Mirja Copperhand

Mirja Copperhand knows the price of everything in Bridgeport and the value of silence. She is a kendric fence and information broker working the grey margins between the city's guilds, its two most powerful trading families, and anyone else with coin and a problem that official channels cannot solve. She is good at this. She has been good at it for fifteen years. But four months ago she bought something she cannot sell, and it is quietly destroying her.

"You want me to tell you who to trust in this city? Nobody. You want me to tell you who is reliable? That's a different list and I charge extra for it." -- Mirja Copperhand

Description

Mirja stands a few inches below a human's elbow, which she has always considered an advantage. People talk more freely when they look over your head. Her dark eyes catalogue a room before she has fully entered it. Her left hand is copper: a jointed prosthetic of evident quality that she makes no effort to conceal. She will tell you that it is proof that she settled the debt on her own terms, and that the dwarf in question did not walk away cleanly either.

She dresses practically: good boots, a long coat with more pockets than anyone has counted, and a wide-brimmed hat she adjusts according to how much she wants to be noticed. She speaks precisely and without unnecessary warmth.

Mirja Copperhand by Tillerz using MJ

History

Mirja grew up in The Fringes, Bridgeport's dockside neighbourhood, where money was scarce and information was the only currency that compounded. Her father worked the docks. Her mother counted other people's money for a shipping consortium and came home with none of it. Mirja concluded early that the people who prospered in the Fringes were the ones who knew what was in the crates before the crates arrived.

She started young, trading cargo manifest scraps for small favours. By her twenties, she brokered goods that "fell off ships", goods that arrived on ships that were not supposed to exist, and eventually things that had never seen a ship at all. She built her reputation on two principles: she delivered what she promised, and she never sold the same information to parties who would use it against each other. The first rule made her valuable. The second made her trusted.

Three years ago, a deal involving a Magramine dwarf, a disputed shipping ledger, and a spectacular misunderstanding cost her a hand. She had it replaced in copper, recovered over six weeks, and declined to elaborate further. The dwarf's subsequent business difficulties are considered unrelated.

She has worked as a neutral go-between for both the Garibaldi and Calafado families since before the current generation of their feud. Neither family knows the full extent of her relationship with the other. Maintaining this has required two parallel sets of books, careful memory, and an almost artistic commitment to compartmentalisation. She has managed it for eleven years.

Four months ago, she purchased a pre-Titan artefact from a travelling salvager for what seemed like a reasonable price. The salvager mentioned that the previous owner had died. Mirja noted this and did not consider it unusual. She has since revised that assessment entirely.

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Role in Bridgeport

Mirja operates from a discreet broker's office above a reputable tea merchant in The Fringes (as far as a business located in The Fringes can be reputable). The office is cluttered with ledgers, samples, and objects awaiting appraisal. She keeps no employees and maintains no sign on the door. Clients find her by referral only.

Her value to Bridgeport's informal economy is structural. She knows which goods the guilds will not officially handle, which harbour inspectors accept which fees, and which members of the Council of Ten have which uncomfortable associations. She does not sell this information recklessly, but trades it like a banker trades debt: carefully, with attention to long-term returns and avoidance of unnecessary additional risks.

Her position between the Garibaldi and Calafado families is particularly delicate. Tonio Calafado uses her to move spice shipments through channels his family cannot officially acknowledge (to circumvent taxes). Aristide Garibaldi uses her to gather intelligence on shipping movements, including the Calafados'. She has maintained this arrangement through strict compartmentalisation and the shared understanding that she is worth more to both sides alive and functional.

This understanding is under strain. She missed a payment to a Calafado-affiliated money lender three weeks ago. A Garibaldi acquisitions agent who recently examined the Custodian Seal on the family's behalf died four days later. The Garibaldis are asking questions she cannot answer safely.

"I'm not in trouble. I have a problem with a defined perimeter and insufficient current solutions. Those are not the same thing." -- Mirja Copperhand

Towards the Player Characters

Mirja does not approach strangers directly. She prefers intermediaries, and she has fewer of those than she used to. If the party develops a reputation in Bridgeport for solving unusual problems, she has them investigated quietly before making contact. When she does reach out, she is honest about the broad strokes: she has an artefact she cannot sell, people have died, she needs help identifying it and finding a safe way to transfer its custody. She omits the part about the Garibaldis. She also omits the Calafado debt, though she will acknowledge financial pressure if pushed.

Once the immediate crisis is resolved, she is a valuable contact. She knows Bridgeport's informal networks better than almost anyone, she pays fairly, and she is capable of genuine gratitude. She is not a good person in any conventional sense, but she is a reliable one. In Bridgeport, that distinction matters more.

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Mirja Copperhand

Size: Small
Move: 5
WS: 30 | BS: 38 | S: 25 | T: 30 | I: 55 | Ag: 55 | Dex: 60 | Int: 55 | WP: 45 | Fel: 65
Wounds: 12
Armour: 1 (Body 1)
A kendric fence and information broker who survives by being equally useful to everyone and loyal to no one. She fights only when cornered, and then she fights to create an exit, not a victory.

Skills: Bribery 80, Charm 75, Evaluate 70, Gossip 70, Haggle 75, Perception 65, Sleight of Hand 70, Stealth (Urban) 65.
Minimal Traits: Night Vision, Small, Stealthy
Attacks: 1
Concealed Pistol: Damage 9; Range 10/20; Pistol; Reload (Full Action). Mirja draws this only when she has no other exit. She aims for the largest target in the room and runs.
Dagger: Damage 0. She goes for ankles and shins to buy herself three seconds.
Talents: Attractive, Flee!, Savvy, Sharp, Street Fighting, Unassuming.

Mirja Copperhand

Level: 3
Health: 9
Armor: 0
Damage: 2 (melee) or 5 (pistol, once)
Movement: Short
Minimal Abilities:

• Insider Knowledge: Mirja functions as a level 5 asset for any task involving Bridgeport's black markets, guild structures, or the Garibaldi and Calafado families. She may refuse to share information that would compromise her own position.
• Double Book: Once per session, Mirja can produce a contact, route, document, or piece of intelligence that the party has no other plausible way to access, provided it concerns Bridgeport's informal economy.
• Silver Tongue: Attempts to deceive, intimidate, or persuade Mirja are made against difficulty 5 rather than her level. She has heard every approach before.
• Exit Strategy: When Mirja fails a Speed defense roll, she may immediately move a short distance as a free action before the damage is applied.