Legends & Lore: Yoseph, Merchant of Many Things
In honor of all the shopping taking place on and offline today, we’ll take a look at Etheria’s most famous (infamous) merchant, Yoseph, Merchant of Many Things..
Yoseph is not a mage — but he knows what they like, and he knows how to get it.
The High Elf runs a network of artifact shops throughout Sortilege, but his main storefront is in the city of Sor Alorra, run in a small tower not far from the Old Campus at Sistarra Academy. Yoseph does such brisk business there that his shop is often referred to as “The Seventh Tower”, a reference to six towers of Sistarra, each of which houses studies for a school of magic.
Unlike many smalltime shop keepers, Yoseph maintains his “Discovery League”, a group of Mages, aspiring Mages, loremasters, whisperers, scouts, and muscle who are paid to continually refresh inventory with regular forays into the Darkfenne, the Underrealm, the jungles of Kumanjaro, the Haunted Desert beyond Dsejer-Tet and the glacier catacombs in the undead-controlled areas of the far North beyond the Rimemark.
Yoseph is loud, portly and gregarious, always ready with a quick (usually over-the-top) joke and a hearty laugh — an endearing quality to most Humans and Dwarves, but an anomaly among the other elves of Sortilege. However, behind the bluster, Yoseph is a careful and astute businessman, negotiator and student of history. He maintains an extensive list of contacts with nobles, politicians, and other influential members from all across Etheria — as well as with non-savory organizations such as the Arraxian Crown, the pirates of the Windlass Brotherhood, and the secretive Society of Rising Night.
Yoseph's personality is featured on a number of cards, including [mwcard=MWSTX1CKE01]Armor Ward[/mwcard], the original printing of Dissolve, Wispwillow Amulet, and the upcoming Cloak of Fire.
