The Worlds of Katherine Kurtz

Bruce Alan Wilson asks about the MacRories: "In KKB, there was a Torenthi noble with the surname Makro'ry. This is a sound-alike to MacRorie; are we to assume that he is descended from a branch of the family who fled eastward after Ramos?


Katherine replies: "Excellently spotted, Bruce, but you didn't go back far enough. The MacRorie line springs from Rhori Mor, younger son of a Prince of Kheldour, who was fostered to the Torenthi court in around 700, took a Torenthi bride, and stayed. His eldest son adopted the Torenthi spelling of the name, Makrory, and became the first Count Cullanan or Kulnan—and direct ancestor of Amaury, who appears in KKB."Two generations later, when Prince Festil of Torenth went into Gwynedd to overthrow the Haldanes, two of Rhori's great-grandsons went with him—though the eldest, Siebert, remained behind and became the fourth Count Cullanan. Of the two who supported Prince Festil, the elder of the pair, Ballard, became the first Earl of Culdi, but died unmarried, after which his younger brother, Angus, became the second earl and changed the family name back to the original MacRorie spelling—and Angus was the great-grandfather of Camber."