Ban Rhinvan

Title:

Assistant Moneylender; "Legitimate Businessman"

Played by

Bernar

Description:

A slender man of average height, with a small nose and a small white scar on his left cheek. His eyes are very pale, scarcely blue at all, and surrounded by dark circles. His dark blonde hair is trimmed to a short, precise length, while his face is carefully shaven.

A perfectly-tailored black coat sits delicately on his narrow shoulders, hugging closely to a white shirt with a wide collar. Pants the same color as the coat flow down from his waist into black leather knee-length boots. Tucked for display in a pocket on his left chest is a folded scarlet handkerchief, bright as blood. The gold-trimmed buttons of his coat glint when caught in the light. Rarely far from his hands is his ornately carved walking stick, its dark wood oiled and polished.

History:

Ban Rhinvan follows the money.

Starting out in Esgaroth with parents too poor to live anywhere but the Underdecks, Ban early learned that money is power and they didn't have any. Wandering the surface streets as an urchin, he saw the great Houses' mercantile holdings. He followed further, though. Where did the Houses go when they needed to expand? The moneylenders. Ban pursued his studies, gaining literacy and numeracy wherever he could find a book or chalkboard. His family, while poor, was not uneducated.

He saw his peers either find ways to go legitimate and go topside or find a path in the criminal underworld. He further saw that the criminals made large but intermittent profits, while the regular merchants of Esgaroth had lower profit margins.

He became an assistant moneylender and moved into Esgaroth on the strength of his financial acumen, but he remembered his roots. He knew that the Underdecks needed money to endure between hauls. It wasn't long before he was dipping into his official sums to lend at high rates to the desperate folk Below . Ban is trying to game the system, gaining the money of the desperate without taking on their risks.

He truly believes he is doing a service to his communities. He keeps the poor from starving and makes money off the risk he takes. But he keeps credit flowing. And money, Ban knows, is Dale's true lifeblood.

Always follow the money.