Goals:
1. Buy something you wouldn't normally be able to get.
2. Set up trade relationships with the strangest Holdings you can find.
3. Try to arrange an auction for the temple, with proceeds split evenly among the Merchants present.
You are Merchant Varo, "Strange Wares at Stranger Prices." You don't know if that's supposed to be a nickname, an inflicted motto, or something else, but you sure do hate it. Ok, yes, you do sometimes sell Planck stopwatches that can only keep time up to a trillionth of a second, or arrange for deal-signings to take place a hundred kilometers from an event horizon, or demand the other party pay exclusively in whispered secrets from forgotten empires (only once, turns out that much whispering gets extremely annoying after a while), but that's just because you believe in the ideals of [[Sandcastle]]. The galaxy is already too dull and regimented; it needs a bit of the weird and wonderful to keep it from fatal stagnation.
There is more to you, though, than a day trader specializing in whimsy. Of all [[Sha the Disciple|Sha's]] teachings, the one you love most goes like this: to Discover the Exception is to Comprehend the Rule. You dance through the cosmos, and have done for almost thirty thousand years, finding the oddities and exceptions, the places where the rules don't quite seem to line up. In finding these strange places, you find the path to wisdom. You also tend to find fabulous profit, but that's a minor detail.
You've come to the [[Council of Chains]] because Sha passed word that this temple contains some kind of amazing art piece from a ridiculously long time ago. You've never really been that into art for art's sake, preferring to collect pieces for sentimental reasons, but you do recognize that this is a wonderful opportunity. Normally, the militants would just run roughshod over a situation like this, but here? Here the people who can make deals are going to be on top. This is an exception to the rule, and there's nothing in the galaxy you love more.
## Asset: [[Went to Market]]
You begin play with a number of resources. These resources are represented by cards marked "Raw Resource," "Refined Resource," or "Fuel." These resources may be expended to fulfill other characters' Liens, spent in service of [[Endeavor|Endeavors]], or traded in [[Negotiation|Negotiations]]. You can't lead Endeavors or Negotiations without a Governor's express, case-by-case permission, but you can participate in them and lend your resources as you see fit.
## Lien: [[Blood Money]]
The galaxy is not an innocent place, and commerce cannot be innocently conducted within it. The kind of resources necessary to be a player on the galactic stage simply cannot be sourced from a single planet, or even a few hundred planets, without brutality and oppression baked in somewhere. In order for you to lead a [[Negotiation]], in addition to permission from your Governor, you must be accompanied by at least one Martial officer (from any Holding).