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Garrik
18. maaliskuuta 2010 kello 21.23
linkki
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Tällaisen kirjoitin. En mitään varten tai mihinkään, mutta laitanpa huvikseni tänne.
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[b:53e84c97b1][size=18:53e84c97b1]STORLOCK
Wilderness trading point[/size:53e84c97b1][/b:53e84c97b1]
Storlock is a small trading village in the embrace of the Indigo Mountains, next to a ford over the Dragon Creek. There are only few permanent residents. Most of the people here are merchants, coming and going about their business. The village is governed by the Torkani, and secured by their magic and retinues. It is a haven for trade between humans and trolls, as well as for negotiations between the Bachad and Torkani tribes.
Most clans of the Alone Confederation shun the place, happily leaving trade and negotiations to Issaries traders. Locals advice any visitors to keep low profile, follow local customs, and especially leave the trolls alone. The only permanent shrine is to Argan Argar.
Few womenfolk live here permanently, but Storlock is frequently visited by followers of Asrelia. They belong to the secretive Earth Witch Circle. They travel the lands in and around Lizardwood, selling charms and potions. Through Asrelia, they have found an ancient link to the trolls, and play an important part in the interracial relations in Storlock.
[b:53e84c97b1][size=18:53e84c97b1]The Storlock Village[/size:53e84c97b1][/b:53e84c97b1]
The actual Storlock village stands on the eastern side of the settlement, close to the ford. Here live the crafters, fishermen, and day labourers. While the dozen or so buildings are sturdy and have good roofs, this little village has no permanent shrines or communal facilities. The people belong to Torkani clans and spend the feast days away with their kin.
The Market
The Market lies west of the village. It is a large flat mat of grass, cut in half by the road leading westward. Seen from a tree top, the Market limits and the road produce the rune of Communication. This area is protected by enchantments, calling the protection of a special god and promising the protection of a special cult or community.
The northern side is an open temple of Argan Argar, the southern side an open temple of Issaries. Both have an open altar surrounded by some crude buildings offering covered areas for selling stands. The space around the altars and buildings is reserved for tents and animals. If the areas are fully crowded, both of the altars become focuses for medium temples. This is usually never achieved, small temples or only shrines being the norm.
Trollside
North and northwest of the Market is a low rise with numerous holes and caves. This is the Trollside, a splinter of the ancient troll lands, guarded by powerful enchantments and spirits. It can become deserted during parts of the year, but on the market days of the Dark Season, the troll huts, tents and mounds make up a small town. Only Argan Argari humans are allowed to trespass unhindered. Everyone else needs to be accompanied by a trusted cult member. A permanent shadow hangs over the place, striking fear in casual passers-by even when there are no trolls present. Behind the rise, under tall trees covered by moss and mushrooms, are the trollkin and beetle pens. They are not very sturdy, and looking at them it’s no wonder why so many trollkin escape to wander in the surrounding woods.
Market Houses
West, south and southeast of the Market are the Market Halls of different clans, grouped according to tribal allegiances. The house by the road (Richberry Trail) leading westward is the Alone Hall, where merchants and visitors from the Alone Confederation find shelter during market times. This house is protected by Orlanthi and Issaries magic, and the rules and laws of Alone Confederation are in force. Typical residents are Issaries traders, heralds and craftsmen from Amad and Tres tribes. Most in the Alone Confederation shun trading with the trolls, and there have been some conflicts with worshipers of the Sun (Elmal) and tribal elders over the need to have a presence in Storlock.
The Bachad clans are represented in their own, smaller houses south of the Alone House. Next to the Alone Hall is the Monrith Hall, a sturdy log house bearing the carvings of Issaries. The Mezeros Hall is of the same stock, but a little larger, as the Mezeros are the leading Issaries clan in the tribe. In the southwestern corner of the Market there is the Garrik Hall, which is quite small. The smallest and southernmost Hall, on the south side of the Market, belongs to the Brynheort clan living nearest. While small, this house is inhabited most of the year.
Next to the Brynheort Hall on the southern side of the Market is a low mound used for Orlanthi rituals. There are wooden statuettes of the key members of Orlanth’s band. The statue of Odayla is in perfect condition, as many Brynheorti who are passing by worship this son of Orlanth.
On the southern side, east of Orlanth’s Mound, there are the halls of the Torkani clans. The row of houses melts into the Storlock Village on the east side of the Market. These houses provide shelter for Torkani traders and visitors. The largest houses the garrison through best part of the year. There is a special hall with a double function: It houses a shrine for the Torkani Argorlanth god and wyter, and serves as the royal quarters when the Torkani tribal Queen visits.
Each of the houses has sturdy locks, and serves as a storehouse for wares belonging to individuals or the clan. Whenever there are trade goods present, the houses are guarded by the retinue of the trader. The locks are magical, and only members of the clan and followers of Issaries know how to open them. If someone happens to visit Storlock when there are no clan representatives, it is impossible to enter any of the houses without using violence.
There is no single inn or tavern in Storlock. Instead, the marketplace temples of Argan Argar and Issaries, as well as each clan house, serve food, lodging and drinks to the visitors. This is paid by the clans and the merchants, and they are keen on not letting just anybody walk in and enjoy their hospitality. Normal rules of hospitality apply, and one needs to be a friend of a merchant or a prominent clan member to get access into the houses.
Fields and pens
South of the Market, behind the tribal and clan houses, are some fields. Between these fields and the creek there are fenced pens for cattle and horses. These pens are never used to house trollkin, as cattle and horses don’t like their smell.
[b:53e84c97b1][size=18:53e84c97b1]Market days[/size:53e84c97b1][/b:53e84c97b1]
Storlock market days follow the market and holy days of Argan Argar and Issaries. Thus every season sees two markets in Storlock: one dominated by the Dark merchants, the other dominated by the Storm merchants. Both times see trading between the members of the two cults, but each time is dominated by exchanges between members of followers of the relevant god.
Many Issaries traders come to Storlock in order to organise trades between the Alone Confederation tribes and clans on one side, and the Torkani tribe and clans on the other side. Many Argan Argari traders come to trade exclusively with the Torkani, or with troll parties arriving from distant lands. Typically, Argan Argari market is alive when Argan Argar’s mother Xentha veils the sky in darkness. Issaries traders carry on their business under the light of Elmal. There are exceptions to this pattern.
Representatives of Lokarnos have never been allowed into Storlock, although they have never tried to come. The country around Storlock, not to speak of the poor roads, does not allow the big wagons to pass. Representatives of Etyries have not yet found their way to this market, although they are sure to arrive if the Lunar overlordship stays. However, because of the dominating presence of traditional, Lunar-hating Orlanthi, followers of Etyries would find it very hard to be accepted. The arrival of Etyries merchants would surely herald severe confrontations, even violence.
Sea Season
Argan Argar market takes place in Harmony Week, on the night following Freezeday. There is a gathering of cult members, mostly from Indigo Mountains, Great Caverns and Sazdorf trolls and Torkani humans. After discussing the signs and messages received during the Sacred Time they agree upon the seasonal arrangements for the year and renew the rites and enchantments protecting Storlock market. Goods are brought for display, but actual trading is not very busy. Visiting Issaries traders discuss the season’s trollkin prices, and trollkin pens are built or renovated. During the next four weeks, the surrounding clans drive their excess trollkin and any wild trollkin catches to storlock, where they are examined and tested by the trolls.
The Wildday of Mobility Week sees the Issaries market. Issaries traders have kept arriving the previous week or two, and have examined the goods on display. They bring their clan’s trollkin examples, and start bargaining. Trades between men and trolls are sealed on Wildday night, and trades among men during Wildday. When the season’s prices for trollkin are fixed, the Issaries traders bring the tidings to their clans, and men decide if they want to sell more trollkin. There is still a couple of days’ time before the trolls leave, and some frantic last-moments bargains take place on Illusion Week.
Fire Season
During the long days and short nights, trolls keep close to their holes. Only Argan Argari and some special cults with powers over fire are active. The Argan Argar market on the night following Windsday on Harmony Week is predominantly a metal market: the Argan Argari bring beetlefulls of lead into Storlock. Again, trading on the market day is small, and the goods are kept on display during the next couple of weeks. Issaries merchants visit, then go back to their clans to discuss the need and prices for lead. They return on Mobility Week with trade goods to exchange for the lead, and mules, carts and even wagons to take the lead away.
The Wildday of Mobility Week is the great sheep and cattle market. Here, mostly humans haggle over the season’s prices, although some troll goods can be bought relatively cheaply for a couple of sheep or cattle. After all, the troll hunters are not very busy in the short summer nights, and troll nobles craving meat often resort to trading when their clan’s bounty is small.
Earth Season
Earth season Harmony Week is when Storlock is at its liveliest. On this week, the Argan Argari and Issaries annual great market take place nearly simultaneously. Members of Bachad and Torkani tribal councils are usually present, as are high ranking Argan Argari troll priests from deep within the Shadow’s Dance. Trade goods are examined and bargained. The exchanges are sealed beginning on the night following Fireday and ending on the Issaries great market on Godsday.
Wildday of Mobility week sees a smaller gathering, as men trade the last cattle before winter and discuss clan gifts. Next week Storlock is very quiet as all Issaries merchants are doing clan business and the trolls have departed either to collect goods they know are in demand among the humans, or then to get ready for Dark Season business among themselves.
Dark Season
Dark Season, Harmony Week, the night following Waterday is a great day for the Argan Argari, but it is usually celebrated in the clan. The market of Storlock keeps quiet through most of Dark Season, until the Mobility Week Wildday sees the Wild Market take place. This is an Issaries market day, but thanks to the heavy snows and short days, only a few Issaries traders make it to Storlock. However, these traders are the ones with the closest ties to their Argan Argari and troll colleagues, and they are met with a large number of trolls arriving far and wide over Dakori Inkarth and sometimes even beyond.
This is a time when the trolls have the most to trade, and thus a time when troll goods are at their cheapest. However, the troll activity also means that the routes leading to and fro from Storlock are dangerous, as troll hunters and bands of Zorak Zorani are on the move. It sometimes happens that trolls first sell their goods to humans and then collect them back in an ambush when the trader has left the security of Storlock. Thus the traders like to hire experienced guards with strong magic. Some of them simply hoard their goods in Storlock waiting for Orlanth to drive away the snow and the trolls.
Storm Season
Trolls visiting the Storlock market in Dark Season often embark on their own trading missions on human lands. They return back to their lands through Storlock, where a market is held in Harmony Week, on the night following Freezeday. This market is quite small, there being few Issaries traders or locals who have much left to trade. However, this is a holy day for Argan Argar, and the trolls and men who follow this god meet to discuss and to prepare for their holy time rites.
In the Wildday of Mobility Week there is an Issaries market, but because of the changing weather and the frantic trading of the previous season, it is never clear if this market day really succeeds or not. Roughly once per decade this market is a great happening, whereas half of the time it is only a small local gathering. Issaries traders who have lingered in Storlock waiting the snows to melt depart after this day, heading back to their clans and the Sacred Time rites.
Sacred Time
During Sacred Time, Storlock is deserted. Only some refugees, outcasts and trollkin can be seen, all of them keeping to their own. Some perform their own rites, most try to hide away from the gods and the world, hoping their masters will return soon with the power of life and order. On occasions, Holy Time rites, contests and/or heroquests of the neighbouring tribes and clans leak to Storlock, and the half-deserted town briefly becomes the scenery of God Time action.
One scene that might take place is the Secret Way rites of Issaries, on Wildday of Luck Week. Here, troll friends or enemies of the Issaries traders might take the roles of Underworld demons while Issaries and the Lightbringers seek the passage from Underworld into the Hall of the Dead, and meet with Hu(makt). Performing this rite outside of a clan tula or tribal holy place usually means heroquesting. Getting sucked into a bypassing heroquest is deadly dangerous, and thus even the few wretched local souls without a community usually flee Storlock on Wildday of Luck Week in the Sacred Time.
[b:53e84c97b1][size=18:53e84c97b1]Trading practise[/size:53e84c97b1][/b:53e84c97b1]
Small amounts of local products and single heads of cattle are sold and bought personally and constantly, without the intermediating of professional merchants. Prices vary according to the availability of products. Goods are often presented as gifts, without a fixed value, and the gifts are returned within a year or two. It sometimes happens that these small exchanges actually include tokens of real value, and because of this, professional merchants tend to check out new sellers whenever time permits.
Big trading is slower, as the goods need to be brought to the market, presented to the buyers, examined, (there’s a party in between if the buyer likes what he sees), weighed, and moved to the stashes of the new owner (there’s another party here if the buyer and seller are both happy). Presenting and examining the goods take time, days or even weeks. During this time the prices are haggled and bargains made. The merchants make complicated deals between several parties, also involving magic, promises of future trading and help, even property that is not present.
The holy market days are busy with weighing the goods and sealing the trades, but at this phase is usually quite clear who is going to get what and at what price. Buyers arriving at this late date are presented with fixed prices, and sometimes find it impossible to buy goods that are present but already promised for others. Only rich and influential people can forge new trades with new prices.
Market peace is very important, and is assured through a multitude of enchantments, laws and traditions. In Storlock, the Torkani tribe and Argan Argari merchants have the upper hand, even if the market itself is holy to both Argan Argar and Issaries, and not aligned to any clan or tribe. Most of the local guards are from the Torkani tribe or hired by the Torkani Argan Argar priests.
Traditionally there are guards from several different cults, Orlanthi warriors and Argan Argari spearmen being the ones surely present. Cults of light, notably Elmal, are not allowed here. Vingan guards would also be a problem, but very few if any Vingans in this region serve as mercenaries. During Dark Season, when trolls are very active, the troll stands, warehouses and huts are guarded by troll warriors, trollkin with spears, and a couple of great trolls.
[b:53e84c97b1][size=18:53e84c97b1]Other business[/size:53e84c97b1][/b:53e84c97b1]
Argan Argar and Issaries are both merchants. But they are more: Issaries is a Lightbringer, Argan Argar is an intermediate between Darkness and the surface world; Issaries is a thane of Orlanth, Argan Argar is the herald of Kyger Litor and father of the Only Old One. These roles are present in the followers of these two gods, and thus in every trade and bargain, there is more at stake than the goods and the price only. It is not atypical that the trader has larger schemes, or is a representative of something more than himself only. Typical “hidden” or greater agendas could be:
Seeking knowledge
While trading and bargaining, the merchant is not actually keen on goods, but rather where the other party comes from, and what the party knows of some special occasion, probably somehow connected to the goods traded. These occasions might take long time, including sitting, drinking, eating, and perhaps contests in storytelling. If a party only wants to trade, these occasions can feel slow, frustrating, or mystical and magical. The trader usually offers to buy and/or sell the goods in the end, but the price is connected not only to the market price of the goods, but to what information he could get from the party.
Seeking help
The merchant is actually gauging the skills, fame and respectability of the party, because he needs help (guards, scouts, special cult members, language skills) in some task or quest. He might be only an intermediary, offering the party the chance to meet his masters or mistresses, once he is sure the party is interested and can be trusted.
Heroquesting
The merchant is actually on a heroquest, and the meeting between him and the party should be understood on the level of the quest. This is not always instantly revealed to the party, as both of the merchant gods can act hidden, even in a clandestine way. Eventually, the party will understand that the bargain or contest is between gods, not between mortals. Whether or not they play their roles as cult members emulating their gods is more important than the actual exchange of goods. On the other hand, on occasions like this the goods traded might become enchanted and/or receive a special aura in future communications between the cults/clans/people/races.
Secret messages
For some reason, the merchant cannot meet someone in person. Perhaps he is banned from a clan, or enemies with the person, or is just so busy that he cannot afford to travel to where the person lives. If the merchant acts openly, this is the same as Seeking help, above. However, the merchant might act secretly: the goods traded might include a token of information only understandable to the person the message is sent to. Here, “goods” might also be stories or myths. It is important for the merchant to know that the party will meet the person in question during their travels in the near future. Thus the merchant might be strangely curious about the future plans and routes of the party.
Intermediating
The merchant is not just buying and selling goods, he is representing his clan/cult/people, and exchanging hospitality and discussing enemies and alliances. Because intermediating is Communication, which is the holy mission of both merchant gods, intermediating might take the form of any or all of the agendas & situations discussed above. This means the goods traded might not be traded at their market prices, but might openly or secretly include values not present in the goods themselves. For example, the trade might actually include the wergild of a slain thane, thus avoiding a feud (and probably saving someone’s face).
Troll rites
Argan Argar is not only an intermediary between trolls and non-trolls. He is the communication god of the trolls living in the surface world: Troll communities that live wide apart need his services in communicating with their brethren. Thus Storlock is not only a meeting place for men and trolls, but an important meeting place for trolls themselves.
Typical errands and missions of an Argan Argar merchant might be:
[list:53e84c97b1][*:53e84c97b1]Trading between trolls, in which case no humans are welcome to examine the goods
[*:53e84c97b1]Carrying a message between troll lands, in which case no information is given to humans
[*:53e84c97b1]Arranging a marriage between two clans or tribes, in which case the merchant is a representative of a priestess, and acts accordingly, even with humans
[*:53e84c97b1]Seeking peace between two feuding troll clans, in which case human affairs are secondary, and only matter if they can help to bring peace between trolls
[*:53e84c97b1]Acting as a convoy to other (Kyger Litor) cult members travelling in the surface world, in which case utter secrecy dominates.[/list:u:53e84c97b1]
[b:53e84c97b1][size=18:53e84c97b1]Trade goods[/size:53e84c97b1][/b:53e84c97b1]
Cattle
Cattle is the cash of the uplands, but it is much more: milk, calves, hides, meat, sinew (for bows), horn (for carving), etc. Cattle are wealth that keeps and reproduces, and the clans never have enough of it. However, cattle needs food, and hay and fodder are scarce in wintertime. Thus almost all clans need to slaughter and/or sell their excess cattle as winter draws close. Cattle is driven to cattle market, where it is exchanged for other goods, or – perhaps more often – for promises of future gifts and support. Cattle sold to trolls ends up as food, but still plays a similar role as live cattle sold to other clans.
Pigs
Pigs are a special sort of cattle, as they are often semi-wild, and mix freely with the boars in the woods. Pigs are also invariably controlled by the Ernaldans, and produce most of the meat consumed in the clans. (Cattle is slaughtered for food only rarely outside of Earth Season.) Thus boars or wild pigs can sometimes be bought from the hunters, even from the trolls, while pig herds can be bought mostly from the Ernaldan temples via their Issaries representatives. Trade in pigs is not an important part of the economy.
Trollkin
Trollkin are everywhere in the Far Place, and in the Lizardwood Wilds and Daytime/Nighttime Woods. They escape from their troll masters, or are driven away, or are simply wild trollkin never to have served anyone. They breed fast, and both trolls and humans organise trollkin hunts to keep the population low and prevent hordes of trollkin destroying their fields and hunting grounds. Trollkin are usually hunted alive, and even men keep them for manual labour and as trade goods.
Storlock is the local trollkin market number one. The price of trollkin fluctuates, but usually varies from one to two wild trollkin per one sheep, or about ten trollkin for a cow. This ratio changes if the trollkin have any schooling or talent, and trained value trollkin can cost two or more cows. Usually men are selling their excess trollkin or live wild trollkin to trolls, who either use them as labour or eat them. On rare occasions men have bought trollkin, either for special tasks where manual labour is needed in hundreds, or then for Argan Argari spear companies. Men never eat trollkin, a fact which sometimes make the trollkin like human owners more than troll owners.
Horses
Horses are a relatively rare luxury, and upland clans usually keep only the minimum of horses necessary to carry their thanes and weaponthanes. Horses are more often given as gifts than traded for value, but the latter still happens from time to time. On rare occasions Pol Joni horse traders visit Storlock.
Exotic animals
The trolls sometime try to sell giant beetles, insects or spiders to men. One or two Argan Argari from the Torkani tribe know what to do with such monsters. They hire Gorakiki cult members to guard and direct them. However, most of the insects and arachnids are sold to visiting trolls, who take them away from human lands.
Some twenty years ago, it is told, the giant spider mount of a visiting troll priestess ran amok while the priestess was bound into a magical spell change ritual. It caused much damage and many deaths, and had to be brought down by the combined strength of the Torkani guards and the Issaries traders.
Slaves
Many clans in the Far Place and in the Torkani tribe keep thralls. Some even buy slaves from the Lunars. Fluctuating prospects and prosperity mean that every season and every year some clans need more thralls while others manage with less, and want to get rid of extra mouths to feed. Then there are the enslaved prisoners, often cattle thieves. Storlock is the local slave market and offers a sacred peace for prisoner exchange or ransoming.
Selling human slaves to trolls is comparable to a death sentence. It is a fate reserved only for enslaved fugitives. Sometimes freedom fighters sell captured live Lunars cheaply, as this is an easy way to get rid of prisoners without getting blood on their hands. Trolls sometimes sell these deeply shaken men back to the Lunars in Ironspike or Alda Chur, but most of them are never seen again.
Metals
The Far Place is not rich in the bones of the gods, and mining them is a hard work in caverns prone to flood and freeze. The Torkani are better positioned, and of course some cults possess secret and sacred ways of obtaining their sacred metals. Trade passing on the Pavis Road brings the Torkani some extra bars of bronze and rarer metals. Thus the Torkani are the chief metal traders in the region. However, it sometimes happens that troll smiths following Gadblad’s teaching arrive with loads of bronze, copper, tin, and exotic metals. This usually distorts the balance of metal trade in the region, resulting in seasons or even years of lower prices and suffering of the position of the Torkani.
The trolls also produce cheap lead in such quantities that they have virtual monopoly in it. The people of the Far Place and the Torkani do not themselves have great need of lead, but the Lunars and the city-dwellers have uses for it. Thus it is typical that the Torkani act as intermediaries between civilised traders on the Pavis Road and the trolls. The Far Place tribes usually trade for small amounts of bronze and copper, paying with cattle and local products.
Weapons
Ready made quality weapons are a prestige product. Local smiths, whether in a clan or travelling, usually know how to produce short blades, spear and arrow points, axes and the like. Expert weaponsmiths are rare, however, and cannot answer the demand. Thus many of the best blades are imported. This holds especially true of rare and magical cult metals and iron. When such treasures are traded at Storlock, priests and chieftains gather to bargain.
Salt
Salt is in demand in the Far Place. Issaries traders bring it from the southern ocean shores and from deposits in Peloria and Prax. It sometimes happens that trolls trade large amounts of salty rock, supposedly found while burrowing deep into the Indigo Mountains rock. There are several qualities of salt, the fine grained, white sea salt being the most valuable. Grey, sandy rock salt is the cheapest quality, passable for only soups and preservation. Humps of grey salt rock are bought for the cattle for licking stones. Some specially prepared salts are mixed with herbs and are sold as medicines and magical foci.
Fish
Dried, salted or fermented fish is produced alongside rivers and pools for local consume. It is only seldom sold, and then not far away. The Dragon Creek (Krikans) flows close to Storlock, and so fish – both fresh and preserved – is available. It is mostly eaten on the spot, although some chieftains transport it to their halls in order to offer fish in their banquets. Krikans salmon is in vogue.
Furs
The Far Place, Torkani lands and all the troll lands produce a large number of furs. Some Issaries traders buy them at Storlock and take them far away into Tarsh and Kethaela, where they bring good profit. Exotic and magical furs and animal parts are in demand. Furs are one of the important trade goods the locals have to offer for the wider world.
Wool and Cloth
The upland clans keep sheep for wool, mainly for clothing themselves. But the local herds usually produce good quality wool that can be traded for a fair price. Sheep herding clans sell small amounts of raw wool or wool thread for clans with less or no sheep. Some of the wool eventually finds it way to the bigger cities and towns, notably Alone, Alda Chur, Jonstown and Boldhome.
The local clothing is not in vogue in the big centres, so that upland vests and pullovers are only used in the clan. However, the opposite holds true of cloth qualities produced in the south and west: woollen and linen cloth and sometimes even silks and ready made garments (scarves, hats, cloaks and gloves) are imported into the wild and sold in Storlock. Trolls have a very special taste for certain cloth and colours, but very few can comprehend what they actually prefer and why.
Wood and horn
These products are found in plenty in every clan tula, and thus it is only specialties or finely crafted goods that are traded. Wooden musical instruments are a specialty of Alone, the Torkani produce fine wooden panels for temples and doors, and bonecarvers in all clan centres and towns make drinking horns, each with carvings relating to local myths and legends. Local hunters sometimes bring in huge antlers or bones, some of them with magic in them. These are bought by chiefs, priests and temples, and used in enchantments and furniture.
Glass
The art of producing glass is not widely known among Heortlings or trolls. Glass goblets, vases and (window) tiles are thus a rarity, and those who can afford it are ready to pay quite high prices for things no-one else in the clan has. Glass is produced in the Lunar Empire and in some cities of Sartar. The best qualities (colourful and thin) come from or through Esrolia and cost fortunes.
Herbs and Mushrooms
The Far Place, the Indigo Mountains, Lizardwood Wilds and the Daytime/Nighttime Woods are famous for their large variety of herbs (and poisons). Trolls are famous for their mushrooms, which are produced en masse close to Storlock, at the Munchrooms. These herbs are sold both raw and prepared, as dried leafs and ready made potions. Most of the herbs find their way away from the region, into population centres further west and south. This trade is mediated by Issaries merchants. But some healers and shamans come themselves to Storlock, to seek and offer special products.
Grain
Most of the clans produce just enough grain for themselves, and often seek to buy more, especially in times of need or famine. There is always a clan or two with more successful harvests, and thus trade in grain is frequent. Grains typically sold are rye and oats, sometimes wheat. Rarely grain and corn (maize) from Lunar plantations finds its way into Storlock. It is traded with caution. However, such bounties are often stolen from the Lunars, either in raids on the plantations or in ambushes on military caravans, and the sellers are accepting quite low prices for bulky goods. As the Lunars cannot mark grain, it is very hard to trace it once it vanishes in the upland hills and forests. The trolls are not known to have special taste for human grains.
Beverages
All clans enjoy good drink, and so do the trolls. Ale and cider is produced locally, but strong beer and mead, especially when brewed by a follower of Minlister, command fair prices. The quantities produced for trade are usually small, and are consumed in single feasts. Foreign imports include small amounts of wine, usually of mediocre standard, brought in by Issaries traders. It sells for good money. Stronger drinks, like sweet wines and brandy, are sold only in small barrels and flagons, and sometimes even in single bottles.
Weed (Hazia)
This product of the Upland Marsh shores has not yet found its way into the everyday lives of the upland and Torkani clans. Some enjoy it, however, and small pouches can be seen changing hands during the market time.
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Jos tästä jotain pointtia voisi hakea niin tämän: mikäli ZL#5 joskus tehdään, siihen täytyy löytyä juttuja. Niitä kannattaa kirjoittaa jo nyt, koska tyypillisesti lehtiin painetut jutut ovat olleet 1-5 vuotta vanhoja, kun lehti on viimein ilmestynyt. Jos siis halutaan ZL#5 ulos 2011-2015, juttuja varmaan kannattaa kirjoittaa mahdollisimman valmiiksi jo nyt.
Ja toinen pointti tietenkin on tämä: ei toi juttu ole kovin kummoinen, mutta saattaa parantua ryhmätyöllä. Tuosta saa siis ottaa kiinni ja vetää omaan suuntaansa.
Agimorimatskuja odotellessa. :)
-G
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