House Larokon
| Par'tha Expanse | Economics • the Fringe • Geography • Items • People • Species • Recreation • Society Neighbouring Regions |
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House Larokon: Rulers of Larokon Province in the Par'tha Expanse
Values: Nothing matters to House Larokon more than gaining and holding power. Not sector security, not the Romulans, not the Valcarians, not Caraadian culture or traditions - not even the well-being of individual house members. The ends justify the means - always.
High Lord: Jasin Maradere has been High Lord since his father succumbed to poison 24 years ago. No one knows who did the deed, though there was no shortage of suspects, since his father's inept leadership was allowing Tadere to grow more powerful at Larokon's expense.
Maradere quickly turned things around and Larokon today is as strong as it has ever been. Only the need to keep the Sector stable and therefore out of other's hands keeps him from moving more aggressively against his neighbors.
Description: House Larokon is one of the most ancient and powerful houses of the Par'tha Expanse. It has a well-deserved reputation for being ruthless and vindictive, with a history filled with marauding surprise attacks, bloody revolutions, betrayal, murder, and vast internal struggles for power.
To maintain its dominance, House Larokon keeps the other houses divided and turned against one another. Traditional distrust and old feuds make this task all too easy. Should Tadere, Kerraron, Rettaan, and Lanaxa ally, Larokon would lose control of the sector.
Many centuries ago, House Larokon openly sponsored the Markomen Order, a society of assassins and expert poisoners that sat in its fortress on Laerron and used its black talents to influence affairs. While the Markomen were disbanded thousands of years ago by House Kerraron, their legacy of poisoning continues. Larokon nobles routinely analyze food set before them, as do the outsiders who dine with them. Fortunately for the galaxy at large, House Larokon keeps its poisonings in the family. Usually.
Allies: Larokon has no true friends or allies. It prefers to sit at the center of an ever-shifting maelstrom of its own creation, forging temporary links with whatever useful entity happens to bob into view.
Its current allies are Barahn and Beruna, which provide it enough votes in the Oscion Great Council to control the Sector. The ruling coalition has been stable for nearly three decades, though of late, Tadere shows signs of wooing Beruna away.
Enemies: Larokon's chief rival at the present is House Tadere, both because it is the second-most powerful house in the sector and because it has a great deal of influence on Valcaria (possibly more so than Larokon).
The members of House Larokon have an unreasoning hatred of those of House Kerraron. If it could have, it would have crushed Kerraron years ago, but the other houses oppose that sort of behavior. Larokon opposes Kerraron in any forum and in any circumstances.
Assets: All key industries located on Larokon worlds were nationalized eleven years ago. As a result, the house owns several megacorporations, and has a controlling stake in dozens of others throughout the Expanse.
Starship manufacturing and food production are two important industries in the house, and Larokon takes pains to keep competitive in these fields. Unfortunately, the underside of a command economy is beginning to make itself known; the state-owned businesses are growing both top-heavy and less productive.
Larokon's 14 systems are largely self-sufficient, and deficiencies in one world can be made up by goods and services imported form one of the others. Tigelis and Ustullan produce vast harvests of grain and vegetables each year, making them two important agriculture producers for the sector.