Recently I had occasion to meet Andronico Luksic Craig, son of Andronico Luksic, who died in 2005, leaving his family fortune listed by Forbes as 35th richest in the world (1st in Chile).
I read about him and wondered if he’d served as some sort of inspiration for the character of Francisco d’Anconia. Certainly Rand would have known of Luksic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andronico_Luksic
You may have something there. BTW, isn’t Steerpike a character in the Gormenghast trilogy?