House of Rourke
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The House of Rourke (Common: Rourke; New Marian: Ruaric; High Imperial: Rourkus) is an Adunian house sworn to The Holy Orenian Empire. The house was formally established by Erin Elendil-O'Rourke in Brolwic, Aeldin. When Erin's middle son; Padrick succeeded him, he led the house to Atlas. There it began to pick up traction as a primarily political house that operated in the interests of the government. Two hundred years later through service to their country, House O'Rourke resides as the Lords of Halstaig; an imperial county.
Contents
History
Atlas
The family settled down in the Duchy of Adria after growing bored of wandering the roads of the Empire of Man. It didn’t take long after that for House O’Rourke to set roots down & get itself involved in the politics of the land. Padrick O’Rourke, head of the house climbed into the position of mayor of Belvitz; the capital city of Adria. Later in life, Padrick O’Rourke found love in Vasa Crow who happened to be the bastard daughter of the current Duke of Adria. Together the couple created three offsprings, Pious O’Rourke, Manya Crow & Fiona O’Rourke.
During the Gladewynn Civil War, Padrick O'Rourke, Patricio O'Rourke & Seamus O'Rourke smuggling arms to the Mali'Ker separatist side. On one of these missions, Padrick was assaulted by a goblin & received a stab wound in the abdomen. He was then taken to the Druid Grove where he was then given medical attention. However, this led to confusion between the Druids & Adrian forces where many citizen of Belvitz incorrectly assumed Padrick was taken as a captive which prompted an armed escort mission to the Druid Grove to retrieve Padrick. When the Adrian forces reached the druid gates to find an unharmed Padrick, all was forgiven & the Adrians returned home.
Later when the September Prince launched his invasion, Padrick worked as an insider from him after being pressured by various warlords of Atlas. When it was discovered Padrick betrayed his nation in favor of the prince, he was hung in Belvitz for various charges but primarily, treason & embezzlement. After his death, the Adrian government pardoned him for his crimes upon discovering the charges of embezzlement were false. Other O'Rourkes during the time started to die off as well, William O'Rourke drowned in a barrel of whiskey & Seamus O'Rourke was lost in the dense jungles of Atlas.
When the dust cleared, Phillipe O'Rourke stood as the last living O'Rourke of the second generation. He ran a winery & continued to run it while picking up a knack for blacksmithing.
Arcas
After the collapse of Atlas, The O’Rourkes moved to Arcas with the other descendants. During this time Pious O’Rourke took over as head of the O’Rourke house following Padricks death & Phillipe O'Rourke took off to Rubern, Haense to further pursue a career in blacksmithing. The family lived peacefully, caring little for politics until the Sacking of Ves in 1710 which prompted Pious to take up arms against the Empire of Renatus which destroyed his beloved city. In 1715 when the War of Two Emperors broke out, Pious enlisted in the Ves Watch & served throughout the war, cutting down a great many Curonians & Norlanders.
When the war ended, Pious returned home to Ves & married a fair maiden named Clover Agusta. As time passed both Manya & Fiona were able to find suitable husbands. Manya married a lowly farmer & Fiona married an illatian merchant; Santino Falcone. All three matches produced children within the first few years of the Rubern War. Pious & Clover had three children, Padraig, Donovan & Quinn. Manya & her husband had only one; Irina Crow. Lastly, Fiona & Santino had two children of illatian descent, Gino & Vittorio.
To escape the raging Rubern War many of the O’Rourke kin fled to Aeldin where they spent their time in peace. While in Aeldin, Pious O’Rourke passed away along with his wife Clover. At the same time, the O’Rourkes who sailed to Arcas met up with their cousins from Atlas. Re-united, Oisin O'Rourke who descended from Erin Elendil-O’Rourkes eldest son took the reins as head of the family.
Years flew by and word reached Aeldin that the Rubern War was finally over. Under the guidance of fourteen-year-old Oisin O’Rourke, it was settled that the O’Rourkes & their cadet branches shall move back to the mainland. Once they all had reached Arcas the different branches went their separate ways. The Falcones moved to the imperial city of Helena while The O’Rourkes moved to the countryside of Kaedrin, the location of old Adria.
The O'Rourkes spent the rest of their childhood growing up in Arcas. When Oisin O'Rourke turned eighteen, he was gifted a manor outside of the Commonwealth of Kaedrin for him & his family to lay rest. Around this time, Padraig O'Rourke formed the O'Rourke Company. The Company went on to create the first printing press in the city of Owynsburg, open the first tavern in the city & help with the creation of the Imperial State Navy which Oisin O'Rourke eventually lead. The family later capitalized on the lack of economic power in Kaedrin, turning it into one of the most prosperous cities in the Holy Orenian Empire. For the O'Rourkes service to the commonwealth, Padraig was rewarded with the job of Minister of Labor & Oisin was rewarded with the job of Minister of Defense.
More rewards came to the family in 1781 when Oisin received imperial letters of nobility, declaring the House of Rourke as noble stock of the Holy Orenian Empire. Along with their letters of nobility came The County of Halsatig; a title for the O'Rourkes to bear. Oisin was then promoted to Captain of The Imperial State Navy. Two years later the Stahl-Elendil administration took over the imperial cabinet & with it came many new reforms. One of those reforms was Padraig O'Rourke being appointed as Minister of the Interior.
During this time, The Falcone branch of the family moved to Helena along with Padraig. The Falcones settled down almost instantly with hopes of creating a casino in the city. Padraig however, had a harder time settling down & spent most of his time locked away in his office with a pile of paperwork to perfect. His wife, Illaena Elendil moved back to Aeldin after being ignored & shut out of her husband's life. A few years later, Padraig reconnected with his family when his eldest daughter; Anastasia O'Rourke showed up in the city after some unfortunate circumstances. Anastasia hid her true identity for some time, choosing not to take the O'Rourke name & instead created one of her own.
During the Seige of The Doghouse, she revealed herself to be an O'Rourke to her lover at the time; Cassius Reine. This was when she took up the O'Rourke name & stepped forwards as the heir to Halstaig since Padraig had no male heir. In 1791, Padraig passed away which left Anastasia as Countess of Halstaig. Padraig's death shrunk the house in size & influence. His office of Minister of the Interior was left to his nephew; Dimitri Orlov. Only a few years after his death, Arcas came to a violent end as the world turned into flames which forced House O'Rourke off onto the next realm.
The Daeperician Archipelago
Between leaving Arcas & arriving on Almaris the descendants, stopped at The Daeperician Archipelago, a chain of islands found between the two realms. The majority of descendant ships dropped anchor and went aboard the islands to explore & restock their supplies before making the final leg of the journey to Almaris. For three entire months, the various descendants wandered around the islands, building forts, forging equipment & establishing towns.
On the southernmost tip of the archipelago, Anastasia O'Rourke, Akello Cenobia & Alexzander Barrow created multiple beach houses to watch over the glistening ocean. Once the initial houses were created, they named their establishment Daleport after the thuaidian word for sword. After the discovery of berries & watermelons on the archipelago, Daleport was expanded to host multiple fields. It was this which sparked Daleport as a considerable location on The Daeperician Archipelago & prompted other descendants of various races to move there.
As Daleport grew it ended up boarding dwarven clan halls, the halfling shire & various other houses. It was then announced the expansion of Daleport was to be halted. Many of the citizens were opposed to this & continued expanding the borders of Daleport to include the dwarven clan halls which were not highly popular with their inhabitants. In an attempt to rectify this situation, the leadership of Daleport banished the instigators from their town & shifted their focus back out to the open ocean with plans of constructing additional vessels to support the descendants fleet. Unfortunately for Daleport, this plan never came to fruition as the very next month, the descendants left The Daeperician Archipelago.
Almaris
Upon arriving on the shores of Almaris, House O'Rourke & its cadet branches settled in the capital city of Oren, Providence. Almost instantly the O'Rourkes sought to return to the political stage. In 1797, Anastasia O'Rourke ran for re-election as alderman. Running alongside her was Patrick O'Rourke; an assumed lost son of Padraig. Two years later in 1799, House O'Rourke was given land on the western reaches of the Empire to establish an estate for themselves. Plans were drafted for this land & quickly a temporary settlement was built by Patrick O'Rourke to be used as a staging area for the future final build.
Three years later, Anastasia was wed to Carter Alexios of House Komnenos & the final version of Halstaig was built by Patrick O'Rourke & designed by Jonah Stahl-Elendil. In the following year Padraig's middle daughter, Cristonia was wed to John Fredrick of House Hartcold.
1803 to 1808 marked a period of new O'Rourkes, starting with Anastasia giving birth to two twin sons, Gareth Padraig & Auden Thien. In the same year, Patrick O'Rourke revealed two secret children he had during his time in Aeldin; Jane & Cillian. Only a few months after that, Cristonia gave birth to her firstborn; John Alexander Hartcold who is marked to be the 5th Baron of Pyrmont. In 1805 Anastasia gave birth to her thirdborn & first daughter; Iduna Anne. The following year Cristonia had her first daughter; Adelheid Theodosia. Lastly, in 1808 Cristonia procured her second son, Frederick Louis.
Culture
Being direct descendants of Harren Horenson & the Elendil lineage, The O'Rourkes strive to keep a strong Adunian culture in their ranks. However, through decades of interbreeding with Highlanders & Heartlanders, not all O'Rourkes carry the same features pure-bred Adunians do. This can be notably seen with The Second Count of Halstaig, Padraig O'Rourke who boasted locks of golden hair instead of a darker variant.
Characteristics of House O'Rourke
- Hair Color: Black, Brunette, Auburn, Blonde
- Eye Color: Gray, Green, Blue
- Skin Color: Peach
- Average Height: 5"2'-6"3'
- Average Weight: 120lbs-240lbs
Naming Convention
Starting with Padrick O'Rourke, members of House O'Rourke typically have anywhere between five to fifteen middle names. Commonly, the middle names of an O'Rourke are the first names of their ancestors. As an example, the full name of Gareth Padraig is Gareth Padraig Padrick Seamus Kelly Michel David Donovan Tyrone William Patrick Sean Pious Erin of the House Rourke. In addition to the multiple middle names O'Rourkes carry, O'Rourkes commonly have two first names. An imperial one used formally & a birth name they use informally. An example of this is Oisin O'Rourke who went by the first name John upon being granted the title of Halstaig.
Bastards
il Nothus, coming from High Imperial is the name bestowed to illegitimate spawns of House O'Rourke. Bastards remain common within the O'Rourke bloodline due to the unloyal nature of many O'Rourke males. While High Imperial is considered to be the language of the Aenguls, it is used for the bastard name as a way to differentiate the Adunian culture of the pure-blooded from the illegitimate cultures of Rourke bastards.
Prior to the use of de Nothus as the bastard name of O'Rourke, the name Rourke was used. After legal confusion in The Holy Orenian Empire, Anastasia O'Rourke had it changed to il Nothus which means "the bastard" in a mix of illatian & flexio, signifying the primary two bloodlines which O'Rourke bastards sprouted from.
House Relics
Liar's Bane From The Kingdom of Adunia came a bastard sword passed down through centuries of Adunian's to eventually land in the care of House O'Rourke. The weapon was said to be a gift from one of the rulers of Adunia to the Hand of The King for his service. The blade is made out of an other-worldly crystal that displays imagines of another world through its almost mirror-like texture. When struck with pure light, the blade emits a soft yellow glow. Liar's Bane is currently in the possession of Anastasia O'Rourke.
Crow's Heart Crow's Heart is a dark jewel forged out of unknown materials. When a living being looked at the jewel, a feeling of dread & fear would overcome them, often causing them to bend to the will of the beholder. It is unknown how it fell into the hands of House O'Rourke. What is known, is it first came into the hands of Padraig O'Rourke sometime during his time as Minister of The Interior. Crow's Heart is currently in the possession of Dimitri Orlov.
Magic
While Magic is not widely appreciated in Oren, some O'Rourkes have chosen to learn the ways of various evocations. They often keep their magic hidden from the public eye but they will share it with their family members along with instructing others how to perform spells. Throughout history, no two O'Rourkes have ever shared the same magic type.
Notable Members
- Padrick O'Rourke - Middle child of Erin O’Rourke. Served two terms as mayor of Belvitz, Adria. Married Vasa Crow, bastard daughter of the Duke of Adria. Smuggled arms to the rebelling Mali'ker during the Gladewynn Civil War. Died in Belvitz for charges of treason & embezzlement. After his death, he was cleared of all charges.
- Oisin O'Rourke - Founder of the Imperial State Navy. Captained the “HIMS Duke of Adria”. Served as the Minister of Defense for the Commonwealth of Kaedrin. Sat as a member of the House of Commons alongside his cousin, Padraig O’Rourke. Only stayed for two terms before receiving letters of nobility for the County of Halstaig which brought House O’Rourke into imperial nobility.
- Padraig O'Rourke - Grandson of Padrick O’Rourke. Opened the Owynsburg Tavern with his sister, Quinn O’Rourke. Later that year, he won the second mayoral election of Owynsburg, Kaedrin. Served only a single term as mayor before being promoted to Minister of Labor for the Commonwealth of Kaedrin. During his time as Minister of Labor, Padraig ran for the House of Commons & won multiple times, only retiring from the House when he was made Secretary of the Interior in 1783 under the Stahl-Elendil Ministry. Took over the County of Halstaig after the death of his cousin; Oisin O’Rourke.
- Anastasia "Azariah" O’Rourke - Daughter of the late Padraig O’Rourke. Took over the County of Halstaig after her father's death. Rose to the rank of NCO in the Imperial State Army under the leadership of General Alren DeNurem & then General Peter Baldwin d’Arkent. Climbed the ranks of clerkship in the ruby city of Helena to the rank of Deputy City Clerk under the guidance of Annabelle Kelmenour. Ran for Helena city alderman in 1789 & won the first seat by a thousand votes. Retained her position as Deputy City Clerk in Providence. Ran for alderman re-election in 1797 & won the first seat again by ten thousand votes. Went on to become Speaker of the City Assembly.
- Patrick O'Rourke - Only son of Padraig O'Rourke, went missing for much of his teenage years. Returned to Providence after Padraig's death. During the Providence elections of 1797, he ran for Alderman alongside his sister & won the seventh seat. In 1799 he joined The Imperial State Army. Only two years later once he was promoted to the rank of Private he joined The Rangers of Eastwood. Under the de Sarkozy Administration, George Galbraith appointed Patrick as undersecretary of the Home Office; the successor to the Ministry of The Interior. In 1807 he was promoted to the rank of Warden in The Rangers of Eastwood & took up a new job under George Galbraith as The Director of His Imperial Majesty's Inland Revenue. Re-Started the O'Rourke Company in Providence in 1808.
Patriarchs of Rourke
House O'Rourke follows an agnatic-cognatic primogeniture succession system, meaning that the eldest son of the family head takes over upon their death unless there are no eligible males - in which case a female may inherit.
| Name | Portrait | Birth Parentage |
Marriage(s) Issue |
Death | Coat of Arms | Title(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erin I Erin Elendil-O'Rourke |
|
1572 Brolwic, Aeldin Son of Josiah Elendil & Cassia of Rourke |
Margaret O'Malley Galaeve, Aeldin ---- 4 Children |
1642 Unknown Age 70 |
|
N/A |
| Patrick I Padrick O'Rourke |
|
1639 Adelburg, The Empire of Man Son of Erin Elendil-O'Rourke & Margaret O'Malley |
Vasa Crow Belvitz, Duchy of Adria ---- 3 Children |
1731 Belvitz, Duchy of Adria Age 92 |
|
Maer of Belvitz |
| Pious I Pious O'Rourke |
|
1692 Belvitz, Duchy of Adria Son of Padrick O'Rourke & Vasa Crow |
Clover Agusta Carolustadt, Renatus ---- 3 Children |
1756 Galaeve, Aeldin Age 64 |
|
N/A |
| John I Oisin O'Rourke |
|
1742 Veutain, Galaeve Son of Sean O'Rourke & Kerry O'Vonstat |
Marina Dubois | 1788 Charlesport, Commonwealth of Kaedrin Age 44 |
|
Count of Halstaig |
| Patrick II Padraig O'Rourke |
|
1744 Veutain, Galaeve Son of Pious O'Rourke & Clover Agusta |
Illaena Elendil Owynsburg, Commonwealth of Kaedrin ---- 4 Children |
1791 Helena, Holy Orenian Empire Age 47 |
|
Count of Halstaig |
| Anastasia I Azariah O'Rourke |
|
1770 Owynsburg, Commonwealth of Kaedrin Daughter of Padraig O'Rourke & Illaena Elendil |
Carter Komnenos II Halstaig, Holy Orenian Empire ---- 3 Children |
Alive |
|
Countess of Halstaig Lady of Daleport |
