Fineweavers

Written by: Sara Stancato

According to its members, the Fineweaver clan has lived and traded out of the city of Kolvir since it was a mere village under the shadow of the Sorfjell mountains, before the Kings’ Wars, before Sorjund was even a kingdom. So they say. Certainly, there are records of Fineweaver births, marriages and deaths as far back as anyone has bothered to record them.
The Fineweavers claim that their founder and first matriarch, Iska, communed with spirits of great power, who blessed her with the ability to weave cloth imbued with magic surpassing what even the Empresses can access today. They say that she traded her wonderous cloth across the continent and amassed great wealth. If this is true, unfortunately this ability has been forgotten over the generations. However, the Fineweavers’ wool cloth lives up to its reputation: soft and comfortable, yet hardy enough to resist the coldest wind, and they continue to trade it up to this very day. The name Iska remains popular with in the family, with at least one child carrying that name every generation.
Through the years, Fineweavers have used their wealth to gain a moderate amount of influence in Sorjund. Some went to university and became doctors, philosophers, and scientists. Some married into minor nobility and got involved in politics. Some took up banking and lending, while others began trading in additional goods besides cloth. Having developed good relations with the Mamac of Kairn Handia, a few Fineweavers helped with the negotiations that allowed the former kingdom of Sorjund to take control of the pass through the mountains and found Tosteif. A branch of the clan settled there to expand trade with the northern kingdoms, though the on again/off again Kings Wars would cause them temporary losses each time Tosteif was attacked. During those times they had to borrow from family back in Kolvir to rebuild, though they paid back their loans fairly quickly as their skills and goods were in demand in wartime as much as in times of peace.
Since the founding of the Empire, things have settled down in Tosteif and the branch of Fineweavers living there is doing better than ever. However, there was a small scandal about a decade ago when the eldest granddaughter rejected a marriage proposal from another prosperous merchant family and ran off to Kairn Handia with a man considered beneath her station. Asking any of the Fineweavers about her earns a glare and stony silence, or a refusal to admit there ever was an eldest granddaughter at all.

Type

Family

Location

Sorjund