Strega Princesses
The more powerful a woman is in Vodacce, the more isolated she is likely to be. Physically, a strega who exposes herself to the gaze of other witches is inviting them to meddle with her strands. Emotionally, the more connections one has, the more weaknesses one's enemies have to exploit.
Most strega interact with the world through their husbands and servants. Since Vodacce men are considered to be too hot-heated and impulsive to even see a simple business deal through without challenging someone to a duel, strega frequently hire non-sorcerous women to do their business. These go-betweens, called intercessors, need to be canny businesswomen, conscientious courtiers, and often, capable swordswomen. (Strega are not averse to using violence to further business. The trouble with men isn't that they can be violent, but that it's too easy for others to prod them into bouts they shouldn't fight.) Their relationships with their employers are ideally strongly Coins- and Rods-based. The formation of a Swords strand - too easily encouraged by one's enemies - is grounds for immediate dismissal. Intercessors often serve several strega before finding one they can tolerate, and who can tolerate them.
The very best of the intercessors find employment with the Princesses. As "Lady's Hands," they serve to enforce her will on her people. Of course, in addition to her Hands, a Princess will have eyes and ears as well, mundane spies reporting via written report the activities of her realm.
Princely Families
Bernoulli
Princess Maria Bernoulli is only five years old; she received her title when her mother died suddenly last year. Normally in these circumstances, her father Domenico would act as her regent until she came of age. However, in his grief, Domenico turned for comfort to a concoction of Cresent herbs thoughtfully provided by his father-in-law, Gespucci Bernoulli. Now he is hopelessly addicted to them; to put him forth as a regent would be to invite disaster.
So what is there to do but ask Maria's old grandfather to step in? The noblewomen are more likely to accept an older man anyway; he's less likely to go off and do something stupidly brash.
Caligara
Princess Beatrice Caligara is, in a word, mad. As mad as old Queen Marietta, they say. She is obsessed with her sorcery and her curse, and cloisters herself even more closely than the other princesses to do her research in secret. She appears to barely care how her holdings are run, or how family business is conducted. She is married to a minor Falisci nobleman, but has borne no children. Her cousins tend to most of the family business.
Also of note is her uncle, Vincenzo. He looks less than half of his eighty years, which he attributes to an encounter with strange Syrneth artifacts during his youth. When he realized what had happened, he was energized with a sudden purpose. His family had been selling Syrneth artifacts for years as toys and weapons - now he knew that they could benefit humanity, as well. He pulled together a group of historians, Caligara excavators, and swordsmen and christened it "The Explorer's Society." They seek out Syrneth ruins, looking for artifacts that might be used to help people, or from which Theah might learn new technological secrets. His cousins sigh and permit this, so long as the family still gets the lion's share of whatever toys and weapons are found.
Falisci
Alexandrie Falisci and her brothers, Michel Durand and Donello, are notorious libertines. They firmly uphold the family's tradition of parties that "cater to tastes both gross and sublime," and which leave their enemies embarrassed or disgraced, caught in some drunken folly or another. Weapons and sorcery are forbidden at Falisci fetes; family strega keep an eye out for anyone flouting the second rule.
Montaigne on her father's side, Falisci is Twice-Blooded in Sorte and Porte. While not personally strong in either sorcery, she uses her family's lavish lifestyle to entice unattached relatives from both sides to come to her island. Her Vodacce cousins are cagey, but she has an enthusiastic cadre of Portiers who are more than happy to trade the occasional Walk here or there for a life of sparkling wine, crashing surf and warm sun. As a result, she gets news and information from locations all over Vodacce and indeed Theah the very day it happens. Falsci ships set sail with cargoes desperately needed by buyers on the mainland before anyone else is even aware that there's a need to fill.
Michel Durand is a cardinal in Numa; his influence and striking good looks ensure a steady stream of female admirers. Donello is in charge of planning the fabulous Falisci parties. His latest innovation was inspired by some historical reading: selected guests are treated with the best wine and fine food on a balcony overlooking an enclosed labyrinth, laced with the most bizarre Syrneth deathtraps the Caligara are willing to part with. A few people that Alexandrie had marked for elimination are placed within, and voila! Novel entertainment for the evening; betting is encouraged.
Lucani
Francesca Lucani has been studying the Vestini family since girlhood. If they can rise with so little Sorte, surely the Lucani can propser even with their curse? When Fate gave her four daughters, she began to plan.
Two girls she intends to marry strategically within Vodacce; the Mondavi seem apolitical, and a pre-emptive peace offering might help to keep them that way. The eldest will be her heir, and the second girl is standing by in case anything should happen to her sister.
Her two youngest she intends to marry outside of the nation. King Sandoval needs a bride, and she could use a secure border with Castille, and the king's pressure on the Hieros Council. Similarly, Eisenfurst Heilgrund is unwed and might welcome a wife who could pull the threads of Fate to his advantage. Lucani witches are strong; if her family's support wins him the throne of the Imperator, she will expect a little military assistance later... when she moves to conquer Vodacce.
Mondavi
Mea Mondavi and her husband, Alcide, keep out of Vodacce politics as much as possible. Alone among her royal cousins, Mea seems to actually foster a tender Cups strand with her husband and with her children. The other strega speak of her with some scorn; clearly, she's given up any chance of wielding real power and settled for a home life that would be the envy of any common fieldworker. They could twist and break Mea's strands to her family, but there's no reason to - and Mea Mondavi is more than Atropos enough to take revenge on anyone who sought to disturb her domestic idyll.
Vestini
Fiametta Vestini is, like most of the women in her family, a Senzavista and proud of it. She and her husband Eduardo are devoutly Vaticine - rabidly, some would say - and are quick to point out, loudly, that sorcery is the one unforgivable sin. They donate lavishly to the church and have built up considerable goodwill with many members of the Hieros Council (most definitely excepting Cardinal Michel Durand del Falisci, who was quite annoyed that Vestini wouldn't get into bed with him).
Villanova
Valentina Villanova has poured rivers of money into Dionna University and into Gespucci Bernoulli's pockets. From Bernoulli, she has secretly obtained Cresent treatises on higher mathematics. Bernoulli smiled into his sleeve at what she paid for such impractical, airy theories, and thought the princess was just indulging her hobby.
On the contrary. Researchers at Dionna have developed a new weapon, called a "spindle" or "rochetta" in honor of their Tessatora princess. Like a cannon, it uses black powder. But whereas a cannon shoots a ball and recoils, the rochetta shoots itself, with very little recoil - only the force of hot gases hitting the floor, and that only for a few seconds, before it lifts into the air. A ship firing cannons must account for the way they will shudder and shake the hull; one firing rochette need not worry about such issues.
But aiming the rochette has been problematic. Villanova thinks the answers may lie in mathematical equations. Armed with her forbidden Cresent texts, she believes she has the keys to create a naval power that will win her control of Vodacce's seas and islands, a navy capable of raining down death upon any coastal city. And after Vodacce... who knows?
Villanova's home life is also somewhat irregular. She has an abiding affection for one of her Hands, the beautiful Juliette Ambrogia. They are linked by a powerful Knight of Cups, and Villanova does not seem worried that the connection will weaken and become prey to sorcerous manipulations. But there is also a young Page of Cups between Ambrogia and Villanova's handsome husband Giovanni. The princess must almost certainly be aware of it, although as infrequently as she sees Giovanni, perhaps it has escaped her notice. In any event, she has made no mention of it to Ambrogia.
The Tessatore
The Tessatore are a loosely-connected council of the most powerful strega in Vodacce. Most of the princesses are members, but not all: Vestini is Senzavista, Falisci will never progress beyond Clotho, and little Maria Bernoulli has not even begun to manifest her powers yet. Caligara would be considered a member, but she feels such paltry matters are beneath her and never condescends to involve herself in the Tessatore's business.
The Vaticine Church
The priesthood is still largely masculine in Vodacce. Ever since the Hierophant's seat moved to Castille, the Church's power has been considered distinctly lesser compared to secular forces. Besides, no strega can become priests and continue to practice their sorcery. Ambitious women, then, tend to remain in secular life. It is, however, considered a fine place for ambitious men to try and do some good for their families. They are free of sorcery and perhaps the religious life will teach them some moderation of their passions.
Some women look at the cardinals' seats and recognize what they're missing. But the male majority currently in place is defending their turf. There are very few female bishops, and no female archbishops at all.
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