Van Gelder
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An ancient house, long known for maintaining ties to industry and aristocracy alike, the Van Gelder of the Known Worlds fell from grace four and a half centuries ago... but their recently rediscovered kin on Yathrib, separated by 950 years of divergent history, never lost their status as one of the 'Great Houses' of the world, and are now radically different in culture to their kin beyond the jumpgate.
History of the House
With their roots in a coalition of Dutch, Swiss, and Belgian zaibatsu that formed on Urth to send joint expeditions through the jumpgate during the early years of human star-travel, the Van Gelder lay claim to a history that spans more than two and a half millennia. It has not, however, tended to be a terribly exciting narrative - though for the great majority of the time, it was a tale of near-unbroken success. Quiet, steady accumulation yielded great dividends over a span of centuries.
Seeing the writing on the wall for the First Republic, the coalition acquired several outlying planets, intermarried members of its leading families, and formed House Van Gelder (named for the Chief Executive Officer of the merged corporation) to set itself on the path to becoming one of the leading noble houses of the First Republic.
It remained a Great House throughout the interregnum, the Second Republic, and into the Dark Ages - and it was in the wake of the Second Republic's collapse that the Yathribi jumpgate closed in 4093, sealing off the holy world of visions from the rest of human space.
In the main part of the Known Worlds, the Van Gelder retained their prominent position into the 46th century, and were among those to ally with Vladimir as he became the first man to reunify those worlds still accessible through the jumpweb. The new Emperor, however, broke promises made to a number of his allies - including the Van Gelder, who were among those Houses to turn on their betrayer, seeking to bring him low.
They failed, and only survived by surrendering to one of those Houses with whom Vladimir had not broken faith. As a result, for the past 450 years, the Van Gelder of the Known Worlds have been vassals of House Decados - stripped of their old homeworlds, living only at the sufferance of their masters (though they are permitted to manage various holdings, including some valuable ones on Malignatius), and converted into a house of assassins and spies, they now bear little resemblance to their former selves. Only the blandly unremarkable facade remains.
On Yathrib, however, the Van Gelder were among a number of Great Houses that not merely survived but thrived, even as their kin were falling elsewhere. Holding one of the original Seven Seigneuries, they have played an important (but not dominant) role throughout the post-separation history of the Shining Gulf, and they have more than once held one of the Great Offices of the Crusader State.
Here, the van Gelder - the locals customarily dropping the capital V in favour of an older, Flemish form of the name - cemented a role for themselves as a guild- and commerce-friendly House, known for their stewardship of their lands, their close ties to the sea, and the great cattle and horse-breeding ranches of their hinterland in the veldt.
House Culture and Ways
For much of its history, the House was known for little save a lust for wealth: its members were regarded by many of their peers as bland and uninteresting, and even more than the al-Malik they had a reputation for unfashionably mercantile interests and connections. Still, straddling the worlds of industry and aristocracy certainly seemed to serve as a recipe for success for century after century.
On Yathrib during its 95 decades of separation, the van Gelder retained many of their connections to commerce and industry, and the greatest Guild stronghold on the planet is to be found in the Free City of Rotdam, which has prospered under the protection of the County of Johburg.
The long decline of native industry and the loss of all interstellar commerce, however, wrought great changes upon the Yathribi van Gelder. Long associated with the neo-Boer movement that had settled the veldt of Johburg, the local van Gelder increasingly became an agrarian nobility - their patronage of commerce and industry turning from shareholdings and seats on boards into a close relationship with the guilds that gradually took over Rotdam, and with the technical experts who maintained the planet's links to near orbit and outer space.
The change in role, however, altered the familial image - and the manner in which it saw itself. The pursuit of wealth was no longer especially viable as a measure of success, when wealth was increasingly tied up with land and land required power and expenditure to control. Instead, the van Gelder increasingly identified themselves with (and promoted) the distinctive qualities of the neo-Boer culture - independence, determination, and self-reliance - and sought to develop their wealth by developing their land.
Cut off from their offworld kin, some noble houses found themselves too small to survive independently, and among those absorbed by the prosperous van Gelder were many of the local members of House Windsor. The results are most visible in the unusual hobbies now beloved of the van Gelder, with cricket a County-wide obsession for many at all levels of society, while rugby rises to prominence during the cooler months of the year.
The Windsor influence, however, can also be seen in the van Gelder tradition of caring for their subjects: having cemented their power in Johburg by close identification with the region's distinctive culture, and converted their association of wealth with success into a desire to compete for status via the prosperity of their estates, they have come to exercise an unusually paternalistic attitude towards their subjects. An overflowing treasury is considered less a measure of success - and certainly a far inferior mark of culture and good taste - than a well-maintained estate, with a healthy population properly housed and well-fed so that it can provide productive workers.
A mingling of influences might be detected in the van Gelder approach to honour: there is a marked tendency to regard one's word as one's bond, but it is particularly focused upon those above and below any given noble in the hierarchy of society. Those beneath him for whom a noble is responsible merit his care and attention, as do those to whom he owes feudal service. To some van Gelder, those who are not directly a noble's to care for are entirely fair game, though others adopt a markedly altruistic attitude, in line with the Church's teachings upon nobles as martyrs for society as a whole.
More interested in trade and internal investment than external expansion, the van Gelder have often been proponents of compromise and cautious ambition amidst the often-turbulent politics of the State: trade and fief-management are each so much more reliable in peace, after all. In war, however, the van Gelder ferociously defend their investments in their estates, their trade networks, and their people.
Holdings
Johburg, above all others - it's not 'merely' the van Gelder County, but the region with which the house is most closely connected by culture and inclination. The House has been intimately associated with the area that now forms the County since the early days of human settlement on Yathrib. Formerly, the County also extended across the Gulf to the East, and there are still scattered van Gelder survivors among the taifa lordships beyond the County's frontiers.
Long-standing mercantile ties led to van Gelder presence throughout the Pearl Cities and the Antipodes, though most such enclaves have been eliminated during the past century of warfare; survivals are most frequent where the al-Malik of Hydessos have helped to protect them, much as the van Gelder sheltered al-Malik within the bounds of Johburg.
The centrepiece of the van Gelder presence is the Johburg itself, an ancient fortress dug into the heart of a hill overlooking the city of the same name, though the iconic Fisher Hall adjacent to Akko and the Summer Palace outside Margat are much more luxurious court centres than the subterranean base.
Personnel
Leading Yathribi van Gelder:
- Amber van Gelder: Countess of Johburg, head of house
- Nathalie van Gelder: legitimised natural daughter, heiress
- Valentijn van Gelder: baron of Teldam; Amber's younger brother
- Wife and (adult) children
- Ysbrandt van Gelder: baronet of Gant; cousin to Amber and Valentijn
- Seraphine de Moley: nee van Gelder; dowager baroness and regent of Arvin; cousin to Amber and Valentijn
Offworld Van Gelder
- Agravain Van Gelder: Inquisitor of Yathrib; Abbot of Saint Palamedes
- Trisje Van Gelder: Knight of the Phoenix (Imperial Questing Knight)
Typical Yathribi van Gelder Traits
- Characteristics: Wits, Ego, Calm
- Natural Skills: Charm, Melee, Observe
- Learned Skills: Ride, Sailor, Steward
- Blessings/Curses: Condescending, Noblesse Oblige, Subtle
- Benefices: Guild allies, technological artefacts