Frontier Era


Ashton Ranch


Heir, Scholar, Voice of Measured Progress

Orillia Ashton is the intellectual and philosophical center of the Ashton family.

Recently returned from formal education beyond Sandor, she brings knowledge, perspective, and difficult questions back to the ranch—along with an awareness of how fragile tradition becomes when confronted by unchecked progress.

Composed, observant, and thoughtful, Orillia approaches conflict through analysis rather than impulse.

She values discourse and long-term thinking, often weighing multiple outcomes before acting.

While emotionally reserved, her loyalty to family and community runs deep, even when her ideas place her at odds with those she loves.

• Knowledge as protection

• Balance between tradition and change

• Ethical governance

• Long-term stability over short-term gain

Orillia respects the land as heritage, but also understands its political and economic value.

She believes land can be protected not only through resistance, but through strategy, law, and foresight.

This perspective often places her between her mother’s defiance and the encroaching forces seeking control of Sandor.

As tensions rise, Orillia becomes a quiet advisor and internal compass for the Ashton family.

Her education allows her to recognize manipulation by figures like rail magnates and land barons, and she increasingly understands that isolation may no longer be enough to protect the ranch.

• Olivia Ashton: Mentor and ideological counterweight

• Ora Ashton: Keeper of wisdom Orillia struggles to fully rationalize

• Christina Ashton: A mirror of ambition without restraint

• Opal Ashton: Emotional and intuitive foil

Orillia represents the Frontier question of how to engage with progress without being consumed by it.

She is the bridge between the old world and what comes next—if such a balance can survive.