Estrik de Ferrva

**Estrik de Ferrva**, also known as **the Magnificent** (Middle Euluska: *Vitelerya ia)*, was a ruthless political schemer and banker from Cessalia who was regarded as the **first major member** of the de Ferrva family. After orchestrating the removal of many of the contenders to her father's fortune, she later made a deal with an ifrit for monetary power and begun a long lineage of powerful nobles. By her actions, she was also somewhat responsible for the later prominence of the Disforza family, funnily enough.

### Aliases

Estrik Vitelerya (Estrik the Magnificent)

### Family

Yovanë de Ferrva (father)Adryna & Sipolasku de Ferrva (daughter & son)

## Humble Beginnings

"Essi, you will understand soon. The Eminyerë family prefer to hoard their wealth, even if it makes the people sick. To stop this; that is why I strive."
 —A young Estrik questions the inequalities seen by her father Yovanë.

She was a human woman born in Cessalia as part of the de Ferrva family of ironworkers. During the time Estrik was growing up, Cessalia was ruled by several noble families, the de Ferrvas being one of the minor ones with little influence outside the iron trade. The town was ruled mostly by the Eminyerë dynasty, who were famed as *condottieri* (sellswords). Estrik saw the wealth disparity in Cessalia with her own eyes and saw how her father strove to solve this issue, and the family became more and more wealthy in its pursuit.

## Seizer and Schemer

When the old Yovanë de Ferrva passed away of natural causes in 1332, there was much in the way of a battle of succession, to seize his tithes, titles and influence. This was because by then, the family had become one of the richest in Cessalia, and one of the big few families with large influence in the town's rulership.

The 20-year-old Estrik schemed against her two cousins **Alena** and **Vereya**, her uncle **Bello** from the other side of the family, and many other claimants. Many of them threatened her stake in her inheritance, so she did the only reasonable thing, and began plotting against her own family.

## Vereya's Vineyard

 —Estrik prays to Maiona after she poisons Vereya.

Her cousin Vereya Kontessa held a serious claim to the dynasty. Vereya was also a keen vintner. To solve this, one of Estrik's late father's closest servants, an old hobgoblin man named **Uko**, was ordered to sneak into the Kontessa vineyard at night and brush the favourite grapes of Vereya with a clear gloss made of crushed water hemlock. Vereya went to taste them the following day in preparation for the upcoming harvest, and ended up falling deeply ill, dying a few days later.

## Alena's Arrest

 —Alena's sentence is read out.

Estrik's cousin Alena Kontessa also attempted to claim the estate of the late Yovanë. The elder sister of the late Vereya, she had to be dealt with. Estrik had one of her close allies ruthlessly and secretly murder a wealthy Luskan tinmerchant visiting Cessalia, an elderly man named Kurë Yeren, and then Estrik framed Alena for the merchant's death. Alena was arrested and thrown into a tower in Luskan to languish, where she later died of prison fever some three years later.

## Exile and Deals

The last claimant to her late father's estate was her uncle Bello de Ferrva. He cast Estrik out of Cessalia and actually seized full control of the family's assets and manor for some months. Whilst in her short exile, Estrik found herself captured near Caledfwlch one day by the charming, bearded, long-haired *condottiere* Ennio di Sforza (who incidentally would one day be the six generations-grand father of none other than Machavellio Disforza).

 —Sephnet offers a deal to Estrik. Each month, the de Ferrva family is obligated to sacrifice 100ƒ (10ŕ) to Sephnet.

Silver-tongued Estrik offered Sforza the promise of power and money, and like any good *condottiere*, he listened, intrigued. Estrik had no money to give him, but stalled for time. In a small town named Cahay that the army stopped off at to trade vegetables, she studied in the library beneath the monastery, and practiced a ritual to contact an extraplanar benefactor, intending to do a deal. That benefactor just happened to be an ifrit, the trickster magma-genie Sephnet. Estrik struck a bargain with Sephnet for twice her weight in silver, with which she paid Disforza handsomely, and they set off toward her home. Sephnet's condition for the deal was that each month, her or her descendants had to sacrifice a hundred silver florins; 100ƒ (10ŕ); to Sephnet.

## Disforza's Siege

During her time with Disforza's army, she met the knight who she would later marry, a raven-haired elven cavalrywoman named Vaoä Isenza. The two shared their fire and tent on the march from Caledfwlch in the Fallo to Cessalia on the Peninsula.
The winter after she had been exiled, Estrik returned to Cessalia to lay siege upon the town with Disforza's mercenaries. Their terms were simple; that uncle Bello relinquish his claim to the de Ferrva estate and fortune, and leave Cessalia to never return. The siege was not lifted for several tense weeks. The worried populace and the looming threat of Disforza's mercenaries drove the ruling Eminyerë family in desperation to raid de Ferrva manor and forcibly bring Bello out in chains to the city gates, where he was handed over to Estrik and Ennio. Estrik banished him from Cessalia forever and had him magically branded by one of Disforza's war mages so that he would never be able to step near Cessalia without someone noticing.

## Estrik the Magnificent

The gamble paid off. Estrik acquired her late father's funds, power, and estate. She immediately offered Disforza more silver if he stuck around and used his men as the new armed guard of Cessalia. They accepted gladly, eager to settle down with warm beds, tile roofs, and home-cooked meals for once, compared to tents and dried rations.

With the weight and power of Disforza's mercenaries and the fortune of her father, Estrik slowly but surely displayed the Eminyerë family from rulership; not through aggression, but by making the people love the de Ferrvas more. She spent much on charity and helping the poor, and Disforza's army kept Cessalia safe from the threats of the neighbouring city states (Navarre, Treviso, and Luskan). Through these acts she was eventually known as the Magnificent.

Her and Vaoä Isenza married after the city was secure, and they raised two children together; a daughter Adryna and a son Sipolasku.