Parvona (WAR Lore)
Directly south of Trantio along the River Remo lies the city of Parvona, infamous among Tilean cities for its unparalleled command of treachery, intrigue, and blackmail. Parvonans are considered the most untrustworthy of all Tilean people, which to outsiders often seems something akin to being the wettest kind of water.
Because of its proximity to Trantio, Parvona has had one of the longest and bitterest rivalries of any two cities in Tilea, dwarfing even that between Remas and Miragliano. As a result, the Trantine Hills have become a constant stomping ground for mercenary armies, and the region produces some of the finest in the world. Interestingly, whenever the rivalry between the two is capitalized upon by some third party that seeks to attack a weakened foe, the two unite to crush the interloper, and many schemes for power have come to naught in the Trantine Hills. Even great powers like Luccini, Verezzo, and Miragliano have experienced humiliating losses in this treacherous land.
In addition to many wars, there have also been many peace treaties between the two cities, often resulting in an arranged marriage between the ruling families of Trantio and Parvona. However, like the relations between the two cities, these marriages rarely are peaceful, and most have ended in some form of assassination, usually by poison. This trend is exemplified by the current Duchess of Parvona, the lovely but deadly Luccrecia Belladonna, who has been widowed some seven times, as successive Dukes who have attempted to exercise control over the city have come to grief when they realize that the price of angering their wife is a cup of poison.
Ironically, the city itself is one of the smallest in Tilea, which might explain the exaggerated elitism and snobbery that the city's aristocracy displays, which might in turn be why the city was able to withstand the rebellions of 2321. The city is famous for its many bridges, which rise not over rivers or canals, but over the very streets of the city so that the nobility can go from palazzo to palazzo without ever having to mingle with the common folk below. As a result, class inequality is extremely high in Parvona, where your class rank is literally determined by your vertical position in the city's geography.
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