Goals: 1. Convince people to have fun with their money and power. 2. Lay wild bets about the Myriadic Council votes, the outcome of the temple, or anything else. 3. Try to befriend enough people that, whoever ends up with control of the temple, they let you in. You are Speculator Larsa, the "Degenerate Gambler." You resent this nickname tremendously. It's accurate, but you resent it. The problem, from your point of view, is that you come from a Holding so rich that it can basically no longer comprehend economics. In the same way that some Holdings get so technologically advanced that not even their most brilliant scientists can keep up, so they revert to magical thinking and occultism, your people simply have too much money for that money to retain any meaning. You're simply taking that to its logical conclusion: if money has no value as money, then its only value is the joy you can get from spending it. Or, in your case, wagering it. There is more to you, though, than an exponential series of doubles-down. You really do believe what you say about having fun, and you believe that it's important to spread that fun around as much as possible. Sure, you could be spending a planet's worth of resources having a drug tailor-made to your exact genetic code and desired outcome, but at some point along the way that just stopped being interesting. When you gamble, though, especially on something ridiculous, then not only do you find joy, but so too do those people betting against you. Either they make money, or they get a great story. Either way, your life is no worse and theirs is far better. Easy win. You've come to the [[Council of Chains]] because, for all your high-minded rhetoric about *why* you gamble, the gambling aspect is still very much an important part of it for you. You've gotten rumors that the temple contains some kind of lost wonder from the early days of humanity, but those rumors were light on specifics, just how you like them. You're here to make sure things stay interesting. ## Asset: [[Staking Claims]] Your work isn't just about having a huge pile of currency to invest. That helps, of course, but it's hardly the whole story. No, a good Speculator is good at picking trends and giving them the support they need, whatever form that may take. In any [[Negotiation]] where you participate, your side automatically gains two advantages, three if there's more than one culture (Holding, Great House, or Religion) represented on the other side. ## Lien: [[Stuck in the Zeitgeist With You]] To be a successful Speculator, you must be informed, involved, and invested. To do otherwise is to be out of step and in danger of booking losses. Any time you find out about a [[Negotiation]] in which you were not a participant, you expend one Resource of your choice without effect. If you have no Resource Assets, this Lien has no effect.