Humble Measure

Humble Measure was a 27-year-old master iron-monger and the owner of Eldra Iron Mongers in Darujhistan. He was the bastard son of a One Eye Cat merchant and a Rhivi woman.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.97-98 He was innocuous in appearance, but was ruthless in his bloodthirsty ambition.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.669Toll the Hounds, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.98-99 
He maintained a secret office among the ancient vaults discovered beneath his company's headquarters in the Gadrobi District and worked there tirelessly all night protected by a skein of long-dormant wards. Only a single loyal servant knew of the office and of his master plan.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.98-99
==History==
Humble Measure was born a year after his mother was sold to the twelfth-generation iron merchant in One Eye Cat in exchange for a dozen bars of quenched iron. After eight years, he was adopted into his father's household, established as an apprentice ironmonger, and set to inherit his father's business. This sheltered, stable world all came to an end with the invasion of the Malazan Empire when he was a young man. Both he and his elderly father had believed joining the Empire would bring wealth and glory, if only the fools in the palace would capitulate. Once the Malazans laid siege to the city, Humble Measure's father attempted to settle the issue by conspiring with agents of the Empire to open the city gates to the enemy during the night. But he was caught in the act and executed. City garrison soldiers invaded the family's estate, and Humble Measure witnessed the rape and murder of his mother and half-sisters.
Humble Measure was dragged into the streets, chained, and beaten, and would have died as well but for the intervention of Jorrick Sharplance and his company of the Crimson Guard who had allied with the city. The Guard took control of the prisoners, but were then forced out of the city by its paranoid rulers. The Guard sailed across Old King Lake, leaving Humble Measure and his household's survivors (slave and free) at the foot of the One Eye Mountains. Meanwhile, a second plot saw One Eye Cat infiltrated by Claw assassins and the city finally fall into Malazan hands.
Given supplies by the Guard to cross the mountains, Humble Measure led the remnants of his household first to the city of Bear, then Patch, then down the Rhivi Trail to Pale. They did not stay there for long before the Malazan Siege of Pale drove them to Darujhistan with the other refugees. Humble Measure took over his father's last remaining business in Darujhistan where he freed and hired all of his former slaves. Their shared experiences made his staff (both free and former slaves) highly loyal. As he carefully rebuilt a successful business he experienced the Malazan Empire's failed attempt to conquer Darujhistan.
==In Toll the Hounds==
Humble Measure's bloody experience with the Malazan Empire left him with an abiding hatred and suspicion of the Empire. Familiar with their tactics of infiltration and destabilization, he saw the establishment of an Malazan Embassy in Darujhistan as a provocative act and was determined to spare his adopted city and his loved ones. He hired Seba Krafar and the Assassins' Guild to get rid of the retired Bridgeburners who congregated at K'rul's Bar,Toll the Hounds, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.99 offering them the largest contract the guildmaster had ever seen.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.669 
At the same time, he sought a seat on the Noble Council, offering Councilor Gorlas Vidikas an investment in his business that allowed the young nobleman to supervise the Eldra iron mine in return for his support.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.279Toll the Hounds, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.382-383 Vidikas' colleague, Shardan Lim, complained that he was wasting his time--a seat would never open on the Council for Measure. But Vidikas assisted the arrangement was making him wealthy.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.674
After several failed attempts to catch individual Bridgeburners unaware on the streets, the Assassins' Guild launched an all out attack on K'rul's Bar. They succeeded in killing Mallet and Bluepearl, but the Guild was decimated.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.445-456Toll the Hounds, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.530
Humble Measure was not deterred by the setback, but summoned Seba Krafar to his office to pause the contract on the Bridgeburners. Instead Measure opened a second contract on Lady Varada, the mysterious new member of the Darujhistan Noble Council. The guildmaster asked if he wanted to consider less bloodthirsty methods of gaining a seat on the Council but was rebuffed.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.669-671Toll the Hounds, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.858
Determined to learn from their mistakes, the Assassins' Guild launched an overwhelming attack on the Varada Estate. But the attack was even less successful than before. Lady Varada was revealed to be Vorcan Radok, former Mistress of the Guild and she had arranged the estate to draw out the Guild and eliminate it.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 21, US SFBC p.854-858/874
== In Orb Sceptre Throne ==
He schemed to drive out the remaining Malazan invaders while bankrolling Ebbin's investigation in the burial grounds outside Darujhistan. Humble Measure and others in the city, including Barathol Mekhar, were all drafted into a reconstruction project ordered by the new powers in the city.
==Notes and references==
Category:Genabackans
Category:Males
Category:Merchants