The Dendarii Mercenaries are a mercenary organisation appearing in American writer Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga series of science fiction works. They were founded by Miles Vorkosigan in The Warrior's Apprentice.
Formation
The mercenary fleet begins almost by accident. While visiting his grandmother on Beta Colony, Miles acts on a sudden impulse by buying an outdated interstellar cargo freighter and employing its down-and-out pilot, Arde Mayhew. He offers the freighter's services to the beleaguered government of Tau Verde IV, a planet wracked by civil war. The government's opponents in the war have hired a mercenary fleet, the Oseran Mercenaries, to blockade the planet. By accident, Miles leads the Tau Verde representative to believe that he himself heads a mercenary fleet. Miles takes his freighter to Tau Verde and, through clever tactics and considerable luck, successfully captures a vessel of the Oseran mercenary fleet. Despite his vastly inferior force, he outmanoeuvres the Oserans at every turn; eventually, the defeated Admiral Oser agrees to join Miles' fictitious fleet, giving the previously nonexistent 'Dendarii Mercenaries' (named after a mountain range on Miles' planet of Barrayar) a real existence.
Later on
Miles is summoned to Barrayar (see The Warrior's Apprentice in Vorkosigan Saga) to answer charges of treason. In clearing his name, he persuades the Emperor Gregor Vorbarra to declare the mercenaries part of the Barrayaran Imperial Military Service.
Members
Elli Quinn
Miles's one-time lover, at the end of Memory she commanded the Dendarii as Admiral Quinn. She is a native of Kline Station and hates living on planets, which she luckily doesn't have to worry about, having declined numerous marriage proposals from Miles and also being a mercenary fleet Admiral.
Elli Quinn began the series rather unremarkable in appearance but was horribly injured by a plasma arc, which scorched off her facial tissues and almost all of her features. Miles subsequently purchased her the finest reconstructive surgery money could buy, more than restoring her appearance, and she is now stunningly beautiful.
Bel Thorne
This Betan hermaphrodite became the Captain of the Ariel as a result of Miles's conquest. Thorne is fired from the Dendarii at the end of Mirror Dance for taking part in Mark's scheme to free the clone-slaves from Bharaputra's laboratories. Bel becomes a roving ImpSec agent and eventually settles in Quaddiespace, resuming a relationship with the Quaddie musician Nicol, whom Thorne had first met on a Dendarii mission to Jackson's Whole.
Taura
Sergeant Taura of the Dendarii Mercenaries started life as genetics experiment. She was developed as a super soldier on the planet of Jackson's Whole. She was the only eventual survivor of the experiment, that seems to have used some animal genes spliced into the human genome. In particular, she is "equipped" with fangs and claws. Taura suffers from a massively accelerated metabolism, giving her extremely fast reflexes and responses and very great strength, compounded with her height and matching mass. Unfortunately, this accelerated metabolism will also sharply reduce her lifetime - something she is very much aware of. All attempts to find a medical way around this situation have (so far) had only marginal success. The last time she was seen in the series, in the novella ', she states that the doctors give her one more year to live, but also that they've said the same thing for the last four years. She is not concerned about it, deciding to live each day for its own sake.
Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii was supposed to kill her to save her suffering at the hands of her new owners and save her a painful death when her metabolism failed, however when he realised that she was a human being despite her looks, he switched his mission to rescue her, a "damsel in distress" instead. She then joined the Mercenaries as a (very successful) Commando Squad Leader.
She dies of old age at the age of 30 at the Durona Clinic on Escobar. Despite pleas from Miles, Roic, Rowan, and Mark, she refuses to have herself frozen in cryostasis until a cure could be found for her condition. Miles named one of his daughters after her.
Instead of cryostasis, she was cremated, choosing "fire over ice." Her one request was that her ashes not be scattered on Jackson's Whole. Miles and Roic buried her urn on the family plot on Barrayar.
Baz Jesek
Miles Vorkosigan found Baz living in a recycling depot on Beta Colony after Baz deserted from the Barrayaran military for reasons unknown. As his desertion was technically in the heat of battle, his penalty would be quartering ("cut into four pieces", not "domiciled"). Because of his engineering expertise, he was recruited to join Miles on his first mission, to Tau Verde IV and thereafter made a place for himself in the Dendarii Mercenaries as Fleet Engineer. He married Elena Bothari and they had a baby daughter, Cordelia.
Ky Tung
Ky Tung is a military history expert from Brazil, Earth. He commanded the Triumph prior to its capture during the Tau Verde war, by the Dendarii. After being mishandled by his former commander, he switched his loyalties to the Dendarii and became Chief of Staff.
Arde Mayhew
Pilot Officer Arde Mayhew is a cargo ship jump pilot, whose neural implants, necessary to guide a ship through a wormhole jump, are for an obsolete class of jump ships. He has been medically disqualified from receiving new implants.
Arde is first seen in Shards of Honor when Captain Cordelia Naismith cons him into giving her an off the record lift from Beta Colony to Escobar. Miles encounters him approximately 18 years later when he comes across the down-on-his-luck Mayhew attempting to fend the wreckers off from the last known ship which he is able to pilot.
Miles buys the ship and hires Arde as its pilot, but the ship's jump engines are irreparably damaged in Tau Verde when Arde uses it to ram Ky Tung's Triumph, facilitating its capture.
Miles offers Arde a chance to stay on with the Dendarii as a shuttle pilot but Arde refuses stating that that was drudge work. The only reason you put up with that was so you could jump. Miles then tells him there is a man who will lease the RG132 for a local space freighter and that perhaps somewhere they may find a salvaged set of Necklin Rods for the ship. They both consider it a quest and a glimmer of hope for Arde.
Formation
The mercenary fleet begins almost by accident. While visiting his grandmother on Beta Colony, Miles acts on a sudden impulse by buying an outdated interstellar cargo freighter and employing its down-and-out pilot, Arde Mayhew. He offers the freighter's services to the beleaguered government of Tau Verde IV, a planet wracked by civil war. The government's opponents in the war have hired a mercenary fleet, the Oseran Mercenaries, to blockade the planet. By accident, Miles leads the Tau Verde representative to believe that he himself heads a mercenary fleet. Miles takes his freighter to Tau Verde and, through clever tactics and considerable luck, successfully captures a vessel of the Oseran mercenary fleet. Despite his vastly inferior force, he outmanoeuvres the Oserans at every turn; eventually, the defeated Admiral Oser agrees to join Miles' fictitious fleet, giving the previously nonexistent 'Dendarii Mercenaries' (named after a mountain range on Miles' planet of Barrayar) a real existence.
Later on
Miles is summoned to Barrayar (see The Warrior's Apprentice in Vorkosigan Saga) to answer charges of treason. In clearing his name, he persuades the Emperor Gregor Vorbarra to declare the mercenaries part of the Barrayaran Imperial Military Service.
Members
Elli Quinn
Miles's one-time lover, at the end of Memory she commanded the Dendarii as Admiral Quinn. She is a native of Kline Station and hates living on planets, which she luckily doesn't have to worry about, having declined numerous marriage proposals from Miles and also being a mercenary fleet Admiral.
Elli Quinn began the series rather unremarkable in appearance but was horribly injured by a plasma arc, which scorched off her facial tissues and almost all of her features. Miles subsequently purchased her the finest reconstructive surgery money could buy, more than restoring her appearance, and she is now stunningly beautiful.
Bel Thorne
This Betan hermaphrodite became the Captain of the Ariel as a result of Miles's conquest. Thorne is fired from the Dendarii at the end of Mirror Dance for taking part in Mark's scheme to free the clone-slaves from Bharaputra's laboratories. Bel becomes a roving ImpSec agent and eventually settles in Quaddiespace, resuming a relationship with the Quaddie musician Nicol, whom Thorne had first met on a Dendarii mission to Jackson's Whole.
Taura
Sergeant Taura of the Dendarii Mercenaries started life as genetics experiment. She was developed as a super soldier on the planet of Jackson's Whole. She was the only eventual survivor of the experiment, that seems to have used some animal genes spliced into the human genome. In particular, she is "equipped" with fangs and claws. Taura suffers from a massively accelerated metabolism, giving her extremely fast reflexes and responses and very great strength, compounded with her height and matching mass. Unfortunately, this accelerated metabolism will also sharply reduce her lifetime - something she is very much aware of. All attempts to find a medical way around this situation have (so far) had only marginal success. The last time she was seen in the series, in the novella ', she states that the doctors give her one more year to live, but also that they've said the same thing for the last four years. She is not concerned about it, deciding to live each day for its own sake.
Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii was supposed to kill her to save her suffering at the hands of her new owners and save her a painful death when her metabolism failed, however when he realised that she was a human being despite her looks, he switched his mission to rescue her, a "damsel in distress" instead. She then joined the Mercenaries as a (very successful) Commando Squad Leader.
She dies of old age at the age of 30 at the Durona Clinic on Escobar. Despite pleas from Miles, Roic, Rowan, and Mark, she refuses to have herself frozen in cryostasis until a cure could be found for her condition. Miles named one of his daughters after her.
Instead of cryostasis, she was cremated, choosing "fire over ice." Her one request was that her ashes not be scattered on Jackson's Whole. Miles and Roic buried her urn on the family plot on Barrayar.
Baz Jesek
Miles Vorkosigan found Baz living in a recycling depot on Beta Colony after Baz deserted from the Barrayaran military for reasons unknown. As his desertion was technically in the heat of battle, his penalty would be quartering ("cut into four pieces", not "domiciled"). Because of his engineering expertise, he was recruited to join Miles on his first mission, to Tau Verde IV and thereafter made a place for himself in the Dendarii Mercenaries as Fleet Engineer. He married Elena Bothari and they had a baby daughter, Cordelia.
Ky Tung
Ky Tung is a military history expert from Brazil, Earth. He commanded the Triumph prior to its capture during the Tau Verde war, by the Dendarii. After being mishandled by his former commander, he switched his loyalties to the Dendarii and became Chief of Staff.
Arde Mayhew
Pilot Officer Arde Mayhew is a cargo ship jump pilot, whose neural implants, necessary to guide a ship through a wormhole jump, are for an obsolete class of jump ships. He has been medically disqualified from receiving new implants.
Arde is first seen in Shards of Honor when Captain Cordelia Naismith cons him into giving her an off the record lift from Beta Colony to Escobar. Miles encounters him approximately 18 years later when he comes across the down-on-his-luck Mayhew attempting to fend the wreckers off from the last known ship which he is able to pilot.
Miles buys the ship and hires Arde as its pilot, but the ship's jump engines are irreparably damaged in Tau Verde when Arde uses it to ram Ky Tung's Triumph, facilitating its capture.
Miles offers Arde a chance to stay on with the Dendarii as a shuttle pilot but Arde refuses stating that that was drudge work. The only reason you put up with that was so you could jump. Miles then tells him there is a man who will lease the RG132 for a local space freighter and that perhaps somewhere they may find a salvaged set of Necklin Rods for the ship. They both consider it a quest and a glimmer of hope for Arde.
Simon Illyan is a fictional character in the Vorkosigan Saga science fiction novels by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Origin of name
In selecting Simon Illyan's name, Bujold paid homage to two 1960s television characters. His last name is from Illya Kuryakin, a character in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and his first from Simon Butcher, a character in The Wackiest Ship in the Army.
Biographical summary
Illyan begins as an operative of Barrayaran Imperial Security Service - imperial intelligence and counter-intelligence agency. He has had a bioelectronic device implanted in his head: an eidetic memory chip that records everything he sees and hears and allows him to recall that information instantly. This was done on a whim by Barrayaran Emperor Ezar, after he learned that the technology had been recently invented on the planet Illyrica. Since most such implants produced schizophrenia or worse in their hosts, it is clear that Ezar regarded Illyan as expendable.
Illyan first appears in Shards of Honor as a lieutenant sent to keep an eye on Aral Vorkosigan, one of the story's main characters, on his mission to conquer the planet Escobar. Eventually becoming Vorkosigan's right-hand man, in Barrayar he achieved the position of Director of Imperial Security (ImpSec), following the death of previous incumbent, Captain Negri, during the Pretender's War. Since then in-universe he is referred to as Captain Illyan.
With Barrayar in relative peace, Illyan was able to move ImpSec towards a more benign role on Barrayar while extending its reach to imperial conquered system of Komarr and beyond, though he had to deal with more than a few harrowing domestic events, such as the Yarrow Incident, in which ImpSec averted an assassination plot on Emperor Gregor Vorbarra.
His biochip-aided memory added to his mystique as an administrator with ferocious attention to detail. Series main character, Miles Vorkosigan, who worked under Illyan as a special agent, surmised that Illyan's successful integration with the chip was due to an innate ability to suspend belief or disbelief in multiple, conflicting sets of facts—an ability also very useful to a spymaster. Illyan started to appear more frequently in the stories after The Vor Game, when series main character, Miles Vorkosigan, became his agent in ImpSec due to Miles' inability to work with a strict chain of command. (The initial reasoning was to bury Miles deep within ImpSec where he couldn't cause trouble, but Miles startling success on the most difficult cases made him Illyan's top agent, especially in his position as "Admiral Miles Naismith", head of the Dendarii Free Mercanaries, a Barrayaran Crown Troop covertly posing as a mercenary fleet). Despite his unnervingly roundabout and inventive methods that would drive Illyan to distraction, Vorkosigan became Captain's greatest annoyance and most powerful asset.
Illyan's military career ended in Memory when his memory chip broke down, causing him to relive events from his past at random. Although he made a good recovery, he had to retire; after 40 years of relying on perfect bio/electronic recall, his short-term memory was almost nonexistent. First Miles, and then Miles' aunt, Lady Alys Vorpatril, cared for him as he slowly learned to start remembering things for himself again.
During A Civil Campaign, Illyan lives in a nondescript flat, not far from Lady Alys (whom he is now dating) and maintains an informal relationship with ImpSec. One of his most important roles now is being a go-between for ImpSec and certain covert high-Vor (aristocratic) informers.
In appearance, Illyan is slight and extremely unimpressive. As ImpSec chief, he amplified this lack of presence to the point of virtual invisibility, the better to observe others. In his own domain, however, his air of blandness makes him seem all the more menacing.
Origin of name
In selecting Simon Illyan's name, Bujold paid homage to two 1960s television characters. His last name is from Illya Kuryakin, a character in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and his first from Simon Butcher, a character in The Wackiest Ship in the Army.
Biographical summary
Illyan begins as an operative of Barrayaran Imperial Security Service - imperial intelligence and counter-intelligence agency. He has had a bioelectronic device implanted in his head: an eidetic memory chip that records everything he sees and hears and allows him to recall that information instantly. This was done on a whim by Barrayaran Emperor Ezar, after he learned that the technology had been recently invented on the planet Illyrica. Since most such implants produced schizophrenia or worse in their hosts, it is clear that Ezar regarded Illyan as expendable.
Illyan first appears in Shards of Honor as a lieutenant sent to keep an eye on Aral Vorkosigan, one of the story's main characters, on his mission to conquer the planet Escobar. Eventually becoming Vorkosigan's right-hand man, in Barrayar he achieved the position of Director of Imperial Security (ImpSec), following the death of previous incumbent, Captain Negri, during the Pretender's War. Since then in-universe he is referred to as Captain Illyan.
With Barrayar in relative peace, Illyan was able to move ImpSec towards a more benign role on Barrayar while extending its reach to imperial conquered system of Komarr and beyond, though he had to deal with more than a few harrowing domestic events, such as the Yarrow Incident, in which ImpSec averted an assassination plot on Emperor Gregor Vorbarra.
His biochip-aided memory added to his mystique as an administrator with ferocious attention to detail. Series main character, Miles Vorkosigan, who worked under Illyan as a special agent, surmised that Illyan's successful integration with the chip was due to an innate ability to suspend belief or disbelief in multiple, conflicting sets of facts—an ability also very useful to a spymaster. Illyan started to appear more frequently in the stories after The Vor Game, when series main character, Miles Vorkosigan, became his agent in ImpSec due to Miles' inability to work with a strict chain of command. (The initial reasoning was to bury Miles deep within ImpSec where he couldn't cause trouble, but Miles startling success on the most difficult cases made him Illyan's top agent, especially in his position as "Admiral Miles Naismith", head of the Dendarii Free Mercanaries, a Barrayaran Crown Troop covertly posing as a mercenary fleet). Despite his unnervingly roundabout and inventive methods that would drive Illyan to distraction, Vorkosigan became Captain's greatest annoyance and most powerful asset.
Illyan's military career ended in Memory when his memory chip broke down, causing him to relive events from his past at random. Although he made a good recovery, he had to retire; after 40 years of relying on perfect bio/electronic recall, his short-term memory was almost nonexistent. First Miles, and then Miles' aunt, Lady Alys Vorpatril, cared for him as he slowly learned to start remembering things for himself again.
During A Civil Campaign, Illyan lives in a nondescript flat, not far from Lady Alys (whom he is now dating) and maintains an informal relationship with ImpSec. One of his most important roles now is being a go-between for ImpSec and certain covert high-Vor (aristocratic) informers.
In appearance, Illyan is slight and extremely unimpressive. As ImpSec chief, he amplified this lack of presence to the point of virtual invisibility, the better to observe others. In his own domain, however, his air of blandness makes him seem all the more menacing.
Ezar Vorbarra is a minor character in Lois McMaster Bujold's sci-fi series, the Vorkosigan Saga.
Ezar Vorbarra was the Emperor of Barrayar during the time of the novel Shards of Honor. His son, Crown Prince Serg, was killed during the Escobar War, leaving five-year-old Prince Gregor as the only direct descendant of the Vorbarra line. As a result of Ezar's death, and Gregor's minority, Aral Vorkosigan was appointed Regent of the Barrayaran Imperium till the end of Gregor's minority, when he would rule rightly as Emperor.
Ezar Vorbarra is historically important to Barrayar because of his direct involvement in ending Mad Emperor Yuri's Reign of Terror. Ezar, with the assistance of Count Piotr Vorkosigan, prince Xav Vorbarra and Vorkosigan's loyal army, overthrew the reigning Emperor, Yuri, to end his paranoid reign of terror.
Ezar Vorbarra was the Emperor of Barrayar during the time of the novel Shards of Honor. His son, Crown Prince Serg, was killed during the Escobar War, leaving five-year-old Prince Gregor as the only direct descendant of the Vorbarra line. As a result of Ezar's death, and Gregor's minority, Aral Vorkosigan was appointed Regent of the Barrayaran Imperium till the end of Gregor's minority, when he would rule rightly as Emperor.
Ezar Vorbarra is historically important to Barrayar because of his direct involvement in ending Mad Emperor Yuri's Reign of Terror. Ezar, with the assistance of Count Piotr Vorkosigan, prince Xav Vorbarra and Vorkosigan's loyal army, overthrew the reigning Emperor, Yuri, to end his paranoid reign of terror.
Gregor Vorbarra is the Emperor of the Barrayaran Imperium in the science fiction series Vorkosigan Saga by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold.
As of Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, Gregor Vorbarra is the current Emperor of Barrayar. He consequently rules over Barrayar, Komarr, and Sergyar, the three planetary bodies of the Barrayaran Empire.
His father was the late Crown Prince Serg, and his grandfather was Emperor Ezar Vorbarra. They had both died by the time Gregor was five, therefore, Admiral Lord Vorkosigan ruled as Regent until Gregor reached the age of majority. This was not the last of Gregor's woes as a child, as he became a pawn in a power struggle between the Regent and the usurper , a struggle that cost the life of his mother, Princess Kareen Vorbarra.
Gregor's name is an apparent inconsistency in the world-building of the Vorkosigan Saga. Vor tradition provides that the first-born son has the paternal grandfather's first name, which in this case is Ezar.
Gregor is a fairly progressive and liberal emperor, but must remain even-handed in order to rule effectively. He is also Count Vorbarra, and technically has a vote in the Council of Counts. By tradition, he does not exercise that vote except to break a tied ballot, much like the vote of the Vice President of the United States in the United States Senate. Psychologically, Gregor lives in fear that he carries the madness that afflicted his relatives, particularly his sadistic father Crown Prince Serg, but also the mad Yuri Vorbarra and his relations in the Vorrutyer clan, best (or worst) exemplified by Serg's companion in depravity, Ges Vorrutyer. While capable of great personal warmth, he maintains iron control in most situations, projecting an air of deep calm.
When he came of age, Gregor discovered the truth about the depravities committed by his father, and was so upset he eluded his bodyguards while on a state visit to another planet in the Nexus, and went missing for a time before Miles Vorkosigan found him (The Vor Game).
He is married to Laisa Toscane, a Komarran scion of one of the richest and most powerful families on the planet. The marriage was a critical move (though they were genuinely in love, so the marriage was not merely political) as it served to show a unity between Barrayar and its conquered world of Komarr. (Though some feared it would just be an eternal symbol of Komarr "getting screwed" by Barrayar.)
For many Vor, the marriage was important because it meant Gregor would start producing Imperial Heirs and thus relieve tensions that, should something happen to Gregor, there would be a civil war, as every Vor with a claim to the Imperium would come forth. For Gregor the marriage meant a chance to have children with a woman who was not Vor, and therefore free of the genetic taint that curses the high aristocracy.
Laisa Toscane
The daughter of prominent Komarran oligarchs, often referred to as those Toscanes, Laisa become the Empress of Barrayar upon her marriage to Gregor Vorbarra.
Initially introduced to the bachelor Emperor when she accompanied her date, Duv Galeni, to a dinner party at the Imperial Residence, Laisa impressed Gregor with her bold and succinct attempt to lobby him directly for trade concessions during the course of the meal. Gregor later invited her to an intimate luncheon in which he thrilled her by arranging her first horseback ride, on a beautiful white mare, which could be construed as the beginning of their courtship.
Laisa is also described as "maternal", short, and a little plump, unlike the fashionably tall, willowy Vor women Gregor was introduced to by Lady Alys Vorpatril, his social secretary. Laisa's eyes are described as being beautiful, a shade that is not quite blue, nor quite green. Despite her lack of svelte proportions, she is still described as classy and stylish, although generally attired in Komarran-style garments. Lady Alys would ruefully note after her betrothal to Gregor, that it should have been obvious that a man who lost his mother at the age of four would be attracted to maternal-looking women; but more importantly, Gregor wanted to ensure that his children would not be insane like one of his ancestors (Mad Emperor Yuri), and he welcomed genes from outside the Vor gene pool.
Laisa is highly intelligent, and has an advanced education in financial and business affairs. Prior to her marriage, she served as a lobbyist and representative in Vorbarr Sultana for her family's business interests. It was stipulated in their marriage contract that any children of the union were to be gestated in uterine replicators, and not by the method preferred by the more conservative among the Vor caste of "body births".
Many Komarrans (and many Barrayarans, for that matter) view the marriage as shrewd politics on the part of Gregor, symbolizing a union of two of the slightly antagonistic component societies of the Barrayaran Imperium. To further strum political sensibilities, Gregor decreed that the reconstructed and enlarged Komarr Soletta, a large orbital array of mirrors augmenting the solar light reaching the planet's surface, which is necessary in Komarr's long-term terraforming project, be deemed a wedding present to his wife, and symbolically to the planet Komarr from Barrayar.
Gregor and Laisa have several children together, who are described as "scarily smart" by Armsman Roic. (CryoBurn).
As of Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, Gregor Vorbarra is the current Emperor of Barrayar. He consequently rules over Barrayar, Komarr, and Sergyar, the three planetary bodies of the Barrayaran Empire.
His father was the late Crown Prince Serg, and his grandfather was Emperor Ezar Vorbarra. They had both died by the time Gregor was five, therefore, Admiral Lord Vorkosigan ruled as Regent until Gregor reached the age of majority. This was not the last of Gregor's woes as a child, as he became a pawn in a power struggle between the Regent and the usurper , a struggle that cost the life of his mother, Princess Kareen Vorbarra.
Gregor's name is an apparent inconsistency in the world-building of the Vorkosigan Saga. Vor tradition provides that the first-born son has the paternal grandfather's first name, which in this case is Ezar.
Gregor is a fairly progressive and liberal emperor, but must remain even-handed in order to rule effectively. He is also Count Vorbarra, and technically has a vote in the Council of Counts. By tradition, he does not exercise that vote except to break a tied ballot, much like the vote of the Vice President of the United States in the United States Senate. Psychologically, Gregor lives in fear that he carries the madness that afflicted his relatives, particularly his sadistic father Crown Prince Serg, but also the mad Yuri Vorbarra and his relations in the Vorrutyer clan, best (or worst) exemplified by Serg's companion in depravity, Ges Vorrutyer. While capable of great personal warmth, he maintains iron control in most situations, projecting an air of deep calm.
When he came of age, Gregor discovered the truth about the depravities committed by his father, and was so upset he eluded his bodyguards while on a state visit to another planet in the Nexus, and went missing for a time before Miles Vorkosigan found him (The Vor Game).
He is married to Laisa Toscane, a Komarran scion of one of the richest and most powerful families on the planet. The marriage was a critical move (though they were genuinely in love, so the marriage was not merely political) as it served to show a unity between Barrayar and its conquered world of Komarr. (Though some feared it would just be an eternal symbol of Komarr "getting screwed" by Barrayar.)
For many Vor, the marriage was important because it meant Gregor would start producing Imperial Heirs and thus relieve tensions that, should something happen to Gregor, there would be a civil war, as every Vor with a claim to the Imperium would come forth. For Gregor the marriage meant a chance to have children with a woman who was not Vor, and therefore free of the genetic taint that curses the high aristocracy.
Laisa Toscane
The daughter of prominent Komarran oligarchs, often referred to as those Toscanes, Laisa become the Empress of Barrayar upon her marriage to Gregor Vorbarra.
Initially introduced to the bachelor Emperor when she accompanied her date, Duv Galeni, to a dinner party at the Imperial Residence, Laisa impressed Gregor with her bold and succinct attempt to lobby him directly for trade concessions during the course of the meal. Gregor later invited her to an intimate luncheon in which he thrilled her by arranging her first horseback ride, on a beautiful white mare, which could be construed as the beginning of their courtship.
Laisa is also described as "maternal", short, and a little plump, unlike the fashionably tall, willowy Vor women Gregor was introduced to by Lady Alys Vorpatril, his social secretary. Laisa's eyes are described as being beautiful, a shade that is not quite blue, nor quite green. Despite her lack of svelte proportions, she is still described as classy and stylish, although generally attired in Komarran-style garments. Lady Alys would ruefully note after her betrothal to Gregor, that it should have been obvious that a man who lost his mother at the age of four would be attracted to maternal-looking women; but more importantly, Gregor wanted to ensure that his children would not be insane like one of his ancestors (Mad Emperor Yuri), and he welcomed genes from outside the Vor gene pool.
Laisa is highly intelligent, and has an advanced education in financial and business affairs. Prior to her marriage, she served as a lobbyist and representative in Vorbarr Sultana for her family's business interests. It was stipulated in their marriage contract that any children of the union were to be gestated in uterine replicators, and not by the method preferred by the more conservative among the Vor caste of "body births".
Many Komarrans (and many Barrayarans, for that matter) view the marriage as shrewd politics on the part of Gregor, symbolizing a union of two of the slightly antagonistic component societies of the Barrayaran Imperium. To further strum political sensibilities, Gregor decreed that the reconstructed and enlarged Komarr Soletta, a large orbital array of mirrors augmenting the solar light reaching the planet's surface, which is necessary in Komarr's long-term terraforming project, be deemed a wedding present to his wife, and symbolically to the planet Komarr from Barrayar.
Gregor and Laisa have several children together, who are described as "scarily smart" by Armsman Roic. (CryoBurn).