Saender Ghoried was never born to responsibility, and he wanted none. Yet fate is often a cruel mistress. The youngest of five sons, Saender saw his own star rise with each prematurely dead sibling. His eldest brother Anuvier succumbed to fever at the age of twelve. The second, fair-haired Trevan, never lived past his squirehood. The third, Torias, Saender’s best friend and closest brother, found a watery grave in the river upon which the family fortune depended. The fourth, Linnias, the brightest of five remarkably clever brothers, reached a remarkably witless end at the hand of a harlot in Ilien. And so by his coming of age, Saender was Siele Ghoried’s only son and heir.
He married early, to the daughter of a wealthy baronet in Proudglaive, but the marriage was never a happy one. Some said the two were extraordinarily unevenly matched. Others said Saender preferred the company of men. The result of their loveless union was but one child, Torias, after Saender’s late brother. He was seven when his mother died.
Saender Ghoried is a most peculiar man. He never desired power, and approaches the concept of responsibility and authority with a dejected resentment unfathomable to most people. Yet he does approach them, and carries out his duties with the skill and the determination of a man who deep in the least visited places of his mind actually likes his feather beds, his fine Ilienese wool, his foreign wines and last but not least, sitting at the heart of a mercantile operation that genuinely needs his controlling hand. His demeanour is unchanged by this fact however, and Saender Ghoried appears to the world like a man whose fine garments fit as if tailor-made, but at whose colours the wearer recoils in disgust. The men and women who work for him have learned to appreciate this quality, and a doleful sigh from their master is a sure sign of a point admitted, a task accepted, or an idea approved.
When weighty matters are not at hand to weigh on his own shoulders, Saender Ghoried is a cheerful and easy-going man, at home in most situations and in most companies. His reputation among his peers is not the best however, as the young count is seen as worryingly friendly with his lessers, and uncharacteristically dismissive of some aristocratic traditions. The count can maintain the necessary facade when the situation requires, but as any discerning man will notice, Saender Ghoried is more at home in his guild houses than on his estates. This has endeared him considerably more to the artisans and craftsmen that make up his organisation than it has alienated his peers however, and so Count Ghoried worries little. So far, his name, as ancient as any other in Roesone, and his wealth, equally respectable, has shielded him from public criticism.
The goals of the First Councillor are no secret, mostly because the First Councillor never tried to make them so. Saender Ghoried considers ensuring the continual welfare of the common people to be the primary purpose of the Spider River Traders, even more so than his mother did or the other councillors do. He will stop at little to destroy the works of men he deems unscrupulous, uncaring and unfit, and desires to spread the good works of the Spider River Traders to as much of Anuire as possible, either by way of outright removal of competitors, or by convincing other guilds that his way is best. To serve his own convictions, First Councillor Saender Ghoried will go to any length, including, some critics within the guild say, harming both his own interests, and those of the Spider River Traders.
