I made an attempt to make the Oades Family Tree/Octopus
Obviously it's imperfect, and I'll need to come back and add some clarifications, but it's a decent mock up for the Oadlings hc/au family connections! <3
edit:
explanations:
So first off I'd love to do a more detailed & better structured version, potentially with more characters, but most family tree software won't let you denote multiple partners, step parents, adoptions, AND various half siblings so for now it's this clusterfuck flowchart
Bobby and Thomas are full-blood siblings, Matt is their half brother via their mother. Les, Darly & DeeDee (twins) have the same father as them, but two different mothers
Alain, the father of the four half sisters who would go on to become the mothers of the canonical Oadlings, had terrible luck and two of his three wives passed away, with the 3rd outliving him
Matt Oades is gay and had a lavender marriage with a (lesbian) friend named Maya. They legally divorced after he was caught having sex with a man in an attempt to spare her any persecution. Because they're still friends (ofc) Maya and her partner Selene are the ones to adopt a bastard child (Rufus) that is either Darly's or Bobby's (he's Darly's) and stay in a degree of contact with the family
Wylde is Matt's son from his younger days, with his conception owed to an exploded van motor, a bad wig and a lot of psychedelics. Matt & Micah love him very much, but did not know of his existence until quite recently.
Matt briefly marries Janice after she has a few unsuccessful marriages after Bobby (not pictured), landing her with the Oades surname again by the episode From The Cradle to the Grave, but it had been terminated by then for some time as when gay marriage was legalized he divorced her to marry Micah Miller, the man who he loves and has been in a happy and stable relationship with ever since
Johnny's biological mother Roz was in an open relationship with Nile Dreer, a semi closeted trans woman. Roz passed away after giving birth to Johnny due to complications and, though they weren't married, she listed Johnny's biological father Bobby Oades as the father on the paperwork meaning he was given the surname. Nile suffered from a large amount of substance abuse due to grief, so Bobby and various Oades grandparents were the ones to have primary custody with some visitations granted to Nile
Coral had/has bouts of stalkerish level obsession with Les, but because he's infertile would, when his interests began to wane, hook up with Bobby (and maybe others?) and claim the resulting pregnancy was his. She did the math wrong with Errol's conception and the results were a paternity test and a divorce
Frodo's parents are Thomas and Kara, but his biological father is Bobby, with Bobby getting Kara pregnant, leaving her for Janice, Thomas confessed his love and they married. They had a brief, two year divorce, but reconciled and remarried as they really do love one another very much
Ptyir was only able to connect with the family after his mother and grandfather had died, and then initially only with the "aunties'" Maya and Selene. He's very close with Rufus, who was also only permitted limited contact with his cousins, but more recently after Bobby was jailed and Errol's sentencing went to trial they've begun to initiate further contact
Family titles are quite fluid, with an example being Janice referred to as an aunt, a mother, a godmother, and an "auntie-mum"
If you have anything else you'd like clarified please don't hesitate to ask, I love to talk about these guys! <3
Brokenwood idea that's maybe mildly darker than it needs to be:
Each of the Oadlings within the semi-au having a scar from something Bobby did (or ties back to his actions or inactions), with most of them being something that can be at least mostly hidden
(In no particular order):
Ladybird's is the most obvious having it on her face with the scarring causing mild paralysis on that side of it (pushed and fell onto a glass coffee table)
Rhys almost canonically has had multiple TBIs, but perhaps one of the more severe ones left a visible reminder that's hidden under his fluff of hair. Canonically the tbi incidents occurred from a badminton racket, a trampoline accident, and possibly him getting dropped, so Bobby's incident could either be the dropping or a 4th separate incident
Errol's would be a more indirect version, sporting either small circular scars on his temples or old self-injury scars, either way a result of his time at an early-days Deschler Clinic (the expenses were too high to keep him in the program, but the family accepted a partial refund in exchange for not publicizing how severely detrimental the "treatments" had been on him)
Ptyir's also aren't Bobby's technical fault, perhaps he'd have still have found himself working on the docks and on the boats too young for safety with or without some child support to pad the household expenses, but regardless there are friction burns set deep into the skin of his hands on both sides in mirrored set
Johnny's is well covered, a good hearted tattoo artist took special care in the design, opting for the scales of justice as a semi-subtle disdain for Bobby's ability to avoid real consequences (Johnny just agreed because he thought the design was badass)
Frodo. Frodo is a kind soul and a terrible liar. He was holding the gun when it went off, technically he did shoot himself in the foot. On the trip that Bobby slapdashedly organized. Everything that could go wrong did of course. They'd all seen what their uncle-dad could do when he was well and truly angry, it became a march on eggshells by the time they headed home. He rounded on Frodo for some inevitable infraction. The safety was off. It may not be a lie, but it doesn't tell the truth. He shot himself in the foot.
(I haven't come up with ideas for the remaining Oadlings yet, I'm still kinda workshoping the idea lol)
Alright I'm posting about the Family Octopus that is the Oades family with some Oades ocs and a rough timeline of some events. Possibly a little bit au-ish but probably not to an unforgivable degree.
(This post will primarily focus on some of Bobby's 13-ish known children, but we'll get to that)
The four original main Oades brothers: Bobby, Thomas, Les, Matt, and Darly.
Bobby and Thomas are full-blood siblings, Matt is their half brother via their mother, Les and Darly have the same father as them, but different mothers
Les Oades actually is infertile (probably after some hijinks related incident), Bobby didn't make that part up about him
Originally from a port town The Oades brothers court the attentions of a young woman named Donya, not realizing she's the daughter of a local sailor with dangerous connections. She has a son she names Ptyir.
After settling into a new, (safely landlocked) town Bobby and Darly both romance May, the much older wife of a vicar the village (who they work doing the grave digging and groundskeeping for). She has Rufus, who's born with down syndrome due to her age and the Oades' flee the town. (Rufus is adopted and raised by some farmers, who, unlike Donya, keep in more regular contact with the Oades' and are referred to as aunties.)
Moving on once again, The Oades brothers take up handyman work for an eccentric man named Alain on the outskirts of Brokenwood with four daughters. Unbeknownst to any of them, Alain is actually a child of a (quite distant) cousin of the primary Oades family; he was put up for adoption as a child and does not know any details whatsoever about his birth parents
Alain is an eccentric man with terrible luck; Two of his wives died (though the 3rd survives), and has four daughters, Roz and Janis, Coral, and Kara. Roz and Janis are full-blood siblings, with Coral and Kara each being the result of a new marriage. This leads to somewhat fraught relations between both all of the sisters and with their father.
Roz fools around and has a child (Johnny) by Bobby but she refuses to marry him, preferring her companions at the automotive repair garage in town, one of whom she is in a longstanding, but open relationship with.
Coral wants to marry Les, but Les won't commit to her so she attempts a brief fling with Bobby to try and make him jealous which quasi-works. They have a child together whom she names Lawrence.
After several months in hospital care Roz ends up passing away from health complications after a very difficult birth, leaving Johnny to be bounced between Bobby, his grandparents, and Roz's partner who, though she cares for Johnny, suffers from substance abuse due to grief.
With Coral now disinterested in Bobby and him feeling desperate not to have to think about the roll he played in Roz's passing, he woos Kara, the youngest and most naive of them. She's married to Bobby for a short time as she believes he is in love with her, but he stays from her and ultimately divorces her for Janis. Kara marries Bobby's brother Thomas and it's unknown which is Frodo's father (it's Bobby). In an attempt to keep relative peace Janis is declared Frodo's Godmother (though truthfully she couldn't care less)
Janis has Rhys, then divorces Bobby after she finds he and Coral have reignited their relationship after Les strays from her (leading to Errol's birth).
Les doesn't regain interest this time as he has learned he is infertile, leading Bobby to seek work in Brokenwood proper, where he finds a lasting career as a gravedigger and a one night stand with a local Museum owner that results in Fenella.
A trip out of town with Matt on some "perfectly respectable business" allows for a few whirlwind weeks of passion with Dawn, a nomadic free spirit who takes up first with Matt, then Bobby when the fines for "respectable business" take a while to get sorted. She leaves town soon after, pregnant with Wylde Oades
Bobby tries to settle down with a woman named Violet, making a go of a stable relationship and having two children a few years apart (Owen and Lyn), though he frequently strays back to Coral or has one-night stands.
Errol is briefly committed to the Deschler Clinic, leading to a profound worsening of his preexisting mental health issues. Johnny very narrowly avoided being committed as well for different issues, only being spared that fate because of the cost. He's initially a mix of relieved and resentful, but comes to feel a sense of guilt for the state Errol is left in when he's withdrawn from the clinic (primarily due to cost, but the decision to do so is quickly vindicated once it becomes clear how badly it affected him).
Errol goes to stay on the farm with Rufus and the Aunties where he ends up bonding with one of the donkeys who becomes a service/support animal. He isn't overly mentally well, but is able to begin travelling around, which the family hopes will sufficiently help him recover.
Errol's sibling transitions, opting for the name Ladybird because she loves ladybugs and liked when they were called that in storybooks. The Oades siblings are generally supportive if admitedly consistently confused. She opts to leave Brokenwood herself as concern for Errol was the main thing keeping her around as she has a very strained relationship with Coral due to her drinking and obsessive behavior over Les, and with Bobby due to his frequently verbal, emotional, financial, and occasionally physical abuse of her and her siblings.
Ladybird and Johnny also have a somewhat strained relationship as she was forced to lie to their grandfather that Johnny caused a fairly severe facial injury that Bobby inflicted upon her while drunk (she, possibly rationally, feared he would hurt Errol if she failed to comply). Regardless Johnny promises to try and keep an eye on their half-siblings/ cousins (particularly Errol), as much as he's able so she'll be able to leave without feeling guilty. His keeping of this promise is mixed levels of effective, but he does try.
*The canonical events of the show occur as we see them*, also Bobby officially leaves Violet after he sires a set of twins by a woman named Tama (Nyra and Tilly) and they both sue him for child support.
Bobby and Les are imprisoned for their actions in "An Oades to Christmas". Johnny serves a very light sentence due to his lawyer being able to effectively argue heavy elements of coercion were at play.
When Errol's trial finally takes place the court sides with him, though he is deemed severely mentally unwell. Ladybird is finally notified of the situation regarding her brother and returns, albeit extremely reluctantly, to Brokenwood along with her partner Marama (who is Maori and Genderfluid) and has very loving family there and is borderline eager to return.
Despite her fears, Ladybird finds Brokenwood far more accepting than when she left, and Errol is released, conditionally, into her care/oversight and he is reunited with Maddy the Donkey <3.
Rhys does not remember "Lawrence", but does remember having a very sweet older cousin that moved away. She unofficially becomes a support person to him and to Frodo, who has "begun" to have issues with seizures (it's found later to have likely been occurring throughout his life with most being absence seizures and Tim just recently witnessing and identifying him suffer a tonic-clonic one).
Tensions are evident between Johnny and Ladybird, but are relatively manageable in light of what's occurring with their younger siblings/cousins and they unite against Bobby's attempts to manipulate them from prison. They find he's far less intimidating when he can't actually do anything to them and they're free to leave the prison when they're done hearing him rant and wheedle. They go to the Salamander and Civet afterwards to have some drinks together and celebrate (albeit with a degree of anxiety)
Ptyir comes to town and reveals he made contact with Rufus and the Aunties after the death of his grandfather and has been staying at their farm ever since. He's come to Brokenwood with his cousin to confront his potential fathers, but upon learning of their imprisonments and scattering settles for finally meeting his assorted half-siblings. He'd brought sample kits to send off for testing, so he, Rufus, and Frodo opt to test against Bobby since there's a sample on file from Les getting a paternity test for his alleged children. Frodo is shocked to learn he is, in fact, not a half-cousin as he'd been led to believe and spends the rest of the evening of the reveal very emotional and frequently hugging the others.
Marama and Ladybird settle more permanently down in Brokenwood and set up a small shop that sells theirs and other locally made art, upcylced goods, trinkets, baked and foraged goods with a tiny petting zoo out back. Rhys, Errol, and Johnny work primarily running deliveries, but sometimes watch the shop.
