House Members:
Lucien, Lord Tremontaine
Lilly, Lady Tremontaine, (née Clover, former Duchess of Aquila), his wife
Lord Alexander Tremontaine, his son
Lady Renata Tremontaine, his daughter
Lord Sebastian Tremontaine, Lucien's brother
Lady Iolanthe Tremontaine, Lucien's cousin
Lady Honoria Tremontaine, Lucien's cousin and Iolanthe's sister
Anna LaClerche, Lucien's cousin
Ventrue Tremontaine, Anna's stepfather
Ettienne LaClerche Tremontaine, Anna's mother
Adrian LaClerche, Anna's father

About the House
Emblem: Onda (the Wave)
Heraldic symbol: a dolphin surmounted by a crown and swimming in a white and blue sea
Responsibility: Harbours
Colours: white and azure
Motto: The color of the sky, the might of the sea
Symbolizes: Bliss

History of the House

Lucien, Lord Tremontaine
Born: 3468

Lucien, the current Lord Tremontaine, came into his title at the young age of 24, with the unexpected death of his father, Beaumont, in an accident. However, his ambition and pride, in regard to his house, could not have been greater in a man twice his age. Lucien has always wanted great things for Tremontaine. It was a little over twenty-five years ago that he started to see some of those dreams come true. Perhaps it started during the infamous coup of 3499, when he decided that loyalty to the rightful Ducal line came before his bond to Bahlmis, Tremontaine's major house. Certainly he made himself useful during the chaos following the assassination of Duke Atropos Maun in 3500, catching the eye of then First Minister - later Regent - Delan, Lord Anderon. Brought into the Regency Council, he then played a key part - along with John Hoberty, Lord Lagoran, and his own kinswoman and sometime lover, Anna Le Cleche, in the rescue of Anderon's stepson, Jack Kennington, and Lord Lasse's daughter Salla. This brought greater reward and he rose further in those influential circles. He has been a member of the Regency Council throughout the minority of "Harry" Maun, who happens to be his stepson, residing at Tremontaine House. Lucien was also created Governor of the City of Aquila ten years ago.

Lucien's personal life has contained both triumph and tragedy. In 3490, as his cousin Iolanthe married Lord Greywood, Lucien married Greywood's daughter, Emilia. It was considered a good marriage, and Lucien mourned sincerely when Emilia died in childbirth three years later [the child did not survive]. Within a year, however, he had entered into a stormy, demanding affair with Anna Le Cleche, the stepdaughter of Beaumont's cousin Ventrue. Anna challenged Lucien in ways that the complaisant, gentle Emilia never had, and when, shortly after the final break in their on-and-off affair, Anna disappeared during the coup, presumed dead, Lucien's grief was deep and sincere. In 3500, after the assassination of the Duke, Lucien briefly courted Nira Anderon, only to surrender graciously to Lagoran's pursuit of her - although he regards Lagoran as a mortal enemy, in part due to Lagoran's alleged brutalization of Anna Le Cleche, who had emerged alive, if not entirely well, at the site of the assassination. His emotional and physical intimacy with Anna were gradually renewed, but after the rescue of the children, the resultant spotlight revealed 'scandalous' details of Anna's time away, and she retired from the scene, only to die again a year later. Lucien married the widowed Lilly Clover Maun two years after that. It has been a solid and enduring marriage, solidifying Lucien's power base and producing the two children he adores - Alexander and Renata. He has been an affectionate stepfather to Harry and has taken pride in the luster the years have added to the Tremontaine name, as well as the success of such pleasant ventures as a vineyard he bought in 3500, which is both a going concern and a vacation home for the Tremontaine family.

Generally content with his life, Lucien still hopes to live to see Tremontaine become a major house. And he still keeps in his private things a few small mementoes of the plain-spoken, fiery woman he loved so deeply and lost twice.

Lilly, Lady Tremontaine (née Clover), the former Duchess of Aquila
Born: 3484

Lilly was the only daughter of the late Lord Clover and his wife Harriet. Their ambitions pushed their innocent seventeen year-old daughter into an affair with Duke Atropos. When she became pregnant, Atropos set aside his wife Nira (who was believed to be barren) in order to marry Lilly and legistimise their offspring (an act over dubious legality under Catholic law).

After Atropos' assassination, and Decuma's (Harry's) birth, Lilly eventually remarried Lucien, Lord Tremontaine, and has two children by him, Alexander and Renata.

Lord Alexander Tremontaine
Born: 3505

Steady, unassuming Alexander Tremontaine wears his father's hopes with distinct unease. Though a fine student and no fool, he rarely offers his opinions openly; though handsome, he is eclipsed by his livelier sister Renata and higher-born stepbrother Harry; though well-trained in the social and diplomatic arts of formal Aquilan society, he prefers to ride and hunt the lonelier corners of the Tremontaine estates alone.

A good lad, young Alexander, reliable and capable. Good enough for House Tremontaine? For Lucien Tremontaine? Only time will tell...

Lady Renata Tremontaine
Born: 3507

Some consider Renata, the only daughter of the Tremontaines, to be spoiled; she is merely spirited. Some dismiss her as intellectually lightweight; she only lacks direction. Vivacious and warm, sometimes impetuous, her liveliness adds to her appeal. A talented musician - she sings and plays several instruments - she also enjoys riding. Renata is very much the apple of her indulgent father's eye; she loves life at Tremontaine House - and is particularly happy at her family's vineyard outside of town - and, no matter how much she teases them - and grouses about them - is completely devoted to her brothers Harry and Alexander. But as the time comes when her parents whisper about marriage and a family of her own she finds herself wondering; how will she be a wife and mother when she isn't even sure who she really is?

Lord Sebastian Tremontaine
Born: 3465
Deceased: (Mining accident - Fake. Current whereabouts unknown)

Sebastian was the younger son of Beaumont Tremontaine, a fiery idealist with a head for numbers. He and his older brother Lucien had a sometimes contentious, but basically affectionate relationship, and he was very close, in a brotherly way, to Anna, the step-cousin with whom he had a great deal in common. Then Sebastian's idealism led him down a dangerous - some said misguided - path, when he participated in the Bahlmis-led coup of 3499, going against his brother's decision to stay loyal to the Duke, and splintering the family. Sebastian was arrested and sentenced to hard labor in the Aquilan mines. A year into the sentence, he was reported killed by a shaft collapse. No body was recovered, as they viewed the retrieval too dangerous to risk for a criminal. Years later, a man crossed Tremontaine's path, a man by the name of Judas Underhill. This limping, haggard man was indeed Sebastian, who had escaped instead of dying.

H e stayed on at Tremontaine, helping with the books. He was found out, of course, but Lucien and Anna chose family and secrecy over justice and honesty. After the rescue of Jack Kennington and Salla Lasse, when the spotlight on Tremontaine became a little too bright, 'Judas Underhill' discreetly moved on to an off-world outpost. Nothing more has been heard of him...

Lady Iolanthe Acciaio
Born:

Lady Iolanthe Acciaio, born to Tremontaine, has long enjoyed a reputation as one of the reigning beauties of Aquila's nobility - and one of the most notorious. At the age of seventeen, concerned that her wide and varied flirtations might lead to a scandal, her father, Bertrand Tremontaine, gave her in marriage to the much older Edgar, Lord Greywood. Lord Greywood doted on his bride - but she made no secret of the fact that he did not please her; although her actions were generally irreproachable, she continued to refine her artful flirtations and her dress and manner generated some talk. There was more talk when Lord Greywood took ill and died five years after the marriage, allegedly from eating a plate of eels that were not quite fresh enough. Scurrilous - and baseless - rumors maintained that Lady Greywood had done away with her unwanted husband, but Ethan, Greywood's son by his first wife, embraced his stepmother upon his ascension, and made it known that he did not believe the rumors.

At some point during this period an etching emerged, popularly accepted as being a near-nude study of Lady Greywood. Nothing is known about the identity of the artist or how he came to have such intimate access. The etching, neither acknowledged nor denied by Lady Greywood, increased her fame. She redecorated Greywood Manor into a showplace, organized many fashionable hunts, and enjoyed a few discreet affairs during her widowhood, including one with Lord Nicola Acciaio, heir to the Major House that controlled Aquila's legal affairs. When, under orders from his father to settle down with a suitable wife, Nicola came courting, he found Iolanthe - who had also received an offer from Roderigo, Lord Oswestry - deeply preoccupied with dashing off-worlder Lord Talaren Bahlmis. That flirtation, however, went nowhere, and Iolanthe married Nicola in 3502. She found that she enjoyed being married to the heir to a Major House, and although Arturo, Lord Acciaio, lived far longer than she had imagined he would, she found herself becoming deeply fond of her father-in-law, learning a great deal from him and putting her natural shrewdness into the service of discreetly 'assisting' her husband in his house duties. A major irritation in Iolanthe's life disappeared when her sister-in-law, Lady Ofelia, chose to live off-world. Providing an heir for Acciaio became her mission - after a miscarriage in 3503, she gave birth in 3505 to a son, Dante, who died of influenza two years later, while Iolanthe was pregnant with what turned out to be a healthy daughter, Gianina. Another daughter, Donata, followed in 3511 and, finally, the much-desired son, Tancredo, in 3513. Iolanthe completely dotes on her handsome, adventurous son, and is tolerant of the trouble his headstrong energy causes from time to time.

In spite of her past preference for Talaren Bahlmis, Iolanthe came to appreciate her husband, although she can be impatient with Nicola when she feels he is being foolish. Still, they present the image of the perfect family in public, in accordance with Arturo's desires. Behind the doors of their luxurious suite in Palazzo Acciaio, however, they sometimes have fierce rows - but equally passionate reconciliations.

Lady Honoria Tremontaine
Born: 3477

Honoria lived very comfortably in the shadow of her more beautiful and glamorous older sister Iolanthe. Considered mousy and undistinguished, she contented herself with quiet pursuits like needlework while her sister, even after marriage, cut a wide swath through Aquila's eligible nobles. It therefore came as a great shock to her family when Honoria, at seventeen, created a huge scandal - running off with a house steward, Raphael di Cenza, and marrying him! Censorious Aquilans were secretly validated when di Cenza died of influenza a year later. In a gesture of compassion and loyalty many felt beyond her nature, Iolanthe, also newly widowed, invited her sister to live with her at Greywood Manor, an invitation seconded by the new Lord Greywood, Ethan, who developed a brotherly fondness for Honoria. She lived a quiet life, as befitted her 'ruined' state, assisting in the running of the household and renewing her bond with her sister. When Lord Edmund Bahlmis returned from off-world, the two were gradually able to overcome their shyness and come together, with a great deal of encouragement from Iolanthe, whose enthusiasm may have been at least partly fuelled by her own interest in another Bahlmis - Lord Talaren - as well as her sincere affection for her sister and concern for her welfare.

Honoria and Edmund married in 3503 and went to live off-world, where neither the attainder of the Bahlmises or the remnants of old scandal swirling around Honoria could harm them. They have been very happy together.

Anna LaClerche
Born:

After her mother's Ettienne's death, Anna was fortunate to be adopted by her mother's new husband Ventrue Tremontaine, and into the Tremontaine clan. Quiet, she had inherited her
mother's diminutive figure and carefully drawn features, but had her father's (Adrian) keen eye and analytic mind. From her step-father, she gained a sharp sense of humor and ironic tint to the way she viewed the world.

After her step-father died, she was taken in by the head of Tremontaine. She kept to the sidelines for many of her childhood years, shying away from the charismatic Tremontaine boys. It wasn't she nearled her majority that she began to blossom. Still no peacock like some of her peers, she still caught the eye of Lucien Tremontaine.

They became lovers.

It was a stormy relationship, at best, ranging from languid meetings in pre-arranged hotel rooms to fantastic rows where they hoped no one would hear. Most times, the rows were followed shortly by a passionate making-up... All except for one.

When the Coup fell, Anna was caught up in the storm, landing in Lord Lagoran's grasp. What befell her was never fully found out, but she left the experience burned and cut, and the vague knowledge that she had been raped.  Anna was assumed dead after she didn't turn back up... But in truth, she had managed to escape Lagoran's grasp through the sewers. She grew ill, the
waste infecting her wounds. She was saved... but her memory was gone with the fever. She sold her body to survive, and the horror of the experience drove her to pure silence.

Eventually she was rescued again, this time by the Sisters of Mercy. She took to the robes, leading a quiet life... that was shattered when memories began to return. in short order, she returned to Tremontaine, tried to resume her life, but soon found herself caught up braving the sewers once again to rescue two noble children from its clutches.

For a short time, she enjoyed the glow of heroism. The media grew curious, and the truth about her lost years came out. The fall to notoriety was swift.

  To save her cousin, the now lord, she abandoned Tremontaine, taking up residence on a small estate just outside the city. She rode now and then to clear her mind, and one day, she did not come back. Evidience of a landslide was found, her horse nearby.

Her cenotaph is on the southerly side of Lucien's vineyard.

After life's fitful fever, she sleeps well.