I thought that while we are doing so well on lists of goods traded, perhaps it might be worth expanding on one item: luxury goods. This descriptor covers a multitude of things, so I wonder if we can come up with a good list of possible goods.
To get the ball rolling, ones that come to mind are:
(1) Spices: natural plant extracts have
always sold well in RL, because they are consumed drectly in their use. Assuming that the races actually care about their diets (and some won't!
), then spices can be in transit from great distances. Of course, traditionally the main use of good spices was to cover the taste of spoilage in foods, and that may be less important in a D&D universe. However, people also get a taste for spices: curries anyone? And in a magical world, spices might have more magical effects too, like heightening attractiveness, or calming the mind.
(2) Fabrics: people generally have to wear clothing of come kind, and they will generally pay over the odds for hard-weaaring or attractive or useful materials. Consider the mediaeval states of Italy. They
could produce their own woolen fabrics, but they were prepared to pay for fustians made from English wool and dyed and woven by Flanders merchants. Why? because these looked better and were harder-wearing. Likewise the wealthy drove a trade in cotton, to make their undergarments (linen and wool knickers are so much more uncomfortable!
). And then there was the silk trade, from the East, for the finest garments. Basically, fabrics are a big inductry in their own right. And again, in a magical world there might well be fabrcs woven with special properties, which are made only in certain locations. These will make a very lucrative trade.
(3) Gemstones/precious metals: the need for decoration is driven both by personal vanity and the need to show one's devotion to the deities. The raw materials of this - the gemstones and the precious metals - are traded across long distances. Often they are also used as simple bullion (bulk metals of known purity) in order to pay for other goods. I imagine that the underground races use such materials, including the magical ones like adamantine and mithral, as a primary trade material.
(4) Wood: strange as it may seem, fine woods can be worth a small fortune. The woods traded tend to be decorative or hardwearing materials, or ones with special properties. This might be even more important in a magical setting. Players may not think much of bulk shipments of mahogany or darkwood, but they are a good trade material!
(5) Manufactured Goods: a catch-all term for things like clocks or furniture. Some peoples and races will have exclusive skills in certain craft forms. Maybe the best clocks are made by the gnomes of Vasdjen; they will trade at a premium ovef other people's goods, at least so long as craftsmen aren't lured away (or abducted!) to other markets. Also, we shouldn't disgregard the idea of style. Whilst anyone can build tables and chests, maybe certain elven craftsmen make particularly pleasing styles. I can see no reason why taste and fashion shouldn't apply equally to the demihuman and nonhuman races too.
Okay. That's me done. Anyone else?
