Xerin Galatos
From Mizahar Lore
 Face of the Galatos Family | |||||||
| Race | Human | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 458 AV (aged 65) | ||||||
| Place of birth | Ravok | ||||||
| Title | Acolyte of The Black Sun | ||||||
| Skills |
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An old conversational merchant with an estate near the Merchant's Ring, whose persuasive skills are legendary and with great influence in the Galatos family. Xerin Galatos is the face of the Galatos family, a powerful merchant family in Ravok, and lives in a relatively small estate near the Merchant's Ring, where most of his side of the family business takes place.
Biography
When he was young, Xerin was groomed by his large family to be presentable. The household held many events, everything from auctions to private parties, and it was necessary for a Galatos to carry himself with at least confidence and class. Young Xerin did more than just follow these codes of conduct however: he thrived. Close observation of his elder relatives, his parents and uncles and aunts, taught him many things about social niceties, and watching his family auction off goods as well as sell them at stalls gave him a good grasp of conversation in all areas of society. During his adolescence, he pursued public practices of selling and persuading, honing his conversational skills. His friendly demeanor made people feel comfortable and open up to him, both commoners and nobles alike. Often he would be asked to man one of the family stores or oversee an auction and use his considerable skill to keep things going.
In his prime, Xerin was practically the face of the Galatos family. Present at most auctions and spending much of his time talking with clients and customers, the business of their family began booming as he used his personal skills to persuade and convince people to favor Galatos wares and luxuries over their competition, or in some cases to loosen their purse strings just a bit more and spend just a touch extra for some trinket or decoration or otherwise trivial object. Though not the head of the family, Xerin was certainly the most well-known of the entire household both publicly and privately, and his efforts propelled the family into mainstream commerce. Soon their name was in every market, and though they were far from becoming a trade empire they had a promising beginning.
After the boom of success from his twenties to mid-forties, Xerin retired to a more supporting role in the family business, leaving most public and inter-family affairs in the hands of the younger generation. Though still a major spokesperson for the family and the personal overseer of one of their businesses, he had retired to the privacy of his own estate for the most part, discussing future endeavors for the Galatos among the other senior members. With the face of the family well cared for in the hands of the next generation, Xerin shifted his attention from growing his own household's business to impeding the growth of other families who were on the rise. At the start, he achieved this mostly through dissuading potential clients to buy from Galatos instead, but there was only so much talking could do on its own. With that in mind, the now aging man looked to less legal means to achieve his goals, hiring desperate hands off the street to perform odd shady jobs for the Galatos. This practice received the full approval and support from the head of the family, and soon Xerin was actively searching for potential thieves and agents to disrupt their rivals while protecting their own businesses.
Now getting on in his years, Xerin has withdrawn into his private estate and remains there most of the time. His efforts to expand the criminal aspects of the Galatos business led him to establish a convenient network of thieves and thugs and agents, which he manages from within his own privacy. These days he has turned his attention to what has passed and what will come next, thinking on his past and contemplating what he will leave behind in the future. With this free time, he has taken to educating others in the skill of persuasion, cultivating this often neglected talent in the next generations as a sort of testament to his younger years, when his reign as a master of conversation was the greatest. His own persuasive abilities have only been bettered with time, but he accepts the inevitability that he will not be around forever and passes on his exceptional talent as a legacy that will be remembered.
Personality
It is clear that Xerin was once a master spokesperson: he's an excellent conversationalist and very inspiring when he tries, full of energy and life. Yet at the same time his age has made him less proud and more personal, giving him a quite friendly and honest nature. He no longer thinks of himself as the master of the spoken word, but he remains confident in himself and devoted to his family. To most people he is the nice old man that you talk to every now and then, sometimes because you need something or sometimes just to chat. When it comes to his students in persuasion, he is just as welcoming if a little more solemn, as to him his students will keep his voice alive for generations to come. For clients, he puts on his best face and attitude, working his charm to it's greatest extent.
Activities
Xerin acts quite amicably, often befriending those he does business with or even complete strangers to open doors. He often chats up his clients, making them feel comfortable and at ease before gently suggesting products or other items of interest that usually benefit him. Often he has coaxed reluctant customers to open their purse strings, and those who have enough to spend he usually prompts to spend more than they should. Since the Galatos family imports a variety of goods, he talks with more or less every class on the social spectrum, knowing just what to say to whom to get them to loosen up and maybe cough up a few more mizas. However, Xerin's power of persuasion extends to more than just his clients. Many a time he has talked rivals out of a deal or persuaded their clients to leave, tactfully destroying competition, and rumor has it he has even convinced agents that were sent to destroy his family's property to turn around and do it to their former employers instead. Though not much physically, his voice is one to wary of, as he has a tendency to persuade even the most steadfast opposition into at least considering, and if you're already considering then you're deep in his pocket.
He also manages the criminal aspects of the family as well, keeping in touch with a number of contacts, trained and untrained, coordinating them and assigning tasks. Most of the time he leaves the agents and larcenists to plot their own plans, but in bigger operations he often does the planning himself. He's also responsible for providing the Galatos agents with both information and resources, reaching out to his contacts for the former and taking the family's reserve for the latter. Upon the completion of assigned tasks, he's also the one that hands out rewards, usually in public hotspots like taverns or squares but occasionally inviting particularly exceptional agents into his own home to enjoy his hospitality before being granted their share. His persuasion also comes into play during his information-gathering, when he personally reaches out to valuable sources with sensitive information. All-in-all, he's a very effective master of operations.
He spends most of his time in public areas, talking with friends and family and acquaintances on a bridge over one of the prettier canals or talking business in one of the many shops owned by the Galatos. When he's contacting some of his underworld agents, you'll usually find him standing around alone by a bridge or sitting by himself in a tavern. Ironically, it's easy to tell when he's expecting an agent because it's the only time he's not talking with someone. Very approachable, he openly talks with strangers, especially those who want something from him.
- NPC created by Kelmar Hedos