Merchant Vex

“The Connected Trader”

“Everything flows through someone. I just happen to be that someone more often than most.”

Merchant Vex - The Information Broker

Quick Reference

Overview

Merchant Vex runs a successful trading stall in Skyport Eos’s marketplace—dealing in quality goods, rare items, and especially information. Like the Murky Chasm’s Vex Shadowhand, this Vex has a reputation for reliability: expensive but delivers, discreet about clients, and surprisingly well-informed about everything happening in the settlement.

The relationship between Merchant Vex and Vex Shadowhand is deliberately unclear to outsiders. Same family? Business partners? The same organization using dual identities? They never appear together. Their methods are similar. And neither discusses the other. This ambiguity is intentional—keeping authorities, rivals, and customers guessing.

The Truth (GM/Designer Knowledge): Merchant Vex IS Vex Shadowhand—specifically Vex Three, the youngest of the three siblings who operate as “Vex Shadowhand.” This gives the Black Sky Cartel presence in both Skyport Eos (legitimate front) and Murky Chasm (criminal operations).

Merchant Vex occupies the gray area between legitimate and criminal: sells legal goods but knows illegal sources, doesn’t break laws but knows everyone who does, reports nothing to authorities but hears everything worth reporting. Useful to everyone, loyal to none (except siblings), profitable to the Cartel.

Appearance

Height: Average
Build: Unremarkable (deliberately forgettable)
Hair: Dark, simple style
Eyes: Sharp, observant
Clothing: Merchant attire (quality, practical)
Presence: Friendly but detached professional

Background

Origin: Unknown (doesn’t discuss)

Arrival Eos: ~10 years ago (260s S.)

Business: Started small, grew steadily

Success: Combination of quality goods and information trading

Reputation: Built through consistent reliability

Business Operations

Goods Traded

Legitimate: - Quality clothing, tools - Rare spices, preserved foods - Books, maps (expensive) - Crafted items

Gray Area: - “Found” items (stolen? Salvaged?) - Restricted substances (legal but controlled) - Foreign goods (smuggled routes?)

Never (publicly): Weapons, Rot-Shards, obviously stolen

Information Brokerage

Service: Answers questions for price

Specialty: - Who’s buying what (market intelligence) - Rumors (sorted, verified) - Locations of items/people - Connections (introductions)

Ethics: - Client confidentiality (absolute) - Truth (mostly—omissions okay, lies rare) - Neutrality (doesn’t take sides)

Price: Scales with information value and risk

Relationships

Vex Shadowhand: - Related somehow (specifics unclear) - Coordinate occasionally - Similar methods - Never discuss each other

Dockmaster Harvin: - Business relationship (mutual benefit) - Harvin looks away, Vex pays - Information exchange

Merchant Community: - Respected peer - Some envious (success) - Some wary (connections)

Criminals: - Professional relationships (doesn’t judge) - Useful middleman - Paid well

Authorities: - Tolerated (technically legal) - Watched (suspicious) - Can’t prove anything

Secrets

The Truth - Vex Three: - Merchant Vex IS Vex Shadowhand - specifically Vex Three, the youngest sibling - Part of the three-sibling operation that runs the Black Sky Cartel - Operates the “legitimate” Skyport Eos branch while siblings run Murky Chasm - The ambiguity is intentional - keeps authorities guessing - Coordinates with siblings through dead drops and coded messages

The Network: - Informants throughout Eos (feeds intelligence to siblings) - Pays well for information (Cartel resources) - Knows more than admits (three sets of eyes and ears)

The Role: - Vex Three (“The Mind”) handles strategy and logistics - Skyport Eos position gives Cartel presence in civilized territory - Maintains plausible deniability for illegal operations - Can operate openly while siblings work in shadows

Quest Hooks

1. The Information: Need to find someone/something (Vex can help, for price)
2. The Item: Rare item needed (Vex can acquire—questions asked but not answered)
3. The Introduction: Need criminal contact (Vex brokers meeting)
4. The Investigation: Vex knows something about mystery
5. The Shadowhand: Investigate relationship between two Vexes
6. The Favor: Vex needs something (rare request, interesting job)
7. The Discretion: Someone wants to silence Vex (protect or allow?)

Related Topics

• Skyport Eos
• Vex Shadowhand
• Black Sky Cartel

“I trade goods. I trade information. I don’t trade loyalty—never had any to sell.”