Olakai Merchant Family
ToC
Who They Are
The Olakai family came to Ptolus only a few years ago, but they’ve been quite successful in the meantime. Setting up the Morana Merchant House, the family has established a foothold in the trading business. However, they are nowhere near the level of the more prestigious merchant enterprises of the city, at least not yet. The Olakais are Night Merchants, a practice very much in vogue in their homeland of Uraq. Essentially, this means they are open 24 hours a day. Their competition argues that by spreading the same sales across more time will cost them more money. The family is comprised of six members, some with more interest in their merchant business than others.I just don't understand how the Olakai family maintains their business, they have a family of six mouths to feed and yet they never seem to want. Well no I am not saying they are rich, maybe well off.
Type
Family
Leader
Location
Controlled Territories
Notable Members
Volker Olakai 01 by Graylion on MidjourneyAI
Volker Olakai
Volker is the family patriarch, ruling over the Morana Merchant House. Tall with slicked-back black hair and a well-cared beard, he stands out in any room. His wife Kira died before he came to Ptolus, and he doesn’t like talking about her, even to his friends.
Volker can usually be found in the Merchant House, ensuring everything is in good order. He speaks with a low voice, the kind one has to give their full attention to in order to hear every word. He is almost entrancing in the way he talks, and people can rarely turn away from him once he opens his mouth.
Volker is the one who has ensured his family’s rise to relative wealth, but he also seems to be the one most content with their current standing. Many of the Merchant Houses’ contacts and frequent shoppers have attested to this – there are stories of Volker’s children and relatives telling him about business opportunities, only for him to refuse to even consider them.
Why Volker does this remains a mystery, and each person has a different theory – mostly depending on if they like Volker or not. Some believe him an idiot, somebody who stumbled into a modicum of success and doesn’t know how to react to it. Others believe he is simply content – his business makes enough money to support his family, and that is enough. Still others believe him a genius who turns downs those offers because he knows they will lead to failure.
Torish Olakai 01 by Graylion on MidjourneyAI
Torish Olakai
Torish is Volker’s oldest child, a man of almost thirty years. He looks the spitting image of his father, only clean-shaven. Apart from looks, Torish has also inherited Volker’s penchant for business.
While he spends time in the Morana Merchant House, Torish also has his own business endeavor – he owns a merchant caravan that imports textiles and jewelry from the south. But whereas Volker abhors displays of wealth, Torish is more than happy to show off.
The local tailors and seamstresses are kept constantly busy thanks to him, since Torish fancies himself a trend setter. Each week, these people churn out clothes in a variety of new and old styles, according to Torish’ wishes. Some clothes are a success, but most are a failure – Torish places the blame solely on the workers, of course.
Despite this wealth, Torish doesn’t really mingle with the nobility and the wealthy folk of Ptolus. Instead, he spends his time in taverns and pubs, tipping excessively. He also frequents brothels, in the days where he doesn’t pick up some girl in the aforementioned dining and drinking establishments.
Chessia Olakai 02 by Graylion on MidJourneyAI
Chessia Olakai
Volker’s younger child, Chessia is twenty years old, with pale skin and red-brown hair. Chessia Olakai is a smaller, petite woman with the unassuming youthful face of a proper, fair lady. Contrary to her father and brother, she cares little for the family business.
Indeed, Chessia is seldom seen in the Merchant House – and, if she’s there, she’s most likely behind the counter, reading a romance novel or a book about the deeds of noble knights.
In general, where most of her family is gregarious, Chessia is shy, abhorring conversation with strangers. It usually falls to Torish to get her out of her shell, taking her along with him in some of his excursions. Even this fails to cheer her up, as she’s often melancholic and sad, for no apparent reason.
Velon Olakai 01 by Graylion on MidJourneyAI
Velon Olakai
Volker’s cousin, Velon is always seen with a tophat and a black longcoat, even during summer. Sporting a characteristic mustache, Velon is as tall as his cousin, and quite a bit more intimidating.
Velon is responsible for the Merchant House’s weapons trade, which perhaps explains his slight paranoia. He is suspicious of everybody, and always walks around with an escort, which he strangely seems to dislike. In general, those who have had dealings with him describe Velon as antsy at best, quick to accuse others of spying on him.
Still, Velon deals with others fairly. He brings business proposals to Velkor often, perhaps trying to up his standing with him – usually to no avail. He doesn’t seem to like Velkor’s children much, although he does his best to be nice to them.
Serra Olakai 01 by Graylion on MidJourneyAI
Serra Olakai
Serra is another of the family’s distant cousins – perhaps more distant than Velon, since she looks nothing like the rest of the Olakais. She is in her late thirties, short, with blond hair.
Serra is a financial genius, and takes care of the family’s ledgers, having working for a large counting house in Tarsi's. She is the one everyone has to go through to get funding for anything, and Volker trusts her implicitly. They make quite a good team, and it’s obvious Volker prizes her highly.
Serra is a social butterfly, and is usually the family’s representative in any and all official functions, be those galas, informal parties, or random social gatherings. She dresses well – better than Torish, usually. Everywhere she goes, she’s accompanied by a handful of gentleman "bodyguards".
Tolar Olakai 01 by Graylion on MidJourneyAI
Tolar Olakai
Tolar is Volker’s brother. Although he’s the younger of the two, it is his hair that has began to go grey. Even so, he doesn’t look to be older than forty.
A successful merchant in his own right, Tolar is primarily known for trading in spirits. This has made him quite a lot of money, although Tolar doesn’t really flaunt his wealth like his nephew.
According to gossip, Tolar is something of a black sheep among his family. Rumor says he’s a smuggler, bringing illicit items into Ptolus. The very same rumors say that a reason the entire family came to the city was that Tolar had been a criminal, and is still wanted in various cities down south. The most outrageous of the rumors say that Tolar is even smuggling slaves, using Ptolus as a port to send them to other cities farther away.
If the rumors are true, Tolar has been doing an outstanding job in concealing all of this. Indeed, the city guard has never come calling for him, nor have the Olakais’ merchant rivals ever managed to make any accusation stick. Whether this continues into the future – if the rumors have any substance at all – remains to be seen.
Olakai Family Cover 3x2
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