Settlements - Trade Deals
The Bankers & Merchants Guild acts on behalf of the other Organisations to initiate, debate and conclude trade deals. Sometimes the other Organisations do sort out a trade deal themselves, but with the expertise of the B&M Guild available most of the time the Organisations prefer having the B&M Guild involved.
The specific details of a trade deal are not given because the players would have to go through a lot of data to be able to work out whether a deal is worthwhile; this would take a lot of time, require player not character knowledge and also be prone to mistakes. Instead characters can examine/debate a trade deal, which requires a SA, to determine whether the deal is worthwhile. The test is made against several skills, but Commerce is always checked and is the more important skill for this action. It is likely that a SQ liaison could provide details about the deal.
Presenting a Trade Deal Message Scroll is a FA, just like other Message Scroll presentations. It is important to remember that presenting a Trade Deal Message Scroll and then asking a question or giving the party's opinion, is 2 actions not 1! The message presentation is a FA; the question or party opinion is a SA.
The following are the factors that are important in a deal:
Distance:
The larger the distance between the settlements the greater the difficulty there will be to fulfil any deal. Using the Journey shops Magic Portals is normally fine for parties, but for merchant caravans that are normally big in size and numbers it is not normal an option. Even if the deal can be fulfilled by using the Magic Portals the more journeys that are required means that the merchant caravan has to visit more settlements and thus potentially encounter more problems.
Time:
Heavily tying in with Distance is Time. The longer something takes to reach its destination the more likely that problems could occur. Another important factor is that some trade goods, like food, degrades so the longer something takes to deliver the greater the chance that the resulting delivery will include poor quality or ruined products.
Cost:
The specific cost is not given for the reasons stated above. Cost can be given in broken down sections such as travelling expenses and production quotas or in a total format.
Productivity:
Organisations like to know if the can rely upon a trade deal being fulfilled successfully and this section is included for the Organisations involved to provide any details that may boost or lower production quotas.
Current Settlement/Organisation relations:
This is a very important factor, possibly the most important one. If two settlements are add war then a Trade Deal is almost guaranteed to fail. It is possible that secret deals are reached between Organisations but if for example the Settlement Officials of settlement A found out that the Magic Cyrcle is supplying magical power to the Magic Cyrcle in settlement B who they happen to be at war with there could be some serious repercussions.
The results of studying a deal will be short and give the player an indication of what the characters think about the deal.
Alliances below Rank 4 are not in a position to speak for an Organisation about setting up a trade deal without being given details from the Organisation they work for. Alliances do not handle the day-to-day running of a settlement or an Organisation, however given enough details Alliance members can provide insight in to a deal and also act as diplomats to arrange a deal. Alliances, even Rank 4, should avoid discussing a deal with any Organisation before speaking to their Organisation because if their Organisation says they are not interested it could create some big diplomatic problems for everyone involved.
This section is not meant for using moderation to purchase items like weapons, etc; this is covered by the rule of needing a SA to request an item, ask a question, etc.
For Example: An Alliance is given the following SQ.
A Message Scroll (127111) has been added to the Alliance Storeroom to present to the Magic Cyrcle in Knightsbridge (17). The message is about deal between them and us to share a magical site that is located on Avaellia's border with Knightsbridge. The cost is reasonable due to the close distance between our two settlements. Current settlement relations are good. Samuel.
OOC - Sq31-ma13/12/02-1.
The player sends in the following action:
Game 31, Mystics of Avaellia 111, Account Number: 12345, Bobby Joe Smith
Sq31-ma13/12/02-1 - Eldritch Slayers (1645) are in (17) As a FA the party members will meet with the Magic Cyrcle Officials and present the Trade Deal: Message Scroll (127111).
The following information appears on the next turn of the party:
Possible Results: The Trade Deal: Message Scroll (127111) is presented to the Magic Cyrcle Knightsbridge (17) Officials. The Officials take the message and after several hours return with the message with a reply on it to take back to Avaellia. They say they are happy with the deal contents and agree to go ahead with it.
The party return back to Avaellia and pass on the following message to the liaison Samuel.
Game 31, Mystics of Avaellia 111, Account Number: 12345, Bobby Joe Smith
Sq31-ma13/12/02-1 - Eldritch Slayers (1645) have returned from (17) with the Trade Deal: Message Scroll (127111), which is given to Samuel and the feedback from the Knightsbridge Magic Cyrcle Officials is that they are happy with deal.
If the party wanted to try and persuade the Knightsbridge Magic Cyrcle Officials they could have prevented the Message Scroll and then used a SA.
If the party wanted to try and persuade the Knightsbridge Magic Cyrcle Officials using a PS: Persuasion they could have prevented the Message Scroll and then used the PS as a FA as well as a SA to be able to talk with the Officials.
For Example: If the party wanted to check the details in the Message Scroll for themselves then a SA would be required to read the Scroll.
Game 31, Mystics of Avaellia 111, Account Number: 12345, Bobby Joe Smith
Sq31-ma13/12/02-1 - Eldritch Slayers (1645) Using a SA the party will examine the Trade Deal: Message Scroll (127111).
The following information appears on the next turn of the party:
Possible Results: The Trade Deal: Message Scroll (127111) says it is a proposal of a trade deal between the Magic Cyrcle in Knightsbridge (17) and the Magic Cyrcle in Avaellia (6).
The deal is to trade magical energy from a magical site controlled by Avaellia on the Avaellia and Knightsbridge border, in return for reasonable amount of gold and also a major boon to be specified at a later.
Based on the details included overall the deal is good for both sides, although the unspecified major boon adds a certain random aspect to the agreement
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