The Free Bank of Puchnya

There are many banks in the lands of Sunrise. Banking is a traditional institution in  Karkovoi  culture, as well as a recently-adopted practice by the  Men of the Sea . Resultingly, there are hundreds of banks that exist within the  Empire , but none could ever claim to be so powerful as the Free Bank of Puchnya. Its original name is the Lebedev Bank; named after its founder, who lived a century ago. It is fabled to be equally as wealthy as the Imperial Monarch, with none of the expenses- its headquarters is a massive building of gilded marble, guarded by a veritable army of skilled and well-equipped mercenaries, often veterans of  Imperial Military  service. Its agents and outposts may be found in every major city, and it signs loans to  Freelance companies , aspiring traders, and down-on-their-luck aristocracy the world over. But being a bank means being profitable, and none can say that it is not- for in the end, it always gets its coin back. Some may say that the  Triumvirate  quailed at the sheer might of the Empire when they came to call- but others will remember that it was an envoy of the bank that brought the demands in a chest of solid gold. Perhaps other nobles like to boast of nobility and country, but there are far more sellswords than nobles- and an army can always be bought.