Characters/NPCs/Shimtalk

From Westaven

Shimtalk
Title: Selectman
Race: Aenean Male
Age: born c.945
Base: Eneini, "King's Keep" district
Affiliations: Selectman of the Eneini Merchants Guild; business connections in cities & towns surrounding Eneini

Background
A medium-built man with a slight paunch-belly. He is balding prematurely, and his dark, droopy mustache reminds one of rat tails dropping from his nostrils. He commonly wears bright, gaudy clothing obviously meant to catch the eye.

Shimtalk is a merchant dealing in furs, pelts, leather-work, animal goods, and clothing, and seems to have a thrifty business, judging from his fine Eneini home--which boasts an attached stable as well as a warehouse--on a fairly affluent thoroughfare in the "King's Keep" district. His home was recently renovated due to a fire destroying the rear quarters and much of the warehouse (a fire set by Gereth on 7 June 986). (Also see the Oct. 7 & Oct. 8, 985, logs for a description of his home.)

From his home he trades in surrounding cities such as Hadrian, and numerous towns such as Piercy; he therefore has a good knowledge of the roads and of many of the local residents (such as Olsas). He also appears to have some pull in his home city, for he was able to cover-up Yule & Eaidig's battles in the street & his home on Oct. 8, 985.

Among Shimtalk's assets are two Mawk'hidu slaves as well: a slave house servant, Nanda, and a pleasure slave, Twicka--the latter more likely "utilized" for business purposes than personal gratification.

Until 986 AE, Shimtalk was a member of the Eneini Merchants Guild in decent standing, able to summon half-a-dozen Guild guardsmen to his home. Currently, though, he is one of the Guild Selectmen: a position he was able to purchase after boldly hiring men in the Guild's name to handle the Piercy Bandits and recovering many valuable goods (see "The Piercy Bandits Incident". Although Head Selectman Marnor initially assessed it, "He took a gamble, if you please, and both won and lost. In the end, I believe, his wager broke even," later Marnor admitted the plan a success (see below). About his newfound position, Shimtalk is dismissive (as is his way):  :"I am a peddlar. I wish I could say more to you, and it is times such as this that I wish I was able to wear a different mouth and face than my own so I could spin some enticing yarn about my influence in this fine city--no, in but one meagre block of Eneini!--but I am what I am: an honest man, and a peddler of furs, clothing, and some other odd, assorted wares. I have been named selectman of the Eneini Merchants Guild, but as I said, that was really all a mistake, and I'm sure in another half year or so my fine colleagues will come to their senses and revoke my chair. In fact, the entire manner of my nomination was an odd, depressing tale in and of itself." (for that tale, see both below and the 20 July 986 log)

A common affectation of Shimtalk's speech is repetition. ("Oh my, my! So many already arrived, and I, such a poor, poor host, banter with these dimwits about the location of my wagon! Forgive me gentlemen, forgive me!") He has also shown himself to be perpetually genial, even when under pressure or confronted. In general he always calls people--even strangers--"my friends" and "masters," lavishing compliments on them. Even gibes against the "former priest with very little economical understanding," Gelash, were softened with apologies for "speaking my mind." A serious example, though, occurred when Yule and Eaidig broke into his home on Oct. 8, 985 with the intent to do him great bodily harm: he was consistently polite, calm, and (while smug) quite cheerful. Shimtalk is also perpetually self-diminishing, meaning he claims he is "poor," "lesser," and such; in fact, though a selectman of the Guild, he called himself "a lowly merchant--lowest in this entire Guild!"

"Importants arts"--primarily "the commercial transaction"--is, predictably for his occupation, Shimtalk's greatest concern. Profit and investment seems to guide all he does. He understated his mind when he said, "I do believe we are put on earth to be happy--and this seems unlikely without the means to support one's self," for mere sustenance is far less than him aim. Accumulating wealth is why he was so elated to have purchased Twicka cheaply, and it is why he and Yule had a falling out on Oct. 3, 985. Shimtalk's greed is also the source of his lack of religious faith, for he believes "Religion and important matters [i.e., money] never mix well." Although mainly an affectation of speech, Shimtalk always claims he is poor: when offered a (false) business partnership with the Xiphias family, Shimtalk responded, "I am always in dire financial stress that I dare not refuse even the glimmer of a trade partnership, be it with lord, lady, or street urchin!" (see 20 July 986 log.)

Shimtalk is not devoid of other, nobler values, however. Loyalty, for example. In speech he often refers to and condones it: "Loyalty is ordained by the gods as sacred, is it not? Where would we Westaveners be without loyalty and her sisters, honesty and dignity? My entire life--both professional and personal--is staked on that ground!" In act, too, he has shown virtue: he assisted Davlin Hargold in a harrowing escape due to loyalty to the Hargold family. Later, he was also visibly downtrod while relaying the murder of his bodyguard of ten years, Borist, even claiming "I..I felt him to be like a brother, I suppose"; if the lengths Shimtalk stretched to avenge this murder are any indication, Shimtalk appears a loyal companion in some manner and degree (see "The Piercy Bandits Incident".) Furthermore, although a confusing event to judge even in retrospect, he also speaks mournfully of the death of Davlin, which he calls not just "tragic", but says "'Tragedy' cannot encompass the situation. No word can." (see the 20 July 986 log for his version of the story.) He even toasts Davlin, swearing by his "heaviest coffer" that he had no responsibility for the man's death and would have prevented it in any manner he could (21 July 986 log).

Truth be said, Shimtalk does have a ruthless streak behind his smile: he was happy to see the bandit boy Tormby executed, he sees nothing wrong with pimping a Mawk'hidu "pleasure slave", and he could possibly have callously caused the deadly "Battle of the Merchants' Guildhall" (see below).

Shimtalk, by his own admission, is "not a man of war"; in fact, he was nervous before and completely useless during "The Piercy Bandits Incident". While he carries a crossbow on his cart, he most likely has very little skill in its use. But he does display a boldness unheard of in many warriors: for example, on 21 July 986 he came down from his balcony to meet the men who had "broken" into his home, who threatened him with weapons drawn; not only was he without apparent fear, but he was quite affable.

Over the course of many interactions with Shimtalk, one cannot but admit he is clever and calculating. Although he labels himself "an honorable man" and "a generous man," he seems to think at least two steps ahead and he never shows his cards, leaving both friends and foes guessing as to his true intentions, thoughts, and actions. While he believes in keeping to his bargains and contracts, he has been known to stretch truth and fast talk his way into sweetening his own pot (such as with the booty from the Piercy Bandits, angering Yule...) He is also adept at seeing through ruses--as he revealed on 21 July 986 that he had detected the false stories fed to him by Lothar and company the night before.

Perhaps the best examples of Shimtalk's shrewd intelligence and ability to both use and simultaneously hide his cards are two:

• 1) In the web of intrigue surrounding his role in the disastrous ambush that is the "Battle of the Merchants' Guildhall": even after the smoke cleared, whether his arrangements with his guild to "procure [the PCs'] just rewards" actually caused the battle is enigmatic.
  
• 2) Shimtalk successfully used "The Piercy Bandits Incident" to maneuver his way into a Selectman's chair in the Eneini Merchants Guild through clever dealings--although in his own version of the story the seat was "mistakenly" thrust upon him. As Shimtalk's guild rival, Marnor, explained: "Shimtalk is a shrewd one," for he cleverly told the merchants' whose money he recovered from the bandits to invest that money in his own bid for a Selectman's chair, and thereby in the long run making more money in return favors. Shimtalk's own version is quite different, for he claimed sympathy swung his way after he had been wrongly accused of vigilante justice in the Piercy Bandits Incident, and therefore he was given a seat on the council--which he accepted despite misgivings in order to "end corruption within that body, so business may flow like a river undammed." (see "A Tale of Two Merchants")

His normal outfit for traveling consists of one or more guards, and a cart pulled by his two mules, Bit & Bite. His current full-time bodyguard is Deek.