Gera Mondwin

Basic Information

One Power Breakdown

History

Gera Mondwin was what you could call a merchant of secrets. She learned things and then was paid to either share that information or to make sure it never saw the light of day. She kept a long list of servants, grooms, innkeepers, merchants of reputable goods, and merchants of disreputable goods on her payroll, and they kept her informed. She had a shorter list that she only used when someone or something needed to disappear. On that document were names of everything from violent street thugs to courtly mannered assassins. Gera had used both lists to their best effect for something going on 25 years now, building her contacts and her empire in the capitol.

Until one day she crossed wits with High Seat of the House Daeron. House Daeron, while not directly in line to inherit the throne, played the role of kingmaker in most of the past dozen instances when the throne switched Houses. It was often a sign of political maneuvering if a House began to cozy up to Daeron. Which is exactly what Gera saw happening. Her eyes and ears reported back to her that members of House Mirena had been seen entering Daeron owned properties at roughly the same time as the High Seat of Daeron. A woman who served wine inside had been willing to share with Gera what she had overheard, and that was enough to seal the deal for Gera. Through her network, she let a few powerful Houses know that she had information to sell, including the Royal House. Every single one of them bought the information she had, and suddenly, House Mirena found itself cast out of many of the most important social circles. Of course, there were a few that opened for Mirena because the others cast it out, but they were inferior for a House with ambitions to the throne.

Amaury Daeron was extremely displeased that his machinations had been noticed, let alone put on such public display. It made him look a fool, and there is nothing High Seats like less. He started an agressive campaign against Gera; first buying away some of her informants, then killing those who would not be bought, and even sending an assassin into Gera’s home with the clear intent of removing Gera from this turning of the Wheel. Gera survived it all, and spent her money to fight back. She bought back her informants and spent significant sums to buy more of Dearon’s. Her final stroke was to pay off the guards to let her sneak into the Daeron palace, where she hid as a wine steward. When the time was right, she snuck into Amaury’s room, lit a lamp, and waited for him to wake.

He did not scream, or call out for his guards, but simply sat there in his bed studying his opponent. “If you were of noble birth, you would make an excellent wife,” He said, to which Gera only smiled. Without another word, she got up and left. What she did not know, was that in a small room off of the bedroom, another woman had watched that night’s events. Amaury had assumed the only way Gera could be succeeding so well against him was that she was secretly a channeler. To combat this, he enticed an Aes Sedai to wait with him to see if she really could channel. When the Aes Sedai entered his bedroom, Amaury looked at her with anticipation. “No, my lord, that woman cannot channel the one power.” The Aes Sedai spoke with a level, calm voice, despite the lateness of the hour.

After a brief conversation, the Aes Sedai left Amaury Daeron’s palace, and sought out Gera’s home, where she bullied her way past servants and guards, into Gera’s study, where Gera was waiting for her. It did not take long for the Aes Sedai to explain that she thought Gera could learn to channel the Power, all it would require was a simple test, and that the Tower was looking for women just such as her now, older women with the potential to learn. The Aes Sedai was disappointed when Gera calmly nodded and told her that she had been tested and passed when she was a young woman, but it had been decided she would stay in Cairhien, and that she had no intent of leaving the capitol just now so she could become Aes Sedai. The sister left the study with grace, but Gera knew she’d seen a twist of displeasure in the her face.

Gera knew her time as the preeminent merchant of information in Cairhien was coming to an end. She was quickly approaching her third decade in the trade, and her heir and apprentice was biting at the bit to leave his own mark on the empire. He was her son, entirely illegitimate, but he’d managed to get her brains and his father’s looks. It was time to hand over the empire to him, before he took it from her piece by piece, until he could finally put her out to pasture.

One did not “retire” from this business. If her boy decided he could replace his mother, then he would manipulate the situation until he had all the power and was able to simply have her killed. True, she could simply leave, but that wouldn’t give her any options. She had one path left open to her that would allow her to continue growing in power. She knew Aes Sedai didn’t age like normal women, and when they manipulated a situation, it was well and truly manipulated. Their touch was usually soft, and hard to detect, but noticing deft players was what kept a merchant of secrets alive.

After hours of sleepless thinking, Gera made up her mind. She would leave this life behind and move to a new playing field.

The next morning, she went to her bankers, all five of them, and closed her personal accounts. She had bearers carrying the several chests of coins. Back at her home, her servants worked diligently to pack their mistress’s belongings. They removed any decoration that was too feminine, and prepared the house for its new master. Once the house was as clean of her influence as she could manage, she sat down at her desk for two last letters.

Her first letter was to her son, telling him that he was now the head of the family business, and that it was up to him to sink or swim. If he failed, or if he was taken out by a more powerful foe, then it was on his head. She had taught him everything she knew, and if he could not survive on that, he wasn’t the son she thought he was.

The second letter was meant to be shown to her closer informants. On its surface, it read as simply a letter about her taking some personal time, and that her able assistant was to be in charge for the duration of her absence. Anyone who read the letter would know it was the abdication of their mistress.

She sent both letters to her son, with a groom who was told to inform the young man that he now owned the home as well as all of the other properties. Gera Mondwin had built an empire, and she was now handing it over before time could take her strength from her and the jackals could take her empire.

At the West gates of the city, she hired a small troop of mercenaries to escort her to Tar Valon, as well as a large wagon to carry her belongings, and a carriage for herself. The road was peaceful and the mercenary captain kept her entertained. When they arrived at the shining city, she smiled at the wealth of new opportunities. Her first stop was a banker she knew to be reputable, where the several chests of coins she deposited earned her a glass of wine and a conversation with the Banker herself. Gera knew that her coins had just increased the banker’s profits by at least 10%, and she knew that she now had a banker for life.

With that business done, she directed her carriage and wagon to the Tower, where her new life would begin.

Requirements