Raus was not of the Imperial nobility but was closely affiliated to an imperial clan. His ancestors were a local ruling dynasty in Kostaddi. They made peace with the Lunar Empire, but not join the Lunar way. During the Second or Third Wane, Raus’ great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Rehn had the Rone Sword made, with the aid of his son Assil and grandson Vandik. The sword was lost during the rampage of the Mad Sultan, around 1448.
At some point the Rone clan ended up settling in “the Redlands” (aka the Oraya satrapy), most likely in the Fifth Wane, as part of Hon-eel’s settlements. Raus himself served with distinction in the Lunar Army, and was given military command over part of the Redlands (“Duke”). This was impressive, given that Raus was not even an initiate of the Seven Mothers.
Although Raus never spoke of why he was exiled to far-off Prax, the official histories read:
“Leading clans from two provinces had feuded politically for years, but suddenly the acrimony broke out into open warfare. One set of clans, those out of favor with the Red Emperor, was quashed by the Imperial Army, but their political standing was such that outright executions of the survivors, many of whom had had no direct involvement with the actual fighting, was impossible.”
Reading between the lines, Raus was affiliated with an imperial noble family that sought to unseat the Molari-sor. Their Dart War broke out into open warfare, and Raus was directly involved. The best theory I have heard is that Raus tried to seize Palbar with a private army, after destabilizing the Molari-sor with a slave rebellion. That slave rebellion proved far more dangerous than expected and the Imperial Army crushed the rebellion with the aid of Jar-eel the Razoress. Raus and the rest were rounded up, but Raus had enough political allies (or more likely the Molari-sor had enough enemies) that he was exiled rather than executed.
And thus in New Pavis, Raus is more or less from the same social class as Sitzmag Redmoon and Hucipites (but without authority or connections), but of much lower social class than Sor-eel and Bor-eel (who likely mockingly refer to him as “Duke Raus of Rone” – the mocking might even be menacing, given that the Molari-sor are allies of the Eel-ariash). There of course would be no question that he could ever serve as Governor of Prax, even temporarily.
Upon his arrival in the Grantlands, Raus stayed out of provincial politics and avoided imperial politics. When Sor-eel was overthrown along with Fazzur Wideread, Halcyon var Enkorth was appointed governor of Prax by Appius Luxius; it is said that Raus avoided the new governor as much as possible.
