[TheFallenOne]

Ambrath evidently loses patience with Magnus and makes a short wave of his hand, upon which the mage Beregor takes up the word. "Lord Ambrath is the effective leader of the Merchant Houses and thus representative for the changes they seek and already accomplished. They're turning Ravens Bluff into a more powerful and rich city, where the competent and ambitious are in control, not those luckily born with noble blood. While it is true one can inherit a fortune just as well as a title, a fool quickly loses the former, and wealth and power in our structures can be obtained even if you start at the bottom. The current head of the Bentbow House for example started as a lowly craftsman at the Guild of Fine Carvers and Furniture Makers. Lord Ambrath himself might have inherited great wealth, but his father didn't own a tenth of what the House is worth today.
Lord Blacktree on the other hand is clinging onto a status quo that ended together with the war. Siding with him is akin to holding together a collapsing building with nothing but your hands. It might work for a while, but in the end it only causes more damage and chaos than if you had given up on the past glory in time."

Spoiler

those who make History DC 20

Spoiler

Fenmarel, a halfelf, was Deputy Major, with O'Kane's disappearance he became Acting Mayor by default. In the closing days of the war, he was accused of conspiring with the enemy and having had a hand in Kane's kidnapping, but the supposed evidence was never made public. His death was officially determined to be by natural causes as the conditions in the dungeons were quite bad, with the city itself under attack little could be spared.