Ninth House of Betazed
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The 9th House of Betazed is one of many ancient houses on Betazed. To be a member of such a social class in Betazoid culture is to be considered descendants of the Goddess, Karawati, herself and a part of influential ancestry. The Ninth House is considered to be the house of agriculture - it was formerly known as the "house of wealth".
The Ninth House is currently run under an administration commissioned by several other houses. While Vaxa Ral is the matriarch of the Ninth House in title, she has no operational control over the house.
History
The Ninth house traditionally had owned the largest amount of land by far compared to the other houses. Many of the other houses claim that they loaned some of their undeveloped land to the Ninth house centuries before first contact with the Federation, for the purposes of developing the land agriculturally - to the benefit of other houses and the Betazoid population in general. However there is no record of this ever happening, and the Ninth house, specifically the Ukinix family (which had a reputation for being ruthless) denied this claim.
This did not stop several of the other houses demanding "their" now agriculturally rich land back. At the turn of the 2300s, it became a political issue between the houses.
Over the course of the 2330s, there were rumours the then Matriarch Kirilow Ukinix and her husband Alacem Ukinix tried to influence the opinion of other houses, and even attempt to take them over, by offering their daughters for arranged marriages with members of the other houses. Record of this happening, however, is scant and has never been proven. No female members of the Ukinix family ever married into other houses.
In approximately 2341, to force the Ninth house to "return" their land, six of the other houses joined together to begin legal action against the Ninth house, which was unprecedented. Rumours began to spread that the only male sibling of the Ukinix family, Astradem Ukinix, was ordered to temper the attitude of some of the other houses in whatever manner necessary. This came to a head when it was discovered that Astradem was having an affair with the matriarch of the Tenth house. Subsequently, the Fifth house, being the house of nobility, warned all of the house matriarchs not to engage in "unsanctioned and secret romantic relationships" with members of other houses. This resulted in the Matriarch of the Fourth house confessing to having an affair - also with Astradem Ukinix.
The Fourth, Sixth, and Tenth houses threatened further legal action against the Ninth house unless land was "returned" to them, and Astradem had no further contact with the other houses. The Ninth house still refused to return lands, however it is alleged that The Ukinix family negotiated a marriage for Astradem with one of the members of the Sixth house in an attempt to diffuse the situation. Astradem refused, so was stripped of his title and nobility by his parents. The fate of Astradem was unknown until 2396, when it was discovered he had moved to Earth, and had started a family.
After Astradem was stripped of his title, his parents offered their oldest daughter Vaxa for betrothal to a member of the Sixth House of Betazed along with a large amount of land. This arrangement fell through when it was discovered that Vaxa was pregnant to an employee by the Ninth house. Kirilow and Alacem threatened to strip Vaxa of her title, but with mounting legal action involving the other Betazed houses, Vaxa's parents feared that would have weakened the Ninth House legally and politically. Instead, Vaxa was forcibly offered a plot of land owned by the Ninth House in the Piri Islands, effectively placing Vaxa in exile.
The Ninth house did eventually become weakened when legal action against them finally succeeded. They lost most of their land to the other houses. This was compounded during the Dominion War when the Ninth House Estate, located on the Araraniax Village outskirts at Arandel was destroyed, killing Kirilow, Alacem, Reayi and Teaxixa. As a result, members of other houses took control of the Ninth house in 2376. Representatives of all of the other houses (excluding the Fifth House who refused to get involved) asked Vaxa Ukinix to abdicate her Matriarchy. When she refused, they threatened to take her plot of land away from her. Eventually after multiple protracted legal battles, Vaxa and the Houses settled on letting Vaxa retain her land and her title, provided she changed her and Keehani's family name. Vaxa chose the name "Ral", the family name of her dead de facto partner Itum.
It was found many years later that Astradem had stolen a prototype water and nutrient containment technology (codenamed "Project Blue") before he left Betazoid for Earth.
in 2397, Vaxa Ral's grandaughter Keehani Ukinix lodged a petition with the Reconciliation Forums of Betazed for the "rightful re-establishment of Vaxa Ral, formerly Vaxa Ukinix, as matriarch of the Ninth House of Betazed."
Change of Name
In 2337, the Ukinix family applied to the Fifth House of Betazed to change the name of the Ninth House from the "House of Wealth" to the "House of Agriculture". As the majority of their wealth was from farm lands and agricultural practices on Betazed, representatives of the Ninth House claimed that the change of name was to "reflect the original true intention the Four Deities had for the Ninth House". However, it was seen largely as a public relations exercise.
In 2340, after intense lobbying, the Fifth House approved the name change. Many members of the other houses considered the name change blasphemy. It ultimately served to draw further derision of the Ninth House.[1]
Known members
- Ukinix Family
- Vaxa Ral (formerly Vaxa Ukinix) (head - disputed)
de facto with Itum Ral (deceased)- Cigrun Ukinix (son - deceased)
de facto with Unknown (deceased)- Keehani Ukinix (granddaughter)
- Cigrun Ukinix (son - deceased)
- Astradem (aka Astrad) Ukinix
m. Hayley Ukinix (Human, nee Cullen)- Sally Ukinix (daughter)
- Anacem Ukinix (son)
m. Stacey Ukinix (Human, nee Williams)- Wil Ukinix (grandson)
- Reayi Ukinix (deceased)
- Teaxixa Ukinix (deceased)
- Vaxa Ral (formerly Vaxa Ukinix) (head - disputed)