The Marches economic interests
Agriculture is the basis of wealth in the Marches. Even a modest holding produces an income that allows its yeoman to live comfortably. With some improvement, a Marcher farm can pay for luxuries and imported goods. Marcher fields and orchards feed people across the Empire. Trade surplus in the form of cured and preserved meats, fitches of bacon, barrels of beer, bushels of fruit and vegetables, and sacks of flour travel from one side of the Empire to the other. Sometimes these goods are transported directly by Marcher merchants, particularly directly north to Wintermark which has never starved since it joined the Empire, mostly due to Marcher food. More often than not they are purchased by middlemen from the Brass Coast or The League and may end up as far away as Urizen
Much of this trade comes initially to one of the many small but important market towns that dot the landscape. The first market rights were established by Imperial charter, and towns with these rights are outside the direct control of the Households. The inhabitants of a market town appoint Aldermen to operate the town. In most cases these men or women are wealthy merchants of the town, but often they include prominent town folk such as a friar or blacksmith who lives in the village. Those market towns that employ their own militia usually raise the captain to the rank of Alderman.
Most market towns are small, little more than a few score houses on either side of a main street. The Imperial charters prevent a market town being established within a full day's travel of an existing market town but competition and rivalry between market towns is at least as fierce as that between rival Householders. Because the market towns lack a stake in the political process, they are forced to rely on neighbouring Households to represent their interests. While most Marcher folk see this as right and proper, a life of honest toil on the land being superior to a life spent haggling for every last silver, Aldermen often have a rather different view.
The growth of market towns is relatively new phenomenon – Meade, the largest, is not more than 150 years old – and they are only just beginning to come into their power. They represent a place where a canny individual can make a fortune, where individual achievement, chutzpah and moxie are valued commodities, and they represent an opportunity to travel outside the parochial circle of the traditional Marcher. Market towns send representatives all over the Empire and beyond to secure deals, acquire trade goods, and negotiate contracts. They are rich, and their wealth brings a power of its own that may yet prove to be a match for that of the Households.
Perhaps more than anything else, the market towns create an environment where it is not land, but wealth, that leads to prosperity. If there were to be a bad harvest in the Marches, the market towns would be in the best position to adapt to that disaster and continue to prosper. Those Marcher folk who do not own farmland are beginning to look to the market towns to offer them a different way of life. The most successful towns are starting to grow and exert real influence on nearby Households.
Blacksmiths are particularly well regarded in the Marches. A blacksmith character appears in many folk tales offering advice and support to the hero or heroine, and often provides them with the tool they need to overcome their adversaries. Part of the respect due to blacksmiths comes from their ability to take the “bones of the earth” and use it to create the tools that are vital to both agriculture and war. Blacksmiths create the weapons and armour without which the Marches would fall to its enemies, but their role in society goes beyond this. Many have at least a working knowledge of magic, and are considered wise. Worked iron is a useful talisman for luck in countless different forms because it contains the blacksmith’s magic and there is a long-standing tradition of asking them to bless newborn children, young animals and newly-weds. A blacksmith who has evidenced some level of common sense is often accorded the same level of respect that a wise priest or Landskeeper receives. The most prosperous Households and market towns usually include a blacksmith in their number.