Taking Orders - Mixer's Adventure Emporium

Mixer

Newbie
I know as of our last gathering, several people approached me regarding replenishing supplies, getting things built and doing what I do best.

But as it is more than two days since, just about everything has slipped my mind. I blame the cats.

Anyway, if you wish things crafted - send me a private message. Quantities, items, etc.

Keep in mind I am required by law to charge the X4 cost as per the standard for the Merchants guild but I do not charge more if we need to double batch. Tripples or more we negotiate.

Past that, orders will be filled in the order they are requested. If I can't get it immediately, I should be able to get it the next time around or find someone else for you to fulfill the order.

I look forward to replenishing your stock so you can continue to do what you do. Gold not spent on resources is gold you die with in your pockets.

Mixer
-yes, we are still working on a business motto-
 
Mixer,

I'm actually in need of some things that I'd be willing to send coin down to purchase from you, but this law of yours is...terrible. I'm sorry, and I hope that others are more willing to part with their coin than I am, because you seem a good person, but this...law...

I mean...a law that forces you to sell things at a certain rate? That's tyranny.

I can't support tyranny.

--Zeth
 
Zeth,

That is hardly tyranny. It is the basic mercantilism of the monarchy of Sedovia. Perhaps you are used to a more free marketplace approach of some place like Rendezvous, and there is an argument to be made there. To call the King's decision tyranny is uncalled for however. I strongly suggest that if you dislike the charter of the Merchant's Guild that you speak with your local noble and not cast dispersions on institutions that have been in place far longer than we, as guests of their nation, have been here.

Kel
 
Kel,

"Basic mercantilism?" Sorry. That's just silly. If I make a thing, and that thing is worth a value, but my buddy took a Death spell for me, so I sell him the thing at the cost it took me to make it, that's my choice and freedom as the maker of the thing. Laws that say that I can't sell a thing to my friends at whatever price I want to sell them to? That's not right. And tyranny is a leadership that says that if I don't sell a thing at the price they dictate is the "right price," they'll throw me in a prison of their choosing. Or otherwise punish me, I suppose.

Don't get me wrong, I totally get that they're, and you're, rationalizing it. Just like the Harkonians rationalized enslaving people. You know they actually believed that their slaves enjoyed a good life under their "care" because they were fed, sheltered, and otherwise kept reasonably safe? There's necromancers who believe that the use of necromancy to create minions is great, too, because they don't need food or sleep, so everyone reaps the rewards of efficient labor!

Obviously, they're terrible people, but I don't think I need to tell you that.

This law is also terrible, because it says a thing that isn't theirs is a thing they can weirdly dictate. Maybe it's just, I don't know, the laws of outside lands that actually make a lot of sense but don't make sense to me because my people generally don't have weird laws like this. But I'm sort of surprised that, as a mystic wood elf, it doesn't irritate you at a deeper level. No offense intended, I'm not a mystic wood elf, so I'm naturally ignorant of the finer aspects of your philosophies (and I expect that some mystic wood elves would feel differently about it than others).

I'm not going to complain to my "local noble." I'm not personally invested. But adventurer communities are usually open to selling their goods to outside adventurer communities, and because I like Mixer, I wanted him to know why I won't be doing sending him my coin. Because those laws are terrible.

-Zeth
 
Goodman Zeth,

We here in the country of Sedovia have an economy. We believe that it is important to help support those who produce goods. How are those productionist going to make a sustainable living if they are selling their goods at cost of making them? How is Goodman Mixer going to be able to support himself and his family? How is he suppose to pay the miner a sustainable wage for getting the ore to make weapons? How is he going to make money to pay for the healing services of the Earth Guild when he is injured? Now I know many of you adventurers are foreign to the concept of a kingdom and sustainable economy, but we here in Sedovia have a way of life that works and benefits everyone.

Do you work for free? If not, how do you expect the common people of the land to work for free to support you or support Mixer's trade?

Tyranny is unrestrained use or abuse of power, which our great King is not doing. Before you start insulting nobility in any land, I suggest you get the prespective of the people who live and thrive here.

Aside, Mixer, I shall point people towards you in the future. I may need to restock the Earth Guild's supplies after that unrelenting attack from Zaka. I will find you should I need it. Please help support your local adventurers who have aided Foxbridge first.

-Guildmaster Bridgeman
 
Umm, if I might interject here. I would like to point out that there is no Sedovian law that specifically targets or punishes people for selling something at a price different from what the Merchants Guild has determined to be a fair price. So, umm, Mister Zeth you should not be concerned as to that being a possibility. However, all Sedovians recognize the fact that the prices set forth for products by the Merchants Guild of Sedovia are considered to be fair and allow for the sustainable economy we enjoy. If the prices were to be found unfair, the Crown would take action to ensure the Merchants Guild adjusted such to a more fair and just price.

I just wished to, umm, ensure that the Laws as set forth by the Crown were truly understood. Good day.

~ Lord Magistrate Ignatius Cere
 
Very well Zeth,

I shall be blunt. I do try my best to be diplomatic, but since you have equated honoring hospitality with slavery and necromancy, you get to see behind the curtain so to speak.

We are guests here. Were you to barge into my home and tell me how to arrange my furniture it would be incredibly rude. Yet you see fit to state that not only is the furniture set up in a way you don’t like, but that it is an abomination for me to set it up as I have. Let me perfectly clear, to equate an economic system with tyranny, slavery, or necromancy is the pinnacle of insult. You speak ill against the crown. You then further denigrate their whole society by stating that you won’t even deign to work within their own system of redress for something that you find egregious. This is after they have extended the right to have a say in who their local authorities will be!

Unlike necromancy which harms us all, slavery which harms the enslaved, or even simple theft which harms a person by taking from them, mercantilism does not harm those involved, especially as there is no specific law that prevents selling for less. I may not see the benefit of mercantilism personally, but this is not my home, it’s theirs. They are free to set rules in their home as they see fit, and it would be hypocritical of me to require my autonomy without honoring their own. They have chosen to live their life with these traditions, what makes you think that you know better as an outsider, than generations of people on how to best govern themselves?

Tyranny. *spits* The only would be tyrant I see here is the one whose hubris sees something that is not their ways, is essentially harmless to those involved, and has the gall to tell them to change to accommodate themselves.
  • Kel
 
Those involved,

It would be apparent I may have started an argument with information that was misrepresented to me.

I say "may."

I intend to look into this further. If this is the case, I'll apologize for my words.

Until then, I will withdraw from conversations that involve Sedovian circumstances, as I have no investment in the well-being of Sedovia, outside of a few friends in your community. So perhaps it's best if I stay away from it, anyways.

To Kel,

I will always question that which comes across as in conflict with personal freedom. If that's hubris, then I guess most adventurers practice hubris from time to time.

But if you want to get particularly aggressive with me, perhaps we ought take that to a private conversation, away from our mutual friends who likely don't want to see us at odds.

If you wish to take that course of action, then I suggest you calm yourself before doing it. I have nothing against you personally, and I'd rather not if I could avoid it.

-Zeth
 
Well, this all seems rather involved. I do appreciate the conversation and points of view.

So, if I might interject my own understanding of the local laws and customs regarding Merchant items?

The idea is that everyone pays taxes and funds to get support of the government. Government pays to have the roads run, soldiers for defense against large threats, and keeping the country working.

The Merchants guild sets prices on items to help regulate such things. It's to insure that people get paid for their services at a reasonable rate.

Workers get paid a fairly set rate, the crafters make about double the cost it took to build a thing (to pay for materials and such) and Merchants buy from the crafters and sell at X4 to X6 rate. The influx up to X6 is the instances when you had to haul said product a long way or was very specialized - since you also had to pay for wagons, guards, and the like.

What you end up with is that everyone makes money to live on, maybe a little extra, and people can reasonably expect what the price of an item will be.

This also prevents someone from - say - corning the market. If there was a plague or enslavement by invaders was a constant thing - a crafter could say start charging 10 gold per antidote potion. With regulation in place, someone would step in and have a few words with them.

This is a system that was put in place, has been refined, and working - for roughly 800 years or so.

It is under adjustment by the King as needed - say afore mentioned Plague - the King goes to the Merchant's guild and tells them to lower the price on antidotes - or pay crafters more to encourage a healthy supply.

On the small scale of things - items that adventures use are more expensive that we might be used to....but then again, we are not out in the field of war right now - or up to our eyeballs in evil cow people. When you are in a real kingdom and civilization - things tend to be more expensive and involved than just bartering things.

Opportunities abound to make cash. If you are looking for work to pay for items, I would suggest inquiring with the Adventures guild. They organize quite a few jobs for the adventuring type and the pay out can be surprisingly good - since people of this land are used to paying appropriate rates for skilled work.

- Mixer
Master Alchemist, fair to high Journeyman Blacksmith and Potion Maker
 
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