Verdini Family
The Verdini family are a wealthy High Elf family based in the city of Cantonova. Historically, the Verdini family has been a prominent noble family of the High Elf Diaspora, important first in the history of Bjália and later in the economic prosperity of Cantonova after the War of Great Sorrow. As the current patriarch Giuseppe Verdini came into adulthood, however, the family became more oriented towards criminal enterprises. Today, it is better known as an organized crime family in Cantonova and a longtime rival to the interests of House Almaviva.
Structure
Don Giuseppe, the patriarch and family boss, oversees all criminal and financial operations for the family. His youngest child and only daughter, Maria Verdini, has served as his underboss and second-in-command for roughly the past century.
Other members of the family, known as the capos, control different regions or aspects of the criminal enterprise. By Y1110, it was an open secret within Cantonovan society that Giovanni Verdini and Luigi Verdini had heavy influence on trade going in and out of the city (by land and by sea, respectively), and that Césare Verdini (and, to a lesser extent, Fredo Verdini) controlled a network of enforcers. Donna Maria's sons Lucius Verdini and Alfonso Verdini have risen to prominence in the financial and religious sectors of Cantonova, respectively, and Giuseppe's wife Alma Verdini is thought to be in charge of a whisper network of spies and informants.
Public Agenda
The Verdini Family publicly claims to be interested in promoting the strength, safety, and prosperity of Cantonova. They are renowned among many high-society circles as business leaders and patrons of the arts. Outside of the Vía Verenestra, they are well-known for their generous funding of the Royal Cantonova Yacht Club. They also fund a number of scholarships to Cantonova's Silvian School of Law, as well as the dues for all recent graduates' membership into the Inn of the Aster.
Assets
The heart of the Verdini empire is the Verdini Compound, a former city guard headquarters and barracks repurposed into a fortified family estate. The family also owns a controlling stake in many of the businesses along the Via Verenestra, most notably the Blue Lady.
The largest asset of the family, though, was its best-kept secret for many years. Fredo Verdini, long overshadowed in his accomplishments by his brother and sister, discovered a blue dragon egg deep within the Blue Mountains, smuggled it back to Cantonova, hatched, and raised it.
When the dragon was too large to keep in the family compound, it moved into the Cantonova Opera House, which was partially destroyed in a violent storm in Y1055. (Draconologist Lucretia Britt, who studied this dragon closely during the last year of its life, speculates that the dragon either caused or intentionally intensified this storm in order to make a proper lair for itself.) Over the next fifty years, the neighborhood around the opera house—the Cuarto Perso—fell more and more into disrepair and under the control of the Verdini family, as the illusory aura created by the dragon grew stronger.
The dragon, known as the Blue Lady, became a friend and advisor to the family who raised her and provided her with an ever-growing treasure hoard. As she reached the age where Kobolds spawned around her, these, too, became useful assets for the family, primarily as free labor in the dragon's lair and an additional defense force to be commanded by Césare Verdini. The family's embezzlement and trafficking in stolen goods increased rapidly to keep pace with the dragon's need for treasure. After the Blue Lady was slain at the Battle of the Opera House, the total value of the recovered hoard was equal to nearly a million Cantonovan gold crowns (gp).
The sheer amount of wealth able to be hoarded by the Verdini family has afforded them access to magical items of untold power. Giuseppe's sword is known to be a moonblade passed down among the Stewards of Gold; the origins of the rest of the family's blades are unknown, but speculated to be similarly ancient and powerful. The Spymaster of Cantonova has begun inquiries into the recent allegations that the family is growing Clones of themselves, a highly illegal Resurrection practice that requires expensive, difficult-to-obtain bejeweled caskets, as well as connections to obscure Necromancer traditions.
History
The family traces its lineage back to Donna Alcaïna Verdini, a Paladin of Bahamut who ended the reign of Vecna in the late 900s ANX. Donna Alcaïna became the first Steward of Gold in over two centuries, a title passed down through the Verdini line until the death of Jovanaius Verdini in the Siege of Bjália. His wife Mariana fled the city with her infant son Giuseppe, who she raised in Cantonova with full knowledge of his ancestors' glorious past.
When young Giuseppe came of age in the late Y400s, he sought an appointment to the Cuarto Perso Wargrave seat after the sudden death of the previous holder of the seat, Federico Federici. Giuseppe was well-educated, highly charismatic, and already considered a rising leader among the High Elf Diaspora community. However, Count Teodoro Almaviva—also young and newly appointed to his position—refused to appoint Giuseppe. He claimed that his wife Countess Silvia (a powerful Diviner with connections to the Summer Court) had a vision that if any seat from the Council of Wargraves fell into in Giuseppe's hands, it would cause the downfall of the Free City within less than a year. He not only refused Giuseppe the seat, but also publicized the prophecy via royal edict, making it all but impossible for Giuseppe to continue to seek other seats with any success.
Since then, the Verdinis have grown their business interests in the city, buying out much of the Vía Verenestra by the late Y800s and revitalizing the area. Several wargraves, most notably Elvira Laurëlin (the ex-wife of Giovanni Verdini), have had close ties to the family in recent years, but none have actually been part of the family. Their influence in the city's thieves' guilds has been consistently strong, but no member of the family has been convicted of any crime, nor have any been questioned since Maria's absolvement of the Killing of John Felipe Almaviva in Y1000.
Type
Political, Family
Demonym
Verdini
Family Leader
Location
Notable Members
Related Species
Related Ethnicities
Comments