Galactic Renaissance | GalacticRenaissance / The History of House Lagoran browse

Where does one start with House Lagoran? One starts, many centuries ago, with Arro Von Heildergann, owner of one of the greatest terraforming concerns that the galaxy had ever seen. His specialty, was sanitation, the one thing vital to all human activity, and in days gone by, once a planet's surface had been altered to make it habitable, the giant machines of the AVH Corporation would thunder down onto the surface and prepare a labyrinthine network of sewers, reservoirs, and water treatment plants that the planet would need in order to survive. Such importance, and Niklaus Aquila too, knew that if his world was to survive, he too had better employ the services of Von Heildergann.

Unlike so many others, the Von Heildergann family did not set themselves up as a noble household, but lived as private citizens - mostly elsewhere in the galaxy - and used the planet as a holiday destination. As the intergalactic concerns of the family gradually ebbed away over time, they spent more and more time on the planet, before finally becoming resident, just before the ascension of Divis Mal. According to family legend, and contrary to official Rostay history, it was at this time that House Rostay, already established on Aquila , was said to have approached the Von Heilderganns for capital to aid their financial situation. The loan was refused; furthermore it was shortly later that an act of state was invoked, allowing the Von Heilderganns to take up the vacant chair on the Aquilan Council, against the wishes of House Rostay. The enmity between the houses began, which was to simmer away for many years until it boiled over completely 2861.

It was Heinrich-Frederick Von Heildergann who changed the family name to Lagoran at this time, better to fit in with the other names of Aquilan households which on the whole had Italianate rather than Germanic origins. Work began on building Blackheath at about this time, freeing the family from the confines of the city. The family looked to House Anderon and much of the now Lagoran clan found employ under Duke Mikhael III, the future appeared rosy.

Blackheath, seat of the Lagorans

When Duke Mikhael III was executed by Lord Ffrench, all this was turned on its head, yet the Lagoran household threw in its lot with the Hobertys and Mauns, and although not directly involved in the combat until the very end, the Lagoran family where able to call on their financial reserves to support the Anderon claimant and his allies. Rather than making their own mad scramble for the coronet, the House choose prudence, preferring to join the melee outside the City gates, in spring of 2752, only when it was certain which way they saw the wind blow. It is said that Lord Maun himself ran Lord Jakob Windhaven through with a borrowed sword, that sword was borrowed from Kristian Lagoran, then heir to House Lagoran, and the sword can still be seen today, in the private museum at Blackheath. But such it was, in those troubled days, that House Lagoran was always the last to declare for any potential Duke, and always seemed to end up on the right side at the end of the day.

One cannot mention House Lagoran without referring to the deep-seated feud with House Rostay which began in 2861, when the then Lord Rostay refused to relinquish lands which were rightfully owned, under a longstanding argreement with the coronet to House Lagoran. Lagoran terraformed extensively, as was his right by law, and by the time Rostay had began many petty legal wranglings to take from the Lagoran owners what was rightfully theirs, Lagoran was already well on the way to making the plot arable. War broke out between the two Houses, and was only partly settled in 2870.

When Duke Vladimir III, a Bahlmis, finally handed down his ruling in that year, it was incomplete. He had declared the lands may had previously belonged to Rostay, but as Lagoran had done much to improve them it was both logical and sensible that Lagoran should be allowed to keep the lands for a suitable financial recompense to House Rostay - which was duly paid. When Rostay attempted to march into the lands to reclaim them, Lagoran was there to meet him, insisting the land was forfeit until he was repaid, quite justly, for that work. Rostay was furious, and claimed that any work Lagoran had done was only just recompense for the losses House Rostay had endured in the battles between their Houses prior to the ruling.

Further edicts by the Duke were useless. Rostay and Lagoran continued to war, until at last the Ducal Army, headed by House Carlysle, was brought to bear, enforcing peace.

The peace has not been perfect, however. Countless times, over the centuries, a Lagoran or a Rostay has murdered one or a dozen of the other family, and more than twenty times outright war has broken out between them, and even in times of peace, the families have ever been at odds.

Interior of Blackheath

An oft-cited example of their feuding is the Battle of Ryndall Tower, in 3177. Then-Lord Lagoran, incited by the callous murder of several Lagoran children by then-Lord Rostay, surrounded Rostay's brother, in Ryndall Tower . Lord Lagoran demanded satisfaction, and swore he would destroy the Keep, if his demands were not met. Additionally, the then Lord Lagoran believed that the Ducal heir was being kept ransomed at the tower for some nefarious purpose by the Rostays. The Rostays had counted on the hostage as a bargaining tool to hold back the righteousness Lagoran sword.

Then-Lord Rostay, Lord Jarvis, believing the Duke would not tolerate a threat leveled against his own kin, boldly refused to march his troops. Stupidly, as it turns out. Naturally, Lagoran merely sent the Ducal heir home, and unhindered set about leveling the Tower, and despite his attempts to broker a peace; he was forced to kill everyone left inside, as they gave him no quarter or surrender.

But such is the bloody history of Aquila . During more recent years, the Lagoran's distinguished themselves against House Bahlmis during the recent coup, striving to return Duke Atropos Maun to his seat. And Lord Lagoran was instrumental in rescuing the children of House Lasse and House Anderon, following a kidnapping. The current Lord Lagoran, has no children of his own, but will be succeeded by his sister Morine. He is married to Lady Nira, formerly Duchess of Aquila, and sister to the Regent, Lord Anderon. He is stepfather to Decuma Aderon Maun, rightful heir to the coronet.

The family continues to exercise prudence and a slow steady approach to Aquilan politics that has won them much position in society. They still care for the sewers on the planet, even though the AVH Corporation is a long lost memory. As Lord Farquar Lagoran often says - "Cities are like people, and what is most important to the health of both cities and people is the condition of the bowels."

- Written by Lomax De Guissipe, Clerk, House Lagoran.