Merchant Halls & Accommodation

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Related pages - Alusian Economics - Merchant Halls & Accommodation - Traders - Ships

Merchant Halls & Accommodation

Some merchants often can be heard to say I will pay my bill when my ship comes in... This is my 10 cents worth about merchant shipping and how it works in civilised parts of Alusia.

Merchant Guilds

  • Merchant Halls - the location that Merchants, Insurance groups & Bankers work from.
  • Merchant Guilds - often hold exclusive charters to operate in a town, city, province, and sometimes exclusive trade routes etc. They offer services - accommodation, training, litigant services, charts, maps, mercenaries, crews, associations with port masters, finances, security - code books & crafters that use them, local knowledge, access to mages.
  • Trade Consortium - A few people, families and guilds with aligned interests can pay a litigant to form a trade consortium, often with a clear aim (trade X to Y) and expiry date (over the next 18 months). Often these consortiums will then have associated shares & insurance.
  • Bankers - They work with Merchant Guilds on letters of credit, they normally have protection etc
  • Insurance Groups - Another form of trade. A group backs a consortium. Ships, Cargo, Crew & Passengers and Delivery contracts can all be insured august harm or lose or failure to deliver.

Risk vs Reward

Some independent merchants or families are successful traders. This is often of low cost and low profit. More often thought, given the costs & risks associated with shipping they are backed by some form of shipping or trade consortium. This is because most individuals do not want to take on the total cost of a large ship (cargo) in case of disaster.


Risk mitigation

Sailing under a strong flag is the first line of reducing risk. Water mages offer - ship strength in ports and the duration lasts many days, lower chance of sea monsters, lower chance of pirates etc. On board mercenaries including mages and marines. On board armaments. Weather Control also helps. (see Security below)

Maritime Insurance

Ships, Cargo, Crew & Passengers and Delivery contracts can all be insured august harm or lose or failure to deliver. This can be done for a flat fee or percentage - options being resque, recovery etc.

Trade centres

So in general in large trade centres - main trade cities Merchant Guilds will often have a trading floor, where merchants will be able to purchase a % of a cargo, with expected returns and some known risk.

Cargo or ship payment

So to pay for any large cargo often many traders will come together and put the finance together to pay for the cargos, shipping and insurance.

Trade

When you have a ship, and you get a cargo and go from there to there and sell it for more than you paid for it. You then purchase a new cargo and return with it, often by way of a 3rd and 4th trade and port. Seldom do ships sail far empty. Seldom do ships carry large amounts of money, often using letters of trade to reduce risk.

Trade letters / Letters of Credit

This is normally done by way of trade letters and generally not coins. The trade letters which can be redeemed at any of the trading banks associated with each of the trade centers. Larger amounts will have seals, signatures, messages sent in advance, and can be checked with Whispering Winds.

Balance of trade

All depending on the balance of trade between two or more merchant guild halls the difference needs to be reconciled, balanced and the correct money needs to be delivered.

Cargos

We pretty much are looking at cargo in quantity of tons, on the following ships are traders. Cargos 200 tons = 400,000 pounds = 4,000 bushels Actions at Sea.

Piracy

So when pirates capture or sink a ship (and cargo) it has knock on effects. It’s not just the ship’s captain and crew involved, it’s also specialist crew, navigators, water mages, and air mages & passengers. This is all before we haven’t even mentioned cargos, which will of course differ on any given voyage.

Q ships

Q-ships are vessels that look like merchant ships often on merchant routes but are in fact military in nature to fight against piracy and the clearing houses they use, ports or coves that pirates are using etc.

Security & alerts

Advanced organisation makes all the difference. If an incident happens at sea then a Whispering Wind is often sent to a port. Codes - Pirates(1), Pirates with magic(2), Monsters(3), Bad weather(4), Storms(5), Running aground(6) etc.

Merchant vessels will get a name & code. Regular trade routes also will have merchant codes. For regular cargo trips, charts which have normal landmarks & additionally they have a grid reference down to mile. In addition with the use of spells a location can be checked for accuracy. Whispering Wind at lower ranks can tell the ship if they are out of range of a target, allowing for more accurate location, if checked often throughout a voyage.

Hidden special marks are often placed on cargos and other things of value. The marks are recorded in merchant guild code books. They are transcribed by a high ranked craftsman. Healers can hide, locate items under the skin of important merchant mages. Passengers can swallow a locate coin at the time of incident. These are all used for E&E location spell & recovery jobs.

Table

Ship movement

Air Mages - Mage Wind spell Rank 10, A wind-driven object. Duration 11 hrs, Speed +11 mile per hour (+264 miles/day).
Rank 20, A wind-driven object. Duration 21 hrs, Speed +21 mile per hour (+504 miles/day).
Water Mages - Mage Current spell Rank 10, 110’ range as a radius (220’ across). Duration 5.5 hrs Speed +15 mile per hour.
Rank 20, 210’ range as a radius (420’ across). Duration 10.5 hrs Speed +25 mile per hour.
Water Mages - Ship Strength spell Rank 10, Duration 15 days, strengthen the structure of any ship.
Rank 20, Duration 25 days, strengthen the structure of any ship.

Ship armaments

Merchant ships carry only a few weapons mostly to deal with sea monsters and other predators.

Superior or Special Trebuchet & Ballista
Five whirlwind trebuchets can fire bombs or magical traps containers at other ships, which in turn either affect the ship or the crew. The Five whirlwind trebuchet fires five shots at once. ½ tone in weight.
Maximum range with wind 350 feet. Accurate range 250 feet.
Shots weight 5 lbs each.
6,500 sp per trebuchet.
Rate of fire is 5 shots every 25 seconds.

Traction trebuchet fire, bombs or magical traps containers at other ships, which in turn either affect the ship or the crew. The Traction trebuchet fires a single shot. ¼ tone in weight.
Maximum range with wind 320 feet. Accurate range 250 feet.
Shots weight 5 lbs each.
1,500 sp per trebuchet.
Rate of fire is one shot every 20 seconds.

Ballista blades fire bombs or magical traps containers in the shape of spears at other ships, which in turn either affect the ship or the crew. The Ballista blades fire a single shot. ¼ tone in weight.
Maximum range with wind 550 feet. Accurate range 400 feet.
Cold Iron tipped Spears weight 15 lbs each.
5,500 sp per ballista.
Rate of fire is one shot every 20 seconds.

Shots for - Trebuchet & Ballista - Spears, Bombs & Magical traps

Normal Catapults -
Firing missiles at other ships with catapults is common. Oil, iron bombs, methane and greek fire. Bamboo Catapults fire Oil, iron bombs, methane and greek fire at bottles and casks at other ships, which in turn either affect the ship or the crew. The Bamboo Catapults fire a single shot. ¼ tone in weight.
Maximum range with wind 350 feet. Accurate range 300 feet.
Bottles and casks as listed below.
1,500 sp per Catapults.
Rate of fire is one shot every 60 seconds.
Alchemist Fire bombs, Naphtha, Oil and Greek fire for - Trebuchet & Ballista.
Alchemist bomb and grenados.


Special - Magical traps / Spell containers & Bombs -
Spectral Warrior - to kill water mages, air mages, high profile targets.
Dispel Magic - to stop mage currents, mage wind.
Mage current - to change mage currents.
Wind Storm - to down crew.
Baine - to stop mages.
Cold Iron shot - to stop mages.