Information on the Mercane/Arcane

[fnork de sporg]

Ever since I established the mercane as being the default magic item dealers in my planar campaign they've become more and more prevalent. Now I've always enjoyed their concept but I've also always been a bit irked that their motives and origins are only described as Mysterious.

What information is out there for them? Is there any? Were they ever detailed or expanded upon in any older editions?

What ideas have you heard/had about them, their background, and their society?

 

[Shemeska]

Ever since I established the mercane as being the default magic item dealers in my planar campaign they've become more and more prevalent. Now I've always enjoyed their concept but I've also always been a bit irked that their motives and origins are only described as Mysterious.

What information is out there for them? Is there any? Were they ever detailed or expanded upon in any older editions?

What ideas have you heard/had about them, their background, and their society?

They play a big role in some of the 2e Spelljammer material. However my knowledge of SJ is incredibly thin, so I can't say much more. Others should be able to chime in on that.

They were referenced in Planescape as having a rather interesting reaction to Sigil itself: they were absolutely terrified of the City of Doors, about would not willingly enter it. In fact, a Mercane/Arcane who accidentally stepped through a portal into Sigil would more or less run screaming in horror towards the nearest portal -out- of the city, regardless of where that portal went to.

I've always speculated, as have others, that the Arcane/Mercane did something in their race's past history that earned them the ire of The Lady of Pain, or even if it didn't, the Arcane/Mercane fear that they did. There was something in Spelljammer IIRC, that had the Arcane/Mercane responsible for the sale of an entire prime material world to the Baatezu (including the inhabitants). That by itself, or other things along those lines, such as the Arcane/Mercane having had dealings in the ancient past with the followers of Aoskar the Portal Father, might give them reason for their otherwise irrational fear of the place.

 

[vulcan_idic]

I have no idea myself but I just had a thought I like that perhaps their fear of sigil has nothing to do with the city but with so many portals so close to each other - understanding that powerful magical nexii such as portals can have strong and occassionally unpredictable reactions with similar things nearby they are completely afraid of such a place, see ing a city built around there much as we might see a primitive group of people who built a city in and around some sort of nuclear minefield and then regularly played hopscotch never knowing when one of the primitive my trip a chain reaction annihilating anything in the area.

 

[fnork de sporg]

Lot's of people might have done things to cross the lady of pain, but I doubt all of them would flee in such a seemingly suicidal way as leaping through an unidentified portal.
I wonder if the lady, sigil, and the mercane all have some similar or related origin?

Can any Spelljammer guru step up and talk about them in that setting?


Where do you think the mercane actually get all their magic items?

 

[Kafkonia]

Perhaps the Mercane are the Lady of Pain. Or at least, will be in a possible future, where something triggers a race-wide gestalt that subsumes their identity in hers. And they've seen this possibility and are trying to avoid it at all costs.

 

[Dragonbait]

If I remember correctly, the Arcane were a mysterious bunch, and no one knew WHY they do what they do. They just do it, and that seems to suit them just fine. I don't think they were particularly religious (few deities could reach the pholgostien). In fact, money and the accumulation of wealth, may be their religion. Unlike the Mercane described in 3.X, Arcanes did not sell exclusively magical items. They sold exotic items from all over the multiverse. They were designed to be strange and mysterious. I don't remember the old MC sheet going over what they ate, even. The Arcane that appeared in the Spelljammer novels was as enigmatic as the race is. I've never seen anything about a social heirachy, save that they will often hire giff bodyguards, and they sell to the highest bidder-no questions asked.

I know this is not the answer you wanted, but that is all that is provided.

As a side note - If they are outsiders, then they are made up of planar matter, and not a true race, per se. What plane do they represent, then? What plane are they native to?

 

[Dragonbait]

Lot's of people might have done things to cross the lady of pain, but I doubt all of them would flee in such a seemingly suicidal way as leaping through an unidentified portal.
I wonder if the lady, sigil, and the mercane all have some similar or related origin?
Where do you think the mercane actually get all their magic items?

They are the Lady of Pain's barber. That's where they get all those magical swords.

 

[Ripzerai]

There are a lot of possibilities for mercane/Lady of Pain interactions

- The mercanes are the ones who sold Sigil to the Lady in the first place; rather than pay them, she has simply slaughtered all bill collectors who come by.

- The mercanes once tried to take over Sigil, and were banished. (Simple, obvious explanation)

- The mercanes are dabus who managed to escape from the Lady's grasp.

- Mercanes exist on multiple planes simultaneously, which is why they know what happens to any of their fellows and why they can dimension door. Sigil, cut off from other planes except through portals, feels like dismemberment to them, as they're cut off from their other selves.

- The dizantar are special minions of the Lady of Pain, tasked with hunting down and killing all mercanes in the multiverse.

The Astromundi Cluster boxed set features a complex and terrible mercane plot.

The article "Rough Times on Refuge" in Dragon #159 describes a mercane-ruled city and planet.