Whilst I don't know if this passage is still considered to represent the current thinking on Gloranthan marketplaces, the episode of the Travels of Biturian Varosh (in Cults of Prax) that was set in Corflu suggested that priests who managed markets were ritually obliged to allow other merchants a pitch in the market , but that priests who didn't like the cut of a new arrival's jib, could do the bare minimum and give the unwelcome new arrival a bad pitch (e.g. in a corner near the latrines, like Biturian's pitch in Corflu).
Secondly in the Travels of Biturian Varosh, we are told that most of the other merchants in Corflu were Lunars, and that at least some of the Lunars had horses rather than mules (which to me suggests that they were Etyries rather than Issaries). Yet the priest in charge of the market was a Lunar Issaries cultist, (because he is a Lunar, but he has to become a desert tracker when he gets the piece of Genert's skin, which presumably an Etyries cultist would not have to do).
Can one itake this a step further, and infer from this that some or all of Glorantha has a "lex mercatoria" (system of commercial law independent of any city or state used by merchants to regulate their own affairs), and which crosses national (or cult?) lines? Or was this litle story just an anomaly from the remotest fringes of the Lunar Empire, and the kind of thing that might happen in a frontier town, but it would not be repeated in a culture's heartland? Or is this simply an aberration from c. 30 years ago?
Do similar principles of mercantile neutrality work in relation to the powerful Seshnelan merchant families (the Tumerins and Capratis) who operate in (far-from Malkioni) Nochet? Does such tolerance even extend to the brown Vadeli, and if so where?
Secondly, would access to marketplaces only cross cult lines where one would expect to find quite a lot of merchants from more than one cult. For example, wouldn't one expect to find some merchants who were Issaries and others from Argan Argar at a market or fair hosted by the Torkani tribe?
Finally if there is a Gloranthan Lex Mercatoria, would it be a Godlearner construct?
Richard Hayes
From: Jeff Richard <richaje_at_ENebP9IBtvu0Y9FleC5PKcGpLLwr-AurQkZ593nkMhm0L44gVIwZJE5esP0KW64C4-sQW-pZ_evajA.yahoo.invalid>
Subject: Re: City Orlanthi
To: WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, 5 January, 2009, 7:46 PM
> > An outsider needs to be placed under the protection of some
> > enfranchised community to have any legal protection. For example,
> > merchants register with the Issaries Temple. If you just walz into
the
> > city and have no patron, you don't have protection.
> >
> > Jeff
>
> Ah! That makes a lot of sense. And covers the risk of the city for
> misbehavior on the part of "outsiders". Now there is a
protection for
> the community too, since the patron has both social investment in the
> institutions and the means to pay any compensation needed.
Exactly. Probably the most common "patron" is the city ring itself - you petition it for permission to reside in the city under certain conditions. And Lunar citizens don't care about these barbarian customs - they are protected by Lunar law (ie screw with them and Lunar soldiers might just crucify you, regardless of what the city ring says about the merits of your case).
> How does this work for the Foreigner's Quarter in Boldhome? Who is/are
> the patron(s) for the inhabitants? Or are some percentage of them
> there with no protections, thus they band together for defense?
Probably as many variations as you can imagine. Keep in mind that every Sartarite tribe has land inside Boldhome - any free Sartarite is under the protection of his tribe and therefore under the protection of the city. Foreign merchants are under the protection of the Issaries temples. Important non-Lunar foreigners are under the protection of Prince Temertain or other important people. And so on.
> Also, inside the sacred precincts of an Issaries Market, isn't the
> trade conducted (even by outsiders) under divine protection, which is
> enforced by the Issaries priesthood? Or is this an RQ2 artifact now?
You can't just set up shop inside an Issaries Market without the approval of the priests!
Jeff
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