died on the birthing bed with the 3rd at the age of 42.

Hedge remains as Keeper of Lochenbaum despite the death of his wife in whose name he had ruled initially.

Simeon - Lord of The Marshes

The second son of Hedge senior and Catherine.

Simeon took the seat of Marshes after the death without heir of Jared II. His life under the jurisdiction of his brother, had been difficult, he and his children being made to live amongst serving staff and recieving a meager income for his labours from his aunt Isobel. Often jealous and paranoid about his brother, Jared II subjected simeon and his family to many indignities culminating in his forced divorce of lorelai of Dale and remarriage to Krista Salen, a notorious and ugly prostitute from Ashforth.

Regardless of his treatment Simeon was a loyal husband fathering 7 children from his 2 wives. A devoted family man he sent his eldest son to be educated in Pucallpa at the academy of agriculture. At the advent of his brothers death, he collected what monies he could to send his second daughter to be educated in Dolmbar in Sirion.

Since assuming his title he has sold much of the property portfolio and works dilligently to establish the family once again as the peers his grandfather had aspired to them becoming. Keen to avoid the mistakes of his father, he has sent his children from him to earn their fortune and seek knowledge to help secure the longevity of the family line.

The Current Generation

Heirs to the Marshes

Jared

The eldest son of Simeon and his first wife Lorelai of Dale.

Bastardised by his uncle Jared II, Jared was educated thanks to the generosity of his great aunt Isobel at the academy of agriculture in Pucallpa. He is a dutiful man who works alongside his father to re-establish the holdings of the family and the old lands of the Marshes. He is married to the noblewoman Sarai De La Couer.

Anton

Anton was the second son of Simeon and Lorelai.

When his mother was divorced from his father, Anton returned to her fathers holdings in Dale. He continues to support his mother and will not forgive his fathers actions in divorcing her. He also feels strongly that his father overlooked him for many favours focusing financial support on his elder brother and youngest sister.

Anton remains at odds with his father.

Following his sister's elevation to the crown of Nivemus, Anton had anticipated her support against his father. He rallied a band of his drinking friends that he named the Black Sheep of Dale, second sons and mercenaries. He presumed to act as a knight of Dale while having none of the honors that would gift him such station.

Finding him an increasingly problematic thorn in the side of her reign, Catherine eventually had her brother and his coterie shipped to the South Island that he may fight for his fortune in these lands. Although resenting her actions initially Anton found a home for himself in the realm of Sandalak, he quickly excelled within the army, becoming a vice marshal. His feats saw him become the second most honored and prestigious noble on the continent after the great Wyvern Incarnate himself.

However he began to shun the company of his band and decided to dedicate himself to the more shadowed route of an assassin.

Hadrian

The third son and one half of a set of twins born to Simeon and Lorelai of Dale.

There was little place at The Marshes for Hadrian, as the third son, of a bastardised line he was unlikely to inherit and his education had largely been left to members of the household and was most practical in nature. He spent many weeks away from home as an adolescant accompanying trade caravans throughout the East Continent. Eventually he gained emplyment on a merchant shiping line and began to travel to foreign lands, being fascinated by the tales of myth and magic, and the battles between heroes and Daemons.

When his father ascended to the seat of Lord of The Marshes, Hadrian took the opportunity to petition him for funding that he could travel to Dwilight, a continent where his uncle was unknown that he may make his own fortune. His father seemed almost too quick to agree to this request.

Settling first in the democratic republic of Terran, Hadrian soon distinguished himself as an able commander and was elected by his peers to the seat of Senator of Inklen. War ensued and despite his best efforts Inklen was irrevocably damaged. In the midst of this war Duke Kale Perth seceeded from Terran creating the new Principality of Phantaria from the old lands of the Duchy of Shokalom. Hadrian, by virtue of his fingerhold onto the seat at Inklen was annexed to be part of this new Principality.

Hadrian was voted into the office of High Constable of Phantaria and has been lawmaster ever since actually being responsible for defining the laws of the very land.

Despite a small number of nobility, Phantaria survived and worked toward expansion into the old homelands of the now lost Terran. Following the subjugation of Gretchew Hadrian was pronounced its Lord. Due to the complexities of internal politics, Gretchew left the Principality and proclaimed itself part of D'Hara. With limited personal income Hadrian became a diplomat for Phantaria and was instrumental in the conquest of Saffalore and the once great city of Chateau Saffalore. In recognition of his services he was appointed Margrave of Chateau Saffalore. Though he was recognised as a highly active Duke, the realm's politcal structure slowly fell into disrepair due to the absentee management of the Drand Prince, firstly Kale and then Harim.

Realising that the principality was barely salvageable, Hadrian joined with his friends Escent Noble, and Djinn Gypsy in organsising a rebellion. Hadrian himself dismissed the militia forces within the capital that the rebellion could succeed and Escent became the third Grand Prince. Unfortunately the actions were too little and too late and despite their best efforts Phantaria collapsed. Hadrian himself could not bring himself to become subject of any of the neighbouring realms, despite offers of high office, and he instead left for Beluaterra. There he joined the realm of Nothoi.

Catherine

Twin sister of Hadrian, fourth child and eldest daughter of Simeon Lord of The Marshes and Lorelai of Dale.

Neither as attractive or bright as her sister Kristina, following her bastardisation, it was suggested that she was perhaps best suited to life as a maunt at the temple of Dale. Indeed this was most likely to be Catherine's fate, but for the machinations of her mad uncle, Jared II whom at one stage proposed that she could be his bride should she reach majority while he remained of robust health. Thankfully this did not come to pass and by the time of her uncles death, she was deemed too old to enter the service of the mauntery.

Catherine spent the majority of her childhood at her grandfathers holdings in Dale alongside her brothers Anton and Hadrian. She and Hadrian were inseprable as children, but as he moved from the family in search of work, she attempted to engage in the more feminine past times of needlecraft and the arts. She prayed for the days when her brother would return to the lands and regale her with tales of the continent and of the wider world. As he grew fro a boy to a man, her own life, seemed so dull in comparrison to his that she became shy amongst company. What was to be done i her future seemed a regular question between both her parents and it was with some relief that they greeted her when she requested monies to establish herself independently as Hadrian had.

She pledged fealty to the Duke of Oroya, and styled herself as Catherine of Oroya in all her correspondance thereafter. She soon found she had a flair for military management and was positioned as Marshal, firstly of the Hugh Guard and later of the Army of Nivemus. Alongside this she held the office of Arithagan of the realm.

Catherine's most notable achievements to date were co-ordination of the expansion forces of Nivemus as they took Kazan in the wars of attrition against the Obsidian Isles.

Kristina

The youngest child of Simeon and Lorelai of Dale.

Kristina followed her sister from the household of her father with the desire to make a fortune that could help sustain her family by her own wit rather than by marriage. As with Catherine, the tarnish to her reputation through the bastardisation of her line also made it likely that a marriage match that may be found for her would not necessarily be to her choosing or liking. The Marshes, essentially a collection of small holdings surrounding a Manor, even at its best was going to be hard-pressed to cater to the needs of so large an extended family as her father had sired, with the question of she and her true siblings legitimacy, she had little option other than to leave.

Regarded as a bright woman, her father had spent a small fortune on her education in the Sirionite city of Dolmbar, where she was educated alongside the likes of Snowe Mithridates, Maria Whale and Marianne De La Coeur.

Initially following her education she took estate in the city of Parm in Sirion, however troubled by nightmares in which she watched the death of her sister she was called to Catherines side in the Kingdom of Nivemus. Undertaking a pilgrimage across the land she felt herself drawn close to the Goddess and patron of the Kingdom. Gifted with viseons she became a devotee of the White Tree and soon was indoctrinated into the priesthood. Through a chain of events she soon found herself as high priestess of the religion travelling the regions and channeling the powers of Ora in ways that had not been seen in many centuries.

During her tenure as the self proclaimed Oracle of Ora, the religion has gained strength, attracting followers and a new priest in the land of Sirion. Seen as somewhat of a fanatical zealot by many of her peers, she yet proves a compelling leader of the religion

Following the Perdanese sacking and subsequent taming of Pucallpa and restoration of the townsland to the Kingdom of Nivemus, she was appointed as Countess. Her intent in this role is to keep Ora's arbour that the saplings of the white tree might flourish in readiness for the dedication of temples across the continent. She also dreamed that in the future Pucallpa will be the most holy of places, where pilgrims will come to show devotion and see the powers of the Goddess at work.

Lorelai

The first child of Simeon and Krista Salen, she is yet a child.

Simeon the Younger

The youngest child of Simeon and Krista Salen.

Simeon the younger is regarded by some as the true heir to the Marshes, though his father has favoured his older half brother Jared. How this will impact in the future remains to be seen.

Heirs of the Keeper of Lochenbaum

Hedge

Eldest son of Hedge and Caroline, he is the heir presumptive of Lochenbaum.

Michael

A boy of 10 years, Michaels birth ended in the death of his mother Caroline.

Gwendoline

The first child of Hedge and Caroline.

Gwendoline was raised in the household of Jared II until she escaped whilst pregnant with 2 serving girls and traveled to the household of her Aunt mayim of Massillon. She was delivered of a son, but died just weeks later of a pleuperal fever. As Gwendoline never left the Marshes speculation is rife that her son was actually Jared II's child.

Angus

The bastard son of Gwendoline Chamberlain.

Angus was raised alongside the Valen children until he reached his 16th year. At that time, with much upheavel amongst the legitimate members of the family he was sent from the household. He married the daughter of one of the local traders and quickly settled into life within the mercenary realm.

Following the birth of his daughter, Angus wife died of the plague that afflicted the Western quarter of Massilon. Angus took his young daughter with him and left the mercenary realm, eventually settling with her on the West coast. He earned his living as a sellsword and adventurer, tackling monstrous and undead incursions in the provinces. Becoming quite successful in his works he was recognised by the true high born nobility and was eventually recognised for his quiet nobility as a knight of Ptaphoc.

He continued in loyal service to the realm and was quickly rewarded with the Earl's seat in the region of Ixcan. He soon found that the skills he had developed as an adventurer had a benefit for him as a tournament knight, placing 3rd in his 2nd tournament.

Angus continues to maintain his household in his own quiet way. Not necessarily the most conventially intellugent man he has a quiet but definite sense of what is right and what is wrong. He is also a loyal defender of his friends and of the lands of Talerium.

Charlotte

The daughter of Angus Chamberlain and Myrna of Vale. Charlotte lost her mother to the plague as an infant and has been brought up using the finances her father could gain as an adventurer and by her 'governess' Dorath of Ixzal. Dorath is an earthy woman who has imbued the young Charlotte with many of her own ways and peculiarities such as smoking a pipe and chewing tobacco.

Since her fathers elevation to recognised nobility, Charlotte has been sent to be educated at Miss Pryatt's academy for young ladies, where her wild ways continue to be a problem for both Miss Pryatt and her father.