Khiden Gaeldaire, more commonly called Khiden Brightbrow, is an old dwarven jeweler and runesmith originally hailing from Kar Karadonn. He arrived in Vessina for a business trip when he was about a century old, and ultimately decided to remain there permanently. His main reasons for deciding to stay was how much he came to love the artistic expressions in Marcandria, particularly theatre and music, and the amount of exotic materials he could get hold of there due to Vessina's position along busy trade routes all around the Wayfarer's Sea. Khiden would over the centuries since up his Brightbrow Company – a massive enterprise dealing with the making and selling of jewelry. Khiden, and the Brightbrow Company, would in time join the Fulcrum, and has served at the organization's Board of Nine for decades. Khiden himself is a jeweler of unparalleled skill, and as a runesmith, has such impeccable mastery over his craft that he's able to make items inscribed with magical runes or symbols that give them magical properties. He is, however, not a magic user himself, and thus needs an external source of magic to infuse an item with when making each item. Items made personally by him are highly sought after among the upper echelons of Marcandrian society.
Khiden has a deep reverence and respect for artistry and craftsmanship. To him, a craftsperson's work is almost sacred. A craftsperson work should be an expression of their reverence to their craft, and they should only ever be willing to sell works which they themselves can take pride in. The buyer should similarly hold such works in as high regard as the one who crafted it: Not merely a pretty piece to show off, but something to admire. Khiden therefore absolutely despises charlatans, fraudsters, and those who try selling works which they themselves know are of poor quality – regardless of what reasons they might have for doing so. Khiden has little patience for people who does not properly respect and take pride in their own works, and the crafts of others. Khiden has because of this set it as his life's mission to rid the craft which he has practices all his life, the jewelry making craft, off fraudulent and poor-quality works. He aims to do this by getting such a dominance in the market that he can enforce a set of quality control procedures and requirements across the industry that would let the buyer have an easy way to verify the quality and authenticity of the goods they are being sold, thus making it impossible for fraudsters to survive in the market. He sees fraudsters as sullying the craft, diluting people's respect for it, and negatively impacting skilled craftsmen by them having to compete with typically cheaper goods that are advertised as being of the same high quality.
Khiden is aware that his rather brutal methods of achieving market dominance will hurt some skilled jewelers. He ideally wants to recruit the other skilled jewelers into his company, but holds deep respect for those who are unwilling to relinquish their freedom to express their own crafts without a supervising body above them. Khiden ultimately wants to create an environment where high quality jewelry craftsmen can flourish, and while he sees the negative impact his methods may have on some skilled jewelers in the short term, he sees it as being worth it if he can achieve the market influence necessary to enforce his quality control procedures industry wide, in a manner where it will far outlast even his own long life.
+Khiden is a very opinionated and stoic old dwarf, who holds firm in his beliefs. He is a keen and ruthless businessman, and has a reputation as a shrewd and unfoolable old man who does not take kindly to people seeking to trick him or waste his time. He is, however, also a dwarf who enjoys an evening of stiff drinks with good tales and jokes, in the company of people whom he can discuss his crafts with. He's also an avid attendee of theatrical and musical performances, viewing high-quality performances with the same reverence and respect as he does for craftmanship
+
Brightbrow Company: All jewelry items sold comes with documentation on who made it, what materials it's made out of, and where they come from. They basically all come with a certificate that's meant to prove their level of quality. This does not mean they only make top-tier jewelry only for the upper echelons, but that even simpler brass and copper jewelry meant more for the general masses come with proof that the materials are real and that the craftsperson made then with pride and precision. The company is basically seen as someone who makes high quality goods for a variety of price ranges, so that all can enjoy fine craftmanship, even if they can only afford that made with cheaper materials.
-
Brightbrow Company: All jewelry items sold comes with documentation on who made it, what materials it's made out of, and where they come from. They basically all come with a certificate that's meant to prove their level of quality. This does not mean they only make top-tier jewelry only for the upper echelons, but that even simpler brass and copper jewelry meant more for the general masses come with proof that the materials are real and that the craftsperson made then with pride and precision.
-Khiden is an old dwarven jewelsmith and runesmith, skilled enough to inscribe dwarven runes that are capable of holding magical enchantments into the items he creates. Seeking a bit of a change and new challenges in his older years, he moved from his home in Kar Karadonn to Vessina. Here, he started a company that specialize in trading jewelry. He still creates some jewelry himself, as it is still something he thoroughly enjoys doing, though he does so to a less extent than he used to. While he values the different styles of jewelry-making, he views the dwarven styles as superior. Though he does reluctantly have to admit that the elves have some good jewel-smiths themselves.
-Khiden is a gruff individual who enjoys a stiff drink, thrilling tales, and a good joke. He is the true form of a perfectionist, which has made him a ruthless businessman. Just like he has always sought to perfect his skills as a jewelsmith, so too does he seek to perfect his skills as a merchant. This means massively outperforming his peers and his competittors. Khaden means no ill will in this, but rather views the competition as a thrilling game, that he seeks to win (which means taking the whole market). When confronted about how this has caused smaller business to go bankrupt, he'll simply note that in business, the best win, and that he would hold no ill will if the roles were reversed. He would instead view this as a new challenge that he could overcome
--
-
-
Has a reverence and deep respect for arts and craftmanship. Despises charlatans, fraudsters, and incompetent craftsmen who dares try sell low quality crafts. An apprentice making low quality goods is tolerated as part of the learning process, but to dare try selling it is another matter entirely. Can be outright callous towards people like this, even if it's just a low-skill craftsman trying to make ends meet. To Khiden, desperation is no excuse to disrespect one's craft. Khiden's primary goal in life is to gain such a firm influence and monopoly on Marcandria's jewelry-related industries and commerce that he can enforce what he sees as necessary quality control procedures and requirements to prevent would-be fraudsters from staining the jewelry making craft which he holds so much respect for.
-A ruthless businessman. He wants to eradicate charlatans and fraudsters from the jewelry business – leaving only those skilled and who truly respect and hold reverence for their crafts. His aims when trying to gain enough influence and monopoly on the jewelry market is not to push the skilled jewelers out of business, as that would to him be a terrible loss of artistry. He seeks to get rid of all the filth from the industry, and enforce a set of quality controls and
-Often attends theatrical and musical performances, particularly if done by crews that he views as especially skilled.