As a gentry family, House Orban has an unusually long history, boasting a storied career in the mercantile sphere of Tubor. Their business, Orban Spices, began initially with two spice plantations. Expansion followed, with the purchase of Callum Shipping in 205 SC and a vineyard acquired through intermarriage with the Storm family in 268. In 271, the company officially diversified into the Orban Mercantile Group.
Its fortunes waxed and waned in the following decades, though even at the nadir of its influence it has remained a presence in the merchant world. Since Alastair le Orban took the reins in 310 SC, however, the Group has flourished and steadily increased its market share, particularly in the export of Tubori spices. Having its own shipping arm, it’s able to sell its spices at lower rates than many companies who contract out, and so that remains its main source of profit.
The family itself, however, has not been so lucky. Of Alastair’s four brothers and sisters, only he survived to adulthood; of his five children, only two made it that far, the heir Raymond le Orban and his younger brother, Petyr. Both suffered from the same delicate constitution that had led to their relatives perishing, particularly Petyr, who was rumored to be slowly dying of consumption.
Raymond was groomed to succeed his father, but inexplicably disappeared from the public eye for eight months in 331 SC. When he reappeared, it was in a grave at the age of twenty-one, evidently the victim of a plague that swept through the ducal seat that winter.
Petyr le Orban took the reins of the Group from his father in 340, handling the company wisely and well despite frequent bouts of illness. These bouts began to intensify as he approached the age of forty, and he did without issue in 352 SC.
Alastair was seemingly left without heirs until, surprising those familiar with the Tubori gentry, a young man named Ariel op Orban was acknowledged after Petyr’s death as Raymond’s legitimate son. Though he had seemingly come out of nowhere, all the documents existed to prove that Raymond had married a young woman simply named Ista – of unknown origin – and fathered Ariel legitimately, dying before his son was ever born.
At the time of his recognition as heir to the Group, Ariel op Orban was living in Lithmore as the court bard to the Lady Chancellor of the Exchequer Marisa dul Damassande. With his family’s money now backing him, he soon made a name for himself in the Kingdom. During the succession crisis, he gained political prominence as one half of the Persela-Orban Coalition, a powerful faction that backed first Cellan dul Ansari and then Tobin ab Samael for the throne. In the wake of the crisis, he became a well-known face at court, serving as an advisor to the royal couple.
In late 353, he was rewarded with a title, raised to the Barony of Savir to fill the void left by the heretic Baron Bardane ab Whirothol.
Quiet rumors abounded as to the precise reasoning behind Ariel’s ennoblement, suggesting everything from secret services to the Crown to unnatural relationships with the King, the Queen, and even possibly the King’s dog. Nonetheless, his ennoblement has been largely accepted at Court with a general lack of fuss.
However, House Orban’s future remains tentative, as Ariel seems to be in better health than his unfortunate family but has no heir – indeed, he has essentially no relatives but his grandfather and mother. His closest blood relations are his fourth cousins Lien and Sien le Storm of Strongjaw, and he serves currently as the guardian of Lien.
Colors: Emerald and gold
Sigil: A gold-hilted dagger held vertical within an emerald wreath
