The Orion Family

"There is no greater love than a maker’s for the things she makes. Especially when they grow to be something she never imagined."

- The Family Words

History

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

I will say this about the Orions, they certainly know how to make an entrance. I think the best way to start this small essay about Lamberton's most eccentric family is to give a little anecdote from when I met with Willem, the copper of the Orion Family.
I had been asking around my contacts to see if they can set up an interview with any of the Notable Organizations in the family, in the hopes that I could include some of their statements in this article. Particularly about their history since with this family in particular it is incredibly difficult to separate fact from fiction. But anyways, when I say I "met" Willem Selmy of the Orion family, I am not being quite as straightforward as I want to be. I was more so... abducted by Willem Selmy. You see I was coming home from a meeting with my publisher and was walking through Crater Park on the left side of the depths in mid-city New Lamberton when all of a sudden the sunlight I had been enjoying above me was gone. Once I looked up, I was utterly floored when I saw an Orion emblazoned airship floating overhead. Then, Willem Selmy, wrapped in his iconic wolf cloak descended down a rope from the upper decks. In an instant, I was hoisted up, very much against my will. Once my senses had been returned I had a flagon of mead placed in my hand. Then I was face-to-face with Willem, his son Barten and some other associates attached to the family. Looking at Willem, who wore the biggest shit-eating grin I have ever seen, the first thing he said "Wait, this fish is dressed far too nice to eat, guess we have to drink with it instead" Stunned, I tried to speak only to have my poor attempts at communicating further delayed as Willem forced the flagon up to my lips while he downed his own flagon at the same time. Half a cup later, I managed to look into his eyes and the mad glean made all the stories, both consistent and conflicting, make sense. This was a man who knew exactly what he was doing but knew how to have fun while doing it. What followed was a 2-day pleasure cruise with interviews, drinking and honestly the most fun on-site editorial this Author has ever taken part in.
Now, I won't give a full history of the Orion family. If you want to read about their exploits as residents of Lamberton, I highly recommend the myriad of books written by both the family and some colleagues of mine (please see the post-face of this book for a list of 3rd party books I recommend). I will however cover the history told to me by Willem and his son, and give some early details about their time in Lamberton before the Violet Dawn, what happened shortly after the Violet Dawn, and then what they are up to now. As a serious journalist, while I did enjoy my time I will try to be as unbiased as possible as my readers have come to expect of me.
Now I had heard the sky pirate stories of the Orion family, but I had no idea that they had been part of the famed Sojourner's holdfast. In fact, they were one of the earliest members if Willem is to be believed. But I am perhaps getting too ahead of myself. You see, according to Willem the Orion family as it currently stands are the descendants of the original crew of a ship known as the Nebula. On each of the ships in the Orion family's personal fleet (the one I was on was called the Berth of Ares which is named after one of Willem's ancestors), there is a glass container with one spoke of the wheel from the Nebula with the name of an original member carved into it, they are always located in the Captain's quarters. So less a family by blood (although naturally, relations have blossomed between the descendants of the original crew) but a family nonetheless, and I saw how true that was during my time with them. Well, this original crew of the Nebula had been an independent sky-ship performing various... unsavory acts such as smuggling, piracy, racketeering, and some mercenary work. Eventually, several captains who had worked together formed the union we now known as the Sojourners, (Unfortunately, dear reader I had trouble finding people to verify this statement to me and am reporting it as they told me). This union would last for some time (over 100 years) before an event referred to as the "Broadside," transpired and the Nebulas either left the Sojourners of their own accord or were exiled (I actually heard both versions of this from Willem and Barten respectively). The only details they were willing to share with me about this event was that the captain at the time, Tactus, and the current sky-captain of the time had a disagreement that lead to them parting ways. So the Nebula was independent and made their way south towards Seacland and finally Ordegg.
Now, I know this part will sound unbelievable given the public persona of our great Benyl. During a simple freight mission (Willem seemed to imply that the Nebula was hauling sky eel flesh to Numpeni), when all of a sudden the massive Blue Dragon form of Benyl descended from the upper clouds, and in a very un-Benyl-like fashion he dramatically shifted into his Dwarf form and landed on the deck of the Nebula and supposedly challenged the Nebula to a race under the stipulation that the winner would be able to ask a favor of the other. Now reader, I simply do not believe this but the timing of this event is highly in question and if something remotely like this did happen it may have been before Benyl was.... well the Great Benyl. Maybe when he was a whelp himself, bottom line it must have been a younger more brash Benyl. Anyways, the way the story goes is that the Nebula of course lost as per the agreement, Tactus would make Lamberton the base of operations for the Orion family of skyship buccaneers. In doing so he would also the design and construction of the Lamberton airship fleet as well as train airship troops for the armed forces within Lamberton. Then as Willem described, "Well good ole Tactus stood right before Benyl and embraced him in the first bear hug that that old dragon has ever had and slapped the captain's hat on his head." The Orion Family were now basically their own sky captaincy in Lamberton and the rest is history.
Note: Interested readers might like to know that in Orion family fashion, I was brought back to my tenants in the upper district and pushed off of the bow of the ship as one of the wizards on the crew put a feather fall on me seconds before hitting the roof of my building. The last I saw was a shadow of a wolf cloaked figure waving from the back of a ship.
Keeping their word, the Orion family became THE Orion Family of Lamberton. Frankly, this is where I should stop the Orion family's story. Everyone knows what they do now of days and their history is very well documented throughout their time in Lamberton. They have deep ties with the upper echelons of Lamberton's society, their Gold through the ages are frequently seen dining with Benyl and members of Parliament. They are the largest manufacturers of airships in practically all of Stolaria. With that being said, they are a family with a wide reach, and surprisingly none of them have been given a dragon mark despite their apparent closeness to Benyl. Phantonia is not quite as eccentric as Willem but certainly knows how to make a scene in her own way. Unfortunately, I was unable to meet with her. I did however get a chance to board her private airship during an event I attended one time, and the magnificence of it was something to marvel at. While she tends to stick to the more dignified circles though, many members of the family are well regarded in the lower districts and it has been rumored that the Clay Family and the Orion family are friendlier than their public personas would have us believe. Before the Violet Dawn they were ramping up productions for a new airship that has become a mainstay of the current fleet and after they lead the rescues throughout all of Ordegg and were even sent to other Platinum Union countries to supply aid. During this time they supposedly had a small skirmish with members of the current Sojourner but details are scant given its closeness to the dawn.

Rank	Name
Gold	Phantonia Al-Tarly
Silver	Unfilled
Obsidian	Paxis de Frenatta
Pink	Frost Tannen
Copper	Willem Selmy

Notable Members

• Barten Selmy
• Frost Tannen
• Kruger Delant
• Willem Selmy