The Morthan Family have ruled Lithonia for more than three hundred years.
After a bloody civil war Jonathan Morthan married Nelia Ryne, the eldest daughter of King Edwin Ryne. When the old man died, Jonathan became the new king and founded a new dynasty.
When they first took the throne in 668 A.C. their family was large and flourished. While Jonathan Morthan I was an only child both of his parents came from large families. He had over a dozen first cousins and he married them to as many of his wife’s relatives as he could, enmeshing the family further.
Both branches of the family carried a strong affinity for the Gift, the ability to use the Life Force that made the world of Redolan.
Unbeknownst to Jonathan, his marriage to Neila did more than solidify his claim to the throne: it passed a deadly illness to his heirs.
What would later be called Ryne’s Disease by the Masters of the Ithrimir was a disorder that caused blood to thicken and clot. While diet and light exercise could help some people afflicted with it, there was little Masters could do for those worse off.
Women with this disease often had miscarriages. Men and women alike suffered from headaches, migraines, strokes, heart attacks and other clotting fatalities. Children failed to thrive.
Between Ryne’s Disease and the Gift, the branches of a once mighty tree thinned.
Charles Morthan I was the rare exception. Born in 888 A.C. Charles married Meredith Bennings and together they had four children. Of the four one was born with the Gift but the remaining three went on to have marriages that produced living children, many also born without the Gift.
Each of these three lines play a major part in the In Blood and Fire Series.