House Lavini

House Lavini is one of the three largest houses of the Grand Republic of Thasen. Its current head is Senator Adelina Lavini. House Lavini makes its home in Benetta, the capital of Thasen, and has interests dispersed across the Republic.

History
House Lavini, as with most houses in the Republic, was founded in the years after the Third Greytide, as people began to move back to the despoiled lands of Thasen. It had originated in the capital of the old Kingdom of Thasen, Benetta, and there it returned to make its home.

Whereas House Damiani and House Corti consolidated their power in their respective home cities, making rapidly to establish themselves as aristocrats over the ensuing decades, House Lavini adhered more closely to its mercantile roots. It sent representatives and distributed its resources here and there across Thasen, and to this day, has a broader presence than any other house in the Republic.

House Lavini has been one of the three most powerful houses in the Republic since its founding. House Lavini, House Damiani and House Corti control so many votes in the senate between them that it is quite uncommon that one of them is not the leading house in the Republic, an arrangement which suits them all very well. House Corti was the dominant party for much of the early part of the 600s. However, it was ousted in the election of 619, two years after it took part in House Salfeld's campaign to seize the Duchy of Greenwood from the Realm of Intis. Many in the Republic are wary of it sponsoring such foreign adventurism, or otherwise publicly profess to prefer peaceful trade - it has not stopped such episodes over the years, but that was the most recent and the seizure of an entire duchy significant in scope. Houses Lavini and Damiani cooperated to place a Lavini as praesens in 619, and kept House Corti essentially shut out of the process for the ensuing decade. Matters mellowed from the late 620s onwards, and some of the usual competition has come back in.

In recent years, the leadership of House Lavini has come to believe that the Republic is stagnant and decadent and in need of change. Burghers from elsewhere in the empire have been increasingly able to outcompete those of the Republic. Many in House Lavini perceive the Republic as stagnant and decadent. House Lavini contested the election of 631 on a platform of internal reform, but had no true consensus on what that reform looked like, and so its promises ultimately lacked substance. That election saw the senate unusually split. Ultimately, House Damiani won the election by a razor thin margin, based on personal ties more than policy - some matters are in flux, and everyone in the Republic knows it. House Lavini has resolved to have a firmer agenda for the election of 634.

Holdings
House Lavini has no single powerbase in the Republic. It makes its home in Benetta, where it has extensive property and business interests, as well as owning a swathe of farmland beyond the city walls, but it by no means dominates the city, which still has its own council. It has property in a range of other places across the Republic. Its wealth is immense, if sometimes hard to amass in one place.

Current Events
House Lavini is, in theory, focused on internal reform of the Republic. However, its members have quite different ideas of what that looks like. Some see the wave of republicanism in the Great Green in Dyria, held by House Mardas, and believe it is a model which Thasen should pursue, though the particulars of how to do it are quite unclear - it would certainly involve the houses of Thasen abdicating much of their power. Others believe that Thasen should go quite a different direction and establish a monarchy, whether elective, like the Commonwealth, or not, with the oligarchs of the Republic becoming nobles in name as well as in practice.

House Lavini has paid less attention than some others to events beyond the Republic lately, though this may have to change, and it may have to leverage its wealth, if it is to make friends to implement change.