GIOVANNI SAVOY - PURPLE CLAN, KING

Giovanni's father, Nicolo, was a prominent merchant who hailed from Chrysos. Like so many men with too much money, the man constantly sought to spend it in the most lavish ways. Of course where better to do such a thing than in the city of pleasures, Lilla. Brothels were one of the city's greatest attractions among a host of other nighttime activities. These establishments were not the usual hovels but places designed for the wealthy in mind. A man could go broke if he wasn't careful, the escorts were that good and that expensive. One such escort caught Nicolo's attention, Lucinda or the woman who would become Giovanni's mother.

Lucinda was beautiful by every definition of the word. Beautiful and dangerous; two characteristics which were sure to lure in a powerful man such as Nicolo. The two continued to see more and more of each other and Nicolo was lavish in his gifts. Eventually the man's infatuation ended when he found that Lucinda was pregnant. He had realized he had been living in an almost unreal haze and had just come to his senses, barely avoiding Lucinda's trap. Nicolo wasted little time in returning to Chrysos without any thought towards the future of his child. Lucinda was surprisingly indifferent to the whole ordeal, almost as if she had expected it.

One might say that this was not the ideal situation to be born into but Giovanni turned out just fine, sort of. His mother was a prominent escort in Lilla and while not extremely wealthy, the boy lived a generally comfortable life. His early education was less-formal and more based on the things he learned from his mother. She was a clever and deceptive woman who made a living out of manipulating people's desires. It was because of her that Giovanni learned how to read people with frighten accuracy. He watched as men lined up to do his mother's bidding and he saw power in that. A power that he wished to possess for himself.

Giovanni was essentially born and raised in the shady world of Lilla's nightlife. At first he began to act as a intermediary between his mother and her clients. He slowly began to form his own connections among the underground's power-brokers. Giovanni had always had a knack for picking out usual pieces of information even from the most mundane conversations. Like his mother, he had gained access to a host of powerful individuals and knowledge was power. He slowly began to leverage both his connections and information he had discovered to carve out a piece of Lilla's nightlife for himself. It began simply with managing a few escorts and grew from there. Giovanni operated from the shadows, an invisible hand that was slowly closing around Lilla.

He eventually gained control of his own brothel which was when whispers of his name truly began to spread throughout the city. Giovanni had gained his foothold however and it was too late to stop his rise to power. He had managed to gain a significant amount of influence without the use of any special powers. It was these accomplishments that drew the attention of the Purple King at the time. Oddly enough, Giovanni hadn't given much thought to the defacto rulers of the Lilla at the time. He had simply decided to gain power through his own methods. However he found the King to be a rather persuasive man. Giovanni's options were simple, be destroyed or become a part of something bigger. The choice was obvious.

It was clear from very early on that Giovanni was rather similar to the Purple King at the time; their personalities and intellect were very similar. Giovanni however believed that the current King lacked vision. Regardless of all that, the newest member of the Purple Clan proved to be extremely useful. He had already developed a solid powerbase and offered what he had to help strengthen the Clan. Once again, his rise through the ranks of the Purple Clan was a gradual thing. Giovanni showed himself to invaluable to the clan in a way that few others could. He eventually worked his way up until he became the king's right-hand man. Giovanni did have his own plans for displacing the king but that would prove unnecessary in the end.

The untimely demise of the previous Purple King saw Giovanni gain abilities of which he could have only dreamed. He suspected that his predecessor had never truly trusted him but that didn't necessarily make Giovanni unworthy. Giovanni acted quickly and seized the Purple Clan, and Lilla, for himself since there was none to oppose him. He has spent the last three years creating a hedonist paradise while amassing more power for himself. Giovanni is content to rule from the shadows, it would be inadvisable to draw him out into the open.

TIMELINE

Age 10 - Discovers true identity of his father.

Age 13 - Giovanni kills a person for the first time. Becomes infatuated with death.

Age 20 - Becomes the owner of his first brothel. Joins the Purple Clan.

Age 22 - Nicolo, his father, ends up mysteriously dead in Chrysos. Foul play suspected.

Age 26 - Gio's mother is killed by a disgruntled client. Murderer disappears during transport to Ble

Age 27 - Ascends to King of the Purple Clan