The Vailian Company, the only mercantile company with the full backing of all five ducs bels of the Vailian Republics, has established itself as a thriving power in the Deadfire Archipelago. While involved in numerous trades, the VTC's primary interest in the region rests in the presence of a rare and valuable form of adra.
This feathered tricorne hat bears the Company's mark on its inner lining. Its dapper styling accentuates the wearer's grace and allure, helping them stay in command during the most onerous of predicaments.
The VTC maintains a sizeable fleet of merchant crafts and well-armed escorts to protect its investments from pirates and raiders. The officers on such ships wear hats such as this to protect them from harsh elements, to differentiate them from members of other groups in the region, and to distinguish them from the common sailors in their employ.
Mercario Menzallini, a pioneer member of the Vailian Trade Company's interest in the Deadfire, cared far less for trade than the mother who pressured him to follow in her mercantile footsteps. As a mate aboard a VTC galley, he set to sea with a bitter mixture of dread and resentment, sure that he would never return home again.
His fear proved well-founded.
By the time Menzallini's ship reached the Deadfire, he found himself captain via promotion through attrition. The captain the ship set sail with took a bullet during a skirmish with an Aedyran galleoun off of the southern tip of the continent, while her replacement had the incredible misfortune to fall overboard during an attack by barbed ravager.
Yet Menzallini proved a remarkably competent captain. Humbled by his own inexperience, he listened to the counsel of his sailors, and he rewarded them in turn with finer rations and heavier sacks of coin than they could expect on other ships.
Though beloved by his crew, Menzallini's voyages proved less profitable than those of more parsimonious captains, and the VTC recalled him to the Republics with the intent of stripping him of his command. He was warned in advance, however, by one of his former navigators whose relatively high wages under Menzallini had allowed her to eventually take a bookkeeper's position in the homeland.
Rather than return his vessel and its crew to the Republics, Menzallini pulled down the VTC colors and offered them to any hands who would rather remain with the company than join him in his sedition. When no one accepted the offer, he folded the color and locked them away. He the threw his hat into the sea, turned the bow towards the horizon, and set forth for waters uncharted.
Acquisition
