The Lead Coin Society
LeadCoin.png
Heraldry for House The Lead Coin Society
HOUSE INFORMATION
House: The Lead Coin Society
Kingdom: International, primarily situated in Mobrin and Al-Milan
Seat: The Merchants Conclave
Fortification: Rumored, but thus far unsubstantiated
Motto: "All is Fair"
Colors: Red, Black, and Gold
Liege: Elected
Vassals: Unknown
LEADERSHIP
Rank: Patriarch
Head of House: Stuurok Ruxton
Predecessor: Yaseen Al-Durab
Heir: Undesignated


Overview

The Lead Coin Society is an amalgamation of minor nobility, skilled laborers, merchants, and traders that have coalesced together in pursuit of profit and temporal influence. To further promote these aims, the Society sponsors land development, road construction, and offers both loans and investment opportunities both to its membership and to those who seek its services. They also provides protection services to anything entrusted into its care, whether it be funds, commodities, or people.

Though it does not enjoy a monopoly, the Society enjoys a strong grasp on the trade of coal, horses, and gold from the Kundari Desert, fish and seafood products from Ruxton, and has been making inroads into the construction and shipbuilding industries.

There are rumors however, that the Society has other, less germane means of exacting a profit, and that there is more steel behind their coins than would be initially suspected…

History & Culture

Note that most of this is conjecture, and for an organization so fastidious about its financial records the Society has been unable or unwilling to give much in the way of chronology. Still, from examining the histories and chronologies, patterns do emerge, and so a circumstantial history of the Lead Coin Society can be pierced together if one is willing to put considerable time and effort into it.

The Lead Coin Society is the outgrowth of the practices and cultural mores of several bands of Kundari horse traders and Mobrin woodsmen. Not always able to rely upon the sweat of their brow to survive, many took to brigandry and raiding to survive. As the Al-Milan came to prominence and the kingdom of Mobrin became more organized many of these practices were forced to be adapted or fell by the wayside. As pillaging and raiding become sizeably more risky, the trick came in justifying these behaviors, limiting the protection a victim could call upon. So it was that these bands began to loan their formerly ill-gotten gains to the same nobles who once pursued them, often financing their most perverse and shameful desires. Thus the forerunners of the Lead Coins supplemented one form of banditry for another, and became a necessary if oft grumbled about staple of their communities. These 'salt of the Earth' became shadowy burghers, seeing themselves as legitimate businessmen and guardians of the public morality. Swords and spears and bows still remained tools of the trade, but became last resorts when the threat of a bad marriage and sizable blackmail-able offenses were tools in the arsenal.

With such similar practices occurring in both countries it was only a matter of time until the two evolving traditions came into contact with one another. In recent history, it was Yaseen Al-Durab who began to unify the larger bands together, forging a pact of non-interference and cooperation between the two factions. He would also take the title of Patriarch, exerting both his reputation and personal wealth into a position as a de facto head of the mercantile and criminal bands. His successor, the current Patriarch and the second to bear the title, Stuurok Ruxton, has continued in his predecessors steps, formally centralizing and unifying these bands under a single aegis: that of the Lead Coin. Taking advantage of the wealth and infamy of his predecessor, the Ruxton would open membership in the Society to merchants and minor and unlanded nobility and cultivate relationships and business contracts with the various craft guilds, creating a powerful legitimate power base from which to operate. The organization has invested sizably in the building of roads, shipyards, and merchant vessels, as well as consolidating a measure of control over industries seen as 'traditionally' under its sway.

Customs and Culture

The Lead Coin prides itself on the product of simple men forced into the shadows, viewing their ascendance as inevitable and justly deserved. While they have little value for the feudal notions of honor, they hold several values as sacrosanct and view these as what separates them from common bankers and criminals.

The first is a complete disdain for the feudal social structure. Nobles that join the Society are informed coming in that they are to provide the utmost respect to the Society Proper and any Bound whose services they procure, regardless of the status of the individual. One quotation reads "All who receive a coin under the tongue at death are equal." Members will observe the rules of propriety for their host nation, but this is merely for the sake of appearances. With the exception of the Patriarch, there is only one formal title amongst the Society: Mister.

Fortification

Rumors abound about a secret fortress in which the Lead Coin Society houses the majority of its mercenary forces, but the exact location or disposition of this stronghold has never been revealed. Many even claim that the the Society has no such place, and instead raises its forces from anywhere it can send a messenger bird. It is known however that the Society is seeking permission to build towers and fortified counting houses to protect trade routes and valuables regardless of the state of war that any nation may find itself in.

Current Members

Wanted

The Society has three tiers of membership.

The Favored are those merchants, nobility, or craftsmen who can afford a place in the most open forum of the Lead Coin. Benefits include a lower interest rate for loans, discount rates on services, and a forum for discussion on trade related matters. Membership amongst the Favored can be purchased either through a yearly tithe, a single 'grand gesture', or by the continuing provision of unique services the Society would otherwise have difficulty acquiring. Note that the last two are the rarest of membership options, and lips are tight on just how much is sufficiently grand a gesture or what services the Society might require of its Favored. Furthermore, each Favored signs a contract with the following rules:

1. A Favored shall honor any debt incurred by himself or any he takes on on behalf of another to the Society, or if designated as the heir to a debt by the Society.
2. A Favored shall share no secrets of his fellow Favored.
3. A Favored shall take no action that directly harms or impacts another Favored, regardless of nationality, faith, or personal difference.

The second tier is the Bound, those who are actually employed by the Society, whether they be moneycounters, porters, producers, or members of the 'security' divisions of the Society. Each is granted a monthly salary according to his function, and follows a much stricter variant of the Favored contract, with further stipulations about loyalty and confidentiality. In exchange for living to these stipulations and performing their function, a Bound is granted a salary, taught to read and write if he does not already possess these skills, and will be paid restitution should he suffer inconvenience or punishment in the performance of his duties. Furthermore, though the Society is relatively new in its public role, it has taken a stance against any attempt to tie a Bound to the land or impose anykind of serfhood upon them.

Finally, there is the Patriarch and his council, the Society Proper. Though Stuurok Ruxton admits to being the Patriarch, the other members of the six person cabal that dictates interest rates, strategic goals, and any vital foreign policy or domestic agendas are unknown, and take great pains to conceal their identity.

Political Relations

Kilgour.PNG House Kilgour: TBD

Family Tree

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