Many of these same Merchants now presumed that the reins of power were purely economic, that the present state of affairs could be controlled and manipulated solely through the use of money. In this, they had badly misjudged the Thane. He was not a man who coveted power in any form; therefore no such desire held him hostage to their will. In his mind the Merchants had badly misjudged the true nature of power: he believed that true power in any society is power over people. He had once said to Birin, “Power over people in its most ruthless form has ever been that of life and death, and so it has ever been; that Evil rules by threatening life and commanding its followers, whereas Good attracts and leads its supporters through its never-ending crusade to preserve life.”
There were some who surmised, perhaps rightly so, that the Merchants were also somewhat complicit in what had caused, or at least exacerbated, the King’s madness; for they had become His only direct link to the people He ruled. The Merchant’s isolation from their fellows through their self-serving scheming had become the King’s isolation, and in the end, becoming utterly alone and full of suspicion, unable to have faith in those around Him, and coming to believe that His own people weren’t to be trusted, He had come to see His responsibility as ruler as applying only to Himself.