The Romani Prosperus and Well-known families in the Kingdom of Atlas. Not so coincidentally, they are usually in charge of a very profitable business in the kingdom as well. Perhaps some of the most well-known are the Schnees with their massive dust mining industry, with the Leonets with their jewelry company being the top earner in Atlas. Perhaps you've heard of the sirens with their monopoly on the fishing business at the East Coast of Atlas, but today we're going to talk about one family in particular, the Florence family. If there's ever been any fishy family in the Kingdom, it's bound to be these guys. The Florence family is the proprietor of the Florentina Corporation, which builds factory equipment and industrial machines for local and intercontinental use. Since the average civilian doesn't use industrial equipment every day like they use dust, the Florentina Corporation's reputation has been far more out of the spotlight compared to the Schnee Dust companies. And if you look at it, there's nothing much to slander. The FC pays its labor as well and complies with worker union standards, but I'm not here to talk about its business. I'm here to talk about its family. Its current CEO, Azuren Florence, is the great grandson and only surviving heir of the company founder, Leo Florence. It was way before the Great War, back to when the epicenter of activity and solitist was mantle, not yet Atlas. The Florentis were pretty big back in mantle, almost as big as the Schnees are now in Atlas. The thing is, they didn't get there like the Schnees did. The family started out as a business, were selling winter clothes and gear. But they ran a couple of side businesses out the back door, a protection racket for one. Before the wonderful advent of Huntsman and Huntersuits, people in mantle were desperate for any protection from the creatures of Grimm, who would pay it through the nose for it. The Florentis were good at fending off the Grimm, but they were also good at intimidation, particularly via property damage. And if that happens to you, apart from being vulnerable, you would be pretty unhappy, and unhappiness is what brings the Grimm. So you could say, business was pretty good. Soon they had earned enough money to start going into politics themselves. Don't ask me how many votes they got, either they had more money than on record, where real charmers, or the voting populace back then, were just pretty dumb. In any case, they held seats in city councils, and the business grew from in bezel taxes and Hort Barrel funds. They moved into the machinery business, and the construction business as well. And then, the events that led to the Great War happened. Mantle's decree to abandon the arts and self-expression in hopes of deterring the Grimm attacks was passed. Many people approved, but a silent majority didn't like it at all. Turns out, when you try to suppress someone's emotion, it only gets stronger. Seeing a chance for more income, the Florentis established a number of, I would say, weak ease, but they were more like circuses, really. In these contained underground establishments, people were free to express themselves that they had before. Singing, dancing, partying, gambling, games, you name it. It was all there. After all, the Florentis were good at protecting people from the Grimm. So what did their customers have to lose? Besides, the end, of course, but you know, the thrill of breaking the law is worth the entrance fee. Things were looking up for the Florentis until the incident. You see, a few years before, they had started looking into the dust mining business. In those days, the kings of the dust empire were the Borgons, and they didn't like the Florentis moving in on their business. They reacted rather violently. Twelve of the Florentis' establishments were raided all at once, and though only one could be traced back to the Borgon family. The Florentis dynasty went to war. A complicated set of events followed, some too weird to be fact but are, and some believable but are utter gossip. Grimm being used as catapult ammunition, raids on Borgon business establishments, a bard working for the Florentis, incapacitating Borgons with his horrible loot playing, an entire marketplace descending into chaos from a Florence versus Borgon showdown. A wedding for an arranged Borgon marriage to the Leonet industry air crashed by a Florentis. Hell, the only reason they even got away with all of it without the full force of the kingdom's military being thrown them was because the army of mantle was all the way across the sea fighting veil in the Great War. It was rather strange, all of it, but undeniably violent. It'll take forever to detail it all, so I'll just tell you the results. Mantle was pretty ravaged by the time it was over, which would explain why so many non-combatant people were so willing to move from mantle to atlas. The Borgon family was destroyed and their dust empire left in ruins. The Florence family lost property, lives, and reputation, but at the end of the day, there were more Florence's alive than the Wurborgons. They retired to the one legitimate business they had left, the machinery development business. That's what they centralized the Florentina corporation around, and all other elicit business faded away, but the stain on their family will never be wiped clean. After the war, the Schnees took over the monopoly on dust that the Borgons left behind, and the Florentis would never touch the dust business again, not even with a 90-mile stick. Skip a few decades and the only remnant of the once-in-glorious Florence family are exorin Florence, whose wife, Filiere, Miner Solet, Florence, and their daughter Natalia. It goes to show that when it comes from rags to riches' stories, you really should be taking a closer look at who's throats those rags are choking to see who's pockets the riches are coming from.