Editing Ashadar Shan (section)

==Backgrounds==
'''Followers: 2'''
* Shan normally travels with a large retinue of [[Widening_Gyre:_Non-Player_Characters#The_Ashadar_Expedition|skilled aides, guards, and servants]].  Treated kindly and paid well, they are extremely loyal.
* Shan currently employs several mercenary companies: the Red Clouds, the 5th Lancers, the Lark River Brotherhood, the Painted Lightning Flight, and Companions of Cypress Hill. These are paid for out of his pocket, and not quite so loyal.  They are not counted as Followers.
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'''Influence: 3'''
* Shan is the most important person in Heroncrest prefecture, which lies in a large valley north of Arjuf on the east bank of the Caracal river.  He is reasonably well-connected throughout the Realm and in those places he extensively trades with (see below).  He also maintains some connections with other alumni from the House of Bells.  His trade routes garner him influence in Nexus and the cities of the South, including Chiaroscuro, Yane and Paragon.
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'''Resources: 5'''
* Shan is exceedingly wealthy, one of the top few percent even in the Realm.  He holds large estates in Heroncrest (he has favorable leases on the majority of the prefecture) and maintains smaller townhouses and warehouses in Paragon, Chiaroscuro, Nexus, Grey Falls,  Arjuf, and Lord’s Crossing.  He has a townhouse in the Imperial City.  His merchandise is eclectic – gold, gems and firedust in the South, rare herbs, essences and exotica from the East.  His estates on the Isle grow fruits, grapes, and tea plants.  He has been attempting to introduce mulberry groves and set up silk production, but this is still in the works.
* While Shan deals with the Guild on a day-to-day basis, he does not actually hold a position of responsibility within that organization.  His merchant empire was built by Ashadar Caral, his Outcaste great-grandfather, at the time when the Empress had forbidden the Guild to deal with the Realm, and Caral made his fortune playing the middleman.  All subsequent members of House Ashadar have continued the separation.  Shan pays funds into Guild coffers for his use of Guild caravans and the like, but neither gives nor receives orders.