LongenReport
English：Longen · Characters
Leader of the Traders Guild and the man who actually controls the empire's slave trade and commerce; he sits on his throne with diplomatic status and a cup of bloodrum, complaining that Tinfist keeps freeing his slaves — and in the whole world only the Anti-Slavers will take his head.
Longen is the leader of the Traders Guild and holds diplomatic status. He lives in the guild headquarters at Trader's Edge and spends most of his time steeping in his own throne room.
Mmm... fine bloodrum. It seems I have a guest? Lucky for you, I am feeling generous today. Have a sip.
The empire's true king of commerce
From goods to people, most of the trade and slave dealing within the United Cities passes through his hands. Beneath him is a set of grandees holding large numbers of slaves — and, intriguingly, these nobles nominally answer directly to Longen, not to Emperor Tengu. Apart from the limited competition offered by the Free Traders, he has no rival in the empire's commercial world.
His personality is tagged "Smart", his armour is the top Masterwork grade, and his weapon came from the hand of the legendary smith Cross. But this outfit is something of a bluff: his combat stats only run to around 30–36. He is a man who lives by the system, not by the sword.
What he thinks of Tinfist
So long as the player has not yet dealt with Tinfist or Emperor Tengu, and is neither an ally of the Anti-Slavers nor an enemy of the slave traders, they can listen to Longen complain that none of his "so-called guards" can put an end to Tinfist's madness. His argument is the most complete self-justification slavery gets: the slaves Tinfist frees have not gained freedom, they have merely become one more threat out in the borderlands, robbing drifters and caravans along the roads. As he sees it, "a wild thing is always wild", and chaining it is for its own sake as much as for everyone else's.
He also has one special ability: an extremely sharp eye for spotting escaped slaves, against which disguises do not work.
The bounty: a head nobody wants
Longen's bounty is set at 0 Cats, and there is exactly one buyer in the world — Grey of the Anti-Slavers, who trades him for +50 relations. What is actually worth money on him is that Meitou-grade Longsword.
Two vignettes illustrate his position: take him to Holy Lord Phoenix and Phoenix will declare, displeased, that he "wants no part in your war"; take him to Moll of the Flotsam Ninjas and she awkwardly asks you to take him somewhere else.
He is the core of the system, and nobody's personal grudge.
After he falls
Killing Longen sets off a chain of world states, all revolving around the collapse of the Traders Guild, slavery, and the desert supply lines:
- Starving Vagrants, and Guild caravans across Heng, the Great Desert, the Grey Desert, the Stormgap Coast and the Stenn Desert, all stop spawning.
- Trader's Edge becomes a ruin; if Emperor Tengu has also fallen, the city passes — depending on whether Tinfist lives or dies — either to the Anti-Slavers as a free city, or to the Empire Peasants. Heng likewise falls half to ruin or changes hands.
- Slave trader patrols in the Great Desert, Heng and the Grey Desert are reduced; if Tinfist is alive, patrols of the Anti-Slavers begin to appear.
Conversely, so long as Longen is alive, Tinfist's death empties out the Settled Nomad Village, while slave trader patrols spread into Sinkuun, the Northern Coast, Shem and The Outlands.