As you're all members of the same merchant house, I think it's fitting that you all decide its basic tenets and ideals. The madlibs below should get us going. It's also important to think about who the current leader of the house is, and how the house is organized politically (democratic, technocratic, meritocratic, authoritarian, plutocratic, etc.)

The Great Merchant House of _________, was founded in the city-state of Tyr _________ years ago.

This House is known for its interests in the water trade and its _________.

The House's largest, most powerful rival is _________ which they crossed by _________.

This Houses's closest ally on the Ruling Council of Tyr is _________, who is known for _________.

This House's armed guard is known as the _________ and is some _________ men strong.

The House's ancestral headquarters and home in the city of Tyr is known as the _________.

This House is organized politically along _________ lines, with the current Merchant Prince or Princess of the house being _________.

The sigil of this House is a _________.

The House's dark, most closely kept secret is _________.

Since we're deciding as a group, I will put forward a few things I (the player) think would be fun.  I will use a different color "goldenrod" if I want to give Tova's opinion.  But I think you would all prefer me more than him at the moment.

I like the idea of the House as organized in a plutocratic fashion, so that earning coin and cutting deals leads to surprising rises and falls in prominence.  Meritocratic is wonderful, but slow.  Democratic implies some kind of high mindedness and social concern.  But a mercantile house does best when it makes money hand over fist, and being able to hold a member high for an incredible financial windfall, only to topple them when they are caught for fraud seems like a wonderful way to explore tumultuous storytelling tides.

"Of course, Tova would be happy to help others to prominence, as long as there was a nice cut in it."

I feel like we need a name.  Is one of you a member of the central family that founded this house?  Should we use your last name as the name of the house?  The Medici, the Borgias, the Alberti, the Sforzas, all wonderful names and great house names.

Or we could take our cue from the Hanseatic League (The Hanse), and form as a league of allied traders, so that we are really more satellite cells competing within the League to wrest control of the greatest portion of power and lead the House.

Just stuff to think about.

"Why not both?  Tova is eligible, and ready to marry into multiple families if that would help."

That fact that we found an oasis suggests that we did a lot of travel and trading even before we got into the water business.  I like the idea that perhaps we had two business models - one to transport goods for other houses safely for a moderate fee, and the other was offering expert guidance for houses that wanted to transport their own goods.  They could, of course, make their own path, but there were bandits and taxes that made that risky.  Between having some House agreements with outlander factions and keeping eyes on tradeways, we recorded optimal alternate tradepaths, tracked influencers among those outside of Tyr, and kept track of what was buying and selling what goods.

So we would have a good stable of strong mercenaries and guards, as well as expert pathfinders.

Entry into the water business has given us a stable capital income with which to now invest in developing our mercantile ambitions and perhaps try and seize control of key routes.  And we can use our finances to be indispensable to other mercantile investments, since we know generally what they buy and sell, and to whom.

"It is easier to get rich if you hold the purse strings, neh?"

But I am VERY VERY VERY open to other ideas of how we work, and Tova is really a small cog in whatever organization we make.  He doesn't really work well as a mastermind.

"Look at you, undercutting Tova like that.  Tova is cut to the quick.  Tova is very capable, and such talk will just drive customers away.  Come back.  Come back and have a drink with Tova.  It is from Tova's personal stock..."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:25, Thu 02 Feb 2023.

This message was deleted by the player at 19:44, Fri 03 Feb 2023.

reposting with my character name

The Great Merchant House of Famiglia, was founded in the city-state of Tyr some 75 years ago.

This House is known for its interests in the water trade and its haughtiness.

The House's largest, most powerful rival is Condotti which they crossed by contriving a feud between the Condotti and a powerful tribe of desert raiders that has gone on for tears.

This Houses's closest ally on the Ruling Council of Tyr is Montagese, who is known for sorcerous dealings.

This House's armed guard is known as the Bambilini (Little Kids) and is some 50 men strong.

The House's ancestral headquarters and home in the city of Tyr is known as Il Mercato.

This House is organized politically along plutocratic lines, with the current Merchant Prince or Princess of the house being Ser Orsino, formally, or Grande Papà (Big Daddy) within the family.

The sigil of this House is a Falcon. Its colors are seagreen and goldenrod.

Water is heavy and gets used up, requiring a lot of effort and time, so maybe The Oasis isn't so far from Tyr and just hadn't been found before? Up in the mountains where wild tribes and/or fell beasts made merchants reluctant to venture? I don't know. It's hard to square.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:57, Fri 03 Feb 2023.

In reply to Tova Dan Yarblek (msg # 2):

Great ideas all of these, I'll let others chime in, but ideas presented so far:

- A plutocracy organized around mercantile ideology, perhaps an alliance of various interests.
- Masters of the desert traderoutes
- The House name Famigilia has been proposed by Renzo.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:51, Fri 03 Feb 2023.

I like the idea of a sandstorm driving one of the pathfinders leading a trade caravan off course.  After they battened down and waited out the storm, he realized how very far off course they were and recorrected the route using the sun and a few stable landmarks.  On the way back towards the projected path, they saw signs of various animal tracks all converging beyond a rise.  The caravan he was leading (not a Famiglia caravan) didn't have anyone who could read those signs, but the different tracks gave our pathfinder enough of an idea of what would draw so many kinds of animals.  He diverted the caravan, knowing it would add a day to travel, and he secretly left a series of markers on firm surfaces along the way back.  He explained to his employers that it was to help them keep track of leagues travelled, so they would get their money's worth.  In the end he sent a fast messenger back with a coded message to inform a fellow pathfinder of the route and that he suspected it lead to an animal watering hole.

The expedition from the House began even before the pathfinder's contract was up and he had returned to Tyr.  By the time he returned, he was informed that the watering hole was located, but even more important, it appeared to be fed by an underground spring, which meant it was stable and durable, and wouldn't easily dry up in a drought.

The house spent the greater part of a year working to conceal the watering hole, setting up decoy holes that might lead a competitor astray (into dead drops and animal dens), and then working out way stations to collect shipments and haul the water back from three different locations.  This allowed them to keep the true location secret, and to break up the transports enough to hide the fact that there was a real wealth of water available.

Many believe that there is a vault where the House keeps a secret stock of water.  This may or may not be true.  But water scarcity keeps the price high, and the small shipments they bring in individually help create the impression that there is only so much water available.

What happened to the animals who gathered at the hole?

Hmmm...

"Tova understands how rare water is.  That's why Tova drinks Boukha.  Would you like a glass?"

A secret cistern perhaps?

Maybe Tova was that pathfinder. And Renzo was in the caravan, making his way from his mother's caravanserai to his father's House in Tyr? And Tova had Renzo desert on a fast steed (giving out that he and the steed were lost to raiders) to bear the news to Famiglia House. Oh, and Renzo's father (Prince Hal to Tova's Falstaff?) was dead when Renzo got there. The find greatly boosted Renzo's standing in the family and got Tova a permanent spot in the household maybe.

In terms of the Oasis, it's located somewhat close to Tyr, in the desert to the south, about three days mounted on beetle or sunback. The House has been extracting water from it for about half a year. Everything else if up to ya'll.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:33, Fri 03 Feb 2023.

I feel Tova would be a great Falstaff.  I imagine he would be a good wanderer, and I envisioned him at first as the kind of merchant who had a revolving inventory of questionable items, and who cut deals to get people things they wanted that someone else owned.  I'm not certain he's good enough to find a path on his own, but I like the idea of stumbling into luck and having that lead to him joining the House.

Maybe Tova was with my dad when he met my mom. Lot of years ago. Young Tova.

Here’s a thought. What if most water on Arth is brackish, the remnants of saltwater seas. But this artesian oasis we contro has the purest, sweetest water imaginable. It’s a luxury water craved by the rich and by chefs and vintners. It goes for hyper premium prices which is what makes it so incredibly profitable.

Some of my thoughts:

If we're a noble House I think we should be organized like a proper one with a head of House whose first born becomes heir and such. If not, I'd be down for a Meritocracy or Plutocratic House.

I dig the name Medici, I also think an Arabian surname could be cool. Again, if we're not a noble House and more akin to an alliance it's not as important.

More areas of trade for the House sounds good to me. Transporting goods fits especially well with my character since he has wilderness experience and has protected several caravans and lead them through various areas of Arth.

The Sigil being a Falcon and the colors being green and gold sounds great to me!

I think the Oasis being regular water is fine, normal water would be hard enough to come by on a desert world.

Maybe Timpantallroth's character was the fateful pathfinder?

I could be down for that, also gives him an even better reason to come home.

Regarding names, my thought is that we should be House Bellacqua ("sweet water" in Italian).

(Famiglia refers to the household apart from its noble members... i.e., servants and slaves.)

Is the family noble or just rich and powerful?