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Tommaso Valeriano

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THL Tommaso Valeriano

My father, a shipbuilder in the Venetian Arsenal, fancied a certain courtesan and saved all his wages up to share a magical sojourn with her. Magical is apparently the key phrase, as she became with child from the time together and he was killed in an explosion at the Arsenal a few days later. The courtesans decided to keep the child, Tommaso, and raised as one of their own. The bright young boy was well educated, exposed to the extensive library and tutors the courtesans had access to, as well engaged in the regular topics of discussion - economics, politics, trade, business, and such things that their clients prized them for their knowledge in. Add to this the education in charm, seduction, grace, and wit one would expect from individuals of such a trade and you get a young man with a silver tongue, sharp mind, and a quick sword.

By his late teens Tommaso had used the connections garnered through his courtesan family to build a fairly substantial trade business, with a medium sized fleet moving several tons of cargo every month. The courtesans would help to turn a convenient eye away from an questionable trade goods, or distract certain officials if the need called for it, but that was part of normal business. And as they were family, the courtesans were well compensated for their participation. Often times, special packages of silks or spices would be discretely delivered to the head of the courtesan house as part of Tommaso's regular tribute to 'mother' (house mother, not biological).

When asked about the packages brought in for the courtesans, Tommaso was quoted to say: "one bribes officals to get things done, that is business, that is how it works. I do not bribe courtesans, for that would be demeaning to infer such a lowly status upon them. I provide them with exotics and decadence, to remind them that above all other things the business exists so that i may provide for them, to remind them just how important they are to me. Beyond family, beyond love, they are the stars in my sky, and all i do is for them"

The business of trade brought in great wealth, it also bred great animosity amongst competitors. To challenge him would be to lose any companionship of the courtesans, and only the most stoic would dare. But there stirred among some unrest as his power grew, and they waited. For they saw hubris.

This man, Tommaso, with his power and his wealth, with his connections and charm, he could have been king. Easily he could have ruled from behind the curtain, or at least from behind the bodice of a courtesan. But ego and arrogance forever taunt those who seek the power to change the world. And one day, the charming and witty young man, the son of a simple shipbuilder, stepped over the line.

The specifics are a tale for another day, but in that one day, Tommaso went from one of the most powerful men in Venice to nearly nothing. His business with dozens of merchant vessels was reduced to just one run down vessel, the Dancing Dexter. The crew, all gone save those few who had nowhere else to go or who had some deluded sense of loyalty to the man. Exiled from the city he loved, to leave with only the clothes on his back and whatever he carried on him, to go immediately and only allowed to return once a year to pay tribute and beg for forgiveness and mercy at the feet of those he wronged.

So now he sails the sea, in his rickety old boat with his equally rickety crew, traveling from port to port, trading, smuggling, offering passage, running blockades, engaging in a bit of piracy or heroism in equal measure, doing whatever needs to be done to stay afloat until that place called home appears on his horizon once more.

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