House Maricel

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The Maricel Family

The Maricel family has been noble for many, many generations, having held the seat of Tinker's Bench since before time out of mind on Draught, and flirted with political advancement and title on repeated occasions due to the history and noted education of the line. Unfortunately, they never seem to hold any position of greater power for long: theirs is a family tree noted for being exceptionally bright - some say too bright, as occasional branches of the family's bloodline have fallen into madness or eccentricity and either self-pruned due to mishap and suicide or withered away into obscurity. The current generations seem to've achieved comparative stability, and though the contributions made by the Maricels to the progression of technology over time have been markedly among the most significant in the Isle's history, its members are still viewed as potential loose cannons, to be handled like explosives: powerfully good for a purpose, but dangerous if applied incorrectly.

With a family tree that stretches back very clearly to the earliest moments of Draught's infancy - and even beyond, back to roots that place them in Copper Run, already an established house at the time Draught was raised from the sea - the Maricel name is widely known, though very few can say that they've had many dealings with its somewhat elusive members. With time, this brood of thinkers and inventors have infiltrated every field of research and development in every branch of the sciences, but they seem to have done so from afar, working in remote locations and choosing secrecy either out of a desire to jealously protect what discoveries they've made from their fellow colleagues or due to a lack of comfort in dealing with other people at all, many of its members so notoriously antisocial that they're driven into fits of anxiety when confronted with people they don't already know.

For all that the Maricel family seems to enjoy its privacy and how rarely its members mix in with the rest of Draught, it's a sizable family altogether. It may take their members a while to come around to the idea of procreation, but when they do so they approach it with the same fervor that they seem to approach anything else, siring handfuls of children in the time before they grow bored of that as well.

Aside from the pitfalls of dangerous research, there are occasionally instances in which members of the family become prey to what begins as innocent dabbling in matters of curiosity - like alchemy and inventive drugs. Most Maricels swallow draughts, pills and capsules as though they were candy, regarding the bounty of their Isle as a boon that can aid in focus, concentration, lack of anxiety and other beneficial props to assist them. It's inevitable that such a cavalier disregard for the body's own biology will claim a soul or two. This does not do anything to counter the widespread belief that most of them are unstable.

The Where

The Maricel residence.

The Estate

Being a large family, one is likely to run across Maricels nearly anywhere on Draught, though they rarely venture off of their own Isle unless pressing business requires them to travel. Most of the core family remains in Tinker's Bench, and the present holders of the seat live at the ancestral home that lies on the outer fringes of denser population near the shipyards, a piece of property that has come to be commonly known as The Estate. Built more or less directly into the side of a hill amidst more shrubbery and greenery and creeping vines than is typically found anywhere else in the lordship, it has an antiquated brick and mortar facade and meticulously looked-after grounds due to the current Lady's green thumb. It's reputed to have beautiful but hazardous gardens. Despite being located outside of the main crush of the populace of Tinker's Bench, this piece of property sees frequent visits not only from various family members but also patrons and politicians. That fact coupled with the Maricel inclination for privacy eventually led to the planning and creation of...

The Aerie: Tinker's Bench landmark and Maricel retreat.

The Aerie

Built only within the last twenty years, the Aerie was initially constructed to provide Lady Maricel with a place to go after the birth of her first child to avoid the constant distractions of visitors, leaving her with time to both tend to her family and work on the various projects that demanded her attention. Isolated in its position out on a rise overlooking the wild moors it has since then become a place of respite for the family when they've wanted privacy and quiet, though as the Maricel children and a number of their cousins get older its also become a favorite haunt of the younger generation whenever a place to gather and get up to mischief has been wanted. Before her arrival in Gateway, Callista Maricel was living almost exclusively at the quirky structure, and thinks of the odd building as home.