There's plenty of work to be had on the docks, hauling crates and cargo and maintaining the ships and infrastructure and providing protection against thieves and mischiefmakers, or hiring on as a crew member on some ship. It's not necessarily easy work, and it doesn't necessarily pay well, but it's work, and it's enough to scrape by on. Finding work, however, can be a job by itself, going ship to ship asking who's hiring, and then convincing them you can do the job. That's where Hulius Caddender comes in. Caddender runs something of an informal employment agency out of an old temple in the Docks, acting as a middle-man to connect employers to jobhunters. Ship captains know they can leave word with Caddender of openings on their crew; foremen know they can tell him where stevedores are needed; and those in need of work know they can present themselves to Caddender and count on him to point them to the most suitable position. Of course Caddender takes a commission, but his clients apparently think his services worth the payment.

While he presents a veneer of gentility and respectability (at least relative the most of the Docks' rough residents), there are significant dark sides to Caddender's business. First of all, he doesn't only deal with legal employment. Caddender is perfectly happy to direct people to jobs as hired rowdies or assassins or criminal accomplices, if they seem like they'd be open to it and if they seem like they'd be a good fit. Worse, Caddender has contacts with slavers, and if he's approached by an applicant who seems like they don't have anyone who'll miss them, he may just tip off those contacts and arrange for his client to be added to their merchandise—for which he receives a hefty kickback. Slavery is not common on Curcalen, but there are places where it does exist... and anyway not all of Caddender's slaver contacts are on Curcalen, or even in Zien.

Hulius Caddender is a short, bandy-legged man whose well-manicured nails contrast with his otherwise somewhat slovenly appearance. His asymmetrical nose and cauliflower ears hint at his having been at the receiving end of some past violence, and he has stringy gray hair and a huge bald spot that he hides under an unconvincing russet toupée. He has a phlegmy voice and a chummy, ingrating manner, coming up with quirky nicknames for repeat customers. Caddender usually wears canvas trousers, white shirts, and suspenders, and has a penchant for huge cigars, nearly always having one in his mouth and often offering one to visitors.