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Maxilla Augstine Mouraine

I am the youngest heir of a prominent ruler. What do I do for entertainment?   My name is Maxilla Augustine Mouraine and I am the youngest daughter of Alhane Mouraine, the head of the Mouraine family, who rules over the city of Mount Mouraine.   My friends call me Maxi.   As the youngest child I have been given minimal responsibilities. This has granted me an abundance of free time when all is said and done. Since I began my schooling I have been fascinated by the magical contracts my family created. How they began and how they are used to rule over the city. Law, peace, and order are abundant in our domain and it is all thanks to my family. Without us, we would be nothing more than the ever squabbling and back biting nobles of our neighboring kingdoms. Through my duties and in my free time I like to study the Foundation Contracts. Those contracts and their artifact which gives my family its power.   Since my duties do not take up a majority of my time I have plenty left over to socialize. Visit friends and family. See the city throughout the day and parties at night. I also have ample time to visit contract courts where I can hear out arbitrations on contractual disputes. I surround myself with personal and family friends. Ever the socialite. All they see is a dutiful daughter learning about the family business, or a loyal friend lending emotional support.   Through the courts I have learned a lot about contract drawing and law. Through the courts I have made many friends and acquaintances. Through the courts I have even made some enemies, but they are never around long. And through the courts I have found my power and an enjoyment in exercising it.   Early on in my time visiting the courts I discovered there are a great many archives throughout the city. These archives store contracts which have been completed, failed, or expired. They also contain those contracts which were lost or forgotten. They contain information all the way back to the creation of the first contract, what would become the Foundation Contracts that solidified my family's power. It was in these archives that I found the most interesting things. History. Secrets. Power.   Normally only the Contract Masters and Archivists are allowed to visit this place. Being a Mouraine has its perks, even if the name is known far and wide and with it the reputation. I can almost never hide, but I also cannot be denied certain rights.   Do you know what it's like to find a contract, buried deep within the archives, that tells you through veiled language that one of your friends is an illegitimate child? What a rush it is to learn secrets some long gone person thought were buried. Or to learn the plots and schemes of those around you. Once you know where to look it's not hard to find. A piece here and a piece there. Do you know what kind of rush it is to uncover these long lost secrets?   Or, better yet, to find out a contract was never failed or fulfilled. It was left, for years or decades, and simply never finished. Oh, what it is like for that contract to find its way into some Master's book. To see their faces pale when they have to settle it. A contract five, ten, fifty years gone and no one remembers why it was drawn up. Whole lives, whole fortunes won and lost on a clerical error or willful ignorant long forgotten. Family secrets thrust into the sunlight. Oh the drama! Oh the anguish on their faces.   It thrills me as I sit in the back of the courts, veiled by my entourage, knowing I am doing my duty. That these secrets can bring me wealth and power if leveraged in the right way. That they can bring people to their knees. It also doesn't hurt that it's more entertaining than the greatest stories of books and bards.

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