House Longridge

House Longridge is the noble family in which Clairen Longridge was born into and grew up with. They reside within The Pedestal in Elmstone.

History
The Longridge family estate was founded five generations ago with Clairen's great-great-great-grandparents. Originally a band of traders that imported goods to Elmstone in its younger years, the early Longridges eventually found their fortune in wine making. They bought up a small plot of land to use as a vineyard and only produced one single flavor for the entire first generation. The family's success took off when the monarchy at the time took an interest in one particular vintage and purchased their entire stock, which was then distributed all among the noble class. Demand skyrocketed, and by the next harvest there was a long waiting list to purchase just a single bottle of the next vintage.

They followed multiple old superstitious practices that they would swear gave their wine the richest, fullest flavors the grapes could bear. Most of these traditions are still in use today, such as:


 * Watering the land once per year with holy water blessed by a priest of Chauntea.
 * Caring for any feral cats that took up residence in the vineyard; not only did they chase away vermin, but finding a cat sleeping on a barrel of wine signified that the barrel in particular would be the best of the batch. Dozens of cats can typically be found all across the grounds.
 * Crafting the gates to enter the fields with unrefined hazel branches, which prevented any evil spirits from entering.
 * Never working after sundown, as it would upset the gods of the harvest.
 * Never bringing any tools indoors. It was bad luck, and enduring the elements would make them stronger.

Generations later, the Longridge label is one of the most famous in the empire. The Longridges themselves rarely do the work themselves nowadays, aside from checking the quality of each batch. Instead, the family hires several servants to care for both the house and vineyards.

The Longridge and Vespucci houses have been close friends for the past two generations, which was cemented by Clairen's wedding arrangement to Paril Vespucci.

Dorian Longridge
Dorian is a tall, dark skinned human man that has aged very gracefully in his years. His facial features are intense and always very stern, the attitude of which is only amplified by the hefty scar across his forehead. He is known to be very strict with his children, Clairen especially. He views Harry as the true heir to the family and is very set in his ideas of masculine gender roles. Though he does truly love his family, he believes that men should be the strong leaders of the house and that women should be submissive to them.

He likes to start rumors amidst the nobility that his scar is from valiant military service in his younger years, though such service never actually happened. The scar was instead from a slip and fall during a particularly stormy night when he was in his teenage years.

Cecilia Longridge
Slim and around Clairen's height, Cecilia is the spitting image of a more feminine Clairen. She is often seen wearing long, rich dresses and would never be caught in public without finely detailed makeup.

Cecilia was originally a low ranking noblewoman of a relatively unknown house known as the Chauveaus. She was married young into the Longridge line as an attempt to make more of a name for her own family, which unfortunately did not quite meet the wild expectations of success that her parents had in mind. Dorian was eager to produce an heir, though, and at the age of 17 Cecilia was pregnant with her first child. During Clairen's birth two years later, word spread that a severe complication led to both herself and Clairen almost dying during the birth. Since then, she has been unable to bear any more children.

Though these rumors were accepted as fact amidst the gossipy culture of the nobility, the truth is that Cecilia gave birth to not one, but two children that day. The child that would be Clairen's twin was a tiefling, and as was tragically common in the culture of Elmstone, was quickly "disposed of." To this day, Clairen and Harry are both unaware that a third child was born into their household.

Despite the marriage being political in origin, she and Dorian are deeply in love with each other, and despite his usual demeanor, Dorian was nothing but caring and supportive of his wife after her incident.

Harry Longridge
Harry is tall and slender with short brown hair and a rich olive skin to match his sister's. Naturally charming and charismatic, he has always been able to make friends with and win over just about anyone he meets. Harry is very flirty and known to be a bit of a playboy within the family's social circles.

In their early childhood, Harry bullied Clairen as older brothers often do to little sisters. Despite this, he genuinely doesn't view her with any sort of malicious contempt. However, he has always been quite obviously his parents' favorite child, which is definitely reflected in his personality and attitude.

The young man is very smart and always received top marks in school. He has since made use of his natural charm in the Bardic School of Eloquence, where he became a renowned orator. Harry's speeches are known to fill theatres and city squares, with politicians, royalty, and entertainers alike all begging to hire him.

Clairen holds a bitter resentment towards her brother for their parents allowing him to attend a bardic college, which was one of her childhood dreams.

Koldira
Koldira was an old halfling woman and servant to the Longridge family for three generations. In her younger years she worked in the wine making process, though as she got older she shifted her duties indoors to tend to chores inside the manor.

She took a particular liking to Clairen, who viewed her as a surrogate grandmother of sorts. While the young noblewoman's parents were often dismissive of her, Koldira would constantly praise the young child and try her best to nurture and care for her whenever possible. Koldira loved listening to the traveling bards from the windows of the house when she was able to afford a break in her work, which Clairen joined her in as soon as she was old enough to leave her crib.

For Clairen's twelfth birthday, the halfling saved up her meager earnings and purchased her an old violin from a pawnshop down in the Mis. It was Clairen's most treasured possession until it was taken away by her father, an act for which Clairen has never forgiven him.

Koldira passed away at the age of 151 due to old age and a particularly bad flu. Clairen took her death extremely hard, and the event turned into the catalyst that led her to leave home and join the Mage's College. As a servant, her only grave marker was a single stone in the back of the property, but Clairen hopes to get her a proper memorial as soon as she is back in Elmstone and capable.