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[Meph]

Part 17 - Advanced Trading #2

Elves arrived, walking next to their fully packed forest spiders. Their diplomat instantly rushed our baron and congratulated profoundly about our love for trees, no woodcutter, not a single tree felled, amazing, you are are asome baron, we elves love you.

Our baron just made a wide open gesture and said: Look at all those trees we would cut down. If. We. Had. Any.

Sure we never cut a tree on this settlement. Sure, we have no trees on the map in the first place. Stupid elf.

But they brought something new. 2 contracts. A tool used by any good trader. Remember how all our merchant stalls, these fancy buildings that take gold, are called "merchant stall (local)" ? Well, there is a second type, "merchant stall (foreign)". And even more: "workshop (foreign)".

With contracts from other races, these workshops and merchant stalls can be rented out to them. You simply buy a contract (we got 2 from the elves), and build one of those foreign stalls. Will look like this:





If you rent it out for 1 season you instantly get 500 gold. If you rent it out for 1 year, you get 2000 gold, but that costs 4 contracts. Each race has their own contracts, and they might vary in price. You can make your own, human contracts, and sell them to caravans or use them to rent out buildings... but you dont get gold from your own people. Sorry, your human gunsmith and human merchant wont net you instant-rent. After all they are people that live in your fort already.

All this means that you have access to foreign races tech. You can buy unique materials, items and pets from them, or learn their abilities or have them perform special spells. Observant readers will notice one oddity though:

How in hell can you trade with orcs, succubi, warlocks, kobolds and drow? They are enemies. They steal your stuff, snatch your kids and raze your forts. Well, turns out there is a way... the Merchants Guild always gets what it wants.

[InfiniteCastor]

How in hell can you trade with orcs, succubi, warlocks, kobolds and drow? They are enemies. They steal your stuff, snatch your kids and raze your forts. Well, turns out there is a way... the Merchants Guild always gets what it wants.

Tob bless capitalism.

[Meph]

People are busy now. Thats good. We have too many god damn kids running around the place already. With the wealth we created, traded and the number of migrants, we might get visitors soon. We still have no armor, but the battle ramparts are slowly getting better.

We are building up an industry sector with asheries, dyers, clothiers... plan is to buy out the next caravan. The elves had tons of cloth, but we had no tradegoods for them. They dont value gold coins as highly as we do. So we also set up 5 fisheries, allowed more people to fish, 4 kitchens and continued lavish meal production, more tanners, mechanics and started mining again.

We are very low on gold since we hired that teenage warrior, Uther. As soon as he was hired, he insisted that people call him Arcvasti. His warrior name. Sure.

I would really like to put those elven contracts to use, but we dont need no treesinger on a barren rock... they work with seeds, and we dont have many of those anyway. And as mentioned, gold is tight at the moment, so the elven merchant would go to waste. They only stay a season, I better safe those for a rainy, siegy day.

[Meph]

No one spotted it before it already crossed the bridge. No one thought of walling that turret in. Our beloved slade turret got torn to pieces. It then ran across the wall, battering the doors to the ammo stocks. It then... transformed into a centaure and ran away. Lucky us.

I first suspected the dwarves, not centauren.



Fun Fact: The king of dwarves is a werewolf. A werewolf fish farmer. (mental image of bear-like werewolf with a crown, standing above a stream catching fish with its claws)

[Meph]

Part 18 - Calling Caravans

Listen up everyone, that ones important. The merchants guild wants traders. Now. Some Smakemupagus character talked about profit margins of artisan goods developed by snatched children somewhere in a goblin sweatshop, and one of our guys ran around babbling about magic, spells and going to murder everyone if he cant unlock the greater mysteries of the outer planar realms. Since he has a sword, we mind indulge him. Beirus was the name... I think once he sees the Warlocks in real life, he will stop talking about how great magic is.

So we need an orc and a warlock caravan. Luckily, we can call them for only 1500 gold. Second guild extension of the merchants guild, the Chamber of Trade, can do so.



Now what happens when two caravans are in the depot at the same time? No problem, our broker is smart enough to pick one. And the merchants know that this is neutral territory. Even though orcs and warlocks are at war, their traders are not. Now, if the warlocks lose control over their skeletons, well shit happens, but thats not intentional.

But. DAMN. Beirus will love these guys even more now. WARLOCK ARRIVE IN STYLE!



They literally appeared with the cloud of blinding sand, riding through our gates in the blackish dust... people could barely get a glimpse of them, but what they saw are Sel Terrorspidery and Bha Curiousmaligned. Wearing faceless titanium and wolfram masks engraved with the symbol of their civilization, a juggler. Made of raptor bone. Accompanied by skeleton guards. Sitting on top of wagons pulled by enslaved elves. They dont fuck around. Even worse, the third caravan guard looks pretty pale and smiled a very, very toothy grin at anyone walking by.

Their lead wagon is pulled by human prisoners. Which is a fact I will most assuredly not openly mention to their faces.



Strangely enough, I do feel a bit safer now. Any werewolf that comes by now looks at them, turns around and leaves. And we still have the orc caravan guards around as well. Lets just get the contracts we want and call it a day.

[Splint]

That's... One hell of an entrance really.

[Meph]

Another Fun Fact of the Day: While called caravans are friendly to you and each other, they will murder the fuck out of each other, if they arrive naturally and at war.

How do I know?

We humans are at war with the orcs. Thats fine, we called their caravan, so we have a truce with their caravan. Good. Then our human caravan from the capital arrived. With guards. That are not members of our fort.

...

The orcs won.

Well, we have enough traders anyway, no need for a human caravan. But those silly orcs and warlocks did not in fact bring any contracts this year. The drow did. And maybe the goblins will, they are not yet at the depot. Their swamp trolls are not as fast as the rothes pulling the drow caravans.



Sadly, only the goblins, drow and elves did bring contracts. The warlocks, orcs and kobolds did not, and they dont send their liaison if they are at war with us. We can call a diplomat, but you cant order goods from the diplomat. So... I might add some manual way to get the contracts, probably to the highest level of the merchants guild.

[Zeni]

Can I be humanized? Some kind of military human perhaps?

 

[Meph]

You are now our youngest archer recruit.

`Zeni' Atalgirus has been ecstatic lately.  She dined in a legendary dining room recently.  She received water recently.  She slept in a very good bedroom recently.  She talked with the spouse lately.  She admired a fine Furnace lately.  She admired own fine Bed lately.  She was caught in the rain recently.  She has been satisfied at work lately.  She was caught in a snow storm recently. 
She is married to Ted Orangeyawned and has two children:  Rope Curiousanimalistic and Mimap Systemfancied.  She is the daughter of Gethdaz Groovedmongers and Sulthu Seedshoved.  She is a dubious worshipper of Issok Braveryharvested, a dubious worshipper of Ino Beachedseals, a worshipper of Tura Brilliancecontrolled the Authority of Stabilizing, a casual worshipper of Nimma and a dubious worshipper of Tob. 
She is a citizen of The Smiling Nation.  She is a member of The Cotton Bands.  She is a former member of The Society of Nourishing.  She arrived at Enercuro on the 28th of Granite in the year 102. 
She is eleven years old, born on the 7th of Obsidian in the year 91. 
She is corpulent.  Her eyes are sepia.  Her very long hair is braided.  She has a round chin.  Her head is somewhat tall.  Her lips are thin.  Her hair is ecru.  Her skin is pale chestnut. 
She is tough, but she is clumsy and very slow to heal. 
`Zeni' Atalgirus likes dragonfire, ebonglass, ***GEMS***, the color wet, morningstars, mail boots, geese for their formation flying and sole for their protrusible eyes.  When possible, she prefers to consume char and plump helmet man wine.  She absolutely detests green blood worms. 
She has a great affinity for language and a sum of patience, but she has little natural inclination toward music. 
She feels strong urges and seeks short-term rewards.  She doesn't handle stress well.  She finds helping others rewarding.  She dislikes confrontations.  She is not easily moved to pity.  She is organized. 

And people will be thrilled to hear that we invested the meager sum of 80.000 gold coins into lots and lots of iron, steeloak, netherbark and steel platearmor sets. Militias have iron armor, the first melee squad steel, and some archer have the steel-grade lightweight netherbark armor.

[Meph]

We have more thieves now... a snatcher made off with a pet, some kobolds were driven away, and one of our archers is pelting a succubus at this very moment.

A female lust demon of hedonistic interests. She belongs to a former slave caste of demons who escaped the underworld and found the surface to be a wonderful place to settle. The succubi are feared for their affinity with fire and their ability to influence other races in their sleep, whispering obscene ideas to their mind. However, these abilities and their depraved culture has led them to antagonize most of the other civilizations, eager to prevent their influence on their population.  Despite this, the succubi are famous for their finely decorated dungeons and fine arts.

Her left wing is fractured.  Her left wing is cut open.  Her left wing is oozing Aricinde Rockedpranks's succubus blood.  Her right hand is fractured.  Her right hand is cut open.  Her right wing is fractured.  Her right wing is cut open.  Her right wing is dented.  Her left haunch is fractured.  Her left haunch is cut open.  Her right haunch is fractured.  Her right haunch is cut open.  Her torso is cut open.  Her chest is cut open.  Her right breast is bruised.  Her stomach is broken. 
She is average in size.  Her hair is orange.  Her very long hair is neatly combed.  Her wings are extraordinarily broad.  She has a very high-pitched voice.  She has very low cheekbones, and she has a broad chin.  Her emerald eyes have thin irises.  Her nose is quite long.  Her tongue is somewhat long.  Her head is somewhat broad.  Her skin is scarlet.  Her breasts are voluptous.  Her bare skin is smooth.  Her buttocks are callipygian.  Her wings are soft.   

[Meph]

Fun Fact: Some of our gods have begun to strike and slam down thieves, even before I can see them. There are also several pillars of ice standing around the landscape, which I assume contain thieves encased in them.

Hail Tob!

[Nail]

I'd like to be manned as a woman of the cloth. Hail to Tob!

[Meph]

Here you go:

`Nail' Cespilusko has been ecstatic lately.  She dined in a legendary dining room recently.  She took joy in slaughter lately.  She was pleased to be able to talk to a pillar of society recently.  She admired own fine Bed lately.  She slept in a very good bedroom recently.  She talked with mother lately.  She admired a fine Table lately.  She was caught in a snow storm recently.  She has been satisfied at work lately. 
She is married to Leru Daubreleased.  She is the daughter of Songbig and `Galagaman' Swelteredstarry.  She is a casual worshipper of Tob, a casual worshipper of Issok Braveryharvested, a worshipper of Tura Brilliancecontrolled the Authority of Stabilizing, a worshipper of Nimma and a casual worshipper of Ino Beachedseals. 
She is a citizen of The Smiling Nation.  She is a member of The Cotton Bands.  She is a former member of The Council of Rocking.  She arrived at Enercuro on the 28th of Granite in the year 102. 
She is twenty-three years old, born on the 23rd of Granite in the year 79. 
She is corpulent.  Her sepia eyes are somewhat narrow.  Her very long hair is braided.  Her slightly flattened broad ears have small lobes.  Her nose is slightly hooked.  Her hair is ecru.  Her skin is pale chestnut. 
She is slow to heal and remarkably flimsy. 
`Nail' Cespilusko likes indigo lacquered, rotten meat, emerald, clear glass, cave troll wool, the color charcoal black and torches.  When possible, she prefers to consume black draught and bone bush meal.  She absolutely detests flies. 
She has a natural ability with music, a lot of willpower and a sharp intellect, but she has bad intuition, a poor kinesthetic sense and little patience. 
She doesn't handle stress well.  She tends to avoid crowds.  She is unassertive.  She is very energetic and active.  She has a good awareness of her own emotions.  She is uncomfortable with change.  She loves new and fresh ideas.  She admires tradition.  She is guarded in relationships with others.  She does not go out of her way to help others.  She finds rules confining.  She talks very loudly when she is excited.  She always snaps her fingers when she's greeting somebody. 

A medium-sized creature prone to great ambition. The folk of men is a great one. They build mighty cities and roads, fortresses and castles. Having an intrepid mind they invented firearms and trade muskets or pistols, even handcannons. Be sure to stay on their side, otherwise a guard squadron will be sent to punish you for your crimes against the empire.

Manned as a woman. Well said, my friend, you are a poet.

[Meph]

We got a ton of free silk today. A hill titan composed of water with webs showed up. Webbed a lot, fell to a bone arrow to his blob body. Curiously enough he didnt freeze in the weather, but then again, who can really tell with these titans...

[Nail]

Water. Well, that's unexpectedly straightforward.
Also, what exactly did I enjoy slaughtering?