A seat on the Council, a favor from any faction, and a steady trickle of spice.
Beginner-friendly (one complexity icon)Earl Memnon Thorvald plays patient, profitable politics. Connections fires when you take your High Council seat: gain one Influence with a faction of your choice — the only fully flexible Influence bump in the base roster. His Signet Ring, Spice Hoard, produces 1 spice, no questions asked.
One complexity icon: his plan is written on the card. Get to the Council, cash the favor where it counts, and let the signet's spice trickle fund whatever the table lets you do best.
The Council seat is your keystone: +2 Persuasion every Reveal turn builds the deck, and Connections lands a free step on whichever faction race is tightest at that moment — often the difference in an Alliance or a 2-Influence VP.
From there Memnon is beautifully ordinary: signet spice smooths every plan, funding Conflict commitments, faction visits, and The Spice Must Flow buys. Win by being a half-step ahead economically everywhere, rather than dominant anywhere.
Choosing the faction at seat-taking time means Connections is never wasted — it lands exactly where the mid-game says it's worth most.
Spice every signet, Persuasion every Reveal: Memnon's advantages need no setup and survive any table politics — the definition of a dependable first leader.
Connections fires exactly once. If Solari never materializes and the Council seat slips to the late game, your leader ability shrinks to a minor footnote.
No repeatable engine trick, no combat edge: against leaders whose powers compound (Ariana's draws, Leto's discounts), Memnon must out-play rather than out-power.
The dream line: take the Council seat exactly when you sit at 1 or 3 Influence on a contested track — the free step instantly banks a VP or an Alliance alongside the +2 Persuasion.
Treat the Spice Hoard as a savings plan with a goal: name the purchase (Heighliner, Conspire, a Spice Must Flow) and count signets toward it, so the trickle becomes a plan instead of loose change.
