> Etyries is the daughter of Issaries (or at least was under
> RQII,
> that isn't mentioned in the ILH2 writeup). She inherits
> her father's
> obligation to reassemble Genert. In general I think
> Issaries followers
> within the Lunar Empire tend to switch to Etyries because
> of the
> taxation and trading advantages it gives them.
> >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?
> I doubt it is as formal as a lex mercatoria. That would
> require a
> level of communications between cultures which I don't
> think
> Glorantha has. I think everywhere markets exist the
> predominant
> local merchants cult determines a set of rules for that
> market.
> Foreign traders learn what those rules are and agree to
> abide by
> them if they wish to trade there. In most cases those rules
> are
> similar because they serve the same purpose - to encourage
> honest trade. However local practices and prejudices will
> often
> create problems like those Biturian encountered in Corflu.
> The
> result will usually damage the market by restricting trade
> and
> may cause other markets to retaliate. I'm inclined to
> think the
> market at Corflu reflects the rest of the place - no one
> wants
> to be there so they take their misery out on everyone else.
I second Donald here.
Probably there are leges mercatoriae somewhere, i.e. between Seshnela and Maniria (broadly, apart from the various political entities comprised by the two geographical errr... gloranthographical regions).
But not worldwide (or lozenge wide, if you prefer).
Gian
Powered by hypermail