Tular's Noble House Helpline

[Tular]

Ok, I know alot of you want to get into rping nobles and such, and generally pick my brain while I'm on, so I'm going to give you a means to ask me while I'm away.

If you have any non-secret plans for what you want to achieve with your noble/house, put your ideas and queries here, and I'll try to help you out when I can.

Let the Great Game begin!

[yurai]

SPIFFY!!! ;D ;D

Shrug, would sure love to rp with some heavyweights merchants. Mainly from Saldaea and possibly Arafel, to try and see if I can establish my house as a heavyweight trader in the Blands. The way I'll accomplish that feat I prefer to keep to myself for now.


Er, that's all I can think of now.

[Tular]

Being that yours is an Illianer House, Yurai, all probable trade with the Borderlands would flow along the Arinelle/Manetherendrelle river system. Trade would focus on good with particularly high value along the southern coast, since the length of the trade route would incur some heavy expenses. Trade with other borderland countries would thus have to be with even more valuable items not available in the southlands, since the trade route would be that much longer again.

To go about this you would need to raise personal captial for the venture. While a loan from your House could easily cover the expense involved, it'd pretty much kill all the benefit of making all the new connections yourself, and thus eliminate any clan point advantage (you'd get none). A loan would merely give you to opportunity to ammend your relationship with the High Seat of your House, and since you have claimed to be primary heir, that could only prove indifferent or detrimental. Remember, in national clans, clan points are a measure of your own personal influence. If you want to have truly loyal supporters at the end of the day, you'll have to win their hearts (or their pockets) yourself.

Possible steps to establishing trade with Saldaea:

* Some merchants will sell shares in whatever cargo they are carrying as a means to fund their voyage. Thus, if you buy 40% of the shares in their cargo before they leave, you'll get 40% of any profit they make on the trip. What they buy is up to them, so you need to shop around until you find someone you are comfortable investing with.

* Hire a merchant on full retainer. This works much like having a 100% cargo investment, except you get more control over what the cargo is going to be. This may incur additional expenses if things go wrong though.

* Buy your own ship and hire a crew totally loyal to your House. The most expensive option, but if you have a keen merchant's mind yourself, potentially the most rewarding. This also allows you to redirect the ship to other purposes, including such things as dropping off armsmen for a surprise attack on a rival House.

* Discuss options with the local Merchant's Guild. They may offer you a means of investing in trade, while remaining fairly safe with your money. This pretty much guarantees you a heavilly tarriffed profit as you cover guild expenses, but at the end of the day is certainly the safest. If you don't stir the pot, it can also improve relations with the Guild.

These are basically just a few options on how you may go about it. As you said, you have your own ideas, but these are some of the approaches taken by your rivals, so best you be aware of them.

*Tosses in a silver thone's worth*
Tular

[yurai]

I bow down before your awesome godliness.