Jeremiah Hanhook

(a.k.a. The Merchant’s Curse)

Known across the Empire of Turelion and the tradeways of the Underdark as the Merchant’s Curse, Jeremiah Hanhook is one of the most infamous highway man to ever prowl the roads of Kelbonnar’s Material Plane. For over 200 years, he has stolen an untold fortune in goods and coin from all manner of merchants and traders and has evaded numerous attempts to capture him, by the Imperial Inquisition, the Hastellion Trading Company and others. He is even said to be the only person to have ever escaped the notorious prison in the Middle Underdark, the Oubliette.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Born into the respectable Hanhook family, nobility from Ferio Province with connections into the Imperial Court, Jeremiah Hanhook was always regarded as being a boisterous, overactive child, with his parents attempting to instil a sense of discipline in him from an early age. Despite endless hours of formal schooling, both in and away from the family home, Hanhook’s wild side was never tamed and as he grew older, the problems that he caused for his family grew too eventually becoming more and more serious.
When his innate talent for the arcane was discovered at the age of 20, his parents hoped that the root of his ill manners had been found, and he was dispatched to the Imperial College of Arcanists, with hopes that he would finally be able to control and channel his boundless energy and make something of himself, perhaps they dared hope as an arcanist in the service of the Imperial Court.
Hanhook himself, however, had different ideas.
Though he did actually find what the college taught him interesting and diverting, he did not like the endless hours of lectures and incessant amounts of work, nor did he look forward to a promised career in what he regarded as a rather dull, clerical profession. Instead, he would often sneak out of the College to visit the less salubrious districts of Quessama, the capital of Quess Province where he fell into the company of some rather unsavoury characters.
His new found friends took a shine to Hanhook’s natural charm and charisma, his arcane abilities and the fact that he was a good shot with crossbow and rifle and he was quickly drawn into illegal activities. Whilst by day he worked on building a career in the arcane, by night he expanded his criminal career.
Eventually, the law caught up with him and a job that he and his contacts in Quessama were carrying out turned out to be a honeypot operation masterminded by the Imperial Inquisition. Though Hanhook escaped, he was identified and he knew that his time at the Imperial College of Arcanists was at an end, as was his time in polite, law abiding company. Hanhook fled, using an entrance into the Underdark his contacts had shown him to evade capture and he began his life as a highwayman.
Originally, he only took up a highwayman’s trade out of necessity, to collect enough coin to survive, but eventually he grew to like the thrill and daring nature of the pastime, and he quickly became one of the most notorious highwayman in the whole of Kelbonnar’s Material Plane.
To date, no one has been able to capture him, except for once, when he surrendered to a group of bounty hunters who cornered him in the Upper Underdark. However, Hanhook claims that he only surrendered to them in order to test his skills by escaping from the Oubliette, the notorious prison in the Middle Underdark from which no one was ever thought to have escaped. But escape Hanhook did.
His knowledge of the passages of the Underdark and the roads and tradeways of the Empire of Turelion are a formidable mix, allowing him to pop up anywhere above or below the surface of the Material Plane, to ambush trading caravans and make off with a healthy profit.

Education

Hanhook is known to have undergone his formative education at Hapsburg House one of the foremost houses of learning in Turelion Province, following extensive education in the family home under the guidance of a Master of Education. Whilst at Hapsburg House, it was discovered that Hanhook had a natural aptitude for the arcane, which led to him being transferred to the Imperial College of Arcanists, where he studied the arcane arts for several years before taking up his life of crime.

Social

Contacts & Relations

The investigations of the Imperial Inquisition into Hanhook have deduced that his has all manner of contacts within the criminal world and that he is one of the few people that manages to maintain a good working relationship with the Scarlets, the White Fangs and the Kelrik Pirates, groups that normally do not work well with one another and tend to view people with good relations with one of the three that is not themselves with suspicion.
However, as is to be expected, these groups have been unwilling to work with the Inquisition to provide information on Hanhook, his whereabouts, base of operations or his targets and so they have so far drawn a blank.

Family Ties

It is no secret that Hanhook is part of the noble Hanhook family hailing from Ferio Province. Indeed, Hanhook’s father, mother and sisters are still alive, but the family have publicly disowned their renegade son and have done all they can to assist the Imperial Inquisition in apprehending him. The Hanhook family is known to be within the graces of the Emperor of Turelion and Kelbonnar, and they are members of the Imperial Court, which means that the Inquisition have been barred from employing more aggressive, or coercive tactics towards the Hanhook family, in order to try and draw Jeremiah out.

Wealth & Financial state

Though the actual wealth the Hanhook has saved or has ready access to is unknown, what is known is that the current running total of goods and coin that is kept by the Imperial Inquisition agents charged with capturing him, runs to a value of many millions of Crowns. It is accepted that this figure will just be an estimate of the amount that Hanhook has stolen over the years, as there is no coherent system of reporting thefts within the Underdark, and many of the merchants operating in the Empire of Turelion have given up reporting Hanhook’s raids to the Inquisition, as they feel that little is being done to apprehend him.
All kinds of stories have emerged about what Hanhook does with his wealth, ranging from tales of him leaving bags of coins and gems outside the houses of the needy, to him keeping all of his ill-gotten gains in a hoard hidden within the Underdark guarded by a Dragon.

Species

Elves

Age

301

Birthplace

Tashmal, provincial capital of Ferio Province in the Empire of Turelion.

Gender

Male