House Durovera

Rulers of the Prosperitas Sector

House Durovera is an ancient Rogue Trader dynasty, its Warrant of Trade issued in the dark history of the Imperium; it was a Rogue Trader House long before Jacinta Durovera took upon her the mantle of Warmaster. But it owes its dominion of the Prosperitas Sector to Lady Captain and, later, Warmaster, Jacinta Durovera, who re-discovered the Prosperitas Sector in early M41 and who led the Prosperitas Crusade until her disappearance in 101.M41.

Because of its blood ties, the scion-heirs of Jacinta claimed the Prosperitas Sector as their House’s rightful dominion, claiming the lion's share of the Prosperitas Sector as its territories. But since the disappearance of Jacinta Durovera, her relatives have done little to live up to her legacy.

In its hereditary homeworld, the Sector Capitol Duroverum, numerous Cadet-Branches and Vassal Houses fill the Court of the Sector Governor, and for much of the past five hundred years the House has grown fat and lazy. It has squandered its wealth, and left its Warrant to gather dust, becoming a Rogue Trader House in name only.

By 586.M41, it had spent years squandering its wealth on preserving the image of being one of the great noble Houses, with rising debt, dissatisfied vassal Houses and increasingly encroaching rivals diminishing its power. It had grown decadent and bloated with its own importance as a House, and its long squandered rights as a Rogue Trader dynasty had allowed rival Rogue Trader Houses to begin exploration and exploitation of the frontier.

In 569.M41, a succession crisis plunged the unprepared and generally considered ‘worthless’ Scion Armelius Durovera into the position of Sector Governor - after his eldest Sister, Hermione Durovera, took much of the House's fleet, and decided to not only invoke her rights under the Warrant to act as a Rogue Trader, but take the ailing family's warrant from its place on Duroverum before setting off into the frontier to make her fortune.

However, in 586.M41, Sector Governor Durovera survived an apparent assassination attempt - which seemed to have been a life-changing event. He began to claw back power, bringing the Vassal Houses into line and starting to clear up the family’s standing, taking also the dormant post of Warmaster. Thus, he reinforced his House's power, and began a ‘peace doctrine’ to reinforce the sector’s borders and stabilise the worlds under Imperial dominion within it.

Armelius’ popular rule lasted until 593.M41 when, after an apparent terrorist attack on Crusade High Command he became seemingly reclusive and rumours began to circulate of his death.

House Conflicts

Following the supposed death of her brother, Hermione Durovera returned to the Prosperitas Sector, seizing Duroverum with her fleet, and claiming the positions her brother held, as Sector Governor and Warmaster. Through writ of the High Lords of Terra, Hermione was given the Sector Throne, but was denied the post of Warmaster - a smarting denial that only hardened an already ambitious woman. But this was not to be the end of her troubles, as she had to face down challenges from within her own House, and from without by Rival Houses, tired of House Durovera’s rule. But her backing by members of the void-reavers of the Astartes Chapter known as the Void Hounds made her hard to challenge.

As Lady-Captain Autokrator, as she has styled her title as Sector Governor, Hermione Durovera’s rule has markedly changed the nature of her House: Durovera scions who show ambition and drive are rewarded above those who preferred the peaceful leadership of her Brother. She is a very different creature - more alike to her ancestor Jacinta then any leader of the House has ever been; brutal in her approach to rivals, she has seen off House conflicts with House Vilas-Lobo to secure her position despite the fear other Nobles have of her.

Under Hermione, the fleets of House Durovera ply the void once more, reclaiming extensive trade routes from the diminishment of House Majid. Hermione is growing powerful, and there are those who fear that unchecked she will evolve more and more into a tyrant. Some have, quietly, expressed concerns that the Prosperitas Sector might become a frontier haven for Rogue Traders where she will be styled closer to a Pirate Queen, than a Sector Governor.