Mor's End Craft & Trade Submissions

[Lalato]

Translators, Scribes, and Illuminators
The Scrivener's Quill

On first meeting Barth Olbee, most people come away thinking the man is completely mad. His mannerisms and speech make him appear as if he is in a constant mental fog. Don't let that fool you, though. He's as sharp as a tack. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to grow his business over the years as much as he has.

Barth Olbee was born Irmyn Melvil. He came to Mor's End nearly two decades ago on one of the many caravans that make their way through the city. Irmyn was a translator and aide for the caravan master. He had been stealing small, valuable things here and there from the caravan over the years, and when he came to Mor's End, he saw his opportunity to sell them for a tidy profit. One night he stole away from the caravan... and was never seen again.

Irmyn sold his loot, and for a few years continued a life of petty crime while living in the Squats. After one run-in too many with the City Watch, he forced himself to go "straight". He scraped together some money, changed his name to Barth Olbee and opened up a stall on the edge of The Tangle (an area of town that resembles a maze with it's narrow winding streets), near the market.

Barth started out simply writing letters, both legal and personal, for those that didn't have the skill to write, or at least couldn't write with any eloquence. He would sometimes read letters for those that couldn't read. On occasion he was able to use his great skill... translation. He tried to be honest at the outset, but Barth just wasn't meant for honesty. While writing up a legal document that one fellow was going to present at court, he got the idea that this fellows enemies might pay a handsome sum to find out what he had written before it appeared at the courthouse. Barth made two copies of the document, and turned over a tidy profit, indeed. It wouldn't be the last time he betrayed someone's confidence.

In the last few years, Barth has had dealings with the Thieves Guild. He and his scribes have become one of the guild's main forgers. What the guild doesn't know is that Barth has no qualms selling them out. He just hasn't had an opportunity yet.

The Scrivener's Quill is located just inside The Tangle, not far from one of the markets. It has been a great success over the last 10 years. Barth Olbee oversees a small staff of three scribes, two of which double as illuminators. Barth does the majority of the translation work. He does pretty good business. You would be surprised how many people use his services... and the secrets they entrust with him.

Plot Hooks:

1. Barth has come upon a treasure map (which he mistranslated for the poor sod that paid him). Now Barth is looking for a group of people to investigate the real treasure. Even if the party takes his offer... can they trust that everything on their version of the map is true?

2. Barth's old caravan master has heard rumors that his old translator is alive in Mor's End. His business interests won't take him near Mor's End anytime soon, and he wants to hire someone to spy on old Irmyn/Barth to find out what he's up to... and more importantly, where's that ring he stole [see Equipment below]?


Barth Olbee, male human Exp2/Rog1: CR 2; ECL 3; Medium-size Humanoid (human); HD 3d6; hp 12; Init +0; Spd 30 ft; AC 10; Melee dagger +0 (1d4-1/crit 19-20); Ranged dagger +1 (1d4-1/crit 19-20); SA sneak attack; AL LE; SV Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +3; Str 9, Dex 10, Con 11, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 14.
Skills and Feats: Speak Language (halfling), Speak Language (gnome), Speak Language (elven), Speak Language (giant), Speak Language (goblin), Speak Language (orc), Speak Language (dwarven), Appraise +6, Bluff +4, Craft (translation) +6, Forgery +6, Hide +3, Spot +3 ,decipher Script +6, Use Magic Device +4, Search +4, Listen +3, Knowledge (languages) +6, Speak Language (open) +5; Skill Focus (Craft), Skill Focus (Knowledge).
SA–Sneak Attack (Ex): Barth Olbee deals +1d6 damage against an opponent with a discernable anatomy who is denied a Dex bonus or is flanked.
Equipment: Dagger, Ring of X-Ray Vision.

Speak Language (open) is noted above... This is for skill ranks in other human languages that might exist in various campaigns. DM's discretion.

 

[Buttercup]

Re: Cattle Ranches

Cows orSheep

Both I think. Might as well have some pig farms and some goats wandering around too. Varied sources of protein make a healthy and stable city.

As for the political clout, here are my thoughts. In the middle ages, most noble families were essentially farmers. They owned large parcels of land, and they used it as farms or ranches. Prestige was related to size of land holdings. Even as late as the early 19th century you see literary examples of people sneering at those who earn their money via mercantile means rather than as landowners/farmers/ranchers. Not, mind you, that Lord Whosey-Whatsis would ever dirty his own hands turning the soil, or gelding cattle. Hired hands and indentured servants did that.

Also, given that Mor's End couldn't survive long without food, I'd say that the ranchers would almost have to have some political clout. "Pass laws that chafe me too much, and I'll just drive my cattle over the mountains to sell elsewhere!"

 

[darklight]

I have an idea for a toymaker, would that be allright?
Afterall, it's a fair size city, and the rich kids gotta have some fancy toys, that the poor ones can't afford.

darklight

 

[Buttercup]

Darklight, that's an excellent idea! I can't wait to see what you have in mind.

 

[Conaill]

Guilds and Organizations thread is open for business!

Hi all!

Please come check out the Guilds and Organizations thread! It's now open for business.

So far I've populated it with the groups listed by Knightfall in his summary, and a bunch of quotes from "A Magical Medieval Society" (thanks, Suzi Yee and Joseph Browning!) Actual content is still to come . I also have 4 placeholder posts for additional groups that can be assigned.

There is quite a bit of overlap between the Craft & Trade thread and the Guilds and Organizations thread, so do drop on by...

 

[jgbrowning]

Re: Cattle Ranches

Cows or Sheep? Its been indicated to me that the "cattle" aren't really cows, but large sheep.

Location of Ranches? I am unsure as to exactly how much territory/land and where this land is located. I was thinking something in the thousands of acres per ranch, and having two or three large like this, and then two or three smaller ones with herds no larger than 200 to 300 head.

Political Clout? Not sure if they are just guys out on the range, or if the Ranch owners are going to be politically powerful.

Andy Christian

As far as i know, medieval cattle required 2 acres each, while you could get 2 sheep per acre for adequate grazing.

Traditionally there weren't any cattle ranches/sheep ranches as we'd think of them today. Land was owned by the nobility and they greatly diversified their food sources (heavily grain/wheat dependant however) their food in order to reduce risk of famine. Magic would help alliaviate this fear a bit so a more "industrial" type farm we're familiar with could be a possiblity.Also its interesting to note that the majority of people are going to be mostly vegetarian (the great % of their calories coming from wheat/porriage/bread/beer). Not from lack of desire or ethical reasons, but from lack of money.

Since land was owned by nobility, political clout didn't come from producing food (social clout however often depended upon husbandry) as much as it came from the right to bear arms.

edit: oh yeah, sheep were mostly raised for their wool and were only killed when they were old or caught a disease or for special occasions. sheep are also notoriously sickly animals: not nearly as hardy as cattle.

joe b.

 

[Knightfall]

Re: Re: Cattle Ranches

oh yeah, sheep were mostly raised for their wool and were only killed when they were old or caught a disease or for special occasions. sheep are also notoriously sickly animals: not nearly as hardy as cattle.

One observation, a merchant who specializes in cloth from wool would definitely be the poor man's clothier, in Mor's End. Not that the local nobility don't but clothing made of wool, just that those that can't afford to setup a watersilk shop have to live with lower profits selling wool clothing.

{EDIT}

BTW, I think instead of saying farm or ranch we should use a catch-all word to describe the rural homesteads around Mor's End - steddings!

Later,

KF72

 

[jgbrowning]

I've put all of the craft/professions from A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe up on our web page as a download. Go to www.exp.citymax.com and head to the community support page. It's called City Gen Text.

Have fun! Should provide a good baseline for what ya'll are interested in.

joe b.

 

[David Argall]

boarding houses, apts, etc

"Boarding houses I'm not so sure about. I think these were a much later concept. But I'll investigate. If you know of a source that talks about medieval boarding houses, point it out to me"

I would think boarding houses is an extremely ancient, and obvious, development. Any city has a large number of workers in need of cheap housing, which they can't afford to buy. Many will live at the workplace, but this means you are on call 25 hours a day, so the workers want to find alternatives. Apartments will do for those with a family or other support, but living alone requires quite a bit of time to cook, clean up, laundry, cleaning... A boarding house can provide all these services.
The inn is generally suitable for our adventurer since he is a travelling sort and only wants temporary housing. But few stay at an inn for any length of time. Those wanting to stay in the city for any extended period go elsewhere.
On the other side, any city will have fairly large residences that are no longer suitable for the rich [and in many cases are owned by those no longer rich]. Cutting these into a dozen or so units and providing other housing services turns the white elephant into a paying business.
In some societies, it was one of the relatively few "respectable" options for a woman in need of coin.

I doubt you can find too much on the history of boarding houses. It is likely one of those things that are just always there and get little notice.

 

[Lalato]

sheep are also notoriously sickly animals: not nearly as hardy as cattle.

Ahh... but we're not talking about your common barnyard sheep here. We're talking about Argali sheep... which in D&D terms would be classified as dire sheep. In the real world, Argali sheep are rarely domesticated. They grow up to 5 feet tall, and live mainly in the mountains of central asia (from kyrgizstan to tibet).

Argali sheep offer good meat, can produce drinkable milk (similar to goat's milk), and can be shorn for wool.

I never imagined the countryside would be filled with large ranches. I always assumed that the nearby land would be a mixture of noble land holdings (including Lady Kelvin's lands), and land owned by villagers.

The noble lands would be dotted with small farms, and villages to support those farms. The villagers/farmers on noble lands would work the land for a small share of the crop/animals... or they would be given a small plot of land to farm for their own profit, but would be taxed on that profit.

The independent villages would either be one large extended family or a cooperative of a few families. These villages would attempt to be as self sufficient as possible with a lot of mixed farming and animals. They would pay tax to the city for protection.

Joe B... is the above too far off medieval reality?

--sam