glorified secretary/assistant could be great and still work for a connection. i imagine he has a lot of property/liability insurance since he is a weaponsmith and things do sometimes go haywire, so if you go that route, he could be a client on that front too. as for friends, i'm all game! he likes to keep friendly with a lot of people since, as a neutral/mercenary, he wants buddies on all sides. he definitely doesn't want to waste someone's abilities though.