GM: Kevan Forbes
System: Exalted, 2nd Edition
Hand’s Account
“Hey barkeep, a round for the house. These men have literally slaved all day in the fire dust fields, lets give them something to dull the pain of today and a chance to look forward to tomorrow.”
Karim Fayyad is an optimistic spirit who has done well enough in life to sport a round, healthy, belly and a few talens of jade to rub together. Originally from the north, Fayyad served a mercenary band, and did very well for himself. Years later, he had seen enough bloodshed, enough close calls, and was beginning to slow down. With a handful of jade in his pouch he came to Gem in search of the easy life of a trader.
Fayyad was initially surprised at how regulated trade was. He had hoped to bring in imports from Chiaroscuro but not only were their steep embargoes against goods coming in but acquiring approval from the royal families required more political finesse than he could stand to muster. Instead, he spent his remaining wealth on buying into a fire dust mining operation.
With some training he learned the operation of heavy equipment and eventually hired on a crew to help him tackle larger commissions. Fayyad was still not as “free” as hoped, as he was directly accountable to the despot’s monopoly, nor did he have the easy life he hoped for but he made enough money to enjoy the luxury of strong drink and small but comfortable home.
Time in the fields, however, began to wear on the man’s spirits. Not because the work was tiresome, he was largely a foreman now, but because of the condition of the other workers. His men were all free men who he paid a fair wage. At the end of the day, everyone’s pockets were filled, the despots, Fayyad’s and those of his crew. Painfully obvious to the free man however, was that he was the exception rather than the rule. Nearly 90% of the men and women he encountered in the fire dust fields were slaves who would work until they died of old age, injury or worse, sold to the guild who would trade them to the Fair Folk. To a man who had roamed free all of his life, the days spent in the mine began to wear at his soul.
Nobody knows if it was just the years of watching suffering or a single climatic event that changed Fayyad, but those who know him now knows he speaks out against the despot’s slavery laws on a regular basis. Fayyad is smart enough to avoid too much attention from the Southern Rangers. His revolution will not be a sudden explosion that burns itself out, but a slow rumbling that infects enough of gem’s inhabitants that when it boils over, the city will be washed clean, or so Fayyad hopes.
The miner still has to work, often in far reaches of the fire dust fields, so he isn’t seen everyday by the people. When he is however, he brings with him hope of change, belief in heroes like the Titan of the South, and when he has the jade, strong spirits for all. Fayyad probably lives somewhere on the 3rd or 4th tier, as he is know to frequent the Unsheathed Sword both for the company and the strong substances that help alive some of his constant guilt.
My name is Hands of Velvet, Chosen by the Unconquered Sun who has granted me the guise of a thousand men. I have chosen Karim Fayyad as one face to help me end slavery throughout creation.
