The Vorkosigan Companion - Lillian Stewart Carl [192]
Vorbarr Sultana Hall:
One of the cultural highlights of the capital city on Barrayar. Tickets for performances are often sold out as far as two years in advance. Martya Koudelka gets four tickets to the Imperial Orchestra that plays there, and persuades the Vorbrettens to accompany Olivia Koudelka and herself to the performance. (CC, M)
Vorbarra, Dorca:
The father of Yuri and Xav Vorbarra by different mothers and kinsman of Ezar, he is known as Dorca the Just. He ended the period of internal strife on Barrayar during the Time of Isolation, uniting the counts under one imperial banner. When the Time of Isolation ended, he was the Barrayaran Emperor as the Barrayaran/Cetagandan war broke out. He promoted twenty-two-year-old Piotr Vorkosigan to the rank of general for his guerrilla campaign in the Dendarii Mountains. Aral thinks his father was spared during Yuri Vorbarra's Massacre because Piotr wasn't blood-related to Dorca. His house colors are red and blue. (All except FF)
Vorbarra, Ezar:
A relative of Emperor Yuri Vorbarra, Ezar served alongside Piotr Vorkosigan during the Cetagandan War. Between them, Ezar and Piotr ran the Cetagandans off Barrayar, though the resistance cost five million Barrayaran lives. When it became clear that Yuri was mad and unfit to be Emperor, Ezar and Piotr rebelled and put Ezar on the throne. Ezar married the sister of Mad Emperor Yuri, just before he was killed. He is the Emperor of Barrayar at the start of the war between Barrayar and Escobar. His son, Serg, is as unfit as old Yuri was to take the throne, so Ezar ruthlessly arranges for his only child's assassination during the course of the Escobaran War. He appoints Aral Vorkosigan Regent until Serg's son, Gregor, comes of age to take the throne. Aral says that Ezar was the man who stabilized the old way and new way on Barrayar. When Cordelia meets Ezar on his deathbed he is very white, with white hair, and hazel eyes—which he passed on to his son and grandson. He dies shortly after Aral is approved as Regent by the Council of Counts. (B, SH)
Vorbarra, Gregor:
The grandson of Emperor Ezar Vorbarra, and the son of the deceased Crown Prince Serg Vorbarra and Princess Kareen, the current Emperor of Barrayar is tall, dark-haired, and pensive, with piercing hazel eyes. He ascends to the throne at the age of five, upon the death of his grandfather and mother, and is raised by Aral and Cordelia Vorkosigan. Cordelia oversees Gregor's education until he is twelve, when he is sent for the appropriate Imperial military school training.
Thanks to the Vorkosigans' careful oversight, he is a very effective ruler when he takes the reins of the Imperium at twenty-one, except for falling for an internal plot to discredit Aral through Miles's accidental creation of the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. Once Miles is cleared of the charges, he suggests that Gregor use the mercenary unit as the Emperor's Own, which Gregor takes him up on. He also goes through a difficult period when he discovers that the reputation of his father—the "gallant" Prince Serg—is a myth, and that his progenitor was a monster.
Depressed and despondent while attending trade negotiations on Komarr, Gregor attempts to commit suicide when drunk by falling off a high balcony, but ends up climbing down the vines on the side of the building and running away. He found passage on a ship off-planet, and eventually ended up in a Jackson Consortium prison cell with Miles, whom he grew up with back home. When both men are captured by Cavilo, she tries to seduce Gregor into marrying her for her protection. Gregor plays along with her long enough to escape, then leads the Barrayaran reinforcements back through the wormhole to relieve the Dendarii.
Through the course of the series from this point onward, Gregor grows steadily more able and mature, and his judgment becomes increasingly acute.