La'Vanti

The La’Vanti people are the eastern inhabitants of Humans in the Aldrian lands and the Le’Tarnish regions. They mostly inhabit the border to both regions not rightly calling either home. They are an energetic bunch that values culture and commerce. Like the Ostendi in the West, they are farmers and fishermen, but they are accomplished merchants and traveling traders that can sell you something you didn’t want or need, buy it back and sell it to you again for double the profit without you knowing when your pockets emptied.

They are a society that is governed by a court known as the Rules of Nine, an aristocratic order of influential merchants and guild leaders that control land and trade in their territories. Best described as a quasi-merchant republic, the Rules are made of nine key members of their trading and governing bodies selected employing inherited nobility. The Nine areas chosen from are the Plazari which are the typical magistrate types governing villages, Anzisi who are the craftsmen guilds, Marzi the farming guilds, Geovano or mining guilds, Veneti lumber and carpentry guilds, Amari stonemasons, Carnati the blacksmith guilds and militia, Pietas or religious leaders, and the Patrisi or wealthy landholders.

Heads of each of these make up the Rules of Nine Council, intricate though it sounds, the body itself seldom ever meets and gets together to debate and determine policy. Only in times of true need and or peril do the Rules meet up and in secret move on affairs crucial to the continuity of the La’Vanti people. Elsewise these people are possibly some of the loosest knit groups in the whole of Eyumel. They recognize one another purely by the manner of behavior and emphasis on cultural development. By this what is meant is that these folk value things that express culture and art, beauty and poise, elegance, and robust expression. They are artisans, troubadours, tradesmen, bards, and poets. While many will think light of them this is a mistake made all too common by others.

The La’Vanti are more than capable of protecting themselves and to ready seize what they want by whatever means. With their wily mercantile skills, they can broker just about any deal needed for anything they want. Coin in the hand of a La’Vanti is like a sword in the hand of any other. Because of their artful use of words and influence, these people are the elite infiltrators of the lands. Able to work their ways to even the highest seat of governance they can infiltrate and slip away virtually undetected. Where some see merchants, the skilled La’Vanti sees a spy. This makes their preferred tactics of war infiltration, espionage, and assassination. If a La’Vanti has to fight in an open battle, it normally means someone is bad with money.

More often than not La’Vanti prefers to win fights from behind the scenes but in open battle, they hire mercenary groups as the bulk of any army. Daggers, poisons, payoffs, and intrigues are the weapons of choice to the La’Vanti. This, however, is both a blessing and a curse to these folk. This leads to widespread mistrust of them from other races and even fellow Humans. Many are honest and hard-working trades folk and traveling artists but they are all too aware of how they are perceived and yet where their strengths lay. Val’Maer faith tends to be the norm for the La’Vanti with emphasis on trade and commerce gods. While their villages and hamlets are nice, seldom do these early cosmopolitan folk settle for long close to home. Many prefer to travel and venture out to see other sights, but let it be known that if a La’Vanti settles somewhere, there is normally an invested reason to why.