Using guile, good timing, and a ruthless business sense, the Hook River Guild has managed to parlay a prospector's lucky strike into a booming mining business. Silver fever has seized Melyy, and nearly everyone is trying to make profit of it - and they all have to do it through Hook River Guild.

Buzu is dominated by lawless mines and mining camps owned by the Hook River Guild. Any man or woman arriving there can work the mines or camps as long as they supply themselves and pay an eighty percent share to the guild.

Rodina was once a fishing village with huts and traditional Vos structures, Hook River Guild has constructed apartments by the quarter. Complaints of hasty construction and ill-conceived planning arise on occasion, but the attentions of the people are on mining silver not producing their own necessities.

Jana Kuruven established her first mine at the source of the Hook River only days after a lucky prospector found the first silver; now she controls virtually all trade within Melyy.

Jana Kuruven, guildmaster of the Hook River Guild, may be the most important person in the realm of Melyy - even more so than the tsor Ivan Polavich. She still steps lightly around the tsor, and has not made any obvious attempts to wrest rulership of the realm from him. Some believe that if Jana took over the rulership of the province Buzu, this accommodating relationship would end.

Jana Kuruven, Guildmistress of the Hook River Guild

Luther Weissbaum, Melyy's liaison to the Hook River Guild

Domain Table: Hook River Guild

Province	Law	Temple	Guild	Source
Buzu (3/6)	-	-	HR (3)	FS (6)
Lukzor (3/4)	IP (3)	-	HR (2)	FS (1)
Temir (5/2)	IP (5)	LM (0)	HR (5)	-
Abbreviations: HR = Hook River Guild (Jana Kuruven); FS = Firosk Slecktra (Fell Secret-Speaker); IP = Ivan Polavich (Melyy); LM = Lida Marnorin (Temple of Might).

• Law: Tsor Ivan Polavich took over Melyy's rulership nearly 2 decades ago, when hardly more than two dozen families lived in all three provinces. Now the tsor, crippled by a battle wound, tries desperately to rule a tiny realm nearly a hundred times its former population.
  
• Temples: As sick as Ivan was of war, he was even sicker of war priests. He actively discouraged the founding of temples in Melyy and was, until recently, successful. Now the Temple of Might, led by the Winter Witch Lida Marnorin has moved into Melyy.
  
• Guilds: Jana Kuruven must have some Brecht blood in her - at least that's what her detractors say. She established the first mine at the source of the Hook River only a few days after a lucky prospector found the first silver; now she controls virtually all trade within the realm.
  
• Sources: The dread Firosk Slecktra of Grovnekevic controls the only source in Melyy and, much to the realms relief, seldom visits her holding.