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).
Read more about this topic: Gregor Vorbarra