Giovanna Merisi da Nola, Vodacce Half-blood Fate Witch.


Background: Giovanna is the only daughter of a Vodacce nobleman (Orazio
Merisi etc.).  Headstrong and intelligent, she has observed his unusual
methods of attaining his ends and absorbed the lessons for herself.  (See
her Spy skills, below.)  Her mother having long since passed away, she has
also acted as Orazio's hostess, managing the house and his social
engagements with charm and skill.  

Meanwhile, she has been honing her skills as a Fate Witch under the guidance
of her maternal aunt, Artemisia.  Artemisia is a full-blood Fate Witch,
contemptuous of Orazio's politicking (perhaps because she can always,
easily, tell what he's up to -- he's a bit afraid of her, in fact, which is
one reason why he's never forbidden her access to the house though he
deplores her influence on Giovanna).  Artemisia has a bit of a dark
reputation -- her husband died under mysterious circumstances that no one
has had the courage to investigate -- and she has considerable wealth at her
disposal, and somewhat eccentric ways.  She tends to associate secretly with
the freer side of female Vodacce society -- courtesans, swordfighters, and
so on.  With no man ruling her life, she is free to do this as she likes.

When Giovanna is 16 (late for a Vodacce girl, but Orazio has kept her around
because she's so useful), her father arranges a marriage for her with a
young man of another powerful family (Bruno Valchese).  It's a standard
political arrangement, and Orazio means it for the best; the man in question
is of reasonable years and health, and not unpleasant to look at. 
Giovanna's budding powers as a Fate Witch allow her to discern, however,
that Bruno already has a strong romantic attachment to another woman.

Unwilling to take second place to a husband's mistress and wanting to spare
Bruno as well as herself the pain of a difficult marriage, Giovanna goes to
her aunt for help.  Artemisia realizes that Giovanna's options are limited;
in law, Orazio has the right in law to dispose Giovanna's hand as he wishes.
She gives Giovanna a substantial sum of money and smuggles her out of the
country to a friend in southeastern Montaigne, giving her a false letter of
introduction.

Now Giovanna is living as a kind of guest on the Montaigne estate of her
aunt's friends, but her position is precarious at best.  Without friends or
relatives, she has little support in society, and must make what alliances
she can, if she is not going to be forced to earn herself a living in menial
labor, a task for which she is eminently unsuited by her temperament and
breeding.  She is, therefore, a bit of an adventuress: seeking secrets,
information, alliances, a business, a society -- something to give her a
purpose suited to her personality, and an income adequate to support her in
style.