Astral Merchant

Tall, lithe, and sexless, Astral Merchants have blue skin that shimmers faintly. They typically wear flowing robes with arcane sigils and patterns that represent their caste lineage. Merchants radiate a calm, cool authority; they rarely panic, and are unruffled even by violence. Their elongated fingers, adorned with enchanted rings, constantly manipulate floating tablets that follow them everywhere, a catalogue of their wares. A Merchant never travels unprepared: their vast inventory of treasures is always at hand, because they can summon such items via a personal gateway they carry—an enchanted star-scroll, an orb of translocation, or a dimensional coin—that can open a portal back to the astral donjon where they live. Merchants defend themselves with social sleight of hand rather than brute force: first by placating their victims with superior wit, and only when desperate, by vanishing with magic. Above all, Merchants value one thing above all others: access. To magic, to power, to secrets rare or forbidden. And in the vast astral economy of knowledge and artifacts, they have no loyalty except to the terms of their contracts.

Astral Merchants excel as a social challenge in negotiations. Though they’re not aggressive and their bodies are naturally frail, they’re far from helpless, relying on evasive magic and careful preparation to outmaneuver threats. Remember: while Merchants speak softly, they always carry a big stick, especially in the form of more powerful allies, or blackmail. One unique ability of Merchants is their ability to tap into an astral network that allows for instantaneous communication with others of their kind: they can silently converse with other arcane brokers, bodyguards, or clients scattered anywhere across the Veil. Use the Astral Merchant to challenge players with dangerous opportunities that test their morality, or put a Merchant on their party to lead a wild fetch quest into the gullet of an Astral Juggernaut or the spooky wreck of a Ceremorph vessel.