House McGrady

The House of McGrady is a Terran spacer noble family of Irish descent who are prominent in politics, government, business, and culture in human society. The family became prominent in the historical record in the 1690s, when clan leader Ciarán McGrady, also known as Ciarán the Black, was exiled from Ireland and settled in the Carolinas. The first McGradys to reside in space were Andrew McGrady (b. 2058, d. 2166) and his family, who settled in the American Lunar habitat of Von Braun City in 2099. The family flourished on Luna as industrialists, partnered with the pro-independence politicians of Luna's major cities in the early 2120s. Under the patriarchy of Andrew and his son Duncan, the McGrady family sided with the colonial independence movement. After the Interplanetary War, the McGradys were exiled to Saturn's moons, at the far reaches of the Solar System. During the intervening centuries, the family hopped to new Terran colonies in search of prosperity. Headed by Éamon McGrady, the McGrady clan eventually led the settlement of the gas giant Kolossen as one of the founding families of Wallerstein. There, they struck fame and fortune, despite some periodic setbacks. Today, the McGradys are one of the most well-known, wealthy, and influential of human political families, with many members of its current generation in positions of high power in industry, politics, and the civil service.
==Early History==
The McGrady family traces their ancestry to the medieval Irish knight Grádaigh of Derry, who served the High King Rory O'Connor until 1198, when he murdered the King and switched sides to the Anglo-Norman invaders. Reportedly, the High King had burned Grádaigh's village and homestead when he was younger, and he had planned his elaborate betrayal from the beginning. Invested with a knighthood by the English Lordship of Ireland, Grádaigh and his family consolidated tracts of rich farmland and became Clan Mac Grádaigh, or McGrady in English. The McGrady clan remains relatively unattested and unimportant throughout the remainder of the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. They resurface in the historical record when Ciarán McGrady (b. 1661, d. 1711) becomes known as Ciaran the Black, either for his dark hair and complexion or for his butchery of Protestant supporters of William III. He joined with the Jacobite army in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, but was captured by Williamite forces. Ciarán, his wife and children, and his siblings and cousins were all uprooted from Ireland and exiled to the New World. They settled in Charles Towne, capital of the Province of Carolina. Ciarán swore revenge against the English, and upheld his family's Irish heritage and Catholicism in the face of significant prejudice.
===In America===
The descendants of Ciarán McGrady made calculated moves to ensure their prosperous life in North America, converting to Anglicanism in 1715 and establishing themselves as successful slave traders in what became Charleston, South Carolina. Ciarán's grandson, Connor McGrady (b. 1733, d. 1803) advocated for independence from 1770 onwards, joining the clandestine South Carolina colonial legislature. With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1776, Connor joined the guerilla army of Francis Marion, the legendary "Swamp Fox". After the war, he continued his family's trade but expanded their business interests to cushion them. Sure enough, the international slave trade was curtailed not long after his death. Connor joined the Episcopal Church in America
The McGrady's successfully expanded business to include banking and plantation management; several members of the family were employed as overseers on major plantations during the 19th century. By the 1850s, however, the family saw which way the political winds were blowing and they divested themselves of the slave trade and plantation business. With a focus on banking, Seamus McGrady (b. 1818, d. 1864) captained the family and funded abolitionist politicians even though they were enormously unpopular in South Carolina. When the American Civil War broke out, Seamus and his family were forced to abandon their estate and considerable wealth to avoid arrest. They fled north, and Seamus joined the Union Army as an officer. While he survived several battles, including all three grueling days at Gettysburg in 1863, he perished from cholera the next year. His descendants reacquired the family estate after the war but were disgraced among their former friends and clientele, and also converted the family back to Catholicism. Always searching for new opportunities, the family eventually became involved in the petroleum industry in the 1890s, steel production in the 1910s, and real estate in the 1930s. Michael McGrady (b. 1901, d. 1966) championed the family's investments in heavy industry, real estate, and particularly aircraft and vehicle manufacturing during World War II. They became incredibly wealthy from this arrangement, maintaining their investments in various aerospace companies and land holdings until the close of the 22nd century. Michael's grandson, Patrick William McGrady (b. 1961, d. 2049) secured votes in the Deep South for the Democratic Party in the 21st century and served as US Secretary of State from 2021 to 2033. Patrick's sons and grandsons were also stalwart supporters of the Democratic Party and were important aides to the political rise of Charles Compton. Of note, his grandson Finn McGrady (b. 1990, d. 2091) was elected Vice President of the United States as Compton's running mate in 2032 and served in this office from 2033 to 2041, ran for the office again in 2056 under the presidential ticket of Chelsea Clinton, and failed in a run for President in 2060. Finn served as a Senator from South Carolina from 2062 until his death at age 101. He is considered by historians to have been instrumental in the creation of the late-21st century American empire.
==Space Age==
Andrew McGrady, born in 2058 to Martin McGrady, was the first McGrady to aspire to settle in space. He was a veteran of World War III, and after the conflict he invested significant amounts of the family fortune into space development companies, including aerospace firms he already held stock in. By the 2090s, the first permanent, manned Lunar research outposts were established, quickly leading to Lunar habitats, mainly for the scientists and their families. Andrew sunk his family's wealth into commercial spacecraft and brought his family into space in 2099. Andrew, his wife Brigid, their six children, and his two brothers settled in Von Braun City (founded 2096), though his grandfather remained on Earth due to infirmity. However, Andrew's family was destitute and struggled to make a living in a research-driven city; Andrew's brother, Ryan, was a renowned chemist and was able to keep the large family afloat until Andrew received significant returns on his business investments. He used some of this new wealth to promote heavy industry on Luna, touting the benefits of low-gravity construction. Settlers flocked, and with them came frontiersman ideals, fostered in part by McGradys vison of industry flourishing in the Lunar hinterlands. In his later years, he advocated for Lunar autonomy and partnered with Rupert Rycon, a Lunar-born politician and head of the pro-independence Lunar Republican Party. He joined hands with Rupert Rycon in declaring Lunar independence in 2126. The resulting War of Lunar Independence was a brief but bloody affair, but the Lunarians won out and with it, the McGradys found themselves with unprecedented power. Andrew led the family during the tumultuous period of colonial unrest that erupted in the Martian Revolution, the secession of many other Solar System colonies, while using his family's industrial empire as the main supplier of the Lunar Republican Army and Lunar Orbital Guard. His son Duncan (b. 2100, d. 2181) inherited his interests and led the family during the Interplanetary War. He served in the Lunarian government as Minister of Defence and Chief of Security, and used wartime measures to enforce a surveillance state criticized as a military dictatorship; he also played a role in war planning, including approving the deorbiting of space colonies onto Earth, which had killed over a billion people during the war. While he was not tried for war crimes, the war spelled the end for the McGrady clan in Luna; Duncan's uncles had died before or during the war, and he himself was exiled to Saturn along with his wife and two daughters.
With the development of hyperspace tunneling and jump-gate technology later that century, the McGradys were again presented with a great opportunity. Duncan died in 2181 before he could undertake any travel plans, but his twin daughters Saoirse and Etna McGrady (b. 2130) booked passage on a settlement ship outbound to the Orion Arm colonies. They made landfall in at Eldir, the largest moon orbiting Epsilon Eridani b, in 2188. Despite the planet being one of the flashpoints of the Orion Revolution, the family stayed uninvolved in local politics, instead opting to be shrewd and careful while they reestablished their finances and business interests in the new colony. Even as humanity joined the broader galactic community, Clan McGrady settled into a solidly upper-middle class lifestyle on Aegir, as the world came to be officially named.
===Wallerstein===
Éamon (b. 2360) and his brothers Michael and Patrick entered into business in banking for the wealthy, boomtown worlds of the Inner Colonies. Rumors abounded that they used this business to launder money for various organized crime syndicates, but no evidence of this has surfaced in any investigation. The three brothers used this wealth to invest in real estate, and amassed a considerable fortune; this fortune was further used by Éamon to contribute to the funding of a colonization mission in 2403. The recently-explored star system Edel housed several gas giants but no habitable planets or moons; however, the gas giant Kolossen happened to be just within a safe, stable orbit with ideal levels of radiation, light exposure, and nearby resources. Along with his business partner and childhood friend, Isaac Rothschild, he uprooted his entire family and traveled with the colonists to the construction site and helped oversee the fabrication of two pairs of Island-3 type orbital habitats over the following year. The nominal president of the expedition, Trey Waller, named the first pair Wallerstein and Rothschild named the second one Rothstein; after some dispute with Rothschild, McGrady settled in Wallerstein. His family entrenched themselves in the political and economic life of the city, and over time over the colony as a whole. Two universities were chartered with McGrady money, and later the clan's sizable grants allowed the founding of numerous elementary and secondary schools. Their patronage expanded to include hospitals, art galleries, museums, and parkland. Éamon had an immense estate constructed on Wallerstein as the family's home, which presently includes the primary manor, seven smaller houses, six cottages, and a forest complete with stream, which runs via a drainage system into the habitat's water recycling plant. The McGrady estate covers an area of around 12 km2, the same land granted to them by the city charter in 2405.
Éamon died over fifty years later, leaving the entire estate to his youthful grandson, Devin (b. 2431, d. 2500). Devin consolidated and reorganized the family business as a powerhouse financial services firm, with investments in pharmaceuticals and technology companies in Wallerstein, as well as various businesses throughout the Inner Colonies, and in the entertainment industry on Earth. The McGrady Financial Group became the economic lifeblood of the city, and enabled it to outpace other colonies in Kolossen in population, economy, and political importance, even as more colony cylinders were constructed over the next century. Several members of the family served in municipal and colonial government, and after the Imperial Reform of 2550, some served in the Inner Colonies Provincial Parliament. Though the family began its political involvement with the Conservative Party, it drifted towards more radical politics involved with the human nationalist movement after Éamon's death, which became popular in the Imperial colonies. In time, they became one of the most influential supporters of the National Humanist Imperial Labor Party, fundraising for NH candidates in local and provincial elected office.
Family patriarch Dougal (b. 2536, d. 2593), who had taken over the family business in 2581, had two children, a bastard named Patrick MacDougall (b. 2570, d. 2660) and a legitimate son, Proinsias Petyr McGrady (b. 2573). At a mere twenty years old, Proinsias would inherit his father's company after Dougal drowned on the family estate at age 57.
==Proinsias==
Proinsias McGrady was seen as a fresh start for the family. His public image was that of a modern, youthful, and cultured CEO. His wife, Lois Cypher-McGrady, was a glamorous fashion model. He had a a son, Paul, in 2606 and a daughter, Shannon, in 2610. However, he rather quickly developed a reputation for smugness and snobbishness. Rumors began to circulate that he abused his wife and had several mistresses. He often dressed in sleek black suits and cloaks, and wore a pointed goatee bead. His signature style appeared to be a comical imitation of the "classic" cinematic villain. The board of directors of the McGrady Financial Group analyzed his behavior as indicative of narcissistic and possibly antisocial personality tendencies. Their reports and internal memos on the subject were kept secret until many years later; the revelation of them indicates that the board saw these behaviors as an asset to Proinsias' management of the company. They believed it would drive it towards success with an assumption that Proinsias would display ruthlessness and drive.
However, they misjudged his generosity. He spoiled his infant children with gifts. He borrowed enormous sums of money in order to make generous donations to public institutions and private endowments for education and the arts in Wallerstein, with his family's stocks as collateral. While this did, for a time, buoy public opinion of him, it did not prevent scandals from ruining his reputation. He was accused by tabloid media of physically or sexually abusing his nieces and nephews. The combination of financial mismanagement and constant scandals caused stock prices to drop and shook the confidence of the corporation's clients. The company lost profits in the 2608 through 2612 fiscal years, causing the board of directs to vote Proinsias out of the chairmanship and dismiss him from the company; most, but not all, of his stock in the company was tied up in his position as chairman, and he lost most of his wealth.
The McGradys floated for a few years on the family's extensive fortune, but Proinsias and his wife squandered much of their savings on frivolous purchases and the cost of maintaining the enormous McGrady estate. They were forced to sell many of their remaining shares in the company to pay for their living expenses. Meanwhile, the company began to decline and the value of Proinsias' existing stock plummeted. The family was flung into financial poverty by the beginning of the 2620s, especially after Proinsias refused to sell the estate and after the birth of the McGrady's second daughter, Brigid Anne, in 2617. The Wallerstein Electric Company shut their electricity off in 2621, plunging the estate into darkness. The family also dealt with hunger and malnutrition while in poverty. Rationing only lasted a few years, and in 2623 Brigid died of starvation, though it was originally reported as due to illness. 
With careful planning, the family survived on game and poultry that lived on the estate and cultivated herbs and vegetables. Government programs provided them with vital medicines and some food, to stave off scurvy and other vitamin deficiencies, but Proinsias stubbornly refused most government assistance. Later, in early 2625, Paul McGrady died in a violent incident after work in which a fellow student of Shannon's shot him to death. The assailant was captured and, despite being fifteen, was tried as an adult.
His daughter achieved a higher education and went into a career in law and politics.
== Clan Chiefs ==