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Dumb question within! ~ What does Jon Irenicus do for a living?

DorcusDorcus Member Posts: 270
in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
I started BG2:EE for the first time with the 1.3 patch and it's been a long, long time since I played the original. Doing the introductory dungeon again really left me wondering about some of the details of Jon Irenicus' life, but one really stuck with me, and I'm a moron for letting it get to me, but here goes. Maybe you can help. Maybe there's some bit of lore I've missed in my previous playthroughs that I've long since forgotten. I get that Irenicus is an insane psycho wizard who is obsessed with power at the expense of his humanity, but I was left wondering: How does this guy pay the bills? He's clearly loaded. He can afford a genie! And duergar slaves! Those don't come cheap. How did he amass such a fortune that he could pay for all the laboratories to conduct his experiments? Do BBEG's have dayjobs? Did he earn his wealth or did he inherit it? His compound (used to) be in a fancy part of town, how did he end up there?

To get caught up on such a idiot detail that is best taken for granted is REALLY missing the forest for the trees in regards to insane psycho wizards in a story about the ramifications about being the avatar of death, but I'm curious if there's a bit of lore in there somewhere that tells us of where he gets all that money from. HELP.
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Comments

  • bob_vengbob_veng Member Posts: 2,308
    too easy. he's a noble that inherited untold elven riches at a young age. that's why he's such an as*hole in the first place.
  • WanderonWanderon Member Posts: 1,418
    Fuller Brush salesman and part time shoe shine boy! He's saving for college where he will major in ornithology. I thought everyone knew this already...
  • fanscalefanscale Member Posts: 81
    I forget where you learn it, but when you meet him he has been in exile for 100 years. He spent that time gathering wealth. It must be one of his speeches.
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    Well a lvl 20+ mage can gather a lot of wealth super easily. Good ones can slay dragons and take their hoards. Evil ones can blackmail kingdoms and steal from them. Or one evil arc mage can easily capture a group of low to medium level adventurers and sell their magical items, this is what happens to pc at the start of the bg2. Also, wish spell.
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 6,006
    lunar said:

    Well a lvl 20+ mage can gather a lot of wealth super easily. Good ones can slay dragons and take their hoards. Evil ones can blackmail kingdoms and steal from them. Or one evil arc mage can easily capture a group of low to medium level adventurers and sell their magical items, this is what happens to pc at the start of the bg2. Also, wish spell.

    ah, maybe it was all of our gear that got sold so mr irenicus could afford all that stuff, and that would almost make sense as well, because in theory even if he captured all the npcs and charname, would he be able to get rid of every item that quick if he wasn't selling it? chances are the items would still be around but jonny needed the cash to afford the guards and all the experimental jargon he was working on

  • jackjackjackjack Member Posts: 3,251
    Hobo/Philosopher
    How else do you explain his wandering spirit and myriad monologues?
  • scriverscriver Member Posts: 2,072
    I was going to say that the way he gets the ham on he's probably a butcher, but all tight, let's be serious. Yes, his sister is probably responsible for some of his upkeep. We can extrapolate from spider-girl that he probably travelled the sword coast before, and as he is a wizard or sorcerer, probably adventured some - which we all know is a very lucrative field.

    As for his "compound in the fancy part of town", it was actually underneath the fancy part of town. In the sewers. The real estate would probably be a bit cheaper there, especially as I doubt he bothered paying anything but bribes for it ;)
  • killerrabbitkillerrabbit Member Posts: 402
    Inspirational speaker -- "I look around this room and I see people with the potential to become gods"
  • wolpakwolpak Member Posts: 390
    Apple Stock
  • DJKajuruDJKajuru Member Posts: 3,300
    Lord_Tansheron said:

    You know you're a TRULY powerful mage if no other mage has ever heard of you. Only showoffs like Elminster or Khelben are known far and wide, true masters operate from the shadows.

    I agree. Powerful wizards, no matter the aligment, are supposed to carry an aura of mistery and inspire fear among the common folk.
  • supposedlysupposedly Member Posts: 206
    killerrabbit said:

    Inspirational speaker -- "I look around this room and I see people with the potential to become gods"

    I'm pretty sure that the registration form for Irenicus' workshop included a checkbox for "father was previously a god" in the contact info section
  • OlvynChuruOlvynChuru Member Posts: 3,083
    It's not like an archmage even needs money in the first place. He might be controlling his duergar slaves with enchantment magics. He probably forged his lair through magic alone. He didn't buy Malaaq; obviously Irenicus captured the djinni and bound it to his will.
  • fanscalefanscale Member Posts: 81
    Someone should add the getting captured quest. You must be drugged and then carried off while asleep, by someone Irenicus hired. What if there was a short quest involved. You could kill the first guy and then some others would come after you.
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    Bhodi ran her own den of thieves that rivaled the Shadow Thieves; though whether they did actual thieving as opposed to raiding and murder to rob people of their coin is speculative, I'd say.

    Either way it could be presumed that while Irenicus worked in his lab, Bhodi was the one gathering the coin necessary to get the detailed equipment for his dungeon. As for who built it, well it's probably safe to assume he used forced-labor; a variety of kidnapping, geas using, spell-binding, etc.

    Then there could be the speculation of who he used to capture Charname and his party. Well judging from the attackers who fought you in Spellhold, Yoshimo included (who was bound by a Geas), it's safe that the cutthroats are similar to the ones who captured you, bound into his service. As the intro said, they came while Charname and co. slept at night at camp, and the chaos after made it hard to react before they were captured.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,760
    Hmm, http://www.umamexico.com/make-money-mage-arena tells us about something like a mage arena so that you can make money ; )

    Obviosly, Irenicus, being a wizard, could challenge other mages, make a bet and after defeating them, take the money...
  • SceptenarSceptenar Member Posts: 606
    jackjack said:

    Hobo/Philosopher
    How else do you explain his wandering spirit and myriad monologues?

    That's easy to explain, Jon suffers from TVS (Talking Villain Syndrome), it's a common ailment for those in the ventral section of the alignment grid.
  • wubblewubble Member Posts: 3,156
    Sceptenar said:

    jackjack said:

    Hobo/Philosopher
    How else do you explain his wandering spirit and myriad monologues?

    That's easy to explain, Jon suffers from TVS (Talking Villain Syndrome), it's a common ailment for those in the ventral section of the alignment grid.
    He does have enough of a hold on his tongue not to reveal his plans even when he's sure you'll die, he believes a villain is always undone by the exposition.
  • SceptenarSceptenar Member Posts: 606
    wubble said:

    Sceptenar said:

    jackjack said:

    Hobo/Philosopher
    How else do you explain his wandering spirit and myriad monologues?

    That's easy to explain, Jon suffers from TVS (Talking Villain Syndrome), it's a common ailment for those in the ventral section of the alignment grid.
    He does have enough of a hold on his tongue not to reveal his plans even when he's sure you'll die, he believes a villain is always undone by the exposition.
    That's probably because he believes it is Ellesime who is the protagonist in the story, after all he keeps her alive in a cage to taunt her, rather than killing her which would have been the more prudent course of action in his case.
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,212
    edited December 2014
    Sceptenar said:

    he keeps her alive in a cage to taunt her

    Yeah, taunt her. I'm sure that's what he's doing. Taunting her.
    Post edited by Lord_Tansheron on
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