Happy Storytelling Saturday! I’d love to hear more about Aster, if you’re up for it 😊
Going to answer this on Blorbsday because it seemed appropriate!!
Let's absolutely talk about
ASTER ASTORIA! 🍷 ✨
I love so much that you are interested in Aster! He means a lot to me like many of my blorbos ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
So fun fact, his place of employment, the Divine Trust is in the Blend, basically the center of the Alliance lands. A very tiny part of it is on old Crestwall land, so Crestwall refuses to acknowledge The Blend as a legitimate country. (City state?? It's like a secular version of the Vatican.) (I swear these politics are essential to his character ahflkasdjhfsadf)
What does this have to do with Aster? Well, the big exchange that kickstarts the plot specifically didn't invite any representatives from The Blend. Definitely a huge snub. The good news is that Aster is originally from Magnolia!! So with a few well-timed conversations and connections, he joins the representatives from Magnolia so he can spy for Coinmaster Alise learn more about the Kingdom of Crestwall in a mutual exchange of ideas! In the story, we first meet Aster as one of the Magnolia representatives, and then Jaisse figures out holy shit that's THE Aster Astoria!!! Immortal counterfeiter turned banker extraordinaire!
And JK he's definitely there to spy for Coinmaster Alise. She's nosy as hell and wants to know if Crestwall is really as heinous as the Alliance gossips say it is ("Do they even have indoor plumbing?!"). He's also there to sniff out even the faintest whiff of economic weakness. The coinmaster's personal theory for the Exchange is that maybe King Crestwall wants to open up trade and she wants to be as ahead of any potential negotiations as she can.
So basically Aster's role at the start of the story is as the most conspicuous, flamboyant spy on the face of the planet. And Crestwall culture is so condescending to Magnolia (the pretty arts and crafts land, as far as Crestwall is concerned) that he is totally successful. He's just there to judgementally sip godsbrew and send letters to Alise with details about the price of bread and how often trade ships come into port.
