"Oh, yes. The trading houses hate him, of course, but... Well, first and foremost, he has hostages. Second, ea

"Oh, yes. The trading houses hate him, of course, but... Well, first and foremost, he has hostages. Second, each of the families is afraid to act alone, but they're all incapable of acting together. Gasperre Liacenza tried to unite them, but to no avail. And it's probably for the best, frankly — the last thing we need is combat in the streets. Irovetti can be blamed for many things, but at least he took power quickly and without carnage."