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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 506401" data-attributes="member: 8530">MengaleA caravan travelling through the heavy forests is only permitted to stop only at designated campsites, situated every 4 to 7 miles along the road.  Fresh water, firewood and latrines have been made available at each of these campsites.   The boundries of these camp areas are clearly marked, and anyone going beyond a boundry will be executed by the well camouflaged archers assigned to monitor the travel of the caravans.   Once through the forests and into the interior of Mengale the caravans are required to continue until they reach a trading area near the center of the Kingdom, again stopping only at designated camping areas.    While the roads through to the interior of the Kingdom pass by some of the communities, caravan personnel are forbidden from interacting and conversing with any of the local population. The trading area consists of fifteen large buildings made of stone and oak.  The largest building is an elaborate temple to Correllon Larethian, where all merchants are expected to worship at during their stay in the trading area.  Twelve of the buildings are auditorim-sized trade rooms, where the different merchants set up their wares in the center of each building for the populace to walk through and view what is for sale.   The remaining two buildings are a boarding house for the merchants and a livery/stable for their mounts and wagons.   The boarding house is a massive two story structure with a central dining room on the first floor and fifty private bedchambers.   The required etiquette for the caravans is for the merchants to meet in the dining room for morning and evening meals, spend the majority of the day in the trading rooms presenting their merchandise, and the remainder of their time each in their private bed chambers.   The only exception to this is use of the Cathedral, which the merchants are free to go to during any hour of the day or night.   Merchants are expected to bring and clean their own serving dishes and utensils.  Food and beverages are provided for the merchants, set out for them by the Mengale elves when the dining chamber is unoccupied.     Following each meal the merchants are expected to clean up the dining room and wash off the dining tables, then also leave behind trade goods as payment for and to show their appreciation for the meal.Each merchant can expect to spend at least several days displaying their goods before any actual sales are conducted.  While hundreds if not thousands of Mengale elves will make their way through each building, it is always in complete silence.    Only after everyone has seen the merchandise will a Mengale spokesperson actual speak to a merchant.  The spokespeople are  usually either a High Lord, High Lady, High Priest, or High Priestess of Correllon Larethian.    Negotiation over prices frequently takes several days.  The more successful merchants hire skilled negotiators to conduct these price disucssions.   These are elves who have developed a long-term working relationship with the people of Mengale, of at least a few decades, and have built up a level of mutual trust.   The traits most admired by elves of Mengale of outsiders are patience, trustworthyness and reverence to the elvan god.The caravan will not leave until all of the merchants who came with it have compelted their negotiations, which means that some could be waiting for several days or weeks for the last one to finish.  On the morning of the caravan’s departure from the trade area a formal farewell  ceremony is held, which will be attended by all Mengale elves who spoke during the negotiations.   At this point in time the top negotiator of both sides will then exchange presents.   This is usually a contest of “one-upmanship” to set the tone for the following negotiation period.  Each side presents something that they feel is superior, so that the other will feel an obligation to accept lower prices durng the next time that the merchant caravan visits.</blockquote>

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