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Etymology: The name dei Termini comes from rather simplistic origins. It comes from the region of Termini, Montania, where the family originated. Following standard Dressolini naming, it was adopted as the surname of dei Termini and has been such from the very beginning.
Sigil: Scales, similar to those used for banking, behind a Pavisa Crossbow. On the left side of the sigil, a golden harp. On the right side, crossed golden lutes.
Words: "Power is Weakness" (This comes from the belief that the more power you have, the more you have to lose. As such the dei Termini have been known to transfer physical investments into currency for the sake of removing potential losses in the future.)
Colors: Pea Green, Goldenrod, Black, Silver
Culture: Dressolini
Businesses: Banking, Taxation, Investment, Entertainment
The dei Termini family began from the humblest of origins in the Montania region. While the full history of the family is tucked behind a myriad of peasant merchants and guardsmen, the closest origins of success lie in the year 217 AC with one Michaelangelo dei Termini. Michelangelo was a simple tax collector, never seeing large quantities of wealth, but moving the payments to the state coffers and earning his lot in life. He would upkeep this practice until the year 225 AC when a string of luck befell Michelangelo. He saw an opportunity to make coin through the betting tracks of the various tournaments. Using his decisive pitch to scrape coin form wealthy patrons, he was able to secure a small fortune when they would lose their placed bets. Michelangelo would continue this practice for several decades, sharing the practice with his many sons, Rudolfo, Leonardo, Luigi, Benito, and Marco.
Each of the sons would spread out across the Montania region, gaining prosperity outside of Termini and venturing into the different areas. Rudolfo would go to Benverin. Leonardo would go to Bellinzonia. Luigi would go to Orazei. Benito went to Camerito. Lastly, Marco went to Pellegrino Martini. With each son planted within a region, they would learn about the various tournaments within the respective cities they found themselves in. Learning the secrets and lucrative riggings in order to secure maximum profit.
In the year 256, Michelangelo died, having acquired a modest fortune which he never truly was able to retire on, but enough to leave a fair sum to his children. Rudolfo was having his own successes in Benverin, building large fortunes on horse racing and not seeing a reason to leave to obtain his father's wealth. Leonardo was mildly successful in Bellinzonia, organizing a betting circuit that spanned various fencing and wrestling tournaments, even wedding himself to a Calemberger lord's daughter. That being said, he had no reason to return to Termini. Luigi was able to find success in gambling with the rowing leagues and cliff divers of Orazei, even establishing a chain of high profile restaurants which were ogled over by visiting lords and ladies. Beneito did not have as much luck as his brothers while in Camerito. He would suffer a terrible fate when he tried gambling with farmers wages in Vultaro, soon being driven out by a peasant revolt and being lynched off a cliff face. Marco was the only brother keen to return to Termini as his endeavors in Pellegrino Martini were not able to take root, unable to compete with the existing betting circuits. So Marco would return to Termini to claim his father's fortune.
Once there, Marco would gather up the various contracts Michelangelo established. He would reference the various lines of betting and who worked for who. He would gauge what mercenaries Michelangelo hired and which were worth keeping, noting that dropping some would result in losing some of the betting circuits throughout Termini, some even reaching into Champolue-Osta and Valerese. Once all of this data was processed, Marco would sell the deals and contracts to those who were closest to his father, offering service loans to them in the future if they bought the contracts. Finally in 260, Marco established the First dei Termini Bank.
The bank would prove to be the most successful venture as loaning out money was a much more stable practice than the shady dealings of betting circuits. Marco would use this practice to branch out to visiting lords and ladies, offering loans for their own landed usage, which would lead to larger deals as they were more keen to spend on their businesses than for their pleasures. In a short four years of the banks initiation, Marco would build a fortune greater than his brothers, the only one who maintained more was Rudolfo who had expanded his tracks to Valerese and Bellanzonia. This would prompt Luigi to reach out to Marco, moving the headquarters for his diving tournaments to Termini, even establishing a few off the southern coast.
In the year 274 Marco and Luigi's joint efforts would surpass Rudolfo's fortune. Though the latter would not return to his brothers, he simply was too content with what he was able to afford himself. In 279 Rudolfo would die, having bared no offspring, leaving many to believe he was either a homosexual or inept. Seeing a fortune sitting, Marco would send his son, Michelangelo II to secure the tracks set up by his uncle. Marco also had two other sons in this period, Luigi II and Marco II, named for both himself and his brother who returned to join him.
In 285 Marco and Luigi would have passed. Leonardo also passed in this time, retiring in a castle in Calemberg with his wife and seven children. This would leave Michelangelo, Luigi, and Marco to handle what businesses remained as well as the dei Termini Banks, which grew in size in this period. Marco would opt out of this deal, instead learning military theory and entering the Regalian Army as a field tactician. This would leave Michelangelo, who had successfully secured his uncle Rudolfo's racing tracks, and Luigi who would operate the banks. All other businesses that were considered small or incapable of expansion were sold and transplanting the wealth into the dei Termini Banks.
As the three brothers thrived in their respective spheres, a strong relationship with the Regalian Empire grew. Many business transactions and loans were spread across the landed lords and ladies, permitting sizeable periods of growth with only marginal decay. This increased amount of wealth allowed the sons of Michelangelo, Luigi, and Marco to enter fields of their choosing, many opting to remain bankers, others entering the armed forces and serving in the Regalian Army as both officers and field tacticians. It is also in this period that the dei Termini bought out several mercenary companies, using them as an on loan small army to settle civil disputes in the various cities of Montania.
Then in 304, the Empire saw the rise of Andrieu Anahera as the Lord Protector. The dei Termini saw many conflicts in their homes as several Anahera supporters rose up in the neighboring Vultaro lands. Luigi would finance those who opposed the Anahera occupation, cutting off ties with the supporters, seeing more benefit in staying in the good graces of the Calemberger and Anglian lords who had allotted their children to rise in military ranking. Despite these actions, the conflicts that swept over the region was causing many loans of the dei Termini to disappear as family after family sided with the Anahera reign, not allowing the Kade loyal dei Termini to take their money any further. The family would hold fast in this conflict, maintaining their relations with the loyalists and pulling their mercenaries to protect their Termini investments and banks.
When Andrieu died, the Termini saw fit to march their mercenary company across Montania and into Vultaro, slaughtering those of the Vultaro faith so establish themselves as more visibly loyal to the Empire as a financial paper trail could only do so much. As a result of this, the dei Termini were enobled for their services to the realm, having exhausted a large amount of their wealth to counteract the Anahera rule.
Following this, the dei Termini sold their horse tracks and whatever betting circuits remained, recentralizing their wealth into the bank. Inevitably the bank itself was removed as an institution, rebranding itself as a direct line to the dei Termini fortune. All loans and dealings would be established from the House and would reflect them politically as they had done during the Anahera dictatorship. The mercenary company would remain untouched ultimately, though would be recommissioned as a partial House Guard for the dei Termini. Despite not being the eldest male, it was agreed that Luigi would become the patriarch as it was his actions that allowed the house to become ennobled.
In the year 305, Luigi would die, leaving the patriarchy to his eldest son, Giovanni. The man possessed a knack for military theory, though had a heavy education in banking and the handling of the dei Termini fortune. It was with him that the House dei Termini entered into the year 306, seeing it fit to enter a more open political environment following the New Model Nobility enacted by Emperor Cedromar I, not wishing to see the final step of dei Termini progress to vanish from existence, though hoping to capitalize the opportunities.
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