The Merchant Kings
Overview
If survival is the heart of Ithara, then the mercantile trade is its blood. With the unpredictable and harsh environment, it's a challenge for settlements to be fully self-sufficient, and so the growth of trade has directly caused the growth of larger, more numerous settlements around Ithara. From textiles in a rainbow of hues and patterns to reliable water sources and dependable aether-powered technology, collaboration between people and settlements is commonplace. While stamped currency has been established, bartering is widely accepted due to the unpredictable nature of life in the desert: not everyone has coin, but many can perform a service or give up a treasured item. The challenge, though, is getting wares from place to place in such a harsh landscape.This is where the ruling party of Ithara found their place. The ruling class of Ithara are the Merchant Kings, six individuals who have gained nobility through either inherited or self-made financial means and formed an alliance between Ithara’s six grand city-states. The Merchant Kings do not sell much themselves, but instead take a cut of anything sold in their cities or transported on their fleets, and they employ and house those responsible for the continued development and research of aetheromechanical technology. Tithes and taxes power the propellers of their airships and fill the sails of their sand skiffs; their guards are armed by gold and their navigators are educated by silver. They decide the law in their cities, and any who refuse to pay tribute are forced to risk their wares in wheeled caravans or mounted expeditions. For most, it's an easy decision: a sand skiff armed with aether-powered weaponry and aether-powered sails stands a much better chance against the desert's great beasts than mercenaries in covered wagons.
For those who can't (or won't) serve the Merchant Kings, options are more limited; especially for the beastfolk. They have to be more strategic and close-knit, working in defensible communes or nomadic communities. Some use magical gifts to ensure they have the water they need to survive, while others must find the rare oasis or river canyon to settle around. And others, of course, turn to thievery: even the sturdiest caravan can lose its goods to a concentrated raid, and for the less violent, the gilded corpses of ancient cities lie under the sands, ripe for plunder.
Despite these unfortunate circumstances, those directly employed by and enabled to live in the cities of the Merchant Kings enjoy a comfortable prosperity. The guilds of wizards and artificers employed by the Merchant Kings want for nothing and are free to focus all their efforts on researching improvements and new developments to the national infrastructure, and the Merchant Kings themselves know that the people living in their cities should not be squeezed dry. They are well aware that stress only causes further strife, and people are only happy to fill coffers while they themselves are happy with their lives.
by Liz Lim
Current Merchant Kings
Vishal Kurkani of Maruthala Moti
In the heart of the salt-covered Bone Wastes in southern Ithara lies the gleaming pearl city of Maruthala Moti, an oasis in a sea of death. Vishal, a former adventurer and known collector of mystical artifacts, established the city as a testament to Itharan ingenuity. Fresh water flows freely within the city gates, and on the paths through the Bone Wastes, Vishal has implemented fresh water wells untainted by the sea of salt; free for limited use, but a little coin gets more water. This has made the Bone Wastes a survivable trade route, greatly reducing the length of travel in southern Ithara.
It is an open secret that the source of this unlimited fresh water is one of Vishal's many artifacts, though precisely which one is unknown. The exact quantity of his horde has never been made public, and the identities of most of his artifacts have only been guessed at.
Maruthala Moti also houses one of the largest artificer schools in Ithara, owing to the aether-rich surroundings of the Bone Wastes, and the artificers directly employed by Vishal are allowed to study a limited volume of his personal collection in exchange for total secrecy about its contents. It is their goal to be able to replicate these ancient treasures’' effects for larger production, much like the devices now used to produce fresh water.
Idir Baga of Ta'alaq
A Merchant King of the Great Sand Sea, focused on sandskiff transportation and the hunting and raising of great Itharan beasts. Opened the yearly Nasr festival of harvesting ore and gems from the back of a wild balhut to all Itharans.
Khendu Nikare of Al'Hayadiq
A recent addition to the Merchant Kings, a man of ancient Itharan lineage from The Thornveld. Heads a trading outpost near the source of the Turquoise Serpent that has a direct trade route with Tron Daurat.
Njeri Kariuki of Kuvuka Mpaka
The Merchant King most familiar with those outside of Ithara, Njeri and the great city Kuvuka Mpaka stand at the border of the Chikan Jungle, within the Flame Steppe. Kuvuka Mpaka hosts most exports and imports through Ithara, including those under the employment of the other Merchant Kings. Njeri ensures she always gets a cut of anything that passes through her gates.
Being so involved in trade passing through Ithara, Njeri is also constantly up to date on all the recent goings-on near and far. Her web of connections stretches internationally, from Ogygian mercenaries to Itharan beastfolk, and she has survived several diplomatic tussles thanks to making herself too valuable to be an enemy. Provided she gets paid for the service, it is well known that Kuvuka Mpaka should be a traveler's first stop to find help and guidance across borders.
Fayruz Hashmi of Bad-Sahr
The complex port city of Bad-Sahr is a remarkable feat of engineering, clinging to the towering mesas of the Spires of Song on the eastern branch of the Turquoise Serpent. Bad-Sahr is the focal point of all air and river travel in Ithara: the striking blue-glazed towers and bridges are constantly buzzing with airships, and aether-powered elevators move people and cargo effortlessly from the river to the mesa’s caps and back again. Unsurprisingly, Bad-Sahr also produces most Itharan airships and has a prestigious school for pilots.
Fayruz is something of an outlier among the Merchant Kings. Her original career was as a feared and shrewd raider, and the Merchant Kings themselves often fell prey to her crew. Her main strength came from being an airship pioneer when the technology was still in its earlier stages, allowing her to both learn how to pilot the new devices and make improvements to the overall designs.
Furthermore, aside from Njeri, Fayruz is the Merchant King who works most openly and freely with beastfolk. In particular, harpies were instrumental in the design of Mahad Allayl’s cliffside construction thanks to their experience in building nest-villages, and adamdun and sobekites familiar with their culture’s customs are always brought on river voyages to ensure beastfolk territories aren’t infringed upon.
Maatkare XI of Nekheb
The great city-state of Nekheb on the southeastern banks of the Turquoise Serpent is the oldest still-standing city in Ithara, and Maatkare XI is the latest in a royal line stretching since antiquity; Maatkare VIII is said to be one of the first Merchant Kings of Ithara. The architecture of the sprawling city still reflects Old Itharan sensibilities, built in a rigid columnar and trabeated style as opposed to the fluid arcuated style of most modern Itharan architecture. Wares from the ocean and river tend to pass through Nekheb, but its most important feature is its massive library of information on ancient Ithara. The sprawling halls of Nekheb hold nearly all the current knowledge on ancient Ithara, from detailed research documents and carefully-preserved scripts to sculptures and ruin fragments. There is no better place to learn about Ithara’s past, and Maatkare ensures that this knowledge is not given out freely.
Maatkare herself rarely makes public appearances, and when she does, she is always hidden behind a serene golden mask inlaid with lapis gems. Only those in the highest echelons of her court (or the other Merchant Kings) can meet with her personally and alone, and she has no immediate family or even a consort; not unusual for a Merchant King, but certainly strange for one of Old Itharan royal blood. Strange, too, that any information on the Maatkare line in the library of Nekheb is completely restricted to the public.
