Antonio Macaluso

Antonio in his suit

**Antonio Macaluso** is the current King of Rhodina, and the first-born son of Leonardo Macaluso.

## Early Life

Antonio grew up after the raid on the villages of Rhodina, so he never had a first-hand view of what warfare looks like. However, that didn't stop him from showing great interest and skill in being a strong leader. Throughout his childhood, he would act as a parental figure for his two younger siblings, Roberto and Sofia, since he was 7 years older than them, and his father, Leonardo was too busy with leading Rhodina, and their mother died while giving birth to Sofia. Because of this, his younger siblings looked up to him, and Leonardo saw him as an obvious successor to himself. Leonardo grew ill when Antonio was only 19, and everyone saw the writing on the wall. Leonardo scrambled to assign his power to his family, but died abruptly of a heart attack. He only had time to give Antonio the position as King of Rhodina.

## Family Drama

Since only Antonio was given power, Roberto grew jealous. He eventually got into a physical fight with Antonio, which Antonio only narrowly won due to Roberto's size. The next day, the two met to dice what to do about their power struggle. Antonio proposed to keep himself in power, but step down as Godfather of the Macaluso Family, leaving Roberto as his successor. Roberto agreed to this, and the two went on with their lives. Over time, the brothers mended their relationship, and the two now work closely together to secure Rhodina and her interests.

As time progressed, the stress of ruling Rhodina eventually caught up to Antonio. He suffered a minor stroke at the age of 22. While it didn't cause and physical to him, he realized he needed help. He appealed to his sister, Sofia (now Alexandria Lurch), and convinced her to assist him in ruling Rhodina. While Roberto felt betrayed at first, Antonio convinced him that, since Alexandria wasn't a part of the Macaluso Family anymore, negative attention might turn away from it, keeping it a secret. Luckily, Roberto understood the situation, and resumed his healthy relationship with Antonio and Alexandria

## Failed Coup

Roberto was a good actor. He made Antonio and Sofia think that he had good relations, while in turn, plotted to take the throne. He convinced some members of the Macaluso Family to support him, and they began planning their attack. During the upcoming Festa di Messina, they would get Antonio alone and kill him.

When the festival came, they set their plan in motion. They did nothing to raise suspicion the first two days, but on the third day, they acted. Roberto asked Antonio to meet him privately to talk about the family. When they arrived at the room, Roberto's supporters emerged with daggers. Roberto gave some long speech about how Antonio keeps betraying him. Antonio responded to this by stabbing Roberto 5 times in the chest, immediately followed by 4 of the 7 other family members killing the ones still loyal to Roberto.

After this, Antonio assumed control of the family, once again becoming Godfather. He had been made aware of the coup by members pretending to support Roberto, who decided to protect Antonio instead.

After this, Alexandria abdicated the throne. She had enough of the family's drama, and decided to lay low with the rest of Messina.