by Shavira
My quest was simple. Find the wealthiest person in Aranor, and invite them for a walk to learn what it is like to have so much gold. Simple indeed!
My first trial, of course, was to find the wealthiest person. I began in the high circles, but soon found that no one could agree upon who had the most gold and wealth. Some named Lord Jaitai, a displaced Japuran prince, some named the Wridell family. Others insisted that it was Lady Alaea, who lives in the inner city, or Palace District, and is said to own hundreds of round leagues of land in Masalla. (Is Masalla even that big?)
Discouraged and exasperated, I latched onto a new idea. I would go to one of the city treasury houses and ask them!
After I introduced myself, the clerk opened her books and soundly informed me that Lord Cowan Faol, the famous mage, had by far the most gold in the city treasury. Not only that, but he is said to have donated immense amounts to the founding of Aranor, and is rumored to own a keep on the New World literally filled with wondrous treasures. All this from his old adventuring days. He, however, is off building castles for Queen Lillian, and was not available to interview. Which may have been good, for I hear tell that he doesn’t hold much to the ‘ways of the wealthy’.
What about Queen Lillian? Surely she is exceedingly wealthy. But she is better known for other things. I needed someone known for their wealth, defined by their wealth.
At last I settled on Lord Havenelle. His name had come up numerous times in my search, and I knew him to be cut in the style of the exceedingly wealthy. He was an older man, with much family, many businesses, and a long lineage. He reportedly has more than sixty million silver in gold, most of which is kept in the city treasury, owns a large house and property in the Palace District, and is the collector of rare historical items. We met at noon, and, accompanied by a wiry Jeddan guardsman, set to walking along the path in the park. Here is our interview--
I’ve been told that you’re the wealthiest man in the city.
Only the city? Hmmm. In Masalla they think my coffers endless.
And how did you come by your gold?
You’d do well to understand that much of my wealth is in property, Shavira. In fact, I prefer to keep it such, for gold, standing idle, is a rather useless thing. But to answer your query, much of my wealth is familial, handed down through the generations. I, of course, have done a great deal to add to that cache, just as my sons are doing after me. In Masalla, we were hated because of our wealth, and when we came to the Old World with the first of the settlers, we began our dynasty anew, always abiding by our philosophy of exercising our gold. Like a muscle, gold left idle will dwindle and fade. Gold worked is gold grown and kept. We have always invested, so that I hold in my title thirty-four ships, eighteen businesses, and over a hundred round leagues of lands, scattered throughout the provinces.
You must experience a certain sort of freedom, having that much wealth.
Wealth brings freedom, yes, but so does simplicity, it is said. My power and influence is vast, but there is much to worry me, as well. Still, it is pleasant to know that anything I want can be mine. It might sound conceited, but I can have literally anything I want, for there are none who can bargain alongside me. If I take a fancy to a certain cut of clothing, a ship, a slave . . . I’ve not met a man or woman who can resist a high enough price. The trick is simply in finding their price. Sooner or later, no matter what their convictions, their minds begin to rationalize things, and they find that whatever wrongs they are committing by taking the gold can be more than righted after they have it.
Anything? You could have another man’s wife? You could purchase a family heirloom from a family who has treasured it for generations?
Anything.
I find that a little difficult to believe.
Would you care to take it to task?
Um . . . I think I should stick to the interview. Do you give any of your gold away?
Charity is a noble cause, but too often it enables the habit of laziness in others. I have committed myself to the growth of gold, and anyone could do the same. Those who beg off the goodwill of others should look to their own means.
Tell me some of the things you do with your gold.
I adore antiques. I have a pillow owned by Queen Anabelle Alais, a sword wielded by the fourth King Lanbrodegh, and the arrow that slew the sea-dragon Kurjaas. Among other things. I drink a glass of Liathan every night, eat Latallan beef at whim, and make sure that if I’m being entertained, I am perfectly comfortable. If someone does me a kindness, they find themselves well rewarded, and if someone does me a disservice, they soon find that they no longer have their job, or their lives are otherwise disrupted. And I take liberal holidays to Moraithe, Lantrielle, and Masalla, for I have homes in each of those provinces, as well.
It sounds plush. Do you ever fear losing your gold?
Actually, not at all. After Queen Lillian came to power, that very fate befell many of the wealthy folk of the Old World. But I have been wiser, and spread myself throughout the provinces. The world as we know it would have to come to an end for me to lose my wealth.
I had trouble in deciding whom I should interview for this treatise. Are you aware that you are not, by consensus, the wealthiest person in Aranor?
To tell the truth, I’d be interested in whom else they thought the richer. I can assure you that your astute study has not led you astray. I might not have been the wealthiest man in the Old World before the reign of Queen Lillian, but now that so much land has been stripped from the prior nobles, I am indisputably the wealthiest man alive on this province. Now, the same could not be said if we looked at the nobles of Masalla, Lantrielle, or Casara.
When I asked at the city treasury, they named Cowan Faol as the wealthiest.
Posh! If that young, upstart mage has any gold, it’s likely an illusion made by his magic. Gold without substance. If that counts as wealth, then we are fast on the road of Antara again, and our society will fall as surely as did theirs.
A last question. If you could make one change in the world, what would it be?
If I wanted to change the world, my dear, I would have done so already.
The interview left me with a rather bad taste, in the end, though Lord Havenelle was handsome, witty at times, and had a ready, if rather superior, smile. Some say that gold corrupts those it touches, and I can’t help but wonder why more generous people don’t often seem to be in command of more gold. Does it take a certain ruthlessness in order to possess so much gold, or does the gold itself taint the heart of those who once were pure?
Whatever the case, gold does indeed have a power, a power I felt when I wrote this conclusion and wondered if it would anger Lord Havenelle. Will my life become ‘disrupted’? Whether or not it does, we’ve at least all had a taste of what the mind of the very wealthy is like.
For me, it was more than a little frightening.
