Giovanni Verdini

Giovanni Verdini was the eldest son of Giuseppe Verdini and Alma Verdini, and a capo in the Verdini Family crime syndicate. He was notorious in Cantonova for his playboy attitude and his myriad affairs.   Giovanni was born in Y650 in the Verdini manor in Cantonova. He was spoiled by his parents and received the finest private education available in the city, but was constantly in trouble with neighboring families and local law enforcement for petty crimes and dalliances with the daughters of high-ranking families. Giovanni was briefly sent away to Cape Hildegard for secondary education in economics and diplomacy, first at the University of Cypruvalu and then (after a large donation from the family) at Hildegard University. He was a notoriously mediocre student, often making various deals or outright cheating in order to pass classes. However, he was incredibly charismatic and well-liked by professors and students, particularly the young women of the town. In Y754, after five separate paternity accusations from fellow students within the span of four months, he left Cape Hildegard to "find himself" and returned to Cantonova in Y758 to help oversee his father's mercantile routes. (The fate of his alleged offspring is still unclear; one of the young women he allegedly impregnated was found dead by fishermen off the coast of Urbana al-Svara later that year, while another disappeared with no trace shortly after making her pregnancy public.)   Giovanni's role in his family business largely involved overseeing trade caravans, primarily along the Vía Titania, funded by his family's business. He is said to have kept a catalog of women he had dalliances with in various locations across Dreibach and the Aquatic Kingdoms. Despite his sexual indiscretions, Giovanni proved to be a shrewd businessman, easily capable of negotiating (or coercing) business deals and keeping his family's less-than-legal business practices discreet. His oversight allowed the Verdini empire to grow beyond the backstreets of Cantonova and forge key alliances in cities across Belcantas.   Giovanni's first marriage, in Y785, was to a High Elf woman named Lusiana Eulëndor, who—like Giovanni—was a granddaughter of one of the former high-ranking families of Bjália. With her, he fathered Césare Verdini in Y789. She slowly became more reclusive through the course of their marriage, as rumors spread about Giovanni's ongoing affairs and her inability to give him another child. During a visit to her father, her boat disappeared in a storm off the coast of Scalados in Y906.   His second marriage, to Anna Opelina, ended in public scandal in Y1090 when the famous troubadour Figaro revealed his decades-long affair with Elvira Laurëlin (then married to hero of the realm Julien Hawthorne) in a saucy ballad that became an overnight hit. (Anna and Elvira later resolved their feud, fell in love, and married in Y1101. They are still together to this day.)   Giovanni Verdini disappeared in early November of Y1110, while accompanying a caravan through the Gaeno Woods. In the days beforehand, he began having unexplained magical accidents and displaying increased paranoia. His remains were not discovered until late January of the following year, at which point they were so decayed as to render him unable to be resurrected. Theories of the circumstances of his death abound; the family officially holds that he was taken by a Fey of the Winter Court, likely an agent of Jezibaba (if not Jezibaba herself).   At time of writing, at least three dozen individuals (mostly half-elves) have claimed parentage from Don Giovanni at one point or another. Most of these individuals later recanted their claims, likely under pressure from the Verdini family; many of these were later hired as bodyguards, subsidiary merchants, or in other positions in businesses connected to the family. Of those who refused to renounce the claim, many have been outed as fraudsters and criminals in other enterprises and thrown in jail; still others have been killed in accidents or by jealous rivals. Lauretta Verdini, Giovanni's child with Anna Opelina, is the only living child of Giovanni who was ever acknowledged openly by the family. She currently lives in exile in Ramdailos.