House von Osten

[Anton]

House von Osten

Title: The House von Osten

Blazon: Party per chevron inverted vert and or, in the chief dexter a unicorn proper rampant and sinister a winged lion or sejant guardant in the base a mounted knight proper to dexter, an open helm affronte, torse vert and or, mantling vert and or

Motto: Ich dien (Common: I Serve)

Notoriety: Famous

History: Predating the modern empire, the von Ostens rose to prominence as Margraves of the Eisenwald, a once strategically vital forest before the Imperium's expansive conquests of its neighboring states. Victims of their own success, the further east the victorious armies pushed the border, the more they saw their influence and power wane. By the modern day, with the Imperium spanning almost the entirety of its subcontinent, their lands are well within the heartland of Gelerand.

The family's battlefields are now the halls of Parliament, the sitting Margrave having been appointed to the House of Nobles for generations unbroken. With war on their lands now of note only to students of history, the family has long become accustomed to ruling the Margravate of Eisenwald as absentee landlords. Effectively permanent residents of Gel'Grandal, the main branch of the family owns a lavish estate on the Southside, firmly ensconced within the Reichtum, while junior members typically live near Rosenholz Park.

While the head of house is busy in Parliament, the von Osten scions are typically found throughout the breadth of imperial society. From the professional bureaucracy, to business ventures, to the military, to dissolute lives of idle pleasure that only the wealthy can dream of, the supernumerary offspring of the Margraves have engaged in most every profession. Most of them have even managed to avoid official scrutiny and censure.

Lothar

“Surely we can come to an arrangement.”

Name: Lothar Maximillian von Osten
Birthdate: 72 Searing 41
Location: Gel'Grandal, Geleros
Status: Alive
Skills: Politics, Rhetoric, Negotiation, Psychology, Business, and Finance

Biography: The reigning Margrave of the Eisenwald, Lothar has proven a savvy handler of his inheritance over the decades. An affable man, his first instinct is to attempt to win friends and favors by offering aid to any in need, but he rarely fails to collect upon such kindness. A seasoned deal maker in the Imperial Parliament, he has a record so clean as to draw scrutiny in its own right, but has strangely never been audited by the OIR. Entering his twilight years, his concern over the state of the family's succession has only grown as his only son seems perpetually set in his ways.

Beatrice

“Such a bore.”

Name: Beatrice Gisela von Osten, née Eltz
Birthdate: 1 Glade 45
Location: Gel'Grandal, Geleros
Status: Alive
Skills: Etiquette, Politics, Painting, Psychology, Rhetoric, and Singing

Biography: A renowned beauty, and daughter of one of the oldest families in the Imperium, Beatrice's marriage to the relatively minor Lothar was something of a shock at the time. It was well known she could've married any man she so fancied, save for perhaps the Emperor, and she took clear pleasure in refusing to explain what attracted her to her husband. An active painter, her pieces still manage to see some traffic, with the noblewoman putting the proceeds towards an charitable institute established in her name.

Elizabeth

“Won't you join us for tea?”

Name: Elizabeth Adelaide Bibra, née von Osten
Birthdate: 42 Glade 67
Location: Gel'Grandal, Geleros
Status: Alive
Skills: Etiquette, Negotiation, Psychology, Riding, Politics, Botany

Biography: Firstborn daughter of Lothar and Beatrice, Elizabeth was raised from birth to further her family's political ambitions. Leaning upon his father-in-law's connections, Lothar was able to secure a marriage contract between Elizabeth and a scion yet another ancient family when she was only six years old, an old fashioned but effective tactic to secure familial alliances. She was sixteen when she first met her husband to be, but managed to delay her wedding for nearly a decade as she prolonged their courtship after having to decide the worthiness of her suitor herself.

Friedrich

“How about we make this interesting?”

Name: Friedrich Johan von Osten
Birthdate: 80 Frost 68
Location: Gel'Grandal, Geleros
Status: Alive
Skills: Gambling, Seduction, Deception, Hunting, Gunslinging, Riding

Biography: Something of a dandy, Friedrich is far from what one would expect when imagining his father's son. However, he had the good luck to have a taste for the capable even if he lacked such a quality himself, and many consider the true future of the house to be his wife, a Colonel in the Imperial Air Force in command of an airship. Enhancing his reputation as a wastrel, he has continued to reside in his parents' estate, having never bothered to purchase his own even after his children grew to adulthood and moved out. Despite technically living there as well, Colonel von Osten is rarely seen, the woman almost perpetually on assignment.

Sofia

"Your orders are not to be opened until three days out from Gel'Grandal. Am I understood?"

Name: Sofia Wilhelmine von Osten, née Kalen
Birthdate: 39 Searing 70
Location: Gel'Grandal, Geleros
Status: Alive
Skills: Leadership, Gunslinging, Tactics, Animus, Climbing, Flight

Biography: Friedrich's wife, Sofia hails from an illustrious military family and has a long record of honored service in her own right. Much like his father, Friedrich shocked society when his wedding was announced, the pair making an incredibly unlikely match. Many consider their union to be the reason she has never ascended to the rank of Brigadier General, and to a casual observer it seems as if the Air Force was punishing the woman with her distant and dull assignments. Still, she seems more than content, and none of the political might of her birth family or that of her in-laws has ever been brought to bear to bring her out of the rut her career appears to be in.

Barbara

“Won't you attend my next performance?”

Name: Barbara Cecilia von Frentz, née von Osten
Birthdate: 54 Ash 71
Location: Gel'Grandal, Geleros
Status: Alive
Skills: Singing, Etiquette, Persuasion, Teaching, Riding, Falconry

Biography: Where her older sister had challenged what was expected of her, Barbara wholly embraced it. Devoting herself to becoming the very model of an Imperial lady, she was swiftly wed to the son of one of Lothar's allies in Parliament, marrying before Elizabeth. Living a life of idle luxury, she threw herself into her pleasures, only to find she actually had something of a talent for one. Now a singer of some renown, a great deal of her free time is spent tutoring the daughters of Southside families in her art.

Anne

“This will be much easier if you relax.”

Name: Anne Sylana de Vendome, née von Osten
Birthdate: 23 Frost 74
Location: Gel'Grandal, Geleros
Status: Alive
Skills: Law, Finance, Torture, Interrogation, Investigation, Mesmer

Biography: A third daughter, there was relatively little pressure put upon Anne as she grew, and what was there vanished upon the marriages of her elder sisters. Still, she was duly introduced and wed to a scion from a family originating in Dardouen. For most, this would be the end of the story, but the newlyweds had married so young that her husband had not finished his studies. Joining him at university, she enrolled as well, and quickly showed an aptitude for figures as well as the intricacy of the tax code, and she found herself poached by the OIR as soon as she graduated. She's considered to have a real knack for the work, but her ability to always give a genuine smile disturbs some.

Margarete

“We're not sunk yet, boys.”

Name: Margarete Eleanor Falkanos, née von Osten
Birthdate: 72 Ash 76
Location: Gel'Grandal, Geleros
Status: Alive
Skills: Leadership, Tactics, Seafaring, Swimming, Elementalism, Gunslinging

Biography: The family's fourth daughter, Margarete was somewhat overlooked in the political games that occurred between her older sisters. Shirking the responsibilities expected of her, she fled to the Imperial Officer Academy at the first opportunity to muted protest from her parents, achieving a commission in the Navy. Commodore von Osten is by all accounts a commendable officer and accomplished mage, though rumors abound of an illicit liaison between herself and a Kathar and an ensuing year long leave. None dare suggest such publicly however, as the last to do so was challenged to a duel and killed by the man who would become her husband.

Maria Theresa

“Sully me not.”

Name: Maria Theresa Amelia Michaelis, née von Osten
Birthdate: 37 Searing 79
Location: Zaichaer, Karnor
Status: Alive
Skills: Etiquette, Politics, Storytelling, Psychology, Rhetoric, and Calligraphy

Biography: Lothar's fifth daughter, Maria Theresa saw her siblings married off to men of progressively lower station within the ranks of Imperial nobility before herself being wed to a foreigner. Shipped off to Karnor upon her father's palatial airship, with a dowry greater than the fortunes of lesser houses in tow, she settled into what most of her peers viewed as exile with grace and tact. Gelerian notions and mannerisms were swiftly forced upon the family, the willful woman establishing for herself an island of home on the fringes of civilization.