There is a reason why she is using us to help Gerolt. Maybe she knows, maybe not.
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Could it not be argued that Rowena is already more powerful than the Syndicate? She already has arguably the most influence on adventurers of anyone in Eorzea. If whatever she had her minions get us for a relic step, or tome gear, we would gladly do. She could influence any city state by having us either ignore it by sending us elsewhere, or actively attacking it. And the grand companies do have a large number of adventurers in their ranks...
I still don't trust her at all, though your info has shed a lot of light that I did not know.
Also about the only having women thing, I, and I'm sure you(Moose) have noticed the Roe near her shop in the Shire muttering about having borrowed money from her, could this be a turn in that habit? I am working under the theory that he will play a part in one of our relic quests. He could just be building her new shop, to get her out of that tent though...
A note on the above, I really do want to start a thread about picking NPC's like that and guessing what, if any part they will play in future patches... Should get on that, just getting screenshots from PS4 is a pain.
She has never implicated having bad intentions at all. Still, she probably has a large collection of tomestones ... and isn't that what the GCs in Seize are fighting over?
Since they were married at one point, I always had a theory that Gerlot's Soldiery gear (that he made at his peak) was based on a Tomestone either he/Rowena discovered and whose knowledge they create. hence, why Chimerical gear is sold in Asyz lla.
That Early success probably started her trend at collecting tomestones
I would say that the way she essentially sets herself up to own the people in her employ suggests a lot about her. The same with the demands of stuff we need to obtain for her, which her own people have let slip more than once are not that valuable. I just don't think we will know her plot until it is too late, she is a good schemer.
She is an enigmatic and pragmatic figure. We don't know what her motives are besides profit and maybe Gerolt's and her marriage, but much of her plans and who she operates the way she does, (not to mention what her and her clients plan to do with the knowledge in the tomestones) are shrouded in mystery
When I think of it, the gear we get for the tomes really aren't that expensive compared to selling the tomestones themselves.
The Dark light were replicas, soldiery gear were wornout/ old gear gerlots (easy to obtain as his ex wife), law is just domain armor .... And there's plenty of unemployed crafter's from Domain willing to work for less.
Though I guess that's what makes her such a good merchant