An ambitious mercenary seeks, essentially, what amounts to a Barony through the Guild of Free Companies of Westgate. His father's estate was poised to achieve a title of Baron near the city, but daddy was swindled by unscrupulous lenders. They bled his father's substantial treasury in a greatly exaggerated loan scheme. Balmer seeks to recover his family's standing among the city nobility by serving as a mercenary in the Free Companies, and by funding the factions who oppose his house's rivals.