Girardino da Liovia

Girardino is a favored son of the Liovia family, which is a prominent family within the Erasmus family of Theodova. He is driven by the fact that his immediate family was killed by a rival branch of the Erasmus family at his home following his daughter's naming ceremony. His rise up the family was cemented when he hunted down those who killed his family and exacted his revenge - eventually reaching Filippo Erasmus who allowed the killing. He now works for Filippo as his top cleaner - ruthless and willing to trim the family tree of weak branches.

He has been sent to Bornheim to take over the Erasmus family holdings as Cristobal Erasmus fell out of favor and Tycho Terrente was viewed as both incompetent and a liability - good only for back-alley work.

• Ethnicity: Human, Theodovan
• Born: 421 AH
• Parents: Adolfo (392-453) and Maria (401-453) da Liovia
• Siblings:

  • Faber (418-453)
  • Simone (425-453) [married to Petri Janus]
• Spouse: Colette (422-453) [married Winter 451]
• Issue: Enrica (452-453)

The da Liovia family was a wealthy and influential branch family within the Erasmus family. They enjoyed the protection of powerful patrons within the family and Girardino's father, Adolfo, well played his own personal connections to increase the stature of the family. Each of the da Liovia children received an exceptional education with private tutors as well as entrance into Università di Chalpe.

While is brother Faber and sister Simone both excelled at university, Girardino struggled with his lectures and classes. His mentors considered him skilled in several of the physical arts - but near hopeless at debate, philosophy, and mathematics. His father understood and soon after called his son home and instead brought him into the family business.

While politics and family are the bread and butter of prominent Theodovan families, the Erasmus family was closely divided between two factions. The slightly larger faction was made up mostly of the younger or newer members of the family and interested in opening up new trade and alliances with other families, while the most established and “first families” preferred to keep their legitimate business practices simply as a cover for a more “hands-on” political approach. The da Liovia was one of the smaller long established families with deep ties among smugglers along the southern coast of Miran.

Girardino was a natural for this line of business and soon helped propel his family to greater heights.

On one of his trips he met Simone from a Theodovan family of low means. Although his mother did not approve (and had been trying to marry him off for years) he married her on a rainy day in the winter of 451. She never did win the approval of her mother-in-law until she quickened with child. While Maria da Liovia was not as happy when the child turned out to be a girl, nonetheless Simone and Maria

• Dakarian Insurrection, Trading Houses, AH 462.