Clan Sudrey is a Clan that is most closely associated with the systems of Edinburgh, Orkney, and Inverness – all systems named for places of their ancestral homeland.
Currently, there are around 160 Clansmen who bear the name Sudrey. Their membership is a mixture of descendants of the Clan, those who chose to become a Clansman, and those born into a Sudrey family.
Although the Clan is united under a single Tòiseach, it is recognised that there are two distinct branches: the Sudreys of Edinburgh and Orkney, and the Sudreys of Inverness.
The name Sudrey derives from the Old Norse for the Hebrides of Scotland – Suðreyjar. The area was predominantly occupied by Clan MacLeod, and the Sudreys had little in the way of holdings. The mainly lived as traders and sailed up and down the Islands and around Scotland. As they were often asked where they came from when they travelled, they started to be known as Sudreys.
The first connection of the Sudreys with space travel came in the construction of the A' Mhòine Spaceport in 2025. The planned space port was on a small stretch of land that the Sudreys laid claim to. The then Clan Chief had the Clan organise the construction of the Spaceport as well as helped to fund it. A' Mhòine soon became a central hub for British exploration and colonisation of the stars.
A' Mhòine was also an instrumental part in helping the construction of the Alliance Sleeper Ships. The Bretonia carried hundreds of thousands of Scots to Sirius, as well as dozens of different Clans. Although some Sudreys stayed behind to fight the Coalition, many were taken safely to Sirius.
Although the Sudreys were eager to get out into Sirius and start colonisation, they were ardent opponents of Prince Harry IX’s move to seize control of the fledgeling Bretonia. As they were one of the first groups to become quickly organised, already falling under a recognisable banner, they felt confident to make their opposition known. In doing so, the Prince and those loyal to him made the Sudrey’s attempts at establishing a foothold in Bretonian space difficult. Instead, many were pushed into a small corner of New London.
When the Leeds system was first surveyed, the Sudrey’s made a concentrated effort to escape from the New London system and hopefully find themselves a new home proper. However, their attempts were thwarted when Prince Harry XII announced the forced relocation of colonists to the system. Royal Bretonian Manufacturing saw Clan Sudrey as a rival and successful booted them from the system.
The Sudreys then became nomadic in a way. Without a home port to dock on, many Clansmen elected to instead make their ships their home. The Sudreys would fly in fleets of transports carrying families and makeshift houses around Sirius as their search for a place that they might make a home.
When the Edinburgh system was first surveyed and named, the Sudreys felt a natural draw to the system. Although they own no formal holdings and continue to live their nomadic lifestyle within their ships, they slowly began to densely populate the system. Through the decades, they would spread up through to Orkney and out into Inverness.
The Sudreys of the Inverness system would grow apart from their cousins in Edinburgh and Orkney. The distance between them made connections difficult to maintain for a long period of time. Moreover, Inverness became a home for Sudreys dissatisfied with the Clan living under the Crown. To keep tensions between the two halves of the Clan from growing, a Clansman wishing to join the Bretonian Armed Forces, or other organisations that aim to aid the Crown of Bretonia, must submit an application to the Cooncil for approval. The Clansman must explain their reasons for joining the BAF or other, and agree that the only missions they might undertake are in the defence of Edinburgh and Orkney.
With the Gallic invasion of Bretonia, the Sudreys were pushed first out of Orkney, and then out of Edinburgh. Many of their ships were damaged in the fighting and they have been forced to give up their nomadic way of life. The Tòiseach took dozens of refugees to planet Cambridge, where they live and prepare to return home someday. Other Sudreys remain scattered across Bretonia and beyond.
Edinburgh System: 1 (Nomadic) (originally around 40 nomadic)
Orkney System: 1 (Nomadic) (originally around 40 nomadic)
Inverness System: 15 (Nomadic)
Invergordon Space Port: 25
Luxury Liner Shetland: 12
Planet Cambridge: 100 (mainly refugees of Edinburgh and Orkney)
Elsewhere: 20
The Clan System
Although seen by many as a relic of the past, the Clan system of Scotland of old remains alive in some parts of the Sirius sector. The concept survived the centuries of war on Sol, as well as the Exodus to Sirius. After the planetfall on New London, the Clan System was established a new as the new realms of space in Sirius offered endless possibility.
In modern day Sirius, a Clan is a grouping of people who follow the command and instruction of a Clan Chief, often known as a Tòiseach. All Clans must be recognised and regulated by the Court of the Lord Lyon, a court of Law within Bretonia. For a Clan to operate without doing so is considered illegal, even when doing so outwith Bretonian jurisdiction. All Clansman of an un-recognised Clan risk the possibility of a fine and a criminal record.
To be recognised as a Clan by the Court of the Lord Lyon, the Clan must fulfil two criteria:
The Tòiseach must swear fealty to the reigning Bretonian monarch and not engage in operations that might be considered as acts against the Crown.
The Tòiseach must be able to trace their lineage to a previous Clan Chief in some way.
To be a member of a Clan requires the person to take on certain responsibilities:
Firstly, a Clansman must answer the call to aid of any fellow Clansman or suffer the possibility of expulsion from the Clan. Exceptions can be considered if a Clansman is engaging in illegal activity or if the risk can be proven to have been to great to have taken.
Secondly, a Clansman must take the name of the Clan’s Tòiseach as their own to show loyalty to the Clan. If a Clansman subsequently marries, they may hyphenate their name with that of their spouse if they so wish. Similarly, a child born to a Clansman and a non-Clansman may opt to choose a hyphenated last name including that of the Clans’s Chief.
Thirdly, a Clansman must pay a portion of their income as a tax to the Clan Chief. Their income from whatever venture must be reported monthly to the Clan Chief to ensure the correct taxation.
A Clan has no strict structure to which all must follow, however many generally follow the guidelines suggested by the Court of the Lord Lyon.
At the head of the Clan is the Tòiseach (the Clan Chief). The Tòiseach is the figure head of the Clan and acts as its representative on a Clan- and National-Level. All decisions the Clan takes generally must be approved by the Tòiseach. The Tòiseach is also the head of the Cooncil, a body of other Clan officials, and is responsible for appointing Clansmen to certain positions.
The Tòiseach is an elected position that can be held for life. Many Tòiseachs hold the position until they die in office. If the sitting- Tòiseach is considered to be of ill health, the Tànaiste will take over the ceremonial roles and the Cooncil will take over the decision making.
The Tòiseach may also abdicate from the position voluntarily and allow an election to take place. The Cooncil can also call a Vote of No Confidence in the Tòiseach. To call the vote, the Cooncil must vote by a majority. For the No Confidence Motion to pass, a majority of Clansman must vote for the Tòiseach to be removed from office. The same Tòiseach can not run for election again after being removed from office through a Vote of No Confidence. They can, however, return to office if there is an election after that.
To stand for the election of Tòiseach, a potential candidate must be able to trace their lineage through the Court of the Lord Lyon to a Clan Chief. They must also win the election, which is conducted using instant-runoff voting. Only Clansman of that Clan have the power to vote for a candidate for the position of Tòiseach.
The Tànaiste is the eldest child of the ruling Tòiseach. They generally hold no power over the Clan, however they are expected to take the duty of Tòiseach should the sitting- Tòiseach leave office through any means. This is to ensure that the Clan is never without a figurehead, should the need arise to have one while an election for Tòiseach is taking place.
In the case where the sitting- Tòiseach has no children, or wishes to place the position on someone else, the Tòiseach may select any Clansman to be Tànaiste. That Clansman must be approved by the Cooncil.
The Cooncil of a Clan is a board of advisors and elected representatives that help a Tòiseach inform and reach on decisions. The exact size of a Cooncil varies from Clan to Clan, however they often contain a few key personnel. These include a defence advisor, a foreign advisor, an interior advisor, and a finance advisor. These positions are often appointed to individuals by the Tòiseach.
Cooncils often have seats for Ceannards. Ceannards are the elected representatives of a particular region that a Clan might densely occupy. It might either be ‘Clan Land’, as recognised by the Court of the Lord Lyon, or a region that is recognised by the Clan to be of significance to the Clan. Ceannards might also have their own Cooncils to help with the administration of their region.
Name: Kenneth Alexander Sudrey Age: 88 (born 738 Gender: Male Ship: Mobius, B-40-E "Percheron" Bretonia Transport - formerly
History: Kenneth Sudrey is the current Tòiseach of Clan Sudrey, and such is the head of the Sudrey Council and responsible for the prosperity and safety of the family. Kenneth was, like his father Robert, a trader. His primary source of income, for himself and the Clan, was to shuttle goods around Orkney and Edinburgh. He would also occasionally take passengers from New London or Leeds to see the sights in Edinburgh to be dropped off on the Shetland. He met his wife, Margaret, in such a way.
Margaret and Kenneth would have three children: 2 sons, Robert in 783AS and Alexander in 788AS, and a daughter in 782AS, Fionn. Kenneth brought them up like he had been brought up, as a trader. However, Alexander left his father to join the Bretonian Armed Forces, and Fionn now lives in Rhineland with her wife.
When Ailsa Sudrey, the Tòiseach of the Sudreys, died in 792AS and so started the elections for a new leader, Kenneth put his name forward. After a successful campaign, he was proclaimed Tòiseach in 793AS. Kenneth and Margaret would continue to trade together, with her operating a smaller freighter along with him during their routes.
However, in 803AS they came under attack from pirates when running supplied from Edinburgh to Inverness. Margaret was killed in the action. Kenneth lost his ship, the Mobius, which had belonged to his father, three years later. At the age of 68, he decided to retire from trading at that point. He now continues to conduct Clan business from the Planet Cambridge until a more secure home can be found for the Cooncil to sit.
His tenure as Tòiseach has been considered a prosperous one, but it has not been without criticism. The push of the Sudrey’s footholds from first Orkney and then Edinburgh has led to many to speculate that Kenneth does not have the will to instigate a fight back. This has caused a particular schism with the already distant Inverness Sudreys under Ceannard Rhona Sudrey, who have often pushed for Kenneth’s time as Tòiseach to come to an end.
Name: Robert Sudrey Age: 43 (born 783) Gender: Male Ship: Mobius, IMGT-5E "Nanga Parbat" Medium Transport
History: Robert Sudrey is the current Tànaiste of Clan Sudrey, and such will become acting-Tòiseach when his father Kenneth retires from office or passes on until an election can be held and conducted.
Robert Sudrey was brought up as a trader by his father, and together he, Robert, his mother Margaret and his brother Alexander would operate the Mobius on trade missions to and from Edinburgh, Orkney and Inverness.
When Robert turned 18, the age at which Sudrey’s often apply to the Cooncil for their own ship, he was able to successfully apply for a Clydesdale. He wanted to see something more of space than just the fringes of Bretonia, and so operated in the outer Taus as a Freelancer shipper.
He met his wife, Mary, on Freeport 10. She was, at the time, on the run from Kusari authorities for smuggling artefacts. Robert, enamoured as he was by Mary, offered to take her back in Bretonian space. On the journey, Robert learned Mary was a researcher from Manhattan, and was trying to study the artefacts.
Robert dropped Mary at Planet Leeds but was quickly contacted again by her to help her smuggle some artefacts into Liberty. Robert, against the advice of the Sudrey Cooncil, accepted.
Several smuggling trips and 1 run from Liberty police later, Robert and Mary were as close as could be. After saving enough money from running the artefacts into Liberty, they settled their ship on Perth Station, Edinburgh, and started a family. So far, they have had one daughter, Margaret. For a while, all three lived onboard the newly christened Mobius, and operated safe and legal trade routes. Now, Margaret helps in her own ship, the freighter Penrose, and Robert and Mary have slipped back into helping move artefacts into Liberty space.
They also move Black Market Munitions from Liberty in Bretonia, in a less than legal way of helping aid the Bretonian forces that are pressed by Gallia. Robert does not harbour as deep a resentment for Gallia as others in the Sudrey Clan might do but does still wish that Gallia’s grip on Edinburgh and Orkney be loosened.
Name: Alexander ‘Sandy’ Sudrey Age: 22 (born 804AS) Gender: Male Ship: Triquetra, E78-12 "Spatial" Civilian Deep Space Explorer
History: Alexander Sudrey, or Sandy, is a member of Clan Sudrey. He currently operates in Edinburgh as a privateer for Bretonia.
Sandy has a strong connection to Edinburgh and Orkney, and despite that many of the Sudreys have evacuated to further afield, he remains to stalk the region for GRN patrols. Edinburgh was the system that he was born and brought up in, like many Sudreys. But it was also the system were his parents were killed.
Alexander Sudrey Sr. and Elizabeth Beckett, Sandy’ parents, met while they were on tour in the Bretonian Armed Forces. They were both officers onboard the HMS-Penkill, a BAF gunboat patrolling the Rhineland border. When they conceived Sandy, they both retired to Edinburgh with a transport to take up trading to support the clan.
However, with the advancing Gallian threat, Alexander and Elizabeth were pressed back into service. In 820AS, when Sandy was 16 years old, their gunboat was brought down in a Gallian offensive. Alexander was evacuated from Perth Station, where he had been staying with some other Sudreys, and taken to a safe house in Leeds. When that was further compromised, he and other Sudreys scattered.
He has since found his way back to Edinburgh, now bearing a letter of Marque. However, Sandy struggles with the privateer life, and wishes to find a better way to help lift the Gallian grip on his home systems. It was his cousin, Margaret, who informed him of the Leeds Resistance Forces. With no such group possible in Edinburgh, Sandy sees the LRF as the first step to freeing Edinburgh and Orkney.
Name: Alistair Sudrey Age: 22 (born 804AS) Gender: Male Ship: Ouroboros, XDS-2 "Voyager" Deep Space Freighter
History: Alistair Sudrey is a member of Clan Sudrey, coming from the portion of the family that mainly operates in the Inverness system. Alistair Sudrey is a graduate of the University of Cambridge, having studied Nomad History at an undergraduate level. His course fees were funded by the Sudrey Clan.
Alistair graduated in 825AS, and had struggled to find a direction in life. Not content with joining the Junkers like so many of his cousins in the Inverness Sudreys, he wanted to go out and explore the Sirius sector’s most far flung regions. During his study, he became frustrated with the lacking information on the most remote Omicron systems. That was the only direction that he had, even if it was vague and dangerous.
But he was without a ship, and without money. However, hearing a whisper of the actions of Cambridge graduate Katherine Pennybrooke with Nomads in the Omicrons, he brought the matter to the Sudrey Cooncil. With the threat being confirmed by Sandy Sudrey, the Cooncil decided to supply Alistair with the funds for a ship and supplies to begin gathering information on Pennybrooke and the Nomads. It is hoped that his mission will bring security to the Sudrey Clan and the rest of Sirius, as well as possibly providing the Clan with a new home in the Omicrons if Edinburgh and Orkney remain under Gallian occupation.
Name: Margaret Sudrey Age: 19 (born 807) Gender: Female Ship: Penrose, Series YX "Dromedary" Border Worlds Freighter
History: Margaret Sudrey is the daughter of Robert and Mary Sudrey, the operators of the Mobius transport.
Margaret is the latest in a long line of family traders. Her mother and father brought her up on the safe trade routes in and out of Liberty to her colonies. However, since she acquired her own ship, Margaret looks for more and more dangerous routes to take.
Margaret helps Robert and Mary ferry Black Market Munitions for the Clan from Liberty to Bretonian resistance fighters on Leeds. However, she wishes for the clan to help in a more official capacity. She was only 12 years old when Gallia occupied Edinburgh. She now wishes to reclaim her homeland and free it. She knows that the Sudreys cannot possibly do it alone, and neither can Bretonia. Cooperation is the only thing that Margaret thinks will help win back Orkney and Edinburgh.
Margaret is currently lobbying her grandfather, the current Tòiseach, to open direct communications with the Leeds Resistance Forces.
Name: James Sudrey Age: 48 (born 778AS) Gender: Male Ship: HMS-Culzean, Bretonia "Churchill"-class Gunboat
History: James Sudrey is a member of Clan Sudrey, and the grandson of Ailsa Sudrey, the last Tòiseach of the Clan before Kenneth Sudrey. James is currently the captain of the HMS-Culzean, a gunboat that was cut off from Bretonian Armed Forces in Orkney.
James was serving as the Commander onboard the HMS-Culzean in 823AS. The Culzean was secretly posted to the Orkney system to operate behind the Gallian lines to gather intelligence data on the area and Gallian forces using the system to move forces to Edinburgh and beyond.
With Gallia at the time occupied with an offensive in Liberty and the capture of Planet Harris, the Culzean managed to reach the Westray Asteroid Field without being detected. From their they began their first surveys of the area, as well as targeting attacks against Gallia shipping and supplies. However, their mission was compromised when their communications equipment was heavily damaged in a skirmish with GRN forces. In the attack, the Culzean’s captain was also killed. This left James as acting-Captain.
They fled back into the Westrey Asteroid Field. With the Gallia front now relaxing from their offensive, their way back to safe Bretonian space was now cut off.
For 2 years, the Culzean continued its mission in the secrecy of the Asteroid field. Under James, they managed to survive on limiting their rations and fuel, and by being occasionally supplied by making a deal with the Gallic Brigands at Dounby Station. To the outside world, including the Sudrey Clan, James and the rest of the crew of the Culzean was assumed dead.
A year into their predicament, tensions began to rise about abandoning Bretonia entirely. After all, Bretonia had abandoned them. James, too, felt this. He organised a vote among the crew with 2 options: to continue the mission for the BAF or to desert and live for themselves in Orkney? The vote won for the latter by a landslide.
The HMS-Culzean still roams the depths of the Westray Asteroid Field, waiting for a friendly ship to make contact. But James and his crew feel a deep connection to Orkney, and might never leave the fight.
It was Sandy Sudrey’s daring patrols in his fighter that has brought back contact between the Culzean and Bretonian forces. To bargain for the safety of his crew from the BAF, and continue the fight for Orkney, James plans to organise another vote to join the LRF. Perhaps one day, they can return to a free Orkney.
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