di Gratiano Family
The di Gratiano family are an influential family of Savu - and ultimately Katari - descent, who have wielded great influence in the city of Cameri since the time of the Empire of Kataris. They have a somewhat notorious history of involvement with demonic entities, and have longstanding ties to organised crime such as the Crownless.
It is rather less widely known that the head of the family, Anastasia di Gratiano, is a vampire, and that the family has had ties to the practice of blood magic for centuries. They have also had ties to a number of cults, including the Carmine Pillar, the Sanguine Veil, the Order of the Tyger, the Order of the Everflowing River, the followers of the prophet Tranquility, and the Crimson Causeway - though the nature of some of these ties is obscure.
History
The di Gratiano family are extremely old, and can trace their genealogy back to the Empire of Kataris. The earliest reference is to the "Genearch of the Gratianoi" who held the "Dunasteria of Skatha Kamar" - the latter translating to "Citadel of the Vaults", being the old name for Castello Cameri. Another Katari source mentioned that Skata Kamar was “under the sway of Kyria Arachni”, which could be translated as “Mistress Spider” - a title attributed to the Lotus Queen.
During the collapse of the Katari Empire, the Gratianoi turned against the Basilisk Queens and sided with the rebels - likely for reasons more pragmatic than ideological. They consolidated their power and effectively became the local rulers until the Alderni conquest, overseeing the entry of Cameri into the Greenstone Alliance. When Cameri was besieged in 694AK by the forces of Erastes Tideborn they capitulated to the invaders after several months; one or two of them married into the newly formed House Zaal, which became the rulers of the city, whilst the rest were elevated to the low nobility as the client house of Gratiani-Zaal.
House Gratiani-Zaal were stripped of title and deed in 976AK after a scandal in which they allegedly attempted to blackmail several of House Zaal's scions. It was rumoured at the time that the Gratiani were the ringleaders of an iniquitous sect of demon-worshippers, with some speculating that the details of the incident were suppressed by House Zaal in order to avoid the outcry that would have resulted should this have reached the ears of the other High Houses. It is believed that the entities which were being worshipped were Azianka, the Hamatarch of Indulgence, and Vrajalakku, the Hamatarch of Intoxication. Whilst the specifics of the scandal are unclear, it has been speculated that the Gratiani had conspired to gain significant leverage against their feudal overlords by means of inviting some of the more impressionable scions of the High Nobility to their “revels”, enticing them to indulge in all manner of vices, and using this as an opportunity to gather blackmail material on the young nobles for later use. This had, by all accounts, been going on for some years prior to 976 before it was exposed.
Even in the absence of noble rank, the Gratiani remained influential - and wealthy. Over the following decades they were able to reinvent themselves as a mercantile house, investing extensively in importing luxury goods from abroad. Though they were eventually somewhat sidelined by the growing power of the guilds, they retained a steady stream of income from ownership, or a controlling interest, in a number of businesses that were not guild-controlled. They also had a measure of military power, having controlling shares in a number of Free Companies, which allowed them to play a little-recognised but significant role in the 1076 AK revolution which overthrew the rule of the Dynasty of Varkos in the Vale of Viraky. It is possibly from this campaign that the Gratiani first learned the secrets of blood magic. They are speculated to have also had some connections to Ras Amur - possibly via the mysterious organisation known as the y'Mara Temakh - and provided sanctuary for Amat Volkenglass after the assassination of her mother by the Rethis Sect in 1085AK.
Over time they began to style themselves as "di Gratiano", following a fashion emerging in the latter part of the 13th century in the northern provinces. As with a number of the more prosperous mercantile families of Aldernord, they began to conduct their affairs in a similar manner to the houses of the Low Nobility, their wealth and influence granting them a certain degree of deference despite their lack of the legal privileges (and associated obligations) of nobility.
Prior to the Savuran annexation of Cameri in 1339 AK , the di Gratiano family owned a number of taverns, inns, and brothels, and though an alliance with part of the criminal network known as the Crownless - specifically, the Rattenvanger Crime Family of Cameri - had effective control of the trade in narcotics in the city. Their connections to the Crownless can be traced back at least as far as the early 13th century, when they were peripherally involved in the smuggling of Vraja's Lotus which led to the Vinzaglian Lotus Murders of 1206AK.
Founding Date
100s AK
Type
Political, Family
Alternative Names
Familio di Gratiano di Cameri, Tribe of the Gratianoi, House of Gratian, House Gratiani-Zaal
Demonym
Gratiani
Leader
Location
Notable Members
Comments