Caelonia

You see the glistening walls and buildings of the city on the horizon as their shapes are brought closer to the sound of the Ocean Galley’s oars. You have been sailing towards the city for the last three months and the captain said that the run was so blessed that only three people died on the journey. The captain had told you a little of Caelonia and the fact that it was a city state that was leading a coalition of three other city states further inland and that Caelonians have a vast trade network across the Morridan Expanse.

It is several hours before the Galley is moored at the Caelonian docks and by the time you are standing on dry land again, it is midday.

“Do you want to be finding accommodation ma’am?” The captain asks you as he steps off with you

“For the moment I must tend to matters of finance before I can permit myself some comfort, I shall head for the markets such as they are.” You say in reply to which the captain nods and makes sure his first mate is aware of his trip ashore.

“The Forum is this way ma’am, it’s what they call their version of our grand bazaars but this one is not quite so large as I think you must have a permit to set up a shop in the limited space they have available here” you listen intently to the Captain’s knowledge of the land as he sets off towards the forum with you trailing behind, and aid carrying tools of inspection similar to the ones your master uses. You are wearing a cotton cloak that covers you down to your ankles and hiding your very immodest clothing in richly decorated fabrics so as not to attract too much unwanted attention.

The forum is as the captain said it would be, it was very much like the grand bazaar from your home town but not quite as big. You do note that it is very well organised and shaped like a horse shoe with buildings forming the sides, a large open air market in the centre and an auditorium at the back.

“What was it you were looking to buy or sell?” asks the captain and returning your attention from sightseeing to your financial status

“We have silks, dried spices and some tea to sell, I would think to start with the silks to test the waters and see if we can find reasonable men or greedy men” The captain nods his head and gestures with his hand for you to travel towards one of the side buildings.

“This place is the store front for a traders guild that has been a big fabrics trader in the past, seeing if they are still in the fabrics business would be a first step and then we can bring them a bolt for inspection” The captain details many various aspects of Caelonian merchant society including the big three merchant houses that run foreign trade and compete with each other for the best deals. He mentions the names of the big three of Bordittori, La Manson and Friedman as the three merchant houses. He tells you that of the three, Friedman was the biggest and has previously held the title of Mayor of Caelonia since Caelonia was first founded.

“Merchant guilds are ways for your average merchant to have power similar to that of merchant houses, however they are still not quite powerful and few of them have enough of a monopoly on anything and mostly specialise in one good or another in an attempt to gain some say in that field. They often end up under the control of another merchant house at some point and this one is under the control of Friedman or it was last I was in Caelonia.” You and the captain come to a stop in front of a building with glass windows that showcased bolts of fabrics for buyers to look at before coming in to buy something.

Inside the store, you see a central room filled with racks each containing bolts of fabrics and shelves with yarns of string, there were also a few rugs and carpets on offer.

“How my I help you, sir and madam?” asked a portly man standing behind a counter and wearing a warm smile.

“We have fabrics to trade and are looking for merchants with which to sell, I am told that this is one place to find those merchants” you say to the man, purposefully leaving out the kind of fabric and how much. For the most part you only have nine bolts to trade along with three barrels of dried spice and four barrels of tea.

“Ahh my dear madam, you have indeed come to the right place! Umpf!” the man, in his haste to greet you, ran into one of his cloth racks and knocked it straight to the ground, although he remained standing. You glance at the captain who had already moved to help the poor man in restoring his cloth rack to its former state and the repairs lasted a mere forty seconds as the captain righted the stand and replaced the fabric. “I’m afraid I get a little excitable when someone with such a foreign clip to their voice comes in offering to sell” says the man and you instantly realise he is referring to you. You had always thought that your accent was still from around here but apparently you had picked up the accent from Abiria, the place you came from.

“Then, assuming you don’t bowl any more stands over, we shall have plenty to discuss when we return.” You say to the man as he makes sure his fabric is unharmed before turning to see you off

“Ahh yes, I do hope that this small incident will be nothing more than a jest over dinner and that we may do business in proper hmm?” the man takes your hand and gives it a firm shake. “I am Ferran Lansdale, might I have the honour of knowing the name you go by madam?”

“Kiara of . . . Abiria . . .” you were about to say your master’s name as is proper of a **** before remembering that you had left him behind and you are supposed to be posing as a free person now.

“Well than, madam Kiara, may I call you Kiara? I do so hope to see you again in the future” you incline your head and he lets your hand slip from his own as you and the captain exit his store for the trip back to the ship.

“What is a ‘madam’?” you ask almost as soon as the door has closed behind you and you receive a short laugh from the captain

“It is an honorific, it’s history used to refer to female members of the noble class who were called ‘dames’ but now it is merely an honorific used to treat with females to imply they are of a high station and should be treated as such” the captain shakes his head as you walk. “And I think that man was far more intrigued by a woman without the brown skin common to Abiria speaking in an Abirian accent”

“I surprise myself in the fact that I find this heartening, that people take me for an Abirian” you say to him and he places a hand on your shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze.

“Just don’t tell anyone what your station was in Abiria, these people won’t understand our ways and will put you in chains before you can explain what is happening and mail execute you for running from your owner. There is no ‘slaves of high station’ here, slaves are the bottom of society and that is final” you nod at the captain and reassure him that, in the Morridan Expanse, you are free.

It is high noon by the time you return to the fabric traders’ store with a **** carrying a bolt of silk for him to inspect. You enter the store and the man is on his feet again almost faster than you could notice he was sitting at all.

“Ahh! Madam Kiara! So wonderful to see you again! And what is this you have brought me?” calls Ferran as he shuffles carefully around his fabric racks and walks towards the bolt of silk. “Come, I have prepared a table in anticipation” Ferran leads you to a room with a table in it and motions for the bolt to be placed on it. When the fabrics are on the table he walks over to it and stops with his hands mere inches away. “May I?” he asks and you incline your head to give him approval.

Ferran takes his time with your silk, running his hands over it, pulling out a magnifying glass that he holds to his eye while he does so. Writing down various figures on a sheet of parchment, Ferran makes sure he gets everything he can from it, taking a total of thirty minutes to properly determine the value of the silk.

“This is some good quality fabric, silk here is usually of poor quality and the goods we get from overseas are little better. Either people are trying to rip us off, or their product isn’t all that good to begin with but this is quite the prized catch . . . how many bolts do you have? I may not be able to afford too many of them with the price I give this.” You look at the captain and then back to Ferran while you decide if he is being truthful or not

“What price would you give for just that bolt?” asks the captain while you deliberate.

“I mark it at three gold pieces but I’d be more comfortable paying a single piece, gold is a lot of money and I have little of it on hand” Ferran looks like he has forgotten the golden rules of haggling but it seems that the charms of a young woman with an exotic accent and fine quality goods has done the job well.

“We have nine to sell, and I would be comfortable with ten pieces of gold” you say, hoping to draw out an extra piece from the man.

“I can do that and still make a profit, I can always swindle some rich woman by saying they are enchanted or something . . . some of the merchant wives will buy anything if you tell them it has the right enchantment” you are now quite convinced that haggling has been lost on this man in your presence or maybe wasn’t well known to begin with but you strike a deal and a bill of sale is written up that is sealed in hot wax by Ferran so that you can show it to a bank and get the gold you were promised.

“Good day mister Lansdale, it was a pleasure doing business with you, even if the silk might be in jeopardy of being knocked over” you use the honorific that the captain told you about on your third trip to the shop as you leave and Ferran gives you a chuckle as he grasps your hand and shakes it before saying goodbye as well.

“That was a good profit if I dare say, normally I’m lucky to make that on an entire run, gold is jealously guarded by the noble folk we I see little of it.” You look at the captain and back down to the pouch that protects the bill of sale from prying eyes before the captain leads the way to the bank on the bill of sale and you get your gold. You hand one piece to the captain.

“I doubt I need all this gold and I think you could use profit from this venture as much as I could” you tell him

By the time it reaches nightfall, you had managed to find a small house that was being sold, you ‘convinced’ the previous owner that he only wanted a single gold piece from the deal and you had yourself set up in a reasonably sized house that was still more than your average commoner could afford and so you settled in for a simple meal of ship’s provisions to save on having to go out at night and find food. During the meal, the captain tells you his name is Assad and that he never told you before because you were technically below his station but now that you are in the Morridan Expanse, you are a land owner and thus of a similar station to Assad.

You offer Assad your new place for quarters while he is in town and the two of you begin to make plans for the new day. You need to decide if you want to sell the spice and tea first, visit the **** market to see about making connections for your master, or look into establishing connections for yourself. You might find one or the other to be easier if you accomplish one of those tasks first as an accomplished trader might only talk to someone with the wealth to match while you might need an accomplished trader behind you to set up connections for your master or yourself.