Exile: Oh. Look. An update. Hallelujiah. Sorry to burst your burst your bubble, this isn't really an update. I'm trying to get back into writing this story (which will take awhile, since I've started college and all) but I actually like this story. So I'll be posting some worldbuilding things for this AU, so you guys can also have a glimpse at what other characters are up to :D It's written to sound like a possible historical research essay? I tried.

To any Italian-speaking readers, please forgive me. I used google translate.

Family and Famiglia: Pioggia

The first of the "Elemental" noble families that arose from the ashes of old Italy was the Pioggia family, which took hold of Venice. Fitting that they, nobles with a strange affinity with rain and water, reigned in the city of canals. They were a kind people with free laughs and lax laws.

Venice prospered more than it had under the previously ruling Acquazzone. Some critics of the Pioggia, however, would snidely comment on the seemingly weak grip they had on Venice. But in the fourth year of Filipio Pioggia's reign, when the family's enemies rose up to conquer and take the Veneto region, instead of merely fleeing to hiding or deploying a mercenary army – they had no standing army – eighty or so of the Pioggia themselves walked the streets of Venice and the roads of Veneto to struggle with and put down the usurpers. They didn't use flintlocks or pistols, but rather swords. Some fought with two blades, making short work of enemies at close range. Others fought with broadswords modeled after those of the Romans. Some though, mostly females, fought with sharp, poison-coated daggers that they would either throw at the offender's vital point or stab directly. Two "honorary" Piogga, both from that strange, mysterious country called "Giappone", each fought with four swords of Asian craft, a katana in one hand, and three shorter swords in the other.

It took a mere week for the Pioggia to silence the revolts engineered by their political enemies. Civilian casualties were quite low for something of such scale, numbering in the high forties, but even so, the bodies of those that had harmed the denizens of Veneto would never move again, silenced by the blades of the Pioggia. For the five days, the Pioggia did not smile nor laugh, all the fighters wearing uncharacteristically keen expressions as they turned the raining deluge a crimson red. Let it be said that the Rain is far from oblivious, even though it showers the people with kindness.

And no civilian that had borne witness to the events of those seven days would ever forget the sight of the bright blades that flicked from hidden sheaths and would be re-sheathed a second later as the enemy's corpse collapsed to the earth, their life having already gone from the empty battleground.

It was an open fact that the Pioggia were kind and charitable, perhaps so much that even saying that was an understatement. They were always willing to hear the plea of a supplicant. If one was hungry, they were given immediate access to foodstuffs. If someone fell into the canals by accident and one of the Pioggia were passing by, the nobles would have no hesitation in leaping into the brackish waters to assist them.

They accepted little money, collected no tax for the good of Veneto.

Perhaps the most significant of the Pioggia were four young men and a childlike girl. Squalo Pioggia was a loud, coarse man that defied Pioggia stereotypes. His hair was extremely long, and had an odd white color. He was much more fierce than his the majority of his family, and had a tendency to cut things (items, not people, thankfully) he did not like for use as fighting dummies. But somehow, Squalo still had the inherent Pioggia kindness in his blood, and was quite remembered by the Italian historian Matteo for fending off shark infestations of the canals. In the end, the Rain Shark of that family was to be recorded as the Strategy Captain of the renowned VARIA.

Asari Ugetsu was one of two "honorary" Pioggia. He and his younger brother, Yamamoto Takeshi had washed up on Chinese land and picked up by Portuguese merchants after a typhoon had blown their fishing boat from the country they called "Nihon". Through a series of misadventures, the two had ended up in Venice with angered Portuguese merchants after their blood for eating up most of their food supplies that they had obtained from Asia and had been intending to sell in Europa's ports. Somehow, they had found favor with the Pioggia (the family was not unlike the other nobles in the fact that they loved interesting people and things) and after displaying traits of the Rain's peoples, were promptly adopted by the family.

Amusingly enough, both of them came to join the name that became feared by all of Italy's aristocracy - Vongola. Asari took the name of the Rain Guardian of the Vongola Primo, and Takeshi the Rain of the External Advisor. Both excelled in swordfights, and contributed to Vongola's fearsome strength. Ironic that the Vongola, which transformed into the first Mafia Famiglia, employed the nobility.

Colonello Arcobaleno, a name that has been carved on the grand doors of the Pioggia Blue Mansion. Loud, cheerful, brash and one of the Il Prescelti Sette, having been able to assume the title of Rain Arcobaleno alongside Lal Mirch of the Nuvola. He was Arcobaleno, meaning that he forfeited his name and his relations to his family to join the foremost of several fields as the ultimate power in all of the city-states of the Italia Peninsula. Amusingly enough, he was one of the rare Pioggia that did not fight with the sword, but rather guns made by a fellow Arcobaleno.

There was only one female Pioggia that made such a significant mark in history that to ignore her would be a great offense to Venice. Campanella Pioggia, or rather, Bluebell Millefiore, had gone missing when she was young, only to be later heard of as the Rain Funeral Wreath, the proper translation of her title as Pioggia Funerale Corona di Fiori. She fought with daggers steeped in a poison that tranquilized and calmed a person's body to the point that all of their bodily functions would shut down. Her daggers and poisons were lost, yet there were many depictions of her and sketches of the fatal weapons themselves. Under the command of the leader of the second Mafia Famiglia to arise, she committed many assassination jobs which she was never convicted of due to the lack of evidence pointing at her.

With this concludes a summary of one of the Elemental Families of late Renaissance Italy. Sadly, the Pioggia truly deserved their title as the "Rain Ghosts", as according to legend, when their power fell during the invasion of Venice, they called up a heavy deluge to wash all of their possessions and all traces of their existence into the sea. There are very few records left of the Pioggia, the only ones in existence either held by the Vongola or the Millefiore Mafia famiglie. However, it is a local belief in Venice that the Pioggia would walk the streets of the city in times of great crisis which threatened the lives of the people that the Rain had sworn to protect.

To anyone wondering where Basil or any other Rain peoples are in this, I'm only focusing on main Varia, Vongola, Arcobaleno, and Millefiore characters in this mini-series. He's around though, I promise :D Next family up is the Tempesta. Also, I'm looking for a beta-reader for this fic (or anyone that I can ping ideas off on a frequent basis, really... I want more opinions) message me on tumblr if you'd like to volunteer! PM inbox on ffnet is and has been closed for reasons.

Also, if you're curious about the status of my stories, check the ffnet profile! I try to update it once a month.