Character from Foundation by Isaac Asimov
A Foundation trader who used a transmutation trick — turning iron into gold — to open a closed world to trade, proving that commerce finds a way even where religion cannot.
Ponyets represents the Foundation's trader class at its most resourceful. Sent to negotiate with the gold-obsessed Askonian government, he converts a portable nuclear furnace into a gold-making device, bribes a corrupt official, and blackmails his way to a trade agreement. He is amoral in the cheerful way of all great salesmen — he doesn't care about right and wrong, only about the deal. His success marks the transition from religion-based to trade-based expansion.
Stocky, practical, with the tanned, creased face of a man who spends his life on trading ships. Dressed in trader's functional clothing with a few expensive touches that signal success.
Also known as: Limmar Ponyets, Ponyets