House Véntomâ 

House Véntomâ (pronounced /veŋ.tuˈmaː/) is a minor noble house from the city of Zêna (commonly known as Genoa), in northern italy. Although the city is, contrarily to the independent Venice, controlled by the feudal lords of the Holy Roman Empire, and therefore lacks the necessary autonomy to found a thriving trade empire, it dominates the ligurian sea, and controls trading routes throughout the western mediterranean sea, with trading posts as far as North Africa, even though their influence does not stray much further. The city is also renowned for its militia of crossbowmen, who act both as defenders of the city and mercenaries.

The early origins of House Véntomâ are unclear, but what is certain is that they came from a family of merchants who sailed to and fro across the mediterranean sea. Their motto, "O vénto do mâ pòrta i scignôri do mâ", which can be translated as "The wind of the sea brings the lords of the sea", and their name, which can be translated as "Seawind", suggests that they were not only traders but also mercenaries. The first records mentioning the Véntomâ dynasty date from the early Xth century, at which point they already were influential in the city of Zêna, despite being irrelevant outside of it and its trading routes. 

In CMLXI, Àldo Véntomâ founded the trading post of Tànas, in de jure Tahert, as a way to connect the family's trading network to the already existing land networks of North Africa. It is true that the trading post's proximity to Algier, a far better and larger port, hurt Tànas' success, but a rival family had already created a trading post there, and Àldo knew that his trading post would also hurt the one in Algier by dividing the influx of goods amongst the two ports. To summarize, he knew it was a bad strategic choice for him, but it was just as bad for his enemy, so he didn't mind. Current Status of House Due to Lusciàndro's rebellion, house Véntomâ has been completely exiled from Zêna, and had to flee to Tànas. Having expelled the local Berber ruler, they now rule over the county as feudal lords. Lusciàndro has converted to Ash'ari Islam, the local religion, since he never cared much abouth religion in the first place, but other members of the family are reluctant to do so. However, the sighting of the Holy Comet has given them faith in this new start, and despite their trade network having been severely damaged by their exile, they will rebuild it stronger than it ever was before. Beyond religion, another issue is culture. Most members of the family only speak Zenéize and some amount of Latin, but none of them speaks Berber or even Arabic. One look at any of their faces will immediately tell anyoe from Tahert that they are strangers, and this will undoubtedly harm their diplomatic relations, both internal and external. 

Lusciàndro started learning the way of the sea from a very young age, as his father often brought him with him on his travels. He not only learned how to maneuver and command a ship, but also how to trade and to fight at sea. He quickly became obsessed by gold, and was very good at obtaining it, sometimes even better than his father. Speaking of whom, Lusciàndro's father died rather young, at the age of XXXVII, when the young sailor was only XVI. However, he did not inherit his father's estate, as his older brother, Agostìn, was first in line, despite being less talented than Lusciàndro in the arts of trading and seafaring. On top of that, Agostìn refused to appoint Lusciàndro as steward, or any other important position for that matter, and he refused to give any of their father's money to him. Even though he was in his right, this enraged Lusciàndro, who swore to get his revenge. In MLXVI, after four years of plotting, Lusciàndro was now commander of a small troop of crossbowmen, which he used to attack the Véntomâ estate. He used this opportunity to kill his brother, and claim the title of head of the house. However, the lord of Genoa did not like this, and raised his troops to march on the estate. Knowing that he couldn't fight against him, and that he was now a murderer, Lusciàndro decided to flee along with his crossbowmen, using his brother's merchant fleet. He had only one place to go, Tànas. Once there, he attacked and overthrew the local Wālī, who had already been weakened by a popular revolt, and took control of the county. He used the already trading post to affirm his authority over the populace, although it is still uncertain whether he will be able to maintain his throne, he has done all that is in his power for that to be the case. He converted to the local religion, and is trying to learn the local customs and language, even though he still is Zenéize at heart.