Now back to our regularly scheduled ravings from out local 'good' conspiracy theorist, at least retorted to be good by what is possibly Lichenstien. This report is brought to you by tinfoil, the wonder material!
the shopkeepers are actually unique souls, much like yaos, but able to draw their soul charge from the warrens themselves and produce items
heard it here first
Well, now I will get into theorycrafting too:
Who are the shopkeepers? Are they Oric's minions? Or are they independent beings who profit from the cycles?
-If the first, then, as it has already been stated, the idea of the Warrens is to give Ciro the feeling that she is in a game.
-If it is the second, then Oric is spending a fortune to finance the cycles (creating loot and money), which means that Oric was either rich or very good at business before the whole business thing.
Now that you see that there is more to the merchants than there seems, we can proceed! Trust not the waggle of their eyebrows, nor the allure of the economy exploit for it be but a falsity by them!
They crave coin in a situation where coin is worth naught, 'cept by their own designs! They provide items from which there is no known source! They are many and the same, everywhere yet hiding under deceitful disguises! WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE HAT?! How is it that they may travel where they please yet, can it be that they know of many a place we do not? What of the siblings, do they know of these places? Have we seen what places a sibling may know at a teleporter or checkpoint? Are these merchants of a higher level than that of the holy guardians? YES! Trust not that which comes wrapped in velvet with promises of reliability for a price, trust not the voices that whisper sweet nothings of bartering and mercantilism!
Behind their eyes lies a scheming secret the likes of which cannot be fathomed, YET. We shall discover their secrets, cast off the trappings of their evil machinations!
So what is the point of the coins, honestly? We haven't seen a use for them, no? Yet the merchants want them, but the question is why, is it not? From what we've seen, the coins are scattered throughout the warrens yet serve no other purpose than that of something to pay merchants. But who put them there? Who made them? Why do the merchants even want them, actually? See, currency, as we know it, is usually derived either from a use of value (such as food, weapons, so such) or through a prescribed worth typically by a government styled system (Dollar, Pound, etc).
Now, I don't believe that the coins actually have an honest to goodness use, at least that we know of. Maybe for all we know, they're used to create soul charge. Seems reasonable enough to me, perhaps. But what if it was the second, no? We know that the warrens is a prison, and that there is a governmental system outside of it. What if the coins are actually connected to that kingdom, then that would give the coins a bit more worth. Not to us, as we can't leave, but to those who could come and go from the warrens as they wished it does indeed give them a worth, does it not? Then there is the fact that the merchants are everywhere... Is it the same, different? Who knows. Even Oric wants the money, but why? Oric doesn't even care for the kind of money, he takes all.
All of this is a might suspicious really. Do the merchants perhaps have the ability to leave the warrens to actually use the coin, or do the coins have a more sinister use? Maybe Oric uses the money to charge himself with soul charge... This seems the most likely to me.