i think my worst personal headcanon for the 4th house is that there are just no real adults there. the 5th “takes special pains with the 4th house” – hegemonic pains. what if those pains are broader than just Abigail & Magnus feeling parental for Issac and Jeannemary and instead take the shape of the 5th parenting a house of eternal childhood? Issac was a womb vat kid, conceived 6 years posthumously on his father’s side (acording to the cohort files). 6 years! you only have to be pubescent to bank your genetic material, maybe not even that with necromantic augmentation. and womb vat means you bypass all the risks of a child or young teenager giving birth.
the 4th house necromantic specialty is radical thanergetic fission – it’s a suicide bomb. and, we know from Harrow’s conception that younger people produce more thanergy upon death vs adults. fidelity. vanguard of the empire. big families, but only because you need spares. fuel for the machine & blood for the gears. why would you let them grow up when their purpose is to die young?