Post by Elisha Montague on Oct 14, 2010 17:04:59 GMT 1
Duke Robert Montague
Dour and ill tempered, Duke Robert is famed more for his meanness than for his entrepreneurial acumen. Though credited with building up the Montague family business quite nicely during, his reign his miserliness has earned the family an unfortunate reputation for cheapness and corner cutting which raises eyebrows among the rest of the Imperial elite. Public parades and frivolities on Allanor are kept to a minimum and family members often "encouraged" to travel by public shuttle to avoid the expense of sending a fully manned frigate. The House coffers are in fact extremely healthy, but this lack of public ostentatiousness has lead some in the Landsraad to question the Montagues' financial situation. Robert laments his misfortune in fathering five daughters and only one son, and worries about the cost of providing dowries if all the girls are to be married. Fortunately for the Duke's treasury but less fortunately for the family reputation only one daughter, Isabelle, has yet been wed to the eligible heir of another Great House. His immediate concern on the match-making front however is finding a good wife for his own son and heir Frederick.
Duchess Francesca Montague
Quiet, loyal and agreeable; few people find anything to dislike about the Duchess Montague except perhaps that she can at times be a little too soft spoken and difficult to obtain an opinion from. Born Francesca Ecaz she received basic Bene Gesserit training but was not selected to join the Sisterhood as full member, instead being married to Robert Montague at the young age of 19 - a union suggested and encouraged by the Bene Gesserit as part of one of their breeding programmes. In part due to the Duke's unwillingness to spend any money on concubines and also due to the genuine love which has grown between them over the years the Duchess has no rival for her husbands affections save perhaps his work and his passion for shooting. Francesca herself rarely leaves the family chateau and almost never leaves Allanor itself, occupying her time with various art and craft pursuits as well as a feverish interest in interstellar gossip and society news.
Emma Montague
Emma takes after her mother in many ways and like her is reserved, dutiful and homely. Unlike her however she chose a man for herself out of love rather than for due to political considerations, and ended up paying the price for it. Falling head-over-heels for the director of a prominent manufacturing concern she longed to get married, settle down and raise a family. However she knew that her father would never consent to her marrying a commoner and so conducted the relationship in secret until disaster struck and she fell pregnant. Once there was a baby on the way a wedding became a necessity rather than a forbidden hope and the Duke grudgingly agreed to it as the lesser of two evils compared to an illegitimate grandchild. In the end however Emma's husband-to-be cracked under the pressure and decided to flee, leaving her devastated and her father fuming. Although treated with a sort of pitying kindness Emma now finds herself generally looked down upon by many in the family and her daughter Lucy is regarded as little better than an embarrassment by most. Semi-estranged from her parents she is nonetheless still on good terms with her sister Sara who sees her as a kind of kindred spirit due to her outcast status, and also with Karina who admires the way she put principles before family.
Isabelle Novebruns (née Montague)
If any of old Duke Robert's daughters could be called daddy's little princess then Isabelle is certainly the one. Although she has not needed to do so of late since her marriage to the extremely eligible son of Lord Novebruns, she has ways of getting her famously miserly father to provide allowances and spending money which make her the envy of her sisters. Isabelle was a social climber even as a small child, demanding to attend all the very best parties and to wear the very latest fashions; the Duke's second daughter is by far the most talkative and outgoing Montague sister. A longtime regular on the Imperial social circuit she has been written about in a number of high profile society publications and is now wife to a handsome and desirable heir apparent. She is not seen so much on Allanor since her marriage, though she still makes time to visit her mother and sisters. While undoubtedly charming and vivacious, Isabelle is in fact a terrible snob and gossip who delights in criticising those she perceives as being inferior and backstabbing social rivals. Within the family she gets on fairly well with Elisha most of the time, but Emma and Sara in particular regard her as cruel and bitchy.
Frederick Montague
Frederick is deep down a pleasant enough young man, but years of being spoilt by his doting parents and in particular his father have left him with a rather over-inflated ego and sense of self-importance. Very much the playboy heir he delights in fast groundcars, fast money and fast women. In recent years however the Duke has begun to exert more of a controlling influence, realising that a son known mainly for his patronage of Allanor's most exclusive casinos and strip bars is perhaps not the best advertisement to the eligible daughters of the Landsraad. To this end he has tried to interest his son in more refined pursuits such as hunting and various ancient Terran sports, with some success. Within the family he is on good terms with everyone, although less so with Sara who he considers dull and bookish and Karina whose interest in nature he considers silly.
Sara Montague
Being rather plain of face and full of figure make Sara the ugly duckling of the Montague sisters, but she is in fact perhaps the most intelligent of Duke Robert's daughters and the only one of his children who takes serious interest in the family business. Indeed she is a gifted scientist and administrator, much more at home in the lab or the factory than at any high society gathering. Although considered by the Duke to have the least favourable matching prospects of any of his children, barring a particularly desperate House Minor being keen to get their foot in the door, Sara works closely with many of her father's advisors in charge of various Montague manufacturing and research interests. She attended university on Ix and enjoys a good working relationship with a number of prominent Ixian academics. It is expected that Sara will one day assume day-to-day control of the business on behalf of her brother Frederick who has shown little aptitude or interest for either management or science. Within the family she gets on well with most in spite of being shy and a little socially awkward, although she is frequently on the receiving end of bitchy remarks from Isabelle and Karina resents her interests in technology and capitalism.
Karina Montague
The wild child of the family, Karina was fascinated even from a young age by the environment and living things. As she grew older she took any and all opportunities to get away from the grime of the city and out into what woodlands and fields she could find on the industrially scarred world of Allanor. Gradually becoming horrified by the extent to which the world of her birth was being allowed to degenerate, and much to the horror of her family and the Duke in particular, she became involved with a number of environmental protest and pressure groups campaigning for a greener Montague homeworld. While careful never to bite the hand that feeds her too hard, Karina is now a seasoned campaigner and a thorn in the side of Montague business operations. Her ability to work inside the ruling family has brought her a number of successes and many would say that Allanor is now a more pleasant place to live thanks to her efforts, but the kind of people she likes to mix with are generally persona non grata at the Montague chateau. Karina and Elisha were close as children, being similar in age and possessed of similar independent streaks, but they grew apart once separated by Elisha's removal to Wallach IX. They now have little in common, with Elisha's urban party lifestyle being rather at odds with Karina's outdoorsiness. She frequently argues with Sara, the latter's technophile attitude being in almost total opposition to Karina's love of nature, and her unladylike nature sometimes makes her a target for Isabelle's barbs.
Dour and ill tempered, Duke Robert is famed more for his meanness than for his entrepreneurial acumen. Though credited with building up the Montague family business quite nicely during, his reign his miserliness has earned the family an unfortunate reputation for cheapness and corner cutting which raises eyebrows among the rest of the Imperial elite. Public parades and frivolities on Allanor are kept to a minimum and family members often "encouraged" to travel by public shuttle to avoid the expense of sending a fully manned frigate. The House coffers are in fact extremely healthy, but this lack of public ostentatiousness has lead some in the Landsraad to question the Montagues' financial situation. Robert laments his misfortune in fathering five daughters and only one son, and worries about the cost of providing dowries if all the girls are to be married. Fortunately for the Duke's treasury but less fortunately for the family reputation only one daughter, Isabelle, has yet been wed to the eligible heir of another Great House. His immediate concern on the match-making front however is finding a good wife for his own son and heir Frederick.
Duchess Francesca Montague
Quiet, loyal and agreeable; few people find anything to dislike about the Duchess Montague except perhaps that she can at times be a little too soft spoken and difficult to obtain an opinion from. Born Francesca Ecaz she received basic Bene Gesserit training but was not selected to join the Sisterhood as full member, instead being married to Robert Montague at the young age of 19 - a union suggested and encouraged by the Bene Gesserit as part of one of their breeding programmes. In part due to the Duke's unwillingness to spend any money on concubines and also due to the genuine love which has grown between them over the years the Duchess has no rival for her husbands affections save perhaps his work and his passion for shooting. Francesca herself rarely leaves the family chateau and almost never leaves Allanor itself, occupying her time with various art and craft pursuits as well as a feverish interest in interstellar gossip and society news.
Emma Montague
Emma takes after her mother in many ways and like her is reserved, dutiful and homely. Unlike her however she chose a man for herself out of love rather than for due to political considerations, and ended up paying the price for it. Falling head-over-heels for the director of a prominent manufacturing concern she longed to get married, settle down and raise a family. However she knew that her father would never consent to her marrying a commoner and so conducted the relationship in secret until disaster struck and she fell pregnant. Once there was a baby on the way a wedding became a necessity rather than a forbidden hope and the Duke grudgingly agreed to it as the lesser of two evils compared to an illegitimate grandchild. In the end however Emma's husband-to-be cracked under the pressure and decided to flee, leaving her devastated and her father fuming. Although treated with a sort of pitying kindness Emma now finds herself generally looked down upon by many in the family and her daughter Lucy is regarded as little better than an embarrassment by most. Semi-estranged from her parents she is nonetheless still on good terms with her sister Sara who sees her as a kind of kindred spirit due to her outcast status, and also with Karina who admires the way she put principles before family.
Isabelle Novebruns (née Montague)
If any of old Duke Robert's daughters could be called daddy's little princess then Isabelle is certainly the one. Although she has not needed to do so of late since her marriage to the extremely eligible son of Lord Novebruns, she has ways of getting her famously miserly father to provide allowances and spending money which make her the envy of her sisters. Isabelle was a social climber even as a small child, demanding to attend all the very best parties and to wear the very latest fashions; the Duke's second daughter is by far the most talkative and outgoing Montague sister. A longtime regular on the Imperial social circuit she has been written about in a number of high profile society publications and is now wife to a handsome and desirable heir apparent. She is not seen so much on Allanor since her marriage, though she still makes time to visit her mother and sisters. While undoubtedly charming and vivacious, Isabelle is in fact a terrible snob and gossip who delights in criticising those she perceives as being inferior and backstabbing social rivals. Within the family she gets on fairly well with Elisha most of the time, but Emma and Sara in particular regard her as cruel and bitchy.
Frederick Montague
Frederick is deep down a pleasant enough young man, but years of being spoilt by his doting parents and in particular his father have left him with a rather over-inflated ego and sense of self-importance. Very much the playboy heir he delights in fast groundcars, fast money and fast women. In recent years however the Duke has begun to exert more of a controlling influence, realising that a son known mainly for his patronage of Allanor's most exclusive casinos and strip bars is perhaps not the best advertisement to the eligible daughters of the Landsraad. To this end he has tried to interest his son in more refined pursuits such as hunting and various ancient Terran sports, with some success. Within the family he is on good terms with everyone, although less so with Sara who he considers dull and bookish and Karina whose interest in nature he considers silly.
Sara Montague
Being rather plain of face and full of figure make Sara the ugly duckling of the Montague sisters, but she is in fact perhaps the most intelligent of Duke Robert's daughters and the only one of his children who takes serious interest in the family business. Indeed she is a gifted scientist and administrator, much more at home in the lab or the factory than at any high society gathering. Although considered by the Duke to have the least favourable matching prospects of any of his children, barring a particularly desperate House Minor being keen to get their foot in the door, Sara works closely with many of her father's advisors in charge of various Montague manufacturing and research interests. She attended university on Ix and enjoys a good working relationship with a number of prominent Ixian academics. It is expected that Sara will one day assume day-to-day control of the business on behalf of her brother Frederick who has shown little aptitude or interest for either management or science. Within the family she gets on well with most in spite of being shy and a little socially awkward, although she is frequently on the receiving end of bitchy remarks from Isabelle and Karina resents her interests in technology and capitalism.
Karina Montague
The wild child of the family, Karina was fascinated even from a young age by the environment and living things. As she grew older she took any and all opportunities to get away from the grime of the city and out into what woodlands and fields she could find on the industrially scarred world of Allanor. Gradually becoming horrified by the extent to which the world of her birth was being allowed to degenerate, and much to the horror of her family and the Duke in particular, she became involved with a number of environmental protest and pressure groups campaigning for a greener Montague homeworld. While careful never to bite the hand that feeds her too hard, Karina is now a seasoned campaigner and a thorn in the side of Montague business operations. Her ability to work inside the ruling family has brought her a number of successes and many would say that Allanor is now a more pleasant place to live thanks to her efforts, but the kind of people she likes to mix with are generally persona non grata at the Montague chateau. Karina and Elisha were close as children, being similar in age and possessed of similar independent streaks, but they grew apart once separated by Elisha's removal to Wallach IX. They now have little in common, with Elisha's urban party lifestyle being rather at odds with Karina's outdoorsiness. She frequently argues with Sara, the latter's technophile attitude being in almost total opposition to Karina's love of nature, and her unladylike nature sometimes makes her a target for Isabelle's barbs.
