House Lodos

House Lodos’ power and might (many consider it the mightiest of all houses) belie its decidedly modest beginnings. Antonio Lodos began as a simple fisherman with a small fleet of fishing rigs, which he inherited from his father.

The treasure

What Antonio didn’t have, however, was a large supply of gold, although he was able to scrape together a decent living. But this modest subsistence failed to suffice. Fate was on Lodos’ side, when one day he pulled a massive treasure chest aboard after snagging it in his fishing net.

Business is good

Lodos was a smart fellow, and set the money aside instead of spending it. Lodos was sick and tired of paying his creditors egregiously high interest; he decided, therefore, to found his own money-lending institute. And the plan paid off! Pirates and other shady creatures were more willing to borrow money from a fisherman, who they had more in common with than snobbish bank employees. It did not take Lodos long to amass enough patrons to retire from the fishing industry.

Back to business Lodos’ business practice was not always straight, which led to many a problem with the authorities. He soon sent his fleet back out on the water to cook the books and fool the authorities, who have never once been able to prove any wrongdoing, despite ample suspicions.


Credit shark

He thusly built up his house, becoming a powerful institution within the merchant guild. His money lending institute employs as many as his entire fleet of fishing ships. Officially, House Lodos earns the lion’s share of its money from fishing, but all the other houses know that the bulk of its money comes from lending activities and the interest charged.


Today

There is practically not another house in the merchant guild that does not have some type of debt owed to House Lodos. But there are two sides to each story, and Lodos’ ships are a beloved target – those who have borrowed from Lodos want to exact revenge for the exorbitantly high interest rates, and to pay off said debts and interest.
The idea for the Tournament of the Great Five can also be traced back to captain Lodos, who wanted to devise a way to find out which pirates are the most skilled. Lodos was aware that no other house would be able to dole out the same amount of prize money to the pirates, and the house is still the largest donor today. The best pirates know that winning the competition means lucrative jobs from House Lodos.