Llysywen Wen

At one point I asked some highlander to get me to the Moon Lake, where these white freakish fish breed. I had a shady buyer, with wild and gleaming eyes. No questions asked. People may be crazy, but money never is.

— Llysywen Wen about his career

Summary

Llysywen wen was a conman and a cynic individual, who started small but eventually ran one of the biggest merchant guilds in Saveni. His full name translates to White Eel, which was later taken to be the name of the merchant guild. The name was often shortened to Wenwen or even Wen.

Career begins

Llysywen started off big, by utilizing various local taboos to gain large sums of money. One of the first activities was poaching of the blind catfish from the Gáláwá Lake Caves, for skalds experimenting with Depth. This was done with the help of a local highlander Cluaran, who knew the mountains well enough to navigate through them, but to whom the myths and taboos surrounding the Lake were not very as strong as for the lowlanders from the village of Gáláwá. The blind catfish were drawn to the net by the bloodsacks from the leeches. When pulled above the surface the fish made a shrieking noise, resembling that of a crying child. At that point Cluaran almost left Wen up in the mountains, but the man threw the catch into a barrel and the cries stopped. It started to become obvious that there is more than meets the eye and that the taboo is there for a good reason.

He sold the blindies to skalds, who experimented with Depth, most probably one of the remaining Tamers of Deep Æter and received a worthy recompensation in precious artifacts, including some rare Ædean artifacts. It is worth mentioning, that on whatever point he never asked too many questions. Only as much as to get the job done.

Be that as it may, the unease sticked to him like a patch of tar. From then on he tried to hold to activities, which did not involve preying on the weak, children in particular. He also resolved to more cunning practices, occassionally making good deeds to feel more humane.

Starting a guild

When enough money was gathered, Wen decided to stabilize the income by starting a merchant guild. With himself as the head, he established the White Eel, which was a crossing point for rare and valuable products, including spices, food and to some extent, also tourism. Wen was eager to establish a good contant with the Aškari merchants, for whom the Saveni culture was so different, taht a potential for money-making lied in every piece of world, provided the story and uses were found.