Overview

The Merchant-Boyar of the Stinking Market is an Imperial title created by the Senate in Winter 383YE to oversee the Stinking Market following the conquest of Ossium. The position of Merchant-Boyar is a sinecure and a ministry, producing a steady stream of income and allowing the holder to purchase forest resources in bulk. The Stinking Market is in the former Druj town of Orieb in Drownbark Forest, Ossium. The Stinking Market, and the vale of Orieb were expanded and improved by the Imperial Senate with a commission raised by Yegor, the Senator for Karsk.

Responsibilities

The Merchant-Boyar has no particular responsibilities; they simply receive an income from the Market and are able to purchase bargains from wagon-raiders who bring their goods there. If the Stinking Market were to be threatened in any way, it would be the responsibility of the Merchant-Boyar to deal with those threats.

Powers

Regular Income

The Merchant-Boyar gains custodianship of a sinecure. Each season they receive 16 crowns from wagon raiders who make use of the Market to sell their goods.

Ministry

Forest measures
7 crowns12 random measures
17 crowns24 random measures
30 crowns36 random measures
46 crowns48 random measures
Herbs of Ossium
7 crowns6 doses of marrowort, 10 random herbs
16 crowns13 doses of marrowort, 20 random herbs
30 crowns20 doses of marrowort, 30 random herbs
Wares of the wagon raider
7 crowns1 Oakheart Shield
9 crowns1 Wardensweave
21 crowns1 Ironbound Axe
26 crowns1 Winterborn Warmail
35 crowns1 Woodcutter's Axe

The Stinking Market also functions as a ministry - the Merchant-Boyar has access to three different purchase tracks allowing them to purchase measures and herbs from the wagon-raiders and weapons and armour from the smithy in the vale. The Merchant-Boyar makes their decision how much money to spend during downtime from their character page. Money is removed from, and resources are placed into, the character's inventory when the downtime is processed.

Appointment

The title is selected by unanimous decision of the Varushkan senators at the Winter Solstice. If a unanimous decision cannot be reached, the title may be appointed by the Imperial Senate instead.

The title can be held by any Varushkan citizen. The Merchant-Boyar serves until the next scheduled election. They can be revoked by the General Assembly, the Varushkan National Assembly, and by the Assembly of the Nine.

Stinking Market

Orieb in the Drownbark Forest has become something of a centre for wagon raider operations in southern and eastern Ossium. A makeshift commercial centre - called the stinking market has grown up in the shadow of the Palace of Orieb, where wagon raiders buy and sell supplies and trade valuable materials ripped out of the marshes and forests with the most ambitious traders. The market is not without its problems, however. Wagon raiders are a rowdy lot, and there have been reports of actual armed fracas around the market. The magistrates still have a limited presence in the more isolated parts of the territory, and there is some concern that it is only a matter of time before the rivalry between the groups spills over into the town itself, potentially with destructive consequences. Most of the buildings here are wood, and as Marchers say, even damp wood burns in a hot fire.

Krasivit5997.jpg
Krasivit Buhkova (centre), Merchant-Boyar of the Stinking Market
SummitElected
Winter Solstice 384YEKrasivit Buhkova
Spring Equinox 384YEKonstantin Rabovich Bolotnikov

Recent Elections

This title is currently held by Krasivit Buhkova; it will be reelected at the next summit. The table to the right shows the citizens who have been elected to hold this title in the years since Empress Britta died.