Runeswindler, Collector of Passage

In Mohinders, travel is not a right—it is a privilege taxed, monitored, and controlled by the Council of Controlled Magical Appliance. At the heart of this lucrative system stands the Runeswindler, an Kavrethul responsible for ensuring no portal functions without payment.

Role and Methods

• Every portal leading into, out of, or within Mohinders is subject to a toll, paid in gold, favors, or secrets. The Runeswindler ensures compliance, embedding the city's magical gateways with invisible sigils that detect and enforce these payments.
• Attempting to bypass a Runeswindler’s toll is a fool’s errand—portals they control do not simply vanish; they disguise themselves as walls, doors, or even mundane objects, making unauthorized travel nearly impossible.
• Those who try to cheat the system may find their portals leading elsewhere—into sealed pocket dimensions, endless looping corridors, or even into empty voids where time ceases to exist.

Forms of Payment

• Coin: The simplest method—those who can afford the exorbitant portal taxes move freely. Wealthier citizens may pay for "unrestricted access" sigils, granting passage for a set period.
• Favors: The Council is always in need of agents, informants, and pawns. Those without gold may enter into binding contracts, enforced by magic, to settle their debts.
• Secrets: Some portals require knowledge rather than coin. A whispered truth, a hidden weakness, or a confession of forbidden knowledge may grant access—for a price.

Enforcement & Punishments

The Runeswindler has no need for brute force—their punishments are woven into the city itself. Those who defy the portal tolls may find:

• Their businesses inaccessible, with shop doors leading to distant alleyways instead of customers.
• Their homes unreachable, as their front door now connects to the wrong side of the city.
• Their entire existence rerouted, forcing them to wander through illusory pathways with no escape until they submit and pay their due.

The Unseen Gatekeeper

The Runeswindler’s true identity is unknown to most. They rarely appear in their fiendish form, instead working through a network of masked enforcers, arcane automata, and illusionary messengers. Most citizens know only of the system—the tolls, the taxes, the rules—and they obey, because the alternative is being lost in a labyrinth of false paths and vanished streets.

Rumors & Dissent

Despite the Council's iron grip on portal travel, whispers of a hidden resistance circulate in back alleys and shadowed halls. Some claim that a rogue mage is unraveling the Runeswindler’s enchantments, crafting counterfeit sigils to bypass the tolls. Others say that the Runeswindler collects more than just secrets—that they are hoarding knowledge of a portal leading beyond the Shell itself, to something even the Council fears.

One thing remains certain—if you want to go anywhere in Mohinders, you must pay the Runeswindler’s price.