The Family Cristofori

The current - and indeed first - Merchant-Duke of the Cristoforis, Ario is “new money”. But since he's probably the wealthiest man in the White City, and since all of the Families have some mercantile interests, they don't like to throw stones too hard. He is a widower, his wife having died giving birth to their second son. She herself was something of an oddity, hailing originally from the City of Crossroads and, according to some, being a disinherited heiress of the Kingdoms of the East.

The shield of the Cristofori Family consists of a golden wheel on a blue field, between two black-and-gold striped bees.

Heir to the Family and currently unmarried. An accomplished diplomat, a skilled sword and an excellent trader, Oliviero is by some accounts the archetype of all a young nobleman should be.

The name was apparently chosen by her mother. She is young, seemingly canny, but with a vaguely unearthly quality that some find unsettling. Still, she is by all accounts a pleasant enough girl, and of course as rich as all hell.

Never really got on with this father and never knew his mother. Luti Cristofori wandered off East some three years ago and has not been seen since.

Duke Ario's younger sister. She is not overly close to her brother, although her financial acumen and cold, realistic attitude have provided her with a good reputation within the Family. It is rumoured that her marriage to Giovanni had very little to do with affection and a great deal more to do with the man's trading contacts and Family financial history. Even now, after almost thirty years of marriage, she is rarely more than adequately civil to her husband in public and it is rumoured that their private relationship is only maintained in order to continue to provide the Family Cristofori with heirs. Occasional murmurings of adultery have never been altogether debunked. She has a good relationship with her surviving male children, who have enthusiastically followed her into the Family business, and does her best to ignore her only daughter.

The shield of the line of Olivia and Giovanni Cristofori is as the Family arms, but with silver coins replacing the bees.

Husband of Olivia and brother-in-law to Duke Ario, Giovanni married into the Family shortly before Ario was raised to the nobility. He is from an old and wealthy Crossroads Family who are distantly related to the Ivanescus, and has always been possessed of a cheerful, good-natured attitude somewhat at odds with his parental Family's reputation for ruthless business dealings. He had something of a name as a formidable duellist and adventurer before his marriage to Olivia, and has always seemed vaguely disappointed that none of his sons seem to have any interest in pursuits martial.

Niece of Duke Ario, daughter of Olivia and Giovanni, Shenya was not the most typical example of young Cristofori nobility. She was the seventh child, though only three of her elder siblings (all male) survived till adulthood. She always seemed a great deal more interested in matters of honour, adventure and combat than in following her brothers' example and aiding the Family's mercantile interests. She stood to inherit very little, but did have a small share in the Family's holdings outside the city - this was a coming-of-age gift from her mother, apparently in the hope she would take some sort of interest in financial affairs. She rarely visited it, and left its running to a long-suffering Family steward. Her father quietly doted on her, when his wife wasn't watching, and her mother disliked her enough to pretend she didn't exist at most social functions. Her dreams of making a name for herself as an adventurer were thwarted early when she disappeared during the critical battle of the Naming & Binding War. Her body has not been recovered.

Shenya's shield is as the Family arms, but lacking the bees and with the addition of a red rose centering the wheel.

Agelmar's shield consists of three gold coins with crowns on a blue field, with a red border. There are those who speculate that the red border and three crowns appearing on this line's arms are a veiled reference to the claims of Lucrezia Cristofori, Agelmar's grandmother and the matriarch of the branch, to be an illegitimate descendant of some exiled White City Governor. These claims have never been disproven, but it's generally considered gauche to mention them in front of the De Courcis.

Brave, honourable, honest and bluff Enrico (cowardly, back-stabbing, conniving and womanising bastard) and famed (accidental) adventurer. Born to minor noble of the Cristofori family, Enrico's early life was spent in an attempt to get an education and join the family's business which disastrously failed when he became entangled with another merchant's daughter in the White City. Marriage was deemed to be the only solution (it was that or face a duel with the girl's uncle) and Enrico spent some time enjoying the comforts of the city while his wife's father payed for it. A brief spell in the High Guard ended when rumour reached Matteus De Almedia's ears that Enrico had enjoyed too close a company with one of his female relations (all true). Fleeing was the best possible choice and Enrico moved speedily to the East where he spent four long years in the City of Crossroads and thereabouts. News has returned that he had assisted Gerran Bellart in several ventures and even prevented an assassination of the Governor (all true, though none of those were Enrico's intentions, he was busy saving his own skin and did it accidentally).

Returning to the White City (quite desperately by now, since undeserved glory had earned him enemies) as a slightly more hardened warrior, Enrico has tried to keep a low profile, which didn't stop Matteus catching up with him and forcing a degree of payment out of him for past indiscretion. A lily-livered coward by nature who has had the misfortune to appear brave to all around him, Enrico constantly finds himself in dangerous situations and does his best not to get killed (while making off with the gold and the women if he can).

Enrico's shield is a lozenge Azure, a bordure Or, four Wheels Or.