House Mavanix
The following is strictly player-made content. Said content can be found in a text/scrolls in some libraries, primarily Ul'dah. The text details the history of one of the city's many past wealthy houses.
This content is currently under a complete revamp and will be gradually restored after some trimming and page layout changes.
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Era 1: Joachim Mavanix, the Igniter
House Mavanix was founded by none other than Joachim Mavanix. Very little was known about Joachim’s origins for nearly 200 years, and much mystery still remains even today. It is known that he was born outside of Aldenard, though the precise location and his birth family still remain unknown today.
Joachim is known to have come to Eorzea in search of a specific relic known as the Soulfire Apparatus, believing the relic was the key to immortality. He arrived with nothing to his name and took up residence in Ul'dah's commoner wards. He took up a mining job, where he quickly rose up the ranks due to his dedication.
It was by chance the following year in the markets that Joachim came across Lady Anabelle Felstar. The Lady was quickly charmed by Joachim and the two began to see one another on a regular basis. Anabelle’s family, eventually discovering this, forbade her from seeing the commoner ever again. Joachim was devastated by this. It was also around this time that he was promoted yet again in the mining industry. Shortly after, he got into an argument with the head overseer that caused him to quit the job and start up his own mining company, dubbed Avalon.
After a couple of months building his team, Joachim issued the order to mine in a very specific location in Thanalan. He apparently had requested this location multiple times with his former employer but was constantly denied. Months passed and Avalon was on the verge of going bankrupt. Several members even quit the team. After six months of finding nothing of value, Joachim finally found what he knew to be there all along--the Soulfire Apparatus, an eerie looking totem pole from an unknown tribal civiliation.
Despite finding the artifact he craved, Joachim could not stop thinking of Anabelle Felstar. He decided to prove his worth to her family by charging historians and researchers a ton of money just to see the new artifact or interview Joachim about it. He would use these funds to help start a museum called the Avalon Heritage Museum. Anabelle would secretly give Joachim a loan from her family to assist in the endeavor as well. The museum was a success, and House Felstar finally gave their blessing to a union between Anabelle and Joachim.
Joachim and Anabelle thus wedded one another at an elegant wedding happily hosted by House Felstar. The loan that Joachim took from the family was dismissed following the marriage -- a wedding gift of sorts. Joachim then lived with Anabelle’s family while construction of the Mavanix Mansion began. Annabelle gave birth to their first child during this period of time, a daughter named Carmilla.
After the married couple moved into their new Mavanix home, they had their second child, another daughter named Sarah. It would later be revealed that Sarah was actually born of another man in which Anabelle had an affair with. This affair would spark the war between Houses Felstar and Mavanix, as Joachim would retaliate by placing a deadly curse on Sarah's birth father and forcing Sarah to grow up with the Mavanix house (Sarah would eventually find this out after she was an adult and covertly assisted keeping House Felstar afloat after Joachim utterly destroyed it). Trying desperately for a male heir, Joachim and Anabelle had a third child a year and a half later--yet another daughter, Margarette. The fourth child finally ended up being the boy that Joachim wanted so badly. He was named Darian.
Joachim shifted his focus to making House Mavanix stronger by building up the museum and Avalon while raising his three (four if Sarah is included) children as best as possible. Two suns following Darian’s eighteenth birthday, Lady Anabelle passed away from illness. Joachim became distant and closed off following this tragedy until he too passed away six years later from a heart attack. Their eldest daughter, Carmilla, left for Joachim's homeland and was not heard from again afterwards. The younger daughters, Margarette and Sarah, launched a moderately successful fashion line prior to either one of them marrying. This would later transform into the successful Margarah fashion line.
Era 2: Darian Mavanix, the Exalter
Darian Mavanix was arguably the greatest Mavanix patriarch to ever live. It was under his era that House Mavanix would expand more than any other era following him, perhaps due to him being the longest reigning head of the family.
His childhood was a combination of enjoying the benefits of nobility alongside a constant reminder of his father’s roots. Having three older sisters often made him feel out of place and Lady Anabelle even revealed in her diary that Darian had asked for a baby brother multiple times throughout his childhood.
In his later teenage years, Darian became mesmerized by magic much like his father was. While he loved his mother greatly, he still felt that her lack of magical expertise didn’t do him any favors. Lady Anabelle even revealed similar regret about her magical roots in her diary, saying that being the only one amongst her husband and children to have limited knowledge and expertise in the magical realm sometimes made her feel out of place.
Darian spent much of his time with his childhood friend, Malina Zagbar. She shared his love for magic and the two often practiced spells together. The fact that Malina was also good friends with Darian’s sisters made her fit even more into the family, despite the fact that she belonged to the middle class.
After his mother passed away, Darian started to take over numerous operations for House Mavanix unofficially. As Joachim drifted into further seclusion, it fell onto the young man’s shoulders to keep the house strong. Darian remained respectful enough of his father in that he did not make any radical changes or decisions. During this time, Darian and Malina were wedded to one another. One year prior to Joachim’s passing, they had their first child, Darius.
Following Joachim’s death, Darian instantly shut down all House Mavanix operations for nearly two full weeks. This was done out of respect for his father in order to maintain a proper period of mourning. This period of mourning would become a tradition of House Mavanix upon the passing of any prominent family member. This is also when the Mavanix Catacombs were set up beneath the mansion grounds. Lady Annabelle’s body was moved there to rest for eternity next to Joachim, though it would be moved to the Felstar Catacombs during the last era of the house.
Once House Mavanix restarted operations, Darian went straight to work in raising it to whole new heights. His first investment was creating a new private academy primarily aimed at the upper class, though financial programs were set up to help medium income families upon Lady Malina’s urging. The Mavanix Academy became a success, raising House Mavanix’s revenue by a hefty amount and paying off all expenses within a mere four years time. Around the time that the academy was starting to be built is also when Darian and Malina had their second child, Katherine.
Darian’s next order of business was to build up preexisting projects. First, the patriarch assisted his sisters in promoting their new fashion line, Margarah. Next, Darian made an aggressive push to expand House Mavanix’s collection of artifacts, magical knowledge, and even the architecture of the Mavanix Mansion itself. The number of artifacts in the Avalon Heritage Museum more than tripled in this era. The same is true of magical tomes in the Mavanix library. Various new rooms, secret rooms and hidden paths included, were added on to the manor as well.
What came next for House Mavanix remains controversial even today. The patriarch greatly expanded the Avalon excavation crew and added a mercenary company under its umbrella. The new mercenary guild not only continued to excavate artifacts, but also took on missions from ordinary citizens for a fee. Additionally, Avalon was given a research department at the Academy and its own separate headquarters. Financially, the mercenary company project constantly bounced between breaking even and operating in the red. Despite its financial fluctuations, Darian insisted on keeping Avalon on its path. It became his baby and he refused to watch it fall. Malina offered tremendous support in his endeavor and fourteen whole years after birthing Katherine, they had their third and final child together, Veronica.
Four years after Veronica’s birth, House Mavanix went through its biggest trial yet. A deadly assault against the family took place at Avalon headquarters. The attackers were a small band of Avalon mercenaries who had been undergoing experiments under the Mavanix Academy to attempt boosting their elemental based magic. These experiments were supposedly done with Darian's full knowledge and support. Having supposedly gone mad from being overtaxed in elemental energies, the triad of mercenaries ended up slaying numerous fellow mercenaries and even Lady Malina herself. It remains unclear what happened to the three attackers following this event, as none of them were ever seen or heard from again.
Lady Malina’s brutal death sent shockwaves through House Mavanix. As per tradition, all House operations were shut down for a period of mourning. Family infighting was constant during this period. Darian and his eldest son in particular were supposedly fighting frequently. Following the period of mourning, Darian restarted operations much to his elder son’s dismay. Darius had insisted that Avalon should be dissolved following the tragedy, or at least the mercenary sector of it. Darian, however, refused to oblige and this caused his son to disown him and House Mavanix before leaving Ul’dah entirely.
Within several years of the tragedy, Darian attempted to move on and even remarried. He and his new wife, Lauralyn Vaza, had a single child together named Jonathan. Six years later, the two divorced due to irreconcilable differences and ended up sharing custody of Jonathan. Jonathan would later distance himself from House Mavanix and set up a weapons shop in Ul’dah, even eventually changing his last name. It remains unknown what ever happened to Jonathan and his lineage.
Darian lived out his remaining days sustaining all of his projects and attempting to reach out to his eldest son to rebuild their broken bond. At age 85, he began to slowly pass away. Darius returned to Ul’dah just in time to reconcile with his father before he died.
Era 3: Darius Mavanix, the Inquisitor
Darius served only seven years as House patriarch, making him the shortest official reigning head of the family. As a result, his accomplishments are far less than previous and future eras. This does not make his role as House Mavanix’s third patriarch insignificant though. As per his title, Darius would go on to question many of the House’s practices and projects.
Growing up under Darian and Malina, Darius tended to always be closer to his mother than his father. His relationship with his sisters, Katherine and Veronica, was mostly non-existent. Darius attended school at the Mavanix Academy and was known to become quite the flirt in his teenage and young adolescent years. He often got into trouble for bringing random women to the mansion.
As Darius aged, he realized rather quickly that he wouldn’t be patriarch of the House anytime soon due to his father’s own healthy lifestyle. Darius was fine with this, never really wanting to take over operations to begin with. He spent most of his life simply indulging in the pleasures of the upper class. Darius and Darian often got into heated arguments over these behaviors. Darian was of the belief that his son was taking advantage of the upper class styles whereas Darius was of the belief that the family had earned the right to indulge in pleasures on a daily basis. Malina further contributed to this belief by spoiling her children whenever she got the chance to.
When Malina was murdered by Avalon’s experiments, Darius was enraged. He blamed his father for her death, stating that such unethical experiments should have never happened. His father defended his actions and Katherine even sided with him. Further enraged that his sister was on his father’s side, Darius disowned the family. He cut off all ties to the entire Mavanix clan. Rumors indicated that he was even further enraged when his father eventually remarried and had another child.
It’s not entirely clear what Darius did during his long hiatus from House Mavanix. The only official explanation he gave was that he was “adventuring.” When word reached him about his father being on his deathbed, Darius rushed back to Ul’dah and reconciled with his ailing father just in time. Since Darian never changed his will, Darius still inherited the title of patriarch at the age of 62.
Following the traditional period of mourning, Darius instantly dissolved the mercenary sector of Avalon, stripping the guild back to its bare bones of the original excavation team. He also reversed other minor decisions made by his father over the next year, including conservative traditions that he claimed were 'outdated.' He also lowered tuition costs at the Mavanix Academy and implemented methods for less wealthy scholars to attend.
Katherine and Veronica were somewhat agitated over their brother’s reign, angered that he still even had claim to the seat of patriarch despite his long hiatus and previous disowning of the family. It’s believed by many that Katherine and Veronica conspired to force their brother’s removal from House Mavanix over the next several years. Over the course of the next two years, Darius faced numerous challenges from outside sources as well. It was under Darius's rule when the group known as Decretum Umbra surfaced and made their first assault against the entire house. Decretum Umbra was a separate sector of the family descended from Carmilla Mavanix who believed they had claim to the house. With the help of Veronica's magic, House Mavanix was able to force Decretum Umbra into retreat.
Darius went on to set up an auction house under Avalon’s umbrella, believing that there was no use for the tons of “useless” artifacts cluttering the museum. He met fierce resistance from his sisters and the museum staff members in this decision, but it didn’t stop him from setting it up and successfully selling numerous artifacts to wealthy collectors.
Seven years into his reign and right before he was about to make a much hyped mysterious announcement about the new direction of House Mavanix, Darius died of poisoning. Many theorists believe that Veronica was behind his murder, though no proof ever surfaced. Darius never married nor did he have any known offspring to succeed him. Most believed Katherine would be next in line to succession, but the eldest Mavanix would instead pass the baton to Veronica.
Era 5: Julius Mavanix, the Guardian
Julius was born to Veronica Mavanix and Drogan Vanset, though his father had no place in his life after Julius’s first year of being born. To this day, nobody knows what became of Drogan after his mysterious disappearance. Julius grew up under the impression that he abandoned him, thus strengthening the boy’s future views on fatherhood.
The life of Julius was of course one of luxury. Under the protective watch of his mother, the youth would learn all of his mother’s magical secrets even though he was unable to actually master most of her spells. Despite the fact that Veronica was not matriarch of the house at this time nor was she even on the radar of being future leader, it was still fairly obvious that she was grooming her son to be future patriarch. Aside from passing on her knowledge and spells, Veronica also made sure to install her son with strong family values and leadership skills. She also sent him to the Mavanix Academy for the best possible education he could receive.
It was at the Mavanix Academy where Julius met Lady Rochelle Galavano. The two became friends rather quickly and then dated on and off again throughout the years. During their off again stages, Julius dated numerous other women who all came under fierce scrutiny from Veronica. Only Rochelle would receive Veronica’s blessing to be with her son. As such, Julius and Rochelle would finally marry one another shortly after Julius turned age 26. They would have their first child six years later, named Kalara.
Julius would eventually have another child with Rochelle an entire 15 years after Kalara’s birth named Nina. At this point, the house would unknowingly begin its plunge into disarray. Due to complications in Nina's birth, Rochelle became barren after her birth. She and Julius never told anyone about this, however, and the knowledge wouldn't surface until Rochelle's diary was found. Veronica began to pressure Rochelle and Julius into having a third child, hoping for a grandson. The pressure mounted more as time went by, and Rochelle eventually blurted out that she was pregnant when Veronica began to use fear tactics and threats against her daughter-in-law. Panicking, Rochelle persuaded Julius to go along with the lie and pretend she was pregnant for fear of her own life. They agreed to go forward with a fake pregnancy and adopt a boy, having wanted to adopt anyway.
The plan would hit a snag several moons into the faked pregnancy. Veronica would reveal in a casual family gathering an artifact recently added to the family's collection. According to the matriarch, the bauble had the ability to allow its wearer to gaze directly at one's bloodline and trace it. The bauble or details about it were never discovered following these events, so the validity of Veronica's claims to its abilities remain unproven. However, Rochelle and Julius took the statement very seriously, realizing that their plan would be found out after the fake birth since the adopted child would be of a different bloodline. Fearing Veronica's wrath, the two returned to the drawing board.
As everything seemed hopeless, news would eventually reach the two that House Felstar's matriarch was pregnant as well, only about two moons ahead of Rochelle's fake pregnancy. The couple believed it to be a blessing from Nymeia, as all Mavanixs descended from Anabelle Felstar and thus had Felstar blood in their veins. As such, a Felstar child would be capable of deceiving Veronica's artifact if her claims were true. An elaborate plot was put into motion in which the Felstar child was abducted and passed off as dead. Julius and Rochelle claimed the child as their own and named him Cartius. The scheme worked and Veronica was never the wiser.
Time elapsed and Veronica began to delegate many responsibilities to Julius. When Veronica passed away, the traditional period of mourning went into effect and the former matriarch was buried in the Mavanix Catacombs beneath the mansion. Julius then took over the house with ease due to having already been unofficially handling everything at that point anyway. He maintained all of his mother’s policies and created few new ones of his own.
Julius made very few achievements during his reign, unlike his predecessors. His primary focus seemed to always be his family and he was known to spend a tremendous amount of time with his wife and children. Instead of taking on new projects to expand House Mavanix, he instead focused on simply sustaining the current ones.
Julius’s crowning achievement, however, would be the creation of the Goblin Information Network (or simply “GIN”). This strange alliance came about during one of Avalon’s excavations in which a peculiar black and grey egg was discovered in the Coerthas region. The native goblins near the excavation site insisted that the egg belonged to them, claiming it was a dragon egg cursed long ago to never hatch. To this particular clan, it was practically a religious icon. The goblins and House Mavanix quarreled over rights to the dragon egg for many moons before an agreement was finally made. The goblins agreed to allow House Mavanix to keep the egg so long as they kept it safe at all times and allowed their clan access to it at anytime for religious rituals. In addition, the goblins would act as informants for House Mavanix as needed. Should anything ever happen to the egg, the alliance would crumble. Julius went to great lengths to keep the egg safe. The end result was perhaps one of the most crucial alliances House Mavanix had ever made.
Julius would pass away at age 87, leaving Cartius to take over as patriarch at age 40. Rochelle would pass away five years later.
Era 6: Cartius Mavanix/Felstar, the Strategist
Raised by Julius Mavanix and Rochelle Galavano, Cartius enjoyed the many benefits of the Mavanix lifestyle like those before him. It wouldn’t be until Cartius was an adult that he’d uncover his true paternity to the Felstar family.
Cartius had close ties to his sisters, Nina and Kalara. His grandmother, Veronica, saw great things in his future and placed an elaborate amount of attention on the boy as he grew up, teaching him some of the things she had taught Julius himself. After Veronica passed away, Julius continued to groom Cartius as the next heir to House Mavanix.
Cartius, in his early twenties, met Lady Sophia Nox of Ishgard. The two fell in love with one another and eventually married. As they tried to have their first child, Sophia would eventually learn that she was unable to bear children of her own. The tragic news caused her to turn to old tactics used by Veronica to impregnate herself. A powerful sorceress in her own right, Sophia tweaked Veronica’s spell so that it would simply cure her ailment rather than impregnate her out of pure magic. The spell was a success. Sophia and Cartius would have their first and only child together shortly thereafter. The spell, however, supposedly had spread a number of magical toxins through Sophia’s body and she would die immediately after giving birth to Castiel Mavanix (who later changed his name to Kylin, his mother’s preferred name per her diary).
Devastated by Sophia’s death, Cartius raised Kylin as a single father. Kylin remained afflicted from his mother's spell as well, forced to take ether-like medication daily for the rest of his life to keep the mana poisoning from manifesting. It would later be discovered that Sophia’s death (and Kylin’s ailment) was not completely a result of her spell by itself, but instead of toxins traced back to Margarah’s signature fragrance used as a poison. Sophia, who had learned the truth of Cartius’s true paternity, had tried forcing the family to tell him the truth. To protect their secret and the family itself from House Felstar's wrath, the family secretly and carefully exposed her to the appropriate amount of toxins to wear her down and eventually kill her.
After Julius’s death, Cartius became patriarch of the house. His accomplishments were few due to his short reign in comparison to other Mavanix leaders. He did however expand the Avalon Heritage Museum’s collection of artifacts by more than any other house leader before him. He also helped found Outer Heaven, an adventurer’s guild composed of four different pillars that was wildly successful prior to Cartius suddenly pulling support from it for unknown reasons. It was also revealed during this time that Seraphine Winter was the daughter of Cartius, birthed by an affair between him and her mother.
Just prior to the Calamity, House Mavanix would begin its downward spiral into destruction. The Mavanix Mansion was one day attacked by goblins from GIN, the alliance formerly forged by Julius. Cartius was "killed" in the attack. Elza Ashfen was unexpectedly named his successor in his will, a daughter that none knew of until the revelation. Elza took over as matriarch as the house began to crumble from perceived external enemies. The Mavanix Academy fell first when revelations about unethical experiments in the academy’s basement came to light. Most of the staff and students abandoned the school, causing an irreversible downward spiral for the institution before it was eventually bought out by an unknown merchant. Margarah came next when Nina and Kalara Mavanix attempted to secede from the house entirely with their business. Elza managed to best them in a fashion duel using a group known as Everwatch as the models. Nina and Kalara died tragically that same night when their airship crashed, leaving Margarah completely without management. On the same night, Balthazor Mavanix’s home was attacked during a family meeting and almost the entire remaining Mavanix clan was wiped out. Margarah never recovered and slowly faded out before it was bought out by Sylvora Apparel.
GIN somehow received the artifact that kept the alliance between them and House Mavanix stable, thus severing the vital relationship and another of the house’s resources. In a final climatic turn of events, Ul'dahn officials received proof from an unknown source stating that Elza was not a Mavanix at all and thus did not meet the specific criteria of Cartius’s will (someone had brought forth proof of Cartius's blood relation to the Felstars). As such, Elza’s tumultuous and extremely short-lived reign is not recognized by historians as an era in the house’s history. The embarrassment of the situation caused Ul'dahn officials to dissolve House Mavanix in its entirety as Cartius was revealed to in fact be alive and well living within Ishgard. The former patriarch had staged his death, claiming he had hoped to protect the house from his enemies by doing so. It is widely believed without evidence that Cartius orchestrated all of the events that led to the Mavanix downfall once he discovered his true lineage.
It was "revealed" that Xaliel Mavanix, a cousin of the immediate family, was the brains orchestrating the house's downfall prior to his death at the hands of mercenaries, as he was apparently a secret agent of Decertum Umbra. Numerous mercenaries were wanted for questioning in relation to these events, but the investigation was permanently cut short with the coming of the Calamity.
House Mavanix fell completely with no known survivors as the Calamity came. House Felstar, under Cartius's new leadership, would in turn rise in its place.
Hidden Era: Decretum Umbra
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- Scarlet Siren: The official House Mavanix ship, used for transportation between Ul'dah and Limsa on business related matters. It was often docked around Vesper Bay. The ship was taken by Elza Ashfen just prior to the Calamity and has not been seen since. Its whereabouts are unknown.
- Mavanix Mansion: A manor built during Joachim's founding of the house that has been with the family for each generation. It was nearly destroyed due to various internal/external battles just prior to the Calamity, left in mostly ruins. After the Calamity, the property was purchased by an unknown merchant. It was partly cleaned up, but still is a former shadow of itself. No known residents have been in the manor since the Calamity. It is rumored to be haunted.
- Margarah: The family's fashion line originally created by Margarette and Sarah Mavanix. It started small and barely made much in profits, but greatly expanded and became a booming success during Darian's reign. After the Calamity, it was bought out by Ul'dah's Sylvora Apparel.
- Mavanix Academy: Founded by Darian Mavanix, the Mavanix Academy has been an important school in the Ul'dahn academic field for multiple generations. Originally meant for the upper crust of Ul'dah, it eventually become a haven for even moderate income scholars who took advantage of expanded financial aid programs that were constantly being added to the institution. Prior to the Calamity, revelations about secret unethical experiments within the institution came to light and the academy shut down. Attempts to revitalize it by other merchants who have bought it continue to fail. The school still exists today under new ownership, though with few attendees and severe financial issues.
- Avalon: Avalon is the founding arm of House Mavanix. Created by Joachim Mavanix, the institution is essentially an artifact preservation group that consists of miners, researchers, and a handful of private mercenaries who assist with excavations. It is currently under ownership of House Felstar.
- Avalon Heritage Museum: A subsidiary of Avalon, the museum houses a plethora of Avalon's findings and research. It is generally open to the public only during specific seasons and showcases a wealth of history for those willing to pay a rather pricey fee to get in. Following the Calamity, ownership went to House Felstar.
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- Tabs and border concepts by Suen Shyu.
