02 - Iron Kingdoms W.. - Captain Spud Is Amazing

108.1.141.197
52 Iron Kingdoms
A Trader’s Market
What was once local barter became a vital part of
the resistance effort many centuries ago when rare
commodities were exchanged swiftly and secretly
to prepare the rebels who overthrew the Orgoth
oppressors. By sharing and trading, pockets of rebels
became well-equipped fighting forces able to pose a
real threat to the Orgoth. Even the construction of
the Colossals would have been impossible without
the resources smuggled into the secret construction
facilities from all across what is now Cygnar.
Even before the Corvis Treaties established
national borders, people recognized the importance
of long-distance trade—something that had been
impossible in the chaos of the Thousand Cities Era.
In today’s times of escalating troubles, goods such as
metals, oil, powder and shot, and food grow more
scarce and precious, driving up their price. Now
more than in recent generations, politics complicate
matters, but those enterprising enough find ways to
make their efforts pay. What started as local barter has
evolved into the lifeblood of nations and the cause of
greater adventures and risks than almost any other
cause throughout the Iron Kingdoms.
The Bounds of Law
Shipping goods from one place to another seems
a simple enough notion, and indeed, in the wild and
ill-disciplined areas of Ord or the Bloodstone Marches
that is all there is to it. In places where trade is
worthwhile—where there is profit to be made—things
are more complicated. If people are free to buy and
sell whatever they want, what will keep the worst
elements of society from stockpiling weapons and
inciting revolt? How can traders be prevented from
peddling heresy as well as corn? Every nation takes
some measures to control trade.
To begin, some things simply cannot be legally
bought or sold. The Protectorate considers all oil,
other than vegetable or lamp oil, the direct property
of the temple, for example, and the kingdomes all
outlawed slavery long ago. In Midfast a person can
buy, own, and carry no more than a brace of pistols.
City ordinances define more than that as a sign of
equipping a private army (what honest individual
needs more than two pistols?). Officials set quotas
of this kind based on estimates of what an individual
might reasonably require for his own use. On items
such as blasting powder, heavy taxes discourage large
purchases ensuring only state-sanctioned organizations
can afford to buy in bulk.
Winds of War
Campaigns taking plaCe during Wartime should note that
martial laW has replaCed Civilian laW along the borders.
smugglers espeCially are having diffiCulties, sinCe the
borders have reCently beCome War zones. anyone Caught
engaging in suspiCious aCtivity in the borderlands may find
themselves in deep trouble.
Other restrictions are placed on transporting
goods. The most common restriction is that certain
items may only be traded within national or city
boundaries. Crossing these either violates the law
or attracts a tax, and patrols actively enforce these
You’re putting me on, right? I’ve hauled this bloody thing the length and breadth of the
kingdoms, from the arse-scorching deserts of the Marches, out from under the noses of those
bastard exemplars, past the scrounging tax-hounds in Cygnar, through bloody Occupied Llael,
and over the Kovosks—where I nearly lost two fingers to frostbite, thank you—to bring it here. I
didn’t go through all that to end up with sod-all to show for it. You don’t want to up that offer,
you may as well nip off and fetch one for yourself, eh?
—Gunner Wadock, Cygnaran tradesman
laws along most national borders. Only Ord fails to
maintain a standing force of its own to police such
activity.
These taxes operate in a variety of ways. Sometimes
they apply on entry (which encourages local