From: Alex Ferguson (abf@cs.ucc.ie)
Date: Fri 04 Aug 2000 - 03:33:28 EEST
Neil Smith:
> I've been mulling this over as I try to explore how Kralorela and all
> things Kralorelan fit into Praxian life. These ideas haven't been
> worked out fully, and I'd appreciate any and all comments.
A noble and worthy task, and one I hope you keep up...
> Silk, object d'art, and technical innovations come from Kralorela;
> metal, mounts, and mercenaries go the other way.
There's someone in Sartar or Heortland _exporting_ metal? I thought
they only did that by first inserting it in sharp format into each
other? ;-)
> During the Closing, all this trade had to happen overland.
> The north route, through Pent, was controlled by the Lunars and had
> well-organised caravans crossing the plains. Unfortunately, they ended
> up near Bliss in Ignorance. Not so good for trading.
Nevertheless, I think this is the more important route. Ignorance
is likely to have little compunction about trading with anyone and
everyone. (Equally, they have little compunction about incorporating
anyone and everyone into unnecessarily messy sacrificial rites.
Them's the breaks...) Once inside Ignorance, goods can difuse into
Kralorela proper more easily than through a direct, guarded
frontier with the outside world like the Iron Forts.
> However, the
> more fertile lands, the many populated oases, and the more fragmented
> nature of Praxian politics meant that large, non-stop caravans were not
> as feasible. Instead, staged caravans were the norm.
Even formalised staging would take a lot of organising. I tend to
think of most trade happening not on the basis of someone in
Kethaela conducting a trade with someone in Kralorela, with those
in between simply doing the donkey-work, but rather, a series of
local trades for purely local reasons, which have the net effect
that occassionally certain goods pop into Kralorela or Dragon
Pass, having started out in the other, having been 'horse-traded'
(pardon my language) across a thoroughly zig-zag route.
Cheers,
Alex.
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