The Hilo Family

"Any old horse will run when it's whipped, but only fast enough to avoid the whipping. Racehorses, though, they run because they look at the horse on their left, they look at the one on their right, and they think, No way am I second to these fuckers"

The Family Words

History

An Excerpt from City of the Future: A People's History of New Lamberton by Kristof Namsouh

Interested readers, as you probably know Lamberton is old but Kuoto is OLD. You may have even heard of some of the more famous Hilo descendants inside of Lamberton, well their fame here is second to the notoriety of their founding place, Kuoto. The Hilo family made their way to Lamberton over 125 years ago. In Kuoto, they were a very large family known for their gambling dens. A large family eventually outgrows its home, and opportunities for individuals within the family to make a name for themselves become harder and harder. It was then, Ite Hilo, the current matriarch of the family sent several of her children and several tertiary descendants (nieces, nephews, 2nd cousins) to other cities with the intent of growing new business and seeking new influence. Shay Hilo, who at the time was 30 years old, along with her family, consisting of 2 daughters and 1 son, and her husband, were sent to Lamberton. While gambling in Kuoto was fairly commonplace, the status of gambling halls and traditional casino games in Lamberton was more ambiguous at the time of her arrival. While gambling was legal, it focused primarily on sports betting in the old Battle-Smith dome (not to be confused with sexual acts for more dirty-minded readers). Lamberton, as a center of innovation, loved to pit the inventions of scientists and artificers against each other and people would bet on them. Using money from the family, they successfully managed to open several small casinos that dealt in more traditional gambling that was common in Kuoto. Becoming known entities in seedier circles for the sale of raw shift, brothels, and of course casinos. Everything seemed to be proceeding well, but slowly. Shay Hilo worked hard at making the business thrive for 40 years, but could never get her operations close to the levels in Kuoto and the tribute money that was sent to the central family were paltry sums compared to some of her siblings in the other corners of Stolaria. When she died (unknown causes, but there is speculation), her son Lohn, 30 at the time, took over as head of the local family and began to shift their business around from several disparate locations into one mega-casino, the **House of Jholin.** Then the Violet Dawn and the original Battle-Smith dome was destroyed when the city center of Lamberton fell into the depths. For the Hilos this would prove an advantageous event, but it did come at some cost. When the wall went up, communication in and outside of Lamberton became more difficult and thus the support of the central family became less reliable. It was here, that everything would change for the Hilo family. The connection to magic interrupted and the amount of injured in the city rising to unbeleivable heights, the Hilo family opened up small hospital wings in their old gambling shops. The Hilos are supposedly descended from a long line of healers and while their gambling businesses in Lamberton had not taken off yet, their healing centers were soon in high demand. This dear reader is when I show some of my own political bias, and point out the beauty of being an immigrant in Lamberton. In no other city in Stolaria, and certainly in none of those Timathian despot countries can new arrivals enroll in such great colleges with an encouragement to share the knowledge of their homeland. Frankly, it is why I think Lamberton is such a beacon in innovation, the melting pot of our academics. You see, Shay Hilo's descendants had started assimilating and started learning the intricacies of artificery and scholarly work. It was here, where the Hilo's made a name for themselves. Their children had learned our ways and then in part taught us their ways. Traditional forms of healing magic were less reliable, and so the Petal College of Medicine was open. A teaching hospital where tech-imbued forms of healing magic were researched, built, and taught in the aftermath. Meanwhile as the city began to rebuild, the House of Jholin started seeing more and more business. With the Battle-Smith dome destroyed and the residents of Lamberton's appetite for sport unquenched, small form combat circles centered around betting were opened on the main floor of the House of Jholin and business exploded. Seeing an opportunity, Lohn expanded the House of Jholin into the Tower of Jholin, whose main floor remained a traditional casino but whose upper decks began offering various other forms of gaming including construct battle arenas. Soon though, Lohn would retire and for 2 more generations the Tower of Jholin would grow in influence as the renown center of sport, gambling and sin inside of Lamberton all the while growing further and further away from the central family in Kuoto. Now there is Morrow, Shay's great-great grandson, and Lohn's great-grandson. The Violet Dawn and rising political tensions basically made it very difficult to enter Kuoto, and thus Morrow never set foot inside nor met the central family. Supposedly a bit more headstrong than his predecessors, it was he who made the first major change to the Tower in nearly 5 decades. By opening underground construct versus nonconstruct combat, a taboo sport in dignified circles. It was here, that the Tower of Jholin would expand from a traditional casino and gaming hall into a common moniker known as the Tower of Sin. Frankly, it is a wonder why there has been no legislation pertaining to this sport, but the appeal of it is something I have come to understand. While writing this article, I was invited by an uncle of Morrow, and... it certainly was a show that elicited the same excitement from my adventuring days. Not to mention, I saw several members of Parliament watching as well. I have even heard some rumors that a whelpling of Benyl was seen in attendance at one point. Needless to say I don't think the parliament]] or Benyl will be making any changes sometime soon. Aside from their gambling halls and traditional combat arenas, there are rumors about some other off-book ventures, but there is only so much room for speculation and gossip in these articles. But very important as well, Morrow, has overseen the expansion of the Petal College of Medicine and has cemented its place as the foremost college of medical technology and teaching in the city and (in this author's opinion), Stolaria. All the while, given his success and lack of familial contact outside of Lamberton when relatives he had never met came to Lamberton for the tribute to the main family, he severed ties, believing that all of his worth and success belonged to his line and not the line of the matriarch so long ago. Individually wealthy and unbound from the tradition of the Hilo family in Kuoto, Morrow Hilo]] incorporated their ventures under the Flower Capitol organization and has been recognized as a pillar of Lamberton, becoming one of the great families. It will be interesting to see what other changes Morrow makes in the coming years, as there does not seem to be any sign of his slowing.