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Chataro
Learned Scribe
Singapore
114 Posts |
 Posted - 06 Oct 2006 : 15:01:47
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Who the richest man in Faerun is?
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Dargoth
Great Reader
Australia
4607 Posts |
Posted - 06 Oct 2006 : 15:21:47
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quote:
Originally posted by Chataro
Who the richest man in Faerun is?
I asked Ed this question earlier this year you can find his answer in his thread |
“I am the King of Rome, and above grammar”
Emperor Sigismund
"Its good to be the King!"
Mel Brooks |
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Mazrim_Taim
Learned Scribe
341 Posts |
Posted - 07 Oct 2006 : 22:50:15
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| Yep, I was surprised to learn that Mirt was about 4th. (I think?) |
And if the PCs DO win their ways through all the liches to Larloch, “he” will almost certainly be just another lich (loaded with explosive spells) set up as a decoy, with dozens of hidden liches waiting to pounce on any surviving PCs who ‘celebrate’ after they take Larloch down. As the REAL Larloch watches (magical scrying) from afar. Myself, as DM, I’d be wondering: “Such a glorious game, so many opportunities laid out before your PCs to devote your time to, and THIS fixation is the best you can come up with? Are you SURE you’re adventurers?” -Ed Greenwood
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4687 Posts |
Posted - 07 Oct 2006 : 23:05:03
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| It should be noted that the list was of personal wealth. One can be richer in a few other ways, for example a Noble can in effect control holdings of others and indirectly command greater riches. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Reefy
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
892 Posts |
Posted - 08 Oct 2006 : 02:03:19
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| And such lists are subject to change. How often I don't know, but there's certainly going to be an element of fluidity to them. |
Life is either daring adventure or nothing. |
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Kaladorm
Master of Realmslore
United Kingdom
1176 Posts |
Posted - 08 Oct 2006 : 02:13:52
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| I assume we're talking in gold terms? Many a love stricken commoner has declared himself the richest man alive |
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Chataro
Learned Scribe
Singapore
114 Posts |
Posted - 08 Oct 2006 : 15:32:42
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| just roughly. I can't search his thread. He has threads leading all the wayup to 2005! How am i to check? |
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Dargoth
Great Reader
Australia
4607 Posts |
Posted - 08 Oct 2006 : 15:41:02
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quote:
Originally posted by Chataro
just roughly. I can't search his thread. He has threads leading all the wayup to 2005! How am i to check?
· Colnd Hurthblaer of Amn (NE male Chondathan human Rog7/Exp6), a middle-aged, nondescript recluse who lives quietly (spending little on himself and even less on public show) in Athkatla, running five shipping fleets and two trading costers (most folk, even trade rivals, don’t know he owns more than just one fleet, Brightstar Sails Trading, the one he built from nothing). He’s a large landlord in Amn and, during the Interregnum, became one in Tethyr, too. He particularly likes owning gem mines, and (through various intermediaries) has been hiring adventurers to travel all over Faerûn buying or seizing control of same.
* Ralan Razhiirym of Calimport (NE male Calishite human Ftr6/Ari5/Exp4), a black-bearded, now-ailing adventurer and rake born into wealth and (through smuggling, extortion, and forcible acquisition of drug trade concerns and costers) become much richer. Still acrobatic, he has the remains of flashy good looks, and formerly wenched his way across half Faerûn, shamelessly using the women he seduced to gain favours, information, contacts, and administrative decisions and permissions that his traders profited from.
* Sabbalad Asnam huul Marouk of Darrak’shar (CE male Calishite human Rog9/Exp7), a one-eyed, scarred former gem thief who fell into the service of the Syl-Pasha of Calimport, and was rewarded with his present rank (mayor of a fictitious settlement, which allows him to speak in support of the Syl-Pasha’s aims and policies as a mayor rather than an agent of the Syl-Pasha, and to appear as a selfless patriot, rather than a mouthpiece of the Syl-Pasha, when he travels The Shining Sea region as an unofficial envoy or diplomat for Calimshan, amplifying or backing up the official emissaries). While on his travels, Marouk never misses a chance to enrich himself. Strangely, he’s a friend and sometime ally and partner of Sammereza Sulphontis of Waterdeep, and he’s been known to trade with, and act for, yuan-ti in the region. All of which has armed him with antidotes for most snake venoms that most humans can never get, enabled him to control a lot of drug and ivory trading, and (through hired adventurers who soon fell prey to “accidents” of his devising) plunder rich tombs and dragon hoards (the dragons were slain in the process). He has several hidden lairs in caverns and cellars around The Shining Sea coasts, and most of them contain more gems than a man can carry.
* Stort Melharhammer of Mirabar (NE male shield dwarf Ftr4/Rog12), a black-bearded, honey-voiced, well-groomed trader who acts as a moneylender, moneychanger, and go-between for dwarves and visiting shipcaptains, smoothing out negotiations (but often engineering false “shortages” so as to increase gem-prices for the dwarves; he always takes a cut of any increase he engineers). Stort is completely amoral, doesn’t drink, enjoys only watching elf maidens dance and hearing harp music, and lives and breathes to scheme and manipulate and “win the next deal.” When he can’t move in his underground abode for the accumulated coins and gems, he hires some trusted young dwarves (paying them handsomely) to go and buy him some more property in Neverwinter, Waterdeep, and Baldur’s Gate (in each city, he’s now a landlord of more than a dozen buildings, though he’s never seen any of them). If he didn’t spend money to influence politics in Luskan and Ruathym so as to prevent widespread warfare, he’d be even richer than he is (unless, as he judges, said warfare would have hurt trade through Mirabar, and thus cost him more).
* Elmraeda Gondoalyn of Iyrynspire (CN female Mulan human Ari9), the quiet, elegant, shrewd, and aging rich widow (of three wealthy merchants, all of whom she loved and had nothing to do with the deaths of) in Chessenta. Gondoalyn is now gaunt and frail, but protects her person with some powerful items of magic (mainly rings; takes vary as to which ones, which probably means she has a large collection). She dwells in Iyrynspire (a castle in the countryside built for her by her first husband, the shipping merchant Yarlos Melrorn) with a devoted staff and a strong bodyguard of “knights” (a sixty-some-strong private army of full-plate-armored Ftr3-8s), and entertains herself by watching others live their lives through her crystal ball (that can detect thoughts). Elmraeda lavishes money on “her people” (staff and bodyguard; her steward Deln Maerintor is a LN male Mulan human Wiz13 who’s devoted to her) but spends little on herself. Her wealth increases steadily through rents from properties in a dozen cities, and (through several trading costers) ownership of over forty trading caravels. It’s rumored that one of the towers of her home is in truth the only privately-owned Halruaan skyship in Chessenta.
* Fuorn “Fallingstar” Avilanter of Elventree (CG male moon elf Sor19/Exp9), a seller of spells and enspelled gems of his own making (gems of spell storing) who trades discreetly with rich Sembian buyers through trusted adventurers of the Dales. A reclusive master of disguises who wears teleport rings and makes himself impossible for those who come seeking him to find, Fuorn spends all of his profits buying up city properties in Yhaunn and Saerloon, operating through agents and largely-fictitious Sembian trading companies. He also owns a few buildings in Suzail and in Teziir, and spends his free time magically spying on certain humans he’s found by accident, just watching their intrigues and achievements and pratfalls, enjoying their lives vicariously as entertainment in much the same way Gondoalyn [[note from THO: see my previous post]] does.
* Burnyl Talongar of Phsant (LN male Turami human Exp14), known to most Theskians only as “The Lord of Gems,” this unusually tall and thin, taciturn gemcutter and appraiser secretly acts as a bank and sponsor for many merchants through Thesk. His loans and deals are single-handedly responsible for slowing the spread of the Shadowmasters’ influence in the region, but they tolerate him because certain senior priests of Mask owe so much to him that the deity has personally ordered them to “keep him untouched—by anyone.” Talongar is unaware of this, and simply goes about his business, which is to make fair deals with everyone, and adhere to them strictly, dealing always with politeness and honour. As a result, he’s trusted by everyone, gets a LOT of business, and grows steadily and inexorably wealthier. Operating through seacaptain clients, he regularly invests this wealth in farms and warehouses in Impiltur, Alaghôn, and Westgate.
* Gelkul “Goldhands” Alanskul of Heldapan (LN male Durpari human Exp11), the wealthiest trader and investor in Durpar, a bald-from-birth, coldly calculating man who’s always eager to learn more of events, feuds, trade, and the investments of others. As they say in Heldapan, “no one breathes without Alanskul knowing it.” He owns most of Turelve (though he takes some pains to keep anyone from knowing this, owning properties under dozens of aliases and through various merchants’ partnerships), and many of the best upland wells in the country (he covertly sells water in very dry times). Goldhands grows edible broad”moonleaf” (white broadleaf lettuce-like fungi that flourishes in the dark) in damp cellars under his holdings in Heldapan, and makes good coin daily by selling this staple (the poor fry it in various fats and oils, as a main daily ‘hearty vegetable’) in its markets; again, he takes care that no one knows he’s the source. Most Durpari think Alanskul is just what he started out as: a moneylender and landlord to the wealthy.
* Indamu Dundardir of Chavyondat (NE male Arkaiun human Ari10/Exp5), a noble of Estagund, is a darkly handsome glutton of a man who keeps his thin frame (and resists poisons) only because he allows a small beast (of unknown identity) to live symbiotically with him, fastened to his body. A loner, he gets his satisfaction by successfully manipulating everyone and outdealing rivals. Dundardir secretly controls an ancient portal network linking various cellars in his home city with a trading compound he owns in the countryside east of Sheirtalar. One of the cellars belongs to a rival, and Dundardir’s men use it (very rarely) to pilfer certain cargoes; the others all belong to Dundardir, and he shuttles goods (usually wines, cheeses, and other perishables, or contraband) back and forth, concentrating on items of high worth so that the volume of goods passing through the portals need not be high to bring handsome profits. Dundardir spends a lot of coin training, paying, and rewarding (with perks) his personal bodyguards and armed staff, to buy their loyalties. Thus far (aided by the spying his hired wizards do, on everyone else) he’s kept betrayals to a minimum and earnings VERY high. Much of Dundardir’s profits are put into discreetly buying up property all over the Tashalar.
* Nalune Tassarat of Ormpur (CE female Tashalan human Rog7/Exp6) is an aging former prostitute who invested her earnings lifelong in shady smuggling, slaving, drug-dealing and thieving concerns, making much coin that in later life she invested in building luxurious brothels and palatial city towers that were from the first split into rental housing, floor by floor, and proved a huge hit with Ormpurrians who weren’t quite wealthy enough to own and maintain large mansions, but wanted luxury and haughty addresses. “Old Nalune” always wanted hidden tunnels and chambers in her buildings, and made quite a lot of sideline coin servicing persons who needed to go into hiding for a time, or who wanted to meet pleasure-lasses VERY discreetly. Now, in the twilight of her years, she’s increasingly investing in clever traders from Tharsult and Lantan, sponsoring them on fair terms - - and raking in coins as a result. It’s said she sleeps on a bed of cabochon-cut (smooth-polished) rubies, and is beginning to consort with necromancers with an eye to achieving undeath for herself.
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“I am the King of Rome, and above grammar”
Emperor Sigismund
"Its good to be the King!"
Mel Brooks |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 08 Oct 2006 : 16:35:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Chataro
just roughly. I can't search his thread. He has threads leading all the wayup to 2005! How am i to check?
You could also use the table of contents/indexes that are in my sig for the html/doc versions of his replies. :) |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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EytanBernstein
Forgotten Realms Designer
USA
704 Posts |
Posted - 09 Oct 2006 : 02:01:01
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| It's interesting that the large majority of those people are evil. |
http://eytanbernstein.com - the official website of Eytan Bernstein |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4687 Posts |
Posted - 09 Oct 2006 : 03:08:20
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quote:
Originally posted by EytanBernstein
It's interesting that the large majority of those people are evil.
The best way to make a profit is by being evil. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Conlon
Learned Scribe
Canada
132 Posts |
Posted - 09 Oct 2006 : 22:37:41
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| Certain people don't mind taking more than they deserve or more than others can afford. And those people just may be a little evil. Certain other people wouldn't dream of taking more than their customers could easily afford, and certainly not more than they deserve. These people aren't even a little evil, therefore, they don't make the list. And they also finish last. |
My hopes are ashes, my dreams are dust. All my intentions mean nothing unless they are followed by action. |
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Kaladorm
Master of Realmslore
United Kingdom
1176 Posts |
Posted - 09 Oct 2006 : 23:28:03
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quote:
quote:
quote:Originally posted by EytanBernstein
It's interesting that the large majority of those people are evil.
The best way to make a profit is by being evil.
Makes sense, the main ways I can see of accumulating such large amounts of cash would be from trade, governing a large amount of people, or treasure hunting.
In trade, underhand/illegal methods would be used by evil people and would be more profitable (otherwise people simply wouldn't use them just for the sake of it).
Governance, well overtaxation can lead to less wealth in the long term due to stunted growth, but again simply taking everything a person owns is a good way to get fairly rich.
Treasure hunting. Assuming evil adventurers are on a par strength wise with good ones. The evil ones can do all the things the good ones can, including grave robbing, stealing, highway robbery.... |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 09 Oct 2006 : 23:31:15
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I would sum it up this way . . . being rich doesn't make one evil, but often the drive to be THE richest leads to some pretty dark deeds. Without straying too far from the Realms, there is a reason that Lex Luthor has more money than Bruce Wayne (BTW, the Forgotten Realms comic used to be published by DC Comics . . . so . . . its sort of related  ) |
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Kalin Agrivar
Senior Scribe
Canada
956 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 14:34:18
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quote:
Originally posted by Kentinal
The best way to make a profit is by being evil.
I wouldn't say it's the best way...just the easiest way
and just like power, "evil" is the easiest path to wealth but it is also just as easy to lose that wealth too |
Kalin Xorell El'Agrivar
- High Mage of the Arcane Assembly
- Lore Keeper of the Vault of Ancestors
- 3rd Son of the Lord of the Stand |
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Reefy
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
892 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 20:25:26
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| Evil is generally self-centred, making it less likely to give away money and mroe likely to look out for number one. |
Life is either daring adventure or nothing. |
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Kalin Agrivar
Senior Scribe
Canada
956 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2006 : 20:57:08
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quote:
Originally posted by Reefy
Evil is generally self-centred, making it less likely to give away money and mroe likely to look out for number one.
thats very true..
but "live by the sword, die by the sword"...if you resort to evil acts to gain wealth then there will be other evil competitors trying to take your wealth...
it's liek the "Hare and the Turtle" analogy when it comes to wealth...only the hare is "evil methods" and the turtle is "good methods"  |
Kalin Xorell El'Agrivar
- High Mage of the Arcane Assembly
- Lore Keeper of the Vault of Ancestors
- 3rd Son of the Lord of the Stand |
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Sourcemaster2
Senior Scribe
USA
361 Posts |
Posted - 11 Oct 2006 : 03:30:02
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| What surprises me is that so few are spellcasters. |
But what have all the passing years/Done, but breed new angers, fears?/Show me now an equal worth/To innocence I earned at birth. |
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Marc
Senior Scribe
657 Posts |
Posted - 11 Oct 2006 : 09:05:46
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quote:
Originally posted by Sourcemaster2
What surprises me is that so few are spellcasters.
I wonder why Larloch is not on the list and some Zulkirs, Sembians ... |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2011 : 05:18:41
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I'm really glad I found this list!
The reason many spellcasters aren't on the list is that they spend more of their time perfecting Art than coin.
These people...nearly every one on the list...have nobody that they truly answer to. Even the Calishite "mayor" actually simply supports himself by using the favor the Sylpasha...who you will notice isn't on the list.
Rulers aren't usually the richest...they have to focus on ruling; just as casters focus on magic. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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Marc
Senior Scribe
657 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jan 2011 : 20:32:22
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at least one magic-user could have opened a gate to the plane of Mineral
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Wenin
Senior Scribe
585 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jan 2011 : 22:15:56
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| Just to make the world continue to be sane in respect to wealth, I'd imagine that the Plane of Mineral would still have to be mined... which would have its own hazards beyond simple bandits and orc raids. =) |
Session Reports posted at RPG Geek.
Stem the Tide Takes place in Mistledale.
Dark Curtains - Takes place in the Savage North, starting in Nesmé. I wrapped my campaign into the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but it takes place in 1372 DR. |
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Jorin Embersmith
Acolyte
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2011 : 01:46:23
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quote:
Originally posted by Wenin
Just to make the world continue to be sane in respect to wealth, I'd imagine that the Plane of Mineral would still have to be mined... which would have its own hazards beyond simple bandits and orc raids. =)
Plus, how many mining bands carry the magic necessary to even move on the Elemental Plane of Earth?
Only place I can think that would even be feasible is Earth's End under Halruaa. |
Karavarus: I polymorph into a Hydra and let loose a bellowing roar! Is he intimidated?
Me: No, but the female hydra behind him certainly notices you... |
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Alisttair
Great Reader
Canada
3054 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2011 : 11:46:31
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| I'm sure some of the Pasha's of Calimport might be on a list of the Rich and Famous (or infamous). Did rich families lose a lot of their net worth during the spellplague? Probably put a dent in nobles who had a trade going on in Maztica I imagine. |
Karsite Arcanar (Most Holy Servant of Karsus)
Anauria - Survivor State of Netheril as penned by me:
http://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/172023 |
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Has anyone every wondered?
