Bauhaus Noble Houses
The Bauhaus Megacorporation is comprised of a multitude of industrial fiefdoms, each owned by the families that make up the Bauhaus nobility. For the most part, Bauhaus nobility are not parasitic as a class - They take their duties as leaders and guardians of the common good seriously. From birth, they are raised to rule, and this is their function in life. The majority of Bauhaus officers and higher-ranking administrators and managers are drawn from the nobility.
The nobles of Bauhaus are bound by a code of honor that, while largely unwritten, is nonetheless quite powerful. They are raised to believe that duty to the corporation is more important that life, that a Bauhauser's word is his bond, and that the worst thing that anyone can do is to bring dishonor to his or her family name.
Honor is the watchword of the Bauhaus nobility. It governs their lives down to the smallest detail. Nobles must always pay their debts, must allow no one to insult them with impunity, and must behave with the greatest of respect to their equals and superiors. The slightest breach of this code can cause a noble to be ostracized by his or her peers.
Of course, aside from all the obligations of honor, there are still many perks to being a noble, the first of which is that most nobles are fabulously wealthy, and live extravagant lifestyles. They live in palaces in the cities and fortified estates in the territories. They wear ornately-decorated uniforms, and the latest fashions in clothing. They eat the finest foods from the finest china - and far more often eat at home and with many guests, served by personal chefs, rather than eating at restaurants. They go on grand hunting expeditions in specially-maintained parks, and attend balls in each others' palaces.
However, this lifestyle is not without price. At any time, they may be asked to lay down their lives for the good of the corporation, and - by and large - they will not hesitate to do so. In war and in business, they are leaders, and they lead from the front. Duty is not to be shirked. Responsibilities must be faced with honor and with dignity.
The Bauhaus corporation is dominated by several Noble Houses. Each one of these houses consists of a core family that the House is named after, but also hundreds of kin related by marriage or blood. Usually, these families each have their own palaces and estates. Each Noble House has its own area of influence, and can perform many favors for those who are members of the extended clan, but the sword cuts both ways - Members of the nobility are also called upon to perform missions for their families from time to time.
Elector Houses
There are four Elector Houses which dominate the corporation, and which are the most powerful of the Noble Houses. Each has vast influence in its respective area, and their huge fortunes only add to that influence. Each of these families can trace their heritage back to the times before the Age of Catastrophe, all the way back to Terran Europe.
The four Elector Houses include: Romanov, Richthausen, Bernheim, and Saglielli.
Great Houses
Next in the hierarchy of noble families come the Great Houses. There are ten Great Houses at present, which control enormous industrial fiefdoms. They lack the political power of the Elector Houses, but are still wealthy and prestigious. Only the warriors of the Elector Houses and the Great Houses are allowed to wear the famed cresthelms of the Bauhaus military elite.
The ten Great Houses include: Fieldhausen, Kruger, Salvatore, Bayer-Hrothcar, Giraud, Luther, Philippe, Rotherberg, Dante, and Matochek.
Noble Houses
There are presently some 2,694 Noble Houses currently in existence, and more are created all the time. Noble Houses may control a small industrial fiefdom of a few factories, or perhaps an estate cleared from the Venusian jungles. The important thing, though, is that they are nobles. The Guard Orders of the Noble Houses do not get the distinction of wearing cresthelms as with the Great Houses and Elector Houses, but instead wear custom-painted versions of the standard Special Forces skull helmets, and bear the crest of the family on their right shoulder pad.
A mere sampling of some of the other Noble Houses includes: Karlstein, Rathausen, Piquarde, Sternberg, Valmonte, Borgia.
Bayer-Hrothgar
Crest: rampant lion within the Bauhaus cogwheel
Bayer-Hrothgar is dominant in media, and owner of the gigantic BHM (Bayer-Hrothgar Media) combine, which controls most of Bauhaus movie, television and music production. It operates chains of moviedromes, radio stations, theaters and opera houses in association with Bernheim.
Members of this family have a reputation for being the most beautiful and handsome in the system; this may have something to do with the fact that Bayer-Hrothgar also controls the Talsen Cosmetic Surgery chain. It also owns the Elite line of perfume and beauty products, and the famed Favoricci line of designer clothing. Family members often appear in advertisements for these wares.
Bernheim
Crest: bear within the Bauhaus cogwheel
The Bernheims are the least of the four Elector Houses, but they are still nonetheless quite powerful. Their wealth lies in food production and media. The control nearly 51 percent of Bauhaus' output in food production, and they also own Bernheim AG, the largest publishing and media house in the Bauhaus corporation. They own two very influential daily newspapers, The Heimburg Gazette and The Volksberg Herald, and a chain of radio stations, TV networks and movie houses. They also own Popular Films, a huge studio.
The Bernheims control the Ministry of Civilization, which is responsible for the administration of Bauhaus' social, welfare and educational systems. They also have control over the Ministry of Truth, Bauhaus' incredibly effective propaganda machine.
Borgia
Crest: winged dagger within the Bauhaus cogwheel
This house is very wealthy, inordinately so for its position in the hierarchy of the Noble Houses, and it's suspected that its wealth may have come by illicit means. It has been investigated by the Magistrates many times, but the Ministry of Justice has never moved against them - It is rumored that it uses its criminal contacts to gather intelligence for the Ministry of Fear, possibly explaining this fact. This is a very dark and shady family, and many Borgias have died of food poisoning during family banquets.
Dante
Crest: monkey's head within the Bauhaus cogwheel
House Dante produces wines from grapes grown on its equatorial Venusian estates, and owns several chains of breweries. Dante wines are among the most expensive in the system.
The Order of the Monkey has developed a reputation as having a tendency to play practical jokes at inappropriate times. In actuality, this is largely a case of "self-fulfilling prophesy", owing largely to jokes about the family crest, and the perception of monkeys as pranksters. Whatever the cause, though, the Order of the Monkey is not taken as seriously as the other Guard Orders.
Fieldhausen
Crest: unicorn within a Bauhaus cogwheel
House Fieldhausen owns Fieldhausen Motors, and was once even more prominent in Bauhaus ... until there was a great schism in the family leadership that resulted in roughly half of the family and Fieldhausen Motors defecting over to Imperial, where the defectors were granted status as an Imperial clan in exchange for their shifting allegiance. Although this happened back during the reign of Cardinal Durand X, there is still great enmity to this day, and when Fieldhausen-crewed tanks on either side hit the battlefield, their clashes with each other have a very personal weight to them.
There was a dispute about a matter of succession to the leadership to the house between twin brothers Victor and Otto Fieldhausen. Otto won, and Victor, rather than gracefully accepting defeat, defected to Imperial, taking with him nearly half of the clan - and about half of House Fieldhausen's production. This caused quite a scandal at the time, and Fieldhausen has never recovered from the resultant loss of prestige - or the devastating blow to its industrial capacity. Further deepening the wound is that there were several walker vehicles in prototype stages at the time - the predecessor to what is now the Imperial Hurricane Walker. Victor's technicians stole the plans, but left the prototypes ... after booby-trapping them. So, from its very inception, Fieldhausen Autowerks (the division created by the defectors) started off by shedding the blood of its kin.
Fieldhausen Motors produces most all Bauhaus military vehicles, and its Vinciano-Traffaux subsidiary produces armored limosines for the nobility. It also sponsors several racing events.
Giraud
Crest: rampant gryphon within the Bauhaus cogwheel
House Giraud is the owner of Giraud Aerospace, the manufacturers of all Bauhaus aircraft and spacecraft, through a number of subsidiaries such as Kline Helitek and Maier-Martinez Commercial. Members of House Giraud who enter the military usually join the air force, space force, or else join the Order of the Gryphon: a paratrooper unit.
Karlstein
Crest: a mailed fist within the Bauhaus cogwheel
This is a very new noble house, founded only three generations ago, when Helmut Karlstein was granted a Patent of Nobility for single-handedly slaying a Pretorian Stalker and then carrying his commanding officer miles through the jungle, despite being wounded himself, after the rest of the 41st Army Corps had been wiped out during the last stand on Blucher Hill. It helped matters that his commanding officer happened to be Manfred Romanov, heir apparent to House Romanov. This family owns a small estate near the city of Volksburg, and has no industrial interests yet to speak of.
Kruger
Crest: boar's head within the Bauhaus cogwheel
Kruger Steel controls most of the steel production in the Bauhaus empire, with huge mines on Venus and Mars, and doing extensive business with Capitol, which provides a great deal of raw materials for its Mars operations. Amongst its most notable subsidiaries are Volksheim Construction (a large building conglomerate), Silverberg Holdings (specializing in trading in valuable metals), and Steiner Shipping (a large shipping conglomerate).
Luther
Crest: smiling face mask (such as that worn in Bauhaus tragic theater) within the Bauhaus cogwheel
House Luther has interests in consumer electronics, food production and construction. It is widely known for its dedication to the Cardinal's way and for acts of philanthropism, contributing to public libaries and museums, and also sponsoring several Brotherhood soup kitchens in poor areas. Less well known is that House Luther's dedication to the Cardinal's "way" extends to fanaticism, as it secretly supports some near-heretical "orders" that take dedication to the Cardinal's word to violent extremes in its opposition of any nay-sayers. House Luther is privately devoted to "cleansing" Bauhaus of all "alien influences", Dark Legion or otherwise.
Matochek
Crest: bison on the Bauhaus cogwheel
House Matochek owes its wealth to one thing: land, and lots of it. Of any House, it owns the most land on Venus, and owns the largest cattle industries and large tracts of farmland. It has also lost more property (in terms of square footage) than any other House to Imperial, and now to the encroaching of the Dark Legion, and is fanatically opposed to both.
Philippe
Crest: devilcat head within the Bauhaus cogwheel
House Philippe is Bauhaus' chief producer of consumer domestic electronics, such as televisions, radios, and household products. They produce the Deritend luxury line, which sets the bar for excellence system-wide. They also control a huge music recording business through their Sonogram Studios.
In a twist of irony (or perhaps just sick humor on the part of genetic engineers centuries ago), a number of Devilcat hybrids can claim ancestry within House Philippe. (Quite a few more may not have any proof, but claim it anyway, and "Philippe" is a common Devilcat surname, authentic or not.) While this doesn't make all of them nobility, per se, a number of them serve in the Order of the Devilcat - though either in segregated units, or with a single Devilcat serving as a "specialist" for an otherwise human squad.
Piquarde
Crest: hawk within the Bauhaus cogwheel
Piquarde owns no industries, per se, but has the distinction of having produced a number of fighter pilot aces in its history. Twelve generations ago, the house patriarch, Luther Piquarde, was granted noble title when he downed 12 Imperial aircraft during the Siege of Volksburg. In more recent history, Luc Piquarde holds the current record in the Bauhaus air force, and has done so for over a century, by shooting down a total of over 500 enemy aircraft during his career, until he was shot down over the Graveton Peninsula in a dogfight with 12 CAF airplanes. (He shot down five of them.) His aircraft disappeared into the Venusian jungle, and neither his body nor the wreckage were ever recovered, but the Capitolians erected a monument in his honor, the inscription reading, "a valiant foe, an honorable enemy". Since then, House Piquarde has taken this as their personal motto of sorts.
Rathausen
Crest: two dice within the Bauhaus cogwheel
House Rathausen owns interests in several gambling houses and racetracks, and they also own two factories in Luna and Heimburg that produce small, lightly armored patrol cars for the Bleu. The family makes most of its money from the Monte Albino Casino in Luna City.
Richthausen
Crest: golden dragon within the Bauhaus cogwheel
Romanov
Crest: wolf within the Bauhaus cogwheel
House Romanov is dominant in the Bauhaus military machine, and has produced many great generals and war heroes. Just about every able-bodied man born to this house is expected to serve a tour as an officer in the military. They own Romanov Weapons Designwerks (RWD), which produces virtually all Bauhaus weaponry, from the MP pistols to the Panzerknacker to the ARG-17, and they also own Bauforce, which specializes in heavier weaponry. Historically, it has long been strongly associated with the Brotherhood, but this tie has weakened considerably since the emergence of Cybertronic - House Romanov is one of Cybertronic's strongest supporters, believing that its methods are necessary in the fight against the Darkness. The Brotherhood has not taken very well what they consider as an act of treachery, and relationships have thus been greatly strained. Nonetheless, Romanov is the second most powerful noble family among the Houses.
Rotherberg
Crest: a stylized sun face within the Bauhaus cogwheel
House Rotherberg is quite possibly the wealthiest of any of the Houses, and it is in charge of the banking industry. Members of the Order of the Golden Helm - so named because their cresthelm consists of the standard Special Forces skull mask coated with a layer of gold - are always seen guarding their banks and interests.
Saglielli
Crest: a black condor, wings outstretched, within the Bauhaus cogwheel
Salvatore
Crest: a spider within the Bauhaus cogwheel
House Salvatore is heavily involved in industrial chemical production and pharmaceuticals. Most of its chemicals are produced through Salchem Industries, but it's a little known fact that it also owns Warberg Technochem, infamous for its production of poison gases.
Its pharmaceuticals are produced through several subsidiaries, such as Tekmed and Healthstar, but it also owns Straker Biotech, which is infamous for its position at the forefront of genetic engineering and bio-technological research - an area most certainly frowned upon by the Brotherhood and heavily regulated by the Cartel. Perhaps not surprisingly, House Salvatore has many dealings with Cybertronic.
Before the time of the Edicts of Toth, House Salvatore engaged in genetic engineering to the point of constructing hybrids of human DNA crossed with that of the Venusian Devilcat Rex (an odd creature that appeared as some sort of side effect of the terraforming efforts on Venus, its artificial origins lost to history). It is also rumored that they performed similar experiments with laboratory rats, and possibly other creatures as well, and is largely to thank for Capitol's successes in experimentation in this area, which produced the Dog-Men.
Although many of these hybrid creations were unique, or were produced in such small numbers that they eventually died out, there are still a few descendants of some of these earlier creations to be found in human society -- and some of them are even considered members of the various Houses (thanks to testing to discover just whose genetic material was being used to produce these hybrids). It's a badly kept secret that House Salvatore has done quite a bit of experimentation on its own family members, and most members of House Salvatore are especially resistant to toxins and diseases. Purportedly, Straker Biotech's research does not extend into further manipulation of human DNA, but at the very least, their technological assistance is bound to be used for such purposes by Cybertronic, which has no need to appease the Brotherhood.
Guard Order: Order of the Lion
Guard Order: Order of the Bear
Guard Order: Order of the Crimson Skull
Guard Order: Order of the Monkey
Guard Order: Order of the Unicorn (armored division)
Guard Order: Order of the Gryphon (paratroopers)
Guard Order: Order of the Boar
Guard Order: Order of the Mask
Guard Order: Order of the Bison
Guard Order: Order of the Devilcat (jungle warfare specialists)
Guard Order: Order of the Dragon
This house is the oldest and most powerful of all, controlling Bauhaus' Ministry of Industry, which is responsible for making sure that every gizmo and widget produced by the corporation is worthy of the Bauhaus cogwheel hallmark. They have heavy interests in Bauhaus industrial production, and it's sometimes rumored that their house guardsmen partake in acts of industrial espionage.
Guard Order: Order of the Wolf
Guard Order: Order of the Golden Helm
Guard Order: Order of the Condor
House Saglielli was nearly wiped out during the time of the Dark Legion's first incursions on Venus nearly a millenium ago, but this family has never forgotten - nor forgiven. Every member of House Saglielli, as soon as he is able to speak, is taken in front of the family shrine and made to recite the Oath of Vengeance, and that oath is repeated once they reach adulthood. House Saglielli is in charge of the Ministry of Faith, which is in charge of hunting down heretics within Bauhaus, and coordinating efforts against the Darkness. It is also known for being extremely vengeful, and no insult or slight against the family is allowed to be forgotten, nor to remain unavenged for long ... and quite often, it is avenged in blood. In the name of vengeance and supposed devotion to the Light, it might be argued that this family has succumbed to Darkness itself. Nonetheless, family members quite often join the Brotherhood with the house's blessing, in hopes of joining the Inquisition.
Guard Order: Order of the Spider (hazardous environment troops)
