If you’re not the predator, you’re the prey. The Scorzas have been both throughout their history. Whether by their own missteps or misalliance, each time they’ve found themselves on the prey side, the Scorzas have paid dearly. After the devastation and chaos of the gifted war, the Scorzas decided they would have no side but their own. Like cockroaches, they scattered and survived the crushing books of the Eldouirs and King Julius by scuttling into the darkness and leaving the Allemeades at their mercy.

Scorzas believe that gifteds are the superior race. That the crown is a construct to elevate and safeguard inferior mortals. Even among their own kind, the Scorzas believe they are a cut above. When you’re better than everyone else in every way, it’s understandable that lesser beings would respond with envy and fear. There’s no living in peace, only waiting for the opportunity to strike.

Fiercely independent, the Scorzas turn up their nose at social morays and organized government. Even when Nya Rainecourt freed the gifteds, the Scrozas’ distrust of the monarchy as an institution motivated them to remain in hiding. A Scorza’s ideal world would be one of anarchy; where each person is allowed to carve their own path through strength and cunning—devil take the hindmost.

The Scorzas have flexible morals and few principles. Might makes right, and the ends always justify the means. They will ally with any party that suits their interests—no matter their former misdeeds—but won’t hesitate to turn on them when the time comes. Trust one's family but perhaps even then…better sleep with one eye open.

Betrayal of one's twin is the ultimate sin a Scorza can commit. The bond between twins is sacred. Once broken, the power they once held can never be regained. The other sacred institution of the family is the secrecy of the book and deference to its eternal keeper, Bertille.

Women have always led the Scorza family. Scorza women are the only ones who carry the ability to produce gifted twin pairs (a Scorza man with a non-Scorza bride won’t have gifted twins, but his daughter would be able to). Because of this, Scorza women are revered and dominate decision-making. Non-gifted have no voice in family affairs; not because they are unloved but because they are inferior.

After the gifted war, the family fell into disarray. The only constant is the Scorza matriarch who lives in solitude at the ancestral Scorza home. She is the keeper of the brand and the book where children’s names are recorded.

Prior to the gifted war, Scorzas were only raised by others of their kind. To hide the abundance of twins, the male member of the set was raised by extended family rather than their own. All children were indoctrinated with the Scorza mindset, even if their parents weren't their parents by birth. After all, a Scorza is a Scorza is a Scorza.

After the disarray of the gifted war, the Scorza family began to brand twin pairs when their gifts manifested as a means of tracking their bloodline. If the twins are male and female, the female twin is raised by her birth parent(s) while the male twin is sent away to live with another family, as an indentured servant, or as an orphan.

Some twin pairs are sometimes reunited later in life, others do not meet at all, and some—though very few—are raised together. For the most part, separated Scorzas never meet, as their gifts are most powerful when twin pairs are together and liable to attract attention. What holds the family together is the record of names in the family book, held by the Scorza matriarch.

The circumstances of their upbringing vary, though most are low nobles or commoners. Generally, Scorzas are usually neither poor nor rich and work hard for everything they have.


Sorzas are considered ‘of age’ at sixteen, as is the case in the rest of Lorendale, though they tend to marry later than the average Lorendaler (between 25-30).

Scorzas are extremely selective about who they marry. Scorza women frequently die when giving birth to a twin pair, so it is important they select a father who will increase their chances of producing powerful gifteds. It was uncommon—even unheard of—for a gifted Scorza to marry a nongifted, particularly the women. Because of the high birth mortality rate, Scorza women marry later than most Lorendalers, as it is important they have an opportunity to contribute to the family before risking childbirth. They tend to marry between 25 and 30.

Though they do not produce twin pairs, male Scorzas are highly encouraged to marry other gifteds so that they still produce gifted children. After all—gifteds are superior, so why bother marrying someone who will only be envious of your power? 

The Scorza family is spread out, most of its members never knowing the others. They are anarchic by nature, but if one had to pick a head of the family it would be the Scorza matriarch, the keeper of the book.

The Scorzas have a legacy of success in various trades and crafts—often using their gifts to aid them in their chosen pursuit. By extension, many manage their own businesses to sell their wares and services. The remaining Scorzas carry on this tradition.

The Scorzas are barons and baronesses by right. Because they have yet to claim their titles and family name, many live as commoners or hold different titles of low nobility. Some continue to be barons and baronesses, though under different surnames.

Prior to the gifted war, Scorzas enjoyed a lifestyle far more lavish than the average baron or baroness, as their success in businesses permitted them. After the war, the Scorzas lost everything. Many still live comfortably, but without the same grandeur as they did in years past.



There was a time when the Scorzas were wound into every trade in Fosterbridge. The family housed craftsmen of every ilk and flavor, each exceedingly skilled at their chosen pursuit. Their gifts typically lent themselves to their trade, which gave them an edge over their non-gifted competition. They stuck mostly to the countryside, dominating inter-town markets with their superior wares. While others enjoyed the fruits of the Scroza's labor, others grew suspicious and bitter toward the family.

The Scorzas couldn’t care less. So far from Loren, the outpost near the Dresmond border was almost a kingdom unto itself—the Scorzas reigning as tyrants. They were not above lying and cheating to get ahead, even if it meant using dirty, dirty tactics. Business is brutal, and whoever couldn’t handle the heat could get out of the smithy. They silenced any threatening tongue that would turn them in for what they were: gifteds—and powerful ones at that.

When Julius I took over, once petty rivalries became deadly vendettas. Their neighbors turned on them, seeing their opportunity to neutralize the Scorzas forever. But the family held their ground. Why should they surrender what made them superior by right? They’d die before they’d bend to the jealousy of lesser men. When the gifted war broke out, the Scrozas revealed themselves in self-important, theatrical glory. They allied themselves with the Eldouirs, fighting side by side.

Until the Eldouirs turned against them.

Once the Eldouirs turned, the Scorzas did not unite with their gifted brethren to fight back. Like rats fleeing a sinking ship, the Scorzas disappeared. Families were scattered and twins separated until most lost track of where the others had gone. It seemed the Scorzas would fade into the dusted pages of history, their name covered over by alias after alias until it was entirely scratched out.

But two sisters—twins Eugenia and Bertille—resolved that would not be the case. The Scorzas would survive, despite every crushing blow their name was dealt. They agreed to flee to different corners of Lorendale to keep their families apart. Before the two separated, a fire Elementalist and skilled blacksmith, created a brand that would mark every set of Scorza twins from that point on. Bertille, a leatherworker by trade, created a black book where the first name of every Scorza child would be written. Gifted with eternal youth, she pledged to the other Scorza to live a life of solitude and safeguard the names of Scorza so that one day they might find one another again.

Eugenia married a distant cousin, Dumas, and took the name “Lazaire” as their own. They had one set of twins (a boy and a girl). Eugenia died in childbirth as was typical. Her children, Magnon and Delphine, were branded by Bertille and then separated at birth. Delphine was raised by her father, and Magnon was sent to live as the son of a farmer, with the guarantee of his free labor. His gift, the ability to manipulate animals, served him well on the farm though he hid it from his family.

Magnon grew into a young man frustrated by hiding who he was. One day, he was approached by a woman named Oscalie, who turned out to be his cousin. She’d been searching for him all these years, after begging his name from Bertille, the keeper of the book hidden at the Scorza estate. She’d wanted to find her twin sister, but Bertille had insisted that the twin pairs must stay separated. So, she’d gone in search of Magnon instead.

Magnon married Oscalie and had twins—Tallis and Cezar. As many Scorza mothers did, Oscalie died giving birth to her twins, her last legacy in the world. Magnon branded his children and kept Tallis to raise as his own while passing off her twin brother Cezar to another allied gifted family. Though the practice established by Bertille was for the father to cut contact with the male child…Magnon never did. He kept track of the boy, though he kept this truth from Tallis. His name was in the book, and it was for her safety and the safety of the Scorza that his identity remained a mystery.

On his deathbed, Magnon told Tallis the name of the town where she could find her brother and that his name was Cezar. Tallis searched for him, but no one by that name ever emerged. But fate couldn’t keep them apart. They were reunited after the two began to court—not realizing they were twins until Tallis found his brand and confronted his adoptive parents for the truth.

Today, Tallis and Cezar masquerade as husband and wife while making plans to reunite the lost Scorza twins and rise once again.

Twins are the hallmark of the Scorza family. Gifted twin pairs are most powerful together as if one amplifies the gift of the other. Twins' gifts are relational in some way, such as working in tandem, mirroring one another as opposites, or having some additional purpose when used together.

As of now, there is a hold on creating new members of the Scorza family (with the exception of those already claimed). Once the family is established, it will be opened up to other members on a limited basis. All Scorza face claims must be Black or biracial.