Fun is fun, but I take great pains to keep my own not inconsiderable impulses for amusement at least nominally grounded with a strong measure of caution. Or at least I try to these days. When one has the rare magical gift of influencing and sometimes fully controlling another person's mind you can't be either too careful or cautious. The use of magic is nominally legal within the Gray Empire, but only just. It's certainly not socially acceptable, even for younger son of a very minor lord. Being known or even
suspected
of having this gift is a good way to feature prominently in the files of the Guardia Imperia, the emperor's own secret police as suspect #1 in the likely event that something terrible might ever happen someday anywhere within a hundred miles of me. Disaster just waiting to happen and ten times, or even a hundred, worse than just being born a Sylvan gypsy!
Coming from a noble family wouldn't protect me either, or at least not much, and sooner or later I'd end up on the wrong end of a lynch mob or a judicial bonfire. Besides, not even aristocratic society can be bothered much to care about the fate of a fourth son, let alone one from a southern marcher family whose borderlands are weeks away from Mirabelle, the imperial capitol. Being from the nobility is useful, but marcher families are of a distinctly lower crust than most older and more venerable imperial patrician clans. Being a d'Bounderby does have its advantages... and its limitations as well and with experience I'm beginning to slowly understand the difference. The odds are even beginning to improve that I'll live long enough to reach the ripe age of thirty in a few more years!
I'd come here to Ormsford, at the furthermost most northwestern armpit of the empire, precisely to avoid that sort of problematic 'justice'. I'd pushed my luck a bit too far back in Mirabelle and left my exceedingly comfortable (and overly opulent) quarters there only just in time to avoid being questioned as a person of interest in a rather large blackmail and burglary ring. Against my better judgment, I'd allowed a rather weak link in my unfortunately oversized organization to be overly indiscrete and when pinched by the city vigiles watch he had wasted little time fingering me as the mastermind and his primary fence for the stolen swag. There was no firm evidence against me, but I had to '
suggest
' my innocence and use my gift to cover my tracks rather more firmly and comprehensively than I would have preferred. It was a rush cleanup job too, and that never bodes well either.
Being young and ambitious, I'd let ego get into the way of common sense. In retrospect, I'd been too visible, too aggressive in my greed and quite careless in a number of ways. Without my gift, even my noble name couldn't have saved me from an extended stay in some imperial dungeon at His Highnesses pleasure, but I'd recognized the danger early enough and moved with alacrity to cover up my tracks. For the most part successfully. The fact that most of the local vigiles there were more bent than a thrown horseshoe helped save me as well. I couldn't count on
that
happening again here.
You can't pay off every guardsman, but if you buy the right ones you can at least have an adequate warning if their buddies start to show an interest in pissing in your morning oatmeal. Nothing against me could be proven... that time, but I had the rather good sense to realize that I'd already attracted a bit too much official attention. I could deal with polite inquiries into my business habits from the vigiles, but I absolutely didn't want the Guardia Imperia taking an interest in my affairs under any circumstances. The empire doesn't have many chartered magicians, wizards and the like... but they all seem to work for the Guardia on imperial business, such as ferreting out magic abusing weasels like myself!
A more honorable man would have used my gift for public service and accepted an imperial salary as a chartered magician, but not me. I had dreams, goals and plans to achieve them... and none of them were particularly honest ones.
I could have stayed and patiently endured the growing investigation against me, but it was smarter to just relocate away from the capitol for awhile to let the dust completely settle down and allow my name to become mostly forgotten. No one comes here to Ormsford for their health, but it was the third largest city in the empire and I thought that there might be some worthwhile economic opportunities to be found up here in the frontier. This city is the trade nexus for the entire northern region (mostly wilderness) and with the ruins of the fabled kingdom of Celantha (and its legendary riches) beyond the wasteland hills to our north, the city is home for adventurers, merchants, traders, factors, poor nobles and northern marcher clans, and also plenty of rogues, scoundrels and chancers just like me.
Fortunes are made and lost in the counting houses, docks and back alleys every day, and I've tried to take my share... but quietly, trying to attract as little attention and notice here as possible. That means keeping my ambitions and appetites much more under control, and using my 'gift' with considerably more restraint and moderation... much to my personal annoyance.
Overtly, I dabble with trade, which is still very much a semi-scandalous activity for any member of a noble family even in dire straits. To keep my hands as clean as possible from the indignity of actually owning cargos, or worse, having to possess actual inventories of physical goods, I much instead prefer to act as a middleman for other factors and merchants, helping them make bigger or better deals and then taking a percentage. Consulting and advising others is safe, and mostly easy money but the profits (like the risks) are low. Sometimes I'll buy or sell nominal minority shares in cargos or commodities on my own, mostly river cargos to and from the capitol, if I have the hunch that the profit will be unusually good. Once in awhile, I'll even risk a regional trade caravan, if I think the reward versus the risks are exceptionally good, but they usually aren't.
With my gift, it's easy to learn trading secrets, or inconvenient facts that someone wants kept hush-hush or hidden. Insider information on market trends, or the potential unsoundness of a cargo vessel (or its captain) can help avoid potential investment disasters. However, I do have to admit that most of my magically obtained insider knowledge tends to be utilized for more nefarious purposes.
Blackmail is an ugly word... but it is also
extremely
profitable, if handled carefully through suitable intermediaries... ever so very quietly. Knowing when certain wealthy individuals will be away from their home, or learning of a rich treasure worth stealing can also be extremely profitable as well. I don't usually dirty my own hands with the actual burglary, I have a few skilled minions for that, but I take my percentage... and ensure that my little gang keeps its activities quiet and irregular enough to avoid police or governmental concern.
That was my primary mistake back in Mirabelle, being too greedy and overly ambitious until my gang became too large and far too notorious to operate safely. I will not repeat that same mistake again here!
For appearance sake, I keep a small office on the street of the factors, Silver Avenue, sharing an office chambers with a couple of investment partnerships, a group of barristers that specialize in commercial contract law, and a noted commodities trader who seems to hear every worthwhile rumor first. The sign on my door states that I'm a 'Confidential Consultant', which means that I'm a 'fixer'. The man to go to when you have a problem that requires a solution that might or might not be legal, or requires certain caution, delicacy or even outright secrecy.
Most of my usual clients just want a second opinion on a potential business opportunity before they sign the contract and press their seal into the wax. Perhaps have me check out a possibly shady merchant, or the provenance of a dodgy cargo that might have fallen off of some wagon in the early hours of the morning in some dark alleyway. Not to mention misplaced shipments that might have disappeared some early morning from a warehouse. I've also investigated potential sons-in-laws and heiresses as well, to find any black marks on their characters or lurking family problems before the wedding. Getting a divorce is tricky work, legally anyway, so the smarter families do their due diligence long before any marriage bans get posted at the church. I've done my share of divorce work too, but only for exceptional fees. It takes a
lot
of dirt to obtain an annulment, let alone an actual divorce... even for the nobility. Not to mention the payouts necessary for a friendly bishop and then his archbishop too, to get their concurrence. My gift has been helpful there as well, influencing the desired outcome for further financial considerations.