Blood Rurik’s wealth was initially made through protection services for merchants trading in the Nur Dal. As with all history, such origins are debated. There is at least as powerful a case to be made for the fact that the Ruriks, when they arrived in the Nur Dal in 301 BU, quickly set about making such protection necessary through racketeering and black market trading. As such, Rurik is often depicted as criminal in origin, a sort of shakedown unit that made its original money through bribery and blackmail, threats and violence. After a while, the House settled in what is now Ulaam, establishing a small village which in time became a town. The Rurik family, of course, profited from the construction of the town, and it had a finger in every pie that counted as coin making enterprises within its vicinities.
The family’s influence grew, as did its connections with the powerful and influential families outside the Nur Dal. After a few hundred years, its power base had grown to rival that of the Charingha and Essen clans, but its reach was far longer than any one of the traditional khans. Many credit Blood Rurik with opening up the Nur Dal to the rest of Bratsk, but others see it as a betrayal and exploitation of a culture that was here long before Rurik came along. In fact, it is claimed that Rurik was not originally from the Nur Dal, which can be seen in the name itself, and which the family have never changed to fit in more with the culture. It is said that originally, the Ruriks came from Volchok, and thus any claim that the Blood makes over its legitimate rule of the province – let alone of the empire – are seen by many to be completely hollow.
