Trade goods

Overview

There are a number of exotic merchandise available to ship captains that trade with Foreign ports during Downtime, or engage in voyages of discovery. Likewise, a military captain might come into possession of unfamiliar goods due to actions such as raiding. Most of these goods are not entirely familiar to Imperial citizens - they are found only on foreign shores - and acquiring them can be a challenge.

Axos

• Imperial fleet captains can trade directly with the Towers of Kantor and Chambers of Issyk

The small nation of Axos is very close to the Empire, and Imperial traders regularly make the journey to the Towers of Kantor and newly opened Chambers of Issyk. They specialise in odd consumables, and items related to the practice of the necromantia.

The Axou helios is an ancient symbol of the Axou people, adopted by the recent Nikitis Axou populist movement.

Axou Luxuries

• Represents money

These are items that represent money to a ship captain. They include cunningly woven shrouds, death masks of bone and wood, subtly unsettling icons and statuettes, tomes of blasphemous and heretical philosophy, dark coloured wine, and occasionally disturbingly carved wands, staffs, or wands of dark hardwood harvested in the vallorn woods of Visokuma. Characters are encouraged to create peculiar examples of Axou art as souvenirs for use on the field.

Bonedust

• Consumable

A mildly poisonous material that is apparently literally made from ground human bones, along with several other substances native to Axos. It is reportedly used by Axou priests without access to liao when they perform spiritual ceremonies. It is also known to provide peculiar, dreamy visions of death and the dead.

Lamia

• Consumable

A magical salve favoured by Axou battle-magicians and practitioners of Winter magic. It reportedly acts a little like vis, but with a narrower application. It provides power to rituals of Winter magic that involve personal survival, although it is also known to have some odd effects on those who use it. There are disturbing anecdotal accounts of those who make extensive use of lamia becoming unnaturally inured to murder and violence.

Masks of the Citadels

• Ribboned Item

The newly established Grand Council of Axos has determined to make some of the rarer goods produced in Axos available to visiting Imperial captains. The Masks of the Citadel are apparently magical foci that empower certain ritual magics favoured by the descendants of the sorcerer-kings. Such masks differ from those popular in places like Sarvos in that they are usually full-face masks, often made of porcelain or fired clay, and decoration is usually sparse and symbolic. Each of the six citadels apparently has a trademark mask that is used extensively by magicians that claim a connection to one of the founders of the nation.

Serenity

• Consumable

A prestigious drug that causes sensations of absolute calm and tranquillity when consumed. It is apparently much favoured as a recreational substance by wealthy Axou who appreciate the ability to put aside the worries of their day and relax despite all the challenges of existing in such a dog-eat-dog society as the citadels of Axos.

Tomb Dust

• Consumable

As a nation dominated by magicians, Axos produces a large amount of crystal mana. Sometimes there is sufficient surplus that it is available to purchase, but increasingly Axou merchants are dealing in tomb dust. This is a consumable that takes the form of dust or sometimes resin that is either snorted or burned in a flame and the smoke inhaled. It allows the user to tap into their personal reserves of strength to power their magic in a manner familiar to apothecaries who make a study of ritual potions. There are several varieties of tomb dust depending where it is gathered and how it is prepared, effecting what kinds of rituals it can be used with, but they all apparently bear a touch of necromantia about them.

Tombstone

• Consumable

Also known as Tarfos, this is a powder that when consumed insulates one from the emotion of fear. It is very popular with Axou soldiers, pit fighters, criminals, and a small number of very dangerous ritual magicians. Repeated use of Tarfos apparently increases the threat of death - not because it is particularly venomous but because an absence of fear can lead to users failing to run away from obviously fatal situations.

Commonwealth

• Imperial fleet captains can trade directly with the ports of Volkavaar and Leerdam

The great power of the Commonwealth lies across the Sea of Steel to the west of the Empire. It shares a continent with the Principalities of Jarm who are its constant rivals. Commonwealth ports offer wholesome consumables, and various goods that offer assistance to soldiers and warriors.

Bloodclay

• Consumable salve

Known to Commonwealth healers and military folk as Blutlehm this is a deep red clay-like substance found alongside weltsilver veins across the Commonwealth. It has been harvested for centuries as a useful medicinal tool in its own right, but quickly loses potence when exposed to air and sunlight. Fifty years ago a wife-and-husband team, Maria and Petrus Heiling, found a way to use ambergelt to preserve its useful life-giving properties. "Bloodclay" was the result, a thick earthy salve that even the most inept use can apply to prevent death. This consumable closes bleeding wounds and will bring anyone who is still alive back from the brink of death. It has proved very popular indeed with Commonwealth soldiers.

Draught of Clear Headedness

• Consumable liquid

Known in the Gesamemanspreche as Getränk der Klarheit, which translates very roughly as "Draught of Clear Headedness", this is a tonic made with carefully refined bladeroot and marrowort, infused with water drawn from deep limestone wells, and the pressed juice of a rare mountain flower. The recipe for Klarheit is a carefully guarded secret among alpine communities around Volkavaar dedicated to the Commonwealth state religion, but it puts some Imperial apothecary in mind of the Tisanes of the Labyrinth. It specifically enhances the ability of someone familiar with liao ceremonies to banish unwanted auras, drive away malign spirits, end hauntings, and even (it is whispered) sever spiritually awakened folk from the ability to create auras. It also has a more mundane use - it helps clear the mind and allow one to focus despite distractions or confusion.

Hero Stone

• Consumable stone

The western provinces of the Commonwealth are rich in white granite and weltsilver, but also some minerals unknown in the Empire. Heldenstein - "hero stone" - is a smooth golden stone that possesses magical properties. Shaped and polished, the best examples have the ability to empower certain kinds of ritual magic. It is in demand among Commonwealth magicians, but there is enough of a surplus to make it available to foreign traders. It functions a little like the vis all magicians are familiar with but rather than helping to perform rituals of a certain realm it provides magical energy to any Summer magic ritual that enchants an individual with greater prowess or strength.

Little Iron Fist

The "Little Iron Fist" or Eisenfaust a talisman constructed in the form of a ring of iron or, in some cases, an entire iron gauntlet crusted with tempest jade. It is of particular use to a battle mage. As long as the attuned wearer already knows how to cast the repel spell they can do so an additional time each day without depleting their reserves of personal mana. There are apparently two other, increasingly potent, versions of this talisman made by Commonwealth artisans, but they are not available for sale on the open market.

Soldier's Booze

• Consumable liquid

This mildly alcoholic tonic is very popular with Commonwealth soldiers who can afford it, and many carry a draught of Soldatentrunkin a metal flask inscribed with images of their home town or city. It is by all accounts created to a very old recipe, its local name a somewhat quaint term that roughly translates as "Soldier's Booze". The herbs used to brew it are steeped in alcoholic spirits, and it is apparently possible to determine where in the Commonwealth a sample of this tonic comes from by taste alone. Drunk and savoured, this liquid acts as a powerful healing potion that also alleviates the effects of venom. While the Commonwealth have never really encountered the Druj, some soldiers who have visited the Empire joke that they could drive the orcs of the Mallum away by breathing on them after drinking enough Soldatentrunk.

War Amulets

• Ribboned Item

Kriegsamulett are metal medallions, usually fashioned of some alloy of orichalcum, with dragonbone insets and generally depicting something that is a source of pride to the people of an area - a banner design, a motto, a local hero, an animal with a particular affinity for a place. They are another item popular among soldiers; a talisman that allows them to draw on reserves of strength on the battlefield. According to Imperial artisans who have had the opportunity to examine them, they are magic items that allow someone who already knows how to deliver a cleaving strike, mighty strikedown, or mortal blow to do so more often.

Soul Honey

• Consumable salve

Known as Seelenhonig, this is a pale preparation with a sticky base made from a certain kind of honey cultivated in the eastern Commonwealth. The salve it produces looks a little like white butter, but it has a distinctive smell described as "summery". Smeared on the cheeks under the eyes, across the brow, and on the backs of the wrists, "Soul Honey" helps strengthen the will of the one who uses it. In some ways it is similar to the effect of auras created by anointing (anathema to a nation that is deeply suspicious of auras in general), but rather than filling one with a virtuous impulse it is described as giving a profound sense of who one is.

Spice Paste

• Consumable spices

The Commonwealth is proud of its cuisine and proud of Würzpaste. Imperial traders call it "Spice Paste" but the merchants of Volkavaaar say that the name fails to capture the specific resonance of wholesome magic it has for their people. It is a combination of herbs, salt, carefully shaved marrowort root, and (if local legend is to believed) a dash of honey from the Wald der Widersprüche (the "Forest of Contradictions", a Commonwealth term for the Primal Forest). This preparation is usually sold in small pouches. Mixed with a warm meal - usually a bowl of stew or soup - it unlocks wholesome magical properties. An individual who eats a bowl of food sprinkled with a whole pouch of Würzpaste finds their zest for life greatly increased, providing them with both greater endurance and fortitude for a time.

Further Reading

• Foreign nations
• Foreign ports
• Trade goods
• Ambassador
• Embassy