House Von Carnij

A powerful house of the Estellion Sky Empire, though after the Nadir came to power, they lost much influence.

History
House Von Carnij was a very minor house, until their founder had a massive brain spark. After the original Von Carnij founded the house by secretly replacing members of House Quaren with loyal body doubles, he had a cousin replace the chief bodyguard of the current Apex, Hira Lilty, and whisper: "House von Carnij is totally awesome." into her ear as she slept. It sadly worked, to the great disgrace of other houses. Von Carnij was even able to get his kid on the Estellion Council. His child, Renardine, betrayed him at the height of his success. Von Carnij's last words were: "I'm proud of you, son, but I think you need to get an antidote, my poison just worked more slowly." Von Carnij wasn't dead quite yet, and proceeded to write a will that sent a hundred gold U.O.Me to his wife, who said his son didn't have the Von Carnij spirit to betray his father. His wife said the money was lost in the mail, despite being right next to the solicitor.

Renardine then betrayed his remaining sibling, by banishing her to marry the current Emperor of the Dragon's Peak. This didn't go over well, and Von Carnij has never been quite welcome to North Arc ever since. Renardine then sent his mother to prison for outstanding debts. With no real opposition, he began a series of successful Ponzi schemes. He married his own wife again. Once she had a son and he grew up, pinned the blame for the Schemes on her and skipped town, while secretly training his son to betray them. His son betrayed him. Renardine's last words were. "I saw it coming!"

The House continued on in such a fashion, despite everyone wondering how they produced enough children to carry on the family legacy. Recently, their Ponzi Schemes have reached fruition after their disgrace for being on the Estellion Council, making them wealthier than most noble houses. Von Carnij foresaw their own downfall and sought to make it as comfortable as possible. The current head of Von Carnij Mercenon had distanced himself from the Estellion Council after Rampart Supreme was destroyed. His third cousin took over, an acceptable sacrifice. He left with ECHO, pretending to be one of their ECHO Captains.

Mercenon then abandoned them to an Arcadian patrol, pretending to be a defector. He took a very large sum of money for his trouble and used it to escape with his own new band of Midworld mercenaries. They formed a pirate gang and operated in Carnelia and the Neutral Lands for a while. He intercepted the communication that declared him a traitor, and replaced it with one that said something like 'last survivor of...'. He then used his contacts on both sides to arrange a battle between them. It was a very bloody draw and both sides retreated. He looted the corpses and technology and returned to Carnaby, Von Carnij's home Sky Island, currently. There, hidden in the Carnaby Sky Island System he secretly created his own fleet that was comparable to any fleet.

Mercenon was disgraced when the Nadir took over. He took it in stride, and sent letters to Mihli, saying that it was all his third cousin. She didn't really believe him. Mercenon then waited for most of the fleets to leave Estel and attacked in the brief few minutes that she was slightly more defenseless than usual. Mihli threatened him with death, but he calmed her down, saying that he's donating the entire fleet to her and her military effort. This, along with the massive influx of cash from his ancestor's Ponzi schemes, saved Von Carnij's name and power, at least in their own Sky System.