Category:Traders: Difference between revisions

Trade, Merchants, & Shipping Document

This is a crash course about merchant shipping and how it works.
Some merchants often can be heard to say I will pay my bill when my ship comes in...

Risk vs Reward -
Given the cost and risk associated with shipping, in general, they are backed by some form of shipping consortium. This is because most individuals do not want to take on the total cost of a large ship (cargo ships) in case of disaster.

Risk mitigation -
Water mages offer - ship strength, mage current, lower chance of sea monsters, lower chance of pirates. A ship can sail under a powerful nation's flag. Onboard mercenaries including mages (marines). Onboard armaments. These all help.

Trade centres -
So in general in large trade centres - main trade cities merchant Guilds will often have a trading floor, where merchants (often backed by nobles) will be able to purchase a % of a cargo, with expected returns and some known risk.

Litigants & Bankers -
These are skilled scribes that can draw up paperwork and contracts.
Banks, Bankers or Counting Houses can hold and count money and issue - Credit letters or Trade letters, or traders can redeem them.

Underwriting & Insurance -
The largest factor on underwriting or insurance on shipping and cargos are skilled water mages. For a fee of 3%-5% insurance on goods can be arranged.
The percentage for underwriting of cargos - goes up with troubled areas or waters or raiders etc.
The percentage for insurance of goods - goes up with poor harvests, drought, storms floods etc.

Cargo or ship payment -
So to pay for any large cargo often many traders will come together and put the finance together to pay for the cargos and shipping. Often these are syndicates or trade associations or cartels.

Trade letters / Credit letters -
This is normally done by way of trade letters and generally not coins. The trade letters which can be redeemed at any of the trading banks associated with each of the trade centres.

Trade -
When you have a ship, you get a cargo go from here to there and sell it. You then purchase a new cargo and return with it, often by way of a 3rd and 4th trade and port. Seldom do ships sail far empty. Seldom do ships carry money it is often using letters of trade to reduce risk.

Piracy -
So when pirates capture or sink a ship (and cargo) it has a knock-on effect. It's not just the ship’s captain and crew involved, it’s also specialist crew, navigators, water mages, and air mages. This is all before we haven’t even mentioned cargos (which will, of course, differ on any given voyage).

Cargos -
At this scale we pretty much are looking at cargos in quantity of tons.

Ship costs -
This is the general costs for the vessel.

Vessels & ships

• Vessel - Type and name of the ship
  
• Tonnage - smallest - largest size
  
• Tons of Cargo - a range in tons
  
• Range - (W)eeks (M)onths
  
• Use - (O)cean, (C)oastal, (R)iver, (P)ortage
  
• Shallows - Y / N
  
• Cost - how many 1,000 sp at the smallest size
  
• The crew is people at ship size in tons + 4 per ton
  
• Crew cost per month is 30sp per person for uniform, cloths, food, pay. Note this is an approximation for standard vessels - dependent on rank and experience this could be less or more + bonuses involved. See Naval Skills for Dragonquest by Russell Whyte (link to come).

Other items/costs -
Crew pay per month
Ship strength - 100sp-200sp from a busy port at rank+5 days.
Water Mage - Mage current - ~200 sp week.