Mercane

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An entire race of Handsome Squidwards.

Mercanes, formerly called Arcanes, are an enigmatic race of tall, blue-skinned humanoids who wander Wildspace and the planes as merchants. They are mysterious buggers who do mysterious things mysteriously. Right, that's it, piss off!

...Okay, okay, we'll admit, there's a little more to them than that...

Publication History

Mercanes debuted as the Arcane in the original Spelljammer boxed set (specifically in the Lorebook of the Void portion, which had all the monsters in it). They subsequently reappeared with newer lore in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix II, and received a final writeup for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition in the Monstrous Manual.

In Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition, the Manual of the Planes debuted the Mercane, who were clearly supposed to be the Arcane under a new name. They were subsequently reprinted for that edition in the Epic Level Handbook.

Finally, they returned in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition in the Spelljammer boxed set, specifically in Boo's Astral Menagerie, once again sporting the Mercane name.

Nobody knows why WotC changed the name, but it's generally accepted that "Arcane" was either perceived as too stupid and/or was too hard to copyright.

Physiology

Mercanes appear as 12' tall, lanky, blue-skinned humanoids of androgynous appearance, with elongated faces and delicate, spidery hands. Nobody has ever seen an elderly or young mercane, and nobody has been able to tell a male from a female, or even if such distinctions exist. In wildspace, many bawdy stories are told along the theme of mercanes needing gold, gems and magic to reproduce, but the true fact is that nobody knows how (or even if) they breed.

One of the more inhuman aspects of mercanes is their hands; their fingers are a joint too long, and their artwork in the Lorebook of the Void and Monstrous Manual presents them with six fingers total (five fingers, one thumb) on each hand, which isn't mentioned in the books at all.

Mercanes possess innate psionics, specifically an affinity for telepathy that manifests in two ways; they can communicate with literally any sapient creature, and they possess at least a distant telepathic network. Anyone who kills, injures, or even seriously insults one mercane will soon find that every other mercane knows about it, and whilst they won't seek vengeance directly, they'll refuse to do business until (exorbitant) restitution is made. Their ability to turn invisible and teleport short distances may or may not be psionic in origin. In 3rd edition, they can cast Leomund's Secret Chest 1/day.

Psychology

Mercanes are, by nature, cool-headed, level-tempered, and naturally diplomatic... but also cold-hearted, ruthlessly pragmatic, and completely apathetic towards all other life. They see themselves as businessmen (businessbeings?) above all else, and whilst they aren't entirely unflappable - they will not tolerate being threatened, insulted or blackmailed - the simple fact of the matter is that they care nothing for the causes or lives any non-mercane. They'll deal with anyone, and do anything, if it's sufficiently profitable.

They're also incredibly self-preserving. Not cowardly, they don't hesitate to pursue risks in the name of business, but a mercane values its own skin above all else. If threatened, a mercane will always resort to bribery, cowering behind bodyguards, or fleeing (including abandoning those same bodyguards to be slaughtered without a qualm) first, and fighting dead last. If forced to fight, they aren't actually that strong physically, but they will usually have an impressive arsenal of magical items, wands and enchanted weapons for self-protection.

One last thing that bears mentioning; haggling with a mercane is a mug's gambit. Sometimes they'll go along, other times they'll just be insulted and will walk away from the table. You can never tell for sure what they'll do.

Society

Very little is known about mercane society beyond the portion that is dedicated to actually interacting with other races. There are some slight differences between the versions seen in different sourcebooks, but the fundamentals remain the same.

Mercane are a race of merchants... as you probably already figured out. They wander wildspace and the planes buying, selling and trading, though they tend to prefer to operate through middlemen and subordinates; they're not idiots, and they know that being known as willing to do business with anybody, regardless of race or creed, means opening themselves up to a lot of danger, whether at the hands of evil bastards who will try to take the sword discount or do-gooders who want them dead for working with evil bastards.

Seriously, that's the defining attribute of mercane society: they will trade with anybody, as they do not give a shit for factions. Or lives, for that matter; it's well documented that wildspace mercanes have engaged in massive acts of war-profiteering, selling weapons to both sides until the conflict escalated to the point that it ended in mutual annihilation - as far as the mercane are concerned, no biggie, there's plenty more suckers out there to deal with. Similarly, planar mercanes are notorious for dealing in the Blood War.

Aside from weapons, spacer mercanes are best known as the dealers in spelljamming technology, to the point that they will refuse to travel to worlds that are too xenophobic or primitive. If you want to buy a control helm to make your ship fly, or a pre-built ship, or anything spacefaring related, you talk to a mercane. They may not necessarily get it back to you quickly, but they'll get you what you want in the end.

As an aside, in the Forgotten Realms, there's a pair of nobles in Raven's Bluff who found their grandfather had struck a deal with a mercane to buy his own spelljammer, but he died before it arrived. Still, the mercane ultimately showed up and presented them with the Ravenstar; a fine spelljammer equipped with a customized major helm, one of the most powerful "engines" imaginable. Yet the best these chuckleheads could think to do with it is haul a circus across a small portion of Faerun, and occasionally go for moonlight cruises with pretty ladies. Idiots.

Anyway, getting back on topic, planar mercanes prefer to deal in magic and high-value low-bulk items, such as gems, rare spices, and fine wines. Some believe they actually require a rare, expensive spice to sustain their own existence.

Regardless of environment, mercanes operate in "companies" of 1-4 mercanes, with 4-10 bodyguards and other servants per mercane. If multiple mercanes are present, they will never be seen to publicly contradict each other or quarrel. They don't stay in any one place long, but instead rent or borrow opulent holdings wherever they happen to be before ultimately abandoning those and moving on in pursuit of fresh markets.

Other races widely regard mercanes with irritated tolerance, categlorizing them as a "necessary evil", especially in wildspace. Whilst nobody actually likes them, mercanes are useful, so it's worth tolerating them... so long as you remember they are cold-blooded profit-hungry backstabbers who have no sense of customer loyalty. There are two notable exceptions to this attitude, though. Neogi hate the arcanes, who refuse to do business with them and frankly probably infuriate the eel-spider bastards on religious grounds anyway. Dohwar resent and envy the mercanes, but it's anybody's guess if the mercanes even recognize that the penguin-folk exist.

In wildspace, a popular legend is that the mercanes lost their homeworld by trading it to an elder god for the original spelljammer, which subsequently proved impossible for them to control. Nobody's ever proved this, of course, but the fact that the mercane never correct or even comment on the legend means it's spread quite far.

In 3rd edition, mercanes are stated as regarding the Greyhawk deity Boccob as their patron god, and even producing clerics.

Some sourcebooks (don't ask which ones!) claim that the mercanes were involved in building the World Serpent Inn as an alternative to Sigil due to the latter being... well, Sigil. 3rd edition ran with this, with the Epic Level Handbook introducing the City of Union, a multiversial hub city built by a mercane cartel as a superior alternative to Sigil for their needs.

Gallery

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  Planescape, DiTerlizzi started the tradition of giving them jester hats.

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  3e

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  Dragon #356

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  Pathfinder