Pactmasters

Pactmasters

(Organization)

Leader

Unknown

Headquarters

Katapesh

Scope

National

Members

Five witchwyrds

Images of Pactmasters

Source: Dark Markets, A Guide to Katapesh, pg(s). 46

The Pactmasters are a coalition of five witchwyrds who rule over Katapesh City. They are known as Angruul, Jinvar, Krimiltuk, Morvithis, and Tzandarkon.

Appearance

The Pactmasters stand 7 feet tall, and are covered in layered robes, to hide bodies that seem unnaturally thin. Topping all of this is a mask of gold, silver, or other precious metals and gemstones. No one can say for certain what the Pactmasters look like under their masks and robes, or even if they look like any other creatures in Golarion. Rumors abound that one would be driven mad to look upon a Pactmaster's face. Despite their great height, their form and speech are clearly humanoid.

History

In 3725 AR, having determined Golarion as a good place to establish a mercantile empire, five witchwyrds took over Katapesh City and dubbed themselves the Pactmasters. Their sudden appearance is widely speculated upon. Some say the Pactmasters marched into the city by night, at the head of an army of soldiers, and crushed the leaders of the various bandit gangs occupying the city. Others say they arrived in airships that terrified the bandits such that they fled into the desert. Strangely, there is no record of this event. Using ruthless tactics over a one-hundred year period, Pactmasters molded Katapesh into a large market country.

On Golarion

Currently, the Pactmasters hold council with the masters of Katapesh's guilds each month, acting as dispute arbitrators, judges, and legislators. Punishment dolled out during these meetings can be as easy-going as fines, or as strict as being sent into slavery. While the Pactmasters maintain control over the city of Katapesh, day-to-day business and governance is left to Pactbroker Hashim ibn Sayyid. They also fund the Zephyr Guard, which acts as the Pactmasters' presences on the city's streets. They work with the aluum constructs when extreme measures are needed.

The Pactmasters scheme and maintain secret operations unknown to the average citizen. They maintain a network of spies, informants, and scrying devices that report events that may upset business. They watch Katapesh's plains, deserts, and towns, but do not interfere with these events directly and prefer to work through proxies. Sometimes their agents may not even know who their patrons truly are. As the pesh trade brings a lot of gold into the city, the Pactmasters are keenly interested in any incidents that may disrupt the harvesting and trade of the drug.

In 4722 AR, the Pactmasters abruptly abolished slavery, a longstanding pillar of the Katapeshi economy. The same year they also criminalized the unregulated production of pesh paste by Badawi natives and their freed-slave allies and sent mercenaries to seize their pesh fields. The mercenaries were defeated, leading the Badawi and their allies to join and call the Firebrands for aid, and also gained the attention of the Gray Corsairs of Andoran who had long opposed the Katapeshi slave trade. The brewing insurrection has been referred to as the Katapeshi Revolt.

References

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