After the mysterious death of his father, the famed silk merchant Xin, the Master of Silks, while returning from an expedition to the East a year and a half ago, followed a year later by the death of his mother, On Ren could be forgiven for not yet having achieved much in his few years of adult life. While his older brother Feng dutifully (and profitably!) continued to run most of their father's famed silk business, On has been fairly secluded, appearing occasionally to assist his brother, but far less frequently since the deaths of his parents. Rumour has it On has plans to travel soon with the East Empire Company to continue his father's work in the East, although what that work is remains unknown to most (including, many have suggested, to On).
“Alas for Yu Min, the day was not to be hers. With the Chrysanthemum Order meeting coming to a close, her unrepentant murderer was escorted from the Manse to be returned to his cell. But while his hands were bound by chains, once outside the grip of the Manse's magic-silencing sutras and into the Courtyard, Ren On turned on his guards, unleashing the almighty power of the Storms that he had come to command. What happened next is unclear, as what few witnesses there were recall being momentarily blinded by a bright light, as if the Sun itself had descended on the Courtyard, but when the dust cleared and the world came back into view, the crazed merchant had fled, never to be seen or heard from again.”
Excerpt from 'Merchants of the Peerless Eternal Order of the Golden Chrysanthemum'
“Once again we sail to the Palace of the Unchained Skies. We know better now than to antagonise the spirits there, nor to remain overlong in the waters overlooked by their pagodas, lest a storm gather above us. Our presence is enough. Enough to remind Ren On that the pirates of the East have not forgotten his murder of our mistress, and that should he ever flee his sanctuary we will hunt him down and he’ll wish he had let the law take his life.”
From the Journal of the Dread Pirate Feng aka Mei Lin
“Despite expectations that Ren Feng would capitalise on the fall of his only major competitor to cement his monopoly over Silk in Chi'in, several shockingly bad business deals, coupled with a nasty rumour that Feng himself had ordered his younger brother to bring about Min's fall, ultimately led to the collapse of the once great Ren and Sons Silk Concern. Without its two greatest suppliers of textiles, Chi'in saw a brief shortage of clothing items from the simple to the luxurious; however, within the year, many lesser silk merchants had risen up to fill the gap, and the names of Yu and Ren were quickly replaced as the bywords for quality that they had once been, as is the way of business.”
Excerpt from 'A History of Imperial Silks'
“Yeeah, I spoke to that Ren Xin a whole bunch of times, a whole bunch of times. Disssappeared, didn't he? Here, let me let you in on a lilll secret… that I know… he told mee… he told me that he were gonna sell people the Sun! And the Rain and the Snow and the Storm! He was gonna be rich, he told me! 'Course, he was already pretty rich, weren't he? Damn Merchants… Anyways, I tells this… nrg, I tells this to his son when he visits, that On guy what killed that lady, and I didn't think he believed me cus no-one ever believes me yer see, but then out he went, goin' all those ways his dad went, and then years later I hears rumours of some battle with pirates where he zaps 'em with lightning and shoots water from his hands 'n' stuff. So I were right, weren't I! See, you wants to know stuff, you speak ter me. I gots… I got allll the answers, yer know?”
Local drunk guy, Port Hifume
Ren On’s procession into Hell had been extremely efficient. The Hell Authorities had taken one look at his record, noted the intervention of a Celestial Censor and fasttracked him to 10,000 years of scaling the Mountain of Knives. As he approached the razor studded peak a pair of officials bustled up and hung a heavy weight about his neck. Glancing down at his new burden he saw etched upon the burnished metal the characters “Complements of Yu Min”.