Rautos Hivanar

Rautos Hivanar was the head of an old money family and the Master of the Liberty Consign of Merchants in the city of Letheras, capital of the Letherii Empire. He was said to be the wealthiest man in the empire.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 18, US HC p.533 He was a large man with a florid complexion and robust features, whose presence tended to dominate a room. At the time of the Tiste Edur conquest, he had been married to Eskil Hivanar for thirty-three years.
Hivanar was kept busy by his work with the Liberty Consign and overseeing his family's vast financial holdings. He thought the Edur conquerors little more than "savage, miserable barbarians who were now preening at the very pinnacle of Letherii society, like grey-feathered jackdaws atop a hoard of baubles."
His trusted house steward and principal agent was Venitt Sathad, whose family had been Indebted to his own for six generations. As Hivanar's agent, he was given vast latitude to complete his tasks in his master's name because of his proven record of efficiency. Hivanar did not bother to demand specifics.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 19, US HC p.577
Although Skoval Hivanar, the one-time Imperial Ceda, appeared to belong to the same Hivanar family, it was not revealed whether Rautos was also related to the historian, Calasp Hivanar.
==Hivanar estate==
The Hivanar family estate dominated a shelf of land on the north bank of the Lether River, four streets west of Quillas Canal, for eight hundred years. An Estate Compendium maintained by the family collected notes and maps of the family's history there. It was kept in a wood and iron chest hidden in the floor beneath the rug and floorboards below the map table. The estate's library was stacked floor to ceiling with scrolls, clay tablets, and books gathering the knowledge of a thousand scholars, including many from the Hivanar family. At least one guard watched the estate's gate. 
The estate's stepped walls marked the property's boundaries, extending more than two boat-lengths into the water on posts to form an enclosure and slow the river's current. Two mooring poles were set in the river just beyond the walls' ends. The wall of the home facing the enclosure was decorated with a mosaic portraying the investiture of Skoval Hivanar as Imperial Ceda three centuries earlier. Beneath the mosaic lay shallow stone stairs passing through wooden bulwarks that Hivanar had installed to keep the earth from washing away. A lower terrace garden that once stood on the river bank had already me that fate. The water had carried away soil and plants to reveal a peculiar arrangement of boulders that resembled a cobbled street framed by rotted wooden posts arranged in a rectangle.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 1, US HC p.34-36
A high wall manned by private guards separated the estate from the city.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.758
== In Reaper's Gale ==
Hivanar found his work becoming tedious and intellectually enervating. Not even his suspicions that some enemy of Lether and the wealthy class was actively committing economic sabotage against the empire could attract his full interest. Instead, he became became fascinated with an unidentified mechanical device that had been unearthed by floodwaters on the riverbank of his family's estate. He spent much of his spare time researching flood records and maps in his library to the point where he lay awake at night thinking about it.
As Master of the Liberty Consign, he went to Karos Invictad, head of the Patriotists secret police, to request they investigate the thief he suspected was hoarding great quantities of Letherii coin. The shortage was starting to put a strain on the empire's financial structure and the Consign could not investigate it themselves without eroding members' trust in their own effectiveness. Hivanar also pressured Karos to be more careful in the Patriotists' campaign against academics and scholars from the city's influential families, resulting in the release of Janath Anar.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 1, US HC p.47-48
He also sent Venitt Sathad to Drene to report on preparations there as he no longer trusted the city's Factor, Letur Anict.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 1, US HC p.37 On Venitt's journey out of the city, he stopped by a property his master was having renovated by Bugg's Construction. Within an outbuilding was a massive device identical to one of the pieces Hivanar had found on his estate. He made Bugg promise to deliver Hivanar the news.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 6, US HC p.139-141 Hivanar was fascinated by Bugg's news. Bugg looked over the artifacts that had been collected and informed the Master the reason they could not be assembled was because a central piece was missing--one made of energy, not a physical object to be found. He then departed despite Hivanar's pleas for an explanation.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 7, US HC p.168-170
As the financial situation in Letheras became more desperate, Hivanar invited the members of the Liberty Consign into council. He was able to put down talk of removing him from his position by outlining the steps he was taking to capture the saboteur. He also announced he was taking steps to disassociate the Consign from the Patriotists as the secret police began a covert war against their Edur conquerors in the palace.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 9, US HC p.247-249 He sent his concerns about the Patriotists in writing to Chancellor Triban Gnol. Rather than denying that the Patriotists were using Consign coin to entirely fund their operation, Karos bragged to the Chancellor he had done everything in his power to bring down the empire's undeserving wealthy families. The Invigilator had so enriched himself at the empire's expense that Rautos was no longer the richest man in the empire.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 18, US HC p.532-534
Rautos' interest in his artifacts turned into obsession, and he lost so much weight his skin hung from his body "like drapery on bones."Reaper's Gale, Chapter 18, US HC p.532-534 He catalogued each piece's detailed characteristics and determined that they had been placed in the ground in a specific arrangement. As the city descended into anarchy from the collapsing economy and the invasion of the Bonehunters, he determined that the object matching the one found at his inn was growing warmer. He set out alone into the city to discover the larger copy shared a similar effect.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.758-759 
The device was ultimately revealed to be one of Icarium's ancient inventions. The Jhag approached the device's main nexus in the ruins of Scale House and large objects around the city came to life, collapsing buildings and creating a web of light that linked them all together. When Icarium entered the main nexus it caused catastrophic damage to the city. As Rautos stood below the object at his inn, it stood straight up before bending on a hinge to fall upon him. Pinned by his legs, the merchant watched as white fire enveloped him and stripped away his memories before he died.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.795-798
== In Dust of Dreams==
Because of the totality of Hivanar's fascination with the Letheras mechanical device, he had become estranged from his wife, Eskil Hivanar.Dust of Dreams, Chapter 18, US HC p.582
Later, he wandered in the Wastelands of Lether along with Taxilian, Asane, Breath, Last, Nappet, and Sheb until they came upon a K'Chain Che'Malle nest.Dust of Dreams, Prologue, US HC p.32 The group was then killed by Taralack Veed which released Icarium.Dust of Dreams, Chapter 18, US HC p.565/567/580-581/583-584
==Trivia==
Some editions of Reaper's Gale misspell his name as "Havanar" in the book's Dramatis Personae.
==Notes and references==
Category:Letherii
Category:Males
Category:Merchants