Families

Families are modest social Factions that consist of a group of people with fates interwoven through bonds of blood or kinship. While some ancient Family bloodlines have existed since time immemorial, most exist in a state of constant flux with new generations bringing in new members through births, marriages, and brotherhoods while number dwindle due to deaths, separations, and disownments.

A unique property of Families is that occasionally members of an earlier generation will Reincarnate as one of their own descendants, giving rise to a new being possessing a nigh identical soul. The exact process behind this is unknown, however, it has been proven that beings whose souls are trapped within the confines of a Soul Stone or that have been utterly annihilated through the Void are incapable of being Reincarnated by any means. All other forms of apparent Soul Death or passage unto an afterlife have not been definitively proven to prevent future Reincarnation.

## Notable Emperus Human Families

#### Danir Family, the Family of the First King

Eras: Ancient to Cyber

Location: Central Kingdom

The Danir Family is the most ancient royal bloodline known on Aum, and it is one with both a magnificent and sinister history. Its forefather, Awal Danir, still exists sealed away beneath the Stone Palace of the Imperial Capitol, under the Imperial Sewers, nestled into the core of the Necropolis in the cursed location known as the Tomb of the First King. Despite the prestigious pedigree they possessed, the Danir family struggled to survive through most of history, and it came as no surprise that the last member of the ancient lineage died out as the world entered into an age of unprecedented progress in the Cyber Era.

Magnacius Family

Eras: Unifying to Star

Location: Baylor

The Magnacius Family is one of wealthy merchants who rose to global prominence through the success of their Maximum Shipping Company. Notable members include Maximillion Magnacius, a man so successful with the risks he took in trade that it was often rumored that he was psychic, and, less notably, Maxwell Magnacius, the first, and only nameable, Nameless Monk.

#### Redwall Smith Family

Eras: Unifying to Star

Location: Western Kingdom

The Redwall Smith Family is a reputable clan of tinkers and inventors, the most famed of whom being Collier Smith, the man behind the creation of both the Weston Smith Arms Company and Collier Arms Company.

#### Grit Steele Family, the Brothers of the Badlands

Eras: Expansion to Victorious

Location: Western Kingdom

The Badland Steele Family is a family that is unique in the sheer number of reincarnations and soul transformations that it experienced. Almost every other recorded generation of the family was born as a set of fraternal twin Mages who were always given the names of Rocky and Ignatius and who were reincarnations of their previous generation. The twins would be steadfast allies with one another; the Geomancer Rocky being the aloof and mostly silent companion to the fiery Pyromancer Ignatius who would lead the duo on various misadventures. During one such perilous excursion, tragedy would take place take place and one of the twins would perish, after which point the other experiences a soul transformation and becomes a Ferramancer, seeming to inherit the Element from their fallen brother while simultaneously gaining an affinity for Water. The remaining Steele would then settle and start a family of his own, usually giving rise to an ordinary generation of children, but possibly rearing another set of reincarnated fraternal twins, despite one original Steele twin still possibly remaining alive at the time the new ones are born; it is believed that their soul transformation is what enable the surviving twin to be potentially reincarnated as one of their own children. Whether this cycle was some form of blessing or curse upon the family remains unclear, but it did eventually come to an end when their bloodline was eliminated during the Victorious Era.

## Notable Orc Families

#### Darkmaw Clan

Eras: Ancient to Star

Location: The Moors

The Darkmaw Clan is a family of Orcish slavers that have been known to adopt particularly fierce slaves into their family proper, the most notable case being Raggar Darkmaw, who not only would rise to become patriarch of the family but also the "Slave King" of the Orcs.