This is a beginning. A beginning in fire and pain, as many are. Three brothers lived in the small settlement of Kermoroc'h, on the peninsula of Breizh Nevez on the Planet Orleans. Well, what used to be the small settlement of Kermoroc'h.
Historically, much as it liked to present the face of a culturally homogenous country to the outside world, France before the War of Sol was really more of a collection of dozens of cultures and languages hammered together by a central authority. Sometimes a king, sometimes a republic, always centrally controlled from the Paris region. Many people of these cultures spoke French only as a second language. After a two hundred year cultural war by the central Parisian government, only nine of these cultures and languages had survived. Barely. By the year 2000 the central government had realized its errors and stopped trying to eradicate the remaining cultures. In the next two hundred years the Basque, up to the War of Sol, Catalan, Flamand (then associated with Belgium), Corse, Provencal, Occitan and Langues d'oil (a.k.a. Langue d'oc or Languedoc) were allowed to flourish. And the Bretons, living in a land they called Breizh.
After the exodus on the French/Gallic sleeper ship the cultural groups that managed to escape settled the region as best they could, usually staying together out of self protection and comfort. But when the chance came, each group spread away from New Paris. Many Bretons settled on Planet Orleans, on a peninsula they called Breizh Nevez, which translates to Nouvelle Bretagne or New Britanny.
Kermoroc'h itself was a coastal collection of three to five small villages, depending on the generation. Mostly farmers or fishers, they also produced some of the finest explorers Gallia had known. A peaceful place, it wasn't at all famous and the locals liked it that way. People spoke Breton at home, but were mostly multilingual. The people gave the central New Paris government only grudging acceptance. A few grumbled, but didn't do much about it. Some things never changed, and the Bretons were more stubborn than most.
Nobody other than those who arranged it really knows what happened. There was a meteor strike. Somehow, all the defences missed it. Detection systems failed. No other meteor had successfully struck the planet before or since. But this one struck dead centre of the three villages, obliterating them. It struck at night, after a feast day, when everyone was not only sleeping, but family was visiting from other towns. There were no survivors.
Except for our three brothers: Loig, Erwan and Alan. They'd been sent by the owner of the farm, their mother, to accompany a small trade ship to its destination in Shikoku because the family needed a new contract negotiated. Originally only Loig was supposed to go, but they sent all three on an earlier ship so they would miss the feast day as punishment. Seems the lads had broached the old barrel of calvados before grandfather had said it had aged enough. When they woke up from their drunken stupor they were already out of the system, their only possessions a small suitcase and a note pinned to their lapel that they had better come back with a better contract, or don't come back.
When word of the disaster reached them they tried to hurry home. But their host in Shikoku, Akio, suggested that they allow his organization to send someone first. Since Kermoroc'h as a whole, not just their farm, was the main supplier of luxury foods for Akio's employers it would make sense for them to send a representative. The details they had already received were unbelievable, and Akio was a very paranoid gentlemen who smelled foul play. He was right.
The investigation revealed that the meteor had been small. Almost exactly the right size to obliterate the three villages and no more. It had struck precisely in the only location where it could have destroyed all three villages. It was a very dense asteroid. Almost too dense, but had apparently left no remains. At all, as if the site had been sanitized even before it had cooled down. The meteor defences had suffered a momentary glitch just at the right time to let it through. And it wasn't one of the thousands of asteroids that had been obsessively mapped in near space, they were all still there. The meteor, or projectile, had also revealed a very rich node of silver, one of the few found on the planet. Since the local population had been wiped out, the planetary duke claimed title to it, and contracted with Gallic Metal Services to exploit it. When the investigator returned, he strongly urged the boys to not return. He noted that since they were the only surviving family they might have a claim to the mine but only so long as they lived.
So the boys formed a grand, but nebulous plan. They would gather their resources, put every lesson they had ever learned into practice, and discover who had murdered their families and stolen their land. They knew it would take time, guile, work and, most importantly, allies. Luckily their friend in Shikoku was very well connected, and was able to arrange for new identity chips for them.
Loig had been his mother's heir, and had the most knowledge of trading and negotiations. He decided to stay in Kusari, although he had to distance himself from his host in order to hide better. The brothers figured it was the best location to be able to get in and out of Gallia if necessary. Loig would use his trading skills to arrange for the necessary resources, and try to make contacts with local organizations who might be able to help.
Alan had always been the more aggressive brother, and had actually been taking some extra training with an eye to joining the armed forces. Akio was the one who suggested that he go to Liberty, since it was actively hostile to Gallia, a fact they might be able to use if they ever needed some firepower. Especially if a planetary duke was involved. Plans weren't firm though, and once in Liberty he would decide where to go from there.
Erwan was the eldest, and the one who came up with the idea to get the calvados in the first place. If there was something you needed done, he'd find a way to do it. Usually by hook or by crook. Erwan was unwilling to leave Gallia, although he knew he couldn't stay near Planet Orleans. He went back to Gallia though, saying that they needed someone close by to arrange things locally once the time came. His last message was that he might have found a lead to the proof they needed to act, and he'd be in touch. Then he vanished. His brothers never doubted that he'd be back. Erwas had always been a very resourceful young man.
So now the three brothers are unleashed upon the worlds, and their tales have started. In recognition of how they were saved from destruction, they initially named themselves the Marc'hadour brothers, or "merchant".