House Vandimion · The Bankers of Vritannis

HOUSE VANDIMIONBANKERS TO THE HOLY SEE

THE HOUSE OF VANDIMION

requests the pleasure of your company

at an evening of music and dancing
given at the family's mansion

VRITANNIS

Carriages at dusk. The Kushan are not invited.

break the seal

VRITANNIS · THE PORT OF THE HOLY SEE

Richer than nations

House Vandimion's fortune is said to surpass the budget of a great nation. The Vandimion Bank runs the Holy See's finances single-handedly, and when the Holy See goes to war against the Kushan, many kingdoms, Tudor included, could not fight at all without Vandimion money. Their mansion in Vritannis is decorated with a four-leaf clover.

THE LONG GALLERY

Walk the family portraits. The candles follow you.

Oil portrait of Federico de Vandimion III, a grey-bearded patriarch in a tall hat and fur-lined robe beside a ledger and gold coins

FEDERICO IIIHead of the House

THE PATRIARCH

The cold one

Third head of the family and, through the bank, the most influential man in the Holy See's lands. He placed his children in positions that served the house. He kept his distance from all of them, and, his wife says, he is secretly afraid of Farnese.

Oil portrait of Lady Vandimion, an elegant noblewoman with a tiara, pearl choker and white fur muff

LADY VANDIMIONWife of Federico

THE MOTHER

A bad example

She winters on the Southern Islands and turns up in Vritannis just as war arrives. She calls herself a bad example to learn from, looks down on the family's men, and tells Farnese she is proud of her.

veiled

GIORGIO & POLIZIANOThe elder sons

THE HEIRS

Barely seen

Giorgio is joint manager of the Vandimion Bank, financial manager of the Holy See's Accounting Office, and his father's right hand: the likely next head. Poliziano is the other elder brother. Both are glimpsed only briefly in the story, so their frame stays covered.

Oil portrait of Magnifico de Vandimion in a feathered velvet beret and ruff, admiring a gold coin

MAGNIFICOThe youngest son

THE SCHEMER

Always a deal

Overshadowed and given the minor jobs, he arranges Farnese's betrothal to his friend Roderick to win the party a ship. Later he dreams of selling elves, and tries to buy Puck with the crown of Elfhelm. A coward, a schemer, and not really a bad man.

Oil portrait of Farnese de Vandimion with a blonde bob, in a green and gold gown, holding a candle

FARNESEThe only daughter

THE COMMANDER

Fire and faith

A lonely child in a huge garden, she drove servants away and burned down part of the mansion at sixteen when her father arranged a marriage. Her father placed her at the head of the Holy Iron Chain Knights. She left all of it to follow Guts, and became a witch's apprentice.

Oil portrait of Serpico with messy blond hair and narrow fox-like eyes, holding a rapier, his pale cloak swirling

SERPICOHerald of the Holy Iron Chain

THE UNNAMED SON

Bought silence

Federico's son by a maid he sent away. His father's one act of fatherhood was a noble title, paid for with silence. Farnese does not know he is her half-brother. He is quick as a fox with a sylph-blessed rapier, and he never leaves her side.

Oil still life: an open bank ledger, gold florins, brass scales, a quill and a letter sealed with green wax stamped with a four-leaf clover — The Vandimion Bank, after hours.

THE VANDIMION LEDGER

Accounts kept by the house, as a fan reads them

The Holy See, entire financial administrationrun single-handedly by the Vandimion Bank

MANAGED

War against the Kushanmany nations, Tudor included, cannot fight without it

FUNDED

III

Refugees of Albionmost of their provisions came from the house

SUPPLIED

Command of the Holy Iron Chain Knightssecured for Farnese during her stay at the convent

ARRANGED

One house of the Holy City mansionburned by Farnese, aged sixteen, over an arranged marriage

WRITTEN OFF

A noble title for Serpicopaid in exchange for his silence

PAID IN SILENCE

VII

Farnese's hand, to Roderick of Isharranged by Magnifico, in exchange for a ship

BETROTHED

EPISODE 255 · “BALL”

A night at the ball

Nobles from across the continent gather in the Vandimion mansion while the Holy See's armies garrison the port. Farnese comes home in a gown, among the people she ran away from.

THE FAMILY

Old debts

In the mansion garden, her mother finds her talking with Serpico. Lady Vandimion, who calls herself a bad example, tells her daughter that she is proud of her.

THE KUSHAN ATTACK

The uninvited guests

The Kushan strike Vritannis during the gathering of nobles. Farnese, estranged as she is, asks Guts to protect her family. The party escapes the burning harbor on Roderick's ship, bound for Skellig.

Every debt is recorded.

VANDIMION.COM · A FAN SHRINE TO THE HOUSE OF THE CLOVER

Federico IIIhead of the houseLady Vandimionhis wifeGiorgiothe bankerPolizianoan elder sonMagnificothe youngest sonFarnesethe daughterSerpicothe son no one names