Mercane

Mercane

(Creature)

Type

Outsider
(extraplanar)

CR

5

Environment

Any land or underground

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Images of mercanes

Source: Bestiary 2, pg(s). 188

Ⅰ

Mercanes are extraplanar merchants whose reach across planes is as broad as it is profitable.

Appearance

A mercane resembles a 10-foot-tall, blue-skinned humanoid with a many-eyed face and three-fingered hands. They weigh 500 pounds.

History

Little is known about mercane origins; their home plane is a mystery, their sustenance and reproductive practices are the subject of rumors, and ever-changing stories tell of their participation in a planar war with details about their role depending on the storyteller.

Society

Mercanes are interested only in magic items, for which they bargain aggressively but fairly, and are willing to hire adventurers in order to acquire specific items. They honor contracts as if they were hallowed documents.

A mercane might choose to follow mercenaries capable of keeping them well paid in whatever currency they prefer. Mercanes are especially interested in the planar alchemical catalyst on the Plane of Earth for its value on other planes.

Possessions

Each possesses an extradimensional chest of the mercane that allows them to buy and sell magic items regardless of the locale. To protect their wares, many mercanes maintain an entourage of bodyguards and carry large masterwork falchions.

On Golarion

Mercanes occasionally wander as merchants in the Universe, including on Golarion.

In the Great Beyond

Half a million mercanes live in Aktun, capital of Axis. Mercanes arrived mysteriously in Axis aeons ago to set up trade routes to an unknown—and perhaps lost—planar location.

Mercanes are among the smallest minority groups in Shadow Absalom. A small population of about 500 mercanes lives in Yulgamot, the planetoid metropolis of the Astral Plane. Mercanes also join other travelers in Heaven's Shore on the edge of Heaven, roam the cities of Hell, and set up shop in Alushinyrra—wherever goods can be hawked across the planes, mercanes are likely there.

Known mercanes

• Besendi of the First and Final Bond, in Axis
• Chief Postal Inspector Omaln of Sayashto in Axis
• United Scales Party leader Goambu of Yulgamot
• Bertrus, a mercane managing the front of Emporium Isitalba in the Hellish city of Dis
• The Tradecross Peddler, who roams Molthune alone
• Ahrli, who manages the shop in Kintargo's Temple of Asmodeus
• Zilvazaraat, trapped inside a ruby by a human wizard
• "Honest" Jawb, seeking to buy souls in the Ethereal Plane's Veiled Bazaar
• Big Blue, captain of the Curio

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.