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[micelus]

Oh right, married with snake children.

You decide to head to the market, telling your secretary that you'll be out for the rest of the day. Madame Aisah, your eager successor, nods at you as you leave, breaking out her Acting-Senior Deputy Regional Public Relations Management Officer stamp with a countenance of particular delight.

As befitting your position, your office is on the ground floor of the office block and looks out at the internal courtyard. The scurrying of scribes and messengers are a constant here, with some clerks or other employees taking their breaks on the benches and stools that surround the central fountain. You've seen the sight a thousand-thousand times.

You head on out through the main entrance, passing by the guards, greeting and nodding as is customary. Seated around the outside of the block on their little folding stools are the legions of free-scribes who write all sorts of documents and letters for illiterate supplicants. You know many of them by name, and some are as old as you. You could have been one of them in your youth if good sense hadn't been rammed down your throat by a well-meaning teacher.

You carry on through the maze of alleys and passages towards the nearby market, darting through the crowds of people, animals, machinery and muck that clog up most of Costaba. Eventually you emerge on Gold Street, where the city's once plied their trade. Now, everyone trades here.

Food, slaves, contracts, books, weapons, supplies, spices, fabrics; even nightsoil from unicorns. They're all available because of Costaba's vast trade network that connects it to peoples and lands all across the world. Still, you've received more than your fair share of complaints about Gold Street, especially back when Custodian Hassan was in-charge some three decades back. Dark times, quite dark times.

You make a pretty decent living due to your position. You are Moderately Comfortable, which allows you to purchase most goods without troubling your coffers. Purchasing a few crates of swords or whale perfume from distant Bethowyn might pose a problem however.

What do you want to do? Looking to buy something or looking for information?

[Naturegirl1999]

Ijuatnround this game, why does the most recent post mention snake children? Are we part snake?

[micelus]

As for family, let's see...

Our first wife was named Maribel seeing as she was from Maribel, a small town largely composed of foreigners called Maril brought in for their fine carpentry, and what with the town having a bell and all the name sort of stuck. Ol' Maribel wasn't Maril though, her folks were a weaver and medicine man from down south a ways, though her father claimed distant ancestry from some feather-clad savage conqueror who supposedly sailed here centuries ago.

Anyway Maribel gave us four healthy children, two girls a boy and then another girl, before dying of malaise. Rather dull girl all things considered, but we were young and impetuous and the soothsayer was very precise in imploring us to find a weaver's daughter employed as a clerk. Coincidences and serendipity and all that.

Sa'adah is our eldest daughter, with pale green eyes. Like a snake, obviously. Had a healer check that out, said find a priest. Had a priest check that out, said find a sorceror. Had a sorceror check that out, said find his dark master and revel in the darkening of the world. That was enough of that, thank you sir. We'd have no unscheduled darkenings of anything in this house, of that we were quite certain. Otherwise a pretty regulation girl, married a banker, has six well educated snake eyed children. We still get invited to formal financial functions and blood cult revelries from time to time, usually politely decline. Wine was never to our taste when we did go.

Rasha is our second daughter, pale blue eyes, also like a snake. Got a second healer's opinion, which turned into a second priest's opinion, which turned into a second sorceror's opinion. Communing with a pale green fire we were informed of some nonsense or another, which turned into a first scholar's opinion. He eventually tracked it down to some kind of curse or cult plot under the town of Maribel, possibly confounding circumstances related to the wife of Maribel and her profession, ancestry, or proximity to a local bakery. He concluded it was likely not a health concern for your children or the town, so you filed a formal notice with the appropriate department as is your specialty. Rasha is otherwise a fairly regulation girl, married a pirate turned merchant-sometimes-pirate, went on some adventures, had three children, had an affair and a fourth child with a cobbler-turned-adventurer-turned-jester (long story), had a fifth and sixth child with a Taife's married warrior brother, and finally settled down to run an orphanage which later turned out to be an untaxed drug laundering scheme for the Taife. A lot of paperwork and fines later she got into horse breeding, horse racing, horse gambling, and breaking the legs of people who don't pay up. Also carpentry.

Mas'ud is our only son from that marriage. Light green eyes, oddly not like a snake. Not that it's odd to not have snake eyes, but his sisters always teased him about it. He wanted to be a clerk like us, until he saw us working. Then he decided to join up with the army, then wander around as an adventurer, then rejoin the army as an outrider. Married a foreign girl named Si, they have four children together and live a long ways off in some frontier outpost or border fort. Every now and then you get an animal fur or scrimshawed jawbone in the mail.

Zayna is our last daughter from that marriage. Pale blue snake eyes, very sweet girl though. Followed in our footsteps but ended up in the Office of Agriculture. Met her husband there, they have five children plus two orphaned nephews from her husband's brother, who died in an opium fire under rather muddled circumstances. You keep in relatively frequent contact with them, as your work occasionally overlaps and they live very nearby.

Anyway if you thought that was odd wait until you hear about our second wife(s).

This is why

[mightymushroom]

The position of Inspector is a more highly exalted rank than our current appointment by 2.334 grades.
We need to visit our tailor for new robes.
We need to visit our sandal weaver for new sandals.
We need to visit our hairpin carver for new hairpins.
We should probably also visit a feather plucker for a new pen set.

[Naturegirl1999]

As for family, let's see...

Our first wife was named Maribel seeing as she was from Maribel, a small town largely composed of foreigners called Maril brought in for their fine carpentry, and what with the town having a bell and all the name sort of stuck. Ol' Maribel wasn't Maril though, her folks were a weaver and medicine man from down south a ways, though her father claimed distant ancestry from some feather-clad savage conqueror who supposedly sailed here centuries ago.

Anyway Maribel gave us four healthy children, two girls a boy and then another girl, before dying of malaise. Rather dull girl all things considered, but we were young and impetuous and the soothsayer was very precise in imploring us to find a weaver's daughter employed as a clerk. Coincidences and serendipity and all that.

Sa'adah is our eldest daughter, with pale green eyes. Like a snake, obviously. Had a healer check that out, said find a priest. Had a priest check that out, said find a sorceror. Had a sorceror check that out, said find his dark master and revel in the darkening of the world. That was enough of that, thank you sir. We'd have no unscheduled darkenings of anything in this house, of that we were quite certain. Otherwise a pretty regulation girl, married a banker, has six well educated snake eyed children. We still get invited to formal financial functions and blood cult revelries from time to time, usually politely decline. Wine was never to our taste when we did go.

Rasha is our second daughter, pale blue eyes, also like a snake. Got a second healer's opinion, which turned into a second priest's opinion, which turned into a second sorceror's opinion. Communing with a pale green fire we were informed of some nonsense or another, which turned into a first scholar's opinion. He eventually tracked it down to some kind of curse or cult plot under the town of Maribel, possibly confounding circumstances related to the wife of Maribel and her profession, ancestry, or proximity to a local bakery. He concluded it was likely not a health concern for your children or the town, so you filed a formal notice with the appropriate department as is your specialty. Rasha is otherwise a fairly regulation girl, married a pirate turned merchant-sometimes-pirate, went on some adventures, had three children, had an affair and a fourth child with a cobbler-turned-adventurer-turned-jester (long story), had a fifth and sixth child with a Taife's married warrior brother, and finally settled down to run an orphanage which later turned out to be an untaxed drug laundering scheme for the Taife. A lot of paperwork and fines later she got into horse breeding, horse racing, horse gambling, and breaking the legs of people who don't pay up. Also carpentry.

Mas'ud is our only son from that marriage. Light green eyes, oddly not like a snake. Not that it's odd to not have snake eyes, but his sisters always teased him about it. He wanted to be a clerk like us, until he saw us working. Then he decided to join up with the army, then wander around as an adventurer, then rejoin the army as an outrider. Married a foreign girl named Si, they have four children together and live a long ways off in some frontier outpost or border fort. Every now and then you get an animal fur or scrimshawed jawbone in the mail.

Zayna is our last daughter from that marriage. Pale blue snake eyes, very sweet girl though. Followed in our footsteps but ended up in the Office of Agriculture. Met her husband there, they have five children plus two orphaned nephews from her husband's brother, who died in an opium fire under rather muddled circumstances. You keep in relatively frequent contact with them, as your work occasionally overlaps and they live very nearby.

Anyway if you thought that was odd wait until you hear about our second wife(s).

This is why

Thanks, so they have snake eyes, not that they are snakes.

Not sure what to do,
Look for information about whichever town our building is in

[IronyOwl]

The position of Inspector is a more highly exalted rank than our current appointment by 2.334 grades.
We need to visit our tailor for new robes.
We need to visit our sandal weaver for new sandals.
We need to visit our hairpin carver for new hairpins.
We should probably also visit a feather plucker for a new pen set.

I was gonna suggest looking for a good (by which I mean miserably cheap) slave, but this is a better idea!

[mightymushroom]

A slave is not a bad idea either. At our age we probably aren't going to do our own breaking into offices looking for the second (or third) set of accounts. We could use someone dependable with a certain set of skills.

[Kilojoule Proton]

A slave is not a bad idea either. At our age we probably aren't going to do our own breaking into offices looking for the second (or third) set of accounts. We could use someone dependable with a certain set of skills.

+1

The position of Inspector is a more highly exalted rank than our current appointment by 2.334 grades.
We need to visit our tailor for new robes.
We need to visit our sandal weaver for new sandals.
We need to visit our hairpin carver for new hairpins.
We should probably also visit a feather plucker for a new pen set.

+1 but in reverse order

[micelus]

We should probably also visit a feather plucker for a new pen set.

you write as much as with a stylus as you do a quill, but you decide that a new quill will suit you all the same. You visit Sancho, the Feathermongerer, a known supplier for the Office for decades; he's older even than you. Good eye for birds, but you'd never trust him to cook a chicken.

He has the usual selection of swan, goose, duck and even pigeon feathers. He also has a fine selection of peacock (flashy, it might be a bit presumptuous even for an Inspector), ostritch (exotic and fashionable, if a bit too long for practical work), hawk (associated with ferocity, something not oft seen in bureaucrats), crow (regarded as the poorman's owl feather by most) and awk (you don't know how Sancho got this, but it'd be a good conversation starter).

We need to visit our hairpin carver for new hairpins.

This is easy enough. You find Malik, a local carver who just finished his apprenticeship. He's considered a bit of a prodigy by carver standards. After the pleasantries, he asks what you'd like and he'll see what he can make. He points out at his new shipment of ivory and that he can get silver for cheap, if you wished it.

We need to visit our sandal weaver for new sandals.

Its a tough call between Afaf or Aliyah; they're both good at what they do but Afaf makes sandals for the common man while Aliyah does luxury sandals. Decisions, decisions...

We need to visit our tailor for new robes.

Your usual tailor is a robust man who spends every fifth day at the gymnasium, rather than manning his shop. He's a bit too carefree, but you know he's an excellent tailor. He greets you as come by, querying you about the usual things. After he finds out you want a new robe and what its for, he squees in the manner you've become accustomed to from a hulking almost seven-foot man of broad shoulders and immense biceps, and drags you to his textile collection. He points at the wools (usually worn in colder climes or by peasants), flaxes (anyone doing well wears these, good for undergarments), the cottons (comfortable, most people in the cities wear something made out of this) the silks (costly but considered the epitome of style) and even a bundle of sea silk (you'll likely bankrupt yourself using this) he has. He suggests that he could pretty it up with some jewels and feathers or whatever else he can get his mittens on.

A slave is not a bad idea either. At our age we probably aren't going to do our own breaking into offices looking for the second (or third) set of accounts. We could use someone dependable with a certain set of skills.

Slaves aren't something one buys everyday, unless you're fabulously rich. Still, an Inspector will need help. What kind of person is dear Alfonso considering however?

Look for information about whichever town our building is in

Ah, this is something you know all too well. Costaba, glorious Costaba. Jewel of all of Galahana, mother of scholars and home to tens of thousands. It is the capital of the Zahar Custodianship, the federal state that nominally rules over most of Middle and Southern Galahana. It is the site of many tragedies, of many joys. It is where, after fighting for 124 days, that the  conqueror-hero Abu ibn Zalthan settled down and vowed to live a peaceful life. It is where the Murders of the Sisters took place, where the rule of the eastern tyrants was dislodged, but also where the rule of the Mad-Sultan sprung from. it is a city of a thousand-and-one spices, but two-thousand miseries. And yet, it is home.

Costaba was one ruled by a taife like the other taifas. Around a century ago, he was ousted from his position by his Chief Bureaucrat who calmly pointed out that he had signed over his de jure control of the state two weeks prior. That, and the fact that the taifa's slave-warriors had been excessively bribed to join the coup, resulted in a peaceful transition of power. Indeed, the taife's bloodline still continues and is trotted out for various ceremonies and festivals as required. Over time, the Costaban Custodianship was able to force or convince the other taifas to join its federation experiment, with the exception of those in the north.

Costaba's most celebrated dish is an ox-tail stew cooked in a tajine; a celebration of the city's multicultural history in miniature.

[Superdorf]

- Definitely awk.
- Ivory hairpins.
- Common sandals are fine.
- Black cotton, with a feather fringe.
- Someone young and willing to learn. Skill is expensive-- potential, perhaps less so.

[King Zultan]

- Definitely awk.
- Ivory hairpins.
- Common sandals are fine.
- Black cotton, with a feather fringe.
- Someone young and willing to learn. Skill is expensive-- potential, perhaps less so.

These sound good +1.

[mightymushroom]

- Definitely awk.
- Ivory hairpins.
- Common sandals are fine.
- Black cotton, with a feather fringe.

Of course

- Someone young and willing to learn. Skill is expensive-- potential, perhaps less so.

Here I must disagree slightly. First, youth is relative, and we're not seeking to train an acrobat. That would be pricey. Second, if, for example, the cover story is to be our personal valet traveling wherever we go, then the candidate must have a certain gravitas to make it stick and not be mistaken for a bedroom floozie. Alfonso Al-Tahafut may occasionally patronize a bed as well as a desk but he does not flooze, good sir.

I suggest perusing bankruptcy proceedings to find a modestly priced, lower middle-aged man/maid-servant who would be grateful for employment. We can work on their alternative skills in the evenings (if necessary).

[IronyOwl]

- Definitely awk.
- Ivory hairpins.
- Common sandals are fine.
- Black cotton, with a feather fringe.
- Someone young and willing to learn. Skill is expensive-- potential, perhaps less so.

Definitely awk.
Ivory hairpins with a snake motif! Reminds us of our children, long story.
Are they, though? We're supposed to be fancy now.
I was gonna say flax but we probably would value comfort over style. Feather fringes are a good idea!

For the slave, youth is fine and all, but you know what's really gonna drive the price down? Being uncomfortably foreign or exotic. Oh sure, the first monkeyman from the Isle of Dread will sell for a fortune. But the second? Third? What does one do with a sun-worshiping savage who only speaks the language well enough to complain about not having rice with every meal and pants being an abomination?

In our case, the answer is purchase them to do the heavy lifting for us. Everyone does everything wrong anyway, so somebody (or thing) truly foreign doesn't really bother us.

[Superdorf]

Ecch, very well.

I suggest perusing bankruptcy proceedings to find a modestly priced, lower middle-aged man/maid-servant who would be grateful for employment. We can work on their alternative skills in the evenings (if necessary).

+1

[micelus]

- Definitely awk.
- Ivory hairpins.
- Common sandals are fine.
- Black cotton, with a feather fringe.

Sancho hands you one of his awk feathers for a modest fee.

Malik confirms your choice and says he'll have it ready by tomorrow, the day after tomorrow at the latest. He apologises and says that he has a rather big quota this week.

Afaf is an expert in her trade and looks at your feet for a few brief moments, before turning towards one of her wicker baskets and pulling out a pair of premade sandals. They fit perfectly.

Your tailor, Pedro, measures you top to bottom and says that he should have it done by the end of the week, easy. He takes a deposit and instantly starts getting to work just as you leave.

I suggest perusing bankruptcy proceedings to find a modestly priced, lower middle-aged man/maid-servant who would be grateful for employment. We can work on their alternative skills in the evenings (if necessary)

Older low-skill slaves are nearly always cheaper, for various reasons. You'll definitely be feeling it in your coffers, but no so much that you'll be losing sleep over it. You head over to the slave market nearby, skipping the auctions and heading to a little emporium across the plaza. Its nominally a pottery store, but the owner rents a few slaves from local slavers to man the shop. Its not a great life for the slaves, admittedly, but its all quite legal. You know at least, that most would be glad to leave.

After explaining your situation to the store's manager, a foreigner from Ikonos named Karas, he marshals three of the rentals to come forward. Karas says that they fit your description. Which one will you take?

-Sarah was a widow that sold herself into slavery after a bout of severe poverty. She used to live in a small village on the coast, but a band of pirates pillaged her home and left her destitute. She's been a slave for a good three years now. She knows how to sew, cook, clean, garden and aid in childbirth. Karas says that she hasn't sold because of the fact that she's missing an eye, ear and a few of her toes. She has an empty look in her eyes.

-Ibrahim is a quiet man half your age who used to serve as a house servant for a well-to-do family in Costaba. He was sold off after the family matriarch's death. A lot of debt, apparently. He knows how to manage a household quite well and is used to ordering around others. Apparently its been hard to sell him for a position worthy of his skill because of a very specific clause in his enslavement contract; he is allowed every 8th day off work and must receive a hefty sum every quarter to be distributed to family members. Its quite unprecedented, but the courts aren't willing to annul it. He's literate. He looks young for his age, especially since he meticulously keeps himself clean shaven.

-Ofran is a man from Tolovan, one of the northern kingdoms of Galahana. It has resisted conquest by your esteemed civilisation for centuries. They are barbarians, to be sure, but they are of hardy stock and proud of their independence. Ofran was captured in a routine border skirmish and is known for being unruly, as attested to by the punishment scars upon his back and legs. Karas says that he's literate...in Tolovani. Apparently he used to be a minor priest in his village, as well as a potter. His face is leathery and shows the wear and tear of a hard life.