Viraen Silverbreeze didn't necessarily want to be here. No that was being too polite, he thought as he tried his best to get the most warriors, be they Elven or the shorter folk, as possible between himself and the frontline. He is very much displeased at all of this. Not that he isn't a proud son of Cothique, or that the war isn't necessary for a thousand reasons, it all was very much needed. But being this close to the frontline was not what he wanted, in the slightest, the fact that's he is this close to it because of the lack of progress in his actual passions just makes it all so bitter as well.
His's family has found such a fortune in the reagent market, there was always a market for the magically potent ingredients, there always will be, even the Dawi with their distrust for magic have a desire and need for them, driven on by their Runesmiths. While he was put through the paces when he was younger and faced the rather dangerous beasts that quite a few of the more potent reagents come from, he rather thought he'd left that behind him. After he had earned himself some breathing room and a small fortune from a rather lethal and painful hunt, he found what he rather be doing. Cataloging and researching the reagents his family had made their livelihood from.
It was wonderful, he was still helping his family, indirectly but still helping. He talked to Mages and learned what effects particular reagents caused and were good for, better ways of preserving them and how to tell what specimen would be most potent. He talked to scholars and mages and merchants, and his family benefited from it all! They were able to find better bargains and deals and customers because of him. Though yes, perhaps, when he left Cothique and used all of his personal fortune on a century-long tour across the breadth of Ulthuan to discover and catalog everything he could get his hands on, perhaps, that was ever so slightly irresponsible. It was incredibly fulfilling while doing it, seeing new things and learning from so many people, but coming home had been rather… uncomfortable. Especially when the first thing he did was ask to access the family's coffers so he could write a book about all he learned, that hadn't been his wisest moment.
So now here he was, his family had earned themselves a right to harvest some of the reagents from the pet monsters these One-eyed daemon worshiping filth employed. Mostly from his family's martial might, but he still took vindication that it was partly due to the increased knowledge and capabilities he provided said family. But that still placed him here, he didn't feel like a hunter or warrior anymore, he felt like he earned the right to call himself a scholar, but that clearly didn't matter. He been left unsure what to do with himself, but opportunity knocks. He had never had the chance to learn the Dawi's tongue, but the Runesmith who had come directly to his family looking to buy reagents from them after the latest battle had learned theirs. He managed to get a conversation with this Runesmith going by talking at length about the reagents available only in Ulthuan.
But what Viraen Silverbreeze managed to get out of that discussion was the Institution this Runesmith seemed very fond of, Khazagar, particularly its library. He was only able to get the barest of details about it, but from what he understood it was a library solely for these Runesmiths, a vast vault of magical lore. He had absolutely no chance of being allowed in of course, but it gave him an idea. A library always hungered for knowledge, and while he was sure its keepers were filling it the best they could, he was also sure there was a land that they didn't have much knowledge of. After this war was over trade between these Dawi and Ulthuan would surely increase, and the fact he was able to basically monologue for an hour or so on the reagents unique to Ulthuan to that Runesmith indicates to him that there is indeed a market here for what his family usually produces back in Cothique. What better way to increase demand for said reagents than having them be so beautifully and perfectly described in their own library, for every one of these Runesmiths to see. He gets to write his book, his family gets to find new customers, these Runesmiths have more knowledge on a section of the world they would have difficulty discovering. Perhaps he can even have the Dawi pay him to write this knowledge down for their library. That would be better than having to ask his family for funds again, and it would be another step closer to being the scholar he knows he is at heart.
(Never really done this before so hopefully it isn't too terrible, but the idea that the first person to write something for Khazagar's library outside of Snorri being an Elf was just really funny to me and I wanted to share that)
( (Edit: Changed Regent to Reagent) always miss something)
