fuindordm
Adventurer
The wandering merchant model is useful, but a bit hard to reconcile with the Points of Light setting. If the environment were safe enough for small caravans and peddlers to go from town to town frequently, then the centers of civilization would merge together pretty quickly.
[Caveat: I'm aware the description below is vastly simplified. It's purpose is just to illustrate the relationship between safe travel and commerce]
During the dark ages, even the wealth of kings hung by a thread. Taxation converted some of the slim food surplus to gold, which was mostly used to feed and arm soldiers. Local nobles may have been well fed, but aside from that their standard of living wasn't all that high. The main difference was that their household could spend time creating luxuries instead of farming. In a year of famine, the surplus evaporated and commerce stopped completely. During this time, traveling merchants did do business of course--especially on the seas and waterways. Overland travel, however, required a very large and well-protected party.
The merchant class middle classes didn't get a foothold until travel became safe. As Europe's "points of light" expanded into bona fide countries during the high middle ages, commerce became easier and travel more frequent. The food surplus also increased, since more of the farmland around cities was protected. When trade really took off in the 1500's, the wealth of nobles began to look quite petty compared to that of successful merchants. Wise rulers maintained their roads and levied a heavy tax on the big markets to skim off a portion of the new wealth--foolish ones fell into debt.
Is it realistic, then, to expect that adventurers will meet merchants carrying high-quality, expensive items in nearly every village? The new default seems to be more of a dark ages setting than anything else, sometimes even bronze age...
[Caveat: I'm aware the description below is vastly simplified. It's purpose is just to illustrate the relationship between safe travel and commerce]
During the dark ages, even the wealth of kings hung by a thread. Taxation converted some of the slim food surplus to gold, which was mostly used to feed and arm soldiers. Local nobles may have been well fed, but aside from that their standard of living wasn't all that high. The main difference was that their household could spend time creating luxuries instead of farming. In a year of famine, the surplus evaporated and commerce stopped completely. During this time, traveling merchants did do business of course--especially on the seas and waterways. Overland travel, however, required a very large and well-protected party.
The merchant class middle classes didn't get a foothold until travel became safe. As Europe's "points of light" expanded into bona fide countries during the high middle ages, commerce became easier and travel more frequent. The food surplus also increased, since more of the farmland around cities was protected. When trade really took off in the 1500's, the wealth of nobles began to look quite petty compared to that of successful merchants. Wise rulers maintained their roads and levied a heavy tax on the big markets to skim off a portion of the new wealth--foolish ones fell into debt.
Is it realistic, then, to expect that adventurers will meet merchants carrying high-quality, expensive items in nearly every village? The new default seems to be more of a dark ages setting than anything else, sometimes even bronze age...
