Mercane and Banking Neutrality is a one-line blue-ink annotation asking why the Mercane did not tell Graz’zt something they knew, and answering: because they are “like Switzerland”. It shares its page with the genealogy of the twelve children of Maleyka and the green-ink multiple apocalypse.
| Type | Annotation (blue ink) |
| Subject | The Mercane |
| Houses of the Cycle | ☯ House of the Twin Cosmos |
| Spanish entry | Mercane y neutralidad bancaria |
Text
¿Por qué los mercane no le dijeron a Graz’zt? Porque son como Suiza.
(“Why didn’t the Mercane tell Graz’zt? Because they are like Switzerland.“)
Context
The Mercane, sapphire-skinned giants who are the merchants and bankers of the multiverse, guard vault U-5-7-1 of Union, their city. It holds:
- the Gem of Creation, sent there by the wish El Fabuloso made on the Cup of a Hundred Wishes when he won the Eiffel Tower Tournament;
- the desert writings in which Graz’zt set down his own duality.
The six-fingered cape of Henri La France came from the wagon merchant Mercane (Welcome Back Henri).
“Like Switzerland” names banking neutrality: the exchange house takes no side between clients and tells none what it knows of another.
Open questions
What the Mercane knew is unresolved. Possibilities:
- the hidden destination of El Fabuloso’s wish, or the betrayal plotted on the way to the Tournament;
- the contents of the writings Graz’zt left in their custody;
- Antiterra’s drift toward the Band of Dissolution.