The Burning Vaults

The merchants of the Dorian Coast, the criminal families of Byzantium, the Sultan of Mithra and the Archobisp Rex of Cascabel all compete for that title. But the wealthiest person in the world is a little known administrator in charge of managing the Burning Vaults, so named because the very act of concentrating so much gold in one place causes it to burn with a bright, hot, flame that does not melt the gold. It also contains jewels, rare materials, art, magic artifacts and forgotten declarations of loyalty and enmity that would topple the world order if they came to light. This administrator is exactly aware of every gold piece, gem and item of note in this hoard, and extracts hidden taxes from every civilized kingdom in the world with the threat of unleashing the magic or secrets he holds upon the planet.

He's not a bad guy; really, he’s a strangely tragic figure. The hoard has been built up by his family for a thousand generations, through strict austerity and total discipline. Eventually, this deteriorated into paranoid incest. This administrator, who has every world power by the balls and brings chills to the spine of queens and cardinals with the sight of his seal, is a lonely, inbred nerd whose last blood relative died years ago. He has lived all his life underground, and does nothing but count, carrying numbers that would make the greediest robber baron queasy. All his food and supplies are delivered via pulley system by a terrified village that was once partnered with the family, and now only knows to deliver these sacrifices to the god-beneath lest a terrible evil fall upon them.

In reality, the administrator doesn't even know what gold, jewels, art or magic is used for. He's never spent a copper piece, living from the offerings of superstitious villagers. He truly does not understand the value of money; at the same time, finds no value in anything but the accumulation of wealth. There is no greed in that heart, only an understanding that his family has done this for a thousand generations, so he should do it as well. When he dies, there will be no more administrators, and unless that hoard can be recovered by daring adventurers, it will never be seen again.