House di Firro

The Di Firro family are an ancient and prosperous Rogue Trader Household, tracing their roots back to distant Imperial history. The current head of the Household is Lady-Captain Octavia di Firro. She holds the House’s Warrant of Trade, an ancient and obscenely well-guarded document reportedly signed by Saint Malcador the Hero himself. The Di Firros hold the monopoly on the prestigious Sol-Prosperitas Passage, which they notoriously won from the weakened House Durovera over a bet.

According to legend, the founding di Firro Captain, Antonia, was an adventurer and explorer during the Great Crusade, leading the charge of one of the God-Emperor’s Expeditionary Fleets. After a series of highly successful offensive actions in the Segmentum Obscura in early M31, Antonia supposedly sent Expedition Fleet 611’s post-operational report back to Terra. The document was simultaneously so accurate in its victorious and heroic content, and so offensively worded, that Antonia and all her progeny were made fabulously wealthy, granted a Warrant of Trade, and ordered “never to darken the Segmentum Solar again”.

The House arrived in the sector sometime around 150.M41 and made much of its wealth in the push into Subsector Secundus by the Crusade forces building a considerable number of trading outposts along the borders of the Rimward Marches. The House prides itself on a swashbuckling, daring reputation in the image of its Founder. Younger sons and daughters are encouraged to attach themselves to whatever risky endeavours are currently afoot in the Sector, and are often found serving with Battlefleet Prosperitas, as senior officers in Guard regiments, or as bravos-for-hire on the outer reaches of the Tenebris subsector.

In recent years, the House has accumulated considerable trade power and a foothold in Subsector Secundus, under the current Head of the House, the feared Octavia di Firro. It is said that the Lady Captain di Firro is as hard as a flint, having lost all her immediate progeny in a series of tragedies over the last few decades - most recently, the tragic death of her last remaining child, Servilia, during the retaking of Polarnus. Rumour has it that, in judgement of the ‘inability’ of any of her extended family to assume the role of heir, the Lady-Captain has officially adopted a new heir: Charon, the husband of her deceased favoured son, Lucius di Firro. The adoption has caused significant distress in the bloodline scions of the House - but cannot be openly questioned, as the command of the Lady-Captain.

The House's history through the 590s has been marked by turmoil during the House Wars. In mid 593 the House entered open conflict with House Majid, with House ships sparring directly over an unnamed vendetta. The conflict continued until the mysterious destruction of the Majid fleet over Midsummer in late 593.

Following the seizure of the Sector Governorship by Lady-Captain Autokrator Hermione Durovera in late 593, and the revolt of House Vilas-Lobo, the Di Firros declined to declare for either side - preferring to cement their control over Subsector Secundus, including seizing the vital strategic agriworld of Kydos. When the Autokrator's rule was legitimised by missives from Terra, Lady-Captain Octavia avoided any open defiance, reinforcing its control of vital space-lanes and building support throughout the Sector.

By 595, the House was in a state of uneasy peace with other factions throughout the Sector.