Bank of Abadar, Babel Branch

The Bank of Abadar (Babel Branch)

Where there are cities, so too is there Abadar. The Master of the First Vault oversees much of the commerce in civilizations across the planes, and no place is more central to this than his church/bank in each major city. The Babel branch of the Bank of Abadar is a relatively large facility designed to help hold the tremendous wealth of adventurers.

Services

The Bank of Abadar offers an enormous variety of services to its clients, backed by the kinds of guarantees that only a multi-planar business run by the literal god of commerce can offer. Some of the more notable services include:

• Note Exchange: Notes are written guarantees by the Bank of Abadar that can be exchanged for money at any of the church's branches. They offer a simple, convenient way for planar travelers to deposit, transfer, and withdraw their funds, although especially large withdrawals require a short period to prepare for. The notes themselves are protected by godly magic and functionally impossible to fake, which is part of why they're so trusted and accepted.
• Currency Exchange: The Bank of Abadar also deals with currency exchanges, trading coins of one type for other coins or, on occasion, gems or other valuables. This service is particularly popular with adventurers who find themselves weighed down by tens of thousands of gold pieces and desperately want something lighter.
• Storage: The Bank of Abadar is capable of storing coins, items, and nearly anything else a person may wish to deposit with them. All storage vaults are in fact personalized demiplanes linked to Abadar's home realm, where he has absolute control over what moves in and out. The Master of the First Vault takes his reputation for security extraordinarily seriously, making these vaults secure enough to protect valuables even from mythic thieves.
• Transportation: Those with the right connections can acquire teleportation to almost any destination. Of late, the church has taken to teleporting adventurers out for assignments, then bringing them back to Babel. Rumor has it that people can get transport to Axis, Hell, or numerous other destinations (perhaps through another stop first), but the Bank seems to have rules about who can access that sort of thing...
• Material Components: This is less known to the public, but the Bank of Abadar supplies material components to many other churches, allowing them to cast spells that require rare (and often expensive) components. This is a rigorously-regulated process, but ensures transparent and consistent pricing.
• Religious Services: Alongside its banking efforts, the Bank of Abadar hosts religious services for followers of the Lord of the First Vault. They also lease some space to Maika, the demigoddess of transacted miracles, who works closely under Abadar to regulate the sale and trade of spellcasting services and magical items.

Notable NPCs

Branch Manager Morak Goldbeard

Morak Goldbeard is a middle-aged dwarf edging closer to old age, and he serves in the dual roles of Branch Manager and High Priest of the Church of Abadar (Babel branch). His nickname comes from the fact that his beard is quite literally half gold, with thin strands growing out of his chin like his normal facial hair. It doesn't seem to bother him any, however. Morak generally values quiet, discipline, and order within the building, but he has a keen eye for investments and is eagerly looking for ways to expand and improve the city of Babel.

Liraleth

Liraleth, often just Lira, is one of the many bank tellers at the Bank of Abadar. She handles transactions of all sizes and can provide information about almost any service the Bank offers.

Guildsman Redscale

Redscale is a keenly intellectual kobold with bright red scales who serves as the bank's foremost representative of the Guild of Magic Sellers, the planar organization which regulates the trade and sale of magical items, as well as crafting components, in order to ensure uniformly high-quality merchandise and transparent pricing. Membership in the guild is not required, but because most component sellers are a part of it, crafters often find it very difficult to undercut the guild's prices. (Higher prices, however, are generally permitted - that's just business if a client is willing to pay and knows the standard rates.)

Like all members of the Guild, he is a follower of Maika. As his patron quite literally works for Abadar, he is also technically a member of the Bank of Abadar, and has broad access to the inner areas as needed.