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Epilogues

Antonio Donati

Things are moving a little faster than Don Antonio likes, but he's keeping up. Things have mostly gone well, even if he has new enemies to look out for.

He's doing a brutal but effective job of pacifying the lands he's been given to administer. He hopes that Mondavi will conquer all of Vestini lands and that he'll be given the job of overseeing them. After all, he has a noble Vestini wife.

More than that, he can make the conquest happen. In early 1669, Cardinal Durand del Falisci will begin to speak out against Mondavi's aggression, pressing the cardinalate to excommunicate him if he continues. Antonio has a countermeasure: knowledge of Cardinal Spada della Lucani's Bianco blood, and the vision of Mantua under one ruler - a ruler who would be well-disposed toward Spada della Lucani and would assist him in implementing his radical reforms. Either the carrot or the stick can work to spur the cardinal to action.

Past that, Antonio's father-in-law - Gianina's father - heads up a Vestini faction that wants to see Prince Eduardo Vestini taken out. While he'd never intentionally hand control of his family lands to Mondavi, Antonio could convince him that now would be the time to strike, while Eduardo is preoccupied with the war. A change of power in Vestini lands at this time would likely be disastrous (especially if agents provocateur were on hand to enflame family rivalries) and assist Mondavi's advance.

Antonio's first concern is Prince Mondavi. He doesn't trust his duplicitous prince as far as he can throw him, and is well aware that if Mondavi ever suspects him of... untoward ambitions, it could be his end. For the moment, he will be the perfectly loyal retainer.

Next to beware of is his half-brother Angelo. Beatrice Caligari didn't die, and there's been too much time for, say, Odessa Blanchard to have been talking to him. He suspects Angelo won't take immediate action: Antonio is in favor with Mondavi, and Mondavi's son is engaged to Pietra, and the family's fortunes are generally increasing. But his wily brother will seek retribution eventually, he's sure, and he's going to do his best to see it coming - or head it off.

He's aware that the Mondavi heirs are not his friends; his companion Lord's Hands have seen and heard enough on the island to confirm that. They're young and less experienced, though, so he doesn't rate them quite as highly as a threat.

Countess Odessa, on the other hand, has entirely too much experience. He will be keeping an eye on her, but so long as she's nothing more than a viscount's mistress, he doesn't think she'll have the power to really work against him.

He's scared to death of his daughter and may be the one to ask Principessa Mea to take her away and educate her in Sorte. He'll greet the birth of his second strega daughter with mixed feelings - he really did want another son, and certainly did not want another witch. But she is his daughter, and the most beautiful baby in Theah.

He's disappointed that Bernardo isn't apparently interested in managing the family holdings, and wishes that Tomasso were still around. This sort of situation was exactly the sort of thing he was keeping his younger half-brother around for, but Tomasso had to go and press the issue! He's regretfully eyeing Cristoforo and wondering if the capo could possibly learn enough of the Great Game to manage their Monfalcone home... It seems unlikely.

He's putting off most of Anna's suitors, hoping that his fortunes will continue to increase and so attract a better class of men for her. But she is getting close to twenty, so he'll have to pick someone relatively soon.

Antonio has played many of the cards he held, but he appears to have played them well. In a matter of months, he's gone from Lord Donati to a viable candidate for a marchese of the old Serrano lands. He's got the ear and attention of a man who's poised to become King of Vodacce, and his daughter is marrying into that line. (Even if he can never say that she's his daughter... but the family influence goes on.) The Donati may not claim their old name and status in Antonio's lifetime, but he's moved them closer to that goal than anyone would have thought possible.

Happily Ever After: Hey, King of Vodacce would be nice... but realistically, Antonio's brightest future is as a chief advisor to Prince Mondavi. He would never learn that his son and vedova are still alive, and Gianina would bear him a son. Gianina's use of Sorte is restricted or subtle enough that it never makes Antonio feel threatened, and they have domestic harmony. When Alcide Mondavi passes, Gallisus takes the throne - briefly. Oreste, backed by Pietra's Sorte and Antonio's quiet support, manages to remove his brother from power. His daughter is cruel and manipulative, but Antonio has become too useful for her to torment needlessly. If his brother Angelo or Countess Odessa attempt to take revenge upon him, he triumphs over them in this ending.

Bittersweet: As above, but without the domestic harmony. Antonio gains his political ambitions, but has to deal daily with the knowledge of his son's betrayal and his wives' faithlessness. He more or less puts Gianina away - her Vestini ancestry makes her too valuable to repudiate, and he fears her sorcery too much to mistreat her harshly - and takes up with a string of courtesans.

Utterly Tragic: Well, it would be tragic for Antonio... Any one of his plans could go awry, or Angelo and/or the countess might strike him effectively. The Mondavi children don't like or trust him, and Pietra knows his greatest shame and is all too willing to use it to destroy him, if she had reason to.

Odessa Blanchard

Ante alter mea familia: My family before all others. It's the St-Laurent family motto, and the guiding mantra of Odessa's life. If they were to ever resume the mantle of Imperator Tigranus, the scions of the usurper Montanus would have to be removed. To that end, she ingratiated herself into l'Empeurer's favor and did all that she could to hasten his self-destruction. Her brother's Porte-free children have been well-prepared, and they have been given the resources to built the family up from a minor landholding into a major force during the coming chaos.

That's all well and good for the St-Laurents overall. But for Odessa personally, it's going to be a bumpy ride. The vast majority of her power at court came from her influence with l'Empeurer. At some point in the future, she expects her family will be influential in its own right, but right now she's just got her reputation as the Wickedest Woman in Theah as currency - and she's finding that it doesn't go as far in Vodacce as it did in Montaigne. At least, not in the same way... her typical mix of sex, power and politics was a dynamic cocktail in the Montaigne courts, but doesn't fit with the Vodacce notion of a "lady." Courtesan, yes, but not a noblewoman. On top of that, she's a Senzavista, a vile heretical sorcerer, and certainly no good Vaticine. On the other hand, so much more is forbidden here - and the allure of forbidden things is one of her oft-used tools. She needs to alter her persona sufficiently to not get burned at the stake, but not so much that she loses the pull that draws people to her.

She was supposed to have Antonio Donati as a protector at this stage of the game, and the plan was for his rising star to assist her as well. His unexpected betrayal has absolutely enraged her. She may settle for vengeance on him, depending on the strength of the Donati at the time, but the two branches of Lorenzo are unlikely to ever work together again.

She needs Viscount Salvador more than she would care to admit right now. He's young and ambitious and is a connection to Mondavi. (Mondavi, she feels, is important - if for no other reason, Antonio certainly has his ear as well, and she needs to know what he's telling the Prince about her.) Salvador is supporting her and giving her an "in" to Vodacce noble society. In turn, she's leveraging her considerable charm and acumen to boost his status and visibility. They already have the attention and adulation of the young rakes, which may pay off in ten years, but Odessa is more interested in their fathers, who can pull strings now. As she gets her bearings, she'll find ways to get her fingers into those strings. Strega will be a new potential threat to her, and she'll probably try to cozy up to Donna Anna to learn more about them.

Salvador is still holding her interest, personally. He's shown a delightful willingness to join her in mind games and manipulations, but with this odd idea of "not wanting to hurt anybody." As if it were only a matter of bashful reticence that, once overcome, is put aside as childish! Although her first preference would be to see him get over this hangup, she's beginning to think that a better tactic would be to encourage it. Eventually, every hesitation, every drawing back, every "no" might just come to be a symptom of a regrettable, repressive shyness that needs some... encouragement to overcome.

Happily Ever After: Odessa ingratiates herself with the Mondavi. She manages to reduce Antonio's influence at court greatly, perhaps sending him back to Monfalcone in disgrace. Her niece and nephew in Montaigne play their cards precisely right, surviving the Revolution but positioning themselves to be in or near the top tier of the returning expatriate government. She eventually returns to Montaigne to something approaching her former celebrity, with the St-Laurent family's prospects on the rise. She retains Salvador as an easily-led ally, but has more or less finished with him.

Bittersweet: Two options: First, the neice and nephew do well, but take care to freeze their domineering aunt out of their gains. She loses the Blanchard lands in the Revolution, and remains an expatriate in Vodacce for the rest of her days. She plays the Great Game well, but being treated as a Senzavista (and having been played by her own blood) rankles her continuously.

Oddly enough, I would put her possible redemption here. It's certainly not what she thinks she wants, so it's not Happily Ever After for her. She could potentially turn away from politics and scheming and return to pursue her religious calling in Avalon. It would be an admission of defeat initially, but a more rewarding life overall. (However, even the GM is having a hard time thinking of what would cause Odessa Blanchard to redeem herself.)

Utterly Tragic: Irrelevance is Odessa's greatest fear - that she'll become nothing but a sadly debauched old woman with no power or influence over anyone. Tigran Mondavi intrigues to get his brother to reject her; Salvador realizes she's a bad influence and breaks off their relationship; the strega wind strands around her to keep her from their husbands. Her self-assurance - always her most attractive trait - erodes and breaks, and she never recovers from it.

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