Bonding House and Granaries
of the City of Coranan

Maps: First Floor [gif 35kb], Second Floor [gif 25kb], Third Floor [gif 39kb]

Description

The building houses twelve-grain towers that are carefully emptied and cleaned once each year. Excess grain is temporarily either stacked in the building's north passage, or sent to Caer Coranan while the cleaning takes place. Korthel believes this yearly cleaning improves the overall quality of grain. His journeymen (who are often put to the task of cleaning) disagree.

The Bonding House is a two-story structure made of stone with a red peaked-tile roof. Just below the roof there are twelve umbatrhi statues. Some are only an ugly mask and hands while others depict not only the entire creature, but a bit of a surrounding as well. Some of these statues are part of an elaborate drainage system, funneling the water away from the building and out their mouths, ears or other body parts. Each umbatrhi1 represents a prominent political figure from the time of the building's construction. Many believe the umbatrhi at the northeastern corner, sitting atop a pile of coins with a legionnaire's metal cap atop its head could very well be Torbir Weijik.2

The bonding house has a set of double iron bound doors facing Kotros square, and smaller door that leads out onto Elatus Street.

All its shutters can be locked, but those on the second floor are rarely shut during the summer months and never locked. The Bonding House butts against the Granaries.

A hallway runs from Elatus Street along the northernmost wall of the Bonding House into the granaries. Goods delivered into the granaries pass through this hall. Excess is occasionally stacked here. Customers must access the building by Mangai Street.

History

Built in 654TR, it replaced the numerous smaller granaries scattered throughout the city. By centralizing the resource, the city saved on security and waste. The new building was commissioned by Autarch Karnis in an attempt to appease the grain merchants who were, at the time, forced to pay a tax for delivering their grain all over the city.

The building stirred up controversy with its elaborate interior decorations at a time when the city did not have much money to waste. The central decoration, just below the peak of the second story roof is a large umbathri believed to be a mockery of Autarch Karnis. He sits in a pile of money and looks frantically over his left shoulder. The mask has horns a thick beard with thicker eyebrows. Water flows from the roof's peak into the Umbathri's head and out its ears.

Korthel is the fourth Bondmaster appointed to the post. The first Bondmaster, Koss of Rythel, was said to be a master barterer. He is immortalized by an umbathri mask on the east side of the building, seen biting into a bent coin. He was in charge of all the city's greeneries under the Autarch, and defined the role and duties for all that followed.

Business

Size

Quality

:

Prices

High

There are two types of business transactions performed here. The first is the purchase of raw grains by the pound or bushel, and the second is bonding.

Goods brought into the city to sell are taxed either by the Harbor Master or a bondsman. There is a 25% chance of their being a bondsman at the gate any time a merchant enters the city during daylight hours. At night, or if there is no bondsman present, the merchant is expected to present their Bill of Lading to the bonding house before any goods can be off-loaded from caravans.

Those without a Bill of Lading can also visit the bonding house to make an appointment to have their goods assessed for taxation purposes.

Goods that require storage or which are too large to lug around the city can be assessed and stored in the Bonding House, or a warehouse closer to the docks. The Bondsmaster will give the merchant Bills of Goods equal to the total amount stored in the warehouse under the Bondsmaster's seal.

Anyone returning with a Bill of Goods and a Bill of Sale can retrieve the amount of goods that the Bill of Sale represents from the Bondsmaster by placing their mark in the logbook.

Depending on the season, the Bondsmaster often has cart-running slaves transporting goods from the Bondage house to warehouses closer to the docks, or returning them for pickup.

Rate of Charges

The city sells grain at a high price in comparison to its price outside the city. It is available by the pound or bushel. The price varies from day to day dependant upon the amount left in the granaries, the time of year, the current demand and Korthel's opinion of how much each customer has to spend. The following are base prices only:

barley/bushel	10d
Oatmeal/lb	03d
Oats/bushel	08d
Rye/bushel	12d
Wheat/bushel	16d

Receptacles and sacks are not sold here. The receptacles are weighed and marked with their weight (when empty) before being filled. The customer then only pays for the difference.

Bonding fees are set at 2% of the goods value per month, payable upon the goods entry into the Bonding house. Occasionally Alabras is willing to use his slave to set up meetings for his client with litigants and usurers in the city. There is a 2d fee for this service for each runner that must be sent out.

A late charge of 10% of the goods value per day is charged if the owner does not return at the end of their bonding period to pay for the next bonding period.

Alabras is often also consulted when people wish to enter into bondage for a certain amount of time. He is considered a master at evaluating quality of pottery and masonry/sculpting, but calls in other masters to evaluate other crafts. Once evaluated, a 10-day pay is determined and this is also entered into the Bondage contract.

Usually the Bondage contract is negotiated for a certain number of days (or years) in return for some service that must also be evaluated, or a monetary debt that has to be paid off. People who are bonded (called bonded slaves) wear a flat iron band sealed on their left wrist by a metal smith in front of the Bondmaster, the new master and usually a litigant or notaries.

Proprietor(s) and Staff

The proprietor and staff have rooms on the second floor, in the front of the bonding house. Many believe it was due to Koss of Rythel's vanity that the building appears so ostentatious.

Korthel Wytel recently demanded that the Prefect up date the building and repair the leaky roof. Local gossip states that, were it not for the granaries and the taxes the bonding house brings in the Prefect would be just as happy to see the building collapse on itself and all within.

The staff is:

Dyne (Slave/Cook) (F:32)

Dyne is 5'1" tall and weighs 210lbs. She sleeps on a mattress in the kitchen each night. She works with three other slaves to prepare the meals for the slaves and the citizens of the Bonding House. Her cooking is renowned throughout the city for its originality and quality. She is careful to only talk about her cooking, and never to gossip about her masters. She was born a slave and has had three children. She was sold only five years ago to Korthel and has no idea where her children, or her husband now are. She has no interest in fleeing, but cries every time Korthel talks of buying new slaves. She has a tender soul and is easily made upset, which does affect the quality of her cooking. Korthel has ordered everyone (slaves and free alike) to treat her as gently as possible.

The Kitchen Slaves

The three kitchen slaves (Xelir M:22, Kithiris M:28 and Torgil M: 32) are all quiet men who dress in long tunics tied at the waist. Their belts are of rope and they wear sandals only when they have to go outside. Their responsibilities are to help with the cooking and perform menial tasks for Dyne. This includes going to market early each morning and returning with the produce for the day. They also chop wood for the kitchen fire and make sure the three large clay jars in the kitchen are filled with water from the "nearby" well. None of the kitchen slaves are suppose to talk to visitors and they won't (if either Dyne or Korthel is around). They are the best source of gossip because they also serve the meals and overhear all that their masters say.

Xelir is lanky and tall. He is so thin many accuse of Korthel of mistreating the man. Xelir is 6'9" tall with average strength and agility. He tends to shuffle along when his master is looking, but he can move like greased lightning when he needs to. He has a dark complexion, brown hair and brown eyes. His hair is worn so short he is practically bald. Dyne gave him a blue kerchief to cover his head during the last feast of Halane. He wears it daily.

Kirthis is of average height and build. A smooth talker he is a master at gleaning information while looking like he's doing something else. He usually cares for the animals of visitors, or helps load the granaries when deliveries arrive. He doesn't mind the labor and appreciates the fact that Korthel is a kind master who spares the whip, preferring to give a stern talking to the misbehaving slave. Kirthis has a good heart and is a devout Peonian. He doesn't misbehave that often and when he does he is truly sorry.

Torgil is slightly below average height and pudgy. The fat hides his strength. Usually he acts as a bouncer during parties, "escorting" guests into the gladiator's waiting arms. Other times during the year he is responsible for keeping the kitchen clean. Most believe Torgil is slow, in truth he understands the slave's power of silence. By keeping quiet and pretending not to understand complex instructions, his work is simple and it is almost impossible for him to fail in his tasks. Only Korthel knows the truth to Torgil's act and to date he's said nothing of it.

The Other Slaves

The Bonding House has 20 other slaves. They keep the building clean and move loads as necessary. While 20 sounds like a large group, in truth the slaves are often overworked, directing traffic and moving goods from the Bonding House to the Warehouses. They load and sometimes pull the carts. If the carts are too heavy, a teamster is called to manage the animals. The slaves are well fed and reasonably treated. They are as much a symbol of the Bonding House's wealth as they are a work force.

Description of Layout

THE building can best be described as ostentatious. It is a solid stone structure surrounded by the busiest section in Coranan City.

The First Floor

The first floor of the bonding house consists of four small rooms that divide the front of the building into four. The larger back room is for storage.

Map: Bonding House First Floor

Main Entry

The first room, the main entry, has a marble tiled floor covered with lavish and imported rugs. The furniture in this room is sparse, consisting of some elegantly crafted wooden benches lining the entrance wall. On the opposite wall is a fresco of men and women working together to plant, and harvest grains. The image is oversized and more artistic than life-like.

Two liveried slaves stay in this room. When guests or customers enter, they ask the customer to please sit, and rush through the door opposite the entry to fetch one of the journeymen. This opposing doorway leads into a hall that goes to the other three rooms.

2. Korthel Wytel's Office

When not in the process of negotiating a sale out back in Mangai Street, he is here filling out reports or overseeing his journeymen perform paperwork. All three of his journeymen can read and are fair at simple math. They perform the majority of the work, but are permitted to attend whenever Korthel performs a large sale. His office has four desks, the largest of which (occupying the center of the room) belongs to him. There is a locked chest in the far north corner of the room containing up to a month's proceeds in coin as well as a copy of the ledgers. Each journeyman has their own version of the master ledger, containing every sale, as well as a personal ledger, which lists all the sales they have performed. Markos often jokes to his friends that he is becoming a master copyist, for the master ledger (which holds Korthel's sales) is the largest of the four.

3. Slaves Quarters

Twenty slaves sleep on bunk-bed cots in this room. Slaves have their own unlocked trunk under their cot, to hold their worldly possessions.

4. Kitchen

This room divides into two. One part is a large dining hall where all the slaves, visitors and staff can join together to share a meal. There is more bench space than needed because Kotros likes to throw extravagant parties.

The other half is used to prepare food. This room does not have a door; instead the walls form an elegant arch. Korthel bought an excellent cook and has allowed her the services of 3 of the slaves that live on the premises. The cook sleeps in the kitchen in an attempt to reduce the number of thefts. A mattress is kept rolled up in the lower shelf of the pantry. The cook (Dyne) is infamous for her multiple layered dips and meat glazes. Parties, held here twice yearly, are considered some of the best in the city primarily because of her talents.

5. Storage

This warehouse area is used primarily for the smaller and more expensive items brought to the bonding house. Wool, stone, wood, grains and other bulky items are stored closer to the docks.

Samples of the exotic holdings may include:

Up to 100lbs of bakers (unsweetened) chocolate.
Up to 50lbs of vanilla bean.
Rare and imported foods (special fish or meat from afar).
Rare and imported spices and herbs.
Rare gems (usually uncut) weighing over 20lbs.
Fine crafted pewter or silver work.
Fine crafted brass or bronze work.

Each lot is covered or wrapped in a tarp and marked carefully with a pale dye that washes out easily.

The Second Floor (Bonding House)

The second floor holds the sleeping chambers for Korthel and his apprentices. The upper landing of the stairwell is large enough for a gladiator to sit comfortably on a stool in one corner and still allow welcomed guests to pass by.

Map: Bonding House Second Floor

1. Korthel's Suite

This suite takes up the majority of the second floor. It contains a large bedroom, as well as a private study. Very few are ever admitted into his private study. Rumors abound that Korthel is secretly a mage and it is in this well locked and guarded room that he keeps his spell books. Naturally, Korthel denies the rumors - but he has never opened his study during parties, and asks his friends to please respect his privacy. A few slaves have been inside, but even his journeymen are denied entrance.

2. Sarabis and Lirin's Room

Sarabis shares his room with Lirin. Sarabis prefers to do his writing in Korthel's study on the first floor, so Lirin has taken to the desk in their bedroom. Sarabis sleeps on a large bed, while Lirin sleeps on a cot on the floor. Little does he know Korthel is having a new bed constructed, and it should be in place in the fall of 720TR. Both boys have a lockable trunk that holds their extra clothes and whatever extra coin they may own. Lirin keeps his mothers gifts in the trunk.

3. Darosta's Room

Darosta has a room half the size of that of Sarabis and Lirin, yet Sarabis complains regularly that it is not fair Darosta has her own room. It is as spartan as that of the boys. She has a closet with a rack for the two dresses she owns, but rarely wares.

4. Storage

This small linen closet holds the extra blankets, lamp oil and candles the residents may require. A slave makes sure the closet is regularly stocked with goods.

5. Sitting Room

This larger room centers on the fireplace. Three comfortable couches form a cozy square around a solid-oak table. During parties this room is reserved for the negotiations or more serious conversations. Lockable shelves on the far wall contain a wide variety of alcohols, some of which are quite exotic. Only Korthel has the key to the shelves.

The Cellar

The cellar is accessible from a steep set of stairs at the back of the kitchen, and a much grander staircase that leads down from the main hall.

Map: Bonding House Third Floor

1. Kitchen Stores

Boxes, hanging meat and vegetable bins populate this small corner of the cellar. Items are carefully counted daily by Dyne, and refreshed as needed. The cat, Ko-Ko, resides in this room throughout the day. His job, to catch the mice that frequent the cellar, is ill done in Korthel's opinion, but even he has become so use to the cat that he does not want to be rid of it.

2. General Cold Storage

The rest of the bonding house's cellar is used as a cool storage place for possibly spoilable goods. Like the goods stored upstairs, they are wrapped in a tarp and carefully inventoried and labeled.

Adventure Ideas

The bonding house and granaries are a place of constant activity throughout the year. Coranan's trade rarely stops for winter. Locals use the river to transport goods throughout most of the year. The senate sits from Ilvin to Morgat, and thus generates a market for expensive items even in the coldest months of the year. Crafts and arts traveling north, to Shiran, often stop temporarily in Coranan while their owners attempt to sell any excess at a better price.

Other than the slaves, there are no guards stationed at the bonding house. Legion patrols only walk through the area several times a day. Few see the bonding house as a source of easy income, for Korthel is known to deliver what money he receives to the Caer Coranan at the end of each day, when the legion patrol passes by.

Occasionally, for parties or if a specific cargo requiring additional security arrives, Korthel hires mercenaries to provide the needed security. The guards are stationed near the goods, or the outside of the building, but are fed from the kitchen. They are allowed to sleep in the front hall, or with the goods themselves - whichever is more convenient for Korthel. Korthel tries to choose trustworthy men and women, but sometimes he'll just hire the first group to walk through the door.

In the Black

The following is a situation that could develop into a mystery to be solved. It is presented as an idea to be fleshed out by the GM, and thus is not really spoiler information. Like this entire article, players may read at their own risk and GM's discretion.

The Task:

Someone has stolen Lirin's copy of the logbook. The book, usually kept in the downstairs office was never locked away because it was an apprentice's copy. The contents of the bonding house are no secret as any observant citizen in the market enclave can see what is dropped off each day.

The news of the theft is not intentionally mad public, but instead is told as a funny work-related story that quickly becomes common knowledge throughout the market enclave. Korthel admits to no new paranoia, and he is as throughout as usual in verifying documents and claims. To date there have been no claims of theft against the bonding house.

The Clues

A thief could have gotten in through any of the second story windows; which are never locked. No slave would willingly admit to seeing and not stopping an intruder, but equally the slaves cannot stop a legitimate vistor nor even question a citizen's presence in the bonding house for fear of punishment.

During the day, the second floor is almost empty. The ground floor however could have dozens of strangers milling about. At night only the slaves should be on the ground floor, and no one is in the office without the master or a journeyman's presence. Still the door to the office is never locked.

The log book contained copies of the various bills on which the Bonding House relies to keep track of who owns the inventory and who may remove it.

Possible Solutions

The thieves intend to find and/or assure a certain good is not sold, or kill the merchant and reclaim the goods as if they were sold to them. The goods are exceedingly rare and valuable; or perhaps just personally desirable. Stealing the logbook will help assure the identity of the merchant who currently holds the goods.

A new market in forged bills has begun with that book. Sarabis had intended to sell his own copy, but grabbed the wrong one. It was a fortuitous accident. The problems will begin to occur when too many buyers arrive at the Bonding House for the amount of goods currently held. Merchants from out of town will be specifically targeted to make the overall scam last longer.

1. An Umbathri is a Hârnic Gargoyle. [Back]

2. The Prefect (Mayor) of Coranan. [Back]

This page was last updated on June 8, 2002
Questions/Comments should be directed to the Webmaster.
All works are Copyright their respective authors, 2002.

Pax Tharda

Bonding House and Granaries of the City of Coranan