The Calvin line was once prominent in Junker society, being a leader in public salvage contracts, as well as as various arms trafficking contracts. They flourished for an extensive period of time, somewhere between 500 AS and 570 AS.
Today, there are much fewer members than thee were before. After the "central" 8th generation siblings split from the Junkers, the continuation of the lineage is in danger. The last groups, spread throughout Liberty and Bretonia, are desperately awaiting a male heir to continue the name.
Customs:
One notable distinction of the Calvin line is their strict Preservation Decrees. They are as follows:
1) All members of the Calvin line must retain the Junker way of life, if they wish to retain any rights they have to our assets.
2) Any Calvin who wishes to relinquish the Junker way of life is allowed to retain their moniker. However, they must relinquish any ties they have to our line. This includes access to any and all assets they may have had rights to.
3) Any woman who marries has relinquished our moniker. Although she retains the rights to any assets she may have had before, any children she has are considered Supplementary members. Therefore, they do not hae rights to any Line assets, including their mother's.
4) All Junker's must use those ships recognized as "Junker-built". It is perfered that these are made from either the plans used by past Calvin Line members or personal schematics created by the ship's owner.
5) Any who threaten the continuity of our Line or the Junker populace as a whole must be eliminated by any means neccesary.
As a note to decree #4, each member of the Calvin line usually creates one ship for their personal use. These ships are always based of the standard Junker designs of the time. After the death of a member, the design is stored in a central database. Any Pure heirs may use these designs for their use.
Most Calvins act in diplomacy, whether it be between different Junker Lines and Clans, or more farther reaching positions. It is also traditional to act in some sort of salvage operations.
Social Status:
A tricky thing to judge. Though not considered prominent within most Junker circles, the Calvins have great influence in the smaller workings of Junker society. They manage lesser-known salvage operations, many of which aim to recover high quality components for private contractors. They are also integral in resolving conflicts in smaller Clans, helping to maintain a level of order in their industries.
Many are critical of their Heritage-based system. Some go so far as to call it self-destructive. However, the Line's diplomats hold firm that it helps maintain their effectiveness and "Purity".
History:
The Calvin line can be traced back to a small family who joined the Junkers in 532 AS. This family, consisting of Anrial Calvin and Sue Calvin (the parents), as well as their 8 kids: Deo, Ignarius, Lineus, Dwight, Holinei, Igaru, Secreni, and Robert. All were male.
Anrial capitalized quickly on the growing need for salvage efforts within Liberty. Scraping up the funds for a basic mining ship, he turned a huge profit. His money soon gave him a strong influence within Junker society.
Sadly, Anrial died in 597 AS, due to a neurally destructive disease. With much wealth and influence to be had, his 8 sons formed small council. This group, driven by the duty to preserve their father's memory, was the beginning of the Line.
They spread out, using all of the ties their father had created to gain deals with small public companies. Their revenue became sustainable and quite large, letting them spread even further. Soon, the Second Generation of the Line was formed.
Of the 8 members, only 5 had children. This bolstered the numbers of the line to 17 members, as of 601 AS (11 children were born, and 2 of the Sons had died). As they gained ever stronger holds and ever greater wealth, their expansion semeed inevitable.
However, 1 other family took it as a threat. The Ericksons, the largest smuggling group of that time, didnt appreciate the public tendencies of the Calvin's contracts. To them, it left their smuggling contracts open, easy for government security forces to find.
Details are sketchy afterward. All that is known for sure is that flotilla of Calvin salvage ships were destroyed by explosives placed onboard. Among the lost ships was the flagship Ferum Ventus. The tension between the Calvins and the Ericksons was no secret, and much of the blame was placed on the rival family. However, with all the evidence destroyed along with the ships, there was no way to definitivelly link the Ericksons to the sabotage.
Even though they had reached their 3rd generation, the Calvin's monetary and influential expansion began to reverse. With their salvage fleet reduced to a meager few ships, and many of their contracts terminated, nobody knew what they could do. As such, many took the route of Decree #2, simply leaving the Line. By the time of the 4th generation in 694 AS, all that was left was 4 adults and 7 children.
They rapidly fell down in social status. All that was left for them were small contratcs and the few diplomatic ties they had with minor Clans. They went all about Liberty, quickly exhausting the tiny scrap fields they had managed to keep. bY 739 AS, all they had was gone.
As they spread apart, searching desperately for unclaimed fields, a small party came upon the way to save the Line. This small group, travelling through Texas' quarantine area, came upon the wreckage of several old stations. These were, in fact, what was left in the wake of the Texas Incident. With no-one else even coming close to this vastw ealth of scrap, the Calvins capitalized on it. A new version of the old Flagship, the Ferum Ventus, was created for the purpose of mining them.
These wrecks, as well as fields in Bretonia, have been mined by the Calvins for the last 2 generations. However, due to the 6th generation only bearing 4 males, the Line is once again in a crisis, waiting for a new heir from the 7th generation. This is put in an even more precarious position due to the fact that 2 of those men chose to leave through Decree #2.
Inner Government:
It could be described as a quasi representaative democracy. In times when they were more plentiful, each "Pure" member of the Line acted as a representative for Supplementary members. Each representative would hold an internal vote on the issue, and then vote in the Representative Issue Council based on which decision was made in his or her internal vote. This was how all diplomatic or financial decisions were made.
However, as their numbers are threatening to decline, Supplementary members have all but left. This changed it so that the council itself (currently consisting of 2 men and 13 women) votes immediately, taking each member's personal opinion as their vote.
Future:
No-one knows where they go from here. Without a male heir the line will be doomed. Though, once that issue is resolved, it can be presumed that there is a long and prosperous future ahead.