THE WORLD / CHRONOLOGY
Across the generations.
The ancestral atlas fixes Vardessa in Year 312 of the First Reckoning, during the Age of the Divided Crown. Cenerath’s later eruption begins the Doom Ages. The surviving Houses unite beneath the Fachelli crest and flee into other worlds before the later game chapters and modern Montaro. Individual dates, survivor accounts and additional branch histories remain open.
Vardessa · Age of the Divided Crown
The early rivalry of Fachelli and Marino, the two leading families contesting the throne; Garbonzo swears to Fachelli, while marriages and oaths bind Bambino to the Marino-led faction.
Vardessa, 312 FR · Holds, borders and routes ↗
In the early eras, Fachelli and Marino were the opposing leading families, rivalling and warring for the throne. Fachelli maintained the greater wealth and power and respected only its own family. Garbonzo had sworn its banners to Fachelli from day one, without any blood relation between them. Marino led the opposing faction, joined to Bambino through a series of marriages and sworn oaths.
Vespucci and Luciani are mutual partners who trade information as currency. Luciani brings histories, sources and discreet intelligence; Vespucci brings access, negotiation and knowledge gained at the table. Together they can broker deals, the terms of war or peace without permanent allegiance to either claimant. Their neutrality is a source of power, not an absence of interests. Lombardo travels as mercenary knights, with a reputation for double dealing, theft and scams.
The early factions ↗The Doom Ages
Mount Cenerath erupts. The surviving Houses form the Ashen Compact beneath the Fachelli crest, divide the work of survival and flee Vardessa together into other worlds.
The eruption, Compact and inherited House duties ↗Medieval / Feudal
Descendant branches carry the united Family into later feudal game worlds. The ancestral conflict in Vardessa precedes the Doom; each new setting retains its own geography and calendar.
Merchant
Banking, exploration, shipping and commercial expansion.
Industrial
Manufacturing, railroads, political machines and growing corporations.
Frontier
Ancestors, merchants, ranches, railroads and outlaws.
The Second Divided Crown
1920s–1940s: descendant crime families, the 1935–1940 Red–Blue Civil War between Fachelli and Vespucci, and the Luciani-brokered peace founding the seven-seat Commission in 1940. This territory is not Montaro.
Modern
The families arrive in Montaro in 2026, carrying the Fachelli crest and their distinct specialties. The modern record preserves foundation, imprisonment, conflict and succession; exact dates and locations within that sequence await reconciliation.
One Family in Montaro
Luciani proposes the first union after Cenerath’s eruption: the Ashen Compact brings the survivors beneath the Fachelli crest before they flee Vardessa. Later divisions culminate in the 1935–1940 Red–Blue Civil War between Fachelli and Vespucci, which nearly destroys Garbonzo and Bambino. Luciani brokers the 1940 peace that establishes the seven-seat Commission. The Houses arrive in Montaro in 2026. Shared origin, complementary duties and unfamiliar outside powers make cooperation necessary; unity does not create one bloodline or erase what one family did to another.
The Modern Day Commission · Current authority
The Modern Day Commission governs one mafia-style Family through seven members, one representing each ancestral line and its modern crew. They elect the Don, Underboss and Consigliere, with the remaining four members serving on the board. Capos direct the crews. The old Houses and their crown conflicts belong to the historical record. It appoints roles and chapter leaders, sets and maintains community laws, holds standards, and oversees the shared timeline. Its authority is part of the current Modern Era record and continues across every game chapter.
Commission members can maintain a character presence in each game, check in on each crew and chapter, and role-play alongside the community. Those characters belong to the same descendant-line rules as everyone else. Chapter events become history through review; a dramatic outcome does not silently change who governs the community.
Read the Modern Era record ↗Collapse & consolidation
Most surviving branches blend into one Family and one crest, focused on survival. Named catastrophes, dates and individual mergers remain open.
Space corporation
Vito Vespucci VII heads one corporation under a shared crest. Space markets create new specialist crews and competing interests within it.