Jonas Silk

Keeper of Silks, broker of secrets and architect of respectable access

A refined Aventis power-broker with a wooden thumb and an exact sense of what respect costs, Jonas converts secrets, presentation and debt into the audience Bea needs with Hugo.

Book One

Preferred nameJonas Silk

Series placementMajor Book One supporting character

BusinessProprietor of Silks, the Veiled Gem of Aventis, in legacy material.

Body detailCurrent manuscript gives him a wooden thumb.

FunctionHe brokers access; he does not become Bea's uncomplicated patron.

Identity and portrayal

Appearance

Legacy profile: forty-two, tall and wiry at six feet three, sun-kissed bronze skin, striking grey eyes, dark hair streaked silver and pulled back, sharp features and rich purple-black clothing with understated gold. Current manuscript adds a wooden thumb, sandalwood-and-spice refinement and a house whose elegance is deliberately discreet.

Voice and manner

Smooth, amused and exact about power. He uses price, danger and reputation as ordinary nouns and rarely reveals how much he knows without gaining something in return.

Skills, Essan and limitations

Persuasion, information brokerage, spies, social presentation, debt, negotiation and a studied knowledge of Aventis's occult history. No direct Essan practice is established.

Knowledge limits

Knows the elite, Council, Hugo's habits, Sharma's political meaning and the difference between an invitation that looks desperate and one that looks expensive.

Core psychology

External goal

Protect Silks and his network while profiting from being the person who can make impossible introductions respectable.

Internal need

Choose when discretion serves vulnerable people and when it merely protects existing power.

Fear

Losing control of his information network or being forced into somebody else's public faction.

Defining flaw or pressure

Ruthless ambition and a long memory make generosity conditional and difficult to separate from leverage.

Arc by story stage

Introduction

Receives Bea and Jorgen through a discreet Aventis house rather than a gaudy public establishment.

Sharma explanation

Gives Bea a politically sharp account of Sharma, the Council and Hugo.

Hugo access

Constructs Bea's invitation and buyer identity so Hugo's servants and guests accept her presence.

Arena box

Appears with Sebastian and his men as controlled support during the confrontation.

Connected records

Relationships

5 links

Broker and conditional allyBeatrice Emilia Antonius

Teaches her not to plead and makes the Hugo audience possible.

Open linked character →Business contact and wary allyJorgen

Jorgen knows how to reach him and what his help costs.

Open linked character →Rival power-brokerHugo Merveille

Jonas understands Hugo's appetite for price, display and leverage.

Open linked character →Political subject and possible allySharma Jendayi Karo-amat

He understands why Sharma cannot be easily silenced or priced.

Open linked character →

Respectable intermediarysebastian

Sebastian's name forms part of the social cover Jonas builds.

Referenced character