Not from the benevolence

Jorgen sucked on the boiled sweet the herald had brought with him, even as he eyed the elaborately painted bowl full of them on the desk. They were quite delicious, and the bowl looked like very expensive china. Was that part of the present he wondered? Not that he needed it, but it looked like it was worth a ring or two. Say one thing for the Autumn realm, he thought to himself, they knew how to grease the wheels of commerce...

"So that one will need twenty white granite and forty wains of weirwood as well as the ilium of course." The excitable Autumn herald was pacing up and down as he spoke, clearly animated, even as his assistant sat on one of the seats he'd offered them both.

"Ten rings of ilium, check. I can assume it's a fane then?" It was an important point; he was confident that it would get raised on the Senate floor if he didn't clarify it now. He'd suggested it three times already, and each time the herald had corrected him and said it was a plaza, a wareroom, a whatever. But Jorgen had read the briefings... ten rings of ilium, and it needed to be ceded to the eternal. That's a fane, no matter what this herald claimed.

The gold-faced herald looked aggrieved. "You keep saying that... this is a plaza. What's a fane? It doesn't sound like somewhere you can conduct profitable business."

Jorgen smiled, pleased to have an opportunity to explain. "A fane is a commission that allows heralds of an eternal to come and go. Once it's built and dominion is granted to the eternal, then their heralds can come and go as they please."

"Well, if you want to call it that, that's fine - but what I have described is very clearly a plaza. Look at these sketches - see, it's got a large open area for people to trade herbs and other goods. It's a plaza."

"Fane." said Jorgen firmly and pointedly wrote the word down. The sweet was gone now, but he was still enjoying this.

"Pla.... za..." said the herald with a clear hint of condescension. "Look what difference does it make? Of course we can come and go from the plaza. How in the name of the Iron Labyrinth are we going to trade with you if we can't turn up? We have to be able to come and go, otherwise it can't work, can it? It stands to reason."

Jorgen was not about to let it drop. "The difference it makes," he said, "is that once you control a fane you could bring an entire army through if you wanted." Hah! No Autumn herald was going to pull the wool over his eyes, not even with a bowl full of boiled sweets.

"But we haven't got an army. We haven't got any armies. What would anyone possibly want an army for? Unless... unless you want to buy an army...?" The last point seemed to come out of nowhere, but he noticed the bored-looking assistant perk up and reach for their notebook.

"No, look, the point is that your heralds could attack people - those of them that can fight."

"But nobody from my City knows how to fight." protested the herald. "If we need that sort of thing, we pay someone else to do it."

"You don't know how to fight? Nobody from the... ", he looked down and checked his notes, "from the City of Gold and Lead knows how to fight? Not a single one of you?"

"I know the pointy end goes in the other person. But I'm assured it's more complicated than that. It all seems like a lot of fuss. Nobody has time to waste on that sort of thing. So yes, if we need to 'fight'" - the herald stopped speaking for a second to make little air gestures around the word fight - "then we employ a construct from the City of Fire and Stone."

"So you could use the... plaza... to bring war constructs of Estavus into the Empire?" Hah, got the weaselly little bastard, he thought.

"Of course we could! If that's what people want to buy! Now, can we get back to the important points? We need to discuss the responsibilities of the people you appointed to run the Autumn markets."

The lifeblood of the City of Gold and Lead and its inhabitants is trade, and not profit as many seem to believe.

Overview

Following the relative success of the new scheme to offer large contracts for fulfilment, the heralds of the Sovereign Lady of the City of Gold and Lead have returned with new offers for the coming summit. As always, the heralds will set up shop in the Hall of Worlds on the final day of the summit, where they will look to settle any sales offered to the City via the Ephisis' Scale ritual, with payment delivered a few days after the summit.

Last season, the City published guidance aimed at helping those making use of Ephisis' Scale avoid common missteps. It laid out the kinds of things the Lady of the Counting House is interested in, and tries to establish an approximate baseline for the level of prices that different merchandise might fetch. Of course nothing is certain until the goods are examined, but the City hope that this will help mortals to better tailor their offers to their expectations.

Cruelty To the Innocent

Sell Remember Exile to Ephisis

Motion Type: Concedence

Necessary Details: None

Availability: Autumn 388YE

• Ephisis offered to purchase Remember Exile in exchange for 100 wains of white granite
• The arrangements have been made by the Senator for Reikos, but it requires the Senate to approve the motion
• The Senator for Bastion has the opportunity to offer a commission up for sale this season

Solomon, Senator for Reikos

Merari Navigators of Virtue
Senator for Bastion

In order to help pay for the Grand Inspiration of the Way, Highborn magisters and Ephisis agreed that each season, a Senator could propose a trade with the Hidden Prince for some feature of each of their territories. While the Senator for Necropolis chose to pass on their turn, the Senator for Reikos has not. Through their representative Eli of the Cenotaph, a deal in principle was agreed that the fortification of Remember Exile would be given to the Invisible Hand in exchange for one hundred wains of white granite, on the condition that it would not then be sold to the Druj nor the Grendel.

The City of Gold and Lead is more than happy to agree to the terms. Since then, a number of heralds from the Iron Labyrinth have been seen setting up at the site of the castle with measuring equipment and excavation tools in readiness to complete the sale. All that remains is for the Senate to agree.

Normally, it is the responsibility of the Conclave to accept a deal with an eternal. However, as the Senate is yet to endow it with the power to cede Imperial property, this deal must be agreed by Senate motion. Should the senators wish to accept, they will need to pass the motion to cede the fortification to the City of Gold and Lead. If that happens, then the City will take full possession of the fortification and provide the wains agreed to the Senator for Reikos for the start of the next Senate session.

The only relevant assembly that can veto is the General Assembly. As it is not a territory, region or national bourse seat, the Highborn National Assembly are unable to do so. Notably, if for whatever reason the Lady of the Counting House were under enmity by the end of the summit, the exchange could also not be completed. If this were to happen after the wains had been provided, the City of Gold and Lead would require them returned in full or else the Empire would be in default and the Lictors would become involved.

A visiting herald also reminds the Empire that it will be the turn of Bastion this summit, should they wish to sell anything from the White City or elsewhere in the territory. The current senator for Bastion is, of course, Merari Navigators of Virtue, in whose hands the decision about whether to trade, and if so what to offer, now lies.

The Poison of Enthusiasm

Contracts Available
Goods Required	Payment Offered
800 dragonbone	35 ilium
150 weirwood	600 thrones
800 thrones	100 mithril, 100 white granite, and 100 weirwood
100 ilium	Schema for Mage Robes of the Thirteen Cities
70 thrones	Deed to "Rootha's Exports", a level seven business in Sarvos
500 herbs (any ratio of the standard five)	20 white granite
1000 thrones	Map of Tathar (Detailed, verified, and suitable for scrying)

• Ephisis is making seven contracts available to the Empire
• These contracts will be auctioned off to the highest bidder in the Hall of Worlds at 10:30 on Saturday morning
• Each contract must be fulfilled in full and before the end of the summit, to receive payment
• Contracts must be redeemed by delivery to the Hall of Worlds during the balancing of scales
• Standard settlement terms with the contract holder will be three days after the conclusion of the summit

Just as they did last season, the heralds of Ephisis are offering a set of contracts for large orders of goods. Most of these contracts reflect requests for bulk purchases that come from the Empire's near neighbours, since that keeps shipping costs down. The City of Gold and Lead rarely reveals who the counter-party is when acting as an intermediary in this way, but shrewd merchants can probably make an informed guess that things like a Map of Tathar can only really come from one source... The offered schema for the "Mage Robes of the Thirteen Cities" allows the artisan to create a set of mage robes that can be used once per day to gain three additional ranks of Autumn Lore for the purposes of performing a single ritual, subject to the normal rules for effective skill.

This season the City is able to offer seven significant contracts. The contracts will be offered for auction in the Hall of Worlds at 10:30 on Saturday morning. All bids must be in Imperial currency, each contract will go to the highest bidder, who will need to settle the purchase there and then. Following the failure of one notable merchant who took two contracts last season and redeemed neither, the City have instituted a reserve price of one throne. They would also like the Empire to be aware that they are keeping a list of those merchants who take contracts but do not complete them - if it becomes a recurrent problem then they will look to take steps to exclude citizens from the auction if they have a proven track record of introducing illiquidity into the market.

Whoever wins a contract may do with it as they will - including trading it to others. To complete the contract, a citizen need only bring the paperwork and the goods required to the balancing of the scales in the Hall of Worlds the following day. The City will receive the goods, mark the contract complete, and arrange for delivery of payment three days later.

Aspiring entrepreneurs are reminded that contracts can only be fulfilled at the summit they are purchased at and only for the full amount. Partial payments will not be accepted.

In plain terms, turn up in the Hall of Worlds on Saturday morning, outbid any other buyer for one or more contracts, then return the next day with all the required goods to get paid.

Mercy To the Guilty

• Ephisis invite Dorys Delgorokov to submit two contracts for execution by the City
• The City invites Damiàn i Martàn i Erigo and Terentia of Sarangrave to each submit a single contract for execution by the City
• The cost to submit a contract is one throne
• If a buyer can be identified, the City will settle the contract at the balancing of the scales at the next summit
• The City of Gold and Lead has proposals for fanes in Hercynia, Kallavesa, and the Barrens

Pleased with the apparent success of the contract scheme, Crown is already looking for ways to enhance it further. The obvious next step is to offer the City's best customers a chance to submit offers to the market place themselves. To that end, the High Merchant is inviting three citizens to submit contracts of their own. The city will accept up to two contracts from Dorys Delgorokov, one from Damiàn i Martàn i Erigo and and one from Terentia of Sarangrave.

A contract must stipulate the exact goods that the citizen is looking to purchase and the minimum payment that they are promising to offer. In effect it must have the same form as the contracts that Ephisis offers. The heralds will accept the contract and look to fulfil it in barbarian and foreign markets surrounding the Empire. They will not accept less than the offer price set on the contract, but they will return 80% of any excess payment, if the goods offered yield more than the offer price.

The contract can be for anything - if something is available anywhere in this world or the realms, then it can be had in the market-place for the right price. But that final part is crucial. A citizen is welcome to submit a offer to buy 600 wains of mithril with a promise to pay 1 ring for it, but should be assured that it will get exactly the same response from the Empire's neighbours that it would receive if the City offered it to the Empire. Stupid offers will just be ignored by the Empire's neighbours and will ultimately cause the City to abandon the scheme. Likewise a contract can be for any amount, but the City advise that asking for two thousand mithril or something similar is going to fail because there is no customer anywhere in the world who can meet those terms by themselves.

The City has chosen three customers who they believe have good credit. There is obviously a degree of risk involved, so they will only deal with people who have proven that they can meet terms. If Dorys, Damiàn, or Terentia do not wish to take advantage of this opportunity they are welcome to sell it on so that someone else can submit an offer on their behalf. However, they must understand that anyone who submits an offer is trading on their credit - with all the attendant risks thereof.

If the City of Gold and Lead are able to find a trustworthy counterparty to complete the contract they will announce confirmation of the offer in the run up to the next summit - and then settle the deal at the balancing of the scales on the Sunday.

It will cost one throne for each contract submitted.

The Fisk Wareroom

Commission Type: Market place Fane

Location: Fisk, Wittal Grove, Kallavesa

Cost: 30 white granite, 30 weirwood, 10 ilium, and 180 crowns in labour

Time: Six months

Effect: Allows heralds of Ephisis to come and go freely in Fisk giving them access to the surrounding lands Increases taxation in the territory by 7 thrones a season Raises the level of investment for military units based in the territory that are engaged in questing or guarding Creates the Wintermark title Mediator of the Fisk Wareroom Increases personal income of Kallavesa characters by 12 rings for one year

Availability: Available until the end of Summer 389YE

Special: The Fisk Wareroom must be ceded to the City of Gold and Lead as part of the Senate motion to construct it

Mediator of the Fisk Wareroom

Type: Wintermark

Appointment: Tally of the Votes

Powers: Can submit a single contract to the heralds of Ephisis at the balancing of Scales Can purchase warm ashes and one or more doses of tradesoil from the Autumn realm (a tonic that provides two additional ranks to the next Autumn ritual that you perform within ten minutes, subject to the normal rules for effective skill)

Special: The Mediator must be either a mediator or a maggot in good standing to submit a contract to the City

Responsibilities: To supervise trade operations at the Fisk Wareroom and respond to any threats against it To encourage trade and Prosperity in Kallavesa and across all of Wintermark To increase investment in Wintermark, supporting the creation of sinecures, ministries and great works across the nation To dismantle barriers to trade across the Empire such as tariffs and any laws prohibiting the sale of potions or items To prevent banditry in Wintermark and the wider Empire

Warm Ashes
Cost	Production
60 Rings	1 Warm Ashes
130 Rings	2 Warm Ashes
210 Rings	3 Warm Ashes
300 Rings	4 Warm Ashes
400 Rings	5 Warm Ashes

Tradesoil
Cost	Production
180 Rings	1 Tradesoil
210 Rings	2 Tradesoil
240 Rings	3 Tradesoil

The Drycastle Emporium

Commission Type: Market place Fane

Location: Drycastle, Dawnguard, the Barrens

Cost: 35 white granite, 25 weirwood, 10 ilium, and 180 crowns in labour

Time: Six months

Effect: Allows heralds of Ephisis to come and go freely in Drycastle giving them access to the surrounding lands Increases taxation in the territory by 5 thrones a season Raises the level of investment for military units based in the territory that are engaged in questing or guarding Creates the Dawnish title Seneschal of the Drycastle Emporium Increases personal income of Barrens characters by 10 rings for one year

Availability: Available until the end of Summer 389YE

Special: The Drycastle Emporium must be ceded to the City of Gold and Lead as part of the Senate motion to construct it

Seneschal of the Emporium

Type: Dawn

Appointment: Tally of the Votes

Powers: Can submit a single contract to the heralds of Ephisis at the balancing of Scales Can purchase warm ashes and one or more Pauper's Keys each season

Special: The Seneschal must be a yeofolk in good standing to submit a contract to the City

Responsibilities: To supervise trade operations at the Drycastle Emporium and respond to any threats against it To encourage trade and Prosperity in the Barrens and across all of Dawn To increase investment in Dawn, supporting the creation of sinecures, ministries and great works across the nation To dismantle barriers to trade across the Empire such as tariffs and any laws prohibiting the sale of potions or items To prevent banditry in Dawn and the wider Empire

Warm Ashes
Cost	Production
65 Rings	1 Warm Ashes
135 Rings	2 Warm Ashes
215 Rings	3 Warm Ashes
310 Rings	4 Warm Ashes
415 Rings	5 Warm Ashes

Pauper's Keys
Cost	Production
300 Rings	1 Pauper's Key
650 Rings	2 Pauper's Keys
1100 Rings	3 Pauper's Keys

The Treji Plaza

Commission Type: Market place Fane

Location: Treji, The Glen of Shadows, Hercynia

Cost: 20 white granite, 40 weirwood, 10 ilium, and 180 crowns in labour

Time: Six months

Effect: Allows heralds of Ephisis to come and go freely in Treji giving them access to the surrounding lands Increases taxation in the territory by 4 thrones a season Raises the level of investment for herb gardens in the territory Creates the Navarr title Broker of the Treji Plaza Increases personal income of Hercynian characters by 9 rings for one year

Availability: Available until the end of Summer 389YE

Special: The Treji Plaza must be ceded to the City of Gold and Lead as part of the Senate motion to construct it

Broker of the Treji Plaza

Type: Navarr

Appointment: Tally of the Votes

Powers: Can submit a single contract to the heralds of Ephisis at the balancing of Scales Can purchase warm ashes and Rings of the Golden Market

Special: The Broker must be a broker in good standing to submit a contract to the City

Responsibilities: To supervise trade operations at the Treji Plaza and respond to any threats against it To encourage trade and Prosperity in Hercynia and across all of Navarr To increase investment in the Navarr lands, supporting the creation of sinecures, ministries and great works across the nation To dismantle barriers to trade across the Empire such as tariffs and any laws prohibiting the sale of potions or items To prevent banditry in Navarr and the wider Empire

Warm Ashes
Cost	Production
55 Rings	1 Warm Ashes
125 Rings	2 Warm Ashes
205 Rings	3 Warm Ashes
295 Rings	4 Warm Ashes
400 Rings	5 Warm Ashes

Rings of the Golden Market
Cost	Production
300 Rings	1 Ring of the Golden Market
650 Rings	2 Rings of the Golden Market

For Merriment and Diversion

• Ephisis has provided plans for three fanes, one each in Hercynia, Kallavesa and the Barrens
• Each of these market places boosts local trade and commerce providing a level of investment in the territory
• The fanes must be ceded to Ephisis to provide any benefits - they permit heralds of Ephisis to enter the territory freely
• Each fane boosts taxation in the territory and provide a ministry for whoever is appointed to oversee it
• If two fanes are built they will both increase taxation by one throne less
• If all three fanes are built they will all increase taxation by two thrones less

The scheme dreamed up between the herald, Crown and Erlend Gunnulfsson, a wealthy merchant of Wintermark, seems to have finally born fruit. In Spring the City proposed that the Empire construct three large fanes, in Hercynia, Kallavesa or the Barrens. These grand structures would be dedicated to commerce, letting money flow like water turning the wheels of trade and creating Prosperity across the land. Rather than build them in the great Cities of the Empire - already bustling hubs of mercantile activity, the eternal sought more out of the way locations. The goal of the City is not profit per se, but the promotion of trade - and so it makes sense to start far from the Empire's heart - at least it makes sense as far as the City of Gold and Lead is concerned.

A declaration of acceptance was raised by Kaapo Kingfishering on behalf of the Celestial Arch that specified that the investment should be in Fisk, in south-western Kallavesa. This was superseded by a declaration raised by the newly elected Grandmaster of the Golden Pyramid, Terentia of Sarangrave Reforged, which accepted the proposal for all three territories, Hercynia, Kallavesa and the Barrens.

Finding suitable locations in three different territories has taken some time, but the work has now been completed and the proposals handed over to the civil service. In each case, the heralds have been careful to devise arrangements in ways that support the local economy, providing ways for people to benefit. In Kallavesa and the Barrens, members of military units will find that the Emporium and the Wareroom are set up to provide them with a market place to dispose of unwanted goods acquired while questing in the area, or while working to guard caravans and properties from bandits and other threats. The Plaza is a very different arrangement, since it is intended to work with the many herb gardens scattered across the territory, providing them with a ready market to dispose of unwanted herbs in return for the kind of tools and equipment employed by herbalists who tend a garden.

The proposals provided by the City of Gold and Lead are for market places where citizens of the Empire can come to trade their wares with heralds from the City. In some ways they are not so very different to the balancing of the scales that takes place on the last day at Anvil. It is clear that each is the equivalent of a fane - they all require ilium to complete the construction and must be ceded to the eternal to function. Each would allow heralds of the eternal to come and go freely at that location. In theory, an entire army of heralds could pour forth from the regio in each of these market places. The heralds of Ephisis pour scorn on that idea, insisting that they don't have any armies (although they can go and get one if the Empire is looking to buy).

The sigil of the Freeborn Flame Cartel of the Brass Coast

There is, however, another more practical consideration that the Senate will need to consider. Each of the Autumn markets proposed by Crown and his associates helps to boost taxation in the territory by creating a place where people can buy and sell goods they need. They will support commerce across the territory and beyond, as people travel there to use the market and buy the unique goods it can provide. But the more of them there are, the less benefit to taxation each one will provide. If the Empire builds two of the three, then each of the markets will provide one throne less taxation than planned; if the Empire builds all three, then they will all provide two thrones less taxation than planned.

Each of the markets gives whoever is appointed to run it the opportunity to purchase warm ashes and unique goods that Crown hopes will be valuable. He claims to have "market-tested" the prices for these goods with the help of the Freeborn Flame Cartel - whatever that means. However, he appreciates that it is hard to know in advance what goods might actually be in demand so he promises that if the markets are built, and the citizens find the goods they offer are not in demand, then the City will try to open negotiations to try to find something more marketable to replace the tradesoil, pauper's keys, and rings.

Each of the proposed titles has a lengthy list of responsibilities - and some requirements on who must be appointed to the position to access the full powers of the post. It is clear that the City of Gold and Lead is deadly serious about these responsibilities - their heralds insisted on them during discussions and were adamant that without mortals positively committing to actively pursue these issues, they would not be prepared to agree the deal.