Penlind came to mind a couple of times in the course of reading the saga. I suppose it's inevitable that the users of the world will make their appearance in every community.

I, too, can't help but have a little admiration for the manipulative, puppetmaster skills of some of the people that pop up from time to time. It's an intriguing thing to observe, though I just can't relate to the type of person that engages in that sort of behavior.