Revision as of 03:43, 6 July 2009

Baroness Lucia Ravanelli

Affiliations

Baroness Lucia Ravanelli is known among the world's nobility as the head of House Ravanelli, a noble family with lands and holdings dating back through the Italian Renaissance and well into the earliest days of the Holy Roman Empire. She is an active member of the Midnighters Club and frequently consults with mystics within that orders walls. In the thirteenth century she was affiliated with an ancient Italian order of mystics known as L'Ordine Antico e Magico di Hermes, the Ancient and Mystical Order of Hermes or OAMH. After the order was crushed by the Vatican's inquisitors in 1434 on charges of witchcraft, devil worship, and blasphemy, Baroness Ravanelli took the OAMH underground where it survived and publicly resurfaced in the 19th century. The OAMH also goes by another name, a name more indicative of its true purpose. For those knowledgable in arcane lore, this name is L'Ordine Antico e Malevolo di Hadeans, or the Ancient and Malevolent Order of Hadeans.

Backstory

To understand who Baroness Ravanelli is requires one to know the family she married into. The Ravanelli family was once a noble bloodline that flourished in the Italian Renaissance, but whose origins may date back to the days of the Ancient Egyptians. After the fall of the Mu mystics almost 14,000 years ago many of the Mu spread across the Earth, one such branch of survivors calling themselves the Hadeans. The Hadeans were always few in number but managed to spread across the known world, securing positions of security and power for themselves by remaining in the shadows behind the thrones of kings and emperors. As the Roman Empire was rising to power in 27 BC the Hadeans were there, quietly lending their arcane support to Ceasar and those who followed. During Rome's reign the Ravenellis were one of these Hadean families. They were often approached by Senators and officials who desired to utilize the power of the Ravanellis in pursuit of their ambitions. According to legend the Ravanellis were powerful necromancers, and they would frequently lend their dark powers to others in exchange for tribute. Although these tributes included lands, titles, gold, and slaves, the Ravanellis preferred one commodity more than any other - human souls. For centuries countless slaves, prisoners, and unfortunate rivals were quietly handed over to the Ravanellis, and although the Ravanellis grew tremendously in power they were unable to halt the decline of Rome in the 5th Century.

As Rome collapsed around them the Ravanellis managed to relocate to the Eastern Roman Empire, where they continued to survive and grow in power as they did in Rome. The Ravanellis returned to the West in 962, just as the Holy Roman Empire was consolidating its power across Europe. Due to the presence of the Catholic Church and their harsh positions against magic and science, the Ravanellis were no longer as open as they were during the time of Rome. Instead, in 965 they formed a secret society known as L'Ordine Antico e Magico di Hermes or OAMH, and only offered their services to those whose ambitions would find their work appealing. They presented their face to the world as a body of scholars, alchemists, scientists, and philosophers, but behind these interests lay their true power; necromancy. To the world's discredit, the OAMH was able to corrupt hundreds of nobles, royal, and even Church officials into utilizing the powers of the Ravanellis in exchange for temporal power, wealth, and human souls.

The OAMH grew immensely in power for several centuries, and it was during this time Baroness Ravanelli married into the family. Originally from a noble merchant family Venice, Lucia Vetrano married Baron Lorenzo Ravenelli in 1234, and almost immediately was she indoctrinated into the family business. Baron Ravanelli shared with his wife the necromantic arts of his family, and for the first century of her marriage to him she voraciously consumed as much knowledge as she could. After tasting the power that was offered to her Lucia only demanded more, but unlike her husband she was far more patient and prudent in its acquisition. This became a point of contention between them, and they would argue over which direction to take the family. Lorenzo desired more temporal and secular power, having grown arrogant in his ability to corrupt others around hum, but Lucia preferred to remain in the shadows where few could ever find them. It was this difference that almost led the Ravanellis to being completely destroyed by the Catholic Church.

In 1434 Baron Lorenzo Ravanelli was arrested by inquisitors on charges of witchcraft, devil worship, and blasphemy, while his lands and holdings were seized by the Church. The Ravanellis throughout Italy, Germany, and France were also arrested on similar charges. The Ravanellis were found guilty of the charges brought against them, and those who didn't die during torture were burned alive at the stake. The only known member of the family known to escape this purge was Baroness Lucia Ravanelli, and there are two reasons scholars believe this happened. The first story claims that she was out of the country when the Inquisition came looking for her husband, and by the time she returned she had nothing left to be considered a threat. The Inquisition claimed that she was a victim of circumstance not responsible for the unholy actions of her husband, and by confining herself to a convent for the rest of her life she could repent her sins to God.

The second story is far more sinister, and claims that even though Baroness Ravanelli spent some time in a convent it was not so she could repent for anything, but to keep out of the public eye and disappear from history. Baroness Ravanelli may have entered a convent, but legend has it that she convinced the Vatican to allow her to continue her family's business. According to this version of the story, Baroness Ravanelli never reconciled with her husband over which direction House Ravanelli should pursue; where her husband wanted more temporal power, she prefered to remain in the shadows safely conducting the family's business. As Baron Ravanelli's arrogance grew so did the resentment of the noble and royal families throughout the Empire, resentments that eventually reached Rome. When Baroness Ravanelli feared this growing resentment would destroy everything the family had worked centuries for, she made an appeal to the Vatican and swayed them to understand exactly why the Ravanellis were a necessary evil.

Baroness Ravanelli convinced unnamed officials within the Vatican that the business of trafficking in human souls was a serious one, that if the Ravanellis were eliminated either another family would pick up the pieces or the world would suffer an even worse fate. Baroness Ravanelli swayed the Church officials that human souls were in fact the most valuable commodity known to exist, on this world and across many others, and that without someone to control the supplies of them the Earth would be overrun with all manners of evils seeking to consume or claim every human soul that existed; none of these souls would ever reach Heaven. With a family like the Ravanellis regulating this supply of human souls, or at least someone like Baroness Ravanelli, the vast majority of souls on Earth would remain under the authority of the Church and safely live out their lives. It isn't known exactly how Baroness Ravanelli convinced the Church officials to listen to her and not charge her with heresy or witchcraft - but they didn't, and according to this story the Baroness was able to strike an unholy and unforgivable agreement with the those in the Church who listened to appeal. As part of this alleged agreement she made with the Vatican, in 1434 Baroness Ravanelli betrayed her husband, children, descendants, and most other family members to the Inquisition, effectively removing them as a threat to the Holy Roman Emperor and the Catholic Church. In exchange for this, Baroness Ravanelli was allowed to safely retreat her family's work back into the shadows and continue their unholy trade in human souls.

Scholars aren't sure which story they should believe as there is little to no evidence of what happened to her after she was sent away to a convent. There are records of her death in 1468, and she allegedly bore several children with the Ravanelli name who were spared persecution. As the decades passed and turned into centuries Baroness Ravanelli continued to exist using a myriad of identities, eventually resurfacing as the Baroness Monica Ravanelli in the 19th Century as a mystic in the revised L'Ordine Antico e Magico di Hermes in 1823. After Monica's "death" in 1893 she resurfaced again in 1913 as Baroness Sophia Ravanelli. Under this identity she died in 1983, resurfacing once more as Baroness Lucia Ravanelli in 2003 in the wake of the First Rikti War. In this current identity, Baroness Ravanelli continues to carry on her family business of trafficking in human souls, but despite the vast holdings her family has throughout Europe she has been spending a lot of time in the Rogue Isles.

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Contact Information

Baroness Ravanelli may be contacted on Triumph by e-mail using her name, Baroness Ravanelli. Her global channel that is valid across all servers is @Major Paragon.