Editing Morgrave High: Family (section)

===Descriptions===
The thing about Alishia's mother is that the two of them are more alike than either one would ever admit. She's stubborn, headstrong, possessed of a fierce determination and a burning drive to succeed despite any obstacles in her path, and doesn't let anything stand in her way.

If this were the real, modern world, Lady Adreanna Orien would wear power suits that cost more than you make in a month with a Bluetooth headset and drive a BMW. Take Alishia and replace the rambunctious physicality and adventuresome nature with a keen eye for finance and a pragmatic, and occasionally rather blunt, sense of political acumen, along with a sharp wit and (when her ire is roused) an even sharper tongue. She's responsible for several sweeping reforms throughout House Orien which have helped ease the transition into a post-wartime economy and make headway in recovering from the damages suffered in the Last War as well as enabling her House to remain competitive in the wake of House Lyrandar's expanding air transport network. In a relatively short span of time, she's risen from being the unremarkable daughter of an obscure intermarried House line to a member in high standing, responsible for overseeing financial matters which affect House Orien as a whole...all of which is made more impressive when you realize that Adreanna Orien possesses no Dragonmark of her own.

Of course, the Dragonmarked Houses say that actually possessing a Mark isn't required for a member of the House to rise through the ranks, but in practice this is often not the case. Someone like Lady Adreanna, born to a family without prestige or wealth or abundant connections and no Dragonmark, would have to work twice as hard as another, more fortunate member of the House to achieve the same degree of recognition. She worked four times as hard instead, and wasn't exactly shy about stepping on the toes of those who most vocally denounced her as an "upstart with notions too grand for her station" to get where she is now. But even the people who tried to stand in her way or shout her down, as much as they may dislike it, have no choice but to acknowledge that she's well and truly earned her spot at the top of the ladder. Occasionally, the more traditionalist factions within the House still have a go at knocking her down a peg or two, but fewer and fewer of them are willing to try anymore. The last one, a distinguished Lord decades her senior from a well-established family line, attempted to do so by chastising her before her peers during a financial policy meeting and was said to have been driven from the great hall in tears by the force of her rebuke.

By contrast, Alishia's father is much more laid-back and easy-going, quick with a smile and a joke and prone to flights of fancy...and he also happens to be the bearer of a Greater Mark of Passage, making him a rather prominent figure within the House by virtue of his Mark alone. During the War, Jarrod d'Orien was a conductor aboard one of House Orien's lightning rails, shuttling troops, supplies, and sensitive information for whichever nation cared to pay the price. He had a number of adventures of his own (while the Houses were officially neutral parties during the Last War, that didn't stop them from occasionally being attacked by "brigands" or "pirates" whenever one or more nations thought they could get away with it) and is regarded as something akin to a war hero by other members of the House. He had a bright, prosperous future ahead of him, which is why it shocked a great many people when he declared, despite the very prestigious marriage which had been arranged for him, that he was going to marry Adreanna Orien, a woman with no Mark and a string of political grudges behind her. Protests were lodged, threats were made, but in the end nobody could really force them to budge...they were both too well-established and influential for coercion to have any effect, and so their marriage was grudgingly allowed.

Since the War, her father has gone from being a rail conductor to helping oversee the design of the next generation of Lightning Rail engines. His Greater Mark and his intuitive grasp of rail engineering and elemental binding ensure that he's frequently consulted by the various engineers and magewrights employed by House Orien, and he even has a couple of pet projects that he works on as time and resources permit.

The truth of the matter is that Alishia's parents love each other very much, and they complement each other in many ways...her father acts as a moderating influence on her mother's driven nature, keeping her from burning herself out or from forgetting to enjoy the fruits of her labors, while she helps keep him focused and motivated, guiding his flights of fancy into more practical directions.

Alishia's mother makes her home at House Orien's holdings in Fairhaven, choosing to remain close to Aundair's capital in order to keep a close eye on the state of the nation's political and economic leanings...she's well aware that the Last War has only recently ended, and if hostilities are set to resume she wants to know about it beforehand. Her father splits his time between Fairhaven and the House Orien "company town" of Passage, supervising various projects at the railworks there.