Rachel Moon
CEO, eccentric gillionaire, and preserves chef
About
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Plenty of economists, market philosophers, and industrial intelligentsia have pontificated on the ruthlessness of markets. While Rachel does not necessarily disagree with their sentiments, she does question how such academics have the time to ruminate on allegory when there are actual markets to study — and the best course of study is through participation.The most prolific authors out of Sharlayan write papers assuming hyur economicus and ceteris paribus. What if the ceteris is not paribus? She knew markets would shake after the introduction of bright-linen weaving, imports from Othard, and pattern alterations to make bustiers accessible to all consumers, all while Archons write about such events afterwards as though they had been unforeseeable. Too much time spent ruminating, not enough dedicated to a craft. She gladly seizes on opportunities and will leave the show of naming theories and principles to inked and berobed economists.Rachel is no stranger to cut-throat tactics — especially the times when her competitors had been driven to open their own throats to compete with her. She is humble enough not to attribute all of her success to ruthlessness and perseverance, but her current successes would not have been possible without such traits.
Rachel is particularly fond of food canning, airship ventures, and finding creative ways around the bureaucratic complaints lodged by Ishgardian Building Codes and Standards enforcement.
Background
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Rachel Moon grew up in the Twelveswood in a small, unnotable, and completely mundane farming village. She left home at a relatively young age, joining onto a traveling trade company as a salesperson for farming implements. During her late adolescence, she learned the trade of salesmanship, extolling but not over-promising the durability and edge of steel scythes imported from a co-op forge in southern Thanalan, and the art of back-end business, balancing books, orders, supply, and anticipating trends.While the job allowed her to travel and the pay was adequate, Rachel grew bored and began seeking out opportunities to learn different trades — she took a cold season to study at the co-op forge to learn smelting and mold-making, handle-carving, and leather-wrapping, and later found a job specializing in textile and spice imports, where she became familiar with freight and trade-route logistics. With time, she moved from sales to the shipping crew, where she gained experience with airship navigation, operation, and piloting.Rachel leveraged her skill-set to sign on as an airship captain and supply coordinator for a Gridania-based company for a significant increase in pay. And, with access to the company workshop, she began running her own textiles business on the side, inviting some of the other company staff. Rachel had her first major business success capitalizing on a clothing trend which was similar to the tunics worn by her family; she designed and sold unique pieces which commanded high prices from wealthy, discerning clients looking to be the most fashionable. Rachel’s business acumen paid off again later in the textile market; with assistance from a colleague, they innovated on a proprietary cloth-softening method, and turned the product into coveted entertainment wear, particularly favored by dancers in Ul’dah.Their activities were discovered by company management, however, and condemned. However, as is the case with many entrepreneurs, the staff asked themselves, “why are we in business for someone else?” With funding pooled, Rachel and a few colleagues moved to Ul’dah to start their own informal manufacturey where they had modest success — until Rachel observed an anomaly in the local bazaar textiles market. What she uncovered was an illicit operation, and the removal of their unscrupulous competitor left an opening in the market Rachel was poised to exploit.With their rapid increase in the market share, Rachel and her companions formally incorporated their company, with Rachel unanimously voted in as CEO for her experience, savvy, and keen business sense. Rachel currently resides between her private villa on the sunny Vylbrand coast and the company estate in Ishgard, where she manages the company fleet and major business investments.
Rumors
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One might pity Rachel Moon's rivals, the ones which mysteriously leave town unannounced just before their cartels crash in around them, but when it's inevitably discovered they achieved their initial success by exploiting workers, resources, or regulations, well, it is very easy afterwards to lose sympathy for such avowed criminals...
